Movies over the weekend

[ellen_datlow]

I saw the new Coen brothers movie Burn After Reading and loved it. It's funny, satirical (both), wonderfully nasty, and a bit bloody. Anyone else see it yet? Great cast with George Clooney, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, and Brad Pitt about bed-hopping, spying (although the spying is not to be taken very seriously despite the fact someone commits treason), the lure of body enhancement, and much stupidity. It's a misanthropic joy to behold.

Then I moved to an earlier century (the 18th) where it was pretty constricting to be a woman-- The Duchess with Keira Knightly and Ralph Fiennes in a very sympathetic portrait of Georgiana, the eponymous Duchess, who is married off at 16 or 17 to a Duke at least 25 years her senior who wants a male heir and nothing else to do with her.

The Duchess becomes a celebrity: beautiful, clever--she designs her own scrumptious dresses and hats, political, (while remaining personally, pretty miserable) and upon whose marriage Sheridan's School for Scandal was based.

Prince Di was a descendant of her family, the Spencers.

Comments

[time-shark.livejournal.com]

We saw Burn After Reading last weekend, giggled all the way through it. I don't think it's my favorite Coen film, and I have mixed feelings about the way it just screeches to a halt at the end ... though J.K. Simmons' bemused CIA boss was delightful. And there was much to love along the way.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Yes, both meetings with the CIA boss (I'm not familiar with the actor) were pretty hilarious.

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

J.K. played Juno's father last year.

I too saw the movie and really enjoyed it.

The jokes made me me laugh and some of the subtle material made me laugh too.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen Juno yet.

[time-shark.livejournal.com]

Simmons has been most prominently seen as Jonah Jameson in the new Spider Man movies. He's pretty hilarious in that role, too.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I do believe I've seen him before but wasn't at all familiar with his name.