DVD Review: Hail, Caesar!

-
Studio lot life.

Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) is a Hollywood fixer who we follow around a studio lot as he tries to handle problems on various sets. Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) is a huge star who has been kidnapped. Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) is a new star being shuffled around pictures. Plus many more things Mannix has to give his attention to.

I'm not the biggest Coen Brothers fan. They've made some great films, and some not so great ones. My favorite of theirs is actually the least Coensy of them, No Country for Old Men. Hail, Caear! is very much a Coen film, and unfortunately it's a very boring one. 

It's not a good thing when you want to dose off the minute the leading man is on the screen. Brolin's character nearly put me to sleep. As we jump around between sets and see sometimes too long sequences of the films they're shooting, we get glimpses of greatness. Like Ehrenreich's character, who is the true star of the show. Or Scarlett Jonhansson as a very perturbed star who isn't fond of her costume. These bits work for fleeting seconds, but then we're back to the main story of Baird's kidnapping and Mannix's fixing and it just isn't interesting.

The sets are beautiful, and the idea of studio lot life is really interesting, but unfortunately the film fails to capitalize on that, and we're instead left with a bunch of nonsense.

Recommended: No

Grade: D+

Memorable Quote: "Bring me my ass back." - DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson)

Comments

  1. BirgitAugust 2, 2016 at 1:58 PM

    I almost rented this movie this past weekend (yes, I still rent:)) I do want to see this because of the Hollywood angle. I have not heard good things about this film but i still want to see it. Funny that the only real person who actually existed was Eddie Mannix (his wife carried on the long affair with George reeves of Superman fame and may have even covered up Reeve's murder)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamAugust 3, 2016 at 8:17 AM

      Oh wow, I didn't realize that! Now I want to watch Hollywoodland again. lol

      Delete
    2. BirgitAugust 4, 2016 at 11:44 AM

      I read a couple of books on George Reeves and there is no way he would have committed suicide. My bet is that it was Mannix's wife who did him in and Mannix covered it up since he knew how to do this well

      Delete
  2. m.brownAugust 2, 2016 at 3:16 PM

    This f--ker did it's best to put me to sleep and I saw it theatrically. I love the Coens but this wad probably my least favorite of what I've seen.

    Sucks, too...because this could have been amazing (having that cast lampoon old Hollywood) instead of 'meh' at best.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamAugust 3, 2016 at 8:16 AM

      Exactly, it's so disappointing. I'm not the biggest Coen fan, but they make some great movies. This isn't one of them.

      Delete
  3. thevoid99August 2, 2016 at 4:31 PM

    Aw, I thought it was fun. I liked Channing's musical number and any scene of Scarlett going off about her costume.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamAugust 3, 2016 at 8:03 AM

      I'm a sucker for tap dancing but even that went on for too long.

      Delete
  4. UnknownAugust 3, 2016 at 8:41 AM

    I agree with you, the Coens make some great films, while some not so great. I HATED Burn After Reading. I haven't seen this and probably won't, it's a shame though because it seems like it would be good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamAugust 4, 2016 at 6:42 AM

      I didn't like Burn After Reading either. I laughed at Brad Pitt's parts and then they went and killed him like 20 minutes in. That was the only thing keeping me. lol

      Delete
  5. CourtneyAugust 4, 2016 at 10:17 AM

    Completely agree with you on this one! I was SO disappointed!!! It just goes absolutely no where...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Matthew St.ClairAugust 5, 2016 at 9:52 PM

    Thank goodness I was not the only one who was severely disappointed by this. If it weren't for Alden Ehrenreich, this film would've been completely unwatchable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamAugust 6, 2016 at 6:58 AM

      No kidding. It's amusing when the mostly unknown guy is the one holding everything together. I love Josh Brolin but he was so boring.

      Delete
  7. KatyAugust 7, 2016 at 1:03 PM

    OMG, Hail Caesar was so disappointing. I don't think I even stuck around for 45 minutes. I was so hoping it was going to be a decent parody/who dun it of the Classic Hollywood era. The Coen Brothers did a pretty shitty job. Nice review!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamAugust 9, 2016 at 8:18 AM

      I agree, thank you! My husband enjoyed it..I kept looking at my phone throughout lol.

      Delete
  8. MyerlaAugust 7, 2016 at 2:36 PM

    Whilst I mostly enjoyed it, I do see where you're coming from. It was only really good, in certain scenes. It feels as though hardly any scene is connected by something.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamAugust 9, 2016 at 8:18 AM

      That's another point I should've talked about, it barely connected.

      Delete
  9. DanAugust 9, 2016 at 11:07 AM

    Pity this one didn't work but it's pleasing to see the Coens always trying different things and not being afraid to alienate sections of the audience in order to stick with their particular niche.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen...
Read more

My Favorite Movie Youtube Channels

-
Image
Starting around 2018, I started watching Youtube for more than just movie trailers or music videos whenever a new one dropped. Now I'm in full blown subscription mode and don't bat an eyelash at watching a Youtube video that's over an hour long. I watch Youtube for a few different categories of content, but one of them that I love most is movie/TV essays and commentary, and that's what I'm going to talk about today. Below is a list of my favorite movie related Youtube channels. Let me know if you're familiar with them too, or if you have any you'd like to recommend to me.  Double Toasted - I'm honestly surprised this channel isn't bigger. I first came across Korey and Martin when they reviewed War for the Planet of the Apes a few months before it hit theaters and I thought they were hysterical. While their full length videos stream on Twitch, they often upload their movie reviews and commentary on youtube and they're always hilarious. They've...
Read more