I recently ordered three movies from Amazon that will round out my Coen Brothers collection (except for The Ladykillers... maybe later): Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, and Barton Fink. It's almost too much quality movie to be getting all at one time. Frankie and I started watching Barton Fink, and it promises to be excellent.

I'm hoping to do some sort of Coen Brothers marathon sometime, maybe the first four movies. Or the first seven, arguably the best seven-movie run any filmaker has ever produced. It includes the three I just received, plus Raizing Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, and The Big Lebowski.

I sometimes come under fire for my admiration of the Coen Brothers, but I think it's because most people are familiar only with their latest offerings: O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Man Who Wasn't There, Intolerable Cruelty, and The Ladykillers. And maybe The Big Lebowski was a little too hyped for them. While these are all fine films, they lack the edge of the first seven. The odd hilarity. The melodrama. The strange symbolism. The decidedly picturesque cinematography. Ok, well, The Man Who Wasn't There has all those things in spades. But raise your hand if you've seen that one..... that's what I thought.

In any case, I wait with baited breath for the next three offerings: No Country for Old Men, Hail Ceasar!, and Suburbicon.