|
Post by tacomaster89 on Dec 31, 2007 2:10:40 GMT -5
Ok ok, so we saw the movie and I sensed some tension in the car, so let me just put my opinion.
Overall I didn't like it. I'm not trying to non-conform, or conform even, just hear me out.
This is probably a good book. The story can live on as literature, but not as a movie. Lots of interesting shots make the male survival and battle scenes entertaining to watch, but a lot of the first half of the movie was almost sensationalist violence, in a fancy way.
Hear me out. I do understand it is a movie, and this can be gotten away with, but then the movie took a turn and started to become boring, even for one who may think he or she is perceptive.
As far as that theme that comes up towards the end of the movie, I like it (some complain it is nihilistic--they are mostly right) but I think it has been done before, and better...without an hour of cowboy cat and mouse to throw you off.
Check out House of Sand and Fog or Porco Rosso, Shower, or The Last Picture Show. I like all those movies a lot.
Its an accomplished movie and isnt exactly bad, but If I were to really criticize it I would say those things. Most likely I will have long forgotten it in a year.
|
|
|
Post by erol_otus on Dec 31, 2007 2:39:38 GMT -5
I didn't think there was much tension, I probably could've guessed who would like the movie and who didn't based on knowing you all. I think alot of your complaints are valid and agree that the final point of the movie (old age v. youth) probably has been better expressed by movies which devote their entire running time to addressing it. I don't, however, think that you can dismiss much of the movie as simply 'cowboy cat and mouse.' The movie was pretty dense and had other themes going on in it, especially the theme of greed and it's effects on different people (I'm pretty sure that's a central theme in almost every Cohen Bros. film). For me, the cinematography and tension of the movie were so great that they far overshadowed any shortcomings in character development or strength of theme. The movie just felt really tight and I always found myself interested and on the edge of my seat.
|
|
|
Post by tacomaster89 on Dec 31, 2007 2:48:07 GMT -5
I said parts of it were cowboy cat and mouse, not the movie itself. It should have played on that density more, but of course that it was the novel is for. Only once or twice really did I consider greed all that much. Mainly I was just waiting to figure out how the protagonist would get away from the bad guy.
|
|
|
Post by erol_otus on Dec 31, 2007 2:58:58 GMT -5
I didn't say you said the movie itself was cowboy cat and mouse, I said you said "much of the movie." Don't be a cock and put words in my mouth about putting words in your mouth.
|
|
|
Post by lacocious on Jan 4, 2008 2:43:44 GMT -5
There's one thing that I got left to say before I forget. After watching TRS talking about this movie, I realize why I liked this movie so much. While all points here are valid, from both parties, the thing that influenced me so much was that the first part of the movie was done so well from the everyman stand point. Sure, you can have a cat and mouse chase in any genre of movie, and it can be dramatic and entertaining, but what I love to see is "a simple man, way over his head, and he uses his head and his wits to get out of a sticky situation"(jeff cannata). I really haven't felt this way about tension and pressure in this form from a movie since Children of Men, and before that haven't felt it since I dont really remember when.
Also, the Coen brothers do regional movies so well, and I think that's another reason I liked it so much. They did Fargo, which was Crime and money in the Midwest, they did Big Lebowski, which while a comedy, is still Crime and money in the East coast, and O Brother Where art Thou, was crime and money in the rural south. I felt especially connected to their crime movie in the mexican-american southwest. The cinematography, which I think we all agreed was phenomenal, was so spot on for someone who has been there and witnessed places and people just like that.
"Entertainment is such a personal medium"(alex Albrecht), so while to some it is a decent movie, and others think its above average, I personally think it's the Coen''s best, and probably in my top 5 movies of all time.... personally.
-J
|
|