Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Trailer trash

[Hat Tip: Roderick Long]



It's not a Coen Brothers film, but it looks like it could be a Coen Brothers film and features Coen alumni Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski) and George Clooney (Burn After Reading). Maybe others as well -- I haven't researched the cast resumes in depth or anything. Based (more or less) on a true (again, more or less) story, too.

Definitely on my "must see" list, and probably on my "must see on the big screen" list. I usually save up big screen opportunities for stuff that's heavy on the special effects and big cinematic flourishes, or else "family friendly" enough to take the kids to. This is one of those rare cases (like Inglourious Basterds, which I hope to catch ASAP) where it's more a matter of just not wanting to wait.

I never expected to become a George Clooney fan. I didn't watch much ER during his tenure, and he struck me as a pretty boy. The Peacemaker was pretty ho-hum. But he kept turning up in good performances in good films -- and of different types, too, from O Brother, Where Art Thou to Ocean's Eleven to Good Night and Good Luck to Syriana -- and working with other actors I admire, and at some point I realized I was sold. If it's got Clooney in it, I figure it's almost certainly going to be well worth my 90 minutes.

The Men Who Stare at Goats looks to be in the same general vein as Burn After Reading, easily the best film I've seen this year. If you've ever doubted that Brad Pitt can act, you need to see it. John Malkovich, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton nail their parts, too. JK Simmons (cranky newspaper publisher J. Jonah Jameson in the Spiderman franchise) gets the best line in the movie though, right at the end.

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