I know, right?    I dunno if that's how it happened, but I can imagine one of the Coens happening to see that album and getting an idea...

Yeah, I don't get the hoopla about that song either.  Haven't seen the movie but I saw that clip that everyone was going gaga over.  Song was okay, but what threw me was that the character animation was kinda sub-par.

Again, haven't seen the whole movie, so maybe that scene works better in context.

I have not seen SERIOUS MAN, actually.     And to be fair the "non-ending" of NO COUNTRY still made a kind of sense to me, since it sorta fit with what the movie seemed to be saying overall.    I was more bothered by the non-ending of THERE WILL BE BLOOD that same year, to be honest.

It's bona fide.

I'm with Doc Sub on this one - I liked Three Kings, and Silver Linings Playbook whenever Jennifer was onscreen, and that's about it for me and David O. Russell as well.

American Hustle wasn't bad, it just seemed like a Goodfellas fanfilm.  I also don't get the appeal of Bradley Cooper, so that may be part of the problem.

Everybody involved has already made more money than all of our lifetime salaries combined.   They either want even more, or want to give away less.

There's an old Hollywood joke that goes:  What's the difference between the producer of a hit movie and the producer of a flop?
The producer of a flop makes a lot of money.
The producer of a hit makes a LOT of money.

That's why these deals get made.  Everybody gets rich, then they can afford to quibble over who gets richer.