Forums

Coen Brothers Capping:

The Big Lebowski

V

No Country For Old Men

No Country Best Picture Oscar Winner based off a book by Cormac Macarthy, Big Lebowski based off a real guy (The Dude) who hangs out at a real Venice beach bowling alley getting mixed up in a Raymond Chandler-type story.

Personally, can't cap these two on a Neutral field.

These are two of my favorite 5 movies of all-time so without a doubt this is a tough call.  The bottom line is the comedy light/hearted Lebowski against the drama/suspense feel of No Country For Old Men.  It's sorda like a spread/finesse Big 12 football team playing a smashmouth SEC team.  Therefore just on genre alone, No Country For Old Men has to be a small favorite.  

No Country winning the oscar doesn't really mean a lot according to sharps and bookies, but it did beat out There Will Be Blood that year, a movie many "critics" probably prefer, but I disagree and prefer No Country quite a bit.  

Home field advantage would mean quite a bit in this matchup.  "The Dude" and "Walter" and company would be "Out Of Their Element!" in the West Texas Wasteland.  Anton Chigurh would tear them up before The Dude could finish his first White Russian.  

However Anton Chigurh would probably meat his match out in Los Angeles with all the personalities and someone like Walter at his home field bowling alley.  

But gun to my head, I prefer the "drama/suspense" genre a little more so therefore I would give No Country For Old Men the obligatory -3 against The Big Lebowski.  The better question might be which character is better, "The Dude" or "Anton Chigurh," something I would only favor Chigurh perhaps by just a half a point or so.  Tough call.  I've got Chigurh power-rated just below Hannibal Lector and just above Heath Ledger's Joker in my power ratings.

Also, it is worth noting that "Fargo," what many people believe to be the best Coen Brothers movie would probably be a 1.5 point favorite of No Country on a neutral, although I prefer No Country For Old Men, but Fargo is quite a bit more critcally acclaimed and most critics consider it their best film.  

LMFAO. I got a new one for you, Pcross (or anybody out there)

Elmore Leonard Movie Capping:

Get Shorty

V

Out Of Sight

Okay, first, both have Dennis Farina in them and both were adapted by screenwriter Scott Frank and both produced by the same company, Jersey Films. Get Shorty is littered with funny jabs at Hollywood played by big name stars while its main character is a loan shark based on a real guy, Chili Palmer. Out of Sight is more eclectic (because it jumps in time imo) but equally awesome as it's directed by Steven Soderbergh in his prime and stars Clooney and Jennifer Lopez (who is smoking hot in this). Lopez's character of Karen Sisco, is also based on a real character, sorta. Leonard saw an article in the Detroit paper with a pic and caption of a female FBI agent, hotly dressed wielding a shotgun and based the character off that alone.

It's a tough one. I think it starts as a pick but Out of Sight has more juice.

What do you think?

Purks we need to make a movie....dont you have all those hi tech vid cams and stuff? It will be three times better than Blair Witch Project....i can get Toof to finance it.

Ill be the stunt man in whatever love scene we got....depending on actress.

I think the Coens and Soderbergh and Tarantino got financing for their first movie all from dentists, fault! So that's not a bad idea!!!

How would you cap these?

Wow, another great matchup between "Get Shorty" and "Out Of Sight."  It's been a good while since I've seen "Get Shorty," first off, but I would probably give the slight nod to "Out Of Sight" for two main reasons.  First, in a just matchup of casts, you got the all-important role of female lead being played by a Jennifer Lopez perhaps in her prime against Rene Russo in her aging veteran stage of her career, who should probably be pulled for a more suitable backup.  It's a little like a young receiver shredding an aging corner, or if it were a basketball game, we would just have an exploitable mismatch.  I don't think J-Lo is all that talented, but she would be comparable to a rookie of the year with strong explosiveness at that point.  It's a big edge.  

Also, Soderberg is the better director here, but Sonnenfield worked on both films and as you pointed out they were both from Jersey Films and based off of novels from Elmore Leonard, so both these films know each other pretty well.  But when in doubt, a good coach can mean a point or two. Now, "Get Shorty" has many of those crafty veterans, such as DeVito, and Hackman, and probably the better overall supporting cast, but I like the upstarts for 1998 Clooney and Lopez to show they belong here, and they got to be motivated. Two strong films, two strong supporting casts, but I'm with you purks.  I got a slight lean to "Out Of Sight," but "Get Shorty" is a strong enough film to keep it under a field goal no doubt, especially on a neutral.  Get Shorty vs. Out Of Sight -1

LMAO Again!

I'm digging in the trenches for a trap game now.

Martin Scorsese Horror Movies (bc it's October Halloween)

Cape Fear (1990)

V

Shutter Island

(can't find a good clip, only a good trailer)

Both based off books (Cape Fear is a remake of a 60s movie starring Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck who both make cameos in this, as does Bernard Herrmann's awesome score (some found this obnoxious at the time - I loved it) with a Saul Bass Title Sequence (Hitchcocks Number One and Two Guy)) However a lot of footage from the above Title Sequence comes from a movie called "Seconds" that Saul Bass also designed in the 60s (again a kind of self-plagiarism , if you will)...There's a "teddy bear suspense sequence" that has to be seen to be believed (I can't remember laughing at something so scary) The fact that it's Joe Don Baker in a staring contest with a teddy bear makes it that more awesome imo. (any Mitchell fans?)

see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEuqveZyuQw

Shutter Island as stylistic and trippy as Cape Fear - In the opening boat scene I heard someone complain that it looked like too obvious "green screen" (an optical effect). I argued that's what a movie made in 1953 would've done. This is what one of those movies like House Of Wax would've done.

Shutter Island -3.5

What do you think, Pcross (or anybody?)

Good call on the trap game analogy with this matchup between Shutter Island and Cape Fear.  Two of Scorsese's non-playoff teams in my opinion, from a guy who has won Super Bowls before, yet two of his biggest financial successes if I remember correctly.  There's quite a bit of star power in this matchup with Scorsese's main man De Niro, and one of his newer favorites DiCaprio facing off, in a little like a Montana-Brady matchup in a sense, as De Niro is a generation ahead.  These two films seem to have quite a few holes in them, especially for fundamentally sound Scorsese.  

And I just prefer the overall story of Cape Fear much more than Shutter Island's, and Cape Fear was a remake of a popular 50's movie with the star power of Mitchum and Peck, something that would have peaked the interest of movie fans of older films.  Should Shutter Island be over a field goal, we got to take the dog here.  Now, for it to be a trap game, so to speak, I think we gotta list Shutter Island at -2.5, therefore looking like the books are begging for us to lay the points with Shutter Island.  Maybe I'm giving Cape Fear too much credit, or rather, Shutter Island too little credit.  

Cape Fear V Shutter Island -2.5