Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Burn After Reading (2008)

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 09-14-2008, 12:20 AM:

CINEMA: Moore Warren, Moore, OK
AUDITORIUM: 7
PRESENTATION: Dolby Digital Cinema DLP/THX
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None [Cool]

RATING: Two and one half stars (out of four)

WARNING: "You're a Mormon. Compared to you, we ALL have a drinking Spoiler!"

THE TICKET BUYING EXPERIENCE: There's two people selling tickets, a third pacing behind them, and a fourth leaning against the counter, making a point to snottily say "I'm not open" if anyone dare approaches. She is otherwise doing absolutely nothing.

The two ticket sellers each have a customer in front of them. I am next in line. But the two active transactions are taking forever. I waited for like five minutes before one of the transactions was done. The last I saw of the other one was as I walked away and the seller said "...And after all that, it's sold out!" Maybe they were rebooting the POS software.

Simon Pegg and Kirsten Dunst in the same movie? I am SO there!

THE PLOT: A cleaning guy finds a CD-R. Wackiness ensues.

There are two parts of this movie that are universally funny...The part where Clooney's character reveals his basement project, and every scene Brad Pitt is in. Without Brad Pitt, there is no movie.

The rest of the movie is a caper flick that doesn't quite have all the pieces to be brilliant. Everything is abruptly tied together in an ending that plays like the writers ran out of money and just decided to stand in front of the camera and explain the ending to the audience. It actually WORKS, but like a lot of the movie, it just leaves something missing.

The Coen brothers should have studied "What's Up Doc" harder before making this.

Posted by Blaine Young (Member # 3992) on 09-15-2008, 09:40 AM:

After the Coen Brothers' "Intolerable Cruelty" and "The Ladykillers", I should have known better and used these 96 minutes to have bamboo shoved up my nail beds. The George Clooney basement project was amusing, and the only time I cracked a smile during this otherwise dismal mess.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 09-21-2008, 07:50 PM:

Today at Regal 15 in Eugene, #1, 35mm. No presentation issues.

I liked it, laughed in most of the right places I think. I'd read lots of references to Clooney's contraption in the basement, was not expecting what it turned out to be. Heh. A great cast makes this movie quite watchable.

3 out of 5 stars from me.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-21-2008, 08:16 PM:

I have only seen bits and pieces of this movie, but whatever.

Presentation: Absolutely mindblowing. Better than perfect. It's the Tamarac!

Movie: George Clooney seems to spend his entire time overacting (badly) like a gimpish oaf. There is no need for him to be in this movie. John Malcovich plays pretty much the same character as he does in most of the movies he is in. Not a very versatile actor at all. I don't like him. He can go to hell. Miss Pettygrew was OK and Brad Pitt did a good job from what I saw. He sure doesn't look like he's approaching 50. The Michael Clayton bitch was just as boring here as she was in that movie. I hope she never appears onscreen in any other movie ever again. The filmmakers took the lazy way out by "explaining" the ending instead of actually shooting it. Their previous movie didn't have any sort of ending at all! These guys are definitely losing their touch.

Old people don't seem to like this movie because they are frightened by the cuss words.

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 10-18-2008, 07:19 PM:

Burn After Reading is archetypal Coen Bros, doing what they do best and doing it at the top of their game. This time around the Coens bring their acerbic wit to the espionage thriller and the results are as funny and thrilling as anything in their highly impressive back catalogue. Typical of the Coens, the movie consists of an intricate, multistrand plot involving a snubbed CIA analyst (John Malkovich); a womanising, lactose intolerant, hyperallergenic, paranoiac fitness freak (George Clooney); a halfwit, pretty-boy gym junkie (Brad Pitt); and his neurotic, image-obsessed workmate (Francis McDormand) who is intent on selling state secrets to the Russians in order to bankroll her costly plastic surgery makeover. Naturally, this being a Coen film, all manner of lunacy ensues.

Intricate plotting has become a trademark of Coen films and Burn After Reading is no different. The script on offer here is trim and taut and the excellency of the writing is underlined by a series of terrific performances. Everybody is great here, from the big name principle figures to the minor roles. J.R. Horne, in particular, gives a virtuoso performance in the tiny role of the divorce lawyer, flipping amusingly between stolid legal advisor and predacious lawyer. McDormand exhibits considerable bravery; readily submitting herself to the scrutiny of her aging physical attributes, she is clearly a woman who is (admirably) comfortable in her middle age. George Clooney and Brad Pitt defy, yet again, all our attempts to despise them for their charismatic chic by delivering the films two best performances. Tilda Swinton does cold like nobody else can and Malkovich is just Malkovich but love him for it.

Burn After Reading is a safe Coen film. Normally such a statement would be a barely veiled criticism but when it pertains to the work of Joel and Ethan Coen, it's a complement. It is the hot cup of cocoa and the warm doona with the big fluffy pillow on a cold winters night; it's everything we've come to love from a Coen comedy all wrapped up in a comforting, easily digestible package.

8.5 out of 10