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Gian Ghio

Gian Ghio is a Reader contributor. See staff page for published articles.

Burn after Reading

I'm not sure where to start with this one. Was it a comedy? Because I wasn't laughing. Was it a suspenseful spy movie? Because I wasn't on the edge of my seat in anticipation. I had such high expectations going into this movie because of previous good experiences with Ladykillers and O' Brother Where Art Thou? Maybe that was the problem. I expected something funny. It was the Coen brothers after all. I think they made a few mistake with this one. The biggest was probably casting Brad Pitt into the role of the goofy gym trainer sidekick next to Frances McDormand. He is too good an actor to playing such a moron. Clooney's dirtbag role was also miscast although he tried his best. John Malkovic was the lone standout of the bunch. There were a lot of people laughing in the theater but I wasn't one of them. Is that because people laugh just because they think they should be laughing at something or are they laughing because they genuinely found the movie funny? I highly doubt it is the latter because this wasn't a funny movie save for three scenes. The Pitt/John Malkovic car scene was probably the funniest part of the movie, followed by the Clooney/McDormand basement scene and then later the park bench scene. Even then, all it got out of me was a little chuckle. The ladies sitting next to me however where laughing up a storm. I'm pretty sure one of them wet her pants. Really? You ladies thought it was that funny? The Coen brothers should heed the advice of the CIA director when he says at the end of the movie, "What did we learn from this? I guess never to do it again." Joel and Ethan Coen, please don't ever do this again. Thank you.
— September 20, 2008 9:48 p.m.

The Women

This was easily the most boring, un-original movie I have seen in quite some time. I'll sum it up real quick for you: Woman has husband. Husband has affair with another woman. Woman gets mad and wants a divorce. Woman forgives man and they live happily ever after. How many times is Hollywood going to put out the same story over and over and over again? Even then, at least they could try to make it original. There was nothing funny, exciting, or remotely interesting about this movie. The only caveat this movie had was that it had an entirely female cast...the first time I can recall seeing this before. I kept scouring the background for male extras but could not find a single one. The one plus that this movie had going for it was its great ensemble cast of Meg Ryan, Annette Benning, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Candice Bergen, Cloris Leachman, Eva Mendez, and Bette Midler. You would think that with all these great actresses that they would somehow salvage such a boring story and shoddy directing right? Right?....Wrong. The lone star was probably Benning although her performance was mediocre at best. The only laugh I got out of this movie was in the final childbirth seen with Debra Messing channeling some of her Grace character from the days of Will and Grace. When all else fails, throw in a childbirth scene for some easy laughs....like I have never seen this before in any other movie. My advice, don't waste your time. Unless of course you like watching women sit around and complain about their relationships. There is nothing empowering about this movie for women. In the end, the message is that it is OK for someone to cheat on their spouse. What kind of moral is that for story?
— September 14, 2008 10:42 p.m.

Traitor

Not the best movie I've seen this summer but it is definitely worth a look if you are trying to decide which movie to see this week. Don Cheadle is excellent as always, as a FBI mole trying to infiltrate a terroist network in the Middle East. Cheadle's character, Samir, is a troubled one. He is a devout Muslim and prays to Allah 5 times a day and follows the words of the Koran. He is some far under cover that only one person in the US knows about him. The two main detectives trying to catch him and his associates do a good job acting however their parts were not well written. The suspense and drama leading up the finale of the movie make it worthwhile. The ending is a surprise because the whole time you are asking yourself...how is he going to get himself out of this mess? The movie itself is look at the other side of terroism. A look into terroism from the terroist's eyes. It borrows a bit from other movies like: The Kingdom, Rendition, United 93, and Munich, but it manages to stay original. It's hard to imagine, but after I while the story starts to make you feel empathy towards the terroists. It is for this reason that many people will probably label this movie contraversial and Anti-American but how can you defeat any enemy if you do not know your enemy. The terroists in this movie, much like the terroists of 9/11 were very organized and had a very specific plan that followed exactly. The targets in this movie may have been different, but the goal was the same: to inflict fear into the United States. To make people feel like they were not safe anywhere.
— August 31, 2008 11:36 p.m.

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