Yeah. I found the court scenes in Sophie Scholl – The Final Days much more disturbing than any gory action sequence.

If you have to watch a Coen movie, go for The Big Lebowski, one of the few ones where they keep their condescending snarkiness towards their characters in check. Probably because it's based upon a friend of theirs.

Generally, these guys make ego-stroking movies, very well made ones, but I prefer movies that make me feel stupid instead of bathing me in a false sense of superiority.

Not really. The Terminator movies are popular because people admire emotionless killing machines - No Country for Old Men was successfull for the same reason. And The Dark Night is a thinly veiled attempt to justify the Bush years and as such very much pro violence. Also, the movie's popularity is based on the Joker character, another charismatic killing machine.

It really is quite simple... people watch movies with lots of violence and killing because they enjoy the violence and killing, regardless of whether there's a pacifist message tacked on at the and. And of course the makers of these movies are very much aware of that.

Personally, I can't stand depictions of torture and rape. Scenes of guys gutting or blowing up each other don't bother me at all, regardless of how realistic and gory the violence is. I really do believe that most depictions of torture aren't artistically justifiable - basically, they're exploitation. Which has its place too, I guess, but I can do without it.