Trailer is out:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/burnafterreading/
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 30 May 2008 02:05 (fifteen years ago) link
Looks solid. No Deakins though unfortunately on this one.
― __CB__, Friday, 30 May 2008 02:31 (fifteen years ago) link
These guys need to slow down.
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 30 May 2008 03:37 (fifteen years ago) link
hope i have to eat my words but looks like they're back to making shitty comedies
― s1ocki, Friday, 30 May 2008 05:23 (fifteen years ago) link
initially this looked terrible but after three plays i'm convinced it will be more Coen and less journeyman than their shitty-comedy period.
― Cosmo Vitelli, Friday, 30 May 2008 07:10 (fifteen years ago) link
the problem with their bad comedies wasn't that they weren't coen enough. if anything, they were too coen.
― s1ocki, Friday, 30 May 2008 14:56 (fifteen years ago) link
Wait; what are we calling "shitty comedies"?
― Scik Mouthy, Friday, 30 May 2008 14:57 (fifteen years ago) link
ladykillers.
― sexyDancer, Friday, 30 May 2008 14:58 (fifteen years ago) link
Also not funny!
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 30 May 2008 15:00 (fifteen years ago) link
Right, good, OK. Cos from a quick view of the trailer I thought this looked much more Fargo or Big Lebowski, and hence I am hopeful.
― Scik Mouthy, Friday, 30 May 2008 15:00 (fifteen years ago) link
ladykillers... intolerable cruelty... etc.
― s1ocki, Friday, 30 May 2008 15:03 (fifteen years ago) link
No Deakins though unfortunately on this one.
Yeah, but the DP is the guy who shot Children of Men.
― jaymc, Friday, 30 May 2008 15:05 (fifteen years ago) link
kinda cute to be worrying about the DP here.
― s1ocki, Friday, 30 May 2008 15:09 (fifteen years ago) link
this doesn't look like a great Coen Bros. movie but by any other standard it looks pretty incredibly entertaining
― n/a, Friday, 30 May 2008 15:59 (fifteen years ago) link
if you know what i mean
god, intolerable cruelty is ass.
― caek, Friday, 30 May 2008 16:03 (fifteen years ago) link
The trailer for this has not got me excited : (
― caek, Friday, 30 May 2008 16:04 (fifteen years ago) link
No way, dude. Intolerable Cruelty is a good flick. And CZJ is SO hot in that movie.
― B.L.A.M., Friday, 30 May 2008 16:06 (fifteen years ago) link
i laughed at this trailer
― max, Friday, 30 May 2008 16:07 (fifteen years ago) link
IC is pretty minor and lightweight, but still fine entertainment.
― chap, Friday, 30 May 2008 16:07 (fifteen years ago) link
I have to say I'm a bit more interested in the next Coens film.
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/movies/19192109.html?location_refer=Local%20+%20Metro
― suzy, Friday, 30 May 2008 16:14 (fifteen years ago) link
I like IC okay, too. But I'm one of those sickos who even finds things to not hate about Ladykillers.
― Oilyrags, Friday, 30 May 2008 16:15 (fifteen years ago) link
I thought they were doing The Yiddish Policemans' Union next?
― chap, Friday, 30 May 2008 16:15 (fifteen years ago) link
Nope. MN film board coughed up so they go to do their own story. Hope I'm home while they are making it.
― suzy, Friday, 30 May 2008 16:22 (fifteen years ago) link
aw, would've been cool if they had filmed in milwaukee.
― Jordan, Friday, 30 May 2008 16:25 (fifteen years ago) link
But seriously not as cool as filming in the town that they come from. Hope there is cameo action for Pete our old cinema teacher.
― suzy, Friday, 30 May 2008 16:29 (fifteen years ago) link
New trailer out which has some different footage to the red band trailer http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809931646/video/8406770
― Billy Dods, Sunday, 22 June 2008 19:29 (fifteen years ago) link
burn instead of watching
― and what, Sunday, 22 June 2008 19:36 (fifteen years ago) link
(challop on intolerable cruelty redacted)
― banriquit, Sunday, 22 June 2008 20:27 (fifteen years ago) link
So yes, anyway.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 27 July 2008 16:28 (fifteen years ago) link
Looks okay. Preview that ran in front of Dark Night (first footage of BAR I've seen) wasn't horrible, but wasn't real promising, either. Pitt's mugging got irritating over the course of a 90-second preview. It looks a little too "antic", and that's always been the problem with the Coen's comedies, even when they work. Dark tone and avoidance of wokka-wokka delivery makes Fargo's wackier aspects work.
― contenderizer, Sunday, 27 July 2008 18:38 (fifteen years ago) link
I am looking fwd to the McDormand-Clooney scenes.
ANTIC FOREVER
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 15:57 (fifteen years ago) link
seeing this this week. expectations low so hopefully it will be a pleasant surprise
― s1ocki, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:01 (fifteen years ago) link
hi hater
― max, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:02 (fifteen years ago) link
max, I liked No Country!
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:03 (fifteen years ago) link
god help me brad pitt looks like he might be very funny in this.
― goole, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:05 (fifteen years ago) link
he's been the funniest actor in at least 4 films I can think of.
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:10 (fifteen years ago) link
Fight Club and what else?
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:10 (fifteen years ago) link
he's intermittently funny in 12 Monkeys but that movie kinda irritates me in general
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:11 (fifteen years ago) link
troy, for sure, though eric bana and peter o'toole gave him a good run for his money
― goole, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:11 (fifteen years ago) link
Thelma & Louise True Romance 12 Monkeys Ocean's 11
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:12 (fifteen years ago) link
(and all those movies irritate me to differing degrees)
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:13 (fifteen years ago) link
oh you were serious
yeah he does have some comic chops. i bet if i saw a river runs thru it again i'd laugh to beat the band, tho.
― goole, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:14 (fifteen years ago) link
this looks terrible
― jeff, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:36 (fifteen years ago) link
haha True Romance
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:39 (fifteen years ago) link
Sam Goldwyn would never have let Braddie try "drama."
The trailer looked ok. Family relations notwithstanding, I'm glad they're writing roles for woman of Frances McDormand's age.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:42 (fifteen years ago) link
He's come a long way from Interview With The Vampire, baby.
― David R., Wednesday, 20 August 2008 16:55 (fifteen years ago) link
It's better than Ladykillers.ie, another so-so Coens comedy.
I'm glad they're writing roles for woman of Frances McDormand's age
She's sort of -- what did Hoberman write? -- "savaged" throughout. A desperate Web-dater and seeker of cosmetic surgery funds.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 11 September 2008 15:39 (fifteen years ago) link
burn after screening is more like it
― s1ocki, Thursday, 11 September 2008 15:46 (fifteen years ago) link
hardly, I'd burn Barton Fink way faster. Malkovich is kinda great.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 11 September 2008 15:47 (fifteen years ago) link
man who wasn't there was just kind of nothing. have not seen ladykillers.
― goole, Wednesday, 18 November 2015 22:18 (eight years ago) link
Clooney brings out their worst instincts
why I'm kinda dreading Hail Caesar
― Number None, Wednesday, 18 November 2015 22:19 (eight years ago) link
I liked Man Who Wasn't There, worst for me is probably O Brother
― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Wednesday, 18 November 2015 22:23 (eight years ago) link
Didn't see ladykillers or intolerable cruelty though.
I thought Clooney was well used in Burn After Reading and I think he's generally a shit actor.
I don't really have much use for him but he does a passably amusing Clark Gable impression
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 18 November 2015 22:36 (eight years ago) link
I could see it being sort of a depressing film if you take the cynicism about human motivations too seriously.
Oh I don't think that's really what it's trying to say; it's fully Absurdist. I may be biased because I make all my employees learn the word "sisyphean"
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 18 November 2015 22:37 (eight years ago) link
There's a nice bit in the commentary track or something about how difficult it was to make Clooney and Pitt look like idiotic schlubs. Pitt's hair is directly borrowed from some Japanese commercial shoot he had done right before filming began, and Clooney's outfit in the hardware store actually took more than a few tries. Apparently the man can even make Wranglers look kind of okay, they really had to find the daddest jeans around
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 18 November 2015 22:39 (eight years ago) link
They didn't really succeed in making him look schlubby, but he worked well as a vain, commitment-phobic possible sex addict.
― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Wednesday, 18 November 2015 22:41 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlA9hmrC8DU
"We have her? To do what with?"
― goole, Wednesday, 18 November 2015 22:42 (eight years ago) link
don't really get how you can dislike clooney in this movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjjtWRI0k4g
― goole, Wednesday, 18 November 2015 22:45 (eight years ago) link
really did appreciate they were cast against type
― μpright mammal (mh), Wednesday, 18 November 2015 22:48 (eight years ago) link
I thought Pitt was hilariouis
― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Wednesday, 18 November 2015 23:05 (eight years ago) link
hilarious even
― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Wednesday, 18 November 2015 22:23 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Jfc
― MONKEY had been BUMMED by the GHOST of the late prancing paedophile (darraghmac), Wednesday, 18 November 2015 23:39 (eight years ago) link
this is my favourite coens
― avant-garde, sissy bounce, zombie rave, aquacrunk, warlock, oceangrunge, (imago), Wednesday, November 18, 2015 9:54 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
this is the worst coen bros
― Karl Rove Knausgård (jim in glasgow), Wednesday, November 18, 2015 9:58 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
lol
lj you are like the anti-me.― what U cry 4 (jim), Sunday, December 28, 2008 7:38 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― what U cry 4 (jim), Sunday, December 28, 2008 7:38 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― avant-garde, sissy bounce, zombie rave, aquacrunk, warlock, oceangrunge, (imago), Thursday, 19 November 2015 00:14 (eight years ago) link
ha
― Karl Rove Knausgård (jim in glasgow), Thursday, 19 November 2015 00:21 (eight years ago) link
http://rack.0.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEzLzA4LzA1L2QwL2JyYWRwaXR0LmJjMmQyLmdpZgpwCXRodW1iCTg1MHg4NTA-CmUJanBn/47ac6804/968/brad-pitt.jpg
― tayto fan (Michael B), Thursday, 19 November 2015 23:58 (eight years ago) link
otm
― glandular lansbury (sic), Friday, 20 November 2015 01:08 (eight years ago) link
Watched this again, for the first time since it was originally released. My wife didn't know Pitt could be funny! Anyway, I still sort of appreciated the audacity of the shrug of an ending, but a lot of it reminded me of early (continued?) criticism of the Coens as mean-spirited or contemptuous.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 16 January 2021 15:17 (three years ago) link
if you take it, as I do, as a War on Terror parable, "a bunch of people die and no one learns anything" seems like the most appropriate ending possible
― stylish but illegal (Simon H.), Saturday, 16 January 2021 15:27 (three years ago) link
I've thought about this movie so many times during the Trump presidency
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 16 January 2021 15:57 (three years ago) link
lj: I've came round on this film, no longer my least favourite Cohen bros, has achieved mid-table respectability in my Cohen bros league table
― Fenners' Pen (jim in vancouver), Saturday, 16 January 2021 16:03 (three years ago) link
I actually feel like as far as government satire goes, it kind of transcends a specific target and just kind of indicts or at least makes fun of all career government workers. Like, the crew of JK and David Rasche, I think of them as the proverbial, perpetual Deep State, just career bureaucratic buffoons that populate the back hallways in the corridors of power. Sure, they might enable a war on terror or the like, but they're generally indifferent/agnostic and are mostly just trying to keep their heads down and make it to the finish line of retirement with benefits.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 16 January 2021 16:08 (three years ago) link
Xxp You’re not the only one... https://newrepublic.com/article/143875/living-coen-brothers-darkest-comedy
― Dan Worsley, Saturday, 16 January 2021 16:11 (three years ago) link
There are definitely seeds of something clever and funny in this, like I kinda get what they’re shooting for, but after sitting through it maybe three times now it’s only become increasingly clear that it’s a total misfire, actually bad Coen Bros movie.And I don’t get the praise for Pitt’s comedy chops in this, he’s awful. Someone like Channing Tatum could’ve done this twice as well without being so distractingly try-hard.
― circa1916, Saturday, 16 January 2021 16:14 (three years ago) link
I think Pitt is having a blast and not being too try-hard. I bet Tatum would have been both good, too, though remarkably similar in performance to Pitt. I've got to assume the Coens, for all their colorful characters, keep at least some degree of control. Their characters might be cartoons but they're very specific cartoons from writer/directors not known for being particularly loose with things.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 16 January 2021 16:24 (three years ago) link
By the way, a nugget I've dropped here before, I think, is that I used to know a Coen cousin, and he told me that if you knew their family back in Minnesota then so much of their collective sensibility makes an extra bit of sense.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 16 January 2021 16:25 (three years ago) link
Pitt is having a blast
Yes. And this is a problem. He should be acting, not wilding. Farce is hard.
― Respectfully Yours, (Aimless), Saturday, 16 January 2021 17:23 (three years ago) link
I mean, McDormand and Clooney are both mug-city in this silly movie, too. Malkovich seems to be acting, as is Jenkins. Maybe Tilda. But the leads got nothing going on besides being funny for being and looking dumb, imo.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 16 January 2021 19:01 (three years ago) link
I think there are one or two Coen brothers movies I've just never seen. but Ladykillers and the one with Catherine Zeta-Jones are the only two I never want to see again.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 16 January 2021 19:08 (three years ago) link
Every artist has their 'Tragic Band' era - pretty much the entire first half the 2000s in the Coens' case.
― a degree in bullshit from glasters uni (Matt #2), Saturday, 16 January 2021 19:17 (three years ago) link
if I have to look at Channing Tatum’s face for more than 10 seconds I get physically ill
― brimstead, Saturday, 16 January 2021 19:23 (three years ago) link
xp intolerable cruelty is excellent but not as a "coen bros" movie perhaps
― spaghetti connemara (darraghmac), Saturday, 16 January 2021 19:24 (three years ago) link
I see Intolerable Cruelty as another of the Coen's attempts to do homage to Preston Sturges. Like several of their faux-Sturges films, it almost works, but lands a bit off target.
― Respectfully Yours, (Aimless), Saturday, 16 January 2021 20:01 (three years ago) link
Malkovich seems to be acting, as is Jenkins.
The only scenery that Malkovich leaves unmasticated in this film are the brownstone and cars.
― shivers me timber (sic), Saturday, 16 January 2021 21:32 (three years ago) link
Well, he and Jenkins are the only characters with real motivations for their behavior, at least.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 16 January 2021 21:35 (three years ago) link
They have to reboot Burn After Reading every ten years or lose the rights to the cinematic universe. https://t.co/UJtAlzNpei— David Roth (@david_j_roth) January 18, 2021
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 18 January 2021 15:19 (three years ago) link
the best takes in this bump are those praising this film for its ongoing relevance ^_^
― imago, Monday, 18 January 2021 17:13 (three years ago) link
xp. "the raw intelligence"
this is probably the most misanthropic cohen brothers movie, no? the nearest thing to a likable character is ... Jenkins, maybe? although simping for McDormand's narcissistic-maniac is deeply pathetic, and his fate is cruel
― Fenners' Pen (jim in vancouver), Monday, 18 January 2021 17:40 (three years ago) link
And I don’t get the praise for Pitt’s comedy chops in this, he’s awful. Someone like Channing Tatum could’ve done this twice as well without being so distractingly try-hard.
― circa1916,
I look at his performance here as a trial run for better, looser, more relaxed ones in the next few years.
― meticulously crafted, socially responsible, morally upsta (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 18 January 2021 17:56 (three years ago) link
I had totally forgotten that in the Coens filmography No Country for Old Men is sandwiched between this and The Ladykillers, which kind of blows my mind.
I think the reason this never worked for me is that it seemed like a case of the Coens self-consciously trying to make a Coen Brothers Type Movie
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Monday, 18 January 2021 18:08 (three years ago) link
Pitt's performance isn't about having multilayered comedy chops, it's glorious clowning.
― shivers me timber (sic), Monday, 18 January 2021 22:06 (three years ago) link
Agreed
Also no country is just lifted straight from the novel, so maybe they didnt have to work themselves into the mood as much
― spaghetti connemara (darraghmac), Tuesday, 19 January 2021 01:02 (three years ago) link
Not that they finish editing a serious drama and then get the bends sitting down to write a goofy comedy - they're usually struggling to get a screenplay financed from the slush pile - but it's more the pattern than not to go from srs bsns -> goofball shit.
Blood Simple -> Raising ArizonaCrossing & Fink b2b -> HudsuckerFargo -> LebowskiMan Who Wasn't -> IntolerableNo Country -> Burn AfterLlewyn Davis -> Hail Caesar
― shivers me timber (sic), Tuesday, 19 January 2021 01:24 (three years ago) link
i was surprised not so much by the shift in mood but in quality. all this time i'd been thinking of cruelty, ladykiller & burn as one continuous string of misfires (the first two so misconceived & badly executed that i'd wondered if the coens had completely lost it, the third better but just sort of an ungainly clunker), with no country being their reinvigorated return from the wilderness. its wild to realize that it comes square in the middle of that otherwise very awkward string of films. good point darraghmac, maybe the relatively straight adaptation took some of the pressure off
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Tuesday, 19 January 2021 17:22 (three years ago) link
Yes but *also* intolerable cruelty and burn after reading are good tho
― spaghetti connemara (darraghmac), Tuesday, 19 January 2021 17:37 (three years ago) link
It's also harder to be funny than to be serious, imo. One reason I suggested "Burn..." to my wife is that there are far too few contemporary funny movies to watch.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 19 January 2021 17:46 (three years ago) link
For me the problem with Intolerable Cruelty is that the film never achieved the sense of play it hoped to deliver. It was generally amusing in concept and execution, but it desperately wanted to be delightful and it failed.
― Respectfully Yours, (Aimless), Tuesday, 19 January 2021 17:52 (three years ago) link
josh otm re comedy, everyone has their favs and least favs with the coens but for me all the ones that i think dont work are comedies. its a much, much smaller target to hit.
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Tuesday, 19 January 2021 17:57 (three years ago) link