I thought he got the money from the dead Mexican guy. Why was he killing all those people in the beginning of the movie anyways? And can someone explain to me the ending? Also, was anyone pissed off how they didn't show Moss's death? I thought they would've at least showed how he died, after all, he was one of the main characters
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 7 2008, 11:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I thought he got the money from the dead Mexican guy. Why was he killing all those people in the beginning of the movie anyways? And can someone explain to me the ending?</div> I have the gist of this correct: The money was from a drug bust gone bad where someone tried to run off with the cash, but died (under the tree IIRC) after leaving the gunfight in the desert. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Also, was anyone pissed off how they didn't show Moss's death? I thought they would've at least showed how he died, after all, he was one of the main characters</div> Moss was killed by the other Mexicans, after they got information on his location from Moss's Mother-In-Law. Just a couple of shots...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 7 2008, 11:49 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Run BJM @ Jun 7 2008, 11:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 7 2008, 11:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'> 5/10 Saw this like a week ago, anyways, I thought this movie was pretty dull. The plot wasn't anything great, basically just two guys going around chasing each other for some money, and we never find out what the money was for or where it even came from. The ending was pretty horrible as well. I have no idea why people think so highly of this movie, I personally thought it sucked</div> Hate to sound like a pretentious ass but you must not understand symbolism. </div> It's cool. I figured there was something about the movie I didn't understand, because I couldn't figure out why people gave it such high ratings. Care to explain to me? </div> Yeah I'll explain what I can. *SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN IT* The whole movie is really symbolic, almost every scene has something that means something more. Lets start with the title; No Country for Old Men. Obviously the "Old Men" is Tommy Lee Jones as well as the other old guys (the other sheriff that TLJ talks to, the guy in the wheelchair, etc.) who are always talking about how the new wave of criminals are so different, dangerous, reckless, etc. Obviously the movie ends with the crazy psycho guy never being caught and most of the characters are dead. Tommy Lee Jones always comes to the scene of the crime too late and hes ultimately powerless to stop these "new" kind of criminals. Hence, No Country for Old Men. TLJ can't keep up, he can't do anything, the "country" has passed him up and he can't do anything about it. Furthermore, if we can agree that Tommy Lee Jones' character represents "good" and Anton Chigur represents "evil" (everyone else just represents normal people), its safe to say that the Cohen brother's message was that the old school classic "good always defeats evil" theme is unrealistic in today's world. "Evil" in today's world is a lot different from what it used to be; its stealth, its unrelenting, it has no emotion and anyone could be the victim of it for any random reason. For example in the part where Tommy Lee Jones enters the hotel room where he thinks Anton Chigur is hiding, we see Anton Chigur's face presumably in the dark motel room before TLJ enters. TLJ opens the door whit his gun drawn, hands at his side, and steps through the door slowly one step at a time. Its identical to that of what you see in cowboy movies, which shows how old school TLJ is. He goes in expecting a face to face showdown like in the old days, but Chigur isn't there, hes a "ghost" as Tommy Lee Jones says. The "evil" doesn't have the old timey manliness where dudes used to go face to face to settle their problems. TLJ doesn't know how to stop this guy and admits that hes basically helpless to stop him, he only knows the past criminals, the new age criminals are just a different breed that he can't figure out. Some other random symbolism that I can think of off the top of my head. At the beginning when Josh Brolin sees the wounded black dog running away from the scene of the drug deal gone wrong. We can make the connection to later parts of the story when Anton Chigur is injured but continues on. Like when Chigur gets shot in the leg but continues on and in the end when he gets in the car accident and keeps on going. Its symbolic of the inevitability of evil and how its impossible to stop, you can "wound" it, maybe you think its dead or hurt but its always alive and its never going to go away. Also the coin toss that we see several times in the film. Chigur decides to choose people's death by chance. Again, its symbolic of the random-ness of evil. Some people are unlucky and just get fugged up just because of chance, we have no power over it. Also it comes up again at the end when Carla Jean Moss says "the coin doesn't mean anything because its you who decides who dies" and he says "well the coin came from the same place as me" or something along those lines. Again, when taken literally its just Chigur saying something ridiculous and crazy (which points back to how random and non-discriminating evil is) but in a metaphorical note its also like him saying that the coin and evil are one and the same. Also when Woody Harrelson asks Chigur "do you know how crazy you are?". Again, its like hes talking to evil and its supporting the Cohen brother's message. Theres all kinds of other crap in this movie that means more than what it appears to be on the surface. Some that come to mind are how both Josh Brolin's character and Anton borrow the clothes from the other people when they're injured and need to be covered and get away, when Josh Brolin is talking to the lady by the pool and says "just trying to see what's coming" and she says "well you never see that" and the next scene Brolin is dead, Woody Harrelson mentions that Chigur has "principals" and we see it later when after Brolin is killed and the money is taken by some random mexican drug dealers Anton still goes to kill Carla Jean Moss just to keep his word Theres almost too much to talk about. If you have any questoins about specific scenes though I'm sure with some more thought you could make conclusions yourself. The thing is the story isn't really about a guy who finds money and tries to escape. Its about fate, good vs. evil, the changing world, etc. Which is why when the money is taken back by the drug traffickers its an afterthought to the rest of the scene. The plot really isn't the focus of the movie, its the themes and ideas that are brought up. The plot is juwst the medium to achieve those ideas.
I never thought the movie was that deep. I have this movie saved on my computer, and I feel like watching it again sometime soon with everything in mind. Thanks Run and huevon for the explainations. I'm not a really deep thinker when it comes to movies. lol
Unleashed: 7/10 I'm not big on martial arts films, or w/e, but I was pretty damn entertained by this film. I would recommend it to anybody who wants to see a good action movie.
Across the Universe: Incomplete/10 I was too interested in my girl to finish this movie. We ended up wrestling. I don't think I'll be giving the movie another shot, though, unless someone here completely convinces me otherwise.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pegs @ Jun 3 2008, 01:37 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'> A Fistful of Dollars 9.5/10 Classic right there. Clint Eastwood at his best. IMO better than The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Motivates me to get And A Few Dollars More.</div> You should check out Yojimbo.
Across the Universe wasn't too bad, my girlfriend got me to watch it, I'd say 7/10, not bad as far as musicals go. As it is, I saw You Don't Mess With The Zohan last night and it was hilarious. One of Sandlers better movies in my opinion. I'd give it an 8.5/10.
I would definitely recommend it. It was very rare that I wasn't laughing during the movie. Funniest movie of the year so far.
Donnie Brasco: 8/10 Good movie, love Johnny Depp. A tad bit long and can get boring at times, but a couple of stand out scenes. The first one being the Japanese restaurant scene where Depp refuses to take his boots off and the other where Depp explains "Forget About it".
The Bourne Ultimatum: 8/10 Jason Bourne: 10/10 Fuckin' amazing movie. There is only one man in this world that owns Jason Bourne...Jack Bauer. Funny, they both have the initials "JB"
4/10- I heard it wasn't good but damn I never thought Will Ferrell could make a movie so bad. It was like the Longest Yard re-make except I knew that would be a steaming pile coming into it. I chuckled once or twice but damn, pretty turrible. Bourne movies = fucking badass.
The Strangers- 8/10 Not much story. not much plot. ... However, probably one of the most suspenseful and overall creepy movies i've ever seen. Theres gonna be people that don't like it, but it accomplished its goal, and they didn't try to make it into something that it wasn't. Liv Tyler was great in it too.
Batman Begins: 8.5/10 My favorite super-hero movie, by far. However, I forgot how long it was. If you aren't in the mood for a long suspenseful thriller, don't watch.
Mr. Brooks: 6.5/10 It's not a great movie, yet not a bad one. Dane Cook is hard to take in a serious role, but I thought Kevin Costner did a great job as a serial killer. Decent thriller movie.
