MovieChat Forums > Hail, Caesar! (2016) Discussion > Can you really enjoy this movie without ...

Can you really enjoy this movie without understanding cinematic history?

posted 8 years ago by Rizzyay
36 replies | jump to latest

Yeah, I just finished watching the movie. It was allright, not great but allright. To me, it was a parody of Hollywood history. I have luckily been studying the cinematic history lately, and thus understood pretty much all the jokes about the movie genres and the communist schemes that were presumed to exist in the 50s (that were for most part exxaggeration, which of course you would also have to know in order to understand the joke). Can you really like this movie at all without having understanding of movie history? If not, then the Coen brothers really made a movie for a very narrow audience!

For me 6/10. It was a decent 3-star-film about the spoofs of movie history.

Without understanding of cinematic history I would've missed all the jokes, and it would've been propably like 2/10.

[–] ElMaruecan82 8 years ago

For me, a movie should be enjoyable in its own right, if it requires the possession of some extra knowledge to be "gotten", then there's something wrong in the initial premise.

That said, we're all movie lovers of various degrees of knowledge, even by assuming we get 80% of the references, I don't know how that would make the film more "enjoyable". I mean, seriously, just because we love movies doesn't mean we should drool over any movie that celebrates movies, seems like a rather primitive or pavlovian reaction. I love poker but I don't applaud any movie dealing with poker.

Many filmmakers take for granted that any Hollywood 'love letter' or 'pamphlet' will immediately be a success, well, there's got to a be a little more, a compelling story at least, not filled with random disjointed vignettes that look great on the screen but don't add much to the plot.

I'll give it a second chance for the principle because I love the Coen brothers and there were many films I didn't like at first viewing, but it already seems like a good candidate for "worst Coens' film I saw".

Darth Vader is scary and I  The Godfather

[–] Trax-3 8 years ago

For me, a movie should be enjoyable in its own right, if it requires the possession of some extra knowledge to be "gotten", then there's something wrong in the initial premise.

So all movies should be full of exposition and pander to the lowest common denominator?

[–] ElMaruecan82 8 years ago

That's your personal interpretation of my words, certainly not what I meant.

Did you need to know that Vito Corleone was based on former mobster Vincent Gambino, Moe Greene on Bugsy Siegel or Hyman Roth on Meyer Lansky to enjoy the Godfather movies?

The story must be compelling and the extra-references are only the 'icing on the cake' but not the basis of the film's greatness.

Darth Vader is scary and I  The Godfather

[–] Trax-3 8 years ago

Did you need to know that Vito Corleone was based on former mobster Vincent Gambino, Moe Greene on Bugsy Siegel or Hyman Roth on Meyer Lansky to enjoy the Godfather movies?

No, but it would probably enhance your enjoyment. Godfather with all its countless characters can also be rather confusing on the first viewing, probably more so than Hail Caesar.

[–] ElMaruecan82 8 years ago

It took me a lot of viewings to understand and appreciate The Godfather but I'm sure you'd agree that Hail, Caesar! isn't the third, not even the tenth of what The Godfather is as an engaging story. I'm sure even the Coens had no intent to make a masterpiece on that level.

But I do love their work, many of their films I consider masterpieces and that includes Inside Llewyn Davis but I had a hard time getting into Hail, Caesar!, which I thought was maybe too ambitious... or not enough. The subplots are not equally entertaining, some musical numbers dragged on for so long they really felt like time fillers, and some actors were so underused their roles were just like cute cameos. I didn't even think the production design was that impressive.

I'll give it another try before a definite rating, I might have missed something, but it's only because it's the Coens that I give them the benefit of the doubt, that and the fact that I disliked many of their films at first viewing but changed my mind after a second one.

Darth Vader is scary and I  The Godfather

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

I love "Hail, Caesar!" I found it to be a lighthearted love letter to 1950s Hollywood. The movie is a real treat for those of us who are interested in the history of that era. It's nice to have all these inside references that probably go right over the heads of today's general public.

I think it's a shame that so many people these days really don't have a sense of history and an understanding of the past before the days of smart phones and Snapchat.

[–] Otter (24464) 7 years ago

FYI it's it possible to enjoy this movie even if you can spend all day arguing whether Lillian or Dorothy Gish was the greater talent. It just isn't a good movie.

[–] uridon2 (184) 5 years ago

I think if you have a general knowledge of older films and old Hollywood you could grasp it.

Some movies just need context to be appreciated. Wouldn't expect a child from Zimbabwe to
be able to grasp "Patton," and that's neither the movie or child's fault.