REEL CRITICS:

The Coen Brothers’ offbeat formula was made famous in films like “Fargo” and “The Big Lebowski.” Last year, they took a turn to the dark side with their Academy Award-winning film “No Country for Old Men.” This year they go back to their basics with “Burn After Reading,” a new tale filled with bumbling criminals, black humor and strange events.

They also add a satirical look at the spy business and CIA operatives, who pop up in some of the story’s many twists and turns. Top-notch actors play the usual cast of misfits and losers. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton are all superbly cast and outstanding in their roles.

The plot centers on a secret CIA computer disc found by employees in a fitness center. The attempt to blackmail the owner of the disc leads to many complications. Things turn out badly for some of the players, but very well for others. And that includes the audience, who will be well-entertained by the cutting-edge satire.

New films feature classic talent, lackluster remake

Two of this week’s new films are “Righteous Kill,” starring screen legends Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, and “The Women” with Meg Ryan, Eva Mendes, Annette Bening and a gaggle of talented females.

As entertainment, these movies are the respective equivalent of ham and eggs — satisfying enough, but ordinary.

In “Righteous Kill,” De Niro and Pacino play veteran detectives called Turk and Rooster. They could just as well be Moose and Squirrel, for all the sense this story makes about a vigilante killer who might be one of NYPD’s finest.

These two old pros exert their method madness as best they might: Pacino keeps his trademark bellow to a dull roar, while De Niro does some bored Travis Bickle-type voiceovers á la “Taxi Driver.” The fine supporting cast is wasted in what is basically a very special episode of “Law & Order.”

“The Women” is an updated remake of the witty 1939 classic, still with an all-female cast. Director Diane English (“Murphy Brown”) worked on the script and stunt casting for 10 years, and apart from the pleasures of seeing such talented ladies strutting around in chic clothes, there doesn’t seem to have been much point in making it over.

Meg Ryan is Mary Haines, a practically perfect Connecticut housewife and designer whose husband is having an affair with a sexy salesgirl from Saks (Mendes). Missing are the barbed one-liners, the catfights, the sarcasm that made the original such fun. Now the girls play mostly nice, and who wants to see that?

JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office. SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company.