A point blank, skull-splitting gunshot, an execution-style shooting and a vicious hatchet murder... Sounds like the makings of an '80s-esque slasher flick, but they're actually splattery plot-points that help propel the latest Joel and Ethan Coen flick "Burn After Reading" (Universal).
While it's not nearly as heavy as the Brother's excellent, but disturbing "No Country For Old Men," "Burn After Reading" (based on a novel by Stansfield Turner) it's still dark, pessimistic and cynical, revolving around the selfish and shallow exploits of a cast of self-obsessed anti-heroes and near-villains.
Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) is a mean, bitter ex-CIA operative who seeks solace through booze and hopes to reinvent himself by writing his memoirs. Linda Litske (Frances McDormand) works at a fitness club and decides the only way to realize her full potential is by undergoing expensive plastic surgery her insurance plan doesn't cover. When Cox accidentally leaves a disc containing notes the book at the club, Litske mistakes the data within as valuable government secrets. Perceiving this as an opportunity to finance her operations, she and club trainer Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) decide to blackmail Cox. When that doesn't work, they attempt to sell the disc to the Russians in a serious of often hilarious, sometimes brutal scenes.
A secondary plot involves Harry Pfarrar (George Clooney), an eccentric, womanizing security guard who's getting it on with both Litske and Cox's cold, emasculating wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton). To add to the drama, Katie is about to hit Cox with a devastating divorce suit and Pfarrar's wife Sandy (Elizabeth Marvel) discovers what her husband is up to and seeks action of her own.
All the infidelities add to the plot twists and the humor value, but the action really kicks into gear when Feldheimer mysteriously disappears and Litske starts to fall apart. Hysterical, she recruits their boss, Ted Treffon (Richard Jenkins) -- who's secretly in love with Litske -- to help investigate and the plot quickly turns ugly and violent.
"Burn After Reading" isn't laugh-out-loud funny, but it's witty, quasi-comical, intense and unpredictable. Also, the flick is thought-provoking, has more jack-in-the-box moments than most thrillers and easily captivates for 90 minutes regardless of how convoluted the plot becomes.
Traitor (Anchor Bay) -- Roy Clayton, a by-the-book FBI agent (Guy Pearce) and former U.S. Special Operations officer Samir Horn (Don Cheadle) are the main characters of this political thriller, which is filled with action, intrigue and suspense. When an international conspiracy results in a prison break in Yemen, a bombing in Nice and a raid in London, Clayton begins an investigation and Horn enters his crosshairs. But the more Clayton examines the evidence, the less sure he becomes about his suspect's motivation and involvement in the attacks. Clayton is convincing, but, as usual, Cheadle steals the show -- just don't expect a "Rambo"-style action pic.
Baghead (Sony) -- A slasher spoof that's right up there with "Behind the Mask," Baghead is about a group of aspiring filmmakers who -- lacking any substantial story ideas -- decide to make a horror movie based on a dream one of them has about a mysterious man with a paper bag on his head. The movie starts out as a satisfying genre satire, then, while the auteurs are writing the script, an actual "Baghead" shows up and starts to enact the story's atrocities. In the end, "Baghead," is a horror/comedy hybrid that's clever and funny enough to overpower its abundant cliches.
Pulse 3 (Dimension Extreme) -- For anyone who wasn't completely turned off by the American sequel of the remake of the Japanese film "Kairo," "Pulse 3" should be proof positive that the Americanization of J-Horror has reached its appalling nadir. "Pulse 3" isn't just bad, it's horrific. The special effects are laughable, the plot's largely nonexistent and the direction is amateurish at best. In the movie, Justine, a 17-year-old girl raised in a technology-free survivor camp discovers a laptop that links her to a mysterious caller. Too bad the connection wasn't down. Determined to return to the world she left behind, Justine risks her life and wastes our time in this super low-budget sequel without a cause. Let's hope this is the last of the batch.
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