No Country for Old Men
I donated platelets this morning. I watched "No Country for Old Men" I really liked it though I'm hesitant to recommend it, because it's basically about as depressing as movies come. Personally I like depressing movies, and many if not most of the movies in my "Top Ten" are depressing. I should pause here for a moment to talk about my top ten list. I'm sure if I ever sat down and made the list that there would be more like 30 movies on the list. When I say something is in my "Top Ten" it basically means that it would be on the short list to make the top ten list if I ever did make one, and that it's something that if I was making up a core collection of movies to own it would be one I would not hesitate to buy.
Anyway back to the movie. I really like the Coen Brothers, and I'm amazed by how deft they are. I mean they can make a movie like "O Brother Where Art Thou" a comedy with an amazing soundtrack and then a few years later make "No Country" a tragedy that's barely even scored. Now of course in both cases they did borrow from a book, but when you look at all the horrible book adaptations it's still impressive what they've done. At this point I would say, trying to compare apples to apples, that I liked "No Country" better than "Fargo", but it could be just because it's fresher, though I did see Fargo not that long ago.
People talk a lot about "Chick Flicks". This is the opposite, this is a "Man Flick". And by that I don't mean that it's an action movie, like "Die Hard". It's a "Man Flick" in the way that "Fried Green Tomatoes" or "Steel Magnolias" are "Chick Flicks" (If I don't want to get in trouble with my wife I should really use a less pejorative term than "Chicks" or a more pejorative term than "Man" but "Dude Flick" makes it sound like I'm talking about "Dodgeball"). For Tommy Lee Jones' character at least it's all about living up to the standards of his father, and in that sense it actually reminded me of "Quiz Show". I'm sure that something of living up to parental expectations is present in both genders, but there's something unique for men about the quest to make your father proud of you.
Every generation loses a little bit...
Anyway back to the movie. I really like the Coen Brothers, and I'm amazed by how deft they are. I mean they can make a movie like "O Brother Where Art Thou" a comedy with an amazing soundtrack and then a few years later make "No Country" a tragedy that's barely even scored. Now of course in both cases they did borrow from a book, but when you look at all the horrible book adaptations it's still impressive what they've done. At this point I would say, trying to compare apples to apples, that I liked "No Country" better than "Fargo", but it could be just because it's fresher, though I did see Fargo not that long ago.
People talk a lot about "Chick Flicks". This is the opposite, this is a "Man Flick". And by that I don't mean that it's an action movie, like "Die Hard". It's a "Man Flick" in the way that "Fried Green Tomatoes" or "Steel Magnolias" are "Chick Flicks" (If I don't want to get in trouble with my wife I should really use a less pejorative term than "Chicks" or a more pejorative term than "Man" but "Dude Flick" makes it sound like I'm talking about "Dodgeball"). For Tommy Lee Jones' character at least it's all about living up to the standards of his father, and in that sense it actually reminded me of "Quiz Show". I'm sure that something of living up to parental expectations is present in both genders, but there's something unique for men about the quest to make your father proud of you.
Every generation loses a little bit...
posted by DireKobold at 5:26 PM
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