Our fellow War Machines at FirstShowing just nabbed a small crop of new images from Joel and Ethan Coen’s follow-up to their Best Picture winning No Country For Old Me, Burn After Reading. Lots of comical mouth-breathing going on here, and it’s nice to see Brad Pitt in a role that recalls Floyd from True Romance with the addition of yoga, a shower, ProActiv and highlights. Add to the mix John Malkovich, George Clooney, Francis McDormand and Tilda Swinton, and expectations could not be any higher for the bros’ signature dark comedy opening this September.
What’s it about?: Malkovich stars as a former CIA agent with a soon-to-be ex wife (Winton) who steals a CD containing his memoirs and government secrets. Two gym employees/plebes (Pitt, McDormand) steal the CD and attempt to make a profit, leading the CIA to unleash Clooney (whose character is also a complete doof according to the actor) to clean up the mess. Good to see Malkovich back to facing off with Hollywood’s uppercrust and having some fun in a high profile flick.
Discuss: The next Raising Arizona or The Ladykillers? Is Clooney better suited for comedy or dramas or Coen Bros movies?
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Oh I cant wait for another pretentious film from the Coen brothers!
Maybe this movie will steal them another Oscar, I mean look at all of that star power!
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:25 pm
I wish they would stop using Clooney. Aside from O Brother Where Art Thou? I wasn’t crazy about him in intolerable Cruelty. I’m just not crazy about him period.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:13 pm
“expectations could not be any higher for the bros’ signature dark comedy opening this September.”
I think this is total bullcorn. Expectations could not be any higher?!? Maybe if you were talking about The Dark Knight, but look, some people know about this movie, but it’s not like it’s been generating a ton of buzz and speculation. If you polled people on anticipation and title recognition, I bet it wouldn’t even be on most people’s radar.
Ghost… all you said was that you weren’t crazy about him in one movie. You seemed to like the other one. One movie (which I agree was on the weak side for them, though still had some redeeming qualities) doesn’t really merit such a response. But it’s different if you just don’t like Clooney, in general.
LL…. that’s just silly to say.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I don’t really think the Coen brothers are pretentious. They’re much more mainstream then people give them credit for.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:24 pm
I really don’t understand how people can be so excited about Ironman and TDK and bash films like this? Theres a damn good reason the Coen’s won best picture last year, and its not because the Academy is “pretentious”, its because trash like Transformers doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near a film like NCFOM.
Im very excited about this movie, far moreso then Iron Man and TDK of which for the last couple weeks 90% of all /film posts have been about. I will agree with above though, I’m not a big fan of Clooney, but his performance isn’t going to make or break the movie anyways so no reason to get panties in a twist.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
@anonymous
bullcorn?
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I’ll just clarify that I am a huge Coen brothers fan and will absolutely see this movie in theatres and have looked forward to every one of their movies for the last 20 years. I was just saying that it’s silly to say “expectations could not be any higher,” as this movie is clearly not generating the type of fandom and excitement of a wellmade huge fan favorite popcorn movie.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:35 pm
lol @ Larry Leonardo and at “Bullcorn”.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:38 pm
@ anonymous
When a director(s) is coming off a masterpiece (at least, according to popular/Academy consensus), expectations are never higher. Expectations are as high and actually much higher for the Coens right now than they were post-Fargo. It’s not really a matter of buzz.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Hunter,
I completely disagree and I think a lot of that has to do with their place in Hollywood and ability and tendency to do so many different things. They are perfectly content to make a cute tribute to Howard Hawks screwball comedies (Intolerable Cruelty) and or something like The Man Who Wasn’t There or just wacky movies like The Big Lebowski or O Brother (which, of course, were wacky for totally different reasons), but also do something like Miller’s Crossing. They are able to make incredibly different movies in terms of tone and genre, but also in terms of consequence.
And I think this also has something to do with their ability to come out with movies fairly quickly after one another (just look at The Man Who Wasn’t There coming out just months after O Brother… or the same thing with The Ladykillers after Intolerable Cruelty). It forces people to move on and not be hung up on one thing, unlike say Kubrick, Scorsese, or Paul Thomas Anderson.
I think expectations will be much much higher for the next PT Anderson movie after There Will Be Blood, because of his specific resume and the way he makes movies, than they will be for the Coen’s.
May 2nd, 2008 at 4:47 pm
This is going to be a big movie not matter what just because of the star power. The Coens make great movies and Clooney needs to stick with them. I think Paul Thomas Anderson’s next movie will be more anticipated than this, but I expect this movie to be really good. I agree that Pitt needs this film to get back to this True Romance roots…”Hey get some beer and some cleaning products!”
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:05 pm
@ anonymous
Of course PTA’s next movie will be more anticipated, but that just goes to show how much more important, mind-blowing and definitive a film There Will Be Blood was compared to No Country For Old Men. I couldn’t agree with you more, but from a prototypical critic/mainstream stand point, the Coen Bros’ next move is more anticipated and has higher expectations.
Of course, NOW every movie critic holds PTA to the highest standards, and I fully expect the NCFOM vs TWBB debate to be re-lit if and when Burn After Reading doesn’t hit the highest mark. The Coen Bros. are good at downplaying everything, as they should, but that doesn’t swipe away the fact that this film has “modern classic” expectations.