No Country For Old Men

[Adam West]

I finally watched "The Best Picture of the Year" on DVD this weekend.

I have almost always enjoyed watching movies that won best picture and after seeing them, really liked them. I did not see "The Departed" until it came out on DVD and thought it was an excellent flick.

This movie, I just didn't get. I thought it had its good moments and was intrigued by the plot but the pace of the movie was very slow and actually quite dull in many parts. I also didn't get the big hoopla surrounding the so-called "suprise ending" (and I won't give it away). It just didn't make any sense to me. I actually had to rewind it a few times to the last few scenes to make sure I didn't miss something.

I thought I was in for a "The Usual Suspects" type of ending but this was one of the biggest let downs of all time.

Am I alone regarding this movie?

[Dave Mc]

I'm a big fan of the Coen Brothers movies, and enjoyed this one, but also felt like I was missing something when it was over. IMO, it was not their best flick and others of their movies deserved more attention.

I think the Academy picks movies they watch and go "I didn't get it at all, it must be brilliant!"

[Sideshow Spock]

I saw it in the theater in December, and really enjoyed it.. for the first 90 mins or so. The last 30 mins I agree got pretty boring (Barry Corbin almost induced a nap for me), and my friend and I both left somewhat perplexed, as was apparently most people's reactions. I'd still give it a thumbs-up tho..

[toys2cool]

haven't seen it yet,but I know my brother hated it

[Zemo]

I watched it last night and agree with everyone that I felt like I wasn't getting it. To me it was a good and bad movie.

[the editor]

It had all the makings of a Best Picture but it really didn't deserve it in the end.
The Coens have made much more enjoyable and satisfying movies > "Fargo" & "The Big Lebowski" for starters but I think this was more of an Oscar for their complete body of work because this film really didn't deliver that knock out punch I expected - instead the movie seemed to wither away much like Tommy Lee Jones dialog did in the movie.

Did anyone without a "Whisper2000" even hear *** he was saying throughout the flick?

[BlackKnight]

I thought the Movie was great.. Until the last Half hr. As soon as Josh Brolin's character died,.. & he wasn't the main character anymore, the movie left me a bit confused in the direction. They didn't even show the shoot out the character had, before he died, just the aftermath. I thought that kinda sucked, & when they changed the direction of the Movie with his death, it left the rest of the flick to be desired. It's as if, the 1st Hour & Half was written,.. then with the last half hr, .. they need to come up with something they didn't have a script for.

[Dave Mc]

To me, the point of the film was Tommy Lee Jones' dialog. I actually enjoyed the exchange between him and Barry Corbin. I think they were really trying to say something there and that I ALMOST got it, but was not quite certain. I think the entire story of the movie was just there to illustrate the dialog TLJ was making and in the end, the movie was about him more than anything else.

[BlackKnight]

^^^ Ok. I get it that Jones character was the Main character now. So No Country for Oldmen,.. Really means how the "world" has changed, & it's a different time now,.. then it was then. & Jones's character, because of recent events,.. thought there was no room for him in it anymore,.. thus he retired.

Meh,.. even with that enlightenment on the film..., I still didn't care for the last 30minutes.

[fallensaviour]

This movie had fantastic potential in my opinion.It could have gone down as an instant cult classic but that last 30 minutes destroys that I think.It felt to me like this huge epic build up an then pow they rob you of that climax.Great movie still but just not the best if you ask me.

[the editor]

I love quirky films but I felt this movie was a bit too misleading. By that I mean that they set it up as a real smart and intense thriller but kind of pulled the feet from under the viewer by ultimately making it TLJ's story. And I don't think they did enough with his character to make you want to follow him for the ending - cuz I was still wishing Brolin would return and do something "Tarantino" cool.
So to have the story drift off at the end the way it did - without any kind of prelude was perhaps an interesting way to flip the script from your conventional Hollywood fare but it was also a sort of prick-ish thing to do IMO.
I agree that the Coens have every right to tell the story that they want but that move was a bit arrogant.
So kudos for breaking convention - but man, after you set-up an intense battle of wits between the two main characters for 3/4 of the pic and switch gears by ditching one of them in such a nonchalant way - it's more irritating then insightful.

[Hector]

Come on, lets give a hand to Javier Bardem, the dude was awesome.



I loved it, although There Will be Blood was better...and Daniel Day-Lewis once again proved why he's the best actor on the planet.

[Corellian Corvette]

Saw it and I have to agree with most here. For me, it was like I AM LEGEND.

AWSEOME first 2/3rds of the movie. Lame ending. I get the whole controversy around "the scene" and not showing what happened; but that didn't bother me. I just felt the movie wasn't sure how it wanted to end. The buildup, the slow burn, the suspense was all so perfect. Then it just sort of meandered at the end... like this sentence...

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

Haven't seen it yet; but I'm really curious. A friend of mine described it as "The Last Action Hero for 70's action films" in that it was a summation of what 70's action flicks were like; and how current films aren't like that.

Don C.

[Adam West]

Come on, lets give a hand to Javier Bardem, the dude was awesome.



I loved it, although There Will be Blood was better...and Daniel Day-Lewis once again proved why he's the best actor on the planet.

Javier Bardem did a fantastic job and deservedly won best supporting actor. I don't normally get the creeps from someone but he pulled it off brilliantly. My wife argued that he didn't have much dialogue and my counterpoint was it wasn't necessary for the role and in fact added to the creepiness of the character....the scene of him walking into the small shop and telling the shop keeper to "call heads or tails" was one of the highlights of the film.

Just looking at him on the DVD cover gives me the creeps.