Topic: Burn After Reading (Read 6508 times)

Scandanavian War Machine · « **on:** 13 Sep 2008, 00:28 »

i'm kind of surprised that there hasn't been a thread about this yet.

anyway, the Coen Brothers' new movie Burn After Reading came out today and i just got back from seeing and i gotta say it was pretty great. i didn't have many expectations going in since i didn't know much about it but i might end up seeing it again because it's actually worth it.

it's awesome. go see it. everyone in it is absolutely hilarious and the whole story is pretty genius.

anybody else see it yet? thoughts?

Cartilage Head · « **Reply #1 on:** 13 Sep 2008, 00:30 »

Looks really good. I am glad that Brad Pitt is back to playing the role he plays best, "wacky/crazy overconfident goofball/psycho". I want to see it.

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #2 on:** 13 Sep 2008, 00:35 »

Whoah whoah whoah this is out already? FUCK, I've been so psyched about it and for some reason thought it wasn't out until the end of this month. I am so there on my day off. In fact, I think I'm going to get some friends, bring some weed and liquor to pour into soda, and watch movies all night, if I can find a theater that has this, Tropic Thunder and Pineapple Express, because I still haven't had the time to see them either.

beat mouse · « **Reply #3 on:** 13 Sep 2008, 04:39 »

jesus your friends will get stoned and drunk and catch 3 shows at the cinema? i need new friends, that sounds awesome. I want to see this film, i love coens humor and brad pitt is the fucking man so i will try and sneak this one in next week.

StaedlerMars · « **Reply #4 on:** 13 Sep 2008, 06:18 »

I saw this last night.

It was excellent. It was very Coen (lot's of dumb people who unfortunately get thrown together). I went in without an idea what it was about, and like SWM says, I would now go see it again.

Brad Pitt was excellent. Scratch that, everyone was excellent.

Go see it guys. Guaranteed laughter.

Dimmukane · « **Reply #5 on:** 13 Sep 2008, 07:49 »

Need money. Then I'll see it.

KvP · « **Reply #6 on:** 13 Sep 2008, 13:05 »

I was disappointed. Brad Pitt was great, mostly due to timing, but he was pretty much the only one. Clooney is a horndog, he was pretty good. Frances McDormand is vain, she lacks a single funny line in the movie and she's the female lead. Everyone else is equally negligible. John Malkovich curses loudly and is prone to violence. Tilda Swinton is a bitch. JK Simmons is confused. That's about the extent of their characters. Everyone except Simmons is grating and cartoonish. It's an exercise in the Coen's cynicism, and they're allowed that, I just wish they'd made it shorter. There were many points during the movie (particularly relating to McDormand) in which I found myself actually wanting to fast forward through. I haven't felt that since The Passion of the Christ. The Coens have the ability to take an intricate story in which there are no stakes and make it awesome (you can't really talk about Coens comedy without comparing it to Lebowski) but here they just don't have the characters to pull it off. I didn't care about what was happening. I almost walked out after a particular character left the movie and with him/her, the only really good thing about it.

Did have a number of quotable lines, though. All of them Pitt's.

If you want to watch a movie about idiots and their madcap interactions, might I suggest It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. This one's good for a rent. It's not a bad movie. It's just not all that good or remarkable.

weeeeee

tania · « **Reply #7 on:** 14 Sep 2008, 12:44 »

i just saw this yesterday and also went in having no idea what it would be about. it's probably most similar to the big lebowski in the sense that the characters and plot are really demented and don't make a whole lot of sense but at the same time are amazingly clever. really excellent.

sean · « **Reply #8 on:** 14 Sep 2008, 17:43 »

I had no idea what this about but saw it on the basis that it was the Coen brothers. I walked out of theater going "What the fuck" in the best way possible. It was so good.

jimbunny · « **Reply #9 on:** 15 Sep 2008, 20:58 »

I'm with KvP on this one. Among other complaints, I thought this was the most baldly ideological film they've made yet. They kind of kicked their point of "no one knows anything, we're all rather pathetic and meaningless" pretty much to death there at the end. And there were parts where the plot and script just dangled on the edge of cliche and felt not canned enough/not clever enough to be ironic. Probably my least favorite from what I've seen so far from the Coen brothers. Which, all things considered, is still a damn fine movie - just disappointing, given my expectations.

TheFuriousWombat · « **Reply #10 on:** 16 Sep 2008, 11:55 »

The Coens do not do straight up comedy well at all. "Intolerable Cruelty" and "The Ladykillers" remake are both, for example, terrible. "The Big Lebowski" isn't really a traditional comedy so I don't consider it in that category. Their track record with the non-dark comedy genre is fairly awful and I'm not surprised that this one isn't anything special. I'm sure it's fun and enjoyable but not too good otherwise. I'll still see it but with no substantial expectations.

I Am Not Amused · « **Reply #11 on:** 16 Sep 2008, 15:46 »

Here's my take on the movie:

Was fairly disappointed. Brad Pitt is hilarious in every scene he's in, of course. I liked all the character's well enough (Frances McDormand's self-obsessed vanity makes her painstaking to watch, but the fact that she pulls it off so well makes it a great performance to me), but the biggest problem I had with the movie was fairly simple. The movie is a parody of spy movies, but the story is too sophisticated, the situations too real, to derive any pleasure out of the parody. I WANTED to laugh at certain parts, but the surrounding events were too serious to be able to. Overall, I wanted LESS out of the film, because by putting in MORE, they ruined the simple pleasure of it.

Surgoshan · « **Reply #12 on:** 16 Sep 2008, 16:20 »

The Big Lebowski is a parody of film noir with an aging hippy in place of the hard-boiled detective. The Big Lebowski is awesome.

It sounds as though the Coens are best when they're turning conventions around.

KvP · « **Reply #13 on:** 16 Sep 2008, 18:47 »

I don't know if I'd call the Lebowski a parody. It's certainly not a parody in the popular sense (Austin Powers or Airplane or what have you). I think it's merely a character-driven comedy with a lot of noir conventions grafted onto it, which is what makes it funny. The way that the Dude and Walter talk is straight out of the classics. It's not the same sort of juxtaposition as, say, Brick, but it works so well because it's rather subtle.

Johnny C · « **Reply #14 on:** 16 Sep 2008, 20:33 »

The term is "homage," dudes.

Uber Ritter · « **Reply #15 on:** 18 Sep 2008, 18:53 »

I haven't seen it yet, but a friend of mine described it's moral tone as being like Fargo without Maud. Funnier, but still.

tuna ketchup x · « **Reply #16 on:** 19 Sep 2008, 08:46 »

Saw it yesterday, really enjoyed it. I thought it was an incredible return to form after the straight-up drama of No Country, which was good don't get me wrong, but it was most definitely their "Oscar movie." We were laughing through the whole thing. I'd describe it as somewhere between Lebowski and The Ladykillers in tone, I LIKED The Ladykillers though, so if you don't like that one you might not like this. Not their best, but the best they've done in awhile.

Katherine · « **Reply #17 on:** 19 Sep 2008, 20:54 »

I just got back from seeing this movie. I don't think I have ever seen a Coen brothers movie so I don't really have anything to compare it to, but I enjoyed it. Brad Pitt was hysterical, absolutely brilliant. There were a few "What the fuck?" moments but as Objects Inside Clouds said, it was in the best way possible. I thought the ending was perhaps a bit too abrupt, but I can't think of any other way to end that story. Definitely worth the admission price, and I will probably buy it when it comes out on DVD.

JediBendu · « **Reply #18 on:** 20 Sep 2008, 12:49 »

Quote from: Uber Ritter on 18 Sep 2008, 18:53

I haven't seen it yet, but a friend of mine described it's moral tone as being like Fargo without Maud. Funnier, but still.

Marge?

Anyway, I'm very excited to see this movie. I have yet to see a Coen brother's film I haven't enjoyed on some level.

Johnny C · « **Reply #19 on:** 20 Sep 2008, 14:21 »

Also,

Quote from: TheFuriousWombat on 16 Sep 2008, 11:55

The Coens do not do straight up comedy well at all.

Raising Arizona.

Uber Ritter · « **Reply #20 on:** 20 Sep 2008, 15:04 »

Yes, I meant Marge.

Lines · « **Reply #21 on:** 22 Sep 2008, 11:43 »

I thought the movie was hilarious. It's somewhere in between The Big Lebowski and O, Brother Where Art Thou?.

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Author Topic: Burn After Reading (Read 6508 times)

tuna ketchup x