This movie is going to be so bad, I can't wait.

I had the highest of hopes for Burn After Reading to signal the return of the great Coen comedy. It has the classic formula of people trying to get what they long for by any means possible, and of course things go wrong. Unfortunately, the voice of reason, or morality, (the CIA, who are watching the quirky but not so fun escapades of three Hard Body Gym employees and their respective spouses and mistresses as they wreak havoc on each other's lives) is only a non-participating part of the story. While it may bring clarity to understanding the significance of the goings on in these people's lives, it leaves the audience feeling a little bit detached, watching the story as a spectacle rather than something relatable.

The movie stars a great cast: Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich, J.K. Simmons, David Rasche (Sledge Hammer himself), and Richard Jenkins. The scenes between McDormand and Pitt or McDormand and Clooney are the best, and the CIA scenes are close behind. They are full of energy and hilarious quirkiness. They feel so right. Unfortunately, they are fewer and farther between than I would like them to be. It takes the movie a while to get off the ground, and it only feels like things are clicking into gear during the final half. Some of the characters are a hit, and some are a miss.

Burn After Reading also suffers from the familiar. I'm pretty sure I've seen a movie starring Frances McDormand before where a bad guy kills another guy with an axe, and in that same movie, she is seen saying "Aww, for Pete's sake," in a very memorable way. The surprise of the murder and the cuteness of the dialog were elements of what I loved about Fargo. Seeing these elements here seemed like the Coens had a lack of ideas.

But, even with those faults, there were several times I laughed, and the last scene of the movie somehow made it all seem worthwhile. My recommendation would be that any interested readers wait for this one to go to the cheap theater, and see it there. I love the Coens, but this isn't one of their movies that you need to see at a pristine theater, at an eleven dollar price tag. Save your money and see it for two bucks, and don't be too surprised that the fun attitude of the previews is also accompanied by some pretty crass stuff, including a repeated tagline of "What the f____?!" and a surprising project being built in George Clooney's basement. I think those moments are well balanced out by the joys of Brad Pitt's character and the light that McDormand brings to the screen when she's in cahoots or falling in love. So for me, I'm glad that I saw it, but definitely won't be adding it to my collection.

Well, not much could top the blimp ride, so the rest of our weekend was fun, but just not as fun!

Friday night we went out to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate my mom's birthday. We came back to her house after dinner, where we ate a very rich 7-layer chocolate cake my sister made, and watched her open gifts.

Saturday, we got up early and headed straight to the Hutchins' home to help pack up shop and move them to their newer, bigger, prettier, kitten-friendly (we also met the newest Hutchins family member) apartment. After several hours, Ric and I needed to give it a rest. I ran a couple errands and then we laid around the house until Ric's cousin Emily showed up to spend the night at our place. We pretty much chatted for a half hour until we were all tired and ready for bed, then knocked out.

We don't usually set alarm clocks for church, but should have realized that a long day of physical labor could cause Ric to sleep in. So we missed church. Thankfully, we live in a world of podcasts. We met up with the Andersons for lunch, then I went home to catch up on emails, blogs, finances, and etc. I baked a cake for Amy's birthday, then we went out to see Burn After Reading, and then I frosted the cake.

It was a fast-moving weekend and not very restful, but it was a good one. Up this week: the usual shopping trip tonight, Nick Cave concert with Jenny on Wednesday, and many other possibilities. My busy week caused me to get behind on movies, so I only finished Full Metal Jacket last week. In the DVD queue for this week: Apocalypse Now and (if I have time to finish it) Fitzcarraldo; and as always, we're still plodding happily through season two of Sledge Hammer. Terrible hairdos in that second season!

So Les alerted me to the fact that a release date for Wrath of the Lich King, the latest World of Warcraft expansion. Having achieved level 70 and obtaining my epic flying mount after countless hours of grinding I took a break from WoW last November. Yeah, you heard me correctly. I haven't played WoW in almost a year. With the addition of a new class, the Death Knight, a new tradeskill, and a bunch of other cool stuff, I'm very tempted to get back in the game. Now that I have a 360 I think my playtime will be even less than it was, but that might be a good thing. I'm still debating on what to do. I guess I still have a few months to decide.

Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco