The Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading

Xp

lol everyone gasped at that bit when I watched it.

also yeah Brad Pitt's 'ha he thinks it's a schwinn' was major lollz

i would say its worth a watch, pinefox

SPOLIER SPOLIER SPOILER

if the movies about greedy and venal people getting their comeuppance, how come the only decent charachter (the ex priestnow gym manager) gets a hammer to the skull?

that's not what it's about.

it's not really about anything.

I didn't know what to make of it. I was expecting more slapstick comedy based on the trailer. I nearly walked out about a third of the way through. JK Simmons was the saving grace for me. I guess I "sorta" liked parts of it but am still baffled by the weird shifts in tone.

i'm ~tempted~ to think it's a small gesture toward a political point. in a lot of ways this is lebowski redux: self-obsessed creeps involved in an increasingly nasty caper, none of them seemingly able or in the least bit interested in figuring out what it is they're caught up in, only getting their hands on some illusory prize. as usual for the coens, not one character shows any ability to listen to or understand any other living thing, or have any self-awareness really.

only this time, the people involved have some responsibility over the rest of us. it's set in washington for a reason, i think.

The picture is quite slight, not very serious, but I think more enjoyable, and thus better, than reviews I've seen have said. The script is sometimes funny enough to be good, or vice versa. The final scene with the CIA officials wrapping things up absolutely trumps the rest of the picture, except for the earlier scene with the same officials - 'let me know when ... when ... well, let me know when it makes sense' - which was also good. That final scene was quite superb.

The final scene with the CIA officials wrapping things up absolutely trumps the rest of the picture

I don't agree. It's funny in and of itself, but it sits uneasily with the extreme darkness of what precedes it.

i'm ~tempted~ to think it's a small gesture toward a political point.

yeah pretty much. me and my wife joked after we saw it that it was about the cia's intelligence failures in the aftermath of 9/11. but she was half serious.

xpost: I think that uneasiness is pretty intentional!

lebowski redux: self-obsessed creeps involved in an increasingly nasty caper, none of them seemingly able or in the least bit interested in figuring out what it is they're caught up in, only getting their hands on some illusory prize. as usual for the coens, not one character shows any ability to listen to or understand any other living thing, or have any self-awareness really.

This sums up Burn After Reading pretty well, but I strongly disagree that it sums up Lebowski (like, at all).

hated the fucking music in this

ha i was gonna say that doesnt sound like lebowski whatsoever

should i bother seeing this in theaters

more like bored after watching, i would say.

bored while watching too

I finally saw this a few nights ago, and yeah, the music didn't do much for me either. I get that it was going for the late 1990s Harrison Ford action film feel, but I didn't understand why.

how is the CIA wrapping shit up not dark?

lebowski barton finkredux: self-obsessed creeps involved in an increasingly nasty caper, none of them seemingly able or in the least bit interested in figuring out what it is they're caught up in, only getting their hands on some illusory prize. as usual for the coens, not one character shows any ability to listen to or understand any other living thing, or have any self-awareness really.

fixed (?)

really, that could apply to any coen bros movie. any one.

That final scene was quite superb.

I agree completely. I loved that. Loved the whole film, in fact. Mind, I think The Man Who Wasn't There is their magnum opus, so I'm aware I'm a little out of step with Coen-brother-related thinking.

I enjoyed this as a no thrills fargoesque romp, i never really had great hopes after hating HATING "No Country'".

High point was McDormand's laugh

hated hated hated the final scene, and brad pitts death

I thought Brad Pitt's death was a supremely effective shock to the system. Malkovich whacking your man just wasn't believable tho - too much in the direction of farce, even by the standards of the rest of the film.

this was a really empty movie

barton fink ruled tho

I need to get the DVD and watch this about four more times I think

I kind of loved it. I just really loved watching this bizarre version of a spy movie where every character is completely self involved and totally incompetent...it just sent that story into places I had NEVER imagined. ie the George Clooney chair. O_o

this was a really empty movie

that's what I thought. It's amazing how underwhelmed you can be by a film which is still full of roffles. Like George Clooney's chair.

Are you meant to assume that he got Frances McDornand to sit in the chair?

N Cage & Holly Hunter were not self-obsessed creeps, s1ocki

they stole babies because they thought they wanted some!!!

hated the fucking music in this

― Uncle Shavedlongcock (max), Sunday, November 9, 2008 11:00 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i liked the percussion pieces that sort of parodied the dramatic percussion music that shows up in thrillers (but still sounded pretty cool on their own).

(btw i liked this movie a lot, but my expectations were low and i had already read that it's slight, empty, misanthropic, etc.)

apart from schilinger-from-oz this was a piece of shit.

this was way more Barton Fink than Fargo in tone, but more Fargo in it's semi-realism, which is where i think a lot of people are getting tripped up on figuring out how to approach it.

Liked it, didn't love it. on some level it is just an examination of a whole bunch of flawed and inept people failing to accomplish anything, which i guess is where the "empty" thing comes from, but it worked ok for me.

this is the only Coen Corporation film of recent years I've enjoyed.

I liked it. Best sequences were definitely the ones with Sledge Hammer and Vern Schillinger trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

while at the same time making sure they didn't have to care about it & sweeping it under the rug. those scenes saved the movie imo.

obviously not their best but as far as coen comedies i thought this more than makes up for ladykillers and the shittier parts of intolerable cruelty

I thought Pitt was really badly (weirdly?) cast (the character needed to be like 10-15 years younger.) Everyone else was pretty good.

Yeah, he's miscast, but he works hard, as usual, and he had a couple good bits. Malkovich (his moron line in the last third), McDormand, and J.K. Simmons came off best.

I thought Clooney was very good, very funny.

malkovich's weirdly precise enunciation was perfect for his character being a pedant.

the character needed to be like 10-15 years younger.)

see i thought that's what made his character that much funnier

Dialog b/w Pitt & Malkovich was priceless. Usual scene-stealing from JK Simmons & also the ghost-dad from Six Feet Under was a welcome treat as well. Nihilism/mean-spiritedness didn't bother me, as the complete lack of subtext allowed for guilt-free schadenfreude. I'd place it between Intolerable Cruelty & The Hudsucker Proxy (both of which I feel were slightly underrated btw) on the Coen Bros. comedy scale: A pleasant diversion with a few uproarious laff moments.

Those claiming this approaches Lebowski/Arizona-esque comedic heights are starved for entertainment.

or they live in washington dc and get the joke

yeah (as i said upthread) i thot that was the point: "guys, the way dc works is basically like one of our movies!"

the ridiculous thumpy spy music was meant to underscore this point i think -- your heroic security services at work

Haw I didn't realize that was sledgehammer