I went back and forth on whether watching this movie would be worth my time. The trailers looked appealing, but my film professor had told me it sucked. So I was planning on holding off until I was unexpectedly given the opportunity to see a screening of it, free of charge. I figured, as long as I wasn’t loosing anything, it was worth a shot. And I must admit I’m glad I gave it a chance.

This movie is the latest by brothers Ethan and Joel Coen and definitely follows a similar vein of plot to their previous blockbuster, No Country For Old Men. Many people I’ve talked to have criticized Burn After Reading because of this, but I don’t think the similarities are close enough to completely ruin this movie. I feel like Burn After Reading would actually be more appealing too an audience because, unlike No Country For Old Men, this movie contains soundtracks and comedy – two elements the average American surely enjoys when in the theater. So people who probably didn’t consider No Country For Old Men their cup of tea shouldn’t blow off Burn After Reading. Similarly though, people who enjoyed No Country For Old Men unfortunately wouldn’t be as impressed with this film, for reasons that I won’t spoil for anyone.

Even if you consider yourself to fall in the latter category though, this film may be worth watching solely for the acting ability. I mean, it’s no surprise that the acting would be so captivity with household names like George Clooney, Brad Pitt (both of Ocean’s fame as well as many, many other films), Tilda Swinton (The Chronicles of Narnia, Constantine), and John Malkovich (Eragon, Being John Malkovich). Normally I’m not a huge fan of Clooney or Pitt, but I found myself laughing quite a bit during their scenes. Brad Pitt especially brought his character to life. Many people I’ve talked to who were unimpressed with the movie still admitted to enjoying Pitt’s character. Frances McDormand was probably the least well known of the main cast, but it did not show. She was just as entertaining to watch as the rest of the characters.

Some people can argue that this movie is a typical, predictable Coen film, but I feel the casting prevented this movie from being totally worthless. It had genuinely funny and surprising moments, and characters that were brought to life very thoroughly. It’s definitely not an award-winning film or a must-see, but if you’re looking for some amusing entertainment with your friends, watching this movie is a pretty good option.

Apparently Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are expecting twins.  Jack Black let this little tidbit slip during a recent interview on the Today Show alongside Jolie.  The pair were promoting animated comedy film Kung Fu Panda at the Cannes Film Festival when the actor told a Today Show interviewer that Jolie will soon have “as many children as the Brady Bunch (6)”.  When asked to confirm if she was having twins, Jolie did indeed confirm the fact but would not divuldge the sexes of the twins.

Teletext quotes reporter Natalie Morales as saying: “When I switched off the tape, Angelina said: ‘I’ll get Jack, don’t you worry.’ She wasn’t angry at all, really calm.