Amazon.com
Since their debut with Blood Simple in 1984, Joel and Ethan Coen have created a unique body of work that seems to project their combined imaginations directly onto the movie screen. By concentrating on the filming of their homage to Raymond Chandler, The Big Lebowski, this book provides a great deal of insight into the way that these extraordinary filmmakers take an idea and transform it into a movie.
Text and illustrations combine to reveal the Coens' combination of quirkiness and craft, and the ways that the singular (or is it binary?) vision of the brothers combines with actors and crew in the group effort necessary to produce a finished film. This book doesn't attempt a critical analysis of the work of Joel and Ethan Coen--the complexity of their vision resists such an approach. Instead, we're treated to a fly-on-the-wall view of the creative process, and it's enough to get the most casual film lover to grab a notebook, rent a camera, and start making movies! --Simon Leake
Customer Reviews:
Worst "book report" ever.......2007-09-15
I've never felt so intellectually abused by a book as to resort to writing a scathing review like this on Amazon. This book is mind-bogglingly aweful! It reads like an 8th grade book report. It has no pretense of a plot and does amazingly little to actually delve into the making of the Big Lebowski. Don't buy it! Half of it is literally just the author monotonously describing what *happens* in the Big Lebowski. YES, repeating what you've watched in the movie!! Page upon page reads like "and then the dude goes into...and then...and then..." Much of the rest is an incredibly egotistical author bragging about how "in" he is with the Coens and prattling on about his interactions with them and how well he knows them. The author's grasp of english is profoundly poor and his "hip" slang falls utterly flat and non-sensical as he tries to invent numerous non-words. Even the pictures have nothing to do with their placement in the text. The ONLY redeeming characteristic of the book is that the author includes many long quotes from the Coens and the people who work closely with them.
A Great Read For Filmmaking Enthusiasts.......2007-04-30
Every once and while I look for books to re-inspire my need to make films. This is one of those useful books for people interested in the real filmmaking process. This book doesn't have useless interviews about how much fun the actors had working with a director but covers every thought and decision the crew had to make in the production. If you're a Coen Brother's fan, you'll also be interested to gain some insight into how they invent and produce their signiture films.
One of the best books written about the Coens.......2004-03-27
This book was co-written by William Preston Robertson who is someone, if you've studied the end credits of the Coens' early film, who has worked on their films in various capacities. He's often provided voiceovers where needed and even offered a place for them to crash when they developed writer's block while working on the screenplay for Miller's Crossing.
So, he writes this book with an insider's perspective. At every opportunity he makes fun of them (as only a close friend can) and spends the first part of the book tracing their career up to The Big Lebowski. The rest of the book plays out as a quasi-Making Of that is quite an entertaining read. For example, he places their film in the grand tradition of bowling noir, a very rarified subgenre of the film noir. Robertson is quite funny as he pontificates about this subgenre at some length.
If I had one complaint about the book is the amount of detail that is gone into about the storyboarding process which I could have done without. But this is a minor quibble at best.
Robertson's style of writing is very casual and easy to read--it won't take you long to get through this book. If you are a hardcore fan of the Coens, then you will definitely enjoy this book and all the little, inside jokes. It will certainly deepen your appreciation for the film and acts as a great companion-piece.
more about the Coens than the film.......2003-08-23
The Big Lebowski is my all-time favorite movie; I bought this book hoping to read lengthy interviews with the cast, see behind-the-scenes photos and stills from the film, etc. Instead, this book deals with the technicalities of the Coen brothers' film making in general, with The Big Lebowski only serving as the most-often referenced case-in-point. So I'd say read this if you're interested in the Coens' film making technique, but if you're interested in The Big Lebowski specifically you won't really find much here.
Gotta love..........2000-09-05
Got to love the Coens, and thheir style of filmmaking. Read it.
Book Description
Joel and Ethan Coen are among America's best-loved and most lauded independent filmmakers. With their latest work, O Brother, Where Art Though?, The Oscar-winning team returns to the period-piece films of their earlier career (Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy) and showcase once-again their pitch-perfect ear for hilarious and outrageous dialogue, as well as their penchant for the fantastic.
Based on Homer's Odyssey, the movie stars George Clooney as Ulysses Everett McGill, along with Coen-mainstay John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson as fugitives from a chain gang who embark on a mystical and musical journey through 1930s Mississippi. History and allegory are expertly entwined as, along the way, the three escapees encounter a blind prophet, are tempted by sirens, do battle with a Cyclops (in the form of a one-eyed Klansman), fall in with George "Baby Face" Nelson on a bank heist, and cut a blues record with a young guitar prodigy who bears a striking resemblance to the real-life Robert Johnson.
Customer Reviews:
Coens Are Truly Learning How To Write!.......2001-03-23
This is a fun and wacky screenplay to read! It really puts images into your mind that will make you laugh and wonder. I haven't even seen the movie yet, and I still was able to "get" the jokes and laughed a lot. Just think to yourself, "This is going to be a lot like Raising Arizona" and you'll figure it out.
Ranks right up there with the Coens' Fargo script, which is also a good read.
Required reading.......2000-12-30
I've been a fan of the Coens' movies for years and I do believe I've figured out a way to enjoy them more thoroughly: READ THE SCREENPLAY. There's no writing that's better in the movies right now. I'm not a film maker, I'm not a script writer, I'm not a director, I'm not an actor, I'm not a movie critic, I'm not even the damn guy who tears the ticket and stands behind that big velvet rope sayin' "To your right" or "To your left." All that I am is a fan of the movies as well as a fan of literature. These guys know how to make words create people and they do it well time after time.
Specifically "O Brother ..." is a screenplay that mixes Homer with Bluegrass with Old Movies with (whether the Coens know it or not) Mark Twain and folks along those lines. In fact, there's a scene in Huck Finn in which Huck states he'd prefer his dinner all cooked together in one pot so that the juices swap around and make things go better. That's a pretty good metaphor for "O Brother ..." Rather than the screenplay that's about hicks or racism or a woman scorned, the Coens mix it all up and believe me things go better that way.
This is the literature of our time. You should watch AND READ these movies.
teachem2@home.com
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The Brothers Grim: The Films of Ethan and Joel Coen
Erica Rowell
Manufacturer: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
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ASIN: 0810858509 |
Book Description
Joel and Ethan Coen (b. 1954, 1957) started their careers in obscurity on a shoestring budget cajoled from family and friends in Minneapolis. Working entirely outside the studio system, the Coen brothers scored an unlikely first success in 1984 with their postmodern noir film Blood Simple. Two decades and nearly a dozen movies later, the Coens are now among the best-known writer/directors in Hollywood, turning out major studio releases featuring stars such as George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Tom Hanks.
The Coens' films all share a distinctive, quirky ambience that critics have come to identify as "that Coen brothers feeling." Tricky moving camera work; frequent use of the voiceover; homages to directors and cinematic genres; a fascination with unexpected, off-kilter violence; and omnipresent black humor are all defining elements of the Coens' cinematic world.
From such highly stylized movies as Barton Fink and The Man Who Wasn't There to more mainstream but dark comedies such as Raising Arizona, Intolerable Cruelty, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the Coens are equally at home with existential despair and comic exuberance, and are known for scripts packed with an obvious love for language. This collection of their most important interviews spans twenty years and is the most comprehensive published on the brothers.
Book Description
The most commercially and critically successful film of Ethan and Joel Coen, Fargo was nominated for five Academy Awards and received two, an exceptional achievement for a low budget, independently produced film. This volume explores Fargo from a variety of perspectives. Providing a detailed account of the film's production, reception and place within the career of the Coen brothers, it covers issues and themes significant to current film discourse, including genre, gender and sexuality, race, history, culture and myth.
Download Description
Fargo is the most commercially and critically successful film of Ethan and Joel Coen. Immediately recognized as an important work, it was nominated for five Academy Awards and received two, an exceptional achievement for a low budget, independently produced film without major stars. Fargo is also a film that explores middle-American themes and settings from an original and unsettling perspective, challenging traditional genre structures. This volume explores Fargo from a variety of methodological perspectives. Providing a detailed account of the film's production, reception and place within the career of the Coen brothers, it explores issues and themes that are important to current film discourse, including genre, gender and sexuality, race, history, culture and myth.
Average customer rating:
- Wasted Writing Effort and a Waste of Your Time
- What can one say?
- a real "shove in the bottom drawer" book
- If you LOVE the Coens, you'll LIKE this book
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The Coen Brothers
Ronald Bergan
Manufacturer: Thunder's Mouth Press
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The Coen Brothers: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series)
ASIN: 1560252545 |
Book Description
Blood Simple, Barton Fink, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Fargo, Hudsucker Proxy, and The Big Lebowski - moviegoers either love the Coen brothers or they hate them. Those who love them believe they have made some of the most innovative, entertaining, and idiosyncratic films of the last 25 years. Their movies have grossed over $1 billion, and Fargo won Oscars in 1997 for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress. Brought up in small-town America, the brothers have been making movies from the age of eight. Joel directs; Ethan writes and collaborates with his brother in the later stages as the story develops its visual identity. The Coen brothers set the standard for creative cinema.
Customer Reviews:
Wasted Writing Effort and a Waste of Your Time.......2003-10-10
The author of this book obviously feels he's as witty as the Coens. I hate to break it to him, but he's not. To make up for underachievement in this area, he fills the book with unneeded "editorial" comments on the films themselves. Why does the author feel he needs to criticize Jon Polito's performance in Miller's Crossing, and why does he think we'd care? It simply feels the author is stretching for lack of material, since he probably didn't get much cooperation from the filmmakers themselves. I attempted to make it through the entire book but kept putting it down out of frustration with the author. Don't waste your time with this one.
What can one say?.......2001-09-29
This book is supposed to be the first authorized biography about the Coens, but to be completely honest it's not much of a biography. The book reads more like a review of the Coens and each of their films. Much of the biographical information is interesting just for the simple fact that the brothers are so elusive that anything regarding their past and how they first funded their films is a gem not to be discarded. However, most of the book is divided into chapters that review and critique each of the Coen's films. Now, I didn't mind this, but a biography is not a collection of film reviews. It seems to me that the author (though possibly a fan) just didn't feel like writing this book especially since the brothers seemed so reluctant that he was writing it. Or true to Coen style, maybe that's how they intended the book to turn out (either knowingly or unknowingly to the author). Overall, an interesting, but slow read worth the time if your a film buff.
a real "shove in the bottom drawer" book.......2000-12-30
It's hard to add much to Josh's review, and perhaps I shouldn't, as I put this book down after page 114. I too found myself skipping long (slow) passages and growing tired at the never-ending parrallels drawn between the Coen's work and that of other film-makers. I would have preferred to hear more of what the brothers had to say, rather than the theories and beliefs of their biographer.
If you're after an in-depth study at how the Coen Brothers go about making a movie, buy William Preston Robertson's "The Making of Joel & Ethan Coen's The Big Lebowski". It's a better read by far.
If you LOVE the Coens, you'll LIKE this book.......2000-12-19
Ronald Bergan, biographer of such film legends as Jean Renoir and Sergei Eisentsein, has been commissioned to write the first offical biography of the brilliant, yet elusive American filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen. Anyone who loves the brothers' work will enjoy this book simply because info on the bros is so hard to come by: they rarely do interviews and stay just far enough outside of the mainstream to avoid tabloid headlines. The book on the whole, unfortunatley, seems to have been rushed. Even the physical look-- from the type face to the occastional type-- seems a bit unporfessional. There were sections about the Coen youth where I, the ultimate admirer/fan, got bored and skipped ahead-- that is almost impressive. Once the author settles into his format, he simply goes through each of the Coens' eight films in order. That gets pretty dull and uninformative, especially if you've read The Making of the Big Lebowski by William Preston Robertson (and if you haven't, do it). The other major problem with Bergan's book is that he too often jumps the line from biographer to critic. While discussing their work, he will 'factually' point out flaws in performances, filming techniques, even script-writing. Aside from this being out of his jurisdiction, his opinions--which are just that-- come off as shallow and unsupported. If you're gonna tell me that the brilliant last line of Raizing Arizona ruins the whole ending, you better have good reasons why! Bergan doesn't. There are few of his critiques that i agreed with, but the point is that he shouldn't be making these judgements at all. But because the Coens have stayed to private, it's great to get your hands on anything that discusses their behind-the-screen struggles and triumphs. Learning how they got funding for Blood Simple was fascinating and inspiring for any film student or independant filmmaker. The brilliance of the Coen brothers is not quite reflected in this somewhat shallow biography, which seems to have been written partly against the will of not only the author, but the subjects as well. The true fan, however, should be able to find enough gems to be worth the price of admission. Ciao.
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The Coen Brothers (The Pocket Essentials : Film)
John M. Ashbrook , and
Ellen Cheshire
Manufacturer: Pocket Essentials
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ASIN: 190304703X |
Book Description
Pocket Essentials is a fresh new series of film books that are short, snappy, and easy to read. Packed with facts, and backed up by opinion, each book has all the key information you need to know about the world's most celebrated film directors and film genres. What's in a book? As well as an introduction to the subject, each film by a director or each genre is individually analyzed and reviewed. In addition, the director or genre's impact on the film industry is explained, and a handy reference section lists all the far weightier (and more expensive) books on the subject. For movie buffs and students, these are great little entry-level books that build into an essential film library.
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Coen Brothers (Virgin Film Series)
Eddie Robson
Manufacturer: Virgin Books
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The Coen Brothers: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series)
ASIN: 0753512688
Release Date: 2007-10-16 |
Book Description
Joel and Ethan Coen are one of the most original filmmaking partnerships to come out of American film in the past twenty years. From their debut tour de force Blood Simple, to the hugely acclaimed The Man Who Wasn’t There, they have attracted critical kudos and commercial success in equal measure. This insightful guide is a chronological exploration of the career of Hollywood’s best loved outsiders. It combines indispensable reference material with critical analyses of their films and charts their rise from cult favorites to box office contenders.
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Pickle, Pepper and Tip-in Too: 275 Sports-Derived Games & Activities for Kids
Kevin Nelson
Manufacturer: Fireside
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ASIN: 0671879561 |
Product Description
Location, location, vocation: financial freedom through real estate, the Dolf de Roos way! Property Investors School (10 compact discs)
The professionally produced audio recordings of the acclaimed, live, two-day real estate mentoring program previously available to only 10 students a year! Guiding you through a complete overview of Dolf de Roos approach to the real estate investment process, the Property Investors School offers the complete curriculum for financial freedom, from purchase to profit! Course highlights:
Spotting property with a below-value twist
Property analysis for a personal fit
Staking your territory & where to search
Choosing a realtor
Lender approval for purchase price plus
No-fail mortgage application
Purchase & Sale clauses that work for you!
Offers with seller appeal
The Offer: yield a bit, or stand your ground?
Settlement & possession structure
Proposals for finance
Managing for profit
Ensuring that tradespeople do your jobs first
Commercial vs. residential property
Cutting non-performing tenants loose Real Estate Riches:
How to Become Rich Using Your Bankers Money (3 compact discs)
The author-approved abridged version of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, now on audio CD. With a running time of approximately 3 hours, Real Estate Riches is the comprehensive, critically acclaimed audio reference providing field-tested techniques for creating wealth through property. Audio book highlights:
Why real estate is exponentially better than other investments
Finding the real estate Deal of the Decade every week!
Increasing property value with tiny expenditures
Employing tax law to subsidize your investment
Using your lenders money to create passive income for yourself DVD BONUS!
Discussions with Dolf
A unique digital video disc forum offering real-life answers to specific real estate queries posed by program participants around the globe, Discussions with Dolf provides continuing real estate education in an illuminating Q & A format.
60 MINUTES A promise for your financial future, from best-selling author and real estate expert Dolf de Roos:
You will learn both basic and advanced techniques, and many small, smart things that can increase your ability to select, negotiate, buy, finance, and manage properties to help you become prosperous through property investment. However, we also take the human element into account, so that you can become a powerful force to be reckoned with in property. Learn how to use leverage to develop a passive income so that you no longer have to work. Find out not only how to build wealth, but how to enjoy it as well. Make a date for financial independence by enrolling in Dolf de Roos Real Estate Investors College on audio compact disc. Let property investment guru Dolf de Roos demonstrate insider techniques and field-tested strategies designed to maximize property value for all levels of real estate investors, as he shows just how frequently unique opportunities present themselves to those in the know. The Property Investors School on 10 CDs provides a dynamic audio record of Dolfs mentoring sessions previously available only in-person, to only 10 students per year. Real Estate Riches on 3 CDs abridges the New York Times and Wall Street Journal print bestseller to create a portable audio compendium of how-to tips for creating property income. Finally, sit in on Discussions with Dolf, a DVD bonus comprising an international question-and-answer session featuring specific real estate queries from program participants. Covering everything from lenders to leases; tradespeople to tenants, Dolf de Roos Real Estate Investors College is your graduate course in financial security! Audio Success blurb
The Audio Success Series from TOPICS Entertainment is a premium audio line of personal productivity recordings
Customer Reviews:
Great motiviational CD with a little "how" sprinkled in.........2007-02-03
After having Dolf De Roos', "Real Estate Riches" recommended by a fellow Realtor, I stumbled upon Real Estate College. At first, I was worried about the high price tag, but I later found out that it was highlights from a seminar that De Roos personally conducted where students paid top dollar.
The negatives first:
1. Have patience while listening - There's a great deal of audience participation and testimonials you have to either fast-forward or torture yourself listening to it. While it may be a cultural difference, I perceive folks from New Zealand to speak VERY S-L-O-W-L-Y. At one point, I almost ripped my hair out everytime this investor named "Margaret" spoke.
2. No indexing - several of the CDs only have (2) chapters where if you lose your place during a break in listening, you have to fast-forward to where you left off.
3. Some laws & strategies do not apply in the United States and other countries or are outdated. Depending on the market, most sellers will not accept offers under some of the terms he recommends.
Things I liked:
1. The last 2-3 CD's - If you want a cliff's notes version or simply the highlights of the seminar, listen to the last CD's first. With these CD's, it is only Dolf talking and he goes moves very fast.
2. He justifies WHY you should be investing in Real Estate - he shows the most common techniques used to measure a traditional investment and how it's flawed to use the same techniques in Real Estate investing.
3. Use of Technology - Although I haven't bought his REAP software package, Dolf places a great deal of emphasis on NUMBERS -- not emotion. He even has a motto, "Don't fall in love with the property -- fall in love with THE DEAL!"
I'd recommend Real Estate College to anyone considering investing in Real Estate.
Books:
- The Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers Book
- The Great Combat Pictures
- The International Market in Film and Television Programs (Communication and Information Science)
- The Kill Bill Diary: The Making of a Tarantino Classic as Seen Through the Eyes of a Screen Legend
- The Leonardo Dicaprio Album
- The Matter of Images: Essays on Representation
- The Movie Mom's Guide to Family Movies, Second Edition
- The Movies in the Age of Innocence
- The Shocking Miss Pilgrim: A Writer in Early Hollywood
- Thematic And Methodological Foundations Of Alfred Hitchcock's Artistic Vision (Studies in the History and Criticism of Film)
Books Index
Books Home
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- Soft Computing for Risk Evaluation and Management
- The Illusion of Choice: How the Market Economy Shapes Our Destiny
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I'm a Lebowski, You're a Lebowski: Life, The Big Lebowski, and What Have You
The Big Lebowski
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen: Collected Screenplays 1: Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink
Gates of Eden
