drunkencomputing

Some of you who are in the know (that phrase actually means, “who I’ve talked to recently”), are aware I am a huge fan of the book No Country for Old Men. I read it the last time on Isle Royale and couldn’t put it down. I read over that parts that I didn’t know what the fuck was going on again and again until I figured it out. Normally, this isn’t a practice I’m familiar with, since I lose patience very quickly, so a book has to be good for me to do that (Haruki Murakami is another author that I do that with from time to time). I even tried a little interpretation my self on what the book was all about…and I haven’t done that since grade school (and not even back then, sometimes).

So the book was good. And when I found out that they were doing a movie, I was stoked. And then when I found out that the Coen Brothers were doing the flick, I was really stoked. Lastly, when I saw the first few trailers and read early reviews, I was pee-my-pants-stoked. So my expectations for the movie were high.

Was I let down? That’s a tough question, and I had a 2 mile walk back from the theater here in Hawaii (yeah, I saw a movie while in Hawaii…that’s how bad I wanted to see it) to really get to my answer. The answer, in short, is NO…I wasn’t let down. The long answer, on the flip side, was YES, I was let down…initially. Then I reflected (my God, these grade school english and literature techniques are coming out of everywhere!) on my answer.

The movie was spot on for what I imagined the book to be. I mean, at one point when Lewelyn (SP?) is crossing the river, I could have sworn to God that was exactly the way I pictured it in my head. And the hotels that most of the movie take place in are near identical to the ones I imagined in my head. Why is this? Probably because Cormac McCarthy describes things with big, hard words, but when you figure out what they mean, you really get a feel for the environment. Next, they couldn’t of cast the characters better. The only character I was a little iffy on was Woody Harrelson’s: in the book I figured he was a bit more of a weathered type person, not a younger, sprier individual. But that’s a technicality.

Next, the movie stuck very close to the original book, with nothing really important left out (except maybe the interview with the boy Chigurch got the shirt from towards the end, I felt this should have been included). So you got the whole gist of the book with the movie. Next the “action” was kept intact to appease those coming to the movie for the “action” category it fell under. And lastly, there were the thrills: even when I knew what was coming or what was going to happen to someone, I still was shocked or surprised by it.

So whats this all have to do with “does the movie live up to my expectations?” Well, because I think that’s why the long answer was initially a “no.” When I left the theater, I felt as if something was missing from the movie. I felt that it wasn’t as wholesome as the book was. Then I realized why everyone always says “the book was better than the movie:” because the book always is better than the movie. That’s the source, the life blood. It’s the alpha stage, it’s what you grew up on. It created all the imagery in your ideal manner in your head when you read it. It made the characters who they are and how you imagined them. And each person imagines everything differently in their head. You remember some parts of the book stronger than others. You interpret a meaning in your head. Then when they see the movie, the scene or the character your imagined isn’t the same. The psychopathic killer you imagined from the words on the page doesn’t look or act like you’d thought. The interpretation of a part of the book isn’t what you made it out to be. So your disappointed by the movie. So the common phrase is hatched: “the movie wasn’t as good as the book.”

Now to the short answer, and the one I arrive at upon grade school, 500-words-or-less reflection: YES, the movie did live up to my expectations, because the Coen brothers got everything right. The scenes were shot either identical to how I imagined them or as close as you could get without a Government mind-probe. Javier Bardem was fucking Anton Chigurch. Tommy Lee Jones was so fucking dead on for the roll of Ed Tom Bell that I wanted to reach through the screen and grab him and tell him it was going to be O.K. Even Lweleyn Moss was as close as you could get to being the character from the book…and he was the character I was least impressed with in the flick.

Some of the scenes, in fact, are actually done better than I could of imagined. The first few scenes with Lwelyn finding the trucks were so Goddamn beautiful, I almost wanted to go to Texas. Then at the end of the movie I remembered why I don’t want to go there. Then I remembered Ed Tom, and I wanted to go back there and hug him.

With the images and characters intact from my imagination, the Coen Brothers put transferred my interpretation of the book nearly spot on. To me, the movie was almost a sort of vindication on how I made the story out (yaay me!). And yet even at times, the movie helped clarify a few things that I had missed or didn’t understand all to well in the book (hey, Cormac McCarthy uses a lot of big words and run-on phrases that I just don’t want to look up or decipher after a while!) These scenes that enlightened my experience with the book fit so well with what I interpreted things as, that it only reinforced the fact that the Coen brothers got it right.

Then there’s the dry humor. That’s the Coen’s specialty, I think, and the same with Cormac McCarthy. Neither rely on punchlines or canned jokes, just situational humor. It’s executed with Fargo-like precision here. So subtle at times, the humor is, that you almost miss it.

Oh, and another thing I liked: the complete lack of music in the entire film. This is pretty standard for Coen brother’s movies, but it caught some people off guard I think when the film just faded to black and was done with nary a sound.

So I left the theater feeling empty, but once I thought about it for like, five minutes, it made sense and I realized what a great flick I had just seen. It was truly terrific. It’s very easy for me to give this movie 5 out of 5 stars and answer the standard question “is it as good as the book” with a solid “fuckin’ A.”

I’m going to re-read the book when I get it back, but in the meantime, I blew right through The Road, and I’m very into All The Pretty Horses. Damn you and your hard-to-read-yet-cool and habit-making writing style, Cormac McCarthy. I was tempted to write this entire review in free flow or whatever your writing style is that you got there but I decided that no sir I wasnt going to do that because that would just confuse some of the people that may happen upon my website and so I didnt do it. Reminds me of the time when I was on the internet and someone posted on one of those internet forums and said how do you like that book No Country For Old Men and I was just there sitting and said well I enjoyed it very much even though it was hard to understand and I sat there and typed that away on my keyboard until it was displayed on the internet. Well sir wouldnt you know it someone in the very next post under the one that I had just composed completely understood and he spat on the ground and said I dont mind that at all.

Ahh man, that is fun. SEE NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. Fin.

i just finished author Dan Brown’s “Angels & Demons.” yes, it’s by the same Dan Brown who wrote the super-smash, uber-selling book “The Da Vinci Code.” i’ve now read all of Dan Brown’s books–”Deception Point” (his first,) “The Da Vinci Code” (his most recent,) “Digital Fortress” (the third book) and now lastly “Angels & Demons” (his second book.) By far, “Angels and Demons” has been the best one i’ve read. but let me explain what exactly i mean by “the best.” first of all, i’m not a smart man…never have claimed to be. i have a hard time detecting “beautiful” or “artistic” things unless they are thrown in my face. i don’t read Shakespeare or “Walden’s Pond” for enlightenment. i read to be entertained, and i need to be thoroughly entertained. Dan Brown’s book does this, but in a very annoying way for me. granted, the man puts a lot of research into his books (nearly every bit of the book–minus the main characters [whom are fictional]–can be collaborated as real by a quick Google search, or checking out his web site.) and he does string together a very plausible theory on symbology, iconography (is that a word?), religion, science, and government conspiracies. the man without a doubt is intelligent…it’s just his writing style that annoys me, but at the same time…satisfies my need to be “thoroughly entertained.”

Dan Brown’s books could be mistaken for young adult fiction if you were to take out all the complex plot, pesky Italian, French, and German dialogues, as well as obscure pretty-people sports such as “Squash.” take all that out, and you are left with words that could easily entertain a horny, pimple-faced teen-ager. basically what i’m trying to say is that his writing is very simplistic–the theme of basic drama is strung throughout (which keeps you flipping pages to read more!) and other key elements define his books. for one, there is always the pretty protagonist: the best in their field, very human. good character indeed (Robert Langdon, who is the central character in “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons” is one of my fave in books to date) but always predictable. secondly, there is always a shadowy assassin. next, there is the even more-shadowy antagonist who torments the protagonist with veiled threats and through the assassin. last, there is always Dan Brown’s undying need to make every last fucking paragraph a mini cliff-hanger that keeps you reading and reading and reading when you should be in bed because you have to get up and go to work early in the morning mother fucker.

like i said, i want to be entertained and i don?t want to have to have a literary degree to read a book. so Brown’s basic style of writing is good–because god knows if he was to actually write on the level he could, his books wouldn’t be a best seller because EVERY mother fucker would be lost–but almost annoyingly basic. he’s currently writing a sequel to “The Da Vinci Code” and i can’t wait for it…i’m hoping he’ll change up his recipe for this novel (which, FYI, contains Robert Langdon again.)

with Dan Brown’s sudden and crazed fan base (you know at least 5 people who are currently reading or HAVE read one of his books, guaranteed) i hope he doesn’t sell-out or feel pressured to turn out another book in a less-fashionable manner. i hope he keeps to his in-depth studying of his book’s theme (the research into “Angels & Demons,” if you poke around his website, is astonishing…he actually had someone smuggle him into hidden parts of the Vatican) and i also hopes he doesn’t “sell out” like many authors do when they reach stardom. add to that a little sprucing up on his writing technique (let the user make the decision to flip the page, enough with the cliff-hangers!) and i’m sure we will have another NY Times best-seller.

i’ve heard talks of a “Da Vinci Code” movie? what?s this? “inevitable” i say. this is America, where anything that makes money in one way can make it in another. i’ve been trying to wrap my head around how to successfully convert either “The Da Vinci Code” or “Angels & Demons” into a movie, and it befuddles me. so much of Brown’s books are either passive thoughts by a character, or unspoken factoids about a particular item. rolling this into a movie would almost be either too complex; or for some intuitive director out there, too dumbed-down, for many people to enjoy. i’m sure a movie will be made, but i just hope that Mr. Brown picks out the right director, screen writer, and actors to fill in the blanks…because the possibility of the book-to-movie transition sucking is very possible.

go pick up a copy of all of Dan Brown’s books. i was surprised that my semi-artsy-fartsy girlfriend (whom is a English major/annoyingly picky dialog expert) enjoyed the books. she finished most of them before i did. she had the same comments about the writing style as me, but still found the books nonetheless intriguing to keep reading. i kept telling her that she wouldn’t like the books–for the simplistic writing as well as some of the Government- and technical-themed items that grace the “Deception Point” and “Digital Fortress” books. everyone needs to read more anyway and stop surfing the shitty internet to crappy personal web pages and watching mind-numbing television that creates needless, adolescent addictions. take it from me.