A Serious Man is their best film tho… And Hudsucker is brilliant.

I don't think this movie was really anti-religion. Or maybe it was in a way in that it poked fun at dogma, iconography and ideological bickering (I mean the "commies" talked themselves into being… not commies). But it seemed pretty pro-God and faith. Actually I think a lot of their films are based around the idea that…

They're certainly not nihilists or conservative. They're just complex and it makes smug liberals (who are used to being coddled by high art ) heads spin

I think few people do, but what did you think it was about?

I personally thought the point of the "faith" thing was to poke fun at how people forget the importance of it and get caught up with everything else. Iconography and ideology are ridiculed in this film, but I think conviction is the last thing that is mocked, considering the protagonist embodies it.

I wouldn't say they lampoon what their characters really believe at all. I don't think they mocked his faith in this, just poked fun at his consistent need for atonement.

I think your assessment is pretty fair, but I can see how someone would see the Coens as "conservative" within the realm of Hollywood auteurs. Certainly not economically, as no sin in their film universe worse than greed and self-interest. However, they do seem to have a genuine love for (and base their films morality…

I'm completely liberal in every imaginable way. But I watched Nyes video on abortion and it was just inane rambling about "scientific facts" with no substance.

I dont hate either of them and I agree we need popular science educators, especially for kids. With that in mind I don't like how recently they pander to the reddit-like smug crowd (NDT with his "Happy birthday Newton not Jesus lawl #objectivefacts" tweets or Bill Nye making nonsensical videos about how science…

Thats fair! I agree, though I wonder if that's due to this sort of passive aggression being business as usual. I dunno.

Im pretty sure at least half of the people who casually read the AV club have some sort of spiritual belief, same for other massive sites that seem atheist/agnostic heavy like Reddit or NeoGAF or whatever. Looking at the demographics of English speaking countries, it would be insane if that wasnt the case.

It's very annoying on this site, and its blatantly obvious in general around the internet in places where nerdy white dudes reign supreme.

The money lenders thing makes complete sense. I mean, Jesus wasn't a hippy, hes more like a middle eastern Malcolm X in regards to the seriousness and urgency of his message.. with more parables. Hence why he came with "a sword" and all that. That also kinda touches upon the last bit of your comment: "I am the way,…

indeed

A straight atheist? On the internet?!?

It was meh. The sketches were too long and the energy was really low. Some brilliant moment though.

I think youre being a little generous towards something more pleasant than funny and overall kind of boring, but good write up. Though I thought all the Islam stuff fell really flat, thank God they mostly reigned in the aimlessly offensive smug bullshit and general mean-spiritedness (aka Bob reigning in David) and…

Not even close. David's bit was fucking terrible.

Yeah that bit made David look pretty lame, trying desperately to be edgy and shove in his CHECK OUT MY OFFENSIVE ATHEIST PERSONA routine.

School of Rock is my favorite Linklater movie and Ive seen pretty much all of them