Essential Coen Brothers

The film received mediocre reviews on release but like Raising Arizona it has gone on to become a cult classic.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

O Brother, Where Art Thou? was released in 2000 and starred George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake nelson and John Goodman and is set in Mississippi during the great Depression.

The movie follows three escaped convicts Ulysses Everett McGill (Clooney), Pete Hoywallop (Turturro) and Delmar O'Donnell (Nelson) who have set off to discover a $1.2 million fortune that Everett stole and buried.

it was another critical and commercial hit for the brothers and highlighted George Clooney's comic abilities.

The music, most of which was mostly folk, became even more popular than the movie itself. The American roots soundtrack won a Grammy for Best Album in 2001.

No Country For Old Men

More success came the way of Joel and Ethan Coen in 2008 with the release of No Country For Old Men, an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy.

The movie brought together an impressive cast of Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin and Kelly Macdonald as well as introducing audiences to Javier Bardem.

Sheriff Bell (Jones) has ruled the land for years without the use of a gun, but a new brand of reckless lawlessness has taken over his town. Llewelyn Moss (Brolin) is an innocent Everyman with a devoted wife, Carla Jean (Macdonald), but when he stumbles across a drug deal gone deadly and finds two million dollars, he's determined to keep it for himself.

There's only one problem. He's being pursued by one of the most amoral, evil psychopaths that the big screen has ever seen.

Wearing an absurd haircut and brandishing a pressurized weapon that's used to murder cattle, Anton Chigurh (Bardem) creeps forward on his mission to track Moss down and return the money to its rightful owners to save his own skin.

As the tension mounts, the body count begins to rise, confirming Sheriff Bell's inability to battle this new wave of modern brutality.

The movie was an immediate critical hit and dominated the awards season going on to pick up Best Director, Best Film and best Supporting Actor for Bardem at the Oscars.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

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