The Achievers: The Story of the Lebowski Fans

2009 documentary

Rating: 13/20

Plot: A look at gatherings of fans of The Big Lebowski.

I like this movie as much as guy, but these people take it to the extreme. Initially, it kind of annoyed me, but they're not harming a soul, are able to connect with people they have something in common with, and seem to be enjoying themselves. This focuses on a lot of the titular fans, and I just didn't care that much about them. I did enjoy some of the little details about the writing of and making of the movie. You get to see how fans of this movie that was overlooked in theaters can turn people with very very small roles into near legends, and there's something kind of cool about that. James Hoosier, the rotund gentleman who plays Jesus's friend, has been in exactly one movie. And he gets maybe a couple minutes of screen time. However, in this documentary, he shows up at a bowling alley for one of these Lebowski fests and gets himself a standing ovation. Jeff Bridges also shows up to one of these to remind everybody just how cool he is, and you get to meet the guys who The Dude and Walter's characters are based on. Most of the movie showcases those fanatics though as they compete in trivia and dress-up competitions.

Barton Fink

1991 movie

Rating: 19/20

Plot: The titular playwright rides the success of his play about the plight of common men to a contract with a film studio and is hired to write a movie about wrestling. He moves to L.A. where he struggles with the screenplay and makes some friends.

I know that I saw black comedy before Barton Fink, but I'm not sure I appreciated the genre as much before I saw this. I guess this just came along at the perfect time in my life, and I found it easy to connect with its dry humor, its surreal glimpse of one man's personal hell, and its many incomprehensibilities. I didn't understand it back then, but it was a movie with these overly-colorful characters in this setting that seems to be right from somebody's lackadaisical nightmare that I just felt, one of those movies that keeps coming back and rubbing up against your leg long after you're finished with it. I don't think it was the first artsy-fartsy movie that I liked--I'd seen Eraserhead--but it was the one that made me actively seek out more artsy-fartsy movies and turned me into a Coen brothers fan. And you know what? I still don't have a grasp on this one twenty years after I saw it which, for me at least, puts it right up there with a lot of my favorite movies, works of art, writings, or music. It's a riddle that I'll always love diving into.

What a look the Coens capture with this! It's almost like they wanted to see how many different shades of brown they could squeeze on the screen. The movie's got this dusty tint which adds to the dreamlike tone. And I love the shots of the peeling wallpaper, the mosquito cam, all these absurdly long hallways (sometimes with shoes laid out in front of the doors) and balconies, and some of that typical quietly flamboyant Coen camera work. The movie's also got such colorful characters, both the major and minor ones, that are wonderfully performed by a few Coen regulars. Turturro's almost a straight man in this, but he gets more than enough chances to stand out on his own when his character passionately engages in one-sided discussions about the importance of his work or gets angry or nervous about something. Charlie's the perfect role for Goodman whose smile is as big as the hotel room. This was when Goodman became Goodman for me since I was too distracted by the genius of Nicolas Cage to notice him in Raising Arizona and only really knew him from Roseanne and Revenge of the Nerds. He and his chins are just such a physical presence in this. John Mahoney--who is the coolest guy ever according to a history teacher I used to work with who was an extra in some movie that Mahoney had something to do with--is also very good as the writer, W.P. Mayhew. Buscemi's Chet, Judy Davis's Audrey, Michael Lerner's Lipnick, Tony Shalhoub's Geisler, and Richard Portnow and Christopher Murney's Italian and German detectives are all smaller but still memorable roles that add such color to the Coen's world. And then there's the humor. Chet's double introduction of himself (Chet!) is my personal favorite moment, probably because of Steve Buscemi's teeth, but I also love the very first little "joke" where a guy screams "Fresh fish," a gag that is just so beautifully executed. As the characters maneuver through this landscape of surreal imagery and symbols, it's hard to know whether you're supposed to laugh at them or be horrified, and that's part of the magic of this movie. This will more than likely be a movie that I will always feel slightly lost within, kind of like its protagonist. No, that doesn't sound like a comfortable movie feeling, but it's a feeling that I'll never forget and one of the main reasons I started really liking movies in the first place.

My favorite line in the whole thing, by the way: "These are big movies about big men in tights, physically and mentally--especially physically."

Blood Simple

1984 thriller

Rating: 17/20

Plot: Bar owner Marty gets word from a private investigator who drives a VW Bug that his wife is cheating on him with an employee. He hires the same private investigator to kill them both. Since this is the Coens' world, one in which all private investigators drive VW Bugs, you can guess that it doesn't go as well as expected.

Here's the reason that I like the Coen Brothers' movies so much: it's the non-sequiturs, the little details or asides that have nothing to do with what's really going with the characters but adds that little extra bit of humor or despair or suspense or whatever that gives their stories a unique flavor. It's like they take deliberate detours because even though they know the straight path from Point A to Point B is the easiest way to go, it's just not the most interesting. Sometimes, it's sound effects in Blood Simple--a bug zapper, a blurping computer. And sometimes, it's the visuals--Walsh's smoke rings after decapitation is threatened, Maurice's quick shuffle on the bar in those white Chuck Taylors of his, the shovel dragging on the asphalt, a newspaper hitting the door. And then sometimes, it's a bit of film that some editors, if they come from a newspaper background where skimping on letters can save some cash, would say, "Hold up a second. Is this scene necessary?" I love the one where Ray has forgotten to turn off his headlights and the guy who was flashing at him to let him know as he approached makes this strange little finger gun sign as he passes. And poor Marty who leaves Ray's house with his tail between his legs and drives off only to realize that he needs to turn around and pass the house a second time. The Coens also create suspense so well in this. It's impressive how you still get that feeling in your stomach during the scene when the detective goes to the house where Ray and Abby are sleeping even though you've seen this before and know exactly what's going to happen. That camera following the detective as he rushes out of the house. It's so effective, and foreshadows the Coens' flamboyant style in their following films. You can also see it in the shot when the camera moves over the bar and is forced to hop over an unconscious guy's head and another overhead shot interrupted by the ceiling fan's blades. And back to the suspense. Can you beat that final twenty minutes? Again, you know what happens because you've seen the movie, but it still manages to pack a punch, a lengthy scene that doesn't have any dialogue at all until it does at the end and shocks you with a little dramatic irony. And then you're immediately hit with a bit more irony with the Tops' "Same Old Song." The music, if you isolate it, seems pretty dated, but it's effective here, especially in that scene where the detective goes to kill Ray and Abby and the opening scene with some accompanying ominous windshield wiper rhythm. Solid performances here, too, with M. Emmet Walsh giving a prototypical Coen performance as the dick. "Give me a call whenever you want to cut off my head. I can always crawl around without it." The guy sweats like a pro, too. My favorite bit of dialogue is this one:

Marty: I got a job for you.

Detective: Well, if the pay's right and it's legal, I'll do it.

Marty: It's not strictly legal.

Detective: Well, if the pay's right, I'll do it.

Of course, that's not the very best line in the film because there's "Hey, mister. How'd you break your pussy finger?" in there somewhere. That's said to Dan Hedaya's Marty, and normally, I'd say Hedaya is the type of person you wouldn't want to say something like that to. In Blood Simple, he plays a really interesting character, one who's got this very thin outer shell of tough guy but is nothing but goo on the inside.

A sidenote: I remember watching this the first time and hating the scene where we're shown the detective's lighter under the fish because they drew attention to it twice. I remember thinking, "C'mon, Coen Brothers. I'm not that dumb. We get it. We don't need to see it twice." Then, the lighter turns out to be barely more than a red herring. Cute.

Another sidenote: Did you know that Barry Sonnenfeld did the vomiting sound effects for Marty?

Fargo

1996 movie

Rating: 19/20 (Jen: 19/20; Dylan: 10/20)

Plot: Used car salesman Jerry Lundegaard needs some cash and has thought of the perfect crime in order to get it. He hires a pair of guys--a big one and a funny-looking one--to kidnap his wife so that he can split the ransom money with them. It doesn't go very well. Hot on the trail is a pregnant police officer.

"Where is pancakes house?"

I remember the feeling I had after watching Fargo for the first time. I was kind of stunned. Part of it may have been that I fell for the Coen "Based on a true story" gag. Part of it was definitely what happened with all these characters who I really enjoyed spending time with. And part of it was just because the movie was so damn good. Oh, and part of it was how much I laughed or smiled while watching some really awful people trying to pull off some really dreadful things. It made me wonder if there was something wrong with me. The overall tone, one established with that opening shot with that somber violin music and the truck on the highway. But there's a delicious black humor (yes, I did just type that, bitches!) under the surface. And part of this movie's brilliance is the way it blends the murder mystery genre and comedy so perfectly in a way where neither interferes with the other. Of course, it's the performances that make that happen. Macy's profoundly dopey and, as far as I know, just nails that accent. McDormand does, too, the moral center for this story and the only character in the whole thing who is likable. She's so atypical for the character she represents in a murder mystery. There's nothing the least bit Bogarty about her, but it's a terrific performance with some surprising depth. I mentioned that Marge is the only character you can like. You might not like the kidnapping duo, but it's impossible to not be entertained by them. Buscemi's every movement is perfect, and Peter Stormare, as we've already established, is the greatest actor of all time. Harve Presnell, Steve Reevis as Shep Proudfoot (great name), John Carroll Lynch as Mr. Marge Gunderson, Larry Brandenburg as Stan Grossman, Bain Boehlke as the guy who gives the final tip, the hookers. There's not a weak link in the bunch. And I know what some of you are thinking--what about Scotty, the son? Isn't he likable? Well, yes. I'll give you that, but only because he apparently plays the accordion. This is about as entertaining as a movie can be for the type of funny-looking fellow that I am. So why doesn't it get a perfect score? For Jen, it's the sex scenes because she's a prude. For me, I've never been able to figure out if the Mike Yanagita character really belongs. That's a lengthy scene that adds only a little bit to our understanding of Marge, marginally has to do with one of the overall themes (something Marge "just don't understand"), and has nothing to do with the main plot. And Dylan? I'm not sure what his problem is. He only watched this because I made a deal with him that he wouldn't have to participate in family movie night. He jumped at the chance but wasn't impressed with this movie which might lead to us giving him up for adoption.

One more thing: I need one more movie to complete a wood chipper trifecta. Anybody got any ideas?

Oh, another thing: Did you know Bruce Campbell's sort of in this?

True Grit

2010 Western

Rating: 16/20 (Jen: 19/20)

Plot: The guy in that one Coen Brothers' movie killed another guy, one we never see but who was more than likely in at least one Coen Brothers' movie. His daughter wants vengeance. She wants it bad! So she finds a tough guy with an eyepatch, the guy who was in that one Coen Brothers' movie, and hires him to take care of business. A guy who has never been in a Coen Brothers' movie but who was in another movie with a guy who was in a Coen Brothers' movie tags along because he's been looking for the guy who was in the one Coen Brothers' movie for a very long time. A guy who looks like a bear shows up later.

Nice traditional, old-school Wild West action here, shaded with the Brothers' dark humor, offbeat characters, and stylized ultraviolence. Cause nobody just gets stabbed in the chest or shot in the head in a Coen Brothers' movie. They create big moments whenever their characters get theirs, moments that are oft-graphic, sometimes blackly humorous, and almost always thrilling. There's almost a coldness to their death scenes, and the poor characters pass to the next world without dignity. That's not a criticism, by the way. And the next worlds that most of these characters will inhabit probably aren't going to be a very nice one, like where the Care Bears live. No, most of these characters are going to end up in some dusty purgatory where their scars will itch. Being a Coen Brothers' movie, there are certain things you can just expect walking in: a great meaty script with lots of humorous things for the characters to say, stunning visual storytelling, and a few moments you'll want to talk about later. You know, like guys being shoved into wood chippers. And you get all that, as well as some terrific character acting. Mattie's played by somebody named Hailee Steinfeld, and although she's good, this really isn't her movie. This belongs to Lebowski, and every word he speaks is drenched in tobacco juice and whiskey and broken glass and filth. Bridges' Rooster is that type of character who is very funny without making any effort at all to be funny. You have to love Bridges' versatility. Matt Damon and Josh Brolin are also good, and the rest of the supporting cast, sometimes only on the screen for a few odd moments, help color in the Coens' askew vision of the Wild West. What I didn't expect walking into a Coen Brothers' movie: a heavy-handed Hollywoody score (I'll have to hear it again actually; Jen says it's a nod to the classics of the genre, and I think it could help with the myth making.) and such a traditional, simple story. The latter was no problem. What bugged me was the end where simple was thrown out of the saloon to make way for a goofy and unlikely denouement where a few too many things happen. As with all Coen Brothers' movies, I look forward to seeing this again.

Jen and I made a rare trip to the theater to see this one. We saw previews for a movie that must be based on the old Rockin' Robots toy and a movie about Neil Armstrong finding Transformers on the moon. Jen leaned over during both and (too loudly) said, "I am all over that! Booyah!"

The Man Who Wasn't There

2001 existential neo-noir

Rating: 17/20 (Jen: 18/20)

Plot: Ed cuts hair in his brother-in-law's barber shop. One day, he decides he's not content with his life after listening to a customer go on and on about plans to start a dry cleaning business. Ed decides to invest. The problem is that he doesn't have any money to invest. He comes up with a dumb plan, probably because he's a dumb guy, to blackmail his wife's boss. Things don't go as planned.

This is one of the best-looking black 'n' white movies I've ever seen. The Coen brothers sure know how to use blacks and whites, and their homage to noir is complete with twirling smoke from omnipresent cigarettes, dark shadows, gratuitous fedoras, and sharp contrasts. The Coens throw in all the elements of classic noir and just to keep things interesting, add UFO's into the mix. That genre's existential themes, here more obvious with repeated lines of dialogue and the sort-of narrated epilogue Billy Bob has, are also present here. With Ed, we've got a character who can't find his niche in the world, a character trying to mold some sort of existence for himself, a character who's lost and transient and directionless. And perhaps better than any other filmmakers, the Coens are able to incorporate imagery and symbolism to help nail down that theme, from the beginning shot of a rotating barbershop pole (of course, spiralling down and without the striking red and white) to the chair and razor at the end of the movie (a parallel image to the chairs and razors associated with Ed's profession) and all the numerous circles, hubcaps, lights and shadows, hair references, sonatas, and UFO 's in between. Thornton's deadpan performance is disarming. He's a man suffocated by his own existence, yet he seems oddly unaffected by the mess he's gotten himself in. Lots of faces familiar in the Coen universe, those typical oddball characters that inhabit their stories. I thought Frances McDormand was especially good, and Tony Shalhoub (not to be confused with Shooby Leboof) seemed like he was born to play the hotshot lawyer Freddy Riedenschneider. The story's got some left turns and it's not always clear exactly what's going on, but it's all told with such a remarkable visual flair and an abundance of style, that it doesn't really matter. It's not all noir moodiness and fatalistic despair either. I thought a lot of the movie was pretty funny, but there were times when I laughed or almost laughed and thought, perhaps because of the somber tone of the movie, that it was inappropriate, like (SPOILER ALERT!) in a car crash scene where a car flies absurdly across the screen. Like a lot of Coen bro movies, I can't quite put all the pieces to this haunted stroll through a barber's nightmare together, but it's definitely fun to meditate upon. I saw this way back when it came out and didn't remember it so well. I don't know why I'm surprised that I liked it as much as I do.

A Serious Man

2009 riddle

Rating: 17/20 (Jen: 17/20)

Plot: Larry's a midwestern physics professor with a wife and two children. One day, his life gets much more complicated. His wife tells him that she is leaving him for their friend Sy. His son is addicted to the marijuana. His daughter steals from him to save up for a nose job. One of his failing students is trying to first bribe him and later sue him. Suddenly, not much makes sense about Larry's life. He seeks the counsel of a triad of rabbis.

I expected more straight comedy here, but this is more Fink than Lebowski or Burn After Reading. It's pretty clear early on that watching this movie will be like wading neck deep through an existential funk. Like Old Testament Job, albeit more comically, poor Larry is tested, dragged through shit, and spun in dizzying circles. It's hard to not feel for the guy. Accuse the Coens of being unnecessarily difficult, convoluted, and obscenely quirky if you must, but they have a way of making films that closer than any other filmmakers' works to matching the confusion of human existence. A Serious Man is a film that questions rather than answers, and it does it in a way that is typically Coen while being something completely new. This is the type of movie I'll likely never feel that I've completely grasped, possibly because of what I miss by not being Jewish or by not being smart enough to understand simple philosophical concepts. But I'm fascinated by what seems to be a lack of answers from the three rabbis (faith, mystery, and abandonment?), by the connections with Biblical Job, by the recontextualizing of that Jefferson Airplane song, and by the unlikely marriage of spirituality and science to fool us into thinking the world is a logical place. I need to watch this again and will have no problem doing just that.

Romance and Cigarettes

2005 musical

Rating: 11/20

Plot: Nick is a married man with three daughters, but Kate Winslet has beautiful red hair and a sexy accent which she uses to say filthy things. So he hits that. Wife Kitty doesn't appreciate the extracurricular banging, and Nick, possibly going through a mid-life crisis, tries to put his life back together. They all sing about it.

This is disappointing as a musical, as a comedy, and as a drama. So much talent was involved here. Gandolfini, Sarandon, Winslet, a small Buscemi part? Even Christopher Walken and Amy Sedaris are in this! Great cast, right? John Turturro's directing, the Coen boys are producing. That's a lot of talented folk, and in bits and pieces, there are definitely likable moments. But as a whole, this fails. The songs (plundered pop tunes) don't work, the characters' motivation is often confusing or nonexistent, the dialogue is insipidly lousy, and once you mentally drain this of its goofy ornamentation, there's barely a plot. Walken might be the best thing about this one as almost everything he does is funny. No, wait. It's the poster!

Raising Arizona

1987 comedy

Rating: 17/20 (Dylan: 6/20)

Plot: Lifelong miscreant H.I. McDunnough falls in love with offier-of-the-law Edwina. They eventually marry and move to a trailer seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Once they find out that Edwina can't have children, they decide to steal one of the quintuplets that unpainted furniture tycoon Nathan Arizona and his wife recently brought into the world.

According to Dylan, this is half as good as Pee Wee's Big Adventure. The best thing about this movie is its voice. The Coens borrow from decades of comedies while simultaneously create something that is uniquely their own. The quirky performances, the hammy direction, comic timing which somehow manages to be off and perfect at the same time, some great music. This is refreshingly entertaining from beginning to end. [Censored to hide blasphemous comments writer made about one Nicolas Cage.] Cage looks like a comedic genius in this one. Well, he sort of looks like a comedic genius in Ghost Rider and the Wicker Man remake, too, I guess.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

2000 Homer adaptation

Rating: 18/20 (Jen: 17/20)

Plot: It's a faithful adaptation of The Odyssey of Homer. In the middle of 1930s middle America, three escaped convicts (logorrheic Everett and his dopey companions Delmar and Pete) try to find their way to a treasure before the valley's flooded and said treasure is submerged at the bottom of a lake. And, of course, before the law catches up to them. Along the way, they bump into blind prophets, sirens, Babyface Nelson, prospective governors, and a cyclops.

I love everything about this movie. I love the comedy which perfectly combines brilliant performances with brilliant writing. I love the music, the timeless folk music that manages to both capture the Great Depression era and seem otherworldly. I love the Homer allusions and the nods to Hollywood screwball comedies. Most of all, I love the cinematography where the settings add so much color and become just as important as the characters. This film's got such a texture, an impossible-to-duplicate texture, that makes this a one-of-a-kind piece of filmmaking that I imagine will keep it around forever. It's got to be close to impossible to watch this movie without smiling often. It's definitely one of those movies I can watch again and again without ever getting tired of even though people watching it with me might get tired of me laughing in anticipation of certain upcoming gags. Both literary and dumb, there's enough here to appeal to nearly everybody, and it'll even teach you a few new vocabulary words. It's hard to believe that this is only the third best Coen comedy. It might have the single best Coen Brother scene, however, with that can't-believe-I'm-seeing-this KKK rally that even has a Wizard of Oz reference. Any discussion of "best movie musical ever" must include O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Burn After Reading

2008 black comedy

Rating: 14/20 (Jen: 16/20)

Plot: Simple-minded Chad and lonely aspiring plastic surgery patient Linda, both employees at a gym, stumble upon a cdr containing the memoirs of the recently-dismissed C.I.A. agent Osbourne Cox. After he rudely turns down their request for a reward, they, thinking what they have is top-secret information, decide to blackmail him. It doesn't work out very well. Caught in the crossfire are Cox's cheating spouse and the womanizing sexaholic with whom she is sleeping. And that, Steve, is how you avoid ending a sentence in a preposition.

This is one you've got to stick with because it sort of grows on you as it builds to some typical Coen moments. Like Lebowski, this is built on well-written and oft-hilarious dialogue (also, parallel or repeated lines are used frequently), but something about it seems a little half-assed, a Coen toss-off, at times even a private joke to which few people will be hip. (There you go again, Steve.) I like the performances although McDormand and Pitt might over-do it a little. The unpredictability goes a long way, and I think the comedy works despite frequently venturing into such dark territory at times that the writing only seems to nudge up against comedy or tiptoe the line between funny and uncomfortable. But shouldn't all good comedy make people uncomfortable?

365: The Big Lebowski

1998 movie

Rating: 20/20

Plot: Jeff Lebowski, a bowling slacker better known as "The Dude," has his rug urinated upon by a Chinaman which sets off a whirlwind of an adventure involving giggling artists, his seed, kidnapping, severed toes, double crossing, recreational drugs, lots of White Russians, a pomeranian, Jesus, theft of a car, a kid flunking history, a ringer, the Vietnam War, nihilists, known pornographers, a million dollars, and lots of bowling. But not The Dude. You don't get to see him bowl.

Seriously. He doesn't roll a single ball throughout the entire movie.

The Hudsucker Proxy

1994 comedic drama


Rating: 16/20



Plot: An imbecile from Muncie moves to the big city following graduation from business school. He's got dreams of making it big but can only find a job in the mailroom of Hudsucker Industries on the same exact day the president of the company takes a dive from the 44th story window during a board meeting and winds up as jelly on the street below. The board, led by mean guy Sidney Mussburger, strategize to find a way to make the company's stock dip so that they can buy up the bulk that just flew out the window. Their plan involves making that Hoosier imbecile president of the company and creating panic with investors.



Delightful! This is considered second tier Coen bros. stuff, but second tier Coen is so much better than a lot of most filmmakers' first tiers. Here they pay homage to those fast-talking sophisticated 1930's comedies (see: Sturges) and they and their actors do a very good job. The script is quickly paced and witty, and the movie looks and sounds fantastic with shots that simultaneously look innovative and old and big music straight outta 1935. This isn't often laugh-out-loud funny, more gee-that's-clever funny, but it is entertaining as hell. The lead actors on the poster are very good, but it's the little side parts (a lot of Coen regulars) that really bring the fun. There's also a lot of fun in the little side details--the period stuff, the visual gags, recurring jokes. The plot may get a little loopy by the end and this might annoy people who aren't familiar with what the Coens are spoofing (I didn't appreciate it much when it first came out), but it's quality entertainment that grows on you and reveals layers with repeated viewings.



Here I am remembering that I haven't seen Barton Fink in a couple years:

No Country for Old Men

2007 cat and mouse crime drama


Rating: 18/20


Plot: A hunter with a woman's name and the shadow of a minor league hockey team mascot has lost his shooting touch. His focus is gone as he can think of nothing but his impotence. "It just doesn't work no more," he says to the sands and the clouds. He smells brownies and wanders into a Mexican picnic. Unfortunately, the eatin' has finished and the brownie supply is depleted. The Mexicans are sleeping, but one of them, a somnigrapher, doodles a sketch (or sketches a doodle depending on whom you ask) of a man with a terrible haircut and a Boy Scout sash tuning a piano. The sleep-writer scrawls, "Their [sic] guy take napping be side [sic] tree yonder. Check pant's [sic] 4 brownie lol!" and the hunter wanders to the only tree in this particular part of Texas to hopefully meet a reasonable man. The man gives him the last brownie, or at least the part that he has not yet eaten, but only on one condition--the hunter must transport his suitcase full of prawns to a place that is very far from where they currently were. The hunter agrees. A man with terrible hair, working desperately to earn his last Boy Scout badge before he reaches the age where Boy Scouts, according to the Boy Scout Code, are no longer allowed to earn badges, decides to help in order to get that treasured "Seafood Mobilization Badge" and be named "Boy Scout of the Century" by the Boy Scout Board of Boy Scouts. Ironically (or perhaps not ironically since I'm like most Americans and have no clue what that word even means), the hunter is terrified of bad haircuts and flees from the Boy Scout. The chase is on, the hotel bills are enormous, and the tension is thick as the characters wonder how long prawns will keep in a suitcase!


Brilliant. There was nothing I didn't like about what I was seeing on my television for two hours until the very end when there were some things that I didn't like seeing but then later realized that I actually liked those things, too. Jolted, amused, palpitating, and completely entertained, I watched this and was thrilled that it lived up to the hype. It's stylish without looking stylish--the tight and gritty action scenes, the nearly complete lack of music, those little details that the Coen brothers can draw attention to like no other directors. Great acting, and not just limited to Javier Bardem's role as a character that will never be forgotten. That Chigurh is a bad guy hard not to root for, a guy so completely evil and quizzical and tough and philosophical and mysterious and devastatingly original that you don't even feel guilty when you root for him. Such a cool story, and it moves along so quickly that you don't even realize the two hours have passed. Decidedly non-Hollywood, No Country for Old Men toys with expectations and hammers you with lessons deep and bleak. Brilliant. I can't wait to see it again.


Here I am enjoying No Country for Old Men: