Did anybody watch "No Country For Old Men?"

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Rachen

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I haven't seen it yet, I am going to pretty soon. Anyways, after seeing the reviews, I think this is THE best movie they ever made this year so far. This is definetely material for a folk song/wandering folk minstrel:)

I just want to know the attitude of this film. Is it pro gun or anti-gun? I think it has to be pro to a certain extent.
Just interested to see some feedback.
 
From the trailers I have seen, I would guess this movie is a better study of the workings of the human mind under duress more than a pro-gun/anti-gun movie.
Considering the bad guy sems to favor compressed air as his weapon of choice I think guns have little issue in the overall movie plot.
 
The book is pretty slick too. All of Cormac McCarthy writing is the bees knees and worth checking out.

His most recent book "The Road" is an interesting read.

I haven't watched the movie or the trailors, but I can tell you that the books treat guns as just what they are; useful tools for good and evil.

In "The Road" the main character only has a 5 shot revolver with three bullets in it, but he uses it at least once to great effect.

In "No Country for Old Men" everyone has and uses guns. Even the main bad guy (along with his cattle gun). I can't imagine they removed the shoot outs from the movie.
 
I'm a Coen brothers fanatic, and a Cormac McCarthy fanatic as well. There is no "message" with regards to any political issue at all, either in the book or movie, except for the Sheriff's commentary on society's decline. That said, it was a fantastic movie, and I heartily recommend it.
 
I think it should be the best movie of the year

You know why, because everything else this year were the usual superhero riot and overly sadistic things like "300", not to mention dry comedies like "Why did I get married" or something like that. Now, "No Country for Old Men" is more like a folk ballad, sung by a lonely man with banjo and greatcoat, searching for a home as he wanders along railroad tracks and hops a freight train or two as he skips from state to state, .44 revolver tucked into his belt, classic American folk icon. That is why I like dramatic westerns. I don't like any of the super-action westerns like "3:10 to Yuma". They are just too childish for my taste. I like masterpieces like Lonesome Dove, which too, is definitely material for a long folk ballad.
 
RACHEN - "... I don't like any of the super-action westerns like "3:10 to Yuma".

I'll second-the-motion on that! I thought "3:10 To Yuma" was ridiculous!

L.W.
 
Can't wait to see it!

I worked at the hotel in Santa Fe last year where all the movie people stayed while filming. They stayed with us for quite a while and I got to meet the Coen brothers which was pretty cool:D Big fan of their work also and they were a couple of pretty nice guys.

Tommy Lee Jones was the only one who didn't stay with us this time because when he stayed with us during the filming of The Missing his wife got them both kicked out. He wasn't so bad but his wife is a truly horrible human being and its not often we kicked out movie people from our hotel, but she was one of them. But this is a topic for another forum I think.
 
It was a very good movie, one of the Coen Brother's best and is sort of a Blood Simple version of Fargo. I think the movie doesn't take any moral stance on guns, either the normal ones or the captive bolt gun. They are just tools. Really, it takes no moral stance at all, it just tells a story with a sort of extraordinary technical and artistic expertise.
 
It was a terrific movie, but flawed I think, at the end. Or else they just ran out of steam at the end, I am not sure.

The directing , photography, and acting was superb. It was a movie that never pandered or underestimated the intelligence of the audience.

The villain used a number of suppressed weapons. The shotgun with the silencer was pretty interesting, although I am a little skeptical of the guy walking around all over the place carrying that and nobody noticing!
 
I really like the work of these two directors However
I dont think this was one of the best movies they have made. Not pro or anti gun but has some cool weapons and shootings. I give it a B -
 
No Country For Old Men – Review

This is the best movie I’ve seen since Quentin Tarrentino’s “Pulp Fiction” in 1994.

The two movies share about the same level of graphic violence. While Tarrentino gives us interesting and quirky characters, the Cohen brothers (“Fargo”) bring us very believable characters caught in extraordinary circumstances. The pace of the movie is relentless.

My wife and I drove down to Toledo for Thanksgiving with the family. After the game, my wife, my sister and I found the new state-of-the-art cinemaplex with the cushy recliner-like seats. The seats are so steep, Marge Simpson could not interrupt your view of the screen, were she in front. You’re only going to use that recliner during the preview, because this flick will have you on the edge of your seat throughout.

Our protagonist is hunting impala in the desert West when he stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong and onto a briefcase with several million dollars in it. White trailer-trash, he takes the money and runs. I don’t know how familiar you are with the drug trade, but the folks in this business aren’t fond of losing their drugs or their money and have a guy whose speciality is tracking money-thieving-trailer-trash down.

The assassin in charge of recovery makes Hannibal Lechter look like the Santa at the Mall. This mo’fo’ kills people like I change my socks and with about as much emotion. We’ve all seen Tommy Lee Jones play lawmen before, but not like this. The bluster is gone and we see a real sheriff with his hands more than full. Woody Harrelson makes a brief but believable appearance as a lawman also.

I can’t really say much more without giving too much away. The movie is perfectly cast. A local reviewer said much of the dialog was taken verbatim from the book on which the movie was based. The dialog is spectacular; there is not a misplaced word in the movie. I’d consider sticking my fingers back in the table saw if I knew it could make me write like that. I can’t say enough.

This isn’t the film for your sister-in-law who doesn’t even tolerate the violence level of Schwarzenegger. But if you want to sit on the edge of your seat for an hour and a half, hoping he’ll pull it off, this is the movie for you.

Kowboy
 
Kowboy, I agree pretty much with your review (I still don't like the ending though), but Woody Harrelson wasn't a lawman.
 
Early on, it was obvious this will be: Idiot v.s. Psychopath, no one to side with. That's fine, I settled in to watch the action.

Great action :) up until the movie stopped. "Ended" is not the right word.

Either this is a "Part 1" or I'm not going to any more of these guys' movies. The 'Soprano school of script writing' does not work for me.
 
makes me want to see it

I don't go to the theaters much anymore - much prefer to curl up at home for movies. I am really anxious to see this one - I got an ARC of the book, re-read it a month or so ago when the movie was coming out.

And with a description like this:

Now, "No Country for Old Men" is more like a folk ballad, sung by a lonely man with banjo and greatcoat, searching for a home as he wanders along railroad tracks and hops a freight train or two as he skips from state to state, .44 revolver tucked into his belt, classic American folk icon.

How can I wait?
 
He was hunting Prong Horn Antelope, not impala, and yes he kills people without a blink.
 
Kowboy, I agree pretty much with your review (I still don't like the ending though), but Woody Harrelson wasn't a lawman.

Woody Harrelson's character was identified as ex-military, served in Vietnam, and at the point of the story as something of a high-end cleaner (think The Wolf from Pulp Fiction, with a cowboy hat but not as flawless at his job)

He was hunting Prong Horn Antelope, not impala, and yes he kills people without a blink.

For the record, the first "he" is referring to the "good guy" or "idiot" as another reviewer referred to him, played by Josh Brolin. The second
"he" is referring to the "bad guy" or "psychopath", played by Javier Bardem. Two different "he's".

I won't be seeing this one. I am no Cormac McCarthy fan, and with Woody Harrelson in the flick, there is no way I would pay to watch it.

Woody gets a relatively small character.
 
I'm going to give everything away but not give everything away in the following comments. It IS a must see film and should get best picture next year.

Harold Bloom from Yale has nailed Cormac McCarthy's work when he characterized it as being Gnostic Dualist.

That is, there are two opposing forces in the cosmos: good and bad. The bad wins at every point along the way. However, there are certain people who know the true good and must suffer through all of the **** on the journey back to the good.

Tommy Lee Jones plays this Gnostic adept who resigns from the world (in this case, from being a lawdog) because he has seen the true nature of this world: Anton Chigurh. The Good cannot win against such a force as the irrepressible Anton Chigurh so renunciation of the world is the only valid recourse.

Anybody who's taken a class in Patristic Theology will warm to this film in a big way. As will gun lovers!

Paulus
 
With respect, Sheriff Bell's telling of his second dream unlocks the whole narrative. The light metaphor?...

I won't say any more. The baddies of this world may take notice of me if I do.

Paulus
 
Just got back from seeing it. Thought it was a great movie with some good twists and turns, but I thought the ending could have been a little better. What I want to know is if it's possible to get one of those cans he had on his shotgun?
 
I completely disagree about the ending; it was perfect. It ended, suddenly, but some kind of dopey epilogue would have been totally out of place. The entire movie had a kind of abrupt feeling to it, so it only makes sense that the ending would match. It was perfectly paced and didn't have an ounce of fat anywhere. It's the best movie I've seen this year.r
 
I've got to see this now. I bought the book in the airport last year while I was on my way to Alaska. Someone said something about the movie being filmed in Santa Fe? The book was set in South and West Texas, why not film it there?
 
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