SPECIAL: Coen Brothers Films, Ranked

This spring we felt like watching as many Coen Brothers films as we could in chronological order. I had already seen 11 of the 18, which actually surprised me. Four films didn't get viewed, sadly, due to not being able to easily watch (and we didn't want to pay a fee to rent). But I did watch four films for the first time. My favorite of the bunch is still O Brother Where Art Thou, simply because of the glorious combination of Homer's story, the 1930s time period, and the incredible music. All in all, it was a fun experience. Here's the complete list of all Coen Brothers feature films, followed by my rankings. We didn't watch the films highlighted in yellow.

• Blood Simple (1984)
• Raising Arizona (1987)
• Miller's Crossing (1990)
• Barton Fink (1991)--we weren't able to watch
• The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
• Fargo (1996)
• The Big Lebowski (1998)
• O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000)
  
• The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
• Intolerable Cruelty (2003)--we weren't able to watch
• The Ladykillers (2004)
• No Country for Old Men (2007)
• Burn After Reading (2008)
• A Serious Man (2009)--we weren't able to watch
• True Grit (2010)
• Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
• Hail, Caesar! (2016)
• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

#14 The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)

Rating: Q=5, P=4 / Average OJ
Scale 1=3, Scale 2=2, Scale 3=2, Scale 4=2

#13 Blood Simple (1984)
Rating: Q=6, P=4 / Average OJ
Scale 1=3, Scale 2=3, Scale 3=2, Scale 4=2

#12 Burn After Reading (2008)
Rating: Q=6, P=5 / Average OJ
Scale 1=3, Scale 2=3, Scale 3=3, Scale 4=2

#11 Miller's Crossing (1991)

Rating: Q=6, P=5 / Average OJ
Scale 1=3, Scale 2=3, Scale 3=3, Scale 4=2

#10 The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Rating: Q=6, P=5 / Average OJ
Scale 1=3, Scale 2=3, Scale 3=3, Scale 4=2

#9 Raising Arizona (1987)

Rating: Q=6, P=5 / Average OJ
Scale 1=3, Scale 2=3, Scale 3=3, Scale 4=2

#8 The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

Rating: Q=6, P=6 / Average OJ
Scale 1=3, Scale 2=3, Scale 3=3, Scale 4=3

#7 Hail Caesar! (2016)
Rating: Q=6, P=6 / Average OJ
Scale 1=3, Scale 2=3, Scale 3=3, Scale 4=3

#6 Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Rating: Q=6, P=6 / Average OJ
Scale 1=3, Scale 2=3, Scale 3=3, Scale 4=3

#5 The Big Lebowski (1998)
Rating: Q=6, P=6 / Average OJ
Scale 1=3, Scale 2=3, Scale 3=3, Scale 4=3

#4 Fargo (1996)
Rating: Q=8, P=6 / Can't Get Enough
Scale 1=4, Scale 2=4, Scale 3=3, Scale 4=3

#3 True Grit (2010)
Rating: Q=6, P=7 / Comfy Old Standard
Scale 1=3, Scale 2=3, Scale 3=4, Scale 4=3

#2 No Country For Old Men (2007)
Rating: Q=7, P=7 / Can't Get Enough
Scale 1=3, Scale 2=4, Scale 3=4, Scale 4=3

#1 O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000)
Rating: Q=8, P=8 / Obsession
Scale 1=4, Scale 2=4, Scale 3=4, Scale 4=4

--Don't understand the ratings? Click here

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2018)

Click here for the basics

Rating: Q=7, P=5 / Can't Get Enough

Scale 1=3, Scale 2=4, Scale 3=3, Scale 4=2

Western, Tall Tales, Vignettes, Philosophical

Growing up, I heard and read lots of fairy tales and folk stories. It's no surprise that I grew to love them, since my mother taught folklore classes and studied the traditional European stories that were told through the ages, around a campfire, on a journey... In America they are tall tales or, in this case, ballads. I also enjoy westerns and stories about the frontier, so The Ballad of Buster Scruggs was a delight for me. This film is actually a collection of vignettes, all with a rather dark or sobering mood, but all beautiful and poignant. The artistry combined with the stories is admirable--very captivating and makes you think.

--Don't understand the ratings? Click here