Blood Simple | 4K UHD+Blu-ray

Right out of the gate, the Coen Bros. were making absolute classics. An amazing mastery of their craft from their very first production. A perfect cast doesn't hurt either; Francis McDormand, Dan Hedaya, and M. Emmet Walsh are firing on all cylinders to deliver this seedy story of criminal double-cross.

More than anything else, Blood Simple marked the start of a serious push into the sub-genre of Neo-western Noir. Films that use settings of the new west to tell classically constructed crime narratives. While entries in the genre stretch all the way back to the 1940s, the 80s and 90s saw a boom in these stories, including Lone Star and Red Rock West.

Not the most complex or dynamic of the Coens' productions, they certainly advanced their mastery of cinematic craft with future works. But, Blood Simple remains one of my favorites for its intense focus on a small cast of strong actors, given full range to bring life to classic character archetypes.