| on Sunday February 24, 2008 |
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I am going to do a post on a topic which is near a dear to me--movie reviews. I am a huge fan of movies and I am also a complete jerk when it comes to watching them. To say I have discriminating taste is to say Stalin was kinda mean. I love ruining lame movies that I happen in on during their last five minutes by predicting the ending and explaining to those watching it, my wife and her friends, why the movie is horrible. I usually do not get impressed by movies as a rule. If you like Coyote Ugly in my mind that is like saying, "Spank me with rocks--please." What most critics give a solid 'B' I give a 'C' just to prove a point--don't mess with me. So, with all that being said here is my latest movie review: No Country for Old Men ***Note: I will not include spoilers, so if you have seen the movie and you are like "what about that scene?" I left it out as to protect future audience members.*** On Black Friday, my wife, her youngest brothers and I went to see NCFOM. The acronym is easier, deal with it. NCFOM is the screen adaptation of a Cormac McCarthy novel. To preface the movie you need to know--nothing. The movie does not contain a lot of theatrical tricks intended on leading the audience in one direction or the other. There is almost no music except some that is playing on a radio in one scene. The directors, Joel and Ethan Coen (Blood Simple, Fargo, Raising Arizona), expect the audience to use their brains (key) to follow the plot and all the underlying themes. The movie opens with a lone hunter, Llewelyn Moss played by Josh Brolin, happens across a heroin deal that went terribly wrong. Somewhere near the Rio Grande in the summer of 1980 he finds a bunch of dead Mexicans and their dogs. They shot the dogs--sorry Prin, but the dogs being stone dead is just so crazy and badass it sets the tone for how ruthless the movie will roll. Moss only finds one Mexican who can say something and all he says is, "Aqua." Apparently, the poor guy is thirsty because he was shot in the belly. More importantly Moss uses his tracking skills to understand the wicked scene that lays before him as he eventually discovers a satchel containing 2 million US dollars. Awesome. No one, which is capable of stopping him, is alive or in the area so "finders keepers." The money is his by way of default and he takes it home and for all intents and purposes he is in the clear. End of movie? Nope. Llewelyn, being a decent man, remembers the ailing thirsty Mexican and sets out in the middle of the night to bring him some water. This is where everything gets messy. He is discovered by Mexican banditos who first find his truck then him. In one of the more heart stopping chase scenes Brolin's character is first chased by gun toting Mexicans in a truck then by their Pit Bull. As Llewelyn sees a truck on the horizon he makes his way from the once thirsty now dead Mexican for a nearby river. The Mexicans sick their Pit Bull on him as the dog swims after Brolin. The dog not only stays with him in the water but actually gains ground on Brolin. No spoilers so you will have to see what happens to Brolin in that scene. What you need to know is there is a man on the run with 2 million dollars that belongs to ruthless drug dealers. What to do? Remember Brand From Goonies? Enter Anton Chigurh (Schi-ger). Anton Chigurh, played by Javier Bardem, is the most intensely menacing "bad guy" I have ever witnessed. The movie contains some of the most horrific and suspenseful scenes I can ever remember watching. The last time I was so utterly intimidated by a movie was Saving Private Ryan in its opening scene depicting the invasion of Normandy. That, however, included graphic war violence. Some scenes with Bardem end with no violence but the tension is so palpable it will give movie goers with average constitution a migraine. Javier Bardem's performance is nothing short of masterful. He would slaughter Hannibal Lecter and not even blink. Darth Vader would want him to be his son, but he would be too busy having his ass handed to him to even dare a conversation. Chigurh is a psychotic, intelligent calculating killer--the human equivalent of a terminator minus the show-offy brawn. Chigurh is charged with finding the lost money. He is so nuts he kills the guys who assign him the task. 
I am a Photoshopin' Fool In, perhaps the most incredibly horrifying movie scene of all time (my opinion), Brolin's character Llewelyn who is on the run and staying in a hotel at this point is startled from his sleep when he finds a transponder amidst the money in his satchel. At that same moment he hears footsteps come up a set of stairs in the hotel and begin walking across a hallway leading to his room. Not little footsteps but big, loud, thumping, boot footsteps. Llewelyn also hears beeping. The beeping, he realizes was coming from a locating device that Chigurh is using. The footsteps and beeping get louder and louder until they stop outside Llewelyn's door. A light in the hall confirms that as a shadow has just fallen outside his door. Crapping his pants, Llewelyn cocks his shotgun. Upon hearing this sound Chigurh continues walking and the hall light suddenly goes out. Llewelyn is in the dark and at the mercy of a madman. The scene is ridiculously frightening up to that point, but what is great is at this crossroads there is total silence. For a brief moment the directors allow the audience to bask in the amazing tension that they succeeded in creating. No spoilers remember, so I will leave it at that. A scene right out of Hitchcock's masterpiece Rearwindow. Characters development (huge with me) is wonderful. The strength of the cinematography in this film is hard to dismiss. The performances in this movie range from strong to ridiculously amazing (Brolin to Bardem with Tommy Lee Jones somewhere in the middle of the two). While NCFOM contains some amazing dialogue and dark humor it remains true to itself as both a horror and suspense masterpiece. There are perhaps two areas where I find issue. First, there is a CGA (computer generated animation) scene where Llewelyn is hunting proghorns and the antelope are, to my keen eye, CGA antelope. Second, the end of the movie isn't a typical "Hollywood" ending where some conclusion for bad or good is reached. It is a brilliant ending but one that may leave the less astute movie goers scratching their heads. Nit picking at best. Bottom line, if you are a movie freak and any of this review made sense to you then you must watch this film. If you are not into suspense/horror films or you have a short attention span and found Coyote Ugly to be groundbreaking my advice would be to stay away. This is the best movie I have seen in a long, long time. If you liked Fargo you will love this. I put it up there with Unforgiven and The Godfather I & II as an almost flawless film that will stand the test of time. Overall--A. The following is the theatrical trailer for NCFOM. Enjoy.
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Who is Joeprah? I am a stay at home dad to three daughters. I have an amazing wife, and under the direction and encouragement of close friends, I started this site over a year ago. You can follow me at The Examiner.com, Twitter, Stumble Upon and Cre8Buzz. Read more...