Merged: The Movies Thread

[itvnetop]

Originally Posted by skinsfanthru&thru

as far as "No Country for Old Men", I watched it yesterday and have absolutely no idea how that movie warranted as much hype as it did. The guy who played the assassin was cool, but the movie lacked anything remotely like a Best Picture worthy story and it's last 20 minutes was lackluster to say the least.

You're not alone... in fact most people were put off by the ending. But it's technically a near flawless film... it's going to be used over and over in film classes to dissect elements like cinematography, pacing and writing.

* Spoilers *

The movie works because it accomplishes the vision of the original book. NCFOM is a thematic movie, moreso than character-driven. The Coens have a knack for straying from traditional film structure- you didn't really have a "good guy protagonist" to root for, per se... there was Brolin's character, who played an average Joe- the audience wants him to get away with the money, but he still pulls off an unethical action (stealing money that's not his). Bardem's psycho character is definitely not the guy to root for, but he displays his own abstract sense of morality. And Tommy Lee Jones was the dude that verbalizes McCarthy's (the original book's author) overarching message- the world is becoming evil and good can no longer stop it... only fate can hope to stumble it...

Leaving out the death scenese for major characters is intentional to the overall theme. You're left wondering "wtf" during certain aftermath shots (and the ending) b/c the storytelling is so un-Hollywood. The movie's not wrapped up in a bowtie at the end and that surely pissed a bunch of people off.

/film geekness

[skinsfanthru&thru]

Originally Posted by itvnetop

You're not alone... in fact most people were put off by the ending. But it's technically a near flawless film... it's going to be used over and over in film classes to dissect elements like cinematography, pacing and writing.

* Spoilers *

The movie works because it accomplishes the vision of the original book. NCFOM is a thematic movie, moreso than character-driven. The Coens have a knack for straying from traditional film structure- you didn't really have a "good guy protagonist" to root for, per se... there was Brolin's character, who played an average Joe- the audience wants him to get away with the money, but he still pulls off an unethical action (stealing money that's not his). Bardem's psycho character is definitely not the guy to root for, but he displays his own abstract sense of morality. And Tommy Lee Jones was the dude that verbalizes McCarthy's (the original book's author) overarching message- the world is becoming evil and good can no longer stop it... only fate can hope to stumble it...

Leaving out the death scenese for major characters is intentional to the overall theme. You're left wondering "wtf" during certain aftermath shots (and the ending) b/c the storytelling is so un-Hollywood. The movie's not wrapped up in a bowtie at the end and that surely pissed a bunch of people off.

/film geekness

I'm totally fine with the good guy not coming out on top ie Arlington Road cuz most of the time that actually sadly reflects real life. But with NCFOM, the ending just left me feeling no emotion what so ever. No "WTF" or a "hell yeah", just a "is that the end?" kind of thing. Pacing was decent and I wasn't blown away by the cinematography, but like I said the lack of any real substantial story or even character development just left me feeling like I had wasted the last almost 2 hours. I guess I just had different expectations tied to a movie of such high acclaim and felt like I had seen a completely different movie than everyone else.

oh and anyone looking for a good popcorn action flick, Doomsday was a kewl nod to classics like Road Warrior and Escape From New York.

[itvnetop]

Originally Posted by skinsfanthru&thru

oh and anyone looking for a good popcorn action flick, Doomsday was a kewl nod to classics like Road Warrior and Escape From New York.

I've been looking forward to Doomsday... I loved the director's last film, "The Descent."

[skinsfanthru&thru]

Originally Posted by itvnetop

I've been looking forward to Doomsday... I loved the director's last film, "The Descent."

I've enjoyed his first 2 films now and I know one thing's for sure, this guy knows his gore.

[itvnetop]

Originally Posted by skinsfanthru&thru

I've enjoyed his first 2 films now and I know one thing's for sure, this guy knows his gore.

Awesome that you saw Dog Soldiers too... very slept on.

Just saw Doomsday today- very different from the other two, but extremely enjoyable as what it was. Like the influences you mentioned above, it definitely payed homage to a bunch of different films (but stamped its own identity just the same). The guy knows how to shoot action and violence for sure.

[RobH4413]

Just saw "Into the wild".

Amazing little movie. I hit up one of those Redbox things in the grocery store and just rented it because I thought it looked good. Never heard of it... just sort of a spur of the moment decision.

Emile Hirsch puts on a pretty solid performance... If you're kind of a hippie you'll love this movie.

[mooby]

Originally Posted by itvnetop

You're not alone... in fact most people were put off by the ending. But it's technically a near flawless film... it's going to be used over and over in film classes to dissect elements like cinematography, pacing and writing.

* Spoilers *

The movie works because it accomplishes the vision of the original book. NCFOM is a thematic movie, moreso than character-driven. The Coens have a knack for straying from traditional film structure- you didn't really have a "good guy protagonist" to root for, per se... there was Brolin's character, who played an average Joe- the audience wants him to get away with the money, but he still pulls off an unethical action (stealing money that's not his). Bardem's psycho character is definitely not the guy to root for, but he displays his own abstract sense of morality. And Tommy Lee Jones was the dude that verbalizes McCarthy's (the original book's author) overarching message- the world is becoming evil and good can no longer stop it... only fate can hope to stumble it...

Leaving out the death scenese for major characters is intentional to the overall theme. You're left wondering "wtf" during certain aftermath shots (and the ending) b/c the storytelling is so un-Hollywood. The movie's not wrapped up in a bowtie at the end and that surely pissed a bunch of people off.

/film geekness

I can definitely dig what you're saying. For the reasons you listed it is a good movie. I just wish it offered closure at the end, but I can see why they ended it like that. Overall though it was a good movie.