Burn Flares Up, Flames Out

No Country follow-up funny, but not the brothers' best

(NEWSER) - Burn After Reading is your standard Coen Brothers comedy: It’s black, clever, and zany, and David Ansen writes in Newsweek that he “enjoyed just about every heartlessly jolly minute of it.” The film is nominally a spy/thriller spoof, its sidewinder plot involving airhead gym employees trying to sell supposed secrets to the Russians. But really, it’s less a spoof than an “escalating farce of idiotic behavior” from a “cast of delusional dunces who are a wonder to behold.” More»

Comedy thriller records biggest opening ever for Coen brothers

(NEWSER) - The Coen brothers' Burn After Reading led an unexpectedly strong box office weekend by nabbing top spot with $19.4 million, Variety reports. With overall sales up 35% over this frame last year, Tyler Perry’s The Family that Preys took second with $18 million, followed by Righteous Kill ($16.5 million), The Women ($10 million), and The House Bunny ($4.3 million). More»

Juno , I'm Not There , and No Country take top spots

(NEWSER) - Film critics offer their top picks for 2007, ranging from quirky dramedy (Juno) to drama (Michael Clayton) to foreign fare (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly). Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times:

1. Juno
2. No Country for Old Men
3. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

1. There Will Be Blood
2. No Country for Old Men
3. I'm Not There

Justin Bieber punks Taylor Swift, and more

(NEWSER) - In honor of April Fools' Day, the Huffington Post found video of 10 awesome (or awesomely embarrassing) pranks pulled on and by famous people:

• Tom Cruise: Upon being squirted in the face with a water gun by a British reporter, Cruise's priceless response included the line, "You're a jerk."
• Justin Timberlake: When Ashton Kutcher and Dax Shepard pranked him for Punk'd, with Shepard posing as a government official seizing his property because of unpaid taxes, JT actually cried. He later blamed his behavior on being stoned.

Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill star in baseball flick

(NEWSER) - Moneyball is a big hit with critics, even if its premise—a film about baseball statistics—might sound boring at first. Here’s what they say about the film, which stars Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill:

• Built on a "sharp, sleek script," Moneyball "takes all this seemingly dry, dusty, inside-baseball stuff and turns it into the kind of all-too-rare pleasurable Hollywood diversion that gives you a contact high," writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times .