Welcome Back- a brilliant effort!

Rating: 10/10 (9 March 2016)

I was knocked off kilter by the last Coen Bros movie I saw, which was "Inside Llewyn Davis" .
I panned it , even though the hipsters and the intelligentsia seemed to love it.
Then I thought to myself "It's probably because you're not as smart as those guys, you shouldn't get above your station in life".
Now the hipsters and the pundits are lukewarm about this one and I think it's just a cracker of a show.
Because of this I've realized that I AM smarter than most of the other reviewers.
Llewyn Davis was an aimless movie about an aimless character and if there were any subtleties in the plot they were buried so deeply that you had to be the writer to get them.
This one, though, was a full blown satirical masterpiece, capturing perfectly the manipulative nature of the studios and the media of the day.
Cheating, lies, and the aforementioned manipulation, have always been the order of the day in entertainment and politics. This film sends those traits up to perfection, managing at the same time to make hilarious fun of the political altruists of the time.(To think that some of us believed in that stuff back then).
Brolin was fantastic in his role, the best performance I've seen him in since "No country for Old Men". Clooney too was brilliant and just as captivating as he was in "Oh Brother". Alden Ehrenreich is just too good to describe as he plays so brilliantly off Ralph Fiennes. Scarlett Johansson is also fabulous, milking the Hollywood star role for all it's worth. I could single everyone out but suffice to say that there isn't a bad performance.
Tie together all of this stellar acting with a brilliant script and perfect cinematography and you have one of the best movies I've seen in a while. I must mention the music before I go, it is used very sparingly in this story but when it is used it fits so well that you appreciate the genius of the Director. Not to spoil anything, but there is a musical type song and dance scene that matches ANY scene from Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly, you will be enthralled by it! If you're as smart as I am (as I said already) you'll laugh and chuckle your way through the best couple of hours of entertainment you could wish for.