No Country For Old Men (no spoilers)

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  • #76
    Re: SPOILER (warning)

    Originally posted by MichaelZoe View Post
    you need to be true to the masterful work the Cohens did by setting up a super villian vs. a true under dog with the bite of a pit bull.

    the movie built up to a bursting point for a collision between the two. and then let it happen off screen, showing only the results. what a massive failure.
    technically speaking, what happened to the protagonist off-screen wasn't a result of a showdown between hero and villain.

    (SPOILERS)

    It was actually the Mexicans that killed him, not Chigurh.

    All the more reason why I understand some of the points made by those in this thread saying it was an unsatisfying ending.

    s

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    • #77
      Re: No Country For Old Men (SPOILERS!!!!!!)

      SPOILERS!!!!!

      Okay, I read to about page 4 of this thread, so maybe this is covered in later pages...

      I'm with Joe. And it's not the down ending... it's the NON-ending.

      SPOILERS!!!!!

      Wait, Josh Brolin got killed? I'm not sure I saw that. I saw some dead people on the floor of a motel room. I saw Brolin's wife saying she buried her mother just before she gets killed... but I'm not sure any of those dead guys are Brolin and if one was, why didn't the wife mention it? Now, maybe I *blinked* at the moment you could plainly see one of those dead guys was Brolin... but I that's my point. No end... and did the Mexicans kill him or the badass?

      This whole movie has been one guy gunning for the other - so I want to SEE the guy get killed. In slow mo if possible. With the last ounce of blood dribbling out of him. I want to see that confrontation. We saw all kinds of confrontations leading up to the final one - why not the final one? And why not see the wife get smoked? I want to see her get killed, too. And her mom - I *really* wanted to see her get smoked in slow mo.

      If you are leading up to something, I want you to take the time to show it to me.

      And I *like* movies were ther good guy dies.

      All in all, the message I got from this movie - men can survive by borrowing the shirt from a boy. I just don't know what that means.

      Stephen Root deserves an Oscar, as does Barry Corbin, for being so completely in character it took me until the end of their scenes to recognize them.

      - Bill
      Free Script Tips:
      http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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      • #78
        Re: SPOILER (warning)

        Originally posted by santino2699 View Post
        It was actually the Mexicans that killed him, not Chigurh.

        Correct. Not sure how anyone could have missed that unless they really weren't paying attention.

        Comment


        • #79
          Re: SPOILER (warning)

          Originally posted by MichaelZoe View Post
          sorry, let me be more articulate as a writer:

          either you need more physical manifestations of the Tommy Lee / No Country for Old Men theme - OR

          you need to be true to the masterful work the Cohens did by setting up a super villian vs. a true under dog with the bite of a pit bull.

          the movie built up to a bursting point for a collision between the two. and then let it happen off screen, showing only the results. i nearly walked out of the movie when i realized what happen.

          60-90 minutes of absolute brilliance followed by a bull****, art house, pretentious, ethereal, philosophic ending.

          what a massive failure.
          My thoughts exactly.

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          • #80
            Re: No Country For Old Men (no spoilers)

            Pardon me for saying this, but the Coens' movies for me typically have unsatisfying third acts (with the exception of Fargo). Now, I know this one was based on source material and was apparently true to the original, but it may be that the ending has hurt the film's potential for the audience.

            The shame of, it in my opinion, is that the Coens are brilliant filmmakers and deserve a wider audience. They basically have a cult following, but I believe that tweaking their third acts a bit might broaden their appeal. Of course, their fans would probably say they'd rather see the Coens maintain their true artistic vision.

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            • #81
              Re: SPOILER (warning)

              Originally posted by Pencey View Post
              My thoughts exactly.
              Yup. End was all talk, no action. What a letdown!

              Comment


              • #82
                Re: No Country For Old Men (no spoilers)

                wcmartell wrote:
                Wait, Josh Brolin got killed? I'm not sure I saw that. I saw some dead people on the floor of a motel room. I saw Brolin's wife saying she buried her mother just before she gets killed... but I'm not sure any of those dead guys are Brolin and if one was, why didn't the wife mention it?
                Tommie Lee Jones silently taking off his hat as Moss' wife approaches the hotel room - which is surrounded by police cars - and her mournful reaction didn't tip you off?

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                • #83
                  Re: No Country For Old Men (no spoilers)

                  The camera panned as he looked down at the bodies on the floor. You could see one was Josh Brolin.
                  Frosties are just Cornflakes for people who can't face reality.

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                  • #84
                    Re: No Country For Old Men (no spoilers)

                    The movie has won the Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Ensemble Cast awards from the NBR (the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures)...no surprises there, really.

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                    • #85
                      Re: No Country For Old Men (no spoilers)

                      Martell wasn't the only one who wasn't 100% sure that was Moss lying dead in the doorway. I wasn't 100% sure right off either. I'll bet there are others who had the same reaction.

                      The reason I wasn't sure was because of a combination of things:

                      The camera angle that the filmmakers used was an upward shot of Moss lying prone. Not a clear shot of his face. The only clear, distinguishable markings were the same body size and that the person had a moustache like Moss.

                      Moss' death, was so abrupt and truncated, I was thinking it was a twist, where it was a mistaken identity kill by the Mexicans.

                      Then Moss' wife arrived and the Sheriff approached her removing his hat and acting regrettable about what he has to tell her, I'm thinking maybe that was Moss, but because of the above, I still wasn't 100% sure.

                      Bell at the morgue finally convinced me that the dead guy was Moss.

                      I was pissed at the filmmakers for not making this clear from the beginning with a shot of Moss' face when Bell looked down at the body.

                      I was pissed because trying to figure out if that was Moss or not confused and distracted me, taking me out of the story for a while.

                      This wasn't the only time that the filmmakers confused and distracted me, taking me out of the story.

                      There were some plot holes that were ridiculous that could have been easily avoided.

                      PS: But I'll still give this movie three stars. Just not a perfect four like a lot of critics and moviegoers are doing.
                      Last edited by JoeNYC; 12-06-2007, 01:33 PM.

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                      • #86
                        Re: No Country For Old Men (no spoilers)

                        Yeah, the third act completely falls apart.

                        SPOILER

                        To have Moss (Brolin) go out like that was shameful. He didn't have to live, but he sure as hell didn't have to die off-screen!!!

                        And what's the point of having a character like Sherriff Bell (Jones) if he isn't going to come face-to-face with his antithesis, Chigurh (Bardem)?

                        The ending just doesn't do the characters justice, and for that, it's unforgivable.

                        Comment


                        • #87
                          Re: No Country For Old Men (no spoilers)

                          **********SPOILER**********



                          What I wanted to know was -- who the hell ran off with the cash? Mexicans? I saw Jones driving towards the motel and we see a couple of people jump into a 4X4 with the cash and scream off into the sunset. I'm assuming he got drunk with that woman by the pool, and she had a few thugs staying with her, and after a drunken argument, they shot him?

                          The whole film bristled with a growing intensity - driving to a point where I thought there was going to be this really great showdown between Anton and Moss, only to have it all go awol in the third act. The third act just went nuts with all these parallels and symbolic babble about dreams and Jones' lack of understanding about evil and modern society etc.

                          The Coen Brothers did a great job in the filmmaking sense, and the first two acts are stellar, but they seemed to have forgotten what kind of film they were making by the third act. It's like they said - ok, let's take out two of the main elements the audiences will be following - Moss and the cash - and delete them both offscreen. It's almost like the third act is forcing you to forget everything you've been rooting for in the first half of the film.

                          I enjoy elevated cinema, but when it becomes an IQ test, it grows old real fast. Never the less I enjoyed it, because from a writers viewpoint, the dialogue was just so darn good and that Chigurh guy makes Satan look like a pre-school teacher.

                          It just could of had a cracker of an ending, but I guess they were being faithful to the novel. I think I'll watch it again, because I missed a lot of stuff in the last hour.
                          Last edited by Terrance Mulloy; 12-29-2007, 05:43 AM.
                          @TerranceMulloy

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                          • #88
                            Re: No Country For Old Men (no spoilers)

                            to those who haven't seen it yet - listen very closely to TLJ's opening speech - it is the reason the film ends the way it does. And why the ending makes sense.


                            Voice Over

                            The crime you see now, it's hard to even
                            take its measure. It's not that I'm afraid
                            of it. I always knew you had to be willing to
                            die to even do this job - not to be
                            glorious. But I don't want to push my
                            chips forward and go out and meet some-
                            thing I don't understand. You can say it's my job to fight it but
                            I don't know what it is anymore.


                            ...More than that, I don't want to know. A
                            man would have to put his soul at hazard.

                            ... Ho would have to say, okay, I'll be
                            part of this world.

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                            • #89
                              Re: No Country For Old Men (no spoilers)

                              Originally posted by Terrance Mulloy View Post
                              **********SPOILER**********



                              What I wanted to know was -- who the hell ran off with the cash?

                              It's a MacGuffin - the money never mattered.

                              Comment


                              • #90
                                Re: No Country For Old Men (no spoilers)

                                Originally posted by Goon Squad View Post
                                to those who haven't seen it yet - listen very closely to TLJ's opening speech - it is the reason the film ends the way it does. And why the ending makes sense.


                                Voice Over

                                The crime you see now, it's hard to even
                                take its measure. It's not that I'm afraid
                                of it. I always knew you had to be willing to
                                die to even do this job - not to be
                                glorious. But I don't want to push my
                                chips forward and go out and meet some-
                                thing I don't understand. You can say it's my job to fight it but
                                I don't know what it is anymore.


                                ...More than that, I don't want to know. A
                                man would have to put his soul at hazard.

                                ... Ho would have to say, okay, I'll be
                                part of this world.
                                That explains nothing other than the cop has lived a very sheltered life and fighting something he doesn't understand - and yet in the film he seems to fully understand it and almost gets the killer because of that understanding.

                                The third act is a mess. There is no deeper meaning to that mess. It's just a mess.

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