Movie Review: No Country For Old Men

The Cohen brothers who gave us the classic black comedy Fargo in the 90s return with this masterpiece. No Country for Old men,a movie totally neglected by the Globes went on to win the Oscar for best picture this year.

The movie features Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem and Oscar winner and Tommy Lee Jones with each delivering great performances. Josh Brolin plays a Vietnam vet who finds himself in the midst of a gruesome desert war zone littered with corpses, both human and animal. He also finds a large fortune that he decides to keep.

On his trail is an cold, calculating sinister and emotionless escaped con, masterfully played by Barden. On their trail is an old grizzled Sheriff, played by Tommy Lee Jones, the narrator of the violent tale.

No County has been called a thriller, a cat and mouse game, a western and a horror movie. It is all of these, yet none of these. It holds the viewer in its grip and never lets go. It is a cat and mouse game but does not conclude like most commercial 'chase' movies.

Many will be disappointed with the end. If you expect justice, retribution and romance of the kind we expect from Hollywood movies, there is none of these here. The theme has to do with grim reality and holds a powerful message. The end, like the movie itself is offbeat and unexpected. Worth watching is my verdict.

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Movie: Double Jeopardy(1999)

With a great premise and a great cast, how can a movie go wrong? It simply does.
Tommy Lee Jones and Ashley Judd star in this mediocre film. First the premise. A person cannot be tried for the same crime twice. If a woman, for instance serves a sentence for killing her husband, and somehow he turns up alive she can't be tried for the same crime twice.
I apologize if I revealed the end, but the movie's title beat me to it. Can anyone tell me why the woman does not kill such a man the moment she finds him and prolongs the movie another 15 minutes.
It has typical Hollywood stereotypes too. When she decides to take things in her own hands, the protagonist starts working out(Like De Niro in Cape Fear.)Why?
Rajiv's verdict: Skip this one.

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Movie: Under Siege (1992)

Moral: Bad actors DO NOT a bad movie make. And conversely…
Yes. I have a weakness for action flicks. What makes a good action flick?
1. Good stars,
2. Great special effects,
3. Good direction
4. A good screenplay,
5. Great dialogs
6. A despicable villain
This movie has all of the above. Yes. .It has Steven Segal, who lazily mumbles his lines between the action, but the movie has several saving graces that actually make it ‘good’. Gary Busey and the unforgettable Tommy Lee Jones are great. This movie was part of the comeback trail for Jones who got nominated for an Oscar for JFK the previous year and finally won one the following year for Fugitive.

The plot:
Terrorists(Busey and Jones), all American and disgruntled members of the US armed forces take over a battleship. The responsibility of saving the day falls on the broad shouldered cook and ex-navy seal (Guess who..).
Guess what happens then…
Well, the special effects are good and Tommy Lee Jones livens things up with witty one liners.
My Favorite line in the movie is when Jones tells one of his sidekicks.
‘Get there and contact me for directions…Don’t get creative.”
You guessed it, I recommend this flick.

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