Ranking All of the Coen Bros. Movies From Best to Worst 'Intolerable Cruelty' Universal Even the worst Coen brothers movie is better than most films you'd watch on a given day. Although last on this list, 'Intolerable Cruelty' is a very entertaining and very funny movie that reflects its maker's pitch black world view in almost every scene, while, somehow, being a little sweeter and more mainstream than their average output. Still, for all of the amusingly dark screwball comedy antics, this is a trifle at the end of the day. As far of romantic comedies starring George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones go, it's aces. As far as Coen brothers movies go, it's just okay. 15 'The Ladykillers' Touchstone At the time of its release, critics declared that 'The Ladykillers' was one of the Coens' worst films and nearly a decade later ... um, they're right. However, we use the word "worst" lightly here because this is a film filled with inspired and hilarious moments, even if it can't stand alongside the best of the brothers' output.

Particularly inspired is the casting of Tom Hanks in a rare villainous role, giving America's favorite movie star the chance to twirl his moustache and act with the subtlety of a Looney Tunes character. In fact, the entire film is pitched like a R-rated cartoon, but the gruesome consequences of its characters actions make it feel like a Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner short where the coyote stays dead. It's a truly bizarre and uneven movie, but it's too darn weird to completely write off. 14 'The Hudsucker Proxy' Warner Bros. With 'The Hudsucker Proxy,' the Coen brothers tread into a genre they haven't dared touch again: the family film. The film's critical tarring and feathering (and the poor box office) have kept them in the R-rated realm ever since and that's a real shame since this is actually a really good and really cute movie. Yeah, we said it. This is a cute Coen brothers movie. Although it has its darker moments, this is one of their more optimistic and cheerful films and Tim Robbins' Norville Barnes is one of their most endearing protagonists.

Like their blacker comedies, 'The Hudsucker Proxy' is firmly rooted in the old fashioned world of screwball comedy, but unlike the rest of the Coen filmography, it's all heart, unafraid of magical realism and outright fantasy when it's called for. Like the classics that being riffed on here, everything actually shakes out okay for everyone in this movie, making it one of most surprising films in the Coen oeuvre. 13 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' Touchstone There's something audacious about loosely adapting 'The Odyssey' so it's set in the Great Depression-era South and filling the movie with period-appropriate music that's incredibly vital to the storyline at hand. Somehow, 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' works, even if it's a looser and less consistent film than many others in the Coen canon. Credit cinematographer Roger Deakins, whose sepia-tinged camerawork is masterful. And, credit stars Geroge Clooney, John Tuturro and Tim Blake Nelson, who walk a fine line between overly broad and sympathetic.

Most of all, credit the perfect soundtrack, which rightfully won every award under the sun and gives what could have been a slight narrative the power of a freight train. 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' is an effortless and entertaining watch, a little more joyous than the average Coen film but no less cynical. 12 'The Man Who Wasn't There' USA Films It's utterly insane to think that a film as good as 'The Man Who Wasn't There' could be considered a "lesser" film. Don't let the gorgeous black and white cinematography and period setting fool you -- this is a brutal, black-hearted movie, an old fashioned film noir that's unafraid to get its hands dirty. Billy Bob Thornton gives the best performance of his career as a barber who finds his life quickly spiraling out of control after he steps on the wrong side of the law. Like the best noirs, his fall from grace is shocking but inevitable, the kind of horrifying and hilarious clusterf--- that the Coens do best. 11 'Blood Simple' USA Films Few films are as lean, mean and downright vicious as 'Blood Simple,' which may be one of the greatest debut films of all time.

Although entirely lacking the darkly silly humor that would define many of their other films, this nasty neo-noir is full of the Coen's other defining traits: a fondness for local color, a keen sense of location and a complete and utter lack of sympathy for the men and women who get in over their heads (as well as those just in the wrong place at the wrong time). This is a fast, brutal movie made by hungry filmmakers with something to prove and the seeds of their later masterpieces are clearly seen here ... mainly because this is also a masterpiece. Cinematic nihilism and the randomness of violence have rarely been depicted with such an unblinking eye. 10 'Burn After Reading' Focus Features 'Burn After Reading' is a featherweight lark, yet it's also got one of the sharpest edges you've ever seen. Sure, it may be a silly comedy about very, very stupid people making very, very poor decisions, but it's also about these saps suffering the worst possible consequences for their actions, often bringing down innocent bystanders with them.

What may frustrate some audiences will delight others: there is no real plot to speak of in 'Burn After Reading.' This is a movie about a bunch of idiots who misinterpret everything they see and create a complicated, twisted plot where one actually doesn't exist. This is the Coen brothers playing a practical joke on their audience, promising something traditional before pulling it away at the last possible moment in a burst of violence. Consider it the comedic accomplice to the similarly non-narrative 'No Country For Old Men' and 'A Serious Man.' Like those films, this is the story of an uncaring, brutal and random world, but this time, the Coens want you to laugh at it. 9 'Miller's Crossing' 20th Century Fox There has never been a crime movie that has felt like 'Miller's Crossing.' Jumping between fantastical and heartbreakingly real on a scene-by-scene basis, this is the Coens doing what they do best: luring you into thinking you're watching one kind of movie before shoving you into another.

If you examine the basic plot description, 'Miller's Crossing' sounds like just another gangster movie (with a little 'Yojimbo' thrown in for good measure) but the execution is just sublime. Although Gabriel Byrne gives the best performance of his career in the lead role, though it's John Tuturro who has forever become associated with the film, with his most infamous quote inspiring the title of this list. Sure, 'Miller's Crossing' is from the era that produced 'Goodfellas' and 'Pulp Fiction,' but it's still one of the absolute best crime films of that decade. 8 'The Big Lebowski' Working Title Films The Coens have never been shy about their love of film noir, but they've never been more playful with the genre than they are with 'The Big Lebowski.' A colossal bomb at the time of its release, the story of The Dude and his odd collection and enemies and allies has become a cult favorite over the years and for good reason: it's hilarious, quotable and jam-packed with characters that all-but-demand that you dress up as them for Halloween.

The utterly bizarre cast and their even more bizarre interactions deliberately mask that the film follows the noir template to a tee, making this the rare neo-noir to actually exist, 100%, in its own time without calling back to the past in any way. What would happen if a collection of freaks and weirdos stumbled into the kind of plot that would have interested Humphrey Bogart in the '40s? Well, this. And it's glorious. 7 'Inside Llewyn Davis' CBS Films It stinks to be unappreciated. It stinks to be poor. It stinks to be homeless in the middle of the winter, your supply of favors and friends' couches rapidly dwindling. It especially stinks when the only person you have to blame for most of your troubles is yourself. In terms of narrative, 'Inside Llewyn Davis' is one of the simpler Coen brothers films, a character study following the title folk musician as he struggles to survive for one week in 1961 New York City.

But this shaggy story, with its long list of loose ends and intentionally vague conflicts, only serves a movie that's as harrowing, funny and emotionally crippling as any film released in recent memory. There's a lot too chew on in 'Inside Llewyn Davis' and there's not enough room to dive in here (especially since most audiences haven't had the chance to see it). In simple terms, this is another Coen brothers masterpiece and we can't help but get the impression that it'll crawl up this list with repeat viewings. 6 'Raising Arizona' 20th Century Fox It's almost impossible to believe that 'Raising Arizona' is the Coen brothers' follow-up to 'Blood Simple.' Not because there's a substantial dip or rise in quality of filmmaking, but because you'd be hard-pressed to find two films that are more different. As silly as 'Blood Simple' is terrifying, 'Raising Arizona' is the most successful of the Coens' pure comedies, a live action movie inhabited by walking cartoons who actually have a heart.

Unlike 'Burn After Reading' or 'The Ladykillers,' 'Raising Arizona' doesn't ask us to completely write off the humanity of its unreal characters, resulting in a tricky balancing act where our aggressively silly leads can act like the Three Stooges and make us tear up (often within the same scene). The balance between weirdness and pathos feels and impossible, but hey, 'Raising Arizona' exists and it's just as good as the first time you watched it. 5 'Barton Fink' 20th Century Fox In some ways, 'Barton Fink' is one of the Coens' more opaque films. What is it actually about? Open to interpretation. How much is real? Open to interpretation. What exactly is going on in the Hotel Earle? Open to interpretation. However, the genius of the film is how it grounds all of the big questions and potential symbolism in a story that will touch a nerve with many viewers. If you've ever struggled to create, 'Barton Fink' will feel all-too-real. Some of the film's targets (like the Hollywood system) are broad, but others cut like a scalpel and any creative person who watches the film will its sting.

The loneliness of the creative process, the maddening stress of a deadline, the struggle to make the system work for you and, most importantly, how easy it is to forget who or what you're creating for in the first place all get examined. Thankfully, 'Barton Fink' is as funny and weird and quotable as it is punishing. 4 'True Grit' Paramount There are some people who would write off 'True Grit' because it's a remake and those people are fools. The Coens' take on the classic western novel is leagues better than the John Wayne original, finding the depth and raw nerve that got excised from the first adaptation. Although a more straightforward film than most of their output, 'True Grit' bears the marks of their greatest work: a love (and mutilation) of the english language, its celebration of the eccentric and its flat declaration that life can be unfair and cruel and that there's nothing that we can do about it. By packaging their normal tropes in the western template, we get a rare treat: a Coen brothers movie that also functions as a wild, completely entertaining adventure.

3 'Fargo' Working Title Although it doesn't top the list, 'Fargo' is probably the most well-rounded of the Coens' movies. No film better sums up what they're all about -- this movie is somehow a lurid crime drama, a neo-noir about total morons and a celebration of the odd and unusual heroes who never get a chance at the spotlight. In police officer Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand), they have crafted one of the great cinematic heroes and in Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy), they have crafted the most endearingly pathetic lowlife in cinematic history. 'Fargo' isn't afraid to go downright nightmarish with its violence, but it's also wickedly funny, often taking the violence to such nightmarish heights (woodchipper!) that you can't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. Unlike so many other Coen films, the laughter rarely comes at the expense of the characters. There's a rare affection for everyone here (particularly Marge) that adds a quiet layer of pathos on top of every gruesome/hilarious hilarious event.

The Coens love making movies about oddballs, but this is the rare case where they seem to truly love these oddballs. 2 'No Country For Old Men' Miramax 'No Country For Old Men' is a more difficult and cerebral film than its box office and Oscar success would suggest. Adapted very closely from Cormac McCarthy's book, this noir/western/allegory/waking nightmare is brutal and unrelenting in content and execution, unafraid of depicting the heinous actions of horrible men and equally unafraid of shattering cinematic structure. If you feel a tremendous unease during every moment of 'No Country For Old Men,' you can thank (or blame) the film's disregard for the Hollywood template. Sure, much of this was accomplished by sticking to the source material, but that in of itself is a brave decision. This is a thriller that goes out of its way to avoid action; a tale of good vs. evil where the bad guys always seem to triumph through biblical force. This is a movie that deliberately decides to have major events take place offscreen to deny you a thrill, to make you feel the loss and pain of its characters in the most direct way possible.

In short, 'No Country For Old Men' isn't just a great Coen brothers movie, it's the only one of their films that makes you feel like one of their characters. 1 'A Serious Man' Focus Features Picking the best Coen brothers movie is a near-impossible task. Everyone has their favorites. But there's just something special about 'A Serious Man.' Perhaps it's the way it lingers in your mind for days after viewing. Maybe it's how it tells a story of a man searching for answers to his problems and finding nothing, all in the context of a movie that deliberately withholds easy answers. Heck, it could just as easily be Michael Stuhlbarg's perfect performance or the gorgeous cinematography or the unique setting or the constant state of total, crippling dread that the film mines from seeming innocuous and normal events. 'A Serious Man' is about sheer religious terror, a story of watching your life fall apart and not knowing if God is behind it or it it's happening because there is no God at all. And like the best biblical stories, the message isn't always so clear. Is 'A Serious Man' about how worthless religion and faith are since they can't help you with your life in any way?

Or is it about how rejecting religion and faith will ruin your very existence? As the Rabbi says at the end of a seemingly (?) useless story: Who cares? Few films ask so many questions and even fewer films give you the breathing room to make up your own mind. The Films of The Coen Brothers, Ranked From Worst to Best | IndieWire The Films of The Coen Brothers, Ranked From Worst to Best The Films of The Coen Brothers, Ranked From Worst to Best Talk A Coen Brothers film has a certain singular rhythm, a certain irreverently acute love for Greek tragedy and Homeric adventures. In "Barton Fink," a Hollywood producer demands that his film have "that Barton Fink Feeling." The Coen Brothers’ films all have that Coen Brothers Feeling: the malaise of modernity, an endless fascination with losers and emasculated men. To celebrate the legendary filmmaking duo, we ranked all of the films Joel directed or co-directed with Ethan. And since they’ve never helmed a bad film, even the bottom-ranking entries are better than most other filmmakers’ best offerings. READ MORE: The Films of Alfonso Cuaraon, Ranked From Worst to Best 16.

"True Grit" (2010) The Coens remain more faithful to the Charles Portis novel than the 1969 Henry Hathway/John Wayne film, but something feels flat and lifeless here. Jeff Bridges’s grumpy, groggy Rooster Cogburn is a sight to behold, though one can’t help but see the spectral presence of John Wayne lingering. Wayne, one of the screen’s great inimitable but endlessly imitated personas, wasn’t much of an actor, yet his mere presence was often captivating. That presence, that grand feeling, is absent here. The Coens, for all their formidable formal maneuvers and stylistic inclinations, fail to conjure any real mystery or awe. Regardless, we get a few stunning set pieces, Bridges is obviously a much better actor than Wayne, and Hailee Steinfeld does an admirable job as the young girl who hires Cogburn. Not a bad film by any means, but certainly not up to par with the Coens’ others. 15.

"Intolerable Cruelty" (2003) George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones lead a typically stacked lineup of Coen regulars in this story of divorce attorneys and scheming women. Clooney has that old school Cary Grant-esque smarmy charm, and his performance is a slick as his salt-and-pepper hair. Zeta-Jones matches him beat by seductive beat, but the movie never feels as significant or daring as the Coens’ better comedies. 14. "The Hudsucker Proxy" (1994) Tim Robbins plays an eccentric, jocular man who is appointed president (and proxy) of a sinking company by its insidious board leader (Paul Newman), and subsequently invents the hulahoop. I can’t think of a more Coen Brothers-y a subject for a film.

Between this and Altman’s "The Player," Robbins put in some of his best work in the early-’90s, and the scene in which he tries to explain the gyrating apparatus to a befuddled board of geriatric white men ("Does it have rules?" "What if you get tired?" "Is it a game?" "Will it break?" "It better break eventually!") is typical Coens: sharp, syncopated dialogue and an almost existential longing on Robbins’ part (in this scene he never stops hulahooping). It also has Paul Newman, which automatically makes "The Hudsucker Proxy" decent at worst, brilliant at best. 13. "The Ladykillers" (2004) A group of criminal idiots plot to kill an old, church-going African American lady, played by Irma Hall (I don’t point out her ethnicity arbitrarily—it plays a significant part in the story) so they can use her basement to tunnel into a nearby casino. But these are the most incompetent criminals ever, and their every attempt fails miserably.

The most underappreciated movie of the brothers’ career, this tar-black remake of a far more affable, less contentious ’50s British comedy starring Alec Guiness is ruthless in its pursuit of laughs. It’s so mean and insensitive, a lot of moviegoers dismissed it, and it’s often regulated to the bottom of the Coens’ filmography. Tom Hanks throws himself completely into the role of a sinister southern gentleman with awful facial hair and an even worse laugh; tapping the darkness of his turn in Sam Mendes’ gorgeous "The Road to Perdition" and the slapstick insanity of his early career comedies, Hanks gives one of his best performances. The whole motley crew, which includes J.K. Simmons, Marlon Wayans, Tzi Ma, and Ryan Hurst, is uproarious. 12. "Blood Simple" (1984) Joel and Ethan’s debut feature, a blood-soaked neo-noir on a shoestring budget, contains many of the visual and thematic motifs that permeate their lustrous career.

With playful trick shots (the camera gliding along a bar, hoping over a passed-out drunkard on the way to its eventual destination) and that sharp Coen humor, "Blood Simple" establishes the ingenuity the filmmakers have continually used to accentuate the eccentricities of American lowlifes. The story is familiar: a guy (John Getz) and a girl (Frances McDormand) plan to run off together; her husband (Dan Hedaya) doesn’t like that, so he hires a two-timing private eye-cum-killer (E. Emmett Walsh, spectacularly slimy) to take care of things. A handful of moments imbued with genuine suspense still rank among the most memorable in the post-noir film canon, especially those final moments. 11.

"Miller’s Crossing" (1990) People who don’t love the Coens usually love "Miller’s Crossing": it has a lighter, airier touch than the brothers’ subsequent gangster-noirs, and flows fluidly and confidently, like an old river, but doesn’t delve into hysteria like "Raising Arizona" or "The Big Lebowski." It also lacks that Coen Brothers left turn, as Leonard Maltin calls it. Gabriel Byrne, doing his best work maybe ever, is a double-, triple-, quadruple-crossing gangster whose long-time boss, played by the great Albert Finney, goes to war with his hot-heated Italian rival, played by Jon Polito, because Polito wants to kill John Turturro’s shyster Jewish bookie. Marcia Gay Harden, Turturro’s sister, is sleeping with a few of them, which complicates matters. A transcendent experience that admittedly hits the occasional snag, this marks the beginning of the Coens’ insanely impressive ’90s output. 10.

"The Man Who Wasn’t There" (2001) It seems a bit odd that it took the Coens almost 20 years before they experimented with black-and-white photography, since their films exclusively exist in the gray synapse between the bright light and pitch darkness. Filmed in color and converted post-production, "The Man Who Wasn’t There" is one of their most visually eloquent productions. Billy Bob Thornton, who chewed into his villainous role on FX’s fantastic "Fargo" with relish, is the title character, a fleshy shell of a man. Expunged of life, he’s a barber with a monotone voice in a monochrome world. His wife (Frances McDormand) and her boss (James Gandolfini, still in the beginning of "The Sopranos" when he filmed this) are sneaking around not-so-subtly behind his back, while a young Scarlett Johansson looks to him as a fatherly sage, and maybe more. A serene jaunt into sin, this has long been a favorite of the Coens’ devout followers.

Whereas most neo-noirs are overly concerned with emulating the remorseless violence of noir, "The Man Who Wasn’t There" is concerned with consequences. It feels like a relic from the vault of Robert Aldrich. 9. "Burn After Reading" (2008) The Coens create a reality inhabited exclusively by self-centered, paranoid ingrates, all of whom are deeply afflicted with the most vainglorious kind of ineptitude. Idiocy is a plague, according to John Malkovich, clearly having sardonic fun as the henpecked husband who gets fired from his CIA job because he had a drinking problem. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Frances McDormand are all at their funniest, but J.K. Simmons as a CIA administrator steals both of his brief scenes, and really the whole film, the kicker of the whole flick being that the CIA can’t even make sense of the rampant stupidity of the world, nor do they seem to care. Plus, dildo rocking chair. 8.

"O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (2000) Channeling Homer as well as "Sullivan’s Travels," this musical/crime capper/road picture/fairy tale hodgepodge is the Coens at their most scattershot, as well as their most adventurous. George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson are three chain gang escapees who serendipitously encounter various people of varying fictitiousness, from Baby Face Nelson to a black man who sold his soul to Old Scratch in order to play the guitar, on their way to finding hidden treasure (but really to stop Clooney’s ex-wife from getting remarried). Imbued with sepia-toned folk magnificence and rooted in magical realism, the film wrangles together virtually every possible genre known to man; if the results are messy, that’s fine, since it’s such a delightful, life-affirming mess. 7. "A Serious Man" (2009) Michael Stuhlbarg is Larry Gopnik, a sometimes-physics professor and full-time Jew having a life crisis.

His wife wants a get (Jewish divorce) so she can marry another guy, and Larry finds himself slipping deeper into desolation. The Coens’ most Jewish movie (Larry has more than a bit of Job in him), "A Serious Man" tackles issues afflicting the Jewish Diaspora, but without ostracizing non-Jewish viewers. The opening, with the wicked-good character actor Fyvush Finkel, has nothing to do with the rest of the movie and almost feels like a Mario Bava short, but it’s nonetheless enthralling; and that ending shot… 6. "Raising Arizona" (1987) Nicolas Cage has rarely been so lovable as the a wild-haired small-time criminal with a big heart and modest ambitions. Stare in bewilderment as Cage taps into that affable sort of crazy that he still occasionally conjures when he’s not scrounging for money at the bottom of a third-tier action flick. Marvelously paired with Holly Hunter, Cage plays the role with innocent, rambunctious charm, in a sweaty Hawaiian shirt. The hellish biker scenes in particular are outstanding fun. 5.

"Barton Fink" (1991) Penned while the brothers were struggling with "Miller’s Crossing," this seething, surreal indictment of artists (something they’d revisit with "Inside Llewyn Davis") spews venom at Hollywood sell-outs as well as self-important writers. (Faulkner gets an especially lacerating depiction, masterfully performed by John Mahoney.) John Turturro plays the title character, a left-wing playwright who claims to be a champion of the people but who never seems to actually give a shit about the people. John Goodman, that big ol- cuddly, sweaty bear in suspenders, plays his neighbor, Charlie, a door-to-door salesman who has some stories to tell, if Barton ever listens. The hotel in which Barton and Charlie live is as much a character as either of those men, with its oozing, secreting walls and long, ominous halls. One of the more polarizing Coen flicks, "Barton Fink" doesn’t pretend to peddle in bankability, as it revels in literary allusions and abrupt changes in tone and timbre.

It’s also notable for being the first Coen film shot by God—er, I mean Roger Deakins — as well as being responsible for Cannes changing its rules to limit films to one major award, as "Barton Fink" nabbed Best Picture, Actor, and Director unanimously. 4. "The Big Lebowski" (1998) Remember when this Chandler-esque non-mystery flopped in 1998? No, you were probably still a child who, like most of its dearly devoted, discovered "The Big Lebowski" on DVD in the early-aughts. While many of its fanatics seem to belie the whole post-modern detective farce at the heart of the film in favor of brandishing its more latent stoner tendencies, "The Big Lebowski" is nonetheless a masterpiece of absurdism, that rare entity that, while fervidly beloved by masses (there’s even a Lebowski shop in New York’s SoHo), still feels fresh and hip.

While not as visually imaginative as their subsequent films (that musical dream sequence notwithstanding), the tale of The Dude (Jeff Bridges), his Vietnam Vet chum Walter (John Goodman), and the gregarious Donny (Steve Buscemi) is dense with layers and entendres. Plus, Philip Seymour Hoffman has the most awkward laugh this side of Jeff Goldblum. If you burn too much of the Devil’s lettuce before watching, the myriad nods to George Bush (the first one) and the Gulf War may go right over your head, man. 3. "Fargo" (1996) As good as FX’s television reimagining is, the original film is a certifiable classic. Let’s just name a few of the film’s accomplishments: Frances McDormand’s pregnant police chief Marge Grunderson has more humanity and depth than most films manage to convey with an entire array of characters. William H. Macy’s myriad stutters and stammers are all scripted, showing the careful consideration the Coens put into their films. Carter Burwell’s score evokes the despondent feeling of trying to reach out and grab nebulous whorls of breath in the frigid Minnesota air.

Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare’s clashing lowlifes could be comedic relief in a lesser film, but are here equally essential to the mood and narrative (while still providing some riotous laughs). And has there been a more wonderful depiction of marriage than Marge and Norm (Carroll Lynch)? The (not true) story concerns an idiot trying to coerce money from his stingy father-in-law by having his own wife kidnapped, which, of course, goes immediately awry. Rarely has violence been used with such fierce conviction: rather than dwelling on the bloodshed, the Coens use murder as a means to advance a story. Human lives matter in "Fargo," and killing only ever creates more problems. To lift the tagline from another Coens film, "There Are No Clean Getaways." 2. "Inside Llewyn Davis" (2013) Imbued with an all-pervading melancholy, "Inside Llewyn Davis" is a cryptic, poetic ode to art and the artists that make it. Oscar Isaac is the titular folk singer, who embarks on an Ouroboros of an adventure, seemingly designed by Sisyphus himself.

Oscar is one of the great film assholes of recent memory. No other Coens character is so deeply rooted in, and such an unmistakable product of his world. Oscar’s ashen, icy New York is a turgid concrete tundra rendered in grayscale. Everything is the color of stale cigarette smoke. The most important aspect of Oscar’s plateau-like arc is that Oscar isn’t a genius; if he was, the movie would be a different kind of tragic, the familiar story of a brilliant artist whose work goes unappreciated until, suddenly, it doesn’t. Oscar is good, but so is virtually every other musician we meet here. The brief digression with John Goodman as a cankerous, heroin-addled jazz musician may seem arbitrary and pointless, but it still elicits a singular morose feeling. Most great comedies make you laugh and then make you cry, and then make you laugh; "Inside Llewyn Davis" makes you laugh while you’re crying. 1.

" No Country for Old Men " (2007) Staying painstakingly faithful to Cormac McCarthy’s bleak-as-fuck novel, the Coens crafted one of the most enthralling, elusive works of cinematic art of the last decade in the guise of a neo-western. With shades of Howard Hawks, the filmmakers eschew their usual flamboyance and use the vast beige landscape of southern Texas, its purported normality and dusty nothingness, as a kind of self-contained purgatory from which the characters can never escape. The violence hits as hard as in a Peckinpah film, but without the self-conscious deprivation. Josh Brolin is really good as the blue collar Vietnam vet who stumbles upon a vast sum of drug money; Javier Bardem (nabbing Supporting Actor honors) is even better as the enigmatic killer on his trail, a murderous apparition who adheres to his own unique code; and Tommy Lee Jones is incredible as the veteran sheriff chasing after both men. From his opening narration, delivered in a measured rhythm with subtle inflections and deadpan irreverence, Jones captivates with his usual sapient demeanor, calm and considered but still baffled by the ineffable violence erupting around him.

Featuring some of the Coens’ most articulate framing, careful and calculated camerawork, and lucid photography, "No Country for Old Men" exists on a plane separate from their other films. It lacks a true musical score, yet its sparse dialogue, purged of anything even resembling superfluity, maintains the syncopated rhythm typical of a Coens’ film. On a technical level, this is as close to perfect as movies get. The Coen Brothers’ movies in order – IFC Posted by Melissa Locker on September 11th Let’s be honest: when it comes to movies by Joel and Ethan Coens, there are no losers. Over the last (almost) three decades, the dynamic duo known as the Coen Brothers have crafted some of the most memorable, most quotable, funniest, strangest, darkest, and generally greatest movies.

Their films are typically evocative of simpler times while creating complex stories filled with indelible characters range from the sublime “The Dude” to the creepy motorcycle riding maniacal momma’s boy in “Raising Arizona.” These remarkable characters are cast from a steady stable of venerable actors like George Clooney, John Turturro, Francis McDormand, John Goodman, Jeff Bridges, Steve Buscemi, and many more willing to put on a fake mustache, prosthetic limb, unnecessary eye patch, or incredibly bad haircut (Javier Bardem has never looked worse than in “No Country For Old Men”) in order to enter the weird and wonderful of the Coen Brothers. And who wouldn’t jump at a chance to star in one of their viciously funny, hilariously blood-soaked, funny, witty, and clever films? The Coen Brothers make amazing movies, bar none. In honor of “Miller’s Crossing” airing today at 3:30 p.m. ET, we’re attempting the impossible and we’re going to rank the Coen Brothers. God help us. Here are the Coen Brothers’ movies, in order.

Feel free to argue: “The Ladykillers” (2004) <noscript><iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></noscript> “Intolerable Cruelty” (2003) <noscript><iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></noscript> “The Man Who Wasn’t There” (2001) <noscript><iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></noscript> “A Serious Man” (2009) <noscript><iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></noscript> “Burn After Reading” (2008) <noscript><iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></noscript> “Blood Simple” (1984) <noscript><iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></noscript> “Barton F

ink” (1991) <noscript><iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></noscript> “The Hudsucker Proxy” (1994) <noscript><iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></noscript> “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (2000) <noscript><iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></noscript> “True Grit” (2010) <noscript><iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></noscript> “Miller’s Crossing” (1990) <noscript><iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></noscript> “The Big Lebowski” (1998) <noscript><iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></noscript> “No Country for Old Men” (2007

) <noscript><iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></noscript> “Fargo” (1996) <noscript><iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></noscript> “Raising Arizona” (1987) <noscript><iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></noscript> Want the latest news from IFC?

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @ifctv . “Miller’s Crossing” airs today at 3:30 PM ET The Coen Brothers - The films of the Coen Brothers - Pictures - CBS News The films of the Coen Brothers Next The Coen Brothers Two of the most inventive filmmakers working today, Joel and Ethan Coen (pictured on the set of "Raising Arizona") mix a winning, oddball sense of humor with their stories of characters trapped by circumstance in worlds that are daunting, unforgiving, and tinged with an absurdist's view of the universe. Since their debut in 1984 with "Blood Simple," the Coen Brothers have received 13 Academy Award nominations for writing, producing, directing, and (under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes) editing. They've won 4 Oscars, for "Fargo" and "No Country for Old Men." Their latest film is "Inside Llewyn Davis," an evocative story of a singer struggling to define success in the folk music scene of the early 1960s.

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan Credit: 20th Century Fox Early Credits Joel and Ethan Coen grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minn., and as young boys made Super 8mm films - comedic romps such as "Henry Kissinger, Man on the Go." After graduating from NYU, Joel Coen was asked by a friend, Sam Raimi, to be an assistant film editor on his horror flick, "The Evil Dead" (left). He also worked as an editor on "Fear No Evil." Joel and Ethan, who had graduated from Princeton, collaborated on another script for Raimi, "Crimewave," and also co-wrote a crime film to direct themselves. Credit: New Line Cinema "Blood Simple" Dan Hedaya plays a gunshot victim whose wife's lover (John Getz) attempts to finish the job in the Coen Brothers' first film, "Blood Simple." The title was taken from a Dashiell Hammett novel, used to describe the state of mind of one caught in extreme violence. "Blood Simple" was a stunning debut, winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

Roger Ebert wrote, "It is violent, unrelenting, absurd, and fiendishly clever. There is a cliche I never use: Not for the squeamish. But let me put it this way: 'Blood Simple' may make you squeam." Credit: Circle Films "Blood Simple" M. Emmet Walsh as a sleazy private eye in "Blood Simple." In addition to writing, directing and producing, the Coen Brothers also edit their films, under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes. "We thought it would be poor taste to have our names in the credit that many times," Ethan Coen told CBS News. Credit: Circle Films "Raising Arizona" The Coens' second film was also a crime film, but a deliriously absurd and cartoonish one. "Raising Arizona" told of an infertile couple (Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter) who plot to steal a baby from a couple who have quintuplets. "We thought it was unfair some should have so many while others should have so few," said Hi (Cage).

"With the benefit of hindsight, maybe it wasn't such a hot idea." Credit: 20th Century Fox Holly Hunter in "Raising Arizona." Credit: 20th Century Fox "Raising Arizona" Baby Nathan Arizona Jr. hitches a ride with the Lone Biker of the Apocalypse in the Coen Brothers' "Raising Arizona." Credit: 20th Century Fox "Miller's Crossing" The tranquil forest setting that is a favored place for committing mob hits, in the Coen Brothers' "Miller's Crossing." Gabriel Byrne plays an underworld figure's right hand man whose distaste for violence leads him to commit an act of mercy, which costs him terribly. Credit: 20th Century Fox "Miller's Crossing" Albert Finney and Gabriel Byrne, whose trust over matters of business and women is put to the test in "Miller's Crossing." Credit: 20th Century Fox "Miller's Crossing" A dead man's hairpiece falls prey to a curious child in "Miller's Crossing" - an example of the Coen Brothers mixing humor with scenes of violence. When Leon (Albert Finney) learns that the strongarm man nicknamed Rug was killed, he says, "They took his hair, Tommy.

Jesus that's strange. Why would they do that?" Credit: 20th Century Fox Marcia Gay Harden as the gangster moll Verna in the Coen Brothers' "Miller's Crossing." Credit: 20th Century Fox "Barton Fink" A tortured screenwriter sees a vision of tranquility - and what is in that box next to him? John Turturro in "Barton Fink." Credit: 20th Century Fox "Barton Fink" A screenwriter (John Turturro) holed up in a decaying Hollywood hotel befriends a mysterious next-door neighbor (John Goodman) in "Barton Fink." Credit: 20th Century Fox "Barton Fink" The Hotel Earle - a stand-in for purgatory, perhaps, that is ultimately reduced to flames - in the Coen Brothers' "Barton Fink." Production design by Dennis Gassner.

Credit: 20th Century Fox "The Hudsucker Proxy" Tim Robbins with a new invention ("You know, for kids!") in "The Hudsucker Proxy." Robbins plays a mailroom clerk who becomes a front office patsy amid the corporate machinations of giant Hudsucker Industries. The script was written by the Coens and Sam Raimi in the mid-1980s, but did not go before the cameras until nearly a decade later. Also in the cast were Paul Newman, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Charles Durning. Credit: Warner Brothers Paul Newman in "The Hudsucker Proxy." Credit: Warner Brothers "Fargo" William H. Macy plays a car salesman who devises a kidnapping plot and hires the wrong guys to put it in action, in the darkly comic crime drama, "Fargo." The film was the Coen Brothers' biggest critical and commercial success to date, receiving seven Academy Award nominations, and winning the New York Film Critics Circle's Best Film Award.

Credit: Gramercy Pictures "Fargo" Frances McDormand (the wife of Joel Coen) won an Academy Award for Best Actress as Police Chief Marge Gunderson in the Coen Brothers' "Fargo." Credit: Gramercy Pictures A wounded Steve Buscemi buries a briefcase holding a fortune in ransom money in "Fargo." Credit: Gramercy Pictures "The Big Lebowski" Jeff Bridges as The Dude in "The Big Lebowski." The infinitely-quotable comedy, about a stoner who is mistaken for an upstanding business leader with the same name, is a cult classic, and features one of Bridges' best performances.

Credit: Gramercy Pictures "The Big Lebowski" John Goodman and Jeff Bridges bid farewell to the ashes of a friend (kept in a coffee can) in the Coen Brothers' "The Big Lebowski." Credit: Gramercy Pictures "The Big Lebowski" John Turturro played "The Jesus" - a bowler and flasher - in the Coen Brothers' "The Big Lebowski." Credit: Gramercy Pictures "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Three escapees from a Deep South chain gang, in the Coen Brothers' Depression-Era comedy, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" In what was a landmark of cinematography, DP Roger Deakins, a longtime collaborator with the Coens (he received five of his 10 Oscar nominations for their films), had the entire camera negative digitally scanned, and then altered the colors in the computer to create a palette that was warmer and more autumnal than what was filmed on location in Mississippi.

Credit: Buena Vista Pictures "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" The film was a joyous throwback to the screwball comedies of the 1930s, made all the more memorable by its soundtrack (by record producer T. Bone Burnett) of "old-timey" country, bluegrass and gospel tunes, which became a multi-platinum bestseller. Credit: Buena Vista Pictures "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson and George Clooney in the Coen Brothers' "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Credit: Buena Vista Pictures "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" With a story derived (if tongue-in-cheek) from Homer's "The Odyssey," it's not long before the three travelers encounter sirens on the water: From "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" "We didn't start with the premise of updating the 'Odyssey,'" Joel Coen told CBS News. "The setting came first.

The situation, these three fugitives in the chain gang, given the Clooney character is trying to get back home, it just suggested the 'Odyssey' to us." Both admit they had never read Homer's epic poem, although they did read the Classic Comics version of it. Ethan said it's "much easier that way. It's very freeing, man. We're thinking of doing an adaptation of Dickens' 'Martin Chuzzlewit.' We figure nobody knows the original and we don't have to read that. We can make up whatever we want." Credit: Buena Vista Pictures "The Man Who Wasn't There" Billy Bob Thorton and Jon Polito in "The Man Who Wasn't There." Shot in color and converted to stunning black-and-white, the film's plot involved a barber who devises a blackmail scheme against a man he believes is having an affair with his wife. There are also dreams of flying saucers. The film co-stars James Gandolfini, Frances McDormand, Michael Badalucco, Richard Jenkins, and Scarlett Johansson.

Credit: Gramercy Pictures "Intolerable Cruelty" Originally attached to other directors and actors, the screenplay for the romantic comedy "Intolerable Cruelty" was taken over by the Coen Brothers and reworked for Catherine Zeta Jones and George Clooney. Credit: Universal Studios "The Ladykillers" Tom Hanks in the Coen Brothers' remake of the Ealing classic, "The Ladykillers," about a group of thieves who plot to murder the boarding room hostess who has discovered their plot. Credit: Touchstone Pictures "No Country for Old Men" If you find a briefcase filled with stacks of cash, it is probably best to just leave it be. Failing to heed that lesson, Josh Brolin plays a hunter whose discovery leads to a bloody cat-and-mouse chase in "No Country for Old Men." Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, the Coen Brothers' film is a triumph of quiet precision and suspense, as law enforcement forces and drug cartel hitmen draw closer to an Everyman whose greatest mistake, it turns out, was an act of compassion.

Credit: Miramax "No Country for Old Men" Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) has already seen too much in his life, before seeing this: The aftermath of a drug deal gone bad, in the Coen Brothers' "No Country for Old Men." Credit: Miramax "No Country for Old Men" Javier Bardem won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor as the hitman Anton Chigurh in "No Country for Old Men." Credit: Miramax Films "No Country for Old Men" Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men." Credit: Miramax "No Country for Old Men" Kelly Macdonald ("Trainspotting") as the wife of Josh Brolin in "No Country for Old Men." Credit: Miramax Academy Awards "Ethan and I have been making stories with movie cameras since we were kids," said Joel Coen, accepting their Academy Award for directing "No Country for Old Men." "Honestly what we do now doesn't feel that much different from what we were doing then.

"We're really thrilled to have received this and we're very thankful to all of you out there for letting us continue to play in our corner of the sandbox." Credit: AMPAS/Mark Petit "Burn After Reading" In the dark comedy, "Burn After Reading," a former CIA analyst's computer files go missing, and are found by some opportunistic but dim-witted gym employees. The game cast included George Clooney, Richard Jenkins, John Malkovich, Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand.

Credit: Focus Features "Burn After Reading" A typical setting in a Coen Brothers film: A character discovers they are in completely over their head, as when a dead body is found in "Burn After Reading." Credit: Focus Features "A Serious Man" Michael Stuhlbarg plays a Jewish physics professor in Midwest suburbia suffering a moral crisis as his family is beset by infidelity, a pot-smoking son studying for bar mitzvah, a daughter stealing money to buy a nose job, and a mail-order record club, in "A Serious Man." Like many other Coen Brothers films, "A Serious Man" tells of characters whose ability to understand the world and their place in it is inhibited by their inability to see themselves - making the world appear even more threatening, and unknowable. It was the third Coen Brothers film to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

Credit: Focus Features "A Serious Man" Professor Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) demonstrates for his students the Uncertainty Principle: "It proves we can't ever really know what's going on." Credit: Focus Features "True Grit" Jeff Bridges as Marshal "Rooster" Cogburn - described as "a pitiless man, double tough, and fear don't enter into his thinking" - in the Coen Brothers' remake of "True Grit." The film, based on Charles Portis' novel, was nominated for 10 Academy Awards , including Best Picture. Credit: Paramount Pictures "True Grit" In her first feature film performance, Hailee Steinfeld received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination as Mattie Ross in "True Grit." Credit: Paramount Pictures "Inside Llewyn Davis" "Inside Llewyn Davis" evokes the folk music scene in 1961 New York City, just on the cusp of a great change in music a-blowin' in the wind.

But this is not an against-all-odds Hollywood fantasy about success being heaped upon the deserving; it's about everybody else who struggles with creative expression, perhaps without knowing why, and certainly without a Plan B in case Plan A doesn't quite work out. Credit: CBS Films "Inside Llewyn Davis" The obstacles that come before Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac, in a break-out performance) may arise because of his doing (a woman's pregnancy, a fight in a back alley), or from serendipity (a locked door, a missing box of trash, a wandering cat), but Llewyn's struggle to gain sympathy is often self-defeating. He is spiteful, judgmental and crass. While he accuses other musicians of being careerists, he finds himself struggling to maintain a career - what he calls "his work." As in other Coen Brothers films, the joy of watching "Inside Llewyn Davis" is that of being happily escorted though a minefield of absurdity, shock, and touching humanity, all arising from unexpected places. Credit: CBS Films "Inside Llewyn Davis" Folk singer Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) auditions for a Chicago club owner (F.

Murray Abraham) in the Coen Brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis." By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan Credit: CBS Films "Hail, Caesar!" "Hail, Caesar!" (2016) depicts the travails of a studio fixer responsible for solving the problems that are throwing a film studio in disarray, such as the kidnapping of their biggest star by a coterie of Communists. The movies stars Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Channing Tatum. By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan Credit: Universal

Question: A.S.M. was which Coen brothers film?
Answer: A SERIOUS MAN