No Country For Old Men

[jdc115]

Originally Posted by nhaase

They want to get it out right before the Oscars, the same thing happens every year, Babel came out around the same time in theatres last year.

Also, I loved this movie. It was just so brutal, and I loved it having no soundtrack.

If you like films without a music soundtrack, you can always check out Michael Haneke.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Haneke

He does not add any music to a film unless it is actually being played in the movie. They have a weird feel to them.

[Seretur]

It has a soundtrack, albeit a very minimal one, by the Coens' old collaborator, Carter Burwell.

This is very different from oodles of European arthouse titles having no score, which in itself comes from a misplaced notion that film scoring somehow equals unearned pathos. If you go to a prestigious festival and sit through four or five such titles a day, your ears pop the first time a scored film comes along.

Sometimes the no-score approach works. But I still find it vastly inferior to intelligent spotting of the score, and tailoring the music subtly to the needs of the film. One recent example: As anyone who has heard the typewriter rhythms in the score to Atonement (a Universal title, yes, unfortunately) can attest, there are many ways in which scoring can enhance the most serious drama.

[coolmilo]

OK, I just got home from watching "No County For Old Men."

Without giving too much away, can anyone explain what the F happened at the end? I am totally confused.

[ascian]

Originally Posted by coolmilo

OK, I just got home from watching "No County For Old Men."

Without giving too much away, can anyone explain what the F happened at the end? I am totally confused.

What's to be confused about? The "good guy " dies, (so does his wife), the mexicans get their money, the murderer gets away, and the sheriff decides that this is no country for an old man like him.

I was looking to this film a lot, and while i enjoyed it, it certainly fell short of what it could be. After hearing about the "pure evil" that Antoine Chigurh was... eh. There were just too many things that fell short, or felt out of place to make this a good movie.

[vsbdtv]

Originally Posted by ascian

What's to be confused about? ....

Um, he did say:

Originally Posted by coolmilo

Without giving too much away, ...

That was pretty much giving everything away :-)

The Coen Brothers are not Hollywood mainstream wannabes, and their films are not likely to garner the kind of universal audience acceptance that lesser efforts might aim for. Don't expect to see Jerry Bruckheimer when watching a Coen Brothers picture.

I thought "No Country" was a fantastic film. Perhaps not everybody will consider this a great film. But to suggest that it's not even "good" seems off base. It's at least a lot better than most of the swill that makes it to the big screen these days.

[ascian]

Well with a movie like this, explaining stuff without giving too much away is like your boss doing telling you to do a job quickly and thoroughly. Next time I'll post a spoiler warning or something.

I understand what you mean about the Coen brothers and as far as their...style... I know what to expect. I saw the film with my brother and dad over the holiday weekend and even (correctly) warned my dad that it might not fit his tastes.I did enjoy the film, I like most of their others and The Big Lebowski is definitely up there in my top films. But I digress. Without meaning to be argumentative, my thoughts were merely that it lacked cohesiveness and depth. In my mind these are two pretty important things to make a film better than good, or even worth watching a second time.

[cathexist]

I haven't been able to see it yet...stupid local theaters...but if this came out on blu it would definitely be a blind buy. If not...then I'll be renting it on DVD.

[clownface]

Excellent movie, I hope this really comes out on Blu ray.

[missionblu]

Originally Posted by ascian

What's to be confused about? The "good guy " dies, (so does his wife), the mexicans get their money, the murderer gets away, and the sheriff decides that this is no country for an old man like him.

I was looking to this film a lot, and while i enjoyed it, it certainly fell short of what it could be. After hearing about the "pure evil" that Antoine Chigurh was... eh. There were just too many things that fell short, or felt out of place to make this a good movie.

It's my belief that the Mexicans did not get the money. Javier's character found it in the vent.

[coolmilo]

Following is another explanation that I found on the net:

"In a sentence, Ed Tom (Jones) has already decided on retirement (life) rather than bringing the killer (Bardem) to justice. He knows he found the killer. The Sheriff retires because he realizes that the country he covers (south Texas) is No Country for Old Men. So in the end, he sits at the table and tells his wife about a dream: he heads into snowy, dangerous mountains (his life as a sheriff), and a man goes on ahead of him to await him (the killer still awaits). And then he woke up to the fact that in real life he was acting out this dream. So in the end, rather than live the nightmarish, lethal continuation of the dream, he wakes up to choosing the safer life of retirement. He has taken the lesson from his forcibly retired colleague in the wheelchair: a life of disability isn't worth it."

This movie stuck with me for days after watching it. I really enjoyed it but thought the ending was a little strange. But then after thinking about it for a couple of days I realized it was a good ending to a great movie. I can't wait to watch this one again on Blu.

[GreenScar]

Originally Posted by missionblu

It's my belief that the Mexicans did not get the money. Javier's character found it in the vent.

Exactly, because the screws from the vent along with the dime on the floor. It's also one of the bills he used to pay the kids for the shirt at the end.

[missionblu]

Originally Posted by jasonbird

It's also one of the bills he used to pay the kids for the shirt at the end.

I figured that too.

[coolmilo]

Originally Posted by jasonbird

Exactly, because the screws from the vent along with the dime on the floor. It's also one of the bills he used to pay the kids for the shirt at the end.

I thought that the mexicans got their money and the killer got his share of the money. If the killer got all the money then we wouldn't have seen the mexican's leave the hotel. Rather, we would have seen a bunch of dead mexicans, right?

[richard lichtenfelt]

Originally Posted by coolmilo

OK, I just got home from watching "No County For Old Men."

Without giving too much away, can anyone explain what the F happened at the end? I am totally confused.

Evil cannot be completely stopped. Evil finds people of all walks of life, and often simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Normal people aren't prepared to deal with pure evil, nor do they even understand it.
The sheriff's dream was an allegory using his father, pertaining to the part in the Bible where Christ tells his disciples that He was going before them to make a place for them in the kingdom of heaven.
An absolutely amazing and powerful film. I can't recommend this one enough.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_country_for_old_men/
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=31411

[ShoNuff]

Originally Posted by Seretur

It has a soundtrack, albeit a very minimal one, by the Coens' old collaborator, Carter Burwell.

If you consider a 20 second pad at the beginning to be a soundtrack.

[sacredchao]

Originally Posted by jdc115

If you like films without a music soundtrack, you can always check out Michael Haneke.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Haneke

He does not add any music to a film unless it is actually being played in the movie. They have a weird feel to them.

I love Haneke. I hope Cache and Time of the Wolf come out on BD. They are both gorgeous movies, so I can only imagine how amazing they'll look in HD.

[richard lichtenfelt]

The Mexicans took off right after the big shootout to escape the cops.
The killer came back after the cops left and found the money then.
The sheriff didn't quit because he didn't want to die, he was already set to retire. He realized that stopping this one man wasn't going to change the world, plus the crime left his jurisdiction.
The killer gets away because he represented evil which can't be stopped.
To really understand this movie you have to realize what the characters represent, though.
This movie is talking about the current state of society, and how much things have changed. Which, of course, you wouldn't truly know about if you're a young man.

[coolmilo]

Originally Posted by richard lichtenfelt

The Mexicans took off right after the big shootout to escape the cops.
The killer came back after the cops left and found the money then.
The sheriff didn't quit because he didn't want to die, he was already set to retire. He realized that stopping this one man wasn't going to change the world, plus the crime left his jurisdiction.
The killer gets away because he represented evil which can't be stopped.
To really understand this movie you have to realize what the characters represent, though.
This movie is talking about the current state of society, and how much things have changed. Which, of course, you wouldn't truly know about if you're a young man.

You make a lot of sense. I can't wait to see this film again.