The Coen Brothers have been staples as writers and directors in the film industry since the late 1980s. They are responsible for popular movies like “The Big Lebowski,” “No Country for Old Men” and the 2010 remake of “True Grit” starring Jeff Bridges. In 1996, they created the black comedy “Fargo.”

“Fargo” was made on a relatively small budget of $7 million. It was a huge hit at the box office where it took in more than $60 million. It was released on March 8, 1996 as well as being released at various film festivals. At the widely known Cannes Film Festival, it won the prize for Best Director. It also went to the Academy Awards and won for Best Actress as well as Writing Original Screenplay.

The film stars “Boardwalk Empire” star Steve Buscemi as well as William H. Macy of the television series “Shameless.” The film is about a middle-aged car salesman named Jerry, played by Macy, who is desperate for money. His family has no idea of their financial troubles and he would like to keep it that way. He resorts to drastic measures. Jerry is very much aware that his father in-law is “well off,” so he devises a plan. He decides to stage a kidnapping of his wife. He would hire the kidnappers, one of whom is played by Steve Buscemi, and then when the ransom was paid, he would collect.

It would have been the perfect plan, but the kidnappers are clearly not professionals. When the kidnappers’ car gets pulled over for not having a license plate, things get messy. A triple homicide — not in the original plan — derails things and gets more police involved including Police Chief Marge Gunderson, who is pregnant.

Since its release, the film has gained an immense amount of popularity. For the movie’s 10th anniversary in March of 2006, a film festival held in Fargo, N.D. decided to have a showing of Fargo outside by projecting it onto the side of the city’s tallest building. The ritual was done a second time for the 15th anniversary. Also in 2006, the film was inducted into the United States National Film Registry for preservation.

The film has been subject to two separate television shows. The first was made in 1997, but it never got past the pilot stage. It featured none of the original cast, but the character of Marge Gunderson was featured in it. The Coen brothers also had no involvement with that pilot. The second attempt at a television series premiered last week on April 15, 2014. This series was announced to be a limited series rather than a straight-forward television show. It will have a ten episode run extending into the summer of 2014. It stars Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman and Colin Hanks. The series also features the Coen brothers serving as executive producers. The series takes place 19 years after the original did and has received a positive response.

Before “Happy Gilmore” and “Billy Madison,” Adam Sandler starred in a few lesser known films, one of these being the 1994 rock ‘n’ roll comedy “Airheads.” The film features an ensemble cast and did not do well at the box office. Surprisingly, it brought in a little over half of the original budget domestically.

The film is about a struggling hair metal band called The Lone Rangers on the Los Angeles strip. They are fronted by the lead singer Chazz, played by Brendan Fraser, who is desperate to make it big and will do anything to help their situation. Chazz becomes even more determined after his longtime girlfriend kicks him out of their apartment. While hanging out at The Whisky, the band sees another local band, The Sons of Thunder, get a record deal after having their song played on the radio, the band sets out to do the same thing. After things do not go according to plan at the record station, The Lone Rangers decide to hold the place hostage. The only catch is, the station’s employees have no idea that their “weapons” are actually squirt guns filled with hot sauce.

The Lone Rangers have a difficult time trying to play their song. In the process, their tape actually catches fire from cigarette ashes. When the police show up outside the station, the antics amp up. Since it technically is a hostage situation, their list of demands gets strange. At one point they ask for a football helmet filled with cottage cheese. Their reasoning behind it? To ask for strange things so they may plead insanity later.

The band is played by Fraser, Sandler and Steve Buscemi. Other stars in the film include Chris Farley, Ernie Hudson, Judd Nelson, David Arquette, and the late Harold Ramis. Mike Judge even makes a voice appearance as voicing Beavis and Butt-head. With an all star cast like that, it is a mystery why the film did not do as well.

Since the film is about a struggling band, there is a lot of music featured in it. The shock rock group White Zombie, lead by Rob Zombie, makes an appearance performing at a club. Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead makes a non musical appearance as a member of a crowd. The fictional band, The Sons of Thunder, featured in the film is played by the actual band Galactic Cowboys. The song “Degenerated,” performed by The Lone Rangers, was recorded by the punk band Reagan Youth.

The film is one of the best in Sandler’s as well as Fraser’s catalogs. The band’s decision making process is entertaining to watch to say the least. In a real world sense, the film is interesting in that the hair metal scene was on a severe decline in the early ’90s. In the film, Chazz distastefully acknowledges that Seattle’s music scene, known as grunge, is on the rise. For fans of rock music, this film is absolute must see. However, it will be enjoyed by regular fans of comedy films.

Bill Murray is a household name. It is very rare for an actor to have such a versatile back catalog of films under his belt. Murray has progressed, from his goofy “Saturday Night Live” beginnings to his roles in the melodramas of director Wes Anderson. One of his first ventures into feature films was a motion picture called “Where the Buffalo Roam.”

“Where the Buffalo Roam” is loosely based on the exploits and works of Hunter S. Thompson, one of the most eccentric writers in the history of literature. He was mostly a reporter of sorts but also explored fiction. Some of his more famous works include a book about the motorcycle club the Hell’s Angels, as well as the fictitious “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”

Murray stars in the film as the writer himself, and he plays the part perfectly. Murray even has Thompson’s voice down. They sound eerily similar and Murray’s mannerisms are spot on for Thompson’s. It is clear that he did his homework for the film. His attire is very close to Thompson’s as well. Murray frequently wears Thompson’s button-up Hawaiian shirts and yellow tinted, shooting-style Aviator sunglasses, as well as sporting an elongated cigarette holder.

The film is set up as an anthology format. It opens with Hunter S. Thompson furiously typing away on a typewriter, writing a story about his attorney, Carl Lazlo. From here, Thompson recalls some of his prior adventures with Lazlo that make up the film. These drug induced adventures include a drug trial, a trip to Super Bowl VI, as well as a play on Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72.” In each segment, Thompson’s bizarre behavior is highlighted. For instance, in the Super Bowl VI segment, he trades his tickets, press pass, as well as hotel room key for a bottle of wine and a hat. Thompson was a one-of-a-kind person, let alone reporter.

Throughout each segment, Thompson is supposed to be writing stories for the magazine he works for — Blast Magazine — which is clearly supposed to represent Rolling Stone. The film comments a lot on how much Thompson hated deadlines. His editor in the film is always aggravating him about the story at hand while Thompson could not be less interested.

The part of Lazlo is played by the late Peter Boyle. Boyle is, of course, well known for his roles as Frank Barone in the long running sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond” and as the monster in Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein.”

Since the film’s release in 1980, the legend of Hunter S. Thompson as grown even more. “Where the Buffalo Roam” is often overshadowed by the adaptation of “Fear and Loathing of Las Vegas” that was released many years later and starred Johnny Depp. The film brought new life into the lore of Thompson, whom had slowly started to fade out of the public eye in the 1990s. In the early 2000s, he turned mostly to sports writing for ESPN.com. Some of his writings from this era have been published in the book titled “Hey Rube.”

On Feb. 20, 2005, a single shot rang out at Thompson’s compound. Unfortunately, the shot resulted in the passing of Hunter S. Thompson. Even in death, Thompson stayed true to his idiosyncratic, laissez-faire ways: the last words of Thompson’s suicide note read, “Relax — This won’t hurt.”

Dark comedies are hard to come by in our time. They force people to laugh at subjects that they really did not want to laugh at. “God Bless America” is nearly a modern version of ’80s hit “Heathers.” It is a very dark, twisted comedy that has a fairly important message behind it.

The film starts off setting a fairly depressing scene. A man named Frank has absolutely had it with society. He is fed up with his neighbors constantly talking loudly over a crying baby late at night. He can’t stand to watch the uneducated dribble billed as “reality TV” that appears to be the only thing people care about. His ex-wife is getting remarried and his daughter does not want to see him. He gets fired from his job from just being a nice person and then gets told he has a deathly brain tumor that is just as dangerous to operate on as it is to keep.

When his world appears to be utterly pointless to continue living in, he decides to kill himself. After briefly entertaining the idea, Frank puts down the noose in favor of instead killing those on television. His first target is a teenage girl from a reality series called “Tuff Gurlz.” It is at this first stop that he meets his future partner in crime: a teenager named Roxy. Roxy is an unhappy teen who is apparently abused by her parents and desperately wants to turn to a life of crime with Frank.

The two hit it off, driving across the country with only one purpose: to kill people who deserve it. They eventually land at a live broadcast of a singing competition show that is in the style of “American Idol.” It is there that the duo’s rampage comes to an end.

The film’s message is important to understand, even though it is brought about in an abnormal way. The film wants its viewers to understand the state that America is in. It wants people to put their phones down for a minute and not be so connected to them. It is saying that people are becoming more inconsiderate as times change and we need to change it before it gets even more out of hand. According to the film, the way Americans follow and worship celebrities is a travesty. The film also explores how children are becoming more ungrateful. Parents need to start parenting again instead of trying to be a friend to their children.

The film was released in 2011 at the Toronto International Film Festival. It did not earn much at the box, only taking in a little over $100,000. It stars Joel Murray, who played Freddy Rumsen in Mad Men, as the lead Frank Murdoch and also stars Tara Lynne Barr as Roxy. The cast is fairly unknown, with Murray being the most prominent. It is not a happy movie by any means, but it is entertaining. The comedy does outweigh the depressing moments that occur throughout the film.

On Netflix, there lies a treasure trove of films that often get overlooked. Some are terrible, some are great, and some are so bad they’re good. These “cult” films are perfect for rainy days that are otherwise filled with boredom. Whether the movie is good or bad, it is always certain to provide a good time for the viewers.

One of these films that blatantly stuck out among the rest is from the late ’70s. It is an old school cop movie done in a similar style to “Foxy Brown.” The film is called “Disco Godfather” and holds up to the title well. It, unfortunately, is a film that fits perfectly into the “so bad it’s good” category. Everything from the acting to the actual filming is subpar, but it is watchable. It just probably is not watchable in the way the filmmakers wanted it to be.

Almost instantly after pressing play, the speakers fill with funky disco tones that proudly display the popular music of the time. The film itself is about a retired cop turned disco club DJ who gets caught up in one more investigation when his nephew, Bucky, lands in the hospital after a dangerous trip on a new drug known as “Angel Dust,” or PCP.

To thoroughly enjoy this particular movie, one must view it as a comedy rather than an action film. The acting is absolutely dreadful. The most serious scenes are laughable due to the over-the-top performance of the lead actor, Rudy Ray Moore. The dialogue is predictable throughout the film. It does feature some fantastic one-liners like “Attack the Wack!” and “Move and I’ll blow your afro off!”

A good portion of the movie shows various tripping sequences involving the characters’ reactions to PCP. These shots look like a bad scene out of “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” They are typically filled with bland colors for a background and copious amounts of smoke while using what could only be described as cheap Halloween decorations to scare the character. These cheesy effects are part of the film’s charm.

To add to the already ridiculous movie, there are quite a bit of both dance and fight scenes. The dance scenes were found to be completely useless to the development of the plot and went on for entirely too long. They were, however, choreographed much better than the fight scenes. The action sequences were not well put together and as a result are far from believable.

The score of the film gets annoying after a while, and this is not regarding the use of disco either. There is an underlying music that accompanies most scenes and it sounds as if it was done with a theremin. The sharp electronic notes that make up the tracks are painful to deal with. It actually makes one hope for a disco dance scene.

Overall, the film is not complete trash and is entertaining. It’s parodied in 2009’s “Black Dynamite,” so if you enjoyed that movie, I would definitely recommend checking out its inspiration. Some of the dialogue might even sound familiar.

The Wu-Tang Clan formed in the early 90s in Staten Island and consisted of RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Universal God of Law, Masta Killa, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard, or ODB for short. RZA would act as the group’s leader. They took on the name “Wu-Tang” from the martial arts film “Shaolin and Wu Tang.” The group released their first single, “Protect Ya Neck,” was released in 1992. The single was released independently and eventually lead to the group being signed with Loud/RCA records. Their debut album “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)” was released in November of 1993.

The album title from their debut record stems from yet another martial arts film titled “The 36th Chamber of the Shaolin.” The album was eventually certified platinum and it has grown to become one of the best albums in hip-hop of all time. The album spawned four singles including the hits “Method Man” and “Cash Rules Everything Around Me.” The former of the two showcases member Method Man’s talents. The opening sets the pace for the song: “Hey, you, get off my cloud / You don’t know me and you don’t know my style / Who be getting flam when they come to a jam? / Here I am here I am, the Method Man.” Following the release of their debut, the group would temporarily part ways to release an army of solo albums over the next few years.

While they are considered solo albums, each one featured heavy influence from the other members of the group. The first release was that of Method Man with RZA handling the majority of the production duties. During this time, ODB, Raekwon, GZA, and Ghostface Killah would release solo records as well before reuniting in 1997 for the follow up to “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)” titled “Wu-Tang Forever.”

“Wu-Tang Forever” has been certified platinum four times. It was released as a double album and was actually nominated at the 1998 Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album. It featured three singles and, like in previous albums, RZA produced the majority of the album. After the release of the album, it was time for, yet again, another wave of solo albums. In addition to releasing a solo album, RZA also created the score for the movie “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.”

The Wu-Tang Clan would continue this formula of group albums separated by solo projects. Unfortunately, in November of 2004, ODB passed away from a drug overdose. The group did move on without ODB. RZA has branched out into movies as well, his directorial debut, “The Man with the Iron Firsts,” was released last year. As of today, the group has released a total of five albums under the name Wu-Tang Clan plus numerous “solo” efforts that feature heavy collaboration from other members. In January of this year, it was announced that the group was at work on another album that is to be titled “A Better Tomorrow” and will be released in conjunction with the twentieth anniversary of “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).” The group recently performed at the 2013 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

“Aww, Here It Goes” is a title that every child of the late ’90s perked up to while staring blankly at their home TV set. Although it is the theme song for the hit TV show Kenan & Kel, it was performed by none other than chef and rapper extraordinaire Coolio. The name may be the most fitting of all rap monikers, but Coolio was born by the name Artis Leon Ivey Jr. in 1963 in Compton, Calif.

Coolio began his epic rap journey in 1987, when he recorded singles “Watcha Gonna Do” and “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” but they were not very successful. In 1991, Coolio caught a break when he joined WC and the Maad Circle. The group’s first album, titled “Ain’t a Damn Thang Changed,” featured Coolio on a few songs. A mere three years later, Coolio signed to Tommy Boy Records.

In 1994, Coolio released his debut solo record, “It Takes a Thief.” The album featured the hit single “Fantastic Voyage,” which is famous for the chorus lyric, “Slide, slide, slippity slide.” It managed to reach No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The album featured two other singles and was eventually certified platinum.

Riding on the success of his first album, Coolio went to work on his next album, “Gangsta’s Paradise,” which was titled after the hit single by the same name. The song, which features singer L.V., was originally written for the movie “Dangerous Minds.” It would grow to be immensely popular and would shoot Coolio into hip-hop greatness. The album was released in 1995 and was certified platinum twice. In addition to the title track, the album also featured the popular single “1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New).”

After the album’s release, Coolio was the featured guest for the song “In a Twist,” from WC and the Maad Circle’s sophomore album. He also contributed on the collaborative song “Hit ‘em High,” featuring fellow hip-hop heavyweights B-Real of Cypress Hill, Method Man of Wu-Tang Clan, LL Cool J and Busta Rhymes, for the soundtrack for Michael Jordan’s popular 1996 film, “Space Jam.”

All of the guest work did not slow down the progress of his third studio album, “My Soul,” released in 1997. The album featured only one big song, which is quite possibly the most soulful song he ever wrote, titled “C U When U Get There.” The opening lyrics set the tone for the song: “Now I’ve seen places and faces / and things you ain’t never thought about thinkin’.” The song propelled the album to platinum status. The success of the song wasn’t enough to bring the album the same success as its predecessor.

After the release of “My Soul,” Coolio began his spiral downward from hip-hop fame. Despite being dropped from Tommy Boy, he continued to release albums through different record labels. To date, Coolio has released a total of seven studio albums, with the most recent being 2009’s “From the Bottom 2 the Top.”

Since his decline in the music industry, Coolio has turned to reality TV with shows like ABC’s “Wife Swap” and Food Network’s “Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off.” Coolio actually released his own cookbook, dubbed “Cookin’ with Coolio: 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price,” that was published in 2009. He even hosted a cooking show on YouTube that is well worth a watch.

Much like Will Smith, Mark Wahlberg began his career in hip-hop. His first venture into music was as the fifth member of boy band New Kids on the Block. However, this endeavor was short-lived and resulted in Mark’s resignation. He then switched genres of music and formed Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.

The Funky Bunch consisted of Wahlberg, Anthony “Ashey Ace” Thomas, Scott “Scottie Gee” Ross, Hector “the Booty Inspector” Barros and Terry “DJ-T” Yancey. The group released their first album on July 23, 1991 under the name “Music for the People.” The album created a few singles including “Good Vibrations,” the group’s most well-known song; its unforgettable chorus samples “Love Sensation” by Loleatta Holloway.

The next single, “Wildside,” featured a similar song formula in that it samples the Lou Reed song “Walk on the Wild Side.” It is nearly a complete opposite of “Good Vibrations.” It is a somber song that discusses dark topics like drugs while “Good Vibrations” is upbeat and features a happier tone. The album went platinum in 1992.

After the release of the group’s debut album, a video game was created for the Sega Mega CD system titled “Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch: Make My Video.” The video game allowed users to edit the music videos of select songs from the group’s catalogue. The songs on the game were “Good Vibrations,” “I Need Money” and “You Gotta Believe.” The game was not well-received.

On Sept. 15, 1992, the group released its final record, “You Gotta Believe.” The album was not as successful as its predecessor, but it featured the single “You Gotta Believe.” It also featured a collaboration with Wahlberg’s brother Donnie, titled, “Loungin’.”Profanities were used more liberally in this album, but they appear to have been censored off the album. An uncensored version does not exist.

After the dismal results from “You Gotta Believe,” the group disbanded. Mark Wahlberg continued his music career by collaborating with reggae singer Prince Ital Joe on the album “Life in the Streets.” The album was never released in the U.S., but it gained wide notoriety in Germany and even spawned four charted singles. The album was followed by a remix album, aptly titled “The Remix Album.” This finished off Wahlberg’s music career.

Wahlberg has since decided to focus on his acting career, starring in several hit moviessuch as “The Perfect Storm,” “The Departed” and “The Fighter.” His role in “The Departed” landed him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards and a Golden Globe nomination as well. Recently, Wahlberg has been cast as the new lead character in the fourth “Transformers” film.