No Country for Old Men (3-Disc Collector’s Edition + Digital Copy): Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Woody Harrelson, Josh Brolin, Kelly MacDonald, Joel and Ethan Coen: Movies & TV

Apr08

No Country for Old Men (3-Disc Collector’s Edition + Digital Copy): Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Woody Harrelson, Josh Brolin, Kelly MacDonald, Joel and Ethan Coen: Movies & TV

Posted by admin | on 8 April, 12:29 AM

Amazon.com
The Coen brothers make their finest thriller since Fargo with a restrained adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel. Not that there aren’t moments of intense violence, but No Country for Old Men is their quietest, most existential film yet. In this modern-day Western, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is a Vietnam vet who could use a break. One morning while hunting antelope, he spies several trucks surrounded by dead bodies (both human and canine). In examining the site, he finds a case filled with $2 million. Moss takes it with him, tells his wife (Kelly Macdonald) he’s going away for awhile, and hits the road until he can determine his next move. On the way from El Paso to Mexico, he discovers he’s being followed by ex-special ops agent Chigurh (an eerily calm Javier Bardem). Chigurh’s weapon of choice is a cattle gun, and he uses it on everyone who gets in his way–or loses a coin toss (as far as he’s concerned, bad luck is grounds for death). Just as Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), a World War II vet, is on Moss’s trail, Chigurh’s former colleague, Wells (Woody Harrelson), is on his. For most of the movie, Moss remains one step ahead of his nemesis. Both men are clever and resourceful–except Moss has a conscience, Chigurh does not (he is, as McCarthy puts it, “a prophet of destruction”). At times, the film plays like an old horror movie, with Chigurh as its lumbering Frankenstein monster. Like the taciturn terminator, No Country for Old Men doesn’t move quickly, but the tension never dissipates. This minimalist masterwork represents Joel and Ethan Coen and their entire cast, particularly Brolin and Jones, at the peak of their powers. –Kathleen C. Fennessy

Product Description
Acclaimed filmmakers Joe and Ethan Coen deliver their most gripping and ambitious film yet in this sizzling and supercharged action-thriller. Winner of Best Picture 2007 Academy Award and featuring an acclaimed cast led by Tommy Lee Jones, this gritty game of cat and mouse will take you to the edge of your seat and beyond right up to its heart-stopping final moment. Experience this heart-pounding crime saga in a 2-Disc Collector s Edition Blu-ray and 3-Disc Collector s Edition DVD with over 5 hours of new to DVD bonus features, plus take this thriller on the go with Digital Copy.

‘To this we’ve come’,

By Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) -
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)

This review is from: No Country for Old Men (DVD)

Cormac McCarthy’s novel NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN has been successfully transformed into a film in the skilled hands of Ethan and Joel Coen. The story is intact, the characters are given the dialog so uniquely McCarthy’s invention, and the horror of the message of the book - that we have come to a point in time when crime, especially random murder, surrounds our lives - is, if anything, even more pungent than on the pages of the book. It is an amazing, and a highly disturbing movie, and while this viewer is one of the few who does not believe it deserved the Oscar for Best Picture, there is little doubt that it is a brilliant piece of cinema.

The story is fairly simple: on the raw plains of Texas a slaughter of men and dogs engaged in a drug deal is discovered by a simple guy Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin). Moss observes the mayhem, sees the drugs, finds the 2 million dollar payoff money, takes the money, and embarks on an escape, leaving his wife Carla (Kelly Macdonald) to escape the pursuit of a mad killer Chigurh (Javier Bardem) who in turn is being pursued by the local sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) and a hired hitman (Woody Harrelson). The satchel of money contains a tracking device and Chigurh has the instrument necessary to follow the trail the device leads. The remainder of the film is the pursuit both in Texas and in Mexico, accompanied by countless brutal murders of all sorts by the crazed Chigurh, until a surprise ending.

But the toughest part of this violent film is more in the discussion of shared philosophies between the sheriff and his old cronies: they reflect on the sad state of universal crime that is so different and more malevolent than in the ‘old days’. The conversations, in the superb dialog of these old men, bring our attention to some realities we would rather not confront, and those realities are even more disturbing than the repeated images of bloated bodies and senseless murders that fill the screen. Jones, Brolin, and Bardem are indeed superb in their roles, but the small cameos of the townsfolk of Texas are little gems of acting and direction. This is a difficult film to watch because of all of the violence, but the message is one we must heed. We may be allowing the creation of ‘no country for any men’. Grady Harp, March 08

a near-masterpiece,

By Roland E. Zwick (Valencia, Ca USA) -
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: No Country for Old Men [Theatrical Release] (Theatrical Release)

In the stylish new Coen Brothers’ movie, “No Country for Old Men,” the violence is both graphic and coy, both in-your-face and strangely demur in the way it is portrayed. Bit players are frequently blown away in full view of the audience, while key characters often meet their ends off screen, away from the spotlight of the prying camera. For this is the theme of the movie, that violence is arbitrary, capricious and unpredictable, and that things are only going to get worse in a culture that has grown increasingly coarse and indifferent to human suffering over the years.

The “old man” of the title is Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), a small town Texas sheriff who, right on the verge of retirement, has seen a depressing spike in violent crime thanks to the recent proliferation of drug-running from Mexico (the movie takes place in 1980). For this is a “new time” in America, one in which an all-out criminal “war” is being fought, as much on the open plains as in the crowded cities. It is the “old men” like Bell, the last in a long line of old style Texas lawmen, who can no longer recognize their country and who are left to recede into the background bewildered and frustrated by their inability to do anything about it.

As the story opens, a group of men lie dead in a windswept field, victims of a drug deal gone terribly awry. The perpetrator is a psychopath by the name of Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) who is now wandering the countryside on a random killing spree, dispatching human victims as casually as the rest of us would a mosquito or fly. Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is a “retired” welder who stumbles upon not only the carnage-strewn scene but a suitcase filled with millions of dollars in unmarked bills. When Moss makes the fatal mistake of taking the loot, he becomes the prime target of Chigurh, who will stop at nothing to get what is rightfully his.

Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, “No Country For Old Men” is less notable for its story and characters than for its cinematic naturalism and impressionistic style. Despite having made some truly exceptional films in the past, Joel and Ethan Coen have never been as thoroughly in control of their medium or as supremely confident in their filmmaking as they are here. The first hour, in particular, is such a flawless masterpiece of composition and tone that it will probably be studied as a model in film school courses for years to come. Not since the films of Terrance Malick has landscape been used to more brilliant effect than in the opening section of this work. The setting - so brilliantly captured in Roger Deakins’ incisive cinematography and Craig Berkey`s stunning sound design - becomes a palpable presence in its own right and a key player in the drama. The Coens have done their own editing on the film, which explains why the pacing feels like an exquisitely honed piece of music, built on finely calibrated beats and rests, meter and rhythm. The hypnotic, dreamlike quality of the filmmaking carries the story into the realm of archetype and myth which matches perfectly the surrealistic nature of the piece.

Bardem provides a bone-chilling portrait of a human killing-machine whose sole purpose in life is to destroy that which gets in his way (not that he doesn’t enjoy killing just for the sheer pleasure of it as well). In Bardem’s hands, Chigurh becomes the true incarnation of evil in its darkest form. Jones brings a world-weary gravity to the role of the sheriff, while Brolin, who gets the majority of the screen time in the film, does some of the best work of his career as the man desperate to keep one step ahead of his pursuer.

Perhaps predictably, the movie is not able to sustain the same level of greatness all the way through its running time and there are moments when the filmmakers seem to lose their way somewhat (particularly when Woody Harrelson shows up as a comic-relief bounty hunter). The unresolved ending may frustrate those who don’t like any loose ends hanging around at the end of a story, but the inconclusiveness of the conclusion actually adds to the verisimilitude of the movie quite a bit.

Still, even if the movie falters a bit towards the end, there’s no denying that “No Country For Old Men” is one of the outstanding films of recent times. In fact, that first hour or so is about as close to perfection as filmmaking is ever likely to get.

No Movie For Young Men,

By M. Griffin “griffonics” -

This review is from: No Country for Old Men (DVD)

I can see why some people would have a problem with this movie. It is a violent, brooding movie with an ending that will have you saying, “That’s it”? Plus several scenes end without showing what happened to the characters, leaving the audience guessing to what may or may not have occurred. I think it is important to remember that this is an adapted screenplay from a Cormac McCarthy novel. I read the book shortly after seeing this film and feel that the Coen brothers did a very good job. Except for excluding a couple of chapters from the book, the film follows the book almost exactly. So, if you feel that this movie is entirely the Coen brother’s fault you better think again. Some blame has to go to the source material.

Personally I love movies like this. Movies where everything is not tied together nicely, where the good guy doesn’t always succeed, and where the traditional rules of Hollywood are broken. If you expect a movie where the good guy vanquishes the bad guy in a gun-battling, car-chasing climax then you better rent something else. If you want a happy ending, you may want to watch the movie `Enchanted’ instead as another reviewer suggested. Nothing works out for any of the characters, as you would expect in a mainstream movie. This includes the main bad guy Anton Chigurh played by Javier Bardem. What should be a simple job of retrieving 2 million dollars in missing drug money from a local good ole’ boy turns into a really big headache for him. He then goes on a huge murder spree just because he was so inconvenienced. That is what makes this character really scary. He’ll do anything to finish the job, and he’ll dish out triple the amount of pain that is bestowed upon him.

As for the ending, you must keep the title of the movie in mind. No Country For Old Men applies to the young drug runners who are often gunned down early in their careers. Few of them will see old age. As for Tommy Lee Jones’ character, he is an old man struggling to understand the viciousness of today’s criminals. He finds himself unable to adapt, hence feeling that there is no place for him anymore in his own country (which happens to be Texas). His dialogues at the end of the movie further this point while also showing his hope that everything that occurred was just a bad dream he’ll wake up from. That he could be that lawman of old times and still be able to do his job in modern times.

This movie has great characters, wonderful settings, dramatic directing and a good adapted screenplay. If you enjoy movies that do not fit the standard Hollywood mold than you will like No Country For Old Men.

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