I must say, however, that the "bad guy" in NCFOM was without a doubt the SCARIEST motherfucker I have ever seen, heard or read about. Every time he showed up on the screen I was filled with terror and dread. I was worried about having nightmares about the man. Javier Bardem deserves all the "best actor" awards, hands down. He was the scariest, creepiest, most abhorrant asshole I have ever dealt with.

He scares me too, and I haven't even seen the movie yet.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Your review makes me not want to see this movie. I dislike movies that are technically wonderful, (great perfomances, great story) but depress the hell out of me.

If I'm looking to get bummed out, there are cheaper methods than that. Red wine works for me.

I think the number 1 movie that was technically good but depressed me- would have to be "7" with Brad Pitt. Hate that movie.

>> ^dag:
I think the number 1 movie that was technically good but depressed me- would have to be "7" with Brad Pitt. Hate that movie.

I guess you've never watched A Clockwork Orange or 1984 or Dr. Strangelove.

Se7en? bleeeach. Good acting? oh my lord. Spacey did some good stuff, but the direction and editing in that movie destroyed any other potentially good performances beyond recognition.

On the other hand, one of my closest friends, a serious movie buff, considers it one of the greatest movies ever. I don't get it. Just strikes me as self-indulgent bloodletting.

Smibbo, if you want a non-funny, Coen brothers like movie, I recommend Jim Jarmusch.

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Don't get me wrong - I like dark movies. The above movies you listed had a sense of humor and a message beyond "lets see how completely disgustingly evil we can be" - which is how I see Se7en.

I'd like someone who liked Se7ven to explain that movie to me, and tell me what its message was. Because for me, it was just a gimmick around the seven deadly sins and increasingly despicable acts. Completely without soul, irony, or deeper message.

-------Spoilers-------

NCFOM does have quite a bit of humor in it and isn't nearly as dark or gloomy as se7en. It plays as a tight little thriller for 2/3rds and then turns very real, which is a nice twist you don't see coming.

If you like Coen films like Blood Simple or Fargo, then this one shouldn't be a problem.

The meaning of the film is in the title, and this revelation is tossed at you very softly minutes before the abrupt end of the film, so don't blink or go to the bathroom.

------MAJOR SPOILER-------

The scary dude DOES get called on his pseudo masculine fatalist bullshit by the wife just before she is killed. She tells him that he is the one who makes the decision to murder, not coins or games. His mojo is thrown off, which results in a nasty car accident. I personally assume that the character recovers to kill again, but with out the glee and games of the past. In keeping with the title, I believe he becomes an old man in that scene, just like TLJ in the last hotel scene.

There is plenty of meaning in the film if you want to find it.

IMO, this is one of the best films of the year. It held my complete attention up until the very last scene, which I missed because I went to the bathroom.

DFT: of course that's what I said. What you call "the meaning" of the film is what I call "the theme". I personally don't think "it's no country for old men" (AKA "Its a cruel cruel world") is much of a meaning so much as a theme because it reflects an attitude, a world view rather than a motivation or revelation. Yes, it's a cruel world, if you want to look at it that way. Not only do I NOT want to look at it that way, I kind of resent someone spending two+ hours trying ardently to convince me of such without any better reasoning than "see this evil guy? he gets to walk and thus the world is cruel" I found the movie a huge disappointment and a big bummer because the ending could have been written as "...and so the world turns"

I don't need to see a movie about evil bad boogeymen who are more real than life itself - I already know there's boogeymen. I already know it is "futile" to attempt to stem the tide of evil. I already know I am only one person and cannot wipe out evil by myself. I already know that change causes this world to become foreign and frightening. What I'd rather see is a reason to keep going on despite these "facts" of life. What I'd rather watch for two hours is someone finding peace despite such overwhelming odds. What I'd rather hear about is someone finding an answer that works for them (even/especially if it isn't MY answer) rather than "wow this sucks"

And what good is it to speculate that the scary mofo went on to be just as evil and scary but without a sense of "purpose" or "justice"? He's still scary and evil and still killing people at whim. His possible "realization" doesn't change the theme whatsoever.

And I expect my movies to adopt a change. Period. I disliked this film for the same reason I disliked "To Live" - there is nothing, no honor, no epiphany, no revelation, no deux ex machina, no inner turmoil, NOTHING that changed - just "hey life goes on"
Well shit, I KNOW "life goes on", that is to say "NO DUH" and that means if the life in questino is EVIL then "evil goes on" again I say "NO DUH" but I really have no care to see a movie tell me this. There is absolutely nothing life-affirming or personal change-inducing about such a message. It falls flat to me because its useless.

Oh and, I like Fargo and Blood Simple.

I hated Miller's Crossing.

if the idea that one day you will be reunited with your dead relatives is depressing for you, then gee whiz, i don't know what to say. falls flat? has holes? did we watch the same movie?

haven't you noticed how in Coen movies, the greedy assholes suffer? That's depressing?? You want a "real" cowboy movie where one of the brutal murderers wears a white hat and everyone cheers him on?

you want more story? shit, like what? he flies to cuba with his girl, and they feel guilty about the blood money, so they start an orphanage and then it catches fire so they live in the jungle and then his dead mother is found alive in some village and then russia drops the bomb on NYC and a civil war starts in cuba, in which his previously dead mother fights and dies for the communists, while he is torn between a life of crime and patriotic service to his adopted home, and his girl gets raped and becomes pregnant and the baby joins the resistance movement and ends up killing his father by accident? i mean... more story???? seriously?

MINK: actually, yeah, the idea that I will be reunited with my dead relatives is kind of depressing, but that's me. The point is that that notion did not seem comforting to TLJ at all, in fact, it seemed to depress the hell out of him, thus I was bummed out.
Falls flat, has holes: yeah, it did. See, I think the difference in us lies in the assumptions we made while watching the movie. You assumed TLJ deeply loved and respected his father and would look forward to seeing him and making him proud. I didn't assume that because honestly I had no reason to assume that. If i had assumed that I would have still felt shortchanged because TLJ didn't really affirm that assumption to my satisfaction. He did to yours. Well and good. We have different expectations of human emotion I suppose. And that's not just TLJ's character, aside from Carla, I saw no one revealing much about themselves other than TLJ musing occasionally about the futility of his efforts. Well if watching a strong main character muse about his pointlessness doesn't bum YOU out - did we watch the same movie?

The greedy assholes suffer: yeah, I've noticed that. But I've also noticed how sometimes their greed or asinine nature is not really revealed. They seem greedy, but no more so than most folks, they don't seem very excessively worthy of excessive suffering. I end up thinking "why did ____ die violently but ____ didn't?" and the answer always seems to be "just because. Life's unfair" and I think "well no shit, Life's unfair. I need a movie to tell me that?" I think not. Might as well watch "To Live" again so I can be reminded that "shit happens, then you die" No thanks.

More Story: yeah, like maybe TLJ could have said something ANYTHING to the effect of "well maybe the bad guy got away and I failed to protect the good guy but at least I lived a decent life and did what I could" but he didn't. He said the first part but had no "but..." to comfort himself or me. Yeah, more story as in, What Happened to Carla? You assume something I didn't assume because I had inadequate "proof". Why did Chigurh want the money? DID he want the money? Who hired "the Mexicans"? What was Carson going to do? Why did he just walk into his room when Chigurh showed up behind him? Who got the drugs? etc

For god sakes DON'T read the book! It will throw you in to a depression spiral.

My .02 worth, loved the film one of the best in the last 10 years easily. I have only managed one viewing of the film. I saw it opening night here in LA on it's Limited Engagement last year, which now seems like an eternity ago. I need to watch it again.

**SPOILER ALERT**

I must say I love how the end of a main charater is handled off screen and you are left with only the aftermath. It was far more engaging than watching it actually happen.

Either way Dag, go see it, if it bums you out .... remember it's only a movie.

YouDieJoe: funny that, I was thinking I might like the book... because I could easily see that the whole thing might be palatable if I had more "inside the character's head" thing going on. I think Brolin and TLJ and Berdem are unquestionably good actors so it's not their fault if I didn't "catch" their inner selves - I blame the director for that. I can easily see that reading the story might give a much more balanced feel to the "unspoken" parts. For me, the "unspoken" parts (offscreen, implied etc) were what made the movie fall flat for me. It's a movie fer gawds sake, not a book and I need at least SOME visuals in order to postulate what's going on. I really believe, at this point, the problem lies in assumptions. Everyone I've talked to (on my other blog too) who thinks I'm crazy made quite a few assumptions about what was going on that I didn't make because (even when I suspected) I didn't have enough "evidence" to make those assumptions.

I understand the qualities of seven. But i wont ever rewatch it. i dislike that ive seen it. it upsets me.

The movie, imho, was the best of the year (sorry, Sarzy). I share the opinion of others that the assassin played by Javier Bardem was bloodcurdling terrifying- the most relentless, unstoppable killer since the first Terminator film.

The Coen's have made some of my favorite films. Among them The Big Lebowski, Fargo, Miller's Crossing and the overlooked Man Who Wasn't There. This film stands above all of the others- though The Big Lebowski holds a special place in my heart as a personal favorite.

Also, a note about the book- the movie is almost a perfect adaptation, right down to the "feeling" the viewer or reader develops. There is no further elaboration on the motivations of the characters, nor is the ending less esoteric. I saw the movie first and read the book over the Christmas holidays- loved it. Interesting that there is almost no punctuation in the novel... no quotations for dialogue, no commas in the text. Only the occasional period. It worked.

Oh, and as for the consensus view of Se7en- that it is far too horrible to ever be watched by a decent human being- I shared that view until quite recently when I viewed it again. It is redeemed somewhat by the quality of the performances of all the principle actors and the tight direction.

I would like to submit the horrifically bad Nicolas Cage 8mm as my idea of a movie that is so repulsive that it should have never been made.

Seven was wonderful. Films shouldn't always be happy. I like it because it showed there is great evil in the world, and great evil has the power to make the infallible commit evil in turn.

If you are looking for some movies that shouldn't have been made I direct your attention to Hostel, Saw and other films of the "OMG look at the sick shit with no sense" variety.

Major spoiler:

Tommy Lee Jones' ending speech, which is great:

"I had two dreams about him after he died. I don't remember the first one all that well but it was about meetin' him in town somewheres and he give me some money and I think I lost it.

But the second one it was like we was both back in older times and I was on horseback goin' through the mountains of a night. Goin' through this pass in the mountains. It was cold and there was snow on the ground and he rode past me and kept on goin'. Never said nothin'. He just rode on past and he had this blanket wrapped around him and he had his head down and when he rode past I seen he was carryin' fire in a horn the way people used to do and I could see the horn from the light inside of it. About the color of the moon. And in the dream I knew that he was goin' on ahead and that he was fixin' to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold and I knew that whenever I got there he would be there.

... and then I woke up."

The way that's presented in the movie is just chilling.