<p>Before seeing this film, I thought There Will Be Blood would win Best Picture hands down. Still TWBB is my favorite of the contenders I’ve seen, but I’ve got to admit to being extremely impressed by No Country.</p>
<p>Definitely a very dark and violent film, but thought provoking to be sure. I was completely blown away by the end of the film. I thought both Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones had stellar peformances.</p>
<p>We got lucky this year with two brilliant films - NCFOM and TWBB. The thing with Clooney is absurd to be in contention, imo.</p>
<p>I refused to go, but almost every family member who saw it was practically sick from the violence. I can’t block this stuff out and it comes back to me in dreams. No country for old bethies! We’re Scandanavians–if a voice gets raised, we run into the nearest closet.</p>
<p>Scottish here - we thrive on the violence so long as there’s a nice ale afterwards and perhaps a poem or two.</p>
<p>bethievt,
I’m with you. A couple of months ago I read the novel (because I had enjoyed McCarthy’s The Road) and it was so violent and the characters so evil that I knew I could not possibly see the movie. I’m Irish and English, at war with myself most of the time, I guess. Raised voices, guns, serial killers… not my cup of tea. :)</p>
<p>Scottish too…but just watched Eastern Promises and I do admit to getting more than a little queasy when they started chopping fingers. And normally Viggo in his birthday suit would be a good thing…but not this time.</p>
<p>I still haven’t seen TWBB…waiting for my own oilman to get back in the country so we can see it together.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’ve seen all the best picture nominees and the only two I’d go see again are Juno and Michael Clayton (do you hear me, Academy?!)</p>
<p>No Country For Old Men:</p>
<p>May have been a good movie but I don’t know since I spent 2 hours squirming in my seat and wishing for it to be over. Who wants to see some guy blow away nice people with a portable oxygen tank? </p>
<p>Saw Cloverfield…at least that was fun.</p>
<p>Scottish here as well. But the Midwestern side, as well as my early hippie devotion to peace and love, makes such movies abhorrant to me. I’ve seen Eastern Promises, which though gruesome, had some redeeming qualities. No Country for Old Men was sheer torture. Bad effects on my nervous system. I’m tough in many ways, but not that one. For years I’ve eschewed violence, but thought maybe I should grow up a bit, not be so sensitive, so went along with my sweetie, as he’d read the reviews. Never again. He agreed with me on NCFOM. Next violent movie, he’ll go alone. </p>
<p>I see no redeeming value in such violence filled plots. What is the appeal?</p>
<p>Hmm. I thought There Will be Blood was really a good movie. Daniel Day Lewis was amazing. Paul Dano (of Little Miss Sunshine) had a tough row to hoe in the part of the preacher, but I thought he carried it off OK. It’s not the kind of movie I’d say I enjoyed, but I thought it was really good, if that makes sense. Movie-Nut son saw both TWBB and NCFOM and thought the former was by far the better picture. We know of several people who didn’t care for the end of TWBB, but S. loved it, and thinks the line “I’m finished!” will become a classic of sorts.</p>
<p>I caught Sweeney Todd last week with 13 y/o daughter and her friend. They LOVED it (yes, mostly because of Johnny Depp). I’m not at all squeamish, but thought the graphic slashings were over the top.</p>
<p>Gee. After reading the above I’m glad I didn’t see NCFOM. I just don’t find cruelty in movies entertaining. Would rather just skip it.<br>
Even the movie “Anchorman” got on my nerves with the scene where Jack Black kicks the (obviously fake) dog off the bridge. In what way is that supposed to be funny? Recently saw an ad for a new sitcom called “Unhitched” (on Fox TV, of course-- where else?) which show the quizzical expressions on the faces of the “regular guy” type characters as they witness what happens to a rat they place in their microwave. I just don’t get it. Who writes this garbage? And then people wonder how kids become desensitized to violence.</p>
<p>Well, I personally did not fall in love with that movie. Like some posters here, I was looking at my husband , trying to convey “what in the world are we doing here???”.
I don’t think the film was bad, but it did not carry me away from the theatre, like some movies can…
But it is just my opinion.
In the foreign category I am rooting for the movie “Katyn” , by polish director I believe. It is about the killing of polish officers by the soviets . I went to a private screening and was just blown away by this movie. It is told/shown through the eyes of the women/wives of those officers. Beautiful, even though painful:-)</p>
<p>Violence doesn’t always turn me against a movie, but I did not care for either NCFOM or TWBB, especially the latter. Unlike Gladiator, The Patriot, or Braveheart, the violence was just violence, the characters were just mean creepy people. </p>
<p>I wanted to like Eastern Promises, for a variety of reasons, but it was so dark and painted such a gloomy picture of London immigrant society that I left depressed. The violence itself was not the turn-off in that case.</p>
<p>Andrzej Wajda, “polish director” is a legendary filmmaker. I am looking forward to this movie. It’s hard to say “I liked” about NCFOM, but I think it is a great movie. It’s faithful to the source, beautifully made and incredibly acted. It’s dark to be sure but I am glad I saw it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the warnings, everyone! I can not stand violence for the sake of showing violence or even when it is needed for the sake of the plotline. I do not watch war movies for that reason. I kept my eyes closed through most of Saving Private Ryan, but Schindler’s List worked for me because most of the violence was not graphic but rather implied.</p>
<p>I thought both NCFOM and Blood had their problems but excellent acting. NCFOM was an great adaptation of the book and portrayal of menacing evil. I would like to see an adaptation of Blood Meridian which I thin is Cormac McCarthy’s best book. I haven’t seen Juno which is said to be cute but Michael Clayton was trite with a feel-good ending that ruined the movie for me. My 18 y.o. also could not figure out how Clayton was nominated for an Oscar. If I had a vote, I gues it would be for TTBB.</p>
<p>wharfrat2, if you think the film was dark you should read the book!! Where the book outdoes the film is that Chigurh is the ultimate mystery in that Cormac gives us only a name to attach to the random violence he wrecks on those he encounters. No ethnic, backstory, or physical description what so ever. The reader is left to fill in those blanks.</p>
<p>That’s next on my list after I finish Oil</p>
<p>Too much violence and not enough sex in movies these days.</p>
<p>I could never bring myself to see “Pulp Fiction” because of the violence. </p>
<p>What really makes me sad is to see parents bringing young children to these kinds of movies.</p>