Rating: 
Summary: ...life of the mind...
Review: When I first saw this movie, I was a high school wrestler who was basically into Schwarzenegger flicks. My friends were going along with their dad to see this weirdo movie and invited me along. Having nothing better to do, I went along. It wasn't exactly love at first sight. First off, I was surprised and a bit confused by the level of irony in this film. I didn't realize it was a satire. I was pulling for Barton Fink (John Turturro), a self-absorbed, arogant, childish weeneie, all the way. Not that he was evil, mind you, just a tad unrealistic. Oddly, it took a trip to Hollywood to expose him to the real world. In Hollywood he meets super sleazy two-faced execs, formerly great/currently drunk authors, and a too friendly to be true "insurance salesman" called Big Dan (John Goodman). Barton depends on each of these men, and they all let him down in surprising fashion. He has found himself in the proverbial world where "nothing is as it seems", and he becomes hopelessly lost. It is in showing Barton become simultaneously lost in his work and in his life that the movie is most fascinating.
Barton Fink is a beautifully crafted movie from the Coen brothers, who manage to recall David Lynch, as much as anyone else, save themselves, in telling this extremely peculiar and hilariously bizarre story.
By the way, this may be revisionist history at work, but I credit this movie for showing me the light away from Arnold, Jean-Claude, and the like. If you like Fargo, Big Lebowski, or even Blue Velvet, this is right up your alley.
Rating:
Summary: ...life of the mind...
Review: When I first saw this movie, I was a high school wrestler into Schwarzenegger flicks. My friends were going with their dad and invited me along. First off, I was surprised and a bit confused by the level of irony in this film. I didn't realize it was a satire. I was pulling for Barton Fink (John Turturro), a self-absorbed, arogant, childish weeneie, all the way. Not that he was evil, mind you, just a tad unrealistic. Oddly, it took a trip to Hollywood to expose him to the real world. In Hollywood he meets super sleazy two-faced execs, formerly great/currently drunk authors, and a too friendly to be true insurance salesman called Big Dan (John Goodman). Barton depends on each of these men, and they all let him down in surprising fashion. He has found himself in the proverbial world where "nothing is as it seems", and he becomes hopelessly lost.
Barton Fink is a beautifully crafted movie from the Coen brothers, who manage to recall David Lynch, as much as anyone else save themselves, in telling this extremely peculiar and hilariously bizare story.
By the way, this may be revisionist history at work, but I credit this movie for showing me the light away from Arnold, Jean-Claude, and the like. If you like Fargo, Big Lebowski, or Blue Velvet, this is right up your alley.
Rating: 
Summary: I Smell a Rat with FINK, but Enjoy Other Coen Films
Review: Barton Fink is a film that feels a little scattered and slow in its first third, and ends on an even slower note. John Turturro, gives an amenable performance as the title charter but I never really feel like all his acting ability is challenged during this piece. With a murder mystery plot catching my attention a ways into the film, I finally started to care about the story line, even though I could have cared less about the characters. Not to say that all the performances in this film where wasted on fantastic actors; John Goodman gives a stellar performance as a crazed serial killer playing an innocent friend and sales man to Barton. Steve Bushimi, though greatly under used, pulls off that crazy but creepy persona once again.
Over all, this movie fairs about to be the same thing that it makes Hollywood out to be, full of the glitz and glamour on the outside with a dark and hard inside. Its a Coens' brothers film so it should live up to the great ideals they had set for themselves at this point in their careers, but I find it lack luster. I would, however, consider watching this film again once it is released on DVD; the lighting and color used in this film were very beautiful and were not done justice on VHS.
Overall, not the Coens' best work but there are a lot worse films out there to watch.(...)
Rating: 
Summary: here's to you, e.c.2
Review: i watched this movie about a week ago for a class. i liked it, yes. no, i would not watch it again. i found it hard to find myself in any of the characters. i'm not a struggling writer, a pyschotic salesman, or abused lover. but if forced to, i would most likely relate myself to mayhew, who finds writing as an escape. not that i write to escape, but i could see it as a possiblity.
i enjoyed the hotel. it was one of the best things this movie had going for it. from the mysterious guests, who were never showen, only referenced to from the next room having sex, to the nasty walls and decrepit condition of the beds. and just how all those shoes make their way outside the rooms every day still confuses me.
the ending made me smile. it was so simple, yet so not. i know that there is so much meaning with the girl in the picture above the desk ending up on the same beach where fink goes, but i just liked it because it was so obvious that that was how it all was supposed to end. simple and satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: That barton fink feeling.
Review: The film gets five stars. The VHS tape gets three stars. So it evens out at a solid four star rating.Barton Fink is quite possibly the Coen brothers strangest film. Their most symbolic, perhaps. I dunno- its a great ride and you need to take it. John Turturro and John Goodman give fantastic performances. Without Goodman's character, or performance, this movie would have been dangerously slow and low-key. And the VHS. Its pan and scan, hence the three stars. Still waiting for this and Miller's Crossing to come out on DVD, maybe with a few extras even. But I'm not holding my breath.
Rating:
Summary: Unlike Mulholland Drive, this one keeps the line of thought.
Review: Liked it. Didn't love it. Liked it. Worth watching? Yes. Worth buying? Perhaps? Does it make me think? Yes. John Goodmen's best acting job ever? Yes. Captivating? Absolutely. Now, those question having been answered, I'd like to let you in on something - this film is not for everyone. It will keep everyone on the edge of their, waiting for the next squence to hint something at us. Well, we get plenty of hints, but when it's all said and done, we are basically left to decide what this film meant. Category person A: Will not like how this film ended and will utterly be left puzzled. Category person B: Will figure it all out and love it. Category person C: (the one I'm in) Will want to watch it again, this time with a prepared mind. This is a solid film and one that will certainly make everyone think. Score by Carter Burwell is solid as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Going to graduate school? Rent this film first. Coen's best!
Review: Every time I hear the words "the life of the mind," I now have a [vivid] image of a very large man charging down a narrow corridor, fire exploding behind him as he shouts at the top of his lungs, "I'll show you the life of the mind! I'll show you the life of the mind!" Anyone who thinks they live the so-called "life of the mind" should see this film and wake up. Another reviewer put it well by noting that Goodman is the hero here, in that he is the "working-class" individual Barton portentiously imagines he captures in his work. (Interesting note: Listen to the end of Fink's play at the start of the movie; then look at what he's typing near the end of the film. I'll say no more, but it sums up the movie -- and the "life of the mind" taken to its pompous extreme -- perfectly.) Goodman, though, is a hero from Hades -- perhaps the anti-ideal of the working individual, an individual that Fink can't even comprehend (much less listen to) because, in Fink's mind, he doesn't exist -- all Fink can see is the hero working individual. Therein lies the irony: No one holds claim to the "Truth," and no one walks away (or walks in) clean and pure. It's a crime that this isn't on DVD. It's the Coen's best film. Yes, it is extremely dark; don't expect O Brother or Fargo. If you've ever tried to work with ideas (and especially put them down on "paper"), I think you'll relate to this movie. If you've been around people who do the above and think they're God's gift to the world for it, then you'll love this film. Too bad the people who need to get the message the most -- the ones mentioned above -- wouldn't get it; they wouldn't be able to see the forest through the trees. Their individual "lives of the mind" are just too important and dense, after all.
Rating:
Summary: Look Upon Me, I'll Show You the Life of the Mind
Review: John Turturro, in the title role, has just written a smash play and soon Hollywood comes calling in the form of a shallow studio boss wonderfully played by Michael Lerner - "gimmie that Barton Fink feeling, but nothing too fruity." Fink finds himself out of place in Hollywood and sits depressed and unable to write in a creepy hotel with what seems a jolly good neighbor in traveling salesman John Goodman who has plenty of stories to tell but can't get a word in edgeways as Turturro pontificates about theater and culture. While kicking around the Hollywood backlots Turturro meets up with one of his literary heros in the form of John Mahoney, now a second rate drunk, "Come see me Barton, we'll discussing 'rasling pictures and other things literary." Turturro takes up with the writers younger female companion and then suddenly the film veers off in a whole new direction from an amusing curiousity to an unforgettable experience. Don't miss this unusual gem, but admittedly, it is not for all tastes.
Rating: 
Summary: a betrayal.
Review: as a fan of movies coen, i feel deeply the betrayal of this travesty. a movie about hell that does a startlingly good job at giving the viewer a personal encounter with it. stay away.
Rating:
Summary: The Coens' Best
Review: Along with David Lynch the Coen Bros. make movies that require more than one, even more than two, or five, or ten, viewings to get the whole picture. Also like Lynch, their ouput is uneven, with some of the best films made in the last 25 years, and some of the, well, I wouldn't say worst, but possibly the most challenging. BARTON FINK was for me an instant treasure. I saw this in the theatre twice (it played in my home town for two weeks), and have watched it innumerable times on video and/or laser disc (come on DVD!!). It really isn't all that hard to understand, MILLER'S CROSSING is much more difficult in my eyes since so many characters are spoken of but hardly seen. But being a fan of Lynch's ERASERHEAD, and Roman Polanski's REPULSION and THE TENANT, BARTON FINK didn't really seem all that weird. Besides that the acting is categorically suberb, the script is one of the Coens' finest, and it's quite humorous. I just hope it comes to DVD some day.
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