That was as predictable as Amy Ryan's upcoming Oscar win.
Edited By Sonic Youth on 1198530277
No Country for Old Men: The Poll
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This is the most overrated film that I think I've ever seen. I think Fargo is good entertainment, but not worthy of the praise it was given. It's a better film than No Country for Old Men.
The pic lumbers from opening to close like its antagonist, Bardem in one of the most overpraised roles of the decade. The film is technically proficient and has a few scenes that really stand out from the film, but without the entire production doing likewise, they really don't do much for the film. Josh Brolin is tremendous in the film and the only character I cared for at all.
The film was abrupt and completely lacking in enjoyability.
** 1/2 for the technical proficiency, Deakins captivating cinematography, Brolin's performance and Tommy Lee Jones opening narration (the rest of his performance isn't that special).
The pic lumbers from opening to close like its antagonist, Bardem in one of the most overpraised roles of the decade. The film is technically proficient and has a few scenes that really stand out from the film, but without the entire production doing likewise, they really don't do much for the film. Josh Brolin is tremendous in the film and the only character I cared for at all.
The film was abrupt and completely lacking in enjoyability.
** 1/2 for the technical proficiency, Deakins captivating cinematography, Brolin's performance and Tommy Lee Jones opening narration (the rest of his performance isn't that special).
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
As I said earlier, I've been a longtime Coen Brothers non-fan. No Country For Old Men is an excellent film. The glibness and smugness that has always been so off-putting to me in their films is almost nowhere to be found here. (The character of Kelly MacDonald's mother is an exception.) He's good, but it is kind of frustrating that Javier Bardem is the awards magnet, while Tommy Lee Jones--who does career best work here, which is not faint praise from me--is getting nothing.
More to come later.
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More to come later.
Edited By dws1982 on 1197871500
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dylanfan23
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Loved the film...the ending left me with a little bit of a wtf feeling but it didn't ruin the experience. As for the lead/supporting arguements...i can buy brolin as the lead, i'm not going to go crazy about it, i think it really is borderline but the reason i'm fine with bardem being supporting is because of how the film is developed with brolin's character. Its no where near what is going on with casey affleck in jesse james.
I didn't even find this topic until today. Saw the movie last Saturday, and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. The main thing with me is that the pace was a little slow at first, and the ending seems pointless and open, but it actually reinforces the whole theme of death's sometimes random nature.
I liked it.
As for Javier Bardem being considered Lead, I can see why... however, I don't have a single doubt that he will be submitted as supporting.
EDIT: I can see the nomination for both directing and screenplay... however, it seems that the Academy prefers adapted screenplays that swerved at least a little away from the book from which it is based. And it's my understanding that "No Country for Old Men" is almost word-by-word like the novel. Do you guys see this becoming a problem as far as its winning chances go?
I liked it.
As for Javier Bardem being considered Lead, I can see why... however, I don't have a single doubt that he will be submitted as supporting.
EDIT: I can see the nomination for both directing and screenplay... however, it seems that the Academy prefers adapted screenplays that swerved at least a little away from the book from which it is based. And it's my understanding that "No Country for Old Men" is almost word-by-word like the novel. Do you guys see this becoming a problem as far as its winning chances go?
Great assessment, Mister Tee. I just saw NCFOM today and I'm still processing, but what you've written just gave me a whole new perspective on what the ending was all about. I have a feeling I'm going to give this a second viewing.
For whatever reason, though, to me this felt more like David Lynch than the Coens. Something was just off kilter for the entire movie that felt more Lynchian than Coenesque.
For whatever reason, though, to me this felt more like David Lynch than the Coens. Something was just off kilter for the entire movie that felt more Lynchian than Coenesque.
Finally got to this this evening, it's late so hopefully I will get to more later....some thoughts
- Javier Bardem is the LEAD...period...I suppose one of the simple factors to relegate him to support is that his dialogue is probably like two hundred words or something ridiculous, but really should have no bearing
- I agree with Penelope that this and some other 2007 films make the Departed look like an exercise is unspectacular filmmaking, me with several reservations anyway
- Superb write up Tee about the underlying dreams from Jones' character portrayed as the film's plot sequences, I feel the lone fade out with an eery feeling and subsequent finality of that plot off screen was a sort of abrupt ending (wake up)
- Sadly I was at least semi-prepared for the ending because I just can't stay away from the board, but I feel as though had the music that began with the Coens names appearing on the screen begun during Jones' final dream description and the description delivered more dramatically and with some sort of camera pull out and another view of the Texas landscape, it would have been rather conventional, a choice they made that makes them them, and one that may prove Wes correct in his lashing out (sight unseen)
- That being said, I personally am with Tee in saying throw a nom in for it all
- Javier Bardem is LEAD
- Javier Bardem is the LEAD...period...I suppose one of the simple factors to relegate him to support is that his dialogue is probably like two hundred words or something ridiculous, but really should have no bearing
- I agree with Penelope that this and some other 2007 films make the Departed look like an exercise is unspectacular filmmaking, me with several reservations anyway
- Superb write up Tee about the underlying dreams from Jones' character portrayed as the film's plot sequences, I feel the lone fade out with an eery feeling and subsequent finality of that plot off screen was a sort of abrupt ending (wake up)
- Sadly I was at least semi-prepared for the ending because I just can't stay away from the board, but I feel as though had the music that began with the Coens names appearing on the screen begun during Jones' final dream description and the description delivered more dramatically and with some sort of camera pull out and another view of the Texas landscape, it would have been rather conventional, a choice they made that makes them them, and one that may prove Wes correct in his lashing out (sight unseen)
- That being said, I personally am with Tee in saying throw a nom in for it all
- Javier Bardem is LEAD
One of the critics for the Times Picayune gives No Country its highest rating of four stars. He apparently has no issue with the ending, referring only to "puzzling elements, which some may find frustrating." He thinks the film is strong enough to overcome such problems. I have read a lot of amusing descrpitions of Bardem's hairstyle and Scott's "creepy Peter Tork haircut" is one of the better ones.
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Coen brothers' thriller is one of the year's best films
Posted by Mike Scott, movie critic November 21, 2007 10:12AM
Categories: Movie reviews
You'll notice it about 15 minutes in, around the time Josh Brolin finds the case full of money in the Texas desert.
The wind blows, the ground crunches beneath his feet and . . . nothing. No muted horns, no thrumming signal that danger is coming -- no background music at all.
It's a minimalist touch that continues for the rest of the film --aside from a brief scene involving a literal band of Mexicans, not a note of music is played until the credits roll -- but it's haunting and oddly reverent, setting the perfect tone for Ethan and Joel Coen's mesmerizing thriller "No Country for Old Men," opening today.
Based on the 2005 novel by Pulitzer-winner Cormac McCarthy, the tale -- about money, death, and the eventuality of everything -- becomes intensely absorbing and hard to forget in the Coens' hands, easily one of the best films of what so far has been a lackluster Oscar season.
Brolin ("In the Valley of Elah," "American Gangster") does a fine job as the tragically human Everyman who sets the story in motion by making off with the cache of cash he finds amid a truckload of heroin and a pile of dead bodies. But it's Javier Bardem ("Love in the Time of Cholera," "Before Night Falls") as the unredeemably sinister Anton Chigurh, who turns in the film's most memorable performance, becoming an instant cinema classic in the process.
With his creepy Peter Tork haircut and his bizarre weapon of choice -- a pneumatic slaughterhouse device -- he is the embodiment of evil, joining the likes of Norman Bates and Hannibal Lecter in the pantheon of unforgettable cinematic psychopaths as he inexorably, and calmly, pursues Brolin.
Part of the credit goes to the Coens and McCarthy, but it's hard to understate the sense of simmering insanity Bardem brings to the role. As Chigurh, he metes out death with neither thought nor emotion, he is wholly dedicated to the task at hand, and he adds a chilling menace to seemingly innocent lines such as, "What's the most you've ever lost on a coin toss?"
As much as the film is about Bardem's even-keeled determination to collar Brolin -- and Brolin's frantic determination to keep from being collared -- it's also about Tommy Lee Jones' brilliantly characterized Texas sheriff, who, faced with a trail of blood like he's never seen, wonders if he's still a match for a changing world.
Like Bardem -- and like the Coens' silent soundtrack -- Jones plays the character quietly, never raising his voice and never losing his temper as he repeatedly injects country wisdom into the obvious. ("It's a mess, ain't it Sheriff?" a deputy asks him while surveying a scene of mass murder. Jones' response, in a beautifully detailed drawl: "If it ain't, it'll do till the mess gets here.")
Inside, though, the old warrior can't understand the depth of the ugliness that has encroached on his old-school corner of the world, and he's not sure he wants to stick around until he does.
"You can't stop what's coming," Barry Corbin, playing another aging warrior, prophesies from behind his gray goatee during a discussion with soul-searching Jones. "Ain't all waiting on you. That's vanity."
Jones, Bardem and, most of all, the Coen brothers all seem to have a reverence for McCarthy's novel, and it comes across clearly with their detailed and engaging adaptation. Along the way, they have imbued the film with a certain puzzling quality that some might find frustrating.
Others, however, will likely see it as a major contributor to what makes "No Country for Old Men" stay with them long after they've left the theater.
(STAR)(STAR)(STAR)(STAR)
Plot: An aging Texas sheriff pursues a cold-blooded killer sent to retrieve $2 million in stolen cash.
What works: Directors Ethan and Joel Coen set a pitch-perfect tone, one that is enhanced by fantastic performances.
What doesn't: The film has its puzzling elements, which some might find frustrating.
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin. Directors: Ethan and Joel Coen. Running time: 2 hours 2 minutes. Rating: R, for strong graphic violence and some language.
Javier Bardem brings a simmering insanity to the role of the curiously coifed Anton Chigurh in 'No Country for Old Men.'
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Coen brothers' thriller is one of the year's best films
Posted by Mike Scott, movie critic November 21, 2007 10:12AM
Categories: Movie reviews
You'll notice it about 15 minutes in, around the time Josh Brolin finds the case full of money in the Texas desert.
The wind blows, the ground crunches beneath his feet and . . . nothing. No muted horns, no thrumming signal that danger is coming -- no background music at all.
It's a minimalist touch that continues for the rest of the film --aside from a brief scene involving a literal band of Mexicans, not a note of music is played until the credits roll -- but it's haunting and oddly reverent, setting the perfect tone for Ethan and Joel Coen's mesmerizing thriller "No Country for Old Men," opening today.
Based on the 2005 novel by Pulitzer-winner Cormac McCarthy, the tale -- about money, death, and the eventuality of everything -- becomes intensely absorbing and hard to forget in the Coens' hands, easily one of the best films of what so far has been a lackluster Oscar season.
Brolin ("In the Valley of Elah," "American Gangster") does a fine job as the tragically human Everyman who sets the story in motion by making off with the cache of cash he finds amid a truckload of heroin and a pile of dead bodies. But it's Javier Bardem ("Love in the Time of Cholera," "Before Night Falls") as the unredeemably sinister Anton Chigurh, who turns in the film's most memorable performance, becoming an instant cinema classic in the process.
With his creepy Peter Tork haircut and his bizarre weapon of choice -- a pneumatic slaughterhouse device -- he is the embodiment of evil, joining the likes of Norman Bates and Hannibal Lecter in the pantheon of unforgettable cinematic psychopaths as he inexorably, and calmly, pursues Brolin.
Part of the credit goes to the Coens and McCarthy, but it's hard to understate the sense of simmering insanity Bardem brings to the role. As Chigurh, he metes out death with neither thought nor emotion, he is wholly dedicated to the task at hand, and he adds a chilling menace to seemingly innocent lines such as, "What's the most you've ever lost on a coin toss?"
As much as the film is about Bardem's even-keeled determination to collar Brolin -- and Brolin's frantic determination to keep from being collared -- it's also about Tommy Lee Jones' brilliantly characterized Texas sheriff, who, faced with a trail of blood like he's never seen, wonders if he's still a match for a changing world.
Like Bardem -- and like the Coens' silent soundtrack -- Jones plays the character quietly, never raising his voice and never losing his temper as he repeatedly injects country wisdom into the obvious. ("It's a mess, ain't it Sheriff?" a deputy asks him while surveying a scene of mass murder. Jones' response, in a beautifully detailed drawl: "If it ain't, it'll do till the mess gets here.")
Inside, though, the old warrior can't understand the depth of the ugliness that has encroached on his old-school corner of the world, and he's not sure he wants to stick around until he does.
"You can't stop what's coming," Barry Corbin, playing another aging warrior, prophesies from behind his gray goatee during a discussion with soul-searching Jones. "Ain't all waiting on you. That's vanity."
Jones, Bardem and, most of all, the Coen brothers all seem to have a reverence for McCarthy's novel, and it comes across clearly with their detailed and engaging adaptation. Along the way, they have imbued the film with a certain puzzling quality that some might find frustrating.
Others, however, will likely see it as a major contributor to what makes "No Country for Old Men" stay with them long after they've left the theater.
(STAR)(STAR)(STAR)(STAR)
Plot: An aging Texas sheriff pursues a cold-blooded killer sent to retrieve $2 million in stolen cash.
What works: Directors Ethan and Joel Coen set a pitch-perfect tone, one that is enhanced by fantastic performances.
What doesn't: The film has its puzzling elements, which some might find frustrating.
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin. Directors: Ethan and Joel Coen. Running time: 2 hours 2 minutes. Rating: R, for strong graphic violence and some language.
Javier Bardem brings a simmering insanity to the role of the curiously coifed Anton Chigurh in 'No Country for Old Men.'
The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living. Oliver Wendell Holmes
Yes, thanks, Mister Tee, for putting the film into perspective for me. I appreciated a similar posting last year for Babel.
As for your narrative subversion comment. Between both NCFOM and Atonement (not having read either book but having seen both films) I'd say Atonement wins the final scene battle. The crowds will leave NCFOM saying, "WTF?", while the same ones will be leaving Atonement floating a few inches off the ground, the last scene having succeeded in making them forget that the films second half doesn't equal the excellent first half - both films suffering from a form of adaptation failure for sticking too closely to the source material.
As for your narrative subversion comment. Between both NCFOM and Atonement (not having read either book but having seen both films) I'd say Atonement wins the final scene battle. The crowds will leave NCFOM saying, "WTF?", while the same ones will be leaving Atonement floating a few inches off the ground, the last scene having succeeded in making them forget that the films second half doesn't equal the excellent first half - both films suffering from a form of adaptation failure for sticking too closely to the source material.
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Might Tommy Lee Jones receive a Best Actor nomination for In the Valley of Elah as recognition for both his lauded efforts this year? Perhaps Elah's poor reception hurts his chances, but he did receive very fine (and generous, IMO) personal notices for the Haggis film, and he's clearly the lead, much moreso than in No Country. (Might this have happened last year with DiCaprio, who received a nomination for a less praised performance in a far less praised film but one he anchored more?)Mister Tee wrote:For me, it's the finest work of his career, but I'm not sure how the Oscars can honor it -- other than, as BJ rightly suggests, nominating the whiole superb cast for the SAG Ensemble prize.
I agree Jones is terrific, and I'd love to see both him and Bardem mentioned for this film.