No Country for Old Men

02/28/2008 Posted by EARTHMAN

"No Country For Old Men" is a terrible movie. Cormack McCarthy "borrowed" the original premise for the story from an infinitely better one, "Charley Varrick," starring Walter Matthau, 1973. Any story, no matter how far fetched, must be able to convey a sense of 'plausibility.' The genius of a really good author is the ability to drag you into the story and inject you with the passion, emotion, fear, sympathy, and suspense, that drives the story, and leave you with a sense of, "that could really happen!" "No Country" fails in all of that. As soon as the end credits began to run, I found myself heading for the door. I noticed the fifty, or so, other moviegoers, just sat there, stunned, obviously in disbelief that they paid actual money to see this visual insult. What an over-hyped fraud! What a wasted effort! Go rent "Charley Varrick" and see how it can be done!

02/19/2008 Posted by expatgal

Great character studies, great look, great bad guy, atmosphere to spare, OK fine. But a weak story (Tommy Lee Jones mails it in, when ostensibly the title refers to his character) and a truly lousy, lazy, anti-climactic ending. At the show we saw, when the screen went black and the credits started rolloing, someone somewhere in the dark theater exclaimed "Are you kidding me?!" and the whole room laughed. We think they just got tired or ran out of film or something. We think Oscar was stoned when he went to the movies this year, to annoint movies like this one and Atonement as high art rather than seeing them for the unsatisfying, pretentious, pretty but very flawed things they are. I'd have liked both of them a bit more if not for all the hype. As it is they do not live up to their advertising, IMHO

Pros: Javier Bardem, a bad guy for the ages

Cons: pretentious technique and direction for film school geeks, a zero ending that wasn't an ending

01/24/2008 Posted by g2rize1

Are we all so simple minded that we cant use our imaginations to figure out an ending of our own.That is what the directors are doing ,(purposely).Most movies have alternate endings-Great movie!

01/20/2008 Posted by CormacMcCarthyfan

To those of you who enjoy the standard, predictable and typical film, 'No Country for Old Men' is not for you. To those who have seen and enjoyed it, I strongly recommend reading the book. To those who have not yet seen this movie, read the book first. And unless you want this movie spoiled for you stop reading this review page.

Pros: Two thumbs up

Cons: for the book lovers some pretty vital parts left out

01/10/2008 Posted by johndt41

Javier Bardem is a killer so single minded that he seems simple minded. (So does his performance.) Tommy Lee Jones is a tired sheriff who checks in every now & again to see where the plot has got to, yawns then checks out.. Josh Brolin & Kelly Macdonald are the only characters of interest & add some zing but what happens to them only underscores the unpleasantness of the whole thing. It's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD with Bardem playing all the zombies. It takes more than hitting notes to make music.

12/12/2007 Posted by rorshach9

how about not putting the ending to a movie in your review ahslsoe. if you write something that's only a paragraph long and put the ending in it obviously you're going to spoil the movie for everyone who looks at this page. don't be scuh a pcirk nxet tmie.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful

12/02/2007 Posted by slmovieguy

Question: How do you turn a great movie into a dog,-- by having a stupid ending. Everybody dies in this movie except the bad guy, who gets into a car wreak-huh???? I was blown by the acting, the character study and the cinematography in this film. Then the ending happened and I went what?? -car wreak , bad guy walks away, sheriff retires. Those who spend $8.00 on this movie will get ripped off. Wait for dollar flick or DVD. I gave it an average because of the stupid oh stupid ending.. P.S Hey rorshach9 must have got a nerve. If my review doesn't save you and any date you might have $8.00 then be a idiot and go see the movie, I don't care. As for the others my review doesn't tell the complete story of this movie and if you must see it go to the afternoon flick. As I said earlier I was blown away by parts of this movie, I think the director just lost focus @ the ending. P.P.S Have you ever considered anger management class.

Pros: Wow acting, character study and cinematography

Cons: director went home before the ending, lot boy finished filming movie.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful

11/30/2007 Posted by hutch1949

Terrific and terrifying movie. Great acting. But does anyone get the ending?? We were totally perplexed! Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem are fabulous! Go see it.

11/29/2007 Posted by netsplinter

This is a great movie. Josh Brolin's character is great -- a man of few words, a man of action, he's not fearless, but he's used to taking care of things himself. His self sufficiency and courage get him into trouble, sure, but he's basically a likable character, and one who'se conscience can get him out of bed at night. The fact that he's a Vietnam vet turns out to be helpful, and he definitely has his MacGuiver moments. Javier Bardem's character creates a lot of suspense in this movie. He is an unstoppable, malevolent force. His power is almost otherworldly -- you'd almost rather be trapped on a ship with Alien than be allowed to wander Texas with him on your tail. Tommy Lee Jones is also very good, and does a superior job occupying the middle ground between fear and fearlessness, confidence and self-doubt, hope and despair. This movie is a bit grim, and those of you that don't like to see bad things happen to good people might be a bit put off. The movie is violent, and keeps you on the edge of your seat from about 10 minutes in until the end of the movie. But if you like action / suspense, you'll likely consider this one of the best movies of the year. One of the good things about this movie is that it does not glorify the violence it contains and does not ask you to step back from or assent to the bad things that are going on. It is also is a nice reminder that all your fantasies about being able to handle yourself if you find yourself suddenly thrust into the underworld are childish -- the underwold is definitely a place you do not want to go.

11/29/2007 Posted by twarkent

I enjoyed this movie immensely, Jones, Brolin, and especially Javier Bardem were great. Bardem was amazing as the psycho killer (qu'est que c'est)...