Thoughts on BURN AFTER READING

Seen it!

*** (out of four)
letter grade: B+

These are certainly much kinder responses than I had to THE BIG LEBOWSKI, although I don't think BURN is nearly as good.

Finally, we've had ourselves another authentic Coen Brothers experience - much more so than THE LADYKILLERS and even NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (which I really feel was a major departure, albeit a progressive one). Maybe it has something to do with the fact that those were adaptations. A true-to-the-game Coen Bros. experience just feels better when it's their original script.

What might have really done it for me, in terms of it feeling like the real deal again, is Carter Burwell's score, which echoes previous gems like FARGO and BARTON FINK.

I like this better than THE LADYKILLERS, INTOLERABLE CRUELTY (though I liked it) and O BROTHER (relax, His Starkness - you're getting married). Repeat viewings are really going to enhance this movie, which is already a ton of fun.

One aspect that doesn't quite catapult it to the top of the catalogue might be the entire point of the movie (which means I'll probably like it even more for this reason once I watch it a few more times, which I will). The stakes just didn't feel high enough for the characters, even if they resulted in a few deaths, the highest stakes imaginable. Like Mr. Strickland and the CIA man suggested, the whole situation was a giant clusterf*ck, where the big picture wasn't quite as dire as everyone (aside from the Russians) seemed to think it was. The CIA sequences might have been my favorite in the movie. I don't get your beef. Corey's Greek-chorus comparison is appropriate. That they were so dry probably sold it better than broader delivery would have. JK Simmons was used very well here, unlike how he was in the Coens' sh*t sandwich.

THE BIGGEST, BADDEST, HEAVIEST, PUREST COEN BROTHERS MOMENT: the Princeton reunion party. That felt like a mash-up of several of their films; a scene that belongs with their best ones.

Quite frankly, the script just doesn't have the firepower of their previous efforts. Looking back at HUDSUCKER, FINK, MILLER'S CROSSING and RAISING ARIZONA, it's certainly hard to top their previous achievements, but we can have high expectations, can't we? Plenty of the dialogue was fun, but I didn't find a ton of it to be as unique as what they've written before. Most of Osbourne Cox's lines and actions were great, though.

SPOILER STUFF (no kidding)

Regarding the closet. While I think it's appropriate to laugh here, it was maybe the scariest scene in the movie (other than the Princeton reunion). That damn smile right before stuck with me until the end of it all. Personally, I think the Coens are getting a little to good at violent shootings - they're right up there with Spielberg if you ask me (SCHINDLER'S LIST and MUNICH are BRUTAL). Poor Chad.

And for that matter, Poor Ted (Richard Jenkins), too. One of the best and saddest lines in the movie: "You've changed, Linda! And that's sad." Maybe more viewings (spotting a theme here?) will change my mind, but I can't decide what I think about the inclusion of this character. Or maybe not so much the inclusion but the amount of screen time he gets. He's a wonderful, pathetic character, but there are times when I don't feel like he really belongs in the bigger picture. For a clinic in how secondary characters with minimal screen time are used to their fullest potential, take another look at FARGO. Every actor deserved attention from the Academy. I mean EVERY ACTOR. Even the snow-shoveling eyewitness. It's still their masterpiece. Maybe by far, which says something.

Another favorite scene: Clooney's last moments. Yet another Coen Bros. character that deserves a movie onto himself. I really am still scratching my head over his secret basement project.

In no way is this movie close to their sh*t sandwich. It's really good and will likely get better.

Lame movie season deserves your patience

Last Friday's Tusk piece:

Lame movies til November
By Ben Flanagan
Ben Around
September 5, 2008

The end of summer until around mid-November marks perhaps the darkest days of the theatrical movie release calendar, rivaled only by January through April.

Ben Stiller's kind-of-funny Hollywood send-up 'Tropic Thunder' unofficially closed out an overall decent summer at the multiplexes, putting more of a positive spin on it based on such strong performances from key titles ('The Dark Knight,' 'Iron Man,' 'Wall-E'). Although domestic ticket sales so far total $3.9 billion, up a little more than 1 percent from last year's record summer (yes, the summer of 'Speed Racer,' 'The X-Files: I Want to Believe' and 'The Love Guru' broke records).

Shifting our attention away from the financial end of America's favorite movie season, are we happy with another remake-adaptation-sequel-r

idden summer Hollywood seems to churn out from an assembly line each year? Looking back, you'd almost lost the 'sequel' tag, as only a few of the major releases followed successful (enough) predecessors ('Indiana Jones,' 'Chronicles of Narnia,' 'The Dark Knight,' 'The Mummy,' 'Hellboy,' 'Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,' 'The X-Files'). Wow, never mind. Sequel city once again.

Makes you wonder just how much fresh, original material studio heads demand from their creative workforce. Quick answer is none at all, so long as they see dollar signs. If it's fresh and original, see that it's within an already established, $100 million (at least) domestic grossing franchise. Creativity-shmeativity. Oh well.

On the docket for summer 2009? More sequels. Another 'Terminator,' 'Harry Potter,' 'Transformers,' 'Fast and the Furious,' 'Ice Age,' 'Star Trek,' 'X-Men' and 'Da Vinci Code' (its prequel, 'Angels and Demons'). This doesn't even touch on the cartoon/comic/TV adaptations which we're all totally or somewhat familiar with ('G.I. Joe,' 'Land of the Lost,' 'The A-Team' – sigh).

Does this excite you? Do you feel your sources for escapism are in good hands? Will we really have to rely on Pixar ('Up') and Sacha Baron Cohen ('Bruno' — brace yourselves) yet again for the profitable originality that sets an example Hollywood can't seem to follow? God save us until we must endure next year's studio repetition stripped of a now mythical paradigm Tinseltown generates every once in a while: new ideas.

One solution: revolution. Lose sequels, prequels, remakes, adaptations and narratives based on true stories (the factual content takes the air out of it when viewers can simply visit Wikipedia for a climax). Devote 2-5 years to nothing but spanking new, original inspiration that'll propel a new Hollywood movement, culminating in a golden age unseen since the glorious 1970s.

Sad part is radical thoughts like this will never happen unless studios see the guaranteed payoff.

Until next summer, we've got the critical darlings and big holiday releases that set groundwork for the battle for Oscars and other throwaway awards that matter not to the masses but to your friendly blogger with a soft-spot for independent art. No guarantees folks like us will see the best of what modern film has to offer, unless the Cobb Hollywood 16 shifts its philosophy and lands art-house titles sure to generate a little controversy if not golden statuettes.

Stop right there. We'll get there — together — but we've got another month and a half or so until the real party gets rocking, so we're stuck with some studio throwaways that hope to generate a little revenue until Thanksgiving, when the Oscar ad campaigns begin.

Unfortunately, what we get this time of year is less than stellar. Take the last couple of weeks, where eight new movies opened up and subsequently bit the dust both critically and financially ('The House Bunny,' 'The Rocker,' 'Death Race,' 'The Longshots,' 'Traitor,' 'College,' 'Disaster Movie,' 'Babylon A.D.'), though a few of them did clear $10 million.

All that we can really rely on in the coming weeks is Joel and Ethan Coens' sure-to-be surreal comedy 'Burn After Reading,' the follow-up (starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt) to last year's best picture winner 'No Country for Old Men.' The new one looks more along the lines of their cult masterpiece 'The Big Lebowski' than anything in recent memory.

Other than that, some titles from notable directors (Spike Lee, Ridley Scott, Fernando Meirelles, Neil LaBute) will surface here and there until the 'movies that matter' hit the streets come winter time. I'd like to include 'Righteous Kill' here if I didn't think stars Robert De Niro and Al Pacino hadn't lost all interest, ambition and will when it comes to the craft they mastered years back and deserted years later.

In the meantime, I'll certainly settle for some of the early autumn offerings, but my Netflix queue better ready itself for a busier workout than it's gotten since late spring. I'm just sayin'.