The last Coen Brothers production came out in 2013, and it was the quiet character study Inside Llewyn Davis. It got rave reviews but is mostly remembered by the niche audience who saw it as the first time we really got a good look at Oscar Isaac. And the last time we got one of those jaunty Coen ensemble pieces was all the way back in 2008 with Burn After Reading. What makes Hail, Caesar! so thrilling is a combination of Coen specialties that those two movies put on display: a sprawling cast in which everyone is someone you love, and the beautiful worldbuilding of a Coen period piece. The sets of Hudsucker Proxy, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, True Grit, and Davis were all immersive cinematic experiences. The environments themselves were as important as any of the characters in those movies, and Caesar looks like their most visually ambitious project in years. We could summarize the plot for you here, but instead we’ll just tell you the only two words you need to know: Sailor Channing.
Pause at: 0:26. Like we said: Sailor Channing. George Clooney being his best Coen self at 1:01. Another treat at 1:15. Legend at 2:03. Also at 2:04.
Song: Jamie N Commons, “Rumble And Sway”
Essential Quote: “Here at Capitol Pictures, as you know, millions of people look to us for information and uplift and, yes, entertainment. And we’re gonna give it to ’em!”—Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin)
Go Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.” So begins Jane Austen’s literary classic Pride and Prejudice … wait, that’s Seth Grahame-Smith’s Quirk Books parody Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The hit novel has long been slated for a film adaptation, originally with Natalie Portman starring and producing with David O. Russell directing. But nearly six years later there’s finally a first glimpse ahead of the February 2016 release date, with Igby Goes Down director Burr Steers at the helm and Downton Abbey and Cinderella star Lily James as the Regency-era heroine-turned-zombie hunter Elizabeth Bennet. As expected, this first UK trailer initially starts out looking like any old Austen adaptation, with fancy balls and horseback riding, but then the modern music kicks in and the Bennet sisters are slicing and dicing their way through a zombie hoard. It looks suitably badass in a way that will annoy Austen purists but delight anyone who wants to see a group of sisters slay their way out of danger in a gleeful mashup of de rigueur genre fare and staid period romance.
Pause at: 0:09 for Doctor Who’s Matt Smith as Mr. Collins; 0:21 for Penny Dreadful’s Douglas Booth as Mr. Bingley; 0:44 for Game of Thrones resident cold and calculating badass Lena Headey wielding dual blades.
Song: Sleigh Bells, “A/B Machines”
Essential Quote: “To succeed in polite society, a young woman must be many things: kind, well-read, and accomplished. But to survive in the world as we know it, she’ll need … other qualities.”—Elizabeth Bennet (James)
Go Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.
Attention Steven Moffat acolytes! The fourth season of Sherlock won’t arrive till at least early 2016, but the one-off Christmas special set in Victorian England is real enough to have a trailer. See the period-appropriate mustaches! See horse-drawn carriages! See Watson (Martin Freeman) give Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) guff for not wearing the damn deerstalker hat! It’s the same 221B Baker Street you’ve always loved. It’s just got a lot more candlelight. Plot details for the special have not yet been disclosed, so we don’t know if it will be based on a classic story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, or if it’s a new adventure entirely for our intrepid sleuths. Either way, this will make for a merry Christmas indeed.
Pause at: 0:09 foggy old London. Stop at 0:27 for Watson’s grand mustache. Peak Sherlock at 0:45.
Essential Quote: “Oh, Watson. Nothing made me. I made me.”—Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch)
Go Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.
Read the article:
The New Coen Brothers Movie Trailer: Hail, Caesar!