No Country for Old Men

This movie breaks the rules of conventional storytelling, and not in a good way. It basically spends two hours building up to a climax, then for some reason skips over that climax completely. It never shows how or why the protagonist meets his fate, I kept expecting a twist after that point or a flashback or SOMETHING but it never came.

It has an ending of sorts, one that ignores all of the major characters in favor of the story arc concerning Tommy Lee Jones' character. The problem there is that his sub-plot could be completely thrown away and the rest of the movie wouldn't suffer at all. I kind of get the feeling that the Coens tried to adapt a story about a small town sheriff to film without realizing that all of the interesting parts of the story revolved around all of the other characters, so they focused the movie on the interesting characters and then abandoned all of them for the last 15 minutes in favor of some lame allegory about growing too old to be useful.

Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of interesting moments in this movie, I'd say it's even worth watching. It's a good story filled with interesting characters that is ultimately ruined by idiotic choices behind the camera.

Love the video quality, the menus and everything else. Hate the case. Looks cheap and cannot be compared to a special collection DVD box, but that's how all blu-ray discs come so I hope they put more effort in the future and not give us this cheap blue plastic.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

I don't know about you but I have always been a huge fan of the Coen Brothers Joel and Ethan, I have liked every film the two have put together. This is no exception and is just another classic in a long list of classics, both theatrically and on DVD this is a brilliant film. I can honestly say that a lot of the time I do not agree with the winners or even the nominees chosen by the Academy for the Oscar but they got it right with this one. By the way I do not care what people think, that ending was BRILLIANT.

The story is all about Llewelyn Moss [Josh Brolin] a normal every day guy who happens to stumble upon something he should not have. When he comes across a massacre and ends up leaving the area with a bag full of money a killer [Javier Bardem] comes after him and one of the best movies ever made starts to unfold. Add in a sheriff who is trying to put this all together played by Tommy Lee Jones and another hired hand played by Woody Harrelson and you have one great scenario taking place. This movie has every thong you could want in a film, there is some good humor although it is on the darker side. There is also not only some good action going on but a really dramatic tale of greed. Don't let any one tell you differently this movie is all about greed and obsession. One mans combo of the two leaves not only him but his family in danger that may even lead to death. Another's combo of the two leads him down the same path while another's completely breaks him. It may seem confusing reading this but when you watch it you will get it, and dare I say you will enjoy it.

Writers/directors/producers Coen Brothers have crafted one of the best films to come out in years. The direction of this film can be felt threw out the entire thing and the screenplay is amazing. This could be the best film the two have put together and that is really saying something, come on just think of what these two have made. Acting wise this film shines just as much as Josh Brolin gives one of the best performances of his career. I was really rooting for this guy during this movie even though he brings it all on himself, but man does he give Bardem's character a run for his money. Woody Harrelson is just as good in this film as a hired hand trying to get the money back for his employer. He really shines with his sense of humor in this film and the way he carries himself. Tommy Lee Jones as usual is great as the sheriff who is determined to find his man, so much so that it brings him down. It is somewhat disappointing knowing about the drama going on between him and the studio about this film, mainly because he may never work with the Coen Brothers again. But aside from that we have what has got to be one of the greatest performances in cinematic history, and I am serious when I say that. Javier Bardem turned in one of the best performances I have ever seen, really brought to life one of the most interesting characters I have had the pleasure of viewing.

This film is definitely worth your money, I say buy this not rent it. I hear people complain about the ending of this film all the time and I don't understand why. I thought that it was one of the most brilliant endings in a long time; I never thought it would end like that. Maybe because it isn't what would be considered a typical ending people hated on it, but I think that it what makes it so good. I loved it and so did my brother who watched it with me, at least one person agreed with me on that ending.

Great acting, suspenseful, but with a message that evil often wins...riveting at times, disgusting, heart thumping, great action...great acting...worth the effect if you enjoy a kind of lingering depressive effect. I did not sleep well...

Watching "No Country For Old Men" reminds me of all the carnage and violence you would witness in other films like "The Terminator", "Collateral" and even "Halloween" - where one person (or being) engages in a senseless, non-stop killing spree in order to reach their target. The only difference here is that this film was wrapped up with a pretty bow by being labeled by critics as "artsy" and "intellectually thrilling" because it was viewed at the Cannes Film Festival and it's by the Coen Brothers. Well, whup-dee-damn-do. No matter who was behind it, let's call it what it is, shall we? Another movie with gratituous violence and random murders - nothing more, nothing less. Those elitist critics need to admit that they too, enjoy bloody action horror thrillers just as much as the next person instead of turning their noses up on other films of that genre.

The story takes place in rural Texas, 1980. Stoic and menacing hitman and virtual killing machine Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) stops at nothing to retrieve a satchel of $2 million in cash from a drug deal gone bad. Vietnam veteran Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin), who happened to stumble across a bunch of dead Mexicans at the crime scene in the desert, found the money - and took off with it. As he hunts down Moss, Chigurh leaves destruction in his wake by mowing down (mostly) innocent people in his way who have nothing to do with the theft of the money. This seemed pointless to me and makes it no better than any of those movies I mentioned above (which only one was given serious attention by the Oscars). This is not a horrible film, but I fail to see the reason why it won four Oscars. Unless you happen to be Alfred Hitchcock - what is so artistic about murder? If that's the case, then all those movies that feature homicidal psychopaths like Michael Myers, Freddy Kruger, Jason with the hockey mask and others slaughtering people at will with no cause should have been nominated for Oscars, too.

The title, which refers to Tommy Lee Jones' Sheriff Bell character and his buddies, laments the changing times when times were simple in America, and being a law officer was less dangerous. Times when killing for drugs, or for no reason at all was almost unheard of outside of the inner city, the average criminal might be American, and the most daring thing they might have done was knock over a bank for a small pittance. But as Bob Dylan once sang, "The times, they are a-changin'", or as one of the characters sums it up in the movie, "You can't stop what's coming." These "old men" don't feel they have a place in this system anymore, where crimes become increasingly graphic but in turn, people are becoming apathetic in their reactions to it, which is nothing new. The bad guy doesn't always get caught in these times, either - something else that we know as well. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we hear this same type of dialogue before in the excellent thriller "Seven" with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman 13 years ago? Now THAT was Oscar-worthy.

Jones might as well been playing the same character as Freeman did in that film because they both were police officers who shared the EXACT same philosophies and opinions about life, so there is really nothing new here. As a small town Texas sheriff on the brink of retirement who is trying to protect an on-the-run Moss before Chigurh gets to him, Jones as the aging Bell feels hopelessly out of step with this new breed of criminal, but is determined to keep Moss safe. I have no problem with the ending; it's just that I expected more.

As I said previously, "No Country For Old Men" is far from being horrible. But all the accolades it received was only because of who made it. You can try to elevate it above films like "Pulp Fiction" (which is actually a GOOD film), "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or even the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series but truthfully, there's not much difference between those films and this one, except maybe the actors - who do the best they can under the circumstances. IMO, there's nothing special about it, but worth seeing at least once.