i liked it a lot.

silenced shotgun ftw

11/22/2007 1:14:12 PM

SPOILERS AHOY!



did i miss why the bad ass didnt kill the sheriff when the sheriff went back to the hotel at the end? certainly had an opportunity...


and did no one get the money? they never explained that part.



oh, and at the first hotel (the one where he tied the string to the case and had to get another room, how did the mexicans come to be in his old room when bad ass broke in?

[Edited on November 22, 2007 at 3:08 PM. Reason : durr]

11/22/2007 2:25:17 PM

liked it a lot til the end. just didn't make sense to me, but was good overall i guess.

11/22/2007 9:01:42 PM

^^ The mexicans had another transponder. Chigurh mentions this to Wells or the man who hired him I can't remember. He also ends up with the money. You should be led to believe that he figured out that thats where Moss hid the money in the first motel. When Bell went back to the second hotel room, the grate was open. The only thing that I'm questioning about the movie is did Chigurh hide behind the door when Bell comes in and sneak out the window (we see Bell look at the latch in the bathroom) or has Chigurh really become the "ghost" he was referenced to be in the movie.

This is a great example of a genre film that cuts away from the stereotypes. We didn't have the huge Western showdown between Chigurh, Bell and Moss that we were led to believe would happen in El Paso. The sheriff didn't prevail over evil and get revenge for Moss's death or protect Carla Jean from Chigurh. He didn't ride off into the sunset. Moss retires and has dreams of his father basically waiting for him in death.

[Edited on November 23, 2007 at 1:47 AM. Reason : fefe]

11/23/2007 1:43:59 AM

yeah, chigurh was behind the door, but slipped out before moss sits on the bed (where he realizes that he isnt fit to be a cop anymore...hence the movie title). moss wasn't seen or heard from as far as chigurh was concerned...and moss hadn't seen him, which is the kiss of death. moss wasn't a worry, and wasn't part of the equation. he couldn't stop him...not even for a second...so killing moss was unnecessary. its the great thing about chigurh as a villain...for as inhuman as he is, he shows sides that a common man could relate or side with when it comes to actual morals.

and yes, chigurh ends up with the money, as noted by when he hands the kid bloody money for his shirt, like carla jean gave bloody money for the coat. the precise parallel nature of these two scenes suggest that chigurh MUST have the money.

but stuck_flex's noted about distraction/drive is the key to understanding the developments of the movie. any time anyone is distracted or is without motivation, its costs them something...most of the time, their lives. it starts in the first scene when carla jean rushes a shot on the antelope before there's cloud cover. later, he is killed when another woman offers him a beer, even though he rejects the offer on screen, you can see he was considering it in his eyes. this scene occurs just after his wife is talking to the cops about how he wont quit...and carla jean says that he's going to make chigurh his "special project". he faltered with the strange woman at the pool. its why chigurh was unstoppable...nobody has his drive. he takes his mind off of who he was and what he was doing for one second, as he's driving away from killing carla jean's wife, he's looking in his rear view at the kids on bikes, then BAM! he's almost killed in the car wreck.

for as much violence as there is on screen, theres just as much implied...and thats what makes this movie brilliant.

[Edited on November 23, 2007 at 2:47 AM. Reason : ]

11/23/2007 2:43:56 AM

yeah, I remember about the second transponder now... but I still dont know if he got the money, I mean the money was bloody in the scene with the kids on bikes, but he was bloody too, could have came from that... also there seemed to be a lot of people that didnt have to be killed that were so I dont know if I agree with him not killing the sheriff just because he didnt have to... but yeah, I really liked the movie

11/23/2007 2:54:06 AM

^^you hit some good points but butchered the names

I liked the first 2/3 and hated the end

11/23/2007 3:31:39 AM

11/23/2007 7:53:33 AM

I read something like this from a website and thought it was pretty interesting.

SPOILERS:







When Bell goes to the hotel after Moss is dead and we see a shot of the hotel, there are two rooms with police tape on them. Moss probably would of rented two hotel rooms the second time around and hid the money again in the vent. When Bell approaches he knows which of the two rooms Anton is in but chooses to go in the other one to avoid the confrontation (kind of like the coin toss that we see twice in the movie). Thus allowing Anton to escape the hotel and Bell to escape with his life.

[Edited on November 23, 2007 at 10:33 AM. Reason : dfada]

11/23/2007 10:33:02 AM

this is definitely one im going have to watch again, seems like i missed out on some things but i would highly recommend it. can anyone explain the scene with tommy lee jones and barry corbin (the guy in the wheelchair)?

11/23/2007 10:06:36 PM

that's his estranged dad...

**semi spoiler/but not really**



when TLJ is talking about his dream in the end, he says his dad "rolls by him"...so though he wasn't properly introduced, that's how you know who it was

11/23/2007 10:18:00 PM

ok so either i just totally missed that was supposed to be his dad or this was another one of those implied moments in the movie? and for anyone who has read the book, how true to the book was the movie?

11/23/2007 10:20:49 PM

that wasn't his dad because he says his father died when he was in his forties. Remember the whole line about in essence his father is a younger man than him. I think the guy in the wheelchair is an uncle of some sorts. In the book TLJ character confesses something huge to him about the Vietnam War but it didn't go that way in the movie.

11/23/2007 10:21:26 PM

no i don't remember that part

one of the many reasons i need to see this again as well

[Edited on November 23, 2007 at 10:35 PM. Reason : ]

11/23/2007 10:34:37 PM

yeah, wasnt his father, i assumed uncle or older brother, definitely some family member

11/24/2007 2:17:46 PM

He's a retired sheriff, unrelated but still sort of a role model/older brother/father figure.

11/24/2007 4:57:57 PM

The guy in the wheelchair was his uncle.

11/24/2007 5:12:39 PM

IT WAS HIS UNCLE ELLIS

[Edited on November 24, 2007 at 5:59 PM. Reason : !]

11/24/2007 5:58:34 PM

whatever, i fucking searched and nothing came up, fuck yous

[Edited on November 27, 2007 at 1:24 AM. Reason : in reference to /message_topic.aspx?topic=503754]

11/27/2007 1:14:18 AM

You are all my friendos

11/27/2007 1:21:56 AM

The end was interesting and amazing. I could not bring myself to stand up for a while after the credits were rolling, it just seemed wrong for some reason. Others in the theater seemed to stick around longer than normal as well. Was very uncomfortable.

weird.

11/28/2007 2:39:44 AM

yeah, my friend and I stayed till the credits ended...had a hard time accepting the ending

11/28/2007 3:05:57 AM

I haven't felt like that leaving a movie theater since Children of Men ... absolutely floored.

It is amazing, the ability the Coens have, to create their own wild, self-contained (in each film) but seemingly unbounded worlds. It is weird to think that this movie could be taking place in the same geographic setting, and be created by the same people who made Raising Arizona. The only thing the universes share is inept, strange looking people working behind counters.

When Tex Cobb throws a grenade at a bunny it is a very different thing from Chigurh air-gunning a bird off a bridge rail.

A perfectly executed movie. Nothing lacks, save for the acting of Llewyn's mother-in-law.

11/28/2007 3:17:30 AM

saw this tonight and definitely enjoyed it

11/28/2007 4:06:20 AM

best movie i've seen this year, was worth the hype and then some


SPOILERS AND THE LIKE







it was TENSE as fuck all the way from the beginning, when louellen was about to pull the trigger on the deer, to the end where anton got t-boned at the intersection...always felt like i was on the edge of my seat and hanging on every word of the dialogue. Very effective.

11/28/2007 2:22:05 PM

the use of natural sounds over dramatic music at obvious times also helps to create this mood

11/28/2007 2:40:09 PM

^ yeah i LOVED the fact that there was no soundtrack...only songs in the opening and credits.

11/28/2007 3:12:43 PM

spoiler.. whatever




Reading these posts, am i missing something? Moss was killed by the mexicans not chigurh. If he found the money it was after he returned to the scene of the crime again.

And the whole two room thing? TLJ wen into the room with chigurh inside.

11/29/2007 2:57:10 AM

Saw this movie over thanksgiving.

I cannot think of any conceivable reason whatsoever that a rational person would have to dislike this movie as a whole. It is fucking outstanding in almost every possible way. If you have not seen it yet, do so as soon as possible.

11/29/2007 3:06:22 AM

going to see it tonight. im excited

11/29/2007 12:17:16 PM

why isnt this playing in the regular theaters?

11/29/2007 1:30:35 PM

Am I the only person who thought this sucked?

11/29/2007 1:38:09 PM

apparently. i havent talked to one person who didnt like it, and nearly everyone i know that has seen it loved it, and i think most people in here loved it. in fact on IMDB after 11,000 votes its actually already top 25 highest rated movies, so obviously youre in the minority

im hoping i like it tho after all the hype :x

11/29/2007 1:46:23 PM

I didn't think it sucked. I loved the first 3/4 of it. But, the twist in storyline at that point floored me and I couldn't recover. From a filmmaking standpoint, near flawless. From a storytelling angle, I would have preferred the traditional storybook ending. But, sounds like I'm in the minority, as well. IMO, Tommy Lee Jones' character wasn't even necessary, or at least it didnt have to be. I guess they would have had to name it something else, though.

11/29/2007 2:27:04 PM

^ He's apparently the major voice and his story is much bigger in the novel.

11/29/2007 9:49:31 PM

Loved it.

Quote :

" A perfectly executed movie. Nothing lacks, save for the acting of Llewyn's mother-in-law."

and lastly, anyone who still wishes it had a storybook ending missed one of the main points of the movie.

[Edited on November 29, 2007 at 10:45 PM. Reason : ]

11/29/2007 10:45:35 PM

loved the movie

hated the ending. way too abrupt.

11/29/2007 11:07:40 PM

such is life right?

11/29/2007 11:08:06 PM

HOLY FUCK

YES

11/30/2007 12:29:17 AM

^gg

I liked it... though I wish I weren't so goddamned jumpy

And anyone who bitches about the ending is insane. It was perfect.

*SPOILERS* I do, however, have two things: *SPOILERS*







1. All the dead dogs looked too fake. I suppose that's to be expected based on animal cruelty laws and whatnot, but eh.
2. I thought it was really weird that they didn't show Carla Jean either dead in a pool of blood or showed her getting shot at all. I mean, if you're going to show violent deaths for the entirety of the movie, you can't just leave her out. While we didn't see her husband get killed, we did see him lying in a pool of blood. It seems discontinuous to not show her as well.





*/SPOILERS*

[Edited on November 30, 2007 at 11:08 AM. Reason : ..]

11/30/2007 10:51:33 AM

Ok, a few things to clear up, in my opinion.

SPOILERS!!!!!!





The whole hotel room bit went down like this, and I'll provide proof where I can:

The Mexicans tracked Luellen down and had a big shootout with him, killed him, and then couldn't find the money and escaped right as Sheriff Bell approaches. Bell consoles the wife, then leaves. Then he returns, talks to the local sheriff about Chigurh coming back to the crime scene, and he figures out that the money must have still been there and Chigurh is looking for it. So hoping Chigurh is still there, he heads back to the motel at night.

Chigurh must be hiding behind the same door that Bell is outside of, because Chigurh sees him through the brass in the lock hole. The BIG question I have is, does Bell also see Chigurh? I do not think so.

Bell enters the room, checks out the area (note, does not look behind door), and goes to the bathroom where he see the locked window from the inside (and thus, Chigurh could not have escaped that way). That's when it dawns on him and he heads back and then sees the vent cover (which lets you know Chigurh found the money before Bell got there and then slipped out the front door as Bell was in the bathroom. Bell sits on the bed and sighs as he knows he had Chigurh and failed. That's why he retires. As he told his uncle (the wheelchair man) later, he's outmatched. It's No Country for Old Men anymore.

The Ending still has me thinking. Is it that Bell has convinced himself to come out of retirement and search for Chigurh or at least continue being a Sheriff again? In the beginning of the film he says something about a man must be ready to put his life on the line to do this work...and maybe even his soul.

Throughout the movie he simply can't come to grips with what the world has become, and it's surpassed him. In the wheelchair scene, Tommy Lee Jones is talking about being discouraged about what the world's turning into and not being prepared to fight it. His uncle tells him, "Can’t stop what’s coming. Ain’t all waiting on you. That’s vanity".

But in the final scene, Jones' character seems to finally realize that he's ready to put his whole self into it. It's what he's made for. He accepts it.

Or am I totally off on the meaning of the final dream speech?

11/30/2007 11:05:02 AM

*SPOILERS*

Quote :

"Is it that Bell has convinced himself to come out of retirement and search for Chigurh or at least continue being a Sheriff again?"

That's not what I took away from that at all. I thought he was preparing himself for his own death, and realizing how inevitable it was regardless of whether he's a sheriff or not, or whether Chigurh is caught or not (which makes more sense, since he's escaped before, and walks away from the car accident). Plus, that whole scene is the sheriff going, "well, what am I going to do now?" There's nothing left for old men but death... And the whole dream sequence about his dad going on ahead is similarly telling.

While I understand where you're coming from, like "well, if I'm gonna die anyway, I should at least try to go find this guy," I don't think his character is that kind of man at all. If he were, he might've run off behind Cigurh when he realized that he had just missed him in the hotel room. Regardless, you're putting together two very different ideas: one is that the world doesn't depend on you, and the other is that somehow that would induce a man to put his entire self into a task? While you "can't stop what's coming," that doesn't mean you should go looking for trouble. Cigurh could've killed the sheriff, but didn't. What was supposed to be coming to the sheriff will still come, whether he likes it or not, but if he's useless to stop it, he's also useless to fight it and I therefore tend to doubt he changed his mind about retirement.





*/SPOILERS*

11/30/2007 11:20:41 AM

SPOILERS



I definitely could see that. Those are the two questions I have after this movie.

Does the Sheriff know that Chirguh is in the hotel room? And is his final speech an acceptance of death or is he accepting the failing morality of the world and the responsibility of his job?

11/30/2007 11:44:03 AM

just saw it


awesome...I just wasnt ready for the ending

I think Ed Tom knew Chigurh was in the room. The reason I think that is b/c on the way home, I stopped by Borders and picked up the book and thumbed through it. In the chapter where he talks to his uncle, he tells his uncle about what really happened regarding a commendation he received in WWII (The Coens left this out of the movie) and he confesses to his uncle that he actually left his buddies behind for the Germans.

I think this confession of guilt is his way of letting the audience know that he just couldnt face Chigurh in the room

[Edited on November 30, 2007 at 4:54 PM. Reason : fdgs]

11/30/2007 4:47:17 PM

I've seen it twice now




Spoilers!

Quote :

"Does the Sheriff know that Chirguh is in the hotel room?"

I think Chirguh was behind the other hotel room door (as suggested by the window locked from inside)

Quote :

""Is it that Bell has convinced himself to come out of retirement and search for Chigurh or at least continue being a Sheriff again?""

I think the whole movie is meant to show us just how reluctant Bell is to be a sherrif. The hotel scene is where he realizes that he can't stop what's comin, and that he doesn't want to die a violent death like all the ones he's seen. I think that's when he finally stops reaching for the shotgun.




















End Spoilers!

11/30/2007 6:16:03 PM

FINALLY get to go see this tomorrow. This is probably my most anticipated movie of the last few years. Think I'll put in Miller's Crossing right now, in fact.

11/30/2007 10:40:12 PM

looks like i may be going to see this again tonight--sweeeeeeeeet. less jumping this time hopefully

12/1/2007 11:31:08 AM

for the person that said TLJ's character was not necessary, I dont see how they could say that. I felt that his character was one of the main ones driving the theme of this movie...that time waits for no one

12/1/2007 12:23:43 PM

What I meant by that was that the movie/novel could have worked without him and with a more traditional ending.

1. Dude finds $
2. Bad guys figure out who found $
3. Chaos ensues
4. Dude lives or, if he dies, they at least show the confrontation leading to his death.

I could totally see how they could have made that without him. There were so many awesome aspects to this movie, I just thought TLJ's character was weak and kinda painful to watch. As indicated in posts above, I think there was some backstory on him in the book that didn't make it to the movie.

12/1/2007 12:59:06 PM

^I think you would like Cliffhanger

12/2/2007 12:35:24 AM