Clooney Kidnapped In Latest Coen Flick

‘HAIL, CAESAR!’ TRAILER REVIEW BY METRO CREW

In the latest star-studded project by the Coen Brothers (O Brother, Where Art Thou, No Country For Old Men), we’re taken to 1950s Hollywood, where Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) works as a problem-solver for the biggest names in film. Things get convoluted in his latest assignment to save a kidnapped actor (George Clooney) from a group that calls itself The Future. The film also stars Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Tilda Swinton and Jonah Hill. While the sheer amount of star power attached to the film is impressive, we’re not so sure if this will be one of the Coens’ best. Hail, Caesar! opens in wide release Feb. 5.

PAIGE: What I like best about this trailer is that I watched it and I still cannot definitively tell you anything about what is happening in this movie or even what all the characters are supposed to be doing. I can’t even tell you if I’d want to watch it. Like, I’m curious but I’m also … not. Unless the whole movie is just Channing Tatum dancing in different jaunty costumes? I could watch that for two hours.

JAMES: Cool. Another zany Coen Brothers pic advertising all their trademark moves — gliding camera angles, colorful one-liners, the occasionally looping dialogue between pauses, and … George Clooney? Again!? I thought he was done with the “Idiot Trilogy.”

JAIMIE: Is there a Coen Brothers film in which George Clooney isn’t … slightly bizarre?

NICOLE: It seems almost too predictable, but that’s OK with me. I freakin’ LOVE Channing Tatum, and if the Coen Bros. are involved, I’m in.

CHRISTINA: I love a lot of Coen Brothers films (OK, mainly I think I just really love No Country For Old Men), but this doesn’t really look that interesting. I can see how maybe it would be a fun film, but it also looks kind of … lacking? That said, I would probably see it just because it’s a Coen Brothers film, and I’m sure that — and the large amount of big-name actors here — will be enough of a draw for a lot of people.

PAIGE: Talk about an #OscarsSoWhite kind of film! No minorities and only two women get top billing.

JAIMIE: I agree. I mean, this was all filmed and whatnot before the Academy announced its very questionably white nominations this year and celebrities began boycotting the awards, but still, way to stoke the flames. (Side note, I still don’t know how I feel about Joseph Fiennes playing Michael Jackson in a biopic…)

NICOLE: I have this burning desire to know why they (the group that kidnaps Clooney) call themselves The Future. I have a feeling it has to do with the fact that George Clooney is overrated and terrible, but he still makes the most money, and the people from “the future” want to take him down a notch. Or they just want to take over Hollywood. And are Johansson, Hill and Tatum teaming up to save him? That part was kind of unclear.

PAIGE: I like the sepia-toned throwback to Old Hollywood. I may not enjoy watching old films, but I appreciate the painstaking aesthetic pursued by new films about old films.

JAMES: I like the Coens’ caper movies. They’re always densely plotted. Stylishly shot through a thin veneer of genre. All of their characters are like chess pieces. Their motives are unclear, they make interesting moves, but they never jump off the board. This makes their movies feel like self-enclosed universes. The fact that they are usually period pieces make it even more so.