No Country for Old Men

I just saw No Country for Old Men. Damn, the Cohen brothers have made some of my favorites over the years. Raising Arizona, Fargo, Oh Brother Where Art Thou, Miller's Crossing and a few others, but this one floored me. One of those movies I can mull over from now on.
My favorite is still Raising Arizona, (Holly Hunter at her best but No Country for Old Men deserves an Oscar or three.

I think I am the only person alive who didn't like this movie (and I am a huge fan of the Cohens).

http://www.tydirium.net/writings/films.html

I thought is was very good. Not enough blood for my taste or what I was expecting of the film.
There certainly are not enough bad guy movies where the bad guy.....

I made a point to see this one, partly because it was filmed in west Texas, a part of the country I visited last July. There really weren't many cinematic shots of the wide praries and open skies of West Texas in the movie though - what I remember most are the interior shots of low budget motels. I'm a fan of low budget motels, so I was OK with that.

The film does have its good points. The main trio of actors are interesting to watch, and the cinematography is good. But halfway through the film, I had the same reaction that James did. It reminded me of a horror movie, evolving to where one main character simply searches for / chases another through various settings. There were the moments of tension, the 'where is he now' moments, and every so often a scene of violence, or as one reviewer said, 'fleeing and fighting and little else'

Once that analogy entered my head, it was difficult to erase.
I found myself not wondering or caring about what was going through the minds of the characters, as much as wondering when the next chase or violent scene would emerge.

To me, this seemed like a high-budget horror or adventure movie, presented in a way that would appeal to people who might not normally go to see horror/adventure movies. The movie was entertaining, but I was somehow expecting much more.

The main Anton Chigorh character reminded me of the cyborg from the Terminator - a cool, efficient, relentless pursuer who has the non-stop 'he takes a licking and keeps on ticking' demeanor. (I was going to use the Energizer bunny analogy, that didn't seem to work very well)

[ Edited by: ikitnrev 2008-01-31 09:26 ]

The movie, though I wasn't that impressed with it, sure stuck with me. It created a strange and different mood unlike any other film I've seen. Despite the WTF? ending, I see a sequel coming. A good killer just doesn't walk away from a career that easy.
I believe that Anton Chigurh will soon "battle it out" with Hannibal Lecter in a sequel kinda like "Alien meets Predator', but with the "Transformers" thrown in as their respective armies. But a sequel "The Pneumatic Killer Vs. The Cannibal" may depend on if Johnny Depp and Morgan Freeman are available (as unlikely hero and President respectively).

Well, this thing just pissed me off. Maybe I'm shallow, but I was rooting for the Brolin character. No I know it's REALLY telling the story of the Tommy Lee Jones character and that it's supposed to be brilliant to tell it by means of this supposedly peripheral story, but the peripheral story was compelling, the bad guy was really bad and the close calls were thrilling, etc. That's the story I wanted to see and I wanted a typical protagonist triumphs over antagonist kind of ending with a lot of scares and thrills and so on. Bastards.

And THEN...I saw Eastern Promises. They did the same sort of "Brilliant" story convention here and It pissed me off TOO!. The REAL story is the nurse and the baby, but the Viggo Mortenson character is the interesting one, HIS journey is the interesting one, and the hints that he is some sort of undercover agent is fascinating and THAT"S THE STORY I WANTED TO SEE!!!!! BASTARDS!

Where's a copy of Death Wish when you need it?

This was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time.
but then, I don't see a lot of movies.

btw, it's Coen, not Cohen.

..sb

I was completely underwhelmed- and I am a fan of the Coens.

Cool video for No Country for Old Men

http://nocountryforoldmen.com/

On 2008-02-08 21:43, Ojaitimo wrote:
Cool video for No Country for Old Men

http://nocountryforoldmen.com/

http://www.petitiononline.com

Three Oscar's, not bad but it deserved more IMHO.

Did I say three Oscars? My bad! Four Academy Awards including Best Picture,
Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor.

I could say Neener, Neener but I won't.