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nobinobita
219th Post

Frequent Customer

"No Country for Old Men" , posted Wed 5 Dec 03:43

Anyone see "No Country for Old Men" yet? Saw it yesterday, and I thought it was excellent. As a fan of both Cormac McCarthy and the Coen Bros I had high hopes, but the movie exceeded them all.

It's one of those rare artful movies that doesn't have to scream "LOOK AT ME I'M ARTFULL!!!"

Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
The ending seemed to upset alot of people in the theater, but I thought it was appropriate. I didn't feel cheated by how abrupt it was cos it was in line with the themes of the movie, and everything leading up to it was satisfying

End of Spoiler

The movie also has incredible sound design. The use of sound is so sparse and controlled that it makes you keenly aware of almost every single noise going on, rather than overwhelming you with ambience and music. Watching the movie makes you feel like you're reading a book cos you can pay attention to every sound and image and nuance, much as you'd digest every word of prose in a novel.

Oh and one more thing. Watching the movie made me realize there are no videogames that feel old and grizzled. Games are very much a young man's industry. You don't have any he-man game designers who had their faith in God shook while fighting in the great war and translate that to their medium. Not that it makes games inferior, just that... its still an industry for young people.

Replies:

Tai-Pan
199th Post

Regular Customer

"Re(1):No Country for Old Men" , posted Wed 5 Dec 09:31

quote:

The movie also has incredible sound design. The use of sound is so sparse and controlled that it makes you keenly aware of almost every single noise going on, rather than overwhelming you with ambience and music. Watching the movie makes you feel like you're reading a book cos you can pay attention to every sound and image and nuance, much as you'd digest every word of prose in a novel.

I loved this movie, and I agree, the sound design feels perfect to me. It bores a lot of people, but to me it's perfect!!
And you are correct, it feels like reading a novel.
Loved it!

"Those who follow the path of a warrior must be ready to die in order to stand for one's convictions live for one's convictions die for one's convictions"

nobinobita
220th Post

Frequent Customer

"Re(2):No Country for Old Men" , posted Wed 5 Dec 23:05

quote:

It bores a lot of people, but to me it's perfect!!

Boring? Really? This movie scared the living daylights out of me!!!

Undead Fred

2947th Post

Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master

"Re(1):No Country for Old Men" , posted Thu 6 Dec 16:15

quote:
Anyone see "No Country for Old Men" yet? Saw it yesterday, and I thought it was excellent. As a fan of both Cormac McCarthy and the Coen Bros I had high hopes, but the movie exceeded them all.

It's one of those rare artful movies that doesn't have to scream "LOOK AT ME I'M ARTFULL!!!"

The movie also has incredible sound design. The use of sound is so sparse and controlled that it makes you keenly aware of almost every single noise going on, rather than overwhelming you with ambience and music. Watching the movie makes you feel like you're reading a book cos you can pay attention to every sound and image and nuance, much as you'd digest every word of prose in a novel.

Oh and one more thing. Watching the movie made me realize there are no videogames that feel old and grizzled. Games are very much a young man's industry. You don't have any he-man game designers who had their faith in God shook while fighting in the great war and translate that to their medium. Not that it makes games inferior, just that... its still an industry for young people.

I saw the movie back when it came out and I thought it was good (I like the Cohen Brothers too, so I was looking forward to seeing it). SUGAR was evil... every time he was on screen, he made me nervous. I'm not totally sure what I thought about the ending- not because of the outcome, but because of how abrupt it was.

The best part was what happened during the movie... We went to a fairly nice theater to see it, and we were about 15 minutes into the movie and in the big middle of a chase sequence. The dog was getting closer, and things were getting tense... then the screen suddenly went blank, began to fold up, and the lights came on. Some dildo had pulled the fire alarm, so we went through this whole "do we have to evacuate, no we don't, sit back down, wait a second, the alarm won't turn off, so we have to leave AGAIN..." We had to go find another theater that was playing the movie with a slightly crappy print. Anyway, aside from not being able to sit in a group, we enjoyed the show.

nobinobita
222th Post

Frequent Customer

"Re(2):No Country for Old Men" , posted Fri 7 Dec 02:29

Awww that sucks bout what happened during the first show. I wish people would stop doing things out of pure meanness, but uh... that sorta fits with the whole good vs evil theme of the movie yeah?

Also, I wouldn't hold it against someone else if they didn't like the ending. I mean, the only reason i think it was even remotely acceptable was that the rest of the movie was great, and I don't know what else they could have done after that.

But still I can see why it was unsatisfying.

What I really loved about the movie was the little moments of biblical heaviness that it created.

Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
My favorite part was when Anton Chigurh is talking to the old man at the gas station and he puts down the wrapper from the snack he was eating and there's that shot of the paper unraveling. Just the shot of it uncoiling and the little rustling noise it made and how much that little thing filled up the screen made it the most perfect thing to show at that moment.

End of Spoiler

Ishmael

3013th Post

Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master

"Re(3):No Country for Old Men" , posted Fri 14 Dec 06:11

No Country for Old Men was grand stuff. With the unlimited landscape and desires set against the far too limited mortality of the characters, the film put me in mind of Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and other tough, brooding Westerns.

That's an interesting point about how videogames rarely, if ever, touch on that sense of age. Part of that might come from having the tools that are used to make games are being constantly re-invented. It must be hard to even create a cohesive body of work when the entire market changes every few years. I do think that some creators such as Hideo Kojima are at least somewhat interested in exploring aging and the finite span of a hero but thanks to the scattershot approach he takes to creating games any one theme he has gets buried under half a dozen other shiny things that caught his eye.