Will Grant Heslov’s The Men Who Stare at Goatsbe the greatest George Clooney movie of all time? If you’re a fan of the actor/director’s work in Three Kings, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Burn After Readingand Syriana, then it’s possible you’ll see this as the military/CIA satire he’s been working towards his whole career. The fact that it seems like it should or could have been directed by the Coen Bros. — costars Jeff Bridges, Stephen Root and J.K. Simmons have all worked with the filmmaking duo in addition to Clooney — provides further evidence that this might well be the epitome of Clooney’s career.
Based on the non-fiction book by Jon Ronson, Goats is about a reporter (Ewan McGregor) working on a story about a U.S. Army unit employing psychic soldiers. Clooney is one of these “Jedi warriors,” as you can see in the trailer when he bursts clouds and knocks over goats with his mind. One particular bit of slapstick stolen from the underseen Specialhas me a little worried about the humor here. But how can I not want to see a movie that basically seems to insert “The Dude” into a modern day cross between DePalma’s The FuryandSpies Like Us?
Check out other film blog reactions to the trailer after the jump:
The Writers Guild of America have released their nominations for the best original, adapted and documentary screenplays of the year. The good: recognition for Boogie Man, Burn After Reading and Vicky Cristina Barcelona. The bad: some of the least original, most cliche-ridden scripts of the year got noms, including Milk, Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire. The will-be-judged-by-history-as-criminal: Synecdoche, NY and My Winnipeg were overlooked. Blerg, WGA. Blerg. Variety has the full list of nominees.
I’ll start with a short disclaimer: I fully recognize the potential arrogance in claiming to know the four most misunderstood films of the year. To say that I have some supreme viewing power that allows me to see these films for what they truly are reeks of a high and mighty attitude that I’d rather stay away from. However, as many critics are preparing their final tallies of what they loved and hated in 2008, I simply feel the need to put into print a positive perspective on four films that seem to be frequently criticized or overlooked.
That being said, there is a certain irony in the fact that all four of these films deal with a kind of misunderstanding. Whether it be a mix-up between characters or a challenging thematic element that dares the viewer to reevaluate the way they approach the subject matter, I feel each of these films does something particularly audacious with the concept of false impression.
About.com’s Jurgen Fauth has put together a list of the ten films he was most disappointed by in 2008. Among them: box office champion The Dark Knight (”turgid”), preordained indie “surprise” awards darling Slumdog Millionaire (”completely falls apart by the light of day”) and the year’s token “but it’s good for grown ups too!” animated hit, Wall-E (”predictably schematic kid’s fare”). Three cheers for contrarianism!
It should be noted that many of Jurgen’s disappointments are amongst my favorite films of the year. If I made a top ten of 2008 today, spots for Burn After Reading and Synecdoche, NY would be assured, and I’m a fan of Ballast and Vicky Cristina Barcelona as well. “Many of the movies that disappointed me most in 2008 were grossly over-hyped, flagrantly overpraised — and zealously defended by people with wide-ranging vocabularies,” he writes. I’m one of those zealots!
Since the Chicago Reader’s Pat Graham extended the meme on his own blog, I thought I might as well. My own picks for the biggest disappointments of 2008 are after the jump. Chime in with yours in the comments, or write your own blog post and paste a link there.
With Halloween less than a month away, it’s time to start thinking about what to go as. That is, if you haven’t already. A good costume-loving cinephile typically knows well in advance what he or she will dress up as for Halloween (and Comic-Con, too). But if you’re one to wait until the last minute, and also one who likes to be a lot more contemporary than, say, dressing up as a Ghostbuster or Edward Scissorhands, I’ve got some suggestions for you for costumes based on recent films.
As summer cools down, the movies heat up. In this episode we take a look at what’s coming down the pipe this fall. Sure, some of the season’s movies will be blatant Oscar bait, but we still can’t wait to see what Hollywood has in store.
Yesterday marked the beginning of a week of mutant pigs, autistic kung-fu masters, and Japanese nudity. I’m referring of course to Fantastic Fest, Austin’s genre film destination. We talk to festival programmer Zack Carlson about what to look forward to.
Burn After Reading, the latest offering from the Coen Brothers, won the top box office spot last weekend, but did it win our hearts? We shall discuss.
After reading Anne Thompson’s post on the dismal reception given to the youth-baiting rethink of At The Movies starring Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz, I decided I had better watch The Two Bens’ first episode online to see what all the griping is about. It actually starts off rather well: Mankiewicz is totally qualified for this job, although it’s a bit of a wonder he was even hired, what with his TCM-honed, “I am going to explain this very slowly because my viewers may be aged” manner of speaking. But then he tosses it to Lyons, who says something completely incoherent about Burn After Reading being “almost like an exercise in drama,” and then they cut back Mankiewicz, who struggles to croak out, “Yeah, that’s an interesting point,” whilst swallowing his own testicles. At that point, I stopped.
Interestingly, another thing that I wasn’t able to force myself to watch all the way through this week also had to do with the sorry contemporary incarnation of the former gold standard for televised movie reviews.
A few record openings happened over the weekend, though unfortunately some came too late. As the Coen brothers experienced their greatest ever debut with Burn After Reading (or, as I call it, “Forget After Watching”), which also gave Focus Features its biggest opening ever, the same was true for Picturehouse, which saw its best bow with its final release, The Women. Meanwhile, newbie distributor Overture Films had its best debut with its fifth release, Righteous Kill, and Warner Independent opened its own final feature, Towelhead, to the weekend’s best per-screen average ($13,250).
Despite his latest box office failure, Vin Diesel is getting another another chance. The actor will reunite with director Rob Cohen for a third xXx movie after having skipped the first sequel. It would seem to be Diesel’s acknowledgment of career misdirection had he not already recently signed on for the fourth Fast and the Furious installment, too.
Speaking of things that came too late: where was Framelight Productions when Alan Moore began his naive relationship with the movie biz? According to The Hollywood Reporter, this new company’s goal is to work very closely with creators every step of the way in its adaptations of their comics, video games and toys.
And finally, for the too soon department: Jeffrey Katzenberg is still pimping 3-D, this time via a live 3-D broadcast and talking of a time when all movies are 3-D, all viewing formats are 3-D (including computers and handheld devices) and everyone fashionably wears their 3-D glasses at all times.
Everybody remembers the bigger name Coen Bros. regulars, such as John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, Frances McDormand, Billy Bob Thornton and now George Clooney. And of course, there are the one-shot stars, like Nicolas Cage, Gabriel Byrne, Jeff Bridges, William H. Macy, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Julianne Moore, Paul Newman, Albert Finney, Woody Harrelson, Tim Robbins and now Brad Pitt and John Malkovich. But who ever talks about Michael Lerner? He received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role in Barton Fink, yet he never seems to get the same kind of respect that Javier Bardem gets, and it’s not just because Bardem won the award for No Country for Old Men.
With their new film, Burn After Reading, the Coens have again recast some lesser known character actors that I hope get the recognition they deserve. Both Richard Jenkins and J.K. Simmons have previously appeared in the Coens’ films, but each has seriously risen in notability since their last collaboration with the filmmakers. Hopefully, they’ll continue to be cast by the brothers.
Obviously, all my favorite Coen Bros. actors can’t be in every Coen Bros. movie (especially since some of them are dead). And interestingly enough, the brothers’ next film, A Serious Man, is being cast with (so far) only actors they’ve never employed. So, I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the less-recognized actors and actresses who have done tremendous work for Joel and Ethan, not so much in the hopes that they’ll be re-employed (some can’t be) but in the general interest of giving them some much-needed praise.
Tilda Swinton has made a career out of playing interesting characters, although her shrewish portrayal of Katie Cox in Burn After Reading probably won’t endear her to many. She plays the epitome of a controlling woman who has her CIA husband Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) sandwiched squarely under her thumb. Or there could be a cadre of career-minded women out there who’d want to use her as a role model, I’m not sure.
The film has been getting mixed reviews ever since its debut at the Venice Film Festival, although they all seem to laud the performances. Swinton performs adequately enough in the film, but she isn’t given much to do, and seeing her with George Clooney just makes me want to watch Michael Clayton all over again. I might even have to pull Orlando off the shelf and watch it again as well.
Find out what she had to say about working with the Coens, going up against Brad Pitt’s blonde hair, and what winning the Oscar did, or rather didn’t, for her career. It’s all waiting after the break.
As the Toronto International Film Festival draws to a close, we talk with Karina Longworth and Kevin Kelly about their experience. The Coen Brothers’ new film Burn After Reading gets a mixed reaction, apparently it’s better if you get to see it with Adrien Brody. Brody’s new film, The Brothers Bloom, by Brick director Rian Johnson, is one of Kevin’s favorites.
The Fall, a lush surrealist epic directed by Tarsem (yes, he only goes by one name), is out on DVD. Adam and I mull it over, comparing it to the 1973 campy classic Zardoz, starring a half-naked Sean Connery.
Lastly, I interview Michelle Byrd, executive director of IFP about Independent Film Week, taking place in New York September 14-19. I should note that I accidentally mispronounced her name as “Boyd,” my apologies. It’s sort of funny if you imagine I have a strong Brooklyn accent for just that one word.
According to Variety, four new films are competing for the attention of adult moviegoers this weekend, with The Women attracting the +25 ladies and Righteous Kill, Burn After Reading and Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys attracting the men, I guess. The prediction is that Perry’s film will win the box office, because it will attract the black audience while Righteous and Burn are expected to split their (white?) demo. And, well, women don’t actually go to the movies. Right?
Universal and Focus have made a deal to invest in and co-produce the latest from Oldboy director Chan-wook Park. The new film, a risque vampire pic titled Thirst, is apparently the first Korean production financed and picked up for distribution by a U.S. studio prior to its being completed and released locally.
In case you want to know more about the Gore Verbinski-Johnny Depp motion capture film, Rango, Variety has a short follow-up, which spotlights the involvement of ILM. Though it doesn’t really add much to the original news, I’m a little more intrigued now about the future of animated features and whether or not mo-cap companies like ILM, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Animal Logic (none of which, it’s noted, develop their own projects) could soon give Pixar and DreamWorks a run for their money.
Although Joel and Ethan Coen have been busy in Toronto talking about their newest film Burn After Reading, which opens tomorrow, last weekend the buzz around town was all about small crowds gathering at hotel entrances hoping for a glimpse of Brad Pitt. He definitely steals the movie, which is hard to do considering some of the talent that’s stacked up in this film.
On that note, I’ve gone back and forth on this movie in my own head. At first I didn’t care for it, then I kept thinking about the performances and realizing how good some of them are. George Clooney’s Harry Pfarrer is actually a pretty decent character, especially when he gets paired onscreen with Frances McDormand. Their dinner scene together works with a bit of Cary Grant / Katherine Hepburn spark.
However, despite the strong performances throughout the film, the plot drags on and by the time you come to the end, you find yourself thinking “Is that it?” When the writer and director end up being the same person, there’s not really anyone else you can fault for the final product. Miller’s Crossing is one of my top five films, and I never get tired of The Hudsucker Proxy or The Big Lebowski. Unfortunately Burn After Reading represents, for me, a misstep for the Brothers Coen. Read on to find out what they had to say about the film, winning the Oscar, and an Easter egg hidden on the Fargo soundtrack.
John Malkovich enjoyed a particularly high spike in popularity and geek credit when he appeared in Charlie Kaufman’s Being John Malkovich, but he’s been in more than 20 films since then and he hasn’t managed to have that lightning strike twice.
He was excellent as the poseur art teacher in the otherwise disappointing Art School Confidential, and while he turns in a great performance in Burn After Reading, neither one stands above anything else he’s done. Maybe he should actually try playing a jewel thief to see what he can do with that role. Find out what he thought about working with the Coens and dropping the f-bomb a lot in the interview after the break.
Brad Pitt’s “gum-chewing, Gatorade-swilling, iPod addicted bubble brain” Chad character in the Coen Brothers film Burn After Reading ends up walking away with every scene he’s in, and as a result he’s the best thing about the movie. Which is not to mean that this a great movie. Far from it. It’s a mediocre Coen Brothers movie with a standout performance by Pitt.
His portrayal of a simple gym employee who gets sucked into international intrigue, serves as a counterpoint to the image of Pitt that we’ve seen in films like Babel and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. It’s obviously not his first comedic role, but it’s definitely the most vapid role he’s played since Floyd in True Romance. We caught up with him in Toronto, and you can find out about Chad, what he’s working on next, and life with Angelina, just beyond the break.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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The Writers Guild of America have released their nominations for the best original, adapted and documentary screenplays of the year. The good: recognition for Boogie Man, Burn After Reading and Vicky Cristina Barcelona. The bad: some of the least original, most cliche-ridden scripts of the year got noms, including Milk, Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire. The will-be-judged-by-history-as-criminal: Synecdoche, NY and My Winnipeg were overlooked. Blerg, WGA. Blerg. Variety has the full list of nominees.
About.com’s 
