i find it odd when people say that the book of NCFOM is better than the film – its about the only film I can think of where it seems to be an almost perfect recreation of a book on film, something to do with the stripped down narrative I think
plenty of decent films based on books, but they are never "the same"
the coen's first feature (blood simple) was a bit of an influence on Tarantino I think, not much to compare in their recent films though
hope to see the new Coens film in the next few days, its getting great reviews