Seventh Seal - ****

Dated in some aspects, the acting can be hella hammy even by 50s standards. But overall this is an incredibly powerful film about the mysteries of god and death.

But maybe a little overrated, Bergman was not a sexist, he was giving complex roles to women at a time when it was rare, but this film does have a rather uncomfortable misogynist vibe to it. The women in this film are depicted as witches, whores and simpletons, I perfectly understand the context of that since this is set in the middle ages when a woman's consent was about as valuable as a mule's.

The film is very inaccurate historically, which is easy to forgive because it's not really a period piece. It could have easly been set during the cold war era when the film was made, and one could easly visualize the film being set in the present, just replace the plague with terrorism, the crusades with Dubya's war in Iraq and the flagellants with the equally crazy religion we have today.

It's dated, mainly the acting and the music, but still highly potent in it's narrative and it's message. And the cinematography is still a marvel to look at. That final shot is especially classic.

Intolerable Cruelty - **

Has it's moments. There's a lot of funny characters, the scenes with the scary old guy are great. But overall it's quite obvious that everyone is just a joke. Clooney and Zeta Jones are good, but it's awfully hard to care about their characters. The film just dosen't have any classic characters, which is a problem because we're talking about the guys who have given us "H.I." McDunnough, Barton Fink, Marge Gunderson, Everett, Pete and Delmar, Walter and The Dude. There's just no such characters in this film to root for. Plus a lot of the humor here is outdated. Adams Rib did this kinda thing 60 years ago and way better.

Really good movie, I think it's Burton's best since Big Fish. Should have been nominated for best picture I say.

I think saying the humor in Intolerable Cruelty is dated is a bit of an unfair criticism. It's supposed to be that way, the movie was intended as an old-fashioned sex comedy.

*screwball

I agree the opening credits were the best I have ever seen in a film.

I agree boo boo! Should have won something! ^_^

Ah yes, that's the word I was looking for! :)

(wasn't on a smart arse ting) :D Very apt genre name incidentally. that's what cinema is missing right now, wackiness and lots of stuttering

the Ladykillers remake sucked still, looked like the Coens were losing it there for a minute

I just don't think it was a good fit for the coens. I mean the coens + sexy?

The best things about the film was the kinda stuff that seemed like they came out of another movie, a Coens movie.

The creepy old Jewish guy with the IV that ran the firm, that was some classic Coen, the film just didn't have as much as those moments as their other films.

Those are good points. I certainly agree that it's not one of their better movies but it has its moments. I love that scene in George Clooney's office where Billy Bob Thornton keeps talking over him. Freaking hilarious and definitely classic Coens.

Idiocracy - **

Has it's moments, there's some funny ideas but the execution is very underwelming and disappointing. This is a very un-subtle and obvious satire. Some of the gags are pretty funny, I liked how every character was named after a food product. But yeah, this is something that probably sounded a lot funnier when written on paper. Tis' a shame, I expected more from Mike Judge.

Judge did this same kind of satire with Beavis and Butthead much much more successfully.