The Dumb Are Mostly Intrigued By The Drum

The Coen Bros. are cool in my book. Not some filmmakers I would say get me out to the theater when they release new stuff but their craft is unique and their sense of humor is dark. I like that but to say I'm a die hard Coen Bros. fan would be a flat out lie. So after seeing Burn After Reading last night, I have to say my sentiments haven't changed much. The film is filled with some decent laughs here and there but it never really gets of the ground completely for me. The entire cast did a wonderful job here and it's not their fault the film never explodes but rather the script seems like it was a single cool scene fleshed out into a feature. The films running time is about and hour and a half and I say it could of used like about 10 to 15 mins. cut out to make it a tighter ship. Overall, entertaining but not very memorable.

Opening Night • Matinee • Rent It • Ignore it

The Nic Cage action-thriller remake 'Bangkok Dangerous' led the box office this weekend with a measly $7.8 million, making this the slowest weekend for movies in five years. The top five was rounded out by 'Tropic Thunder' $7.5, 'The House Bunny', 'The Dark Knight', and 'Traitor'.

September is generally a slow month for movies. It's that weird transitional period when the summer box office is dying down and studios are gearing up to release their big Oscar contenders. Meanwhile, the television networks are all preparing to debut their big new shows for the fall season. But this does mark the seventh week this year that earnings have fallen behind compared to last year. Studio analysts are blaming this on the state of the economy, high gas prices, and the recent storms on the gulf coast. However I blame this on such craptastical releases as 'Bangkok Dangerous', 'Disaster Movie', 'Babylon A.D.', 'Death Race', 'The Longshots', 'The House Bunny', etc.

We'll find out next weekend when Focus Features rolls out the Coen brother's comedy 'Burn After Reading' and Overture Films releases the De Niro/Pacino team-up 'Righteous Kill'.

And it's a red band at that! The Coen Brothers follow up No Country For Old Men with this little film starring George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich & Brad Pitt. Enough babbling, go here to check it out!