Coentelpro: A Podcast About the Coen Brothers

Every week via the Substrate Radio network, Gareth Jones and Craig Ceravolo co-host their long-running show, Sleep In Cinema, on which they discuss a possibly classic film chosen by a guest. Coentelpro cleverly turned the tables on these broadcasting titans, forcing them to choose a Coen brothers film to chew over for an episode of this very podcast. They picked Miller's Crossing and here we are! Topics include: the Coens' intricate hard-boiled dialogue, whether a hat is just a hat, Tom and Leo's brotherly love, and what, exactly, is the rumpus.

Ronald James (one half of hip-hop duo Catch the Fade, co-host of the Movie Schmovie podcast) rides to town on a flaming motorcycle to help with a discussion of 1987’s Raising Arizona—the singular infant abduction comedy that may be the most beloved film by the Coens. The iconic performances, the madcap action sequences, and the screwball dialogue: all is covered, plus a lot of anecdotal evidence that this is a low-key “dad film.”

Mike White, he of The Projection Booth and a bunch of other cool podcasts, joins John for a somewhat giddy chat about Blood Simple, the Coen Brothers’s first movie, and Crimewave, the film the Coens co-wrote with Sam Raimi, for Raimi to direct. As they dig into the technical concerns, character details, and snappy dialogue that make even the most embryonic Coens efforts feel so darn Coens-y, Mike and John find time to sing the praises of M. Emmet Walsh’s sleazebag appeal, Barry Sonnenfeld’s roving and precise camerawork, and Bruce Campbell’s manly but versatile hands.