This is not sublime art NOR even nouveau art
Added 11/7/2009
Plenty of great acting .. but the story is a mess .. the way characters are able to travel and find each other without a hint of how in the heck they do .. is ridiculous .. And .. the resolution of each character is so anti-climatic .. (cue intellectuals to knee-jerk in approval .. ) all the character development is betrayed and the plot is left unresolved in gaping dead ends because it seemed like a great artsy idea .. because the film makers are too lazy and too lame to figure out a way for the characters and the story to proceed in any way that makes sense or even in an artistic, symbolic fashion .. I dont watch the Academy Awards any more because their award choices are so WRONG .. So I am not surprised it won Academy Awards because this picture is certainly stupid enough to win Academy Award votes from the current Academy .. This picture does deserve a Brilliant Acting WASTED Award ..
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Didn't do it for us.
Added 11/2/2009
My family and peers believe that a story needs to be in a good movie. This action flick just didn't seem to be driving in that direction. It feels like one of those old 1960s films, a slice of "real" life. Yeah right...
It felt like it wanted to be Thelma & Louise. It wasn't. It seemed like it was running for a little Silence of The Lambs action, it missed. It's too bad the writers didn't take their script through a few more editorial sessions. Just not for us.
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Classic! Bleak, gritty, and unforgettable.
Added 10/26/2009
Undeniably one of the Coen brothers' greatest films. They've usually been at their best when showing off their flair for updating film noir (as they did in "Blood Simple," "Fargo," and "The Man Who Wasn't There") and this time around, they mix in another genre for good measure: the modern western. Once this masterpiece gets rolling, it rarely lets up on suspense as it traces the steps of a man (Josh Brolin) who stumbles into a crime scene before the cops do and walks off with the loot, the hired gun (Javier Bardem) who relentlessly follows the money and lays waste to anyone who gets in his path or inconveniences him along the way, and the broken-down lawman (Tommy Lee Jones) who can't quite keep up with the action anymore and becomes increasingly distressed and disheartened by the escalating evil he finds himself up against. All three actors are in amazing form in their respective roles, especially Bardem (his performance is one for the ages and a richly deserved Oscar winner) and Brolin (an absolute revelation). By cutting out the wink-wink, nudge-nudge cheekiness of many of their efforts, the Coen brothers have established themselves once again as major filmmakers.
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A film for the literate... all others please write your 1-star comments and move on with life
Added 10/18/2009
This movie is first and foremost NOT a Hollywood concoction as many reviewers here would have you believe. Apparently Cormac McCarthy is not required reading in most fields of education. No Country for Old Men is a gut-wrenching book and a stellar film. The adaption by the Coen brothers is nearly as faithful as one can get, leaving out mostly some narration which would not translate to the average modern-day filmgoer such as referring to another lawman as "N..... Jim." Another deviation is the Josh Brolin vs. dog scene which was not in the book. I admit, I preferred it left out. Other than that this is a faithful, almost word-for-word adaptation of a modern day classic in American literature. Is this a violent film? Yes. Is it gratuitous as most of the one-star reviewers would have you believe? No. Violence here is a vehicle. The story is a tale of crime coming head to head with west Texas law. Who wins out? You have to see the movie, read the book, and actually UNDERSTAND the ending to get it. I know there were no Scooby-Doo moments of the good guys coming to unmask the bad, but sometimes life is more complicated than that. Why shouldn't art reflect that? As for the slamming of Javier Bardem's Oscar winning performance, I don't know what you are looking for. This is the most ominous, soulless, chilling, and downright brutal characters brought to screen in modern film. The coin scenes build upon each other to a shattering conclusion. This is not a film for those who need every detail and motivation spelled out for them. This is a thinking person's thriller. Five stars. Oh, and a Best Picture winner.
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The very definition of intense
Added 10/12/2009
This is one of the most intense movies I've ever seen. The Coen brothers do a wonderful job of creating edge-of-your-seat, ready to jump suspense. Watching the movie a second time, I knew what the outcome would be but I was still on edge. The stark atmosphere adds to this effect and brings you into the story. The acting is superb, especially Javier Bardem who won a well-deserved Oscar for his chilling role as evil personified.
Josh Brolin plays Llewelyn Moss, a retired welder and Vietnam vet who stumbles upon the remains of a drug deal gone horribly wrong. He comes away with two million dollars which ends up being a lot more trouble than it was worth. One of the men in search of the money is Chigurh (Bardem), who is a psychotic killer with his own sense of morals. He kills people ruthlessly using a rather different weapon much of the time. Llewelyn thinks he can outsmart Chigurh and does his best while trying to keep his wife safe. Attempting to put an end to this cat and mouse game and to save Llewelyn is Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), an aging small town Texas sheriff who is unaccustomed to the violence escalating as part of the increasing drug trade.
While there is a fair amount of violence in the movie, it isn't gratuitous. There are some humorous moments, such as Wells' assessment of Chigurh and how dangerous he is. Chigurh's manner and expressions, taking enjoyment from his killing, make for one very frightening villain, all the more because he comes across as real. His use of the coin toss for deciding who lives is reminiscent of Two Face from Batman (ironically played by Tommy Lee Jones in one of the movies), but Chigurh is in no way a cartoon.
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This is not sublime art NOR even nouveau art
Added 11/7/2009
Plenty of great acting .. but the story is a mess .. the way characters are able to travel and find each other without a hint of how in the heck they do .. is ridiculous .. And .. the resolution of each character is so anti-climatic .. (cue intellectuals to knee-jerk in approval .. ) all the character development is betrayed and the plot is left unresolved in gaping dead ends because it seemed like a great artsy idea .. because the film makers are too lazy and too lame to figure out a way for the characters and the story to proceed in any way that makes sense or even in an artistic, symbolic fashion .. I dont watch the Academy Awards any more because their award choices are so WRONG .. So I am not surprised it won Academy Awards because this picture is certainly stupid enough to win Academy Award votes from the current Academy .. This picture does deserve a Brilliant Acting WASTED Award ..
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Didn't do it for us.
Added 11/2/2009
My family and peers believe that a story needs to be in a good movie. This action flick just didn't seem to be driving in that direction. It feels like one of those old 1960s films, a slice of "real" life. Yeah right...
It felt like it wanted to be Thelma & Louise. It wasn't. It seemed like it was running for a little Silence of The Lambs action, it missed. It's too bad the writers didn't take their script through a few more editorial sessions. Just not for us.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Classic! Bleak, gritty, and unforgettable.
Added 10/26/2009
Undeniably one of the Coen brothers' greatest films. They've usually been at their best when showing off their flair for updating film noir (as they did in "Blood Simple," "Fargo," and "The Man Who Wasn't There") and this time around, they mix in another genre for good measure: the modern western. Once this masterpiece gets rolling, it rarely lets up on suspense as it traces the steps of a man (Josh Brolin) who stumbles into a crime scene before the cops do and walks off with the loot, the hired gun (Javier Bardem) who relentlessly follows the money and lays waste to anyone who gets in his path or inconveniences him along the way, and the broken-down lawman (Tommy Lee Jones) who can't quite keep up with the action anymore and becomes increasingly distressed and disheartened by the escalating evil he finds himself up against. All three actors are in amazing form in their respective roles, especially Bardem (his performance is one for the ages and a richly deserved Oscar winner) and Brolin (an absolute revelation). By cutting out the wink-wink, nudge-nudge cheekiness of many of their efforts, the Coen brothers have established themselves once again as major filmmakers.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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