The #1 movie over the past weekend (9/12-9/14) was the Coen Brothers’ follow-up to their Oscar-winning movie, No Country for Old Men.  Burn After Reading was a violent black comedy that took in $19,128,001 and became the highest grossing movie for them in their careers.  I personally loved the movie…but it may be that I really enjoy R-rated black comedies (I’m twisted that way.)  It reminded me a little of their 1996 Oscar-nominated comedy Fargo in tone (which, probably not by coincidence, stars Reading’s Frances McDormand…Joel Coen’s wife.)  Will it achieve the lofty Oscar praise that Fargo received (or some leftover praise of Old Men)?  I doubt it, but there are some standout performances.  Brad Pitt is a riot as McDormand’s personal trainer co-worker who encourages her blackmailing exploits (you’ll just have to see the movie to catch my drift.)  John Malkovich is also a standout as the recently demoted CIA analyst with a foul mouth, a foul temper, and a serious drinking problem.  My girlfriend loved it (she thinks that Pitt is adorable in the movie)…until one of the characters meets an untimely end (I don’t want to spoil it for you…so I won’t.)  I recommend it if you are a fan of any of the actors (Pitt, McDormand, Malkovich, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, etc.) or the Coens’ sick sense of humor.

The #1 TV program, according to the Nielsen Ratings for the week of 9/8/08-9/14/08, was again NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.”  Nope…still not a sports fan (or a “60 Minutes” fan), so let’s get to my weekly commentary of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent 3“ (Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s episodes tied for fourth place; Thursday’s results show came in eighth place.)  Yes!!!  The ZOOperstars, a group of oversized animal mascot versions of various sports celebrities, were eliminated.  I agreed with judge Piers Morgan every week that they were stupid.  The week got us to the Top 10 (though since I am blogging this on Friday, it has now been whittled down to the Top 5…but I will comment about that next week.)

The #1 Fiction book according to the New York Times Bestseller Lists is Dark Curse by Christine Feehan, and the #1 Non-Fiction book for a second week is sTORI Telling by Tori Spelling with Hilary Liftin.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 19th, 2008 at 5:17 pm and is filed under Burn After Reading, The Chart Guy, New York Times Bestseller Lists, America's Got Talent, Nielsen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.