Burn After Reading
Been to the cinema yesterday and watched "Burn After Reading" (I know, probably an old hat for most of you, but here it came out only a week ago). Anyway: the most hilarious 90 minutes I had in a long time. The Coens once again made a fantastic movie. The story: pretty crazy. Someone loses a disc with what looks like secret information (but in fact only is the manuscript of an ex-CIA analyst writing his memoirs) in a gym. Two, let's say 'not very clever', trainers decide to blackmail the CIA guy. When that goes wrong, they bring the Russians in, not to forget the involvement of a federal marshal.
What makes this really hilarious is the cast. John Malkovich is Osborne Cox, the ex-CIA, who just got more or less fired and whose marriage is falling to pieces. Tilda Swinton brilliantly plays his ice-cold wife (god, I love to hate her!). George Clooney plays the marshal (is that the right word? not sure as I watched the dubbed version of the movie) - a guy who constantly cheats on his wife but is devastated when she wants a divorce. But the real highlights for me were J.K. Simmons as a CIA officer - like in many of the movies he made, in this one as well he gets some of the best scenes - short, but brilliantly funny! Then we have our gym employees Frances McDormand (as Linda Litzke, who wants to use the money from the blackmailing to afford cosmetic surgery) and Brad Pitt, who plays the most dim-witted blackmailer I've ever seen in a movie. A bit obsessed with his training... I almost died of laughter at the way he bounced along, always with headphones in his ears and singing along more or less quietly. Fabulous! But beware: as Coen movies go, there is of course blood - though not as much as in their last one "No Country for Old Men".
8 out of 10 Schwinn bikes.
What makes this really hilarious is the cast. John Malkovich is Osborne Cox, the ex-CIA, who just got more or less fired and whose marriage is falling to pieces. Tilda Swinton brilliantly plays his ice-cold wife (god, I love to hate her!). George Clooney plays the marshal (is that the right word? not sure as I watched the dubbed version of the movie) - a guy who constantly cheats on his wife but is devastated when she wants a divorce. But the real highlights for me were J.K. Simmons as a CIA officer - like in many of the movies he made, in this one as well he gets some of the best scenes - short, but brilliantly funny! Then we have our gym employees Frances McDormand (as Linda Litzke, who wants to use the money from the blackmailing to afford cosmetic surgery) and Brad Pitt, who plays the most dim-witted blackmailer I've ever seen in a movie. A bit obsessed with his training... I almost died of laughter at the way he bounced along, always with headphones in his ears and singing along more or less quietly. Fabulous! But beware: as Coen movies go, there is of course blood - though not as much as in their last one "No Country for Old Men".
8 out of 10 Schwinn bikes.