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| Movie Review: Burn After Reading Alternate Title: League of Morons
Story: Let it be said here and
now - I am a BIG Coen Brothers fan. They have a unique vision of the
human condition that no other filmmaker comes close to portraying on
the big screen.
This DC based spy farce has the perfect blend
of idiots, self-obsessed characters and sudden violence that Coen fans
adore. We find CIA operative, Osbourne Cox, quitting his job when he
learns he is to be demoted. The CD that contains his tell all
memoir finds its way into the hands of two gym employees who decide
to blackmail Cox. Everyone is sleeping with everyone else and for awhile
it is just enormous fun to watch the lunacy unfold without following
the plot in its entirety. I cannot reveal much more or else you would
not have as much fun as I did.
The film revolves around infidelity, betrayal,
mid-life crisis', spies, former spies, sex addiction and lipo-suction.
Now doesn't that spark your interest? If you like your films a bit quirky,
somewhat dark, always challenging, entertaining, with terrific writing
and outstanding direction then you should get to the theater lickety
split to see this new Joel and Ethan Coen gem.
Watch the trailer here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skqn5uEeIV4 Acting: George Clooney as a sex
addicted former Treasury agent is a hoot. He does smarmy really well.
Frances McDormand has not been this good since the
Oscar wining Marge, in Fargo. John Malkovich as Cox
is crazy as a loon. Brad Pitt as the self-absorbed
gym employee, Chet, is terrific. Tilda Swinton does
the ice Queen role to perfection. Richard Jenkins is
sterling as the most normal character on the screen. JK Simmons
and David Rasche pull in many of the laughs at Langley.
Trivia: Ethan Coen worked as a statistical clerk at
Macy's before setting off to make Blood Simple in1984. Joel
Coen Adopted a baby named Pedro with wife, Frances
McDormand. As a child, he saved money from mowing lawns to
buy a Super-8 camera. As of 2007, Joel Coen is the only person to have
ever directed his wife to a Best Actress Oscar (Frances McDormand in
Fargo in 1996). George Clooney tried out for a position
on the Cincinnati Reds baseball team. Tilda Swinton
comes from one of the oldest families in Scotland and since 2004, she
has been in a relationship with Sandro Kopp, a painter from New Zealand.
She continues to live, platonically, with artist and writer, John Byrne,
with whom she brings up their two children. Brad Pitt
is banned from entering China because of his role in Seven Years in
Tibet (1997).
Predilection: I adore the Coen Brothers
Critters: None
Food: Hors dourves and Chinese food
Sex Spectrum: Lots of bed hopping.
Blatant Product Placement: Jamba Juice
Soundtrack: A quirky fun track.
Opening Titles: A Google Earth space image that focus'
eventually on CIA headquarters at Langley.
Visual Art: Wonderful details abound.
Theater Audience: A handful of Coen Brothers admirers.
Weather: Lovely
Sappy Factor: 0
Quirky Meter: 2
Squirm Scale: 0
Drift Factor: 0
Predictability Level: You never know what is going
to happen in a Coen Brothers film.
Tissue Usage: 0
Oscar Worthy: Who knows? But I doubt it since they
walked away with the Best Picture last year for 'No Country for Old
Men'.
Big Screen or Rental: Big screen for sure. Have yourself
a rental good time with these other Coen Brothers films: No Country
for Old Men, The Ladykillers, Intolerable Cruelty, The Man Who Wasn't
There, O Brother, Where Art Thou,? The Big Lebowski ,Fargo, The Hudsucker
Proxy, Barton Fink, Miller's Crossing, Raising Arizona nd Blood Simple. LOBO HOWLS: 8 |