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October '08
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August '08
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Left in the Country
By Aaron 11/26/2007
 No Country for Old Men starts real fast when Llewlyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a retired army veteran out pouching, stumbles across an abandoned group of cars with bodies of dogs and people littering the desert. He pulls a tarp off the back of a truck to reveal a truckload of Mexican coke. Figuring there was a bunch of money around, he follows the blood and footsteps to a suitcase of drug money. Unable to shake the request of the dieing man he abandoned in the desert, he sets out to take him some water. But they wanted their money back. Now, unexplainably locked onto his trail is Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a man described as having principles surpassing any other man – and being a psychopathic killer. As Brolin scrambles to hold onto the money, his life, and his wife’s life, the dealers bring in another killer to join the fray as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), tries to figure it all out.
Before I talk about what I liked from the movie, let me say that my favorite Coen Brothers’ movie is O Brother, Where Art Thou – NOT Big Lebowski (overrated) or Fargo (still good, just not my favorite). That being said, this movie is more intense – in terms of tension and violence, then most movies I have seen in a long time, much less any other Coen Brothers’ movie. With ridiculously good performances from Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem, the movie has a young, fast, feel to it that never lets up. Then Tommy Lee Jones is finally cast in a respectable movie where he can still do his same role from The Missing/The Hunted (the role actually works here!) The acting across the board is great, but so is the direction and editing (for most of the movie) which is sharp and fast. The lines are great too – well adapted from a great book by Cormac McCarthy. Put all of that together, and you have a really good movie.
But there is always a but. There are some things wrong in this movie. While American Gangster left you with a taste in your mouth of good but not great, No Country leaves you thinking you saw a great movie (and story) that is hurt by weak vision. Much of this problem is probably because the Coen Brothers loved this book but chose to emphasize one part of the book over the other. While the part they emphasize is great, and what they do with that part is great, they need to choose an ending that fits that part of the book. Maybe the Coen Brothers’ refusal to entirely abandon the book led them to choose the ending they went with. Unclear. Either way, the last twenty-five minutes are confusing at best. Three or four scenes separated by one scene that could have made sense, or at least had the same feel of the movie, and the rest of the scenes seeming to be entirely separate, connected only to the long forgotten narration/introduction.
In the scheme of modern movies of first act, second act, third act, this movie blurred the lines. A ridiculously good first act is followed by a second act that is choppy and unexpected. And don’t even get me started on the third act. To make matters worse, the delineation between acts, that is usually clear, is EXTREMELY murky here. The result is that there are so many questions left unanswered (my apologies for possible spoilers if you continue reading): who shot him in the end? Did it matter? Was there a purpose to Woody Harrelson’s character? Why did Tommy Lee Jones go into that murder scene? What happened to the money? What was Bardem’s motivation? What was Tommy Lee Jones’ deal? There are others, perhaps more ‘spoilerific.’ But the point has been made, a movie that could have left you with that satisfying glow that meant an Oscar for The Departed last year, left you with a disappointed, ‘if they had just done this…’ feeling.
All that aside, it would be criminal to give this movie anything less than 8/10 saltystix. After the first fifty minutes, they could have shown me the last fifty-minute of Gigli and I would still have thought the movie was good. But if they had just done this one thing….
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Bob’s October Movie Preview
By Bob 10/2/2008
 Now that we have gotten through the sludge of September movies, it’s time for some Oscar contenders, and movies that think they’re good but not. Halloween is also this month so there is bound to be a lot of random horror movies going on and of course a Saw film to soak in. Whatever happens though, I’m gonna guess that at least one of the following gets some nods come Oscar time. With that, my October Movie Preview:
Cops, Robbers, and Blah
10) Pride and Glory: October 24th
From the director of Miracle comes one of the most clichéd trailers of ALL TIME. Edward Norton as A COP. Colin Farrell as HIMSELF. What more could we want from a movie? I don’t know, and I will likely never find out because this is not one flick I will be seeing.
9) Max Payne: October 17th 
As I feverishly go through my mind trying to think of a video game adaptation that has actually been a good movie, I’m also reminded of all of the bad movies Marky Mark has made over the past ever (excluding The Departed and Boogie Nights of course). I would be shocked if there is anybody who is actually excited for this, as anybody who actually played the game has probably outgrown the genre.
8) Body of Lies: October 10th
Leonardo Dicaprio. Russell Crowe. Ridley Scott. Something about spies. The trailers really tell us nothing about this film except, “How am I supposed to run an operation when you’re running a side operation.” I don’t really know what that means, but Leo says it in the trailer. This film looks like another lame attempt by Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe to win Oscars. I’m not buying it.
7) Flash of Genius: October 3rd
Greg Kinnear stars as an man who invents the intermittent windshield wiper, and then has it stolen from him buy the major auto manufacturers. This just looks like a boring film that will get a lukewarm response. For some reason, however, it has been getting a huge level of marketing with television and even radio advertisements. I doubt people will buy it.
6) RocknRolla: October 10th
Guy Ritchie is back in the genre he knows best, and this appears to be an English gangster film much in the mold of Lock Stock and Snatch. We’ll see if he still has his stuff, but for now, I’ll just pop in my DVDs of the older films that I can trust, and look to be almost identical in plot to this one.
Movies that Intrigue Me
5) Changeling: October 24th 
Angelina Jolie stars in this Clint Eastwood film about a woman whose son goes missing and is returned with something different. Any film that Eastwood directs (that’s not Flags of our Fathers of course) is worth checking out, and this looks to be no different. It got solid reviews with it premiered at Cannes, and Angelina Jolie is ready for a solid role.
4) W.: October 17th
 A film that is certain to be the years most controversial, Oliver Stone directs this biopic about our current president. While I am sure Stone will exaggerate many of the details, there is no denying that he has put together an awesome cast including Josh Broling (as Bush), Elizibeth Banks (as First Lady Laura), James Cromwell (as his father H. W.), Richard Dreyfuss (as Cheney), Thadie Newton (as Condoleezza Rice) and others as the rest of his cabinet. Whatever happens in this film, it will certainly be interesting.
3) Synecdoche, New York: October 24th
A film that I have been awaiting since last year, this is Charlie Kauffman’s directorial debut. I have loved the films he has written (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and Adaptation. ) and this should prove to be equally compelling. It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as a playwright who attempts to put on a production in a warehouse that includes a scale model of New York. It will probably boggle our minds, but that is Kauffman, isn’t it?
2) Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist: October 3rd
Michael Cera and Kat Dennings star as the eponymous Nick and Norah who meet each other one night in New York and have adventures. Something about the trailer really brought this movie to my attention, probably the indie style that I love. Cera is always great, and Dennings was really cool in Charlie Bartlett, so I might make my way to a cinema this week to check it out.
1) Zach and Miri Make a Porno: October 31st 
Seth Rogen and Elizibeth Banks star as two best friends who decide to make a porno together. This is Kevin Smith’s first film since Clerks 2, and I can only hope that it matches that film in hilarity. The only thing I don’t understand, is why are they releasing this film on Halloween? I guess there is probably a Saw film being released anyways.
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