No Country for Old Men

[mack 44]

Hmm, I remember that clear as day and hadn't thought of it that way. What seemed odd to me about that was the kid was just going to give it to him anyway, but he insisted on paying anyway. Then again that could be tied to his odd sense of morals or it could be construed as him starting to be a little more, er, human. Again it's an ambiguous move it'd seem.

Lkpt - you won't be disappointed.

[msander 0]

Guys, I'm fairly certain Anton did recoup the money. If you remember, when you see the shot of TLJ looking at the vent where the money had been stashed, you see a quarter lying next to the removed grate...likely meant to indicate Anton had used it to remove the gate and the cash. Also, I think the $100 he gave the kid solidifies that.

As far as the wife, she was killed on principle. Anton offered up the deal, "bring the money to me, and I'll leave her alone. I won't tell you that you can save yourself, it's too late for that". Basically he gave Moss a chance to give up the money, sacrifice himself and save his wife. When Moss instead chose to try and "fight it out", then on principle Anton was forced to folllow through on his promise to kill the wife.

Last thing about the $100 bill given to the kid at the end of the movie. I think that once again, it was meant to demonstrate Anton's somewhat warped but deeply ingrained principles.

[mack 44]

I remember the dime sitting there, the trail in the dust inside the vent, plus Anton in the room but kept thinking the wife had come there to pick up the money and that would have explained the possibility of Anton finding an empty vent.

But right after remembering that, I thought I remembered the wife showing up at the motel and TLJ stops her before she can see the crime scene? That means either Anton got it or the Mexican gang got it, nullifying my thoughts that the wife ever had it. She still did talk about having some of it; more than I thought Llewellyn gave her when they split up.

[LkptTiger 1]

Fuck, guys...

[mack 44]

Oh yeah, spoilers. There should be spoiler tags put in the code for posts, that'd be mint. Till then...um.

[LkptTiger 1]

Yeah, "mint." I suppose I really don't have much to complain about, though - I was stupid enough to keep reading.

[msander 0]

Well as long as it's ruined...

Mack, you're right, she showed up after all the carnage at the motel and was stopped by TLJ.

I think all she meant when talking to Anton is that she had spent the little bit of money that had been given to her. She implied that she had been given a small amount of money to use in the short term, but it had been spent and she didn't even have enough to pay her bills or for her mother's funeral.

Sorry for all the spoilers folks!

[LkptTiger 1]

I'll likely end-up checking in on Gone Baby Gone, too; I've never seen a bad movie set in Boston - with or without Matt Damon.

Okay, just remembered: Fever Pitch.

[mack 44]

Lkpt-

It starred Jimmy Fallon and was about the Red Sox - it was set to fail. Plus it was a horrible take on a decent book.

MSander-

Yup, the other thing I thought of was that I wasn't sure if the wife ever knew how much money Moss had found either. I thought he just pulled out one stack and gave her money from it.

[msander 0]

I suppose technically he did tell her at one point, although who knows if she picked up on it or if mattered. I remember at one point she asked something about what he's going to do, or what someone would do, and the response was along the lines of "how far would you go to get back your $2 Million.

[mack 44]

"How them Larrys treating you?" or whatever he said killed me.

Next up for me is The Mist, which I held off on as it looked like The Fog plus every other Stephen King movie seems to suck and I liked 1408. I heard it's right up there with Shawshank, though obviously on the other end of the spectrum.

[LkptTiger 1]

1408 was decent, though I think it would have been better if it were done on a somewhat smaller scale; things as dramatically physical like the room's self-deterioration were a little hard for me to swallow - mostly because of the inconsistencies (the room shakes/splits apart as no consequence to the rest of the hotel, but the fire started by Enslin resulted in the evacuation of the entire building...either the room is a sort of world unto itself or it's not: pick one, please).

I suppose I enjoyed it enough, though. I thought Cusack did a terrific job.

[troy 12]

What happened at the very beginning of the movie? I hear mention of Anton in a police car, I walked in right as Llewellyn was surveying the carnage in the desert.

[mack 44]

It starts off with Ed Tom talking/narrating, then cuts to Anton in the back of a police cruiser. Cop gets him at the station and is on the phone or radio to someone, all alone in the office somehow, and in the background you see Anton get up. He gets the cuffs out from behind him then strangles the cop, cleans up and leaves. In the cop car he pulls over a citizen and puts the cattle killer into his brain and takes his car.

[PBRyan 0]

I remember the dime sitting there, the trail in the dust inside the vent, plus Anton in the room but kept thinking the wife had come there to pick up the money and that would have explained the possibility of Anton finding an empty vent.

But right after remembering that, I thought I remembered the wife showing up at the motel and TLJ stops her before she can see the crime scene? That means either Anton got it or the Mexican gang got it, nullifying my thoughts that the wife ever had it. She still did talk about having some of it; more than I thought Llewellyn gave her when they split up.

Regarding the money and to add to the ambiguity: there is also some evidence that TLJ got paid off by Anton.

He retires at the end (like Moss's wife was said to be when Moss had the money).

He recounts his dream that could be construed as abandoning his principles.

There is no explanation as to how Anton escaped the motel room without a conflict when he was seemingly trapped inside(even in spite of his creeper skills).

God, the movie is so open ended and left open for so much interpretation -- it definitely proves a good avenue for word of mouth advertisement.

Also, I ordered the book last week.

[mack 44]

Not denying there's ambiguity as to the money and Ed Tom possibly taking it, but it would definitely be a drastic change in his character that we'd been put up. Of course that'd make it the perfect reason to change it up, but I still think his retiring is from realising he's out of place now and the times have passed him by.

I still have no clue what went on in the motel room when you see Anton apparently in there somewhere, then he's gone without a hitch.

Saw the Mist though and though it's not at Shawshank's level, it's right up there and is definitely its antipode.

[LkptTiger 1]

My girlfriend's older brother ran his mouth and ruined the ending of The Mist (I haven't had much luck avoiding spoilers lately, eh?). That said, I might have to go see the movie just for the last few minutes.

[mack 44]

It's a shitty thing to hear, but it's still a good movie and though that obviously cripples it I would go ahead and see it if you had a chance. Best way to see it though? When it's a month+ old and no one is in the theatre. We were sitting behind the chick from Scary Movie and pretty much everyone wanted to throttle her. "Shake a spear?!!?"

[LkptTiger 1]

Unless we're talking about a huge blockbuster, most of the cinemas around here are usually pretty empty. The last time I had to sit in a packed theatre was when I got dragged-out to see The Da Vinci Code the night it opened.

[mack 44]

You should be all right then. There's one character in the movie though that is fodder for great banter to be yelled out during the movie.

[LegoDoom 0]

Regarding the money and to add to the ambiguity: there is also some evidence that TLJ got paid off by Anton.

He retires at the end (like Moss's wife was said to be when Moss had the money).

He recounts his dream that could be construed as abandoning his principles.

There is no explanation as to how Anton escaped the motel room without a conflict when he was seemingly trapped inside(even in spite of his creeper skills).

In the beginning of the movie, TLJ says that he knows that you have to die to do this job (being a sheriff), not to be glorious. But that he doesn't want to push forward and fight something he doesn't understand. I took that to be meant for the final scene and that even though TLJ knew that Anton was in the room, he didn't have it in him to fight him.

[mack 44]

I think I've concluded it in my head that Anton wasn't in the motel room when Ed Tom showed up. Anton was good, but he was still hurt when that happened so I can't see him sneaking out like a ninja when Ed Tom was in the bathroom.

[PBRyan 0]

In the beginning of the movie, TLJ says that he knows that you have to die to do this job (being a sheriff), not to be glorious. But that he doesn't want to push forward and fight something he doesn't understand. I took that to be meant for the final scene and that even though TLJ knew that Anton was in the room, he didn't have it in him to fight him.

Good point, I hadn't considered that statement in regard to the motel room scene. However, TMJ did make a thorough effort to search the room, so I'm not entirely convinced either way.

I think I've concluded it in my head that Anton wasn't in the motel room when Ed Tom showed up. Anton was good, but he was still hurt when that happened so I can't see him sneaking out like a ninja when Ed Tom was in the bathroom.

That's the only conclusion that makes sense and stays true to Anton's character without creating issues about the money. Just seems odd to give the audience that impression. So the Coen bros. just put that in to build up the scene for climactic purposes and/or just to show Anton was still creping around?

[mack 44]

On the other hand though, if Anton really was there and didn't kill Ed Tom it adds to Anton's skewed ethos though, because maybe since he had no interaction with Ed Tom he had no reason to kill him. Then again, those he felt he didn't "need" to kill seemed to get handed a coin toss. Still though, my thoughts are that if Anton was there at the same time he would have killed him. I think you nailed it though by saying that scene's real purpose is just for tension and it worked.

I'm trying to figure out the significance of the bathroom window being locked from the inside.

[BuffaloKing 0]

tlj went into the room next to where moss got killed right? what about the body in the pool? the mexicans just killed him and boned out? that whole sequence really throws me for a spin. any ideas?