The Coen Brothers, Brad Pitt, Frances MacDormand, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Jason Statham, fast cars piloted by maximum security prisoners, a British guy pestered by dead people and Leslie Nealson back with another of his trademark spoofs. Sounds like it’s time for a few nights at home!
Burn After Reading (2008), R, 96 mins.
True to their form, the Coen Brothers have brought us a truly unique film that isn’t even really about anything, it’s more of a cross-section of modern America with a bizarre situation thrown into the mix. The movie is about the characters, not the story, and it’s clever and fascinating from beginning to end.
The movie is centered around a tiny, accidental occurrence that starts a massive sandstorm of chaos for a handful of very, very different people. John Malkovich plays a CIA official named Osborne Cox who is suffering from some kind of mysterious professional persecution when one day his secretary leaves a CD of his work files at the gym, where it is discovered by the janitor and incredulously analyzed by the peculiar staff, ultimately leading to a hair-brained scheme to blackmail Osborne Cox for the lost CD, which is supposedly full of top secret national security information.
The Coen’s lose no time with the profanity and the left-field plot twists, while the actors all clearly have a blast with the story, as do we. See this one!
Eagle Eye (2008), PG-13, 118 mins.
Shia LaBeouf stars as Jerry Damon Shaw, a man who is thrown together with a complete stranger named Rache when both of them receive a mysterious phone call from the same woman that neither of them have ever met.
Under threats to their lives and their families, they are forced into a series of increasingly dangerous and deadly situations, and everyday technology is used to track them.
I believe it was Hitchcock who taught us the most about the effectiveness of throwing ordinary people into extraordinary situations, and while Eagle Eye is not quite Hitchcock material, you could still do a lot worse for a good action flick.
Also starring Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, and Michael Chiklis.
Ghost Town (2008), PG-13, 102 mins.
Did you see this thing? The first time I heard about it I immediately got the impression that it was a cheap Sixth Sense rip-off, but once you realize that it’s not even remotely in the same genre, it’s a little easier to accept it for what it is.
And what kind of movie is it? It’s a romantic comedy with ghosts, which is also not exactly an original concept but not without it’s charm. I had high hopes about the combination of British aggravation (certainly an endless source of amusement) and ghostly Americans, but there are also times when the ideas in the movie seem as much like fading ghosts as the characters.
Greg Kinnear turns in a charming performance as a ghost faced with the unenviable task of watching helplessly as his wife moves on with her life. Lots of existential questions may flood your mind, but the movie is more concerned with light-hearted laughs. Not a bad date movie, but probably not destined to be a classic…
Death Race (2008), R, 105 mins.
So Jason Statham is by now one of the biggest action stars in the world. He reminds me of a young Bruce Willis, although he’s had his share of hits and misses. Death Race is what I would call a critical disaster, because it has nothing but action and carnage. This thing is thin on everything – plot, story, acting, characters, etc. But what else would you expect from a movie with a title like Death Race? It’s fast, loud, vulgar, and violent, and as far as I’m concerned that’s all that it promises. Works for me.
The movie takes place in 2012 and shows us an American economy in such shambles that the government has resorted to generating revenue by webcasting death row inmates racing each other to death is super-charged vehicles loaded with various types of high-technology military weaponry. At least the war must be over!
It’s low-brow, hardcore action, but there’s tons of cars and carnage and explosions and high-profile criminals and, for reasons which are never clearly explained, hot women, so at least you know what to expect. Can’t wait for the sequel!
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