Burn After Reading

[blajay]

I saw this last night. I enjoyed it. It may not be terribly profound, but it was a funny story. The scenes of them reporting back to the CIA were great.

[jazzbo]

Just came from seeing this.

I liked it. I really liked No Country for Old Men. (Movie AND novel). I haven't seen a lot of their early material, including TBL, so I'm not able to "rank" this one. But I thought it was well done.

[sal]

The sign of a great filmmaker(s) imo is that they leave their audience arguing over their ouevre.

I saw this movie today and really liked it alot! It was really, really funny, had some terrific performances, and a nice political slant. Wouldn't say its top tier Coen brothers comedy like "Raising Arizona" or "The Big Lebowski", but still one of the funniest movies I've seen in a while. I'm a huge Coen fan, by the way.

[jlhoots]

Burn After Reading was just O.K.

Go see a good movie like "Frozen River".

[BruceH]

The sign of a great filmmaker(s) imo is that they leave their audience arguing over their ouevre.

...And they leave their audience saying world like "ouevre."

[Big Al]

This was the first Coen Brothers film I've seen that didn't feel all that distinctively Coen Brothers. Most of the shots seemed like any director could have composed them.

And I had just the opposite reaction in a way: my wife and I felt like we'd just watched another Fargo. The movie just seemed kinda pointless. The performances were good, of course. We also felt like Pitt's character was killed WAY too early. Tilda Swinton was such a bitch we kept waiting for her to get killed (I won't spoil it for anyone wondering if she gets offed or not). This is the second movie we've seen with Frances McDormand and really enjoy her acting; she has such a "lovable goofiness" (for lack of a better term), but at the same time it felt like she was just reprising her role from Fargo (or maybe extending it, like what might happen if that character divorced her husband and started a new life in Maryland). John Malkovich looks as he always does, like he's one hour away from dying.

It wasn't the comedy I thought it would be, but it definitely had its laugh-out-loud moments.

[Jazzmoose]

Tilda Swinton was such a bitch we kept waiting for her to get killed (I won't spoil it for anyone wondering if she gets offed or not).

Yeah, the most unbelievable aspect of the whole movie was someone actually having an affair with that character...

[jazzbo]

Ummm. . ..Mark, Al, it was pretty clear to ME that the Clooney character could have had an affair with almost ANY woman. . . he was after . . . one thing.

[Big Al]

Ummm. . ..Mark, Al, it was pretty clear to ME that the Clooney character could have had an affair with almost ANY woman. . . he was after . . . one thing.

***SPOILER ALERT***

I agree, it's just that Swinton's character was someone so cold and vicious that we were disappointed that she DIDN'T get killed. For that matter, it's amazing Clooney and McDormand didn't get killed given that they were just as cold and vicious in their own ways.

[jazzbo]

Yes, and I guess what I got out of this as a "moral message" is: these type of people, and the successful 'agency' staff in the film, are the "winners." A sad lump of medicine to swallow. . .amid the belly laughs.

[BruceH]

This was the first Coen Brothers film I've seen that didn't feel all that distinctively Coen Brothers. Most of the shots seemed like any director could have composed them.

And I had just the opposite reaction in a way: my wife and I felt like we'd just watched another Fargo. The movie just seemed kinda pointless. The performances were good, of course. We also felt like Pitt's character was killed WAY too early. Tilda Swinton was such a bitch we kept waiting for her to get killed (I won't spoil it for anyone wondering if she gets offed or not). This is the second movie we've seen with Frances McDormand and really enjoy her acting; she has such a "lovable goofiness" (for lack of a better term), but at the same time it felt like she was just reprising her role from Fargo (or maybe extending it, like what might happen if that character divorced her husband and started a new life in Maryland).

That's funny, I felt the two characters were very unalike. Mainly, the character that McDormand played in Fargo was smart, good at her job, and had a basic horse sense. The character from Burn was basically a flaming moron.

[jazzbo]

The movie that made me go "Wow" as far as Frances McDormand is "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day." :tup

[porcy62]

I liked the movie, not the best one of the C. Bros imo, but really funny.

I admit I thought about Weizy watching it.

[Big Al]

Yes, and I guess what I got out of this as a "moral message" is: these type of people, and the successful 'agency' staff in the film, are the "winners." A sad lump of medicine to swallow. . .amid the belly laughs.

Agree with you there. Sad but true.

[Big Al]

This was the first Coen Brothers film I've seen that didn't feel all that distinctively Coen Brothers. Most of the shots seemed like any director could have composed them.

And I had just the opposite reaction in a way: my wife and I felt like we'd just watched another Fargo. The movie just seemed kinda pointless. The performances were good, of course. We also felt like Pitt's character was killed WAY too early. Tilda Swinton was such a bitch we kept waiting for her to get killed (I won't spoil it for anyone wondering if she gets offed or not). This is the second movie we've seen with Frances McDormand and really enjoy her acting; she has such a "lovable goofiness" (for lack of a better term), but at the same time it felt like she was just reprising her role from Fargo (or maybe extending it, like what might happen if that character divorced her husband and started a new life in Maryland).

That's funny, I felt the two characters were very unalike. Mainly, the character that McDormand played in Fargo was smart, good at her job, and had a basic horse sense. The character from Burn was basically a flaming moron.

Yeah, I see where you're coming from. Perhaps this character was the answer to the unasked question, "What would happen if the Fargo character just let herself go?" I saw traces of that character in Linda Litsky (the name gives it away for starters).