drew-kennedy Reviews

Burn After Reading (2008)

Post "No Country" comedy

[8/10 · 18 September 2008]

I would have given a negative review if I discussed this movie right after seeing it, at a screening. After seeing the trailer, I thought the Coens' would yet again follow one of their critically successful thrillers with a zany, nonsensical, off-the-wall, immediately critically panned, but destine-to-be-cult-classic comedies...and I was excited. So in comparison to the wackiness of "Lebowski" or even "Hudsucker Proxy" and "Raising Arizona" in my opinion, this movie seems dull and the "no ending" ending seems like a cop out.

However, given the massive public and critical success of "No Country" this movie has a different audience then the previous Coen comedies. I think they try to cater to fans of old and new with this movie.

In comparison to "No Country", I think it must've been somewhat of a joke to use similar "no ending" endings to leave the audience with such different feelings. In "No Country" I felt a sombre sense of reality with the ending. Where as in this movie, I feel like everyone's time has been wasted by any work at all involved with this movie. This both drives home the absurdity of the intelligence community, and plays a great joke on me the audience member.

Again, as in "No Country" there are a lot of slow, suspenseful buildups to the action scenes. One of them involving almost seems like a practical joke from the Coen brothers, in the making for one and a half movies (I don't mind discussing the ending, but I think it is a SPOILER if I say what the joke is). Another scene is extremely graphic, it is out of nowhere, reminding us that the person, and the movie is nuts.

The movie might not have as many memorable quotes as previous Coen bros. comedies, but the running jokes involving swear words are hilarious. The Coens' could teach a course in film school entitled "How to swear in the movies" to screenwriters and directors. And if "How to swear in the movies" was taught to actors, I could think of no one to profess better than John Malkovich. At the very least, these running jokes will keep you smirking during the movie.

For the Coen bros. fanatic, this may not be the best, if you feel like watching the a movie like "the Big Lebowski", then just watch "the Big Lebowski" again - it gets better every time, right? However, if you are torn between "the Big Lebowski" and "Dr. Strangelove" then try "Burn After Reading"

Appaloosa (2008)

Somewhat enjoyable, butch cassidy & Wyatt Earp mash-up.

[7/10 · 18 September 2008]

I went to the LA premiere of "Appaloosa" tonight. Before the screening an executive described the film to the audience as Ed Harris's vision and introduced Harris as the most obsessive filmmaker he has ever worked with. Thus, I thought Ed Harris was just being humble in telling the crowd, "we made the film for you to enjoy, so enjoy it."

The film is somewhat enjoyable. The scenery, sets and costumes are beautiful, the gunplay is fun and the dialogue is funny and even witty at times. Maybe this is what drew such great actors to do the movie.

Problem is that when I see Viggo Mortensen character in the movie, I think he would have been a great Doc Holliday. Both the characters and plot feel too familiar. I felt the plots of a Wyatt Earp tale, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and an Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot love triangle were incorporated into this film. Maybe elements of these plots are used here and weaved together somewhat differently, but it was still apparent to me.

One scene that is unique in the movie attempts to draw sympathy from the audience for Renée Zellweger's character, but there is no follow up. The motivations for her actions in the film are never explained. Frustrating.

I know why Ed Harris told me at the beginning to "...just enjoy..." and I will try not to hold won't hold anything against his movie. As I see it George Clooney and pals like to make heist movies for fun and I don't hold it against them. So why can't Harris, Mortensens, Irons and others make westerns for fun? Well, "Ocean's 11" was officially a re-make, paying homage to the rat pack, which was very enjoyable. They then copied the same formula twice, which weren't so good. So in comparison, Harris in making this movie has skipped the remake and given us "Butch Cassidy...2".