Fargo

10/18/2020

Great watch, could watch again, and can recommend. It is very sad that this happened to people, but the way the story is told is so good that I felt like that sadness melted away fairly quickly. This movie holds up after 25 years, and it is dated, but with cellphones the story would change dramatically, and that would be a good alternative history subject for a different movie. A great cast, excellent deliveries, an amazing story, and the cinematography is a favorite on this one. The setting of a snowy Minnesota really allows for some great isolation scenes and highlights the "coldness" of the motivations in the story. I think they even summarize the events at one point as "all over a little money", and it's spot on. I can't say that any one thing is spectacular, but everyt

3/23/2022

I didn't enjoy is as much as I thought I would, but <em>'Fargo'</em> is still very good and something I'd obviously recommend. I like the cast here, even if it is a bit of a Frances McDormand carryjob to be honest - she is terrific all the way through, absolutely nailing the role. Steve Buscemi is the star away from McDormand, while I've seen a few glimpses of William H. Macy elsewhere but this is his best showing that I've watched thus far. Peter Stormare is good too. It's an entertaining story, that's for certain! Around 98 minutes was a wise run time call, also. I didn't get that extra little something from it, yet it's a film that I'd more than happily rewatch - largely thanks to McDormand, and Buscemi.

9/8/2022

**An excellent film, although the comedy is so watered down and so sarcastic that it's not funny to most people.** When I saw this movie for the first time, a few years ago, I didn't understand it, and it annoyed me a lot. However, I've always heard good things about it, and after seeing several Cohen films that I liked, I realized the film's potential and decided to rewatch it. I did it at a good time: the film is better than I thought, and I just didn't know how to evaluate it as it deserved. The film begins with a note indicating that it is based on real events. It's a joke, actually, as it's entirely fictional. The story, however, can be based on several crimes, because it's nothing that we haven't seen on some TV news: a man who desperately needs money decides to hire two crimin

8/27/2023

Saw this again recently for it's anniversary, or 4k conversion, - who cares what the reason was, it was just great to see it up on the bg screen again. In my view, it's easily the best of efforts from both the Coen brothers and from the formidable Frances McDormand. Here, she is a pregnant local cop who must deal with a sudden spate of crimes in her magnificently named town "Brainerd". William H. Macy ("Jerry") and the usually under-rated Steve Buscemi ("Carl") add loads to value to this drama that offers an almost perfect mix of sharp and wittily written dialogue, some clever and poignant performances and a storyline that does border on the surreal at times, but then again we are in Minnesota so is it all that surreal at all? The deliberately staccato nature of the dialogue cannot help ra