Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: No Country for Old Men (2007)

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 11-25-2007, 12:08 AM:

Saw it this evening at the Regal 15 in Eugene (#8). If not for a faint narrow vertical band of horizontal scratches I'd give the presentation a high score. Very sharp, crisp, steady, and bright. I doubt anyone else noticed the scratches but me.

The Coen Bros. have cranked out yet another very original and very engrossing film. Also extremely violent -- not for the squeamish. Very well-written and well-acted.

I give it 4.5 out of 5. [thumbsup]

Posted by Jonathan M. Crist (Member # 413) on 11-25-2007, 10:24 AM:

Suspense and terror, according to Alfred Hitchcock, is in the anticipation of what is going to happen more than in the execution. In 'No Country' you can certainly see the Coen Brothers following this Hitchcock mantra. However, when you look a bit closer, you can see that the film they have fashioned is still essentially "Charly Varrick" meets the "The Terminator". Not that this is necessarily a bad thing.

For me the weakest part was the ending - which may have intended to be ambiguous (a la the Sopranos) or (more cynically) may have been crafted merely to set up the sequel.

4 stars out of 5.

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 11-26-2007, 05:23 PM:

Nice to see the Coen boys back in the saddle again!

This is a deep, dark, complex film. The story is complicated, and not all questions are answered. It has excellent performances from everyone involved, and I believe it is the first film to feature a can of compressed air as a lethal weapon...at least how it is used in this movie.

This is a good film to see with friends, as there will be MUCH to talk about when it is over. There are many small details that do not seem relevant at the time that actually mean a lot in the context of the film.

Academic rating - A-. Much violence, but all is necessary. Special mention to Javier Bardem as a real-life "Terminator". This guy is just impossible to stop!

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 11-28-2007, 02:00 PM:

CINEMA: Megaplex 17 at Jordan Commons, Sandy, UT
AUDITORIUM: 10
PRESENTATION: Dolby Digital Cinema DLP
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None [Cool]

RATING: Three stars (out of four)

WARNING: "Mister? You've got a bone sticking out your Spoilers."

THE PLOT: Some Guy goes hunting and finds money and trouble. Wackiness ensues.

It's a quiet, dark, stark piece with lots of talking and lots of bodies. And it's mostly done well, if not a little anticlimactic by the end.

Apparently, based on dialog in the feature, this is set in 1980. Aside from cars, they didn't do much else to set the tone in that period of time...there's all sorts of modern logos visible, including the modern Domino's logo and the previous Carl's Jr logo (on a converted Burger King, no less.)

Rats. Now I'm hungry.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 11-29-2007, 03:00 AM:

I loved this movie! Its great to see the Coen brothers back in top form. Javier Bardem is freaking great in this role, and I agree he is a shoe in for a nomination come Award time. I think he'd be getting robbed if he didn't win.

Its nice to see Josh Brolin step out and do some good pieces of work as of late.

I personaly liked the way they skip the (SPOILERS)

Shoot out where Lou Ellen gets killed and only show you the aftermath. Very effective.

(END SPOILERS)

A solid 4.5/5 [thumbsup]

A must see and must own

Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 12-16-2007, 05:13 PM:

After much deliberation, I have decided this is THE BEST movie this decade, featuring one of the greatest villains in movie history. There is one scene in particular that is so chilling yet so simple, it changes that way your brain functions for some time. Whatever the highest rank is you can give a movie, add one.

Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 01-22-2008, 08:02 AM:

I watched this last night; I'm lucky that my wife is a member of the Screen Actors Gulid ... they sent us a DVD screener.

I wanted more of a wrap-up at the end, but I did like it. I have liked everything the Coen brothers have done.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 01-22-2008, 09:57 AM:

Saw this movie last night.

Awesome.

(SPOILERS)

Where can I get a silencer for a shotgun?
Also, what is that thing called that the farmers use to kill their cattle?
Call it - heads or tails?

(/SPOILERS)

Thought the ending could use some work. Other than that - great friggin movie.

4.5/5

[Razz]

Posted by Jim Bedford (Member # 4) on 01-22-2008, 10:45 AM:

It's almost like Javier Bardem wandered in from another movie.... perhaps a TERMINATOR clone. Who knows where Woody Harrelson wandered in from, but I'm glad he did.

I found myself delighted and laughing at what seemed at the time all the wrong places. It's so great to see a film where what happens next is so unpredictable. You're there to see what you don't know rather than what you know is going to happen.

"What will you take for that shirt?"

Loved it and can't wait for the next Coen film (could it be.... NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN II? [evil]

) Top drawer. 12 out of 13.

Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 01-22-2008, 11:44 AM:

MINOR SPOILER...

OK, got a question though... how did Woody Harrelson know where Josh was?

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 01-23-2008, 02:30 PM:

He read the script? [Wink]

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 01-23-2008, 06:48 PM:

Spoiler

Hes an expert assassin just like Javier's character. Know the right people, pay the right people and you can get what ever information you want.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-12-2008, 02:51 AM:

Are the spoiler tags working yet? C'mon Daryl, I e-mailed you the code! Surely it can be adapted for the UBB.

[spoiler]

Well acted. However I must say that this one could have been written during the writer's strike since there really isn't much information about anything in the movie... kind of like a rough draft of a script and they made shit up as they went along during the shoot. They told the actors to talk aimlessly about nothing to fill most of the dialog scenes.

quote: Jonathan M. Crist
For me the weakest part was the ending

There wasn't an ending. It was literally completely missing. It was just Tommy Lee Jones (whose character had absolutely no business whatsoever being in the movie) sitting at the breakfast table rambling about something boring... and as slowly and boringly as he possibly could. "Artsy" folks (ie: dipshits) probably say how it's symbolic or something lame like that. Who cares? It needs to be entertaining before it can be anything else, and it most certainly is not entertaining. All Tommy Lee Jones' scenes could be cut from this movie and it would be 10 times better.

I did not like how the main character (Josh Brolin) had a girl's name. I bet he would have survived if he wasn't raised to be such a sissy.

quote: Chad Souder
After much deliberation, I have decided this is THE BEST movie this decade

Say what? Rambo was better. So was The Incredibles. And Kill Bill. I could go on.

quote: Dennis Benjamin
Thought the ending could use some work.

What ending???

quote: John Walsh
I wanted more of a wrap-up at the end

The movie should have ended with him walking away from the car accident, not with a boring and useless character talking about his boring dream. My dreams are way more interesting than his. At least mine have nudity!

quote: Mark Lensenmayer
I believe it is the first film to feature a can of compressed air as a lethal weapon

I used to blow out flakes from print shedding from my Christie projectors with a similar compressed air tank. Either the Christies are built like tanks, or the effect of a compressed air tank is ever-so-slightly slightly exaggerated.

quote: Kurt Zupin
[Woody Harrelson's character was] an expert assassin just like Javier's character.

He clearly was not an expert of any kind, otherwise he could have killed the bad guy on the stairs. He had all the time in the world. Instead he turned into a chicken shit. What an asshole. I'm glad they canceled Cheers. Serves him right.

[/spoiler]

Posted by Jennifer Pan (Member # 2035) on 03-12-2008, 03:18 AM:

Don't be jealous of Tommy Lee Jones, its not attractive. [evil]

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-12-2008, 03:41 AM:

The only thing about Tommy Lee Jones which I'm jealous about is his paycheck.

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 03-12-2008, 04:26 AM:

quote: Joe Redifer
I used to blow out flakes from print shedding from my Christie projectors with a similar compressed air tank. Either the Christies are built like tanks, or the effect of a compressed air tank is ever-so-slightly slightly exaggerated.

No, that device is legit. It's not just firing out compressed air, the compressed air actually drives a piston which is mounted in the handpiece. It's normally used for knocking livestock on the head in an abattoir so it would certainly be effective on humans. Not sure if it's feasible to knock the barrel out of a door lock though; that seems a bit far fetched.

SPOILERS.

I may as well raise my hand right up front and confess that I didn't like the ending. I get the whole "evil triumphs over good" thing and how Bell laments his perceived weariness and helplessness in defeating an evermore insidious evil and is ultimately compelled to lay down his guns and give up the good fight. I just don't think it was a point well made. It's like the film is missing the full stop on the final sentence. There isn't even a "............" at the end. The film just trundles to an aimless halt mid-senten

I think the problem is that the film IS about Chigurh and Moss regardless of whether the Coens intended that or not, and I don't think it works to just turn the film on it's head at the end and proclaim that the focus was actually Bell. I have no problem with them doing that per se, but I don't think they pulled it off. To me it felt like the movie finished when Moss was killed (because that was the story) and I had trouble getting a bead on where the story was going after that. In the end it just petered out.

Having said that, everything which precedes the films coda is a marvelous piece of cinematic eloquence (though in the beginning I thought they should have called this The Dead Dog Movie as there's more canine casualties here than on the Milo And Otis shoot ). The service station sequence is brilliant in its understated menace and this is due to Bardem's chilling performance from an excellent script. His ridiculous hairdo merely underlines his formidability - who's tough enough to tell him he looks silly? And his hulking silenced shottie is way cool. Tommy Lee Jones feels like he's channeling Michael Parks which is no bad thing and Brolin is good also. And it's always great to see Kelly Macdonald though her accent completely threw me until I saw her name in the credits.

Despite my misgivings with the ending, this is still worth.....

8 out of 10

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 03-12-2008, 12:23 PM:

Since No Country for Old Men is now out on Blu-ray Disc and DVD, is it more appropriate to have a different review thread started in the Afterlife forum, or just keep adding to this thread?

quote: Stu Jamieson
No, that device is legit. It's not just firing out compressed air, the compressed air actually drives a piston which is mounted in the handpiece.

Anton Chigurh's weapon is designed for slaughtering cattle. But it fires more than just compressed air. The air tank fires a steel bolt forward into the brain the animal. Then the bolt retracts.

The suppressor on the shotgun was an interesting touch, although the "can" on the end of the barrel didn't look much like ones that you can actually buy and install (after making some serious modifications to a shotgun).

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-12-2008, 04:56 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
Since No Country for Old Men is now out on Blu-ray Disc and DVD, is it more appropriate to have a different review thread started in the Afterlife forum, or just keep adding to this thread?

Adding to this thread is best, unless the DVD and Blu-ray is some kind of straight-to-video sequel. Since this forum is the movie review forum, all reviews should go here even if it were a discussion about Pocahontas 2 or similar.

Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 03-12-2008, 07:34 PM:

quote: John Walsh
MINOR SPOILER...

OK, got a question though... how did Woody Harrelson know where Josh was?

In the book, Wells (Harrelson) took the transmitter from Moss and left it in his hotel room. Chigurh was just driving down the street and the receiver started beeping. He goes to the hotel, gets his own room, falls asleep wondering why it would be in that hotel, and wakes realizing it must be Wells.

I was a little disappointed the Coen's left that out. I was wondering the same thing until I read what ended up being a VERY poorly written book. The idea was great, but that author, Cormac McCarthy, sucks big time.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-13-2008, 11:35 PM:

I have decided that this movie is like a giant snooze alarm which lasts for two hours. The violent and entertaining scenes wake you up, but then a Tommy Lee Jones scene comes and puts you to sleep again. Then another scene which is entertaining to wake you up and back and forth and back and forth.

This is the perfect analogy of that movie.

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 03-18-2008, 09:26 AM:

Joe has hit the nail on the head (or the compressed air driven bolt). This had to be one of the most boring movies I've ever seen.

**********SPOILERS AHEAD********************
A few things that I couldn't overlook. #1, the motel where Moss hid the satchel in the A/C duct had an under window A/C unit clearly visible in the exterior shots therefore there wouldn't be ductwork. #2, the homing transmitter was WAY too accurate when Javier basically narrowed down the room (when the transmitter was inside metal ducts) by driving around the parking lot. #3, How did any of them find Moss in Mexico?
*************END SPOILER***************

1 star out of 5 and it only gets that for the violence.

Posted by Kyle Anderson (Member # 3504) on 03-18-2008, 04:34 PM:

Sortof spoiler, reply to a spoiler

The satchel was in the heating vent (note the vent was on the floor), or else an intake for either central heating or just a forced air ventilation system in general (no AC).

Posted by Phil Blake (Member # 2012) on 04-14-2008, 05:45 AM:

I just got to watch this last night , the award winner best picture of the year etc etc , and well I am with Joe on this one , well acted and well cast but the story was very ordinary indeed.

Started out intriguing and began to build then it seemed to go nowhere ending up with tommy's breakfast , so much left unexplained looked as it we had a reel missing .

I am still puzzled as to who how and why.

Into the Wild should have got the oscar.

2 out of 5 from me

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 03-02-2009, 09:26 PM:

*FINALLY* saw this film...ANOTHER excellent film from the VERY talented Coen Brothers! Excellent casting, directing, and cinematography!

5 outta 5 stars.