Quote:
Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm
They're idiots? lol
No seirously, Daniel Day-Lewis' performance as Daniel Plainview is one of the best performances I've ever seen, it's amazing. Just watch the movie for yourself.
No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood are two of the best movies I've seen, hard to pick which won was the best movie of last year.
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Agreed. But I'd easily pick There Will Be Blood as the better movie.
SPOILERS!!!
Just some of my thoughts on these two movies...
I liked No Country, and really enjoyed the theme of the old Sheriff feeling inadequate in his older age, especially when he describes his two dreams at the very end. Them both being about him being inadequate compared to his father. Also, Tommy Lee Jone's character being unable to come to terms with modern society.
Then of course the stubbornness of Lou Ellyn (sp?) and him not wanting to just give up, in fact he goes so far as to essentially sell out his wife in an effort to win the battle against Sugurh (sp?). This I thought might have stemmed from a deep seeded feeling of incompleteness that he felt given the fact that he was a Nam vet and we all know how that ended.
However, I far preferred There Will Be Blood. Daniel Day Lewis portrayal of Daniel Plainview was one of the finest performances I've ever seen in a movie. I'm short on time so I don't want to analyze this one too deeply but I loved the comparison of Daniel Plainview, the first brother Paul, who sold out his family for $500 (im assuming that he never got the other $1000 that Daniel promised him and I'm also assuming that he was lying to Eli at the end about Paul's success) then of course Eli the preacher who clearly knew that he was taking advantage of those small town people just as much as Daniel was.
I found it really interesting that there really weren't any good people in this movie. There isn't really a Protagonist because Daniel, Daniel's fake brother, Paul and Eli are all terrible people who are doing whatever possible to get ahead in life and that even though they were "successful" they weren't happy.
In this respect I believed that No Country and There Will Be Blood had some similarities in that they both showed the effects that money and the perceived happiness that it can bring and how people will do anything to get/keep money so that they can achieve said happiness that money supposedly brings.
I guess the only decent person in the whole movie was Daniel's son. He really overcame all of the crap that his father put him through and became happy and successful.
EDIT: few more thoughts on There Will Be Blood
I love how the opening sequence with Daniel in the mine digging for gold essentially tells you everything you need to know about this character in the first five minutes.
Also, the scene near the beginning where he is giving his speech to the townspeople and how Daniel refuses the contract even if they gave it to him as a gift. I especially like this scene because it shows that these townspeople are "wolves" hence Daniel does not want to deal with them and subsequently moves on to the ranch with just the older couple because they are "sheep" that Daniel can take advantage of far more easily, in the same way he tries to do with the Sunday family, under the guise that he only wants their ranch to raise his son on. (BTW this idea is not my own but I really loved the insight it provides into Daniel's character)