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| jeremy |
 Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 12:43 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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I'm really looking forward to No Country For Old Men, the only film on the horizon that I feel has a good chance of forcing its way to the top of my best of the year list, displacing current favourites Eastern Promises and Atonement.
I notice that Atonement is opening there (apologies to those for whom 'there' is not America). I commend it to anyone in search of a film that offers more than the usual escapism or visceral thrills. |
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I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it. |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 1:20 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
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| I saw the first preview for it the other day and it looked absolutely gorge. |
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It truly disappoints me when people do something for you via no prompt of your own and then use it as some kind of weapon against you at a later time and place. It is what it is. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 4:21 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 12533
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marantzo wrote: Why would that be hard to believe. I thought that was common knowledge. He was at the top of the list of famous hunks. He still ain't so bad.
GARY -
he looks just awful now! |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 7:42 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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yambu wrote: No Country For Old Men -
Cormac McCarthy makes me feel the pain and loss from homicide more acutely than any other writer of today, and the movie elicits the same intensity. I was enraged at the death of the last victim, and the events that led to it.
Chiguth immediately joins the pantheon of immortal screen sociopaths, a shave below Hannibal Lecter - the latter being brighter, more manipulative, with more tools. But you will never forget Chiguth.
As County Sheriff, Tommy Lee Jones is the saddest, most sympathetic character in this year's great movies - witty, smart, kind, devoted to his work, loving the end of his career when hard-won experience affords him clear paths to the truth. Yet, up against proto-evil, everything he is is not enough.
The already famous coin toss scene will never leave me. I am grateful for its brutal magic.
When talking about the coin toss scene, one should not overlook the immense and brilliant contribution of Gene Jones, the actor playing the gas station owner. He is equally as responsible as Javier Bardem for making this scene a classic--and (IMO) the finest single movie scene of 2007. (Yes, I know and have acted with Jones, but the fact is that I didn't recognize him on screen and it was only when the credits rolled that I realized it was him.)
Bardem's character is Chigurh, not "Chiguth," though it's part and parcel of the name that it's difficult to say.
The movie is great, and I don't use that word randomly. Still second to Fargo in the Coens' resume, but that's still plenty good enough to make it one of the best films I've ever seen. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 2:27 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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Quote: Chiguth immediately joins the pantheon of immortal screen sociopaths, a shave below Hannibal Lecter - the latter being brighter, more manipulative, with more tools. But you will never forget Chiguth.
Don't leave out Ben Kingsley's character in Sexy Beast. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 2:51 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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billyweeds wrote: Bardem's character is Chigurh, not "Chiguth," though it's part and parcel of the name that it's difficult to say.
As long as it's not Chthulu... |
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http://www.wakasaworld.com |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 3:32 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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Bad Seed, Nick Cave as reported by The Guardian
Quote: "I sing the song and then Robert Ford turns around and says: "I am Robert Ford." And I'm supposed to say: "I don't want no trouble from you boy!" Like that. I practiced this line for about three months in all the various American accents I could work out. I did my line and Andrew Dominik immediately burst into laughter. So I had this line taken off me, which reminded me I should never act."
Nick Cave on a chastening experience while filming a cameo for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, for which he also co-wrote the music |
_________________
I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 5:33 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Befade wrote: Quote: Chiguth immediately joins the pantheon of immortal screen sociopaths, a shave below Hannibal Lecter - the latter being brighter, more manipulative, with more tools. But you will never forget Chiguth.
Don't leave out Ben Kingsley's character in Sexy Beast.
No disrespect to Kingsley's wonderful character, but in the pantheon of screen sociopaths, he's not in the same echelon as Hopkins and Bardem. They are in a dead-heat tie as top villain. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 9:20 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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lady wakasa wrote: billyweeds wrote: Bardem's character is Chigurh, not "Chiguth," though it's part and parcel of the name that it's difficult to say.
As long as it's not Chthulu...
There is a sound-alike in-joke involving his name. Because it's a SPOILER, I will not reveal it here.
But Bardem (and his hair) really did it for me in this movie.
Tommy Lee Jones looks so old, so craggy (I think he always does) - that just the face ( and his voice of course) do almost all the magnificent acting for him.
And that's meant as high praise indeed. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 9:56 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| Sometimes I wonder how things would have worked out if Tommy Lee Jones rather than his college roommate had run for president. (Hey Tommy Lee, it's not too late! And Al would probably stump for you!) |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 11:20 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Tommy Lee Jones is reputed to be a real crank, not at all the right personality type for a politician. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 11:25 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| Billy: He has plenty of charisma, and that seems to be the all-important quality when it comes to getting elected these days. And a crank would be downright refreshing. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 11:28 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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carrobin wrote: Billy: He has plenty of charisma, and that seems to be the all-important quality when it comes to getting elected these days. And a crank would be downright refreshing.
You have a point. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 1:24 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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And Al could have been a standup comic!
I think I did hear Tommy Lee is the cranky type. |
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| bart |
| Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 2:45 pm |
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Joined: 05 Dec 2005
Posts: 2381
Location: Lincoln NE
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Saw NCfOM -- disturbing and far bleaker than any other Coen bros. film, and Roger Deakins certainly does justice to the beauty of west Texas. I don't think it's their best picture, but it does seem comparable to their first film, Blood Simple, without seeming like a regression or a falling back. I think it would have some confusing plot points for anyone who hadn't read the novel -- confusing enough that I want to go back and review some spots in the book. I'm not as wowed by TLJ's perf as some critics, but I'm not going to question that TLJ has a pretty good feel for that kind of country and its people.
I thought the Chigurh villain in the novel was more complex and interesting than in the film, but that is the novelist's natural advantage, esp. when you're getting into the head of a psychopath. After reading the book, I pictured Chigurh as more central European or similar, so Bardem's more Latin look and expression was not quite what I had envisioned.
Good film, but I'm not about to put it up there with Fargo or Barton Fink or Miller's Crossing. I just feel that dark comedy is the Coen forte, and I look forward to them getting back to that. So I enjoyed the more typical Coen moment when Moss is trying to get back into the U.S. and is being crossexamined by the border guard -- funny stuff. Another good comic moment was Chigurh and that poor gas station guy, the whole bit with flipping the quarter -- which was pulled pretty much intact from the novel. |
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