tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post5208090095883395727..comments2024-03-25T21:14:21.671-04:00Comments on Listen Eggroll: Skandies: #11md'ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06055853987416332662noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-42266275593779676952009-02-12T22:56:00.000-05:002009-02-12T22:56:00.000-05:00No, that thought occurred to me too, but then I di...No, that thought occurred to me too, but then I dismissed it as retarded drama, retarded history or both.<BR/><BR/>In your understanding, "Iraq's post-1991 WMD programs" = [what exactly in BURN AFTER READING].Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-9246256935647062832009-02-12T21:52:00.000-05:002009-02-12T21:52:00.000-05:00Ah, so you're reading it as the Coens mocking publ...Ah, so you're reading it as the Coens mocking public paranoia regarding the wiretapping. I was trying to think of the movie as an allegory for the intelligence blunders regarding Iraq's WMDs.<BR/><BR/>Gotcha, gotcha.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-29785354901779324542009-02-12T20:58:00.000-05:002009-02-12T20:58:00.000-05:00I don't think that this, to the extent it's a defe...I don't think that this, to the extent it's a defensible read, is even subtextual. I certainly got it on first view (here's <A HREF="http://vjmorton.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/the-spy-who-wasnt-there/" REL="nofollow">my review here.</A><BR/><BR/>And second, to what extent SHOULD the "intelligence community" have been able to figure out *this* story? Particularly since (1) it does actually kick in effectively once "real stuff" starts happening like the Russian Embassy visit (though they're left clueless about the "back story," the "B-matter," i.e., the movie), and (2) the actual events are rooted in absence and the misunderstandings and self-delusions of people who are very much not in the "intelligence community" but like to think they are more important.<BR/><BR/>The only way the CIA could have figured *THIS* chain of events was to be running an all-seeing police state that East Germany would envy, aka, the literary omniscient narrator. Deal?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-20140632012189262722009-02-12T19:51:00.000-05:002009-02-12T19:51:00.000-05:00The second viewing clarifies the message of the mo...The second viewing clarifies the message of the movie: that the U.S. intelligence community is not running on all cylinders (that it has no clue what's going on, has no answer for what's going on). It's foiled by a woman who wants plastic surgery.<BR/><BR/>I like to think of it as a Samuel Beckettesque absurdist parable.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-41350695715521361162009-02-12T19:39:00.000-05:002009-02-12T19:39:00.000-05:00Require? Not really. I don't even think BURNS "gro...Require? Not really. <BR/><BR/>I don't even think BURNS "grows" or "deepens" on a second view, though it certainly holds up well for a comedy, and it was in fact the only Non-Top-10 film I saw more than once in a theater last yearAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-84234342372022279842009-02-12T15:45:00.000-05:002009-02-12T15:45:00.000-05:00BAR requires two or more viewings.BAR requires two or more viewings.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-20787325415464781132009-02-12T09:11:00.000-05:002009-02-12T09:11:00.000-05:00In 40 or 50 years, Dermot Mulroney will probably o...In 40 or 50 years, Dermot Mulroney will probably only be remembered as an amazing cellist (per Joaquin Phoenix).ptatlerivhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07570950256657235397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-6387429370795305952009-02-12T03:40:00.000-05:002009-02-12T03:40:00.000-05:00I dunno, man. Out in the world at large—as insane ...I dunno, man. Out in the world at large—as insane as it seems to me personally—this film is widely considered to be an amusing curio at best and a total failure at worst, with most people considering it a big letdown after <I>No Country</I>. Naming it one of the year's ten best films (or very nearly so) is actually kind of radical. <BR/><BR/>As it happens, <I>The Big Lebowski</I> finished in almost the same spot (12th) a decade ago, well before its cult belatedly kicked in. <I>Burn After Reading</I> isn't likely to generate that kind of fervor, but I do think it'll be better appreciated with the benefit of some hindsight. I'm proud of the AVB for recognizing it now even to this degree.<BR/><BR/>(Although 40 or 50 years from now all those ultra-dry Dermot Mulroney jokes are gonna seem like complete non sequiturs...)md'ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06055853987416332662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8838733.post-38304872841196294832009-02-12T01:54:00.000-05:002009-02-12T01:54:00.000-05:00Wow ... stunned that a Coen Brothers movie that ev...Wow ... stunned that a Coen Brothers movie that even I liked placed so low. I had it #14 or 15 for the year, so by my thinking, since Im not their biggest AVB fan is ... Lock for Top 10 and a shot at a Top 5 "nomination."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com