An indie hero comes home again Sep 20, 2008
Joel and Ethan Coen's new "Burn After Reading," with a loaded cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton, premiered last week to open the Venice Film Festival. The Coens' follow-up to their world-conquering has already sparked furious debate. (Salon)
Coen brothers' new film delivers Sep 19, 2008
Joel and Ethan Coen have bounced back from the hyper serious No Country For Old Men with a farce, casting several of their old standbys (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand) in Burn After Reading, a tale of good old-fashioned American Dream idiocy. The plot is so twisted a quick summary is nearly impossible. (Daily Collegian, PA)
The Palin sensation Sep 19, 2008
While baby smith resembles Gov. Palin more than some other Internet actors, it seems she took voice coaching from Frances McDormand in "Fargo," helping to perpetuate the myth that Alaskans have the same accent as Minnesotans. "Piper! Get your tongue off your little brother's forehead right now," baby smith says at one point, referring to a much talked about moment between Palin's two youngest children at the Republican National Convention. (Juneau Empire)
Acting a highlight in 'Burn' Sep 19, 2008
Cast of odd characters: George Clooney and Frances McDormand enjoy themselves in 'Burn After Reading. . (Juneau Empire)
"Burn After Reading" Sep 18, 2008
Starring: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton ... Yes, it's sarcastic, even sardonic, and yet it's also witty and intelligent and why I'm still on a preamble not telling you much about George Clooney or Brad Pitt or Frances McDormand or John Malkovich is intentional. (Agoura Hills Acorn)
Coen brothers conquer box office Sep 17, 2008
Starring Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton, the spy comedy earned $US19. 1 million ($23. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
It's the Coen Brothers again Sep 17, 2008
Katie yearns for both her and her lover to divorce their spouses but she is unaware that Harry is also seeing another woman on the side- Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand). So how do all these flawed and crazy characters come together. (SMC Collegian)
'Burn' No.1 at box office Sep 15, 2008
Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt star, along with George Clooney. Search for a Movie Find a Movie. (AZCentral -- Entertainment)
Review: Coens Scorch Spy Genre With Clever 'Burn' Sep 15, 2008
Focus ImageGeorge Clooney and Frances McDormand in "Burn After Reading" ... Popping the disc into a computer, both (a wide-eyed Frances McDormand) and (an animated Brad Pitt) are confused by what they see. (NBC 11, CA)
'Burn After Reading' fits Coen style Sep 15, 2008
After all, hadn't the Coens spent too much time doing their usual thing - working with their typical casts (Frances McDormand and George Clooney are some of the main repeats here), detectable screenplays (dealing with money and the scramble to get it, usually), and fondness for classic Hollywood cinema (Hitchcock himself would be proud at the ridiculous plot here). No, not really. (Daily Iowan, IA)
"Burn After Reading" tops N. American box office Sep 15, 2008
Ethan Cohen (L to R), Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, Joel Cohen, Tilda Swinton and George Clooney pose at the red carpet of the Film Festival in Venice August 27, 2008. Pitt, Clooney and Swinton star in Ethan and Joel Coen's movie "Burn After Reading" which is opening this year's Venice Film Festival. (Xinhuanet, China)
'Burn After Reading' Edges Out Tyler Perry At Weekend Box Office Sep 15, 2008
Starring Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Frances McDormand (among others), the screwball comedy about a couple of incompetent boobs caught up in the farcical machinations of Washington espionage, "Burn" walked away with $19. 4 million in its debut frame, narrowly beating the second-place film but easily cruising past "The Ladykillers" to become the Coens' all-time best opening. (VHI.com -- Music News)
Review: Spy vs. morons in 'Burn After Reading' Sep 13, 2008
With George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton and Richard Jenkins ... Over at Hardbodies Gym, man-hungry Linda (Frances McDormand) is desperately dreaming of the cosmetic surgeries that will change her luck with Internet dating, working on her boss (Coen regular Richard Jenkins) to advance her some cash since the "crummy HMO" won't pay for the procedures. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Burn After Reading review: Actors really tied the film together Sep 13, 2008
STARRING George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich ... Linda Lizke (Frances McDormand) and Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) work at Hardbodies Gym in the DC area. (Seacoast New Hampshire)
'Burn After Reading': Mixed Nuts, By Kurt Loder Sep 13, 2008
Cox's disc full of files winds up at a Hardbodies gym, where it falls into the puzzled clutches of two idiots two employees named Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt) and Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand). Chad, with his gum-chewing grin and his dance-inducing iPod addiction, really is an idiot. (VHI.com -- Music News)
This week at the movies Sep 13, 2008
When the memoir of ex-CIA operative Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) ends up in the hands of less-than-intelligent gym employees Chad (Brad Pitt) and Linda (Frances McDormand) who intend to sell it, Cox will do anything to get it back. A Coen brothers film. (Gaylord Herald Times, MI)
'Burn After Reading' full of Coen brothers' fireworks Sep 13, 2008
Then there's Frances McDormand, the fine actress who's married to co-writer, co-producer, co-director (with his brother, Ethan) Joel Coen, who guided her to an Oscar for Fargo. DETAILS. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
New movie releases Sep 12, 2008
There's the caper bit, in which a couple of gym employees, the moronic Chad (Brad Pitt, who's outstanding) and the plastic-surgery-obsessed Linda (Frances McDormand) come across the memoirs of drunken, disgraced CIA analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) ... Frances McDormand and George Clooney share a scene in "Burn After Reading," the new Coen brothers moving opening Sept. 12 ... Cast: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand. (AZCentral -- Entertainment)
Bunch of dunderheads make 'Burn' a winner Sep 12, 2008
Seeing dollar signs: A CIA operative's memoirs fall into the hands of two gym employees, Brad Pitt, front, and Frances McDormand ... Burn After Reading* * * (out of four)Stars: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Richard JenkinsDirectors: Joel and Ethan CoenDistributor: Focus FeaturesRating: R for pervasive language, some sexual content and violenceRunning time: 1 hour, 36 minutesOpens Friday nationwide ... The film's greatest asset is its ensemble of... (USA Today -- Life)
MORE: Coens relish turning stars into dorks Sep 12, 2008
Q: You wrote Linda the plastic surgery nut for your wife, Frances McDormand. Is that really her naked butt in the opening scene. (USA Today)
'Burn' has Coen brothers' antic ways Sep 12, 2008
Cast: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich ... His co-worker Linda (Frances McDormand) is desperate for plastic surgery that her shallow job and shallower worldview tell her she needs. (Seacoast New Hampshire)
How Can a Movie With Such a Fun Cast Be Such a Drag? Sep 12, 2008
Convinced that he has some "classified shit" on his hands, Chad shows the document to his co-worker Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand). As it happens, Linda has been trying to raise money for the extensive cosmetic surgery that she's convinced she needs in order to catch a man. (Slate)
At the Movies Sep 12, 2008
It's about a couple of dopey fitness-club workers (George Clooney and Frances McDormand) who find the memoir of an ex-CIA agent (John Malkovich) and try to blackmail him. Throw in George Clooney and Tilda Swinton as married people having an affair and you have a roundelay of misunderstanding and blood: dopey, unhinged and unmoored. (Ottawa Citizen)
No country for human beings Sep 12, 2008
Everyone in the movie is thoroughly stupid and contemptible, but ascendant among them is Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand), the north-of-40 dim bulb who works as the assistant manager of a suburban Washington gym called HardBodies and whose only concern is the extensive plastic surgery she thinks she needs to capture a man ... Joel and Ethan Coen's new "Burn After Reading," with a loaded cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton, premiered last week to open the... (Salon)
THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY MORONS Sep 11, 2008
Next to these Beltway politicos, in the parallel universe of the privately owned Hard Bodies Fitness Center, secretary Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) plans undergoing extensive plastic surgery in place of aerobics. She disregards flattery from her boss Ted Treffon (Richard Jenkins) and shares her dreams with the airhead trainer Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt). (New York Press)
Movie Review: Burn After Reading Sep 11, 2008
FEEL THE BURN Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt play blackmailing gym employees in this Coen Brothers comedy Macall Polay Watch it. Find Showtimes. (Entertainment Weekly)
Capsule reviews of 'The Women' and 'Burn After Reading' Sep 11, 2008
Naturally, Frances McDormand is uniquely tuned into the Coens rhythms, being one of their frequent stars (not to mention, Joels wife). But Pitt steals every scene hes in and nearly walks away with the whole movie as an overgrown child of a gym trainer whose bungled schemes get him in way over his head. (Seacoast New Hampshire)
In Toronto, Coen brothers back to being silly Sep 10, 2008
The disc is discovered by two dimwit employees played with impeccable comic timing by Frances McDormand and, of all people, Brad Pitt. Believing it worth a fortune, they try to blackmail the author and, when he doesn't bite, the Russians. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Coen brothers cant get enough lovable dopes Sep 10, 2008
Yet they may have topped themselves for siring simpletons with the dark comedy Burn After Reading, which stars usual Coen suspects George Clooney, Frances McDormand and Richard Jenkins and new pals Brad Pitt, John Malkovich and Tilda Swinton. advertisement. (MSNBC -- Politics)
Burn After Reading: Blistering disappointment Sep 10, 2008
Meanwhile, gym employee Linda (Frances McDormand) is frustrated by her HMOs refusal to pay for her plastic surgery, but when the janitor finds a computer disk in the locker room loaded with what her boneheaded co-worker Chad (Brad Pitt) calls high-level intelligence s--t, she hatches a plot to blackmail Cox. Slide show. (MSNBC -- Terrorism)
Trailer talk: A compelling preview matters Sep 10, 2008
It will benefit from a lineup of actors including Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and John Malkovich ... Pitt is working with Frances McDormand. (MSNBC -- News)
Pitt, Clooney dumb down for Coens' `Burn' Sep 10, 2008
In this image provided by Carlo Allegri for Focus Features, the cast and crew from "Burn Before Reading," clockwise from first row left, directors Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, actors John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand pose for a cast photo during the International Film Festival in Toronto, Friday, Sept 5, 2008 ... Yet they may have topped themselves for siring simpletons with the dark comedy "Burn After Reading," which stars usual Coen suspects George Clooney, Frances... (Waterloo Courier, IO)
Brad Pitt enjoys playing knuckleheads Sep 9, 2008
In the movie, which opens Sept. 12, Chad and fellow employee Linda (Frances McDormand) try to blackmail a former CIA agent (John Malkovich), whose wife (Tilda Swinton) is having an affair with a family friend (George Clooney). The people who aren't sleeping with each other are betraying each other, and none of them really has any idea of what they're doing. (Vancouver Sun)
Toronto 2008: Brad Pitt, "Gerry" Butler, and getting booed Sep 8, 2008
Toronto 2008: Brad Pitt, "Gerry" Butler, and getting booed. Hello from the Toronto film festival, PopWatchers. (Entertainment Weekly)
Malkovich gets mad in Coens' 'Burn After Reading' Sep 8, 2008
After a demotion, he quits his job as a CIA analyst in a huff, begins a hapless attempt to write his memoirs, is cuckolded by his wife (Tilda Swinton) and her lover (George Clooney), then winds up blackmailed by a couple of fitness club dimwits (Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand). So he has plenty to be angry about, and Malkovich indulges the fury, bellowing profanity and lashing out in occasional violence _ drawing some big laughs while he's at it. (Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier)
It's St. Valentino's day for the fashionistas of film Sep 8, 2008
The boldest and brightest came earliest: cast members Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand and John Malkovich joined by Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo. Noticed among a surfeit of sexy gals were RocknRolla's stars Gerard Butler and Jeremy Piven who clearly had not done enough rock and rolling. (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
Coen brothers to begin shooting new film in Minn. Sep 8, 2008
It's the first time the Coens have filmed in Minnesota since 1996's "Fargo," which won Oscars for screenplay and best actress, Frances McDormand. The brothers won this year's best picture Oscar for "No Country for Old Men.". (Brainerd Daily Dispatch)
Back to the good old ways Sep 7, 2008
The Coen brothers having tired, for the moment, of soul-crushing sourness, return to farce for "Burn After Reading," with George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Pitt, Tilda Swinton, and John Malkovich as an assortment of cynics and dopes ... "Burn After Reading" The Coen brothers, as is their wont, follow up the Oscar glory and bruising artistry of last year's "No Country for Old Men" with a dippy little farce about two gym employees (Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand) who find a CIA computer disk and... (Boston Globe)
Two worlds fitness gyms and the CIA collide in Coen brothers ... Sep 7, 2008
Stars: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand. Release date: Friday. (Fort Worth Star Telegram)
Brad Pitt Rocks to Madonna Sep 7, 2008
The Coens already won the Oscar this year for "No Country for Old Men." This movie could have been called "No Country for Smart Men and Women" although it boasts a cast of Oscar nominees and winners including Pitt, Frances McDormand (winner for "Fargo"), George Clooney (winner for "Syriana"), Tilda Swinton (winner for "Michael Clayton"), John Malkovich, (nominee for "In the Line of Fire" and "Places in the Heart") and Richard Jenkins (the dead dad from "Six Feet Under," probable nominee this... (Fox News)
Industry Buzz Sep 7, 2008
The Coens wrote the film for George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins and Brad Pitt. It's not the brothers' first foray into political satire. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
FIRST DEGREE 'BURN' Sep 7, 2008
Two air-headed personal trainers (Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand) find a CD they think contains CIA secrets, so they set out to blackmail the disc's owner (John Malkovich) in order to pay for McDormand's much-desired plastic surgery. It will shock no one to learn that nothing goes quite according to plan. (New York Post -- Entertainment)
Studios release their best to vie for the Oscars Sep 6, 2008
But with a cast that also includes Oscar winners George Clooney, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton, how bad could it be. The story---about two gym employees (Pitt and McDormand) who come across the illicit memoirs of a CIA agent (John Malkovich)--sounds like the same nonsense that led the Coen Bros. (Hillsdale Independent, NY)
John Malkovich is the rage in Coen brothers' 'Burn After Reading' Sep 6, 2008
He was delighted to join George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt as "a group of people, the next one is dumber than the last, who are lost," and who get mixed up in a plot to sell the analyst's stolen memoir to the Russians, of all people. The Coens have said they generated the script for the offbeat comedy, which opens Friday, by writing parts for actors with whom they'd always wanted to work. (Los Angeles Times)
A lovable pervert at your window Sep 6, 2008
" Chris Smith, the director best known for his 1999 documentary went halfway around the world to make his narrative feature debut, transposing a short story that was set in Iowa to the beachfront Indian state of Goa and making an entire film in Hindi, a language he does not speak. In an undiscovered corner of our own country, among the Mexican immigrants of southwest Texas, independent filmmaker Chris Eska (who is white and English-speaking) made a feature entirely in Spanish about an aging... (Salon)
Postcards from the Venice Film Festival Sep 5, 2008
Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand tagged along. At a press conference studded with inane questions about the stars' private lives, Pitt and Clooney were asked if they'd rather win an Oscar or spend a night in Venice with a beautiful woman. (Time.com)
Oscar Goes to Canada Sep 5, 2008
George Clooney and Frances McDormand in Burn After Reading Focus Features Article Tools ... Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton will be there in aid of a quirky spy caper from Joel and Ethan Coen, who nabbed the top Oscar with No Country for Old Men. (Time.com)
Big stars, big films in Toronto Festival lineup Sep 4, 2008
Macall Polay / APBrad Pitt and Frances McDormand star in the latest Coen Brothers film, "Burn After Reading.". Movie video. (MSNBC -- News)
Seasonal Cinema Sep 4, 2008
Among other big-screen reunions: Brad Pitt reteams with "Ocean's Eleven" accomplice George Clooney for the spy-game black comedy "Burn After Reading," from Joel and Ethan Coen (who are reuniting themselves with Clooney and co-stars Frances McDormand and Richard Jenkins); Pitt rejoins "Babel" co-star Cate Blanchett for David Fincher's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald story about a man who ages backward toward infancy; and Nicole Kidman is back with "Moulin... (North County Times)
Releases on the Horizon for Sept. 4 Sep 4, 2008
Carroll County Times: Westminster, Maryland. WEATHER SPONSORED BY. (Carroll County Times, MD)
Playing North Of The Border Sep 4, 2008
"Burn After Reading" - Joel and Ethan Coen's follow-up to the Oscar-winning "No Country for Old Men" is a spy comedy starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton and Frances McDormand. "Religulous" - Scaldingly funny documentary about organized religion, which Bill Maher treats with the same respect that Michael Moore showed for President Bush in "Fahrenheit 9/11." Directed by Larry Charles ("Borat"). (New York Post -- Entertainment)
Toronto film fest includes Spike Lee, Coens movies Sep 3, 2008
In this image released by Focus Features, Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand are shown in a scene from, "Burn After Reading." (AP Photo/Focus Features, Macall Polay). TORONTO Sundance is about new talent and small, personal films. (Florida Times-Union)
Movies through December Sep 2, 2008
Burn After Reading (R), Sept. 12: Let's see, here we have the Coen brothers, fresh off their win for No Country for Old Men, directing the likes of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand and John Malkovich in a dark comedy. That's a lot of Oscars and egos piling up in one place. (AZCentral -- Entertainment)
"Burn After Reading": Up in flames? Sep 2, 2008
Joel and Ethan Coen's new "Burn After Reading," with a loaded cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton, premiered last week to open the Venice Film Festival. The Coens' follow-up to their world-conquering has already sparked furious debate. (Salon)
Baffled By Burn After Reading Sep 1, 2008
" Photos The stars come out for the 65th annual Venice Film Festival. In this desultory spy caper which had its world premiere as the opening night selection at the Venice Film Festival, and will play the Toronto Film Festival later this week they take George Clooney and Brad Pitt, those modern icons of sex and savoir-faire, drop them in the world of Washington, D.C., espionage, then keep ratcheting down their emotional IQs. They turn Frances McDormand (Mrs. Joel Coen off-screen) into a mad-man... (Time.com)
Movie Cornucopia Aug 31, 2008
Joel and Ethan Coen hardly rested on their laurels after winning Oscars for best director and best picture for "No Country for Old Men." They're back with a romp starring John Malkovich as a disgruntled CIA operative whose tell-all memoir on a CD-ROM falls into the hands of two intellectually challenged gym employees, played by Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand. The star-heavy cast also includes Tilda Swinton as the CIA guy's wife and George Clooney as her manipulative lover. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
Complete list of fall films Aug 31, 2008
Burn After Reading (R): The Coen brothers' first film after the Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men stars Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and. wait, with a cast like that, does it matter. (AZCentral -- Entertainment)
Fall film preview (23) Aug 31, 2008
However, the sight of John Malkovich as a hammer-wielding CIA killer is sufficiently crazy to get me on board with this star-studded outing also starring Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and Frances McDormand. 4) "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Dec. (Lodi News Sentinel, CA)
Coens are back Aug 30, 2008
"Burn After Reading," starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton, is among another five American films being shown out of competition. The first U.S. film vying for the Golden Lion is Guillermo Arriaga's "The Burning Plain," starring Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger as a mother and daughter trying to forge a bond. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Coens coast into festival spotlight Aug 30, 2008
That rumble you hear is the approach of one of the hippest dog-and-pony shows at this year's Toronto International Film Festival: the Coen brothers' new film, Burn After Reading, and its ne plus ultra cast: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand. This past week, they yukked it up at the Venice Film Festival; on Sept. 5 and 6, Pitt, Malkovich, Swinton and the Coens are swooping into Toronto for select (read: scant) appearances, just in time to milk as much... (Globe and Mail)
Burn After Reading Aug 29, 2008
In an utterly unrelated orbit of D.C. life, desperately middle-aged Linda (Frances McDormand) is pissed that the insurance company for the fitness center where she works wont cover the extensive plastic surgery she urgently wants done. So antic and frantic you wonder if anesthesia would ever work on her, she suddenly steps into merde with gym trainer Chad (Pitt), whos even more hyperactive than she is, when the latter finds a disc they think is loaded with ultra-classified information. (Variety)
Star power comes to Venice Aug 29, 2008
They were joined there by the Coen brothers, along with co-stars Tilda Swinton and Frances McDormand ... They were joined there by the Coen brothers, along with co-stars Tilda Swinton and Frances McDormand. (Hollywood Reporter)
Pitt and Clooney at Venice debut Aug 29, 2008
Also involved are the analyst's adulterous wife, played by Swinton, and a couple of gormless gym instructors played by Pitt and Frances McDormand. Before the premiere, Pitt picked up an award that he won in Venice last year - the best actor's prize for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. (BBC News)
Coens spy comedy divides Venice critics Aug 29, 2008
Frances McDormand, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and Brad Pitt share a joke as they wait for the premiere of the film "Burn After Reading" in Venice on Aug. 27. . (MSNBC -- News)
Fall movie preview: The Coens dumb it down with starry 'Burn' Aug 29, 2008
With a first-class cast that mixes and matches Coen regulars Frances McDormand, George Clooney and Richard Jenkins with newbies Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton and John Malkovich, the pseudo-thriller is described this way in the press notes by Ethan Coen: "Like Advise and Consent, this is about the personal meeting the political, with melodrama. Burn After Reading is also our version of a Tony Scott/Jason Bourne kind of movie without the explosions.". Maybe, but no Bourne movie ever had clips of a fake... (USA Today -- Life)
