No Country for Old Men (spoilers)

[Dan.Linehan]

I saw No Country for Old Men last night, did anyone else check it out?

I know it got amazing reviews, but I didn't see much new here. I mean, the filmmaking was flawless, but what was the message? It was well done and seamlessly executed, but I don't get the point? Simply to examine evil?

A lot of things were very, very vague.

For example, who gets the money in the end? It would seem that it was Anton, as indicated by the dime and removed vent in the El Paso hotel room. But shortly thereafter, Anton wrecks and flees the scene of the accident without any suitcases. Is there significance to the car accident?

If the money was already missing from the hotel room, perhaps it was the Mexicans who took it? Who can say? Not to mention what happened to Moss, in detail? Again, this isn't essential for the story, but it would be nice to know.

Speaking of character motivation, what was up with Woody just leaving the suitcase in the bottom of the ravine in plain view for any drunk college kid or hapless Mexican refugee crossing back into the US to pick up? I don't care who you are: if you see 2.4 million dollars laying in plain sight - you take it - and particularly when you've been hired solely for that purpose. But what does he do? Leaves it, goes back to his hotel and gets shot in the chest for no good reason.

Does Anton kill Mosses wife? Did it matter at all that she refused to call heads or tails on the coin toss? Previously, when Anton was confronted with someone who wouldn't bend to his will (the lady at the trailer park office who wouldn't tell him where Moss worked,) he simply walked away. Maybe he walked away from Mosses wife too when she wouldn't flip the coin?

Is it possible that Tommy Lee is dead? There is a shot of Anton in the El Paso hotel room before he enters, then the next thing you know Tommy Lee is retired, talking about that dream. Is his retirement symbolic of death? Does that last scene of the film take place after his death?

[Honeywith4bees]

Originally Posted by Dan.Linehan

I saw No Country for Old Men last night, did anyone else check it out?
A lot of things were very, very vague.

I can't watch movies on the big screen. I find them too disturbing. A few weeks ago I got the brilliant idea to go to the movies since I hadn't been in about 5 years. I picked gone, baby, gone. Didn't know anything about it. What a mistake!! I literally didn't sleep for two nights. The scene of the dead boy in the bathroom, killed by a pedophile, was just to much for me. It still hurts me to think about. My boyfriend can't understand, he says it's just entertainment, not real, but it is real, far to real for many, many people. It didn't help that the movie was set about 20 miles from where I live either.

I have read books by Cormac McCarthy though, and his trademark writing style is that of vagueness.

[openeyes]

Originally Posted by Honeywith4bees

I picked gone, baby, gone. Didn't know anything about it. What a mistake!!

A different lesson to take from that, rather than that you can't watch movies on the big screen, is to be more selective about which ones you watch. If you don't feel like reading a little something about it first, maybe just stick to ones that are rated G, PG, or PG-13.

Though I haven't seen either one, you might have enjoyed the Bee Movie a bit more than Gone Baby Gone.

[Rose of Cairo]

I'm just like you, Honey! I don't understand why all movies show so much violence... I watch shreck, or ice age, such things... When I try to watch a "normal" movie I end up crying or running out of the room.

[Dan.Linehan]

Wow, y'all should definitely *not* watch No Country for Old Men.

It'll give you nightmares for weeks if you aren't pretty thick skinned. Se7en is one of my favorite movies in the horror thriller genre, but No Country for Old Men was easily more disturbing than that.

[Honeywith4bees]

Originally Posted by openeyes

A different lesson to take from that, rather than that you can't watch movies on the big screen, is to be more selective about which ones you watch. .

And on an even bigger scale, to be more attentive and aware in general. I get real "happy go lucky", and just do and say things without thinking through the outcome.

Rose, that's why I prefer reading. With a book, my imagination will only allow the images that I can handle.

Dan, my son read "The Road" this summer and told me about it, so I knew better than to see No Country!

[Angela]

Dan, I think Anton had the money stashed away somewhere. At first I thought maybe he was walking away from the crash leaving the money in the car because he was too worked over. But no, I think he was too unstoppable to do that. I think he went off to tend to his wounds and get his money and go on to be the ghostly wreaker of mayhem forever.

I liked how they left the death of Moss and his wife unexplicit -- you know they are dead (Anton checks the bottom of his shoes on the porch of her house to make sure there is no blood to track) but it made it more bleak and wasteful that they weren't shown. I think it was interesting how the wife wouldn't call the coin; Anton said, "the coin ended up here the same way I did," and I think that just was the perfect summation of the randomness and relentlessness of evil. That was, I think, my favorite moment of the movie. It would have been so maudlin and non-Coen like if he'd spared her.

And I think Tommy Lee Jones ends up the worst of everyone, even though he survives, because he is left with the sense of his futile life's work to combat evil, when evil just keeps on coming like the energizer bunny. He tells his wife of his dream, his vision of the afterlife: his father, gone before him, lighting a fire out there in "all that dark all that cold" so he will be able to find him.

One thing I wondered about: who were all those Mexicans who ran away from the scene of the crime at the motel? They were related somehow to that guy who helped the mother-in-law with her bag, but I didn't get it. Anton didn't hire them, did he? He was such a lone wolf; if he had hired them, he would have not let them get away alive. The one big thing that bugged me about the movie: that "dumb-ass" thing Moss did -- bringing water to the dying guy in the truck -- that was unbearably dumb. I didn't buy it. It seemed like a plot contrivance to me. No doubt Anton would have figured out a way to find him without that stupid and unecessary move.

I guess I'm going to have to read the book. By the way, I'm pretty impressionable, and the film did not leave me scared or horrified by the violence, which surprised me after all the talk of how gory it was.

[Angela]

I read the book yesterday, and sure enough, it cleared up the mystery of what happened to the money. I don't know why they left that part out of the movie, except maybe the filmmakers wanted to let us know it's not really so important what happened to the money. Also the book makes some of the shadowy stuff more explicit.

But best of all, the book is packed with great lines! One of my favorites is Bell's wife tells him, "Don't come home dead. I won't put up with that." He replies, "I better not do that then."

[Dan.Linehan]

Originally Posted by Angela

One thing I wondered about: who were all those Mexicans who ran away from the scene of the crime at the motel? They were related somehow to that guy who helped the mother-in-law with her bag, but I didn't get it. Anton didn't hire them, did he?

I thought the suit in the high-rise hired the Mexicans? That's why Anton had to go "fix" the situation. The Mexicans fleeing the hotel were the same group that helped the mother-in-law I assume.

I agree with all your other assessments. I really wish the wife would have lived. What happened to the money in the book?

Tommy Lee Jones is the worst off, I agree. He looks absolutely haunted in that last sequence.

[Angela]

Originally Posted by Dan.Linehan

I really wish the wife would have lived. What happened to the money in the book?

It would have ruined the movie for me if the wife had not been offed -- it would have been a sachyrine undoing of the message of unrelenting evil.

Anton takes the case full of money (which he retrieved from the motel and Tommy Lee came within an inch of getting the cattle prod -- that whole part is different in the book) to some guy we haven't been acquainted with, and tells him, Here's all your money except a hundred thousand or so that Barbara Streisand's son-in-law stole and some for my personal expenses. Are you not impressed with my acumen? Now you will hire me for future projects, right?

Well, he doesn't use those same words exactly; I'm paraphrasing. But he leaves the money with the guy and then goes off to get smashed up in the car accident.

[Dan.Linehan]

We don't know who the guy is who ends up with the money? That's pretty strange.

Heh. I bought chigurh.com and chigurh.net after I saw the movie. Just had to.

I should make a portal of evil.

[Dan.Linehan]

On a side note, chirurg is German for die. I wonder if thats where he got the name from.

Edit - nevermind, chirurg means surgeon, not die.


From this article,

No further enlightenment was forthcoming from McCarthy. "When he came to the set, we were, 'Hey, where does Chigurh come from, and what is the etymology of his name, what mythological character is he based on?' He goes, 'I just thought it was a cool name.'"

[Old Soul]

I saw that it was playing at the theatre, but my daughter and I went to see

"I am Legend"... wow that was wild!!! good movie

[Dan.Linehan]

Originally Posted by Old Soul

"I am Legend"... wow that was wild!!! good movie

Yeah, I really liked the first 2/3 of it.

I don't know if you saw "28 Days Later?" We've been calling I Am Legend "2.8 Years Later" it was so similar.

[Old Soul]

I don't know if you saw "28 Days Later?" We've been calling I Am Legend "2.8 Years Later" it was so similar.

yes I saw the similarity as well, What did you think of Will Smiths role? I had a little trouble seeing him as the charater he was portraying, If I wasn't such a huge Will Smiith I probably would not have been so forgiving with him in that role

I also want to see the Golden Compass !!!

[Dan.Linehan]

Originally Posted by Old Soul

yes I saw the similarity as well, What did you think of Will Smiths role?

I thought Will Smith pulled it off really well. The issues I had weren't with him, but with the CGI zombies (not realistic enough) and with all the missed opportunities at the end (only one nighttime showdown that wasn't very good - no fleshing out of the concept of the zombies using traps, etc.)

[PokerEnthusiast]

I Am Legend
Overall I think the movie was really good but if the last part of the movie was better it could have been extraordinary. The scenery was beautiful with the decaying city being overgrown with weeds/wildlife and the animals freely roaming the streets. Will Smith was a good choice for that role imo. You need someone with natural talent who can add a bit of comedy to the film without making it seem cheesy or forced. I thought it went downhill after the scene when the dog dies in his arms. What made the movie interesting to me was the adventures that he would go on with his dog everyday. It was what made the movie feel refreshing and unique. When he tries to kill himself and is saved by the girl and then her and the kid become involved in the story it just seemed so cliche and therefore preventing it from being an unforgettable classic

This is how I would have ended it (I'm no film-maker so this might suck aswell )
- I would never introduce any other characters
- I would have 30-45 minutes more showing the daily stuff that him and his dog do, some minor zombie encounters, and all the while, continuing to show interesting looking parts of the city
- then include the encounter with the zombies with the dog getting injured/infected
- then the scene back in the lab when the dog dies in his arms but right after this moment have the zombies break in; do the zombie breaking through the glass thing and then have him blow the whole place up with the grenade like he did. THE END
- I know it's a depressing and gloomy ending but it would leave the viewers breathless and with something to think about and ponder... "Maybe he really was the only survivor left, and after his death there is no hope... OR Maybe there are other survivors but we will never know for sure" - imo It's good to keep them guessing!
(I'm aware that the story is based on a novel so they probably can't end it this way but I still think I would like my ending better than the way they ended it! )

No Country For Old Men
- I think it was over-rated
- I saw that it got amazing reviews so I was expecting awesomeness and after watching it I was a little disappointed
- I'm not saying it's a bad movie; I thought it was good; but I just don't see why the critics are making such a big deal about it and saying stuff like "It's An Epic Masterpiece!!!", or "The most memorable movie of 2007!!!"
- I don't have much else to say here

[PokerEnthusiast]

hehe... how about this? I Am Legend with a No Country For Old Men type ending. vague, ambiguous, and abstract.