Word: tactic
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...first two Godfather films, his acting had exactly that quiet menace, the satanic power that whispers, the death sentence of a single glance. But since, say, Dog Day Afternoon in 1975, he went the other way, playing the little guy who compensates by going big. It's a tactic more theatrical than cinematic, and Pacino usually makes it work by ensuring that he dominates any film he's in. A two-hander like Righteous Kill, though, demands teamwork. Pacino is still laying it all on the table; by playing more subtly, by demonstrating that being seen is often enough...
...familiar. Except that these people are, in varying degrees, idiots, engaged in an enterprise that ought to be left to the higher IQed. The Coens' tactic could be a caustic commentary on the ineptitude of those employed to keep the secrets of the U.S. government (Osborne and Harry are figures of, respectively, raw bluster and empty charm), if it weren't that virtually everyone in the movie operates on seriously diminished candlepower. Linda believes that her advancing age has rendered her so unattractive that she seeks transfiguration through plastic surgery...
...Coens are deadpan pranksters; editing their pictures under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes is just the mildest of their jokes. So it's entirely possible that Burn After Reading is some multifilm concept comedy--that No Country for Old Men was a feature-length diversionary tactic from the Coens' strategy of trying the patience of their most dedicated admirers. They started with that aimless farce The Ladykillers and bring the geste to fruition with their latest enervating caper. If this is so, they've managed a pretty complex joke, and it's on you. Too bad it isn't funny...
...also talk about how a preemptive attack can be the most effective military tactic. Would you advocate a strike against a country like Iran...
...strikes can be so meticulously planned; U.S. or allied units can call in sudden strikes when they find themselves in a firefight or stumble on a meeting of Taliban leaders. When civilians are detected, strikes are called off--and some insurgents capitalize on this. "Sometimes it's a conscious tactic of these people who meet to make sure there are kids playing in the compound so that they're seen, and that complicates your targeting methodology," General James Conway, commandant of the Marines, told reporters on Aug. 27. "This is a dirty game being played...