Do you live in North Carolina in the US of A? Assuming you haven’t landed at YKFK by mistake, you love the movies of the Coen brothers. Well, what could be better than watching them for FREE and partaking in discussions about them with critics and fans? Interested? Read on…

ASHEVILLE — People love or loathe the Coen brothers’ movies. A critics’ roundtable event will break them (the movies, not the people) down at screenings of the films at Pack Library.

The critics are Ken Hanke, Marcianne Miller, Jason Souther and Buncombe County Library director Ed Sheary. All showings are at 2 p.m. and are free.

• “Blood Simple” (rated R), Saturday: Introduced by Sheary, a long-time fan of the Coen brothers’ films, this film was the first collaboration between the Coen brothers. Sheary decided to show the film because, he said, “when I saw this film, I began to really understand ‘The Big Lebowski.’”
• “Miller’s Crossing” (rated R), Aug. 23: Introduced by Hanke, this densely plotted film mixes a couple of Dashiell Hammett novels into a cocktail of shaky ethics and ambition.
• “The Big Lebowski” (rated R), Aug. 30: This film will be introduced by Miller, who for many years worked as a TV producer/writer in Los Angeles and, as an avid bowler, used to roll strikes and spares at the Holly Star Lanes seen in this Coen
• “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (rated PG-13): Introduced by Souther, the DVD includes a comment about the film by Joel Coen: “We sort of combine the Three Stooges with Homer’s Odyssey.”

Thanks to Bunnie for mailing this one in.

What with all the news of The Dark Knight being the bestest movie in the world since time began (according to it’s IMDB user rating) and in conjunction with YKFK’s currently running poll to find out which was the best (or more accurately- most favourite) Coen brothers movie, I thought it might be interesting to see what the IMDB users thought in comparison. In terms of ratings here’s IMDB’s rundown of Coen awesomeness first by rating and, where there’s a tie, I’ve given preference to the one with the most votes…

1. No Country For Old Men (8.4, 118,396 votes)
2. Fargo (8.3, 122,902)
3. The Big Lebowski (8.2, 122,119)
4. Miller’s Crossing (8.0, 31,861)
5. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (7.8, 71,292)
6. Blood Simple (7.8, 19,584)
7. The Man Who Wasn’t There (7.7, 30,891)
8. Barton Fink (7.7, 22,073)
9. Raising Arizona (7.5, 35,918)
10. The Hudsucker Proxy (7.4, 23,968)
11. Intolerable Cruelty (6.4, 26, 521)
12. The Ladykillers (6.2, 27,747)

Now, obviously, this is a live list so it will change over time. I just thought it might be interesting to compare what general movie fans think as opposed to specific Coen brothers fans who visit YKFK. At the moment the YKFK poll has Miller’s Crossing and The Big Lebowski tied at the top with 19% of the votes a piece. Next up is Fargo with 16% followed by Barton Fink with 13%. The bottom two in the YKFK poll unsurprisingly mirror the bottom two in the IMDB rankings, each taking up zero percent of the votes thus far- come on- SOMEONE must like them .

I was very surprised to see No Country For Old Men top the IMDB list whilst it is sixth on ours, but these type of things are always coloured by short memory. Will the IMDB voters still consider No Country superior to Fargo and The Big Lebowski in 10 years time?

Come the end of the YKFK poll (I ain’t decided how long to run it really- perhaps it should never end- your thoughts welcome) we need to decide which of the two polls is more important to us here at YKFK- the one voted for by dedicated Coen nuts or the one voted for by a more general movie fan…

Incidentally, I’m seeing The Dark Knight tomorrow afternoon and am looking forward to it immensely. I am expecting great things but the best movie of all time… nope.