Scarecrow Video suggests more movies by those crazy Coen Brothers

The Coen Brothers have produced many modern-day classics, including "Blood Simple," "Fargo" and "The Big Lebowski," and we recommend all of them. Even their so-called lesser works have moments of inspiration and hold up better than most bland movie fare. Before you see "A Serious Man," it's definitely worth revisiting "Barton Fink," their 1991 film about an acclaimed playwright (John Turturro) who comes to Hollywood to write "a wrestling picture" but ends up stuck in his hotel room terrorized by writer's block, surreal visions and increasingly odd events.

We also suggest "The Man Who Wasn't There" (2001), an underrated film noir homage starring Billy Bob Thornton. It's about a barber's accidental slide into crime and murder, but also about a nondescript man who rarely talks and instead sits around listening to everyone else blather on and on about nothing.

Outside of the Coen Brothers' body of work, there's Sam Raimi's neo-noir thriller "A Simple Plan." The film stars Thornton again and Bill Paxton as brothers who are wandering the backwoods of Minnesota when they find a crashed plane with $4 million on board. They decide to hide the money there until the spring thaw, see if anyone misses the money, and then split the wealth. Complications ensue when the brothers experience surges of greed and mistrust and struggle to keep such a secret. Author Scott B. Smith adapted the screenplay from his novel and earned an Oscar nomination for his work.

"Falling Down" is an extreme example of what can happen to a man tested by his surroundings. Michael Douglas plays William Foster, an ordinary man en route to his ex-wife's house for his daughter's birthday party when a traffic jam sends him out on a series of increasingly frustrating interactions around town. Each encounter unravels a layer of civility and eventually sparks a violent rampage.

"The Swimmer" is a 1968 film based on a short story by novelist John Cheever, who was well known for his tales of suburban malaise. Burt Lancaster plays an upper-middle-class man with a happy and stable family life, or so he thinks. One day he travels to various houses around his neighborhood and finds that each visit confronts him with an uncomfortable part of his past, leaving him more and more disillusioned. His seemingly ideal world dissolves, all while wearing only a bathing suit.

On TV, we suggest "Curb Your Enthusiasm" starring "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David as a fictional version of himself who gets into a never-ending series of social situations that are painfully awkward and therefore painfully hilarious. The first six seasons are available on DVD, and the seventh just starting airing on HBO. And for further tales of '60s suburban life that "A Serious Man" touches upon, there's the staff favorite and Emmy-winning "Mad Men." Head into Scarecrow for the first two seasons, then catch up with the third on AMC.

Contributed by Scarecrow Video, 5030 Roosevelt Way N.E., Seattle; 206-524-8554 or www.scarecrow.com.