Dec 10, 2007

Javier Bardem = Long Lost Murderous Beatle

So I finally found out why there’s no country for old men. Javier Bardem will MURDER you before you reach the ripe old age of 30. Basically he will murder you. That’s the gist of the Coen Brother’s new deathtacular western-noir No Country For Old Men. Long gone are the sardonic f-bomb cratered tirades of the dude, or the mustachioed purrings of our favorite Pater Familias, and even the neurotic mumblings of Barton Fink. No, this new country—bereft of old men—is simply comprised of three things: Murder, sweating and running away from being murdered, and the ramblings of a tired Golden Retriever marauding as Tommy Lee Jones. And Murder.

As much as I enjoyed the cat and mouse game between Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem (which is less cat and mouse more armored War Bear and monkey [no I won’t stop bashing the Golden Compass])… I was upset, confused and beffudencholy at the seemingly elitist and confounding ending of the film. No, no… I’m sorry ending is a harsh word. Let’s say the way the film just stopped. No closure, no explanation, no reason, just shit happened and then it stopped happening because the screen went black and the credits rolled.

Now I could’ve missed something. Maybe the projectionist switched up a reel and there was something that happened after the credits. But he didn’t, it didn’t and it was a letdown.

For the last 8 minutes of the film watching Tommy Lee Jones (or TLJ as his BFF’s call him), talk about not one but TWO dreams he had, I couldn’t help but hear the Coen Brothers laughing giddily like Knox Harrington, the video artist. They did however find a way to give Milton from Office Space his stapler--and by stapler I mean silenced shotgun and by give I mean shoot in the neck.


Now to a completely different tangent: I love Lindy West. She writes for The Stranger out in Seattle and she’s hilarious when she writes about movies. But after discovering her new-found love of Cheesecake Bites at Arby’s I’m now… perplexed, forlorn and moved to start taking up money for her inevitable double bypass. Basically eating fried Cheesecake is about as healthy as rolling in a pit of bears (armored war ones) covered in honey and meat tenderizer after eating poison and swallowing a jar of bees. Plus I hear they’re about as addictive as fried cocaine. Maybe I’ll pick up a half dozen tonight…


PS: Javier Bardem’s thinking of murder right now.