Tommy Lee Jones Movie:

		List Price: $34.99		Label: WALT DISNEY VIDEO Salesrank: 4326 Released: March 11, 2008
		Our Price: $14.00
		Used Price: $11.66
		MPAA Rating: R (Restricted) Media: Blu-ray

Editorial Review:
UPC:786936750034
DESCRIPTION: Violence and mayhem erupt after a man stumbles upon a bloody crime scene, a stash of heroine and $2 million in cash in Miramax Films No Country For Old Men. Acclaimed filmmakers The Coen Brothers deliver their most viscerally compelling and ambitious film yet in this gripping crime saga in which money is as irresistible as bad choices are inevitable, and where every decision has potentially catastrophic consequences. Adapted from the novel by Pulitzer prize-winning author, Cormac McCarthy and starring an acclaimed cast led by Academy Award® winner Tommy Lee Jones, this mesmerizing game of cat and mouse will have you on the edge of your seat until the nail biting end.

Description of No Country for Old Men [Blu-ray]:
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

No Country for Old Men [Blu-ray] Reviews:
Who or what was Chigurh? Evil as an essential component of humanity
2009-12-13 - The powerful novels of Cormac McCarthy may lend themselves to interpretation on film and No Country for Old Men has been successfully translated by the Coen brothers and is a superb work of art in its own right. In an interview in a recent magazine, McCarthy indicated he was pleased with the translation of his novel into a film, saying that the film captured the novel. The direct, bleak, no frills dialogue that is a characteristic of McCarthy's novels is captured in the dialogue in the film. Both the novel and the film are disturbing, not only for violent content but also for the philosophical underpinning of the novel and film. As the literary critic Harold Bloom notes, the violence in McCarthy's work is not gratuitous, but plays and essential role in the underlying message and theme of the work. I hope to focus on this underlying philosophy in this review.
The story is that of an everyman, a self contained competent American male against forces that are overpowering even for his rugged native ingenuity. Llewelyn Moss, played superbly by Josh Brolin, discovers where a drug deal gone bad has left all parties (both men an dogs) dead on the field, with neither the money or the drugs taken away. He finds 2 million dollars in payoff money and takes it. However, he violates a basic premise, often explored in the novels of John Bowles, that he should follow his instincts and never second guess himself in such a risky situation. Llewelyn is troubled by the cry of a dying Mexican drug dealer for water and so he fills up an empty milk jug and goes back to the scene of the crimes to give he man water. What a mistake this is and what a price he pays. He is soon pursued by a paid killer, Chigurh, played perfectly by Javier Bardem. He sends his wife to his mother-in-law's home and tries to escape the, and embarks on an escape, leaving his wife Carla (Kelly Macdonald) to escape the pursuit of Chigurh. Because of the string of killings, Chigurh is being tracked by the local sheriff, played by Tommy Lee Jones. The sheriff becomes somewhat of a narrator and commentator upon the events as they unfold. Chigurh is also followed by a hitman, played by Woody Harrelson, who works for one of the criminal parties left empty handed after the desert shoot out. Much terror follows, making for an intense and suspenseful film that will keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
But who and what is Chigurh? Many, in fact the majority, of reviewers see him as a homicidal maniac, as insane, a psychopathic murderer. But he is more than that. He appears in other McCarthy novels as other similar characters. The most obvious is Judge Holden in the frightening novel Blood Meridian. As Harold Bloom points out, this character is also that of Achilles in The Iliad by Homer. He is the embodiment of the dark animalistic homicidal nature of mankind which like tornadoes and earthquakes and hurricanes, is part of nature, is a force of nature, is often unavoidable, and which follows the rules of natural forces and not the rules of man. He also follows the rules of chance rather than the rules of man, as evidenced by his use of a flip of a coin to determine who may live or die.
It is the worn-out and wise Sherriff that senses this in his pursuit of the killer Chigurh and his gathering of the endless clues that point to both the brutality and cruelty of Chigurh. The Sherriff has a dialogue with an estranged relative about the death of one of their ancestors, a lawman, who is killed in the line of duty. The comments of the Sherriff and his dialogue with family members and colleagues, reveals his philosophy that this evil force will burn itself out, reach some point of conclusion, and will move away. This is a very different view of how evil should be dealt with in Western, and specifically American culture, where we must fight evil until the bitter end rather than seeing evil as a storm that will one day move on. The strength of the film is absolute fidelity to this philosophy on the nature of evil.
With a compelling story, superb acting, penetrating dialogue, and the ability to challenge thoughtful viewer's preconceived notions, this film is excellent.


Amazing movie
2009-12-09 - An amazing movie,one of the best of all time. A must see drama filled thriller

One of the best movies ever made
2009-11-27 - The Coens continue to make movies that leave the rest of Hollywood in the dust. This movie can not be described. It is perfect from start to finish. Javier Bardem creates one of the most interesting characters in recent memory.

What happened?
2009-11-22 - This movie starts off great, with sharp, clever dialog and an engaging plot. The photography is excellent and the choice of actors was very good. The action keeps things moving and it's fun to watch the cat and mouse game between the two principal characters, and there's a sprinkling of genuine humor throughout.

Javier Bardem is brilliant, as are most of the others.

My principle gripe was the ending. It was almost like a power failure at the theatre. The movie just ENDS and nothing is resolved. We sit through the whole movie waiting for the point where the amoral gunman is blown away- presumably by Tommy Lee Jones Sheriff character and instead being given nothing. Others have interpreted this ending in different ways, but I liken it to some of those gibberish novels and plays we were forced to read in college that looked to me like the author had decided to write something deliberately meaningless and then chuckle as everyone argued over what it meant.

This movie is nothing but a two hour long trailer for another movie that maybe they will make in the future.



Tear A Hole in Hollywood
2009-11-15 - There are 723 (or so) other reviews; thus I won't bore you with another generalized plot summary.
It's a profound film; not only because of what it has in it, or the way the plot shifts, but in its presentation. In its presentation, it tears a divide between truly remarkable films and standard hollywood action flicks. It does so by showing how amazing a film can be WITHOUT the sensationalism, overkill, and cliche. This Hollywood Action sensory overload has made many US films unable to tell a decent, unpredictable story; wading in a kiddie pool of mediocrity.

It's realistic. Yes, it is a violent film, however, the directors knew well enough that once the nature of the main violent character is exposed, then the rest is overkill. As a result, about four of Chigurh's murders are implied, but cut out of the scenes. I was impressed with the ingenuity of the two main characters -- in their weaponry, in their creative survival skills, and being able to improvise themselves into and out of situations. The wounds they received were realistic, and Chigurh's self-treatment of a gunshot wound to the leg further cemented his position as a knowledgable badass. But more importantly, that the directors show this treatment helps in furthering the viewer's understanding of the characters, and their ruthless ambition.

Cinematography is exceptional. Natural lighting is used throughout, and the situational atmospherics are never convenient coincidences that benefit the position of any one character. If anything, they speak more so to the true difficulties one would need to improvise themselves through, since many natural unanticipated factors become part of the plot. Additionally, some of the best parts of the movie are the (seemingly) very simply dialogue sections, that also help you identify with characters.

One of the things that made the end of "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" so remarkable is the complete silence at the end of the film. After the suffocation of Nicholson's character by the native American, the native escapes the hospital and there is no music to tell you how to feel or interpret that outcome. No Country is very similar, in that the only music I remember hearing was a mariachi band (who were actually in the film performing), or radios playing as part of the setting. I like that. I like that the directors aren't figuring ways to intensify scenes via sensory overkill. I like not having to try to decipher what a character is saying between overly-loud edgy metal guitar riffs or techno beats during a chase scene. I'm sick of having to turn the volume down, because the sound engineers figure that if the volume suddenly increases by 60 decibels, it will add to the excitement. And also, there's almost no yelling in the film. No yelling, no expletives. Not that I'm against it, but it sure is a refreshing opposition to all the flashy behavior, over-produced sound and video effects, which have become such a big part of the mainstream.