Movies: Atonement, Tropic Thunder, Burn After Reading, Zack and Miri

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Movies: Atonement, Tropic Thunder, Burn After Reading, Zack and Miri

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 | A&E |

Burn After Reading
The latest Coen brothers movie is a different direction for them. The movie has a backdrop of D.C. espionage, but the big themes are middle age and infidelity.

The Coens get another great performance out of Frances McDermott and George Clooney. Brad Pitt is great as a likeably hyped-up dimwit.

Tropic Thunder
A parody of Vietnam war movies that’s even better at parodying Hollywood cynicism. Robert Downey, Jr., plays an Australian method actor who has his skin dyed to play a black actor. He’s a dude playing a dude acting like another dude. The further he gets into the movie the more he forgets he’s actually white, which gets under the skin of rapper-turned-actor Alpha Chino (Brandon T. Jackson).

Ben Stiller is a past-his-prime action hero who temporarily becomes an action hero when he believes the fight they’re in is staged. He’s ultimately saved by his role as a lovable retarded character named Simple Jack, an Oscar-seeking role that had previously been the low point of his acting career. (One character explains his mistake: “Never go full retard.”)

I don’t think I realized that Jack Black could actually act, but in several scenes he’s in charge as a typecast, overweight comedian trying to become a serious actor. Tom Cruise was the other shocker, playing a red-faced Hollywood mogul spraying profanity and spittle that’s a stretch from his previous roles. Dude’s weird, but dude can act.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Hilarious, but definitely not for everyone. I have to think this Kevin Smith movie barely made R and not X. And that’s all I’ll say about that.

Lots of faces to look for in this one. The Bubbles character is former porn queen Traci Lords. Stacey is current porn queen Katie Morgan. Jason Mewes plays a non-Jay porn rookie. Comedian and Opie and Anthony regular Jim Norton is one of the people auditioning. Stay and watch the bonus clip after the credits.

Atonement
Beautifully-made film about betrayal and missed redemption.

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