No Country for Old Men

"What's this guy supposed to be, the ultimate badass?"
It's almost the end of November and I think I've finally found myself the best movie of 2007. While there is still a month to go and plenty of Oscar-fare left to see, I doubt anything can top No Country for Old Men. It may not have the soul-stirring edginess of Gone, Baby, Gone or the action-packed slickness of 3:10 to Yuma but it does have two things no other film has this year: Joel and Ethan Coen.

The Coen brothers have kicked out some of the quirkiest cinematic gems of the past 20 years, but after two critical and box-office flops (Intolerable Cruelty and The Lady Killers) in the last few years, I began to wonder if the creative pool was drying out. Perhaps that's the reason I was so enamored with No Country. It proved my theory wrong and with a vengeance. Like Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and O Brother, No Country is a world more than it is a film. While the movie is not based on an original screenplay (it was adapted from Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name) you can't help but feel as though this story was written solely for the purpose of becoming a Coen brothers film some day. From the sound design and cinematography to the wardrobe and locations, every element of the film plays a key part in bringing this fictional world to life. Some people reduce the Coens' success to their skills as writers and the talented people they cast in their films. However, it is so important to realize how brilliant they are as filmmakers. Only a true visionary can take a simple story and turn it into something palpable.

Now I couldn't write a review of No Country without calling attention to the cast. Every actor in this film, whether in a bit part or a starring role, is fantastic. I give Joel and Ethan Coen mad props for making some rather unconventional choices in the casting decision. Here's a quote from an interview Entertainment Weekly did with Javier Bardem that illustrates precisely what I mean:

"When the Coens called, I said, 'Listen, I'm the wrong actor. I don't drive, I speak bad English, and I hate violence.' They laughed and said, 'Maybe that's why we called you.'"



The Coen brothers have a great knack for knowing when an actor will absolutely nail a character and their decision to cast Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh is no exception. Chigurh is one of the strangest and most haunting individuals in recent cinema history and much of that is because his appearance is so off-putting. He doesn't look or sound anything like your typical psycho-killer and I give a lot of credit to both the Coens and Bardem for putting so much thought into the portrayal of Chigurh. Bardem gives the character this sort of soft-spoken madness that is extremely scary to watch yet at the same time totally fascinating.

I also love that they cast Josh Brolin as the protagonist, Llewelyn Moss. This seems to be Josh Brolin's year (he's had starring roles in Grindhouse and American Gangster) but before 2007 he was pretty much the guy that was hired for the bit role because he was cheap. Brolin is not a critically acclaimed actor nor does he have box-office appeal. The Coens really took a chance giving him such an important role and I think it paid off beautifully. Brolin has a fantastic every-man quality and as Llewelyn Moss, he reminded me a lot of the great leading men of '60s and '70s Westerns.

Tommy Lee Jones is flawless as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell which shouldn't surprise anyone. What I really loved about his character was how similar it felt to Frances McDormand's Marge Gunderson in Fargo. Sheriff Bell is the glimmer of hope amongst all the bloody chaos and nihilism, and while the film doesn't make any attempt to provide resolution or closure, he is the one element that allows you to walk away feeling slightly optimistic. I attribute that not only to the greatness of the character as it was written but also to the warmth and compassion Tommy Lee Jones brings to the role.

I don't think there's anything left to say other than that everyone should see this movie as soon as is humanly possible. Yes, ticket prices are indeed ridiculous and you probably feel like you should be spending your hard earned dough on blockbusters rather than indie fare. However, I still encourage you to see No Country for Old Men in the theater because crappy popcorn movies will always be playing on the big screen but a classic Coen brothers film will not.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving so I should be listing off all the things I'm most grateful for, right? Well, I'm struggling a bit there. Lately all the misfortunes of the past month have been catching up with me. I won't explain them in detail because I'm not that kind of blogger. I will say that I feel misplaced. I feel like my life needs a major facelift. Luckily I've been given the opportunity to find a new job which in turn will lead to new friends and possibly some interesting prospects in the romance department. I'm hoping so anyway because I really need it. There's so much about myself that's being wasted in this life I'm living now. Please God, I need that windfall...and soon.

The World's Greatest Nachos

Last night I finally took it upon myself to try and recreate the greatest food I've ever put in my mouth. What was it, you ask? None other than the infamous BBQ nachos from the Rum Boogie Cafe in Memphis. I'd been having barbecue almost every day for the last week before we rolled into Memphis but I knew the moment we arrived there I was about to encounter the best of the best. I was right. The ribs from Blues City Cafe were fantastic and utterly authentic. This wasn't really a surprise though. I fully expected to taste great ribs in Memphis. What I didn't expect was to find the world's greatest nachos.

Whoever decided to put BBQ sauce on nachos instead of taco sauce or salsa...well they deserve an automatic place in heaven. The taste is unparalleled and I'm now going to add it to my nachos any time I have the opportunity. So while I know I'm never going to be able to replicate the actual barbecue found in the Rum Boogie Cafe nachos, I think I've created a recipe that is a fantastic substitute. Give this one a whirl...you won't regret it.

Z's BBQ Nachos (makes 2 servings)

-half of a rotisserie chicken, chopped
-cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper to taste
-1/2 cup BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory & Brown Sugar)
-a few handfuls of tortilla chips
-1/4 cup green onions
-1/4 cup pickled jalapeno peppers
-1/2 cup chopped lettuce
-1/2 to 3/4 cup of Velveeta cheese, melted

Besides just throwing all of this stuff on top of the chips, the only thing you really have to do is season the chicken. I toss it with the spices listed above and I also recommend heating the chopped chicken pieces in a small saute pan with half of the BBQ sauce. The remaining sauce can be drizzled on top of the assembled nachos.

This recipe can be altered in a thousand different ways but this one is almost exactly the same as the original. And trust me...the original is as good as it gets.

Enjoy!

Hot guys, PSLs, and simpler times

I'm taking a few minutes away from my crazy day to blog. Yeah I promised not to blog about anything too stupid and pointless but I feel like these particular sentiments deserve some attention.

I've had a rough couple of weeks. Despite the overall awesome month I've been struggling with some personal relationships and issues at work. I haven't done the best job of keeping a positive attitude but I attribute a lot of that to the fact that I was just too exhausted to rise above it. Now, however, I think it's absolutely necessary that I rise above it. I want to be happy and wallowing in the negativity because I'm "too tired" to do anything else is just stupid. I will say that several things have kept me from throwing myself off the roof of the building and I want to take this time to appreciate those things.

Every time a hot guy saved my sanity I thought of this fantastic quote from the film Beautiful Girls:

A beautiful girl can make you dizzy, like you've been drinking Jack and Coke all morning. She can make you feel high full of the single greatest commodity known to man - promise. Promise of a better day. Promise of a greater hope. Promise of a new tomorrow. This particular aura can be found in the gait of a beautiful girl. In her smile, in her soul, the way she makes every rotten little thing about life seem like it's going to be okay.

I've always felt this way about hot guys and it proved especially true this past week. Whether it was the yummy new apartment manager smiling at me in the hallway, a co-worker who helped me out when I was drowning in paperwork, or the sexy bartender who talked to my step-dad about beer while simultaneously shooting me flirtatious grins, I was reminded that the world can be such a beautiful place when I'm in the presence of an attractive guy who makes me feel attractive. There's nothing better in the world.

The other thing I found to be helpful is having your senses comforted. I never really realized it until my sis pointed out a passage from a blog she found but it's so true. A warm bath, a soft blanket, happy music, or a hot cup of yummy such as a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks always, always makes a person feel better after a hard day.

Lastly, I think the best thing anyone can do is simplify. Like my sis mentioned in her blog, our mantra lately has been "simpler times." Eating pizza and drinking cocktails with good friends before the Aussie Floyd show. Watching Alien Resurrection the night before Halloween and then reading all about the Alien series on Wikipedia the next morning. The crazy little things that at the time seem so insignificant...those are the things that matter. Why focus on how unfair life is or how stupid people can be when you can focus on the "simpler times."

I hope I can remember to keep all of this stuff in mind in the weeks to come. It's easy to revert back to my pessimistic ways but right now, at this moment, I can't think of a single reason to be unhappy.

Gone Baby Gone

I think it's safe to say that this is the best film I've seen since Million Dollar Baby and that one shook me to the core. The thing I love the most about cinema is that you absolutely can never predict how a film is going to affect you. There's no rhyme or reason behind it. You just walk out of a theater moved, haunted, and changed without ever knowing what hit you. It's an indescribably beautiful phenomenon.

So can I even begin to put into words why I loved Gone Baby Gone so much? Well I'm here posting about it so I guess I should try. First and foremost, Casey Affleck's performance. Whenever I think about the expressions, or lack of expressions on his face, and the sad desperation in his voice, it gives me chills. Maybe it's knowing that he was being directed by his brother that makes the difference. I felt Casey's absolute dedication to getting this character right come out of every second he was on the screen.

And that brings me to the direction, the second biggest highlight of the film for me. I honestly had to keep reminding myself that Ben Affleck was the man behind it all. This is truly a tour de force for him. I loved how understated the performances were and how he was able to tap into the complexity of these characters without reducing any of them to stereotypes. By the end of the film you simply could not decide who was right and who was wrong even though every person in one way or another had done something terrible to someone else. I love a film that doesn't insult its audience by trying to convince it that the world is only one kind of place. While Gone Baby Gone does deal with the dichotomy of good versus evil and everyone's own personal system of ethics, I don't consider it to be a morality play. You never get the feeling that the film is being preachy and you certainly don't walk away with any answers.

Ben Affleck's direction and filmmaking style reminded me a lot of Clint Eastwood's which explains why this film had a similar effect on me that Million Dollar Baby had. I'm not sure if it's that Affleck and Eastwood were actors before becoming directors but I feel with both of them that there is this life force behind their films. And I don't mean that in a "man behind the curtain" kind of way where it's obvious someone is pulling the strings throughout. I mean that you can feel how dedicated they are to telling a story. When you look at every decision that had to be made by the director, i.e. who to cast as extras, how to light a scene, when to cut away, when not to cut away, when to push an actor to his/her limits, you realize how much a film is really a child born out of a director's passion and imagination. It is Ben Affleck who is responsible for every emotion and thought that will be experienced by the people who will watch his film and for that he really deserves to be commended.

One last thing I'd like to say about Gone Baby Gone is that it captures the city of Boston in a way I've never quite seen on film. I think what I love most about it is that this is Ben Affleck's hometown which everyone must know by now he loves and takes pride in. However, he doesn't glamorize the city and if anything he makes it seem like a pretty gruesome and brutal place to live. The people are hard, the streets are slimy, and you get a sense that those who are born there will never get out. I appreciate the fact that Ben Affleck respects Boston enough to show it as it really is. He cuts through the skin of the city and exposes its ugly insides and the result is absolutely beautiful.

More yummies!

Okay now it's time to seriously get down to business. EW recently finished their Ultimate Hotties series with a tribute to the men of the 1960s and earlier. As much as I love Hugh, Christian, Clive, Russell, and all the rest, these gents are truly the cream of the crop. You just don't get any classier or sexier then vintage Hollywood movie stars and the following twelve men are it as far as I'm concerned.

Warren Beatty



EW's Ultimate Hottie Moment Wooing Faye Dunaway into a romance — and a life of crime — from outside her bedroom window in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde

Z's Ultimate Hottie Moment The bedroom scene in Bonnie and Clyde has stayed with me since the moment I saw it. I think that was the first time I was exposed to an honest love scene in the movies. It was raw and emotional and showed the darker side of seduction and sexual connection.

Jean-Paul Belmondo



EW's Ultimate Hottie Moment As the sexy bad-boy Michel, practicing his Bogart moves on Patricia (Jean Seberg) in 1960's Breathless

Z's Ultimate Hottie Moment AH-greed. I saw Breathless in my Intro to Film class sophomore year and I'd probably have to say that my love for Jean-Luc Godard films and French New Wave cinema started with that initial attraction I felt toward Jean-Paul Belmondo. I mean, who doesn't love a guy who's got a man-crush on Bogey?

Marlon Brando



EW's Ultimate Hottie Moment Making the T-shirt an iconic garment by sporting a snugly fitting one throughout 1951's A Streetcar Named Desire

Z's Ultimate Hottie Moment Yes, it's hard not to go with the sweaty T-shirt moments of Streetcar but in my personal opinion Marlon Brando's hottest stuff was in Guys and Dolls. I love the relationship between Brando's bad boy gambler and Jean Simmons's high-minded mission worker. The whole 'opposites attract' cliche can get pretty tired in movies but here it is absolutely wonderful to watch.

Montgomery Clift



EW's Ultimate Hottie Moment Playing the prettiest cowboy ever opposite John Wayne in 1948's Red River — and being seduced by Joanne Dru

Z's Ultimate Hottie Moment I just watched Hitchcock's I Confess and I gotta say I felt guilty about how much I was lusting after his character the whole time. He plays a Catholic priest in the film, by the way.

Sean Connery



EW's Ultimate Hottie Moment A few minutes into Dr. No (1962): A tuxedoed gentleman is playing a high-stakes game of baccarat and compliments a ravishing brunette:

"I admire your courage, Miss...?"
"Trench. Sylvia Trench. I admire your luck, Mr...?"
"Bond. James Bond."

Z's Ultimate Hottie Moment Anyone who has seen Hitchcock's Marnie knows that the film is extremely provocative and at times very difficult to watch. And while there's no denying the disturbing nature of the rape scene, there's also no denying how unbelievably powerful Sean Connery's presence is in the scene. Part of you feels pity for Marnie while the other part cannot help but fall under Connery's spell.

James Dean



EW's Ultimate Hottie Moment As a teen misfit who tries to protect those weaker than him in 1955's Rebel Without a Cause.

Z's Ultimate Hottie Moment Agreed. It doesn't get much better than Rebel. I particularly love how he deals with all the bullies who have it out for him. "I'm cute too."

Clint Eastwood



EW's Ultimate Hottie Moment As cowpoke Rowdy Yates on Rawhide (1959-66), merely opening his eyes wide and flashing his grin — two habits Sergio Leone apparently rid him of for A Fistful of Dollars and the rest of Eastwood's career.

Z's Ultimate Hottie Moment When I think about Clint Eastwood and why I have so much love and adoration for him, I always come back to the cool swagger and icy stare of the character he made famous in Sergio Leone's "The Man with No Name" trilogy. He's funny, sexy, and as confident as any man has ever been in the history of the world.

Clark Gable



EW's Ultimate Hottie Moment For uttering one of Hollywood's most famous lines: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." (Gone with the Wind, 1939)

Z's Ultimate Hottie Moment For me it's It Happened One Night and getting ready for bed in the infamous "Walls of Jericho" scene. I love the banter between Gable and Claudette Colbert but it's the subtle moments in between that really get me. I don't think sexual tension has ever been brought to the screen so beautifully.

Cary Grant



EW's Ultimate Hottie Moment He's impossibly elegant and full of rakish charm playing the larcenous John Robie of Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief (1955)

Z's Ultimate Hottie Moment The train scene from North by Northwest. I think it epitomizes exactly what made Cary Grant such a classic Hollywood leading man. To this day, no male movie star has ever been able to deliver the brand of class and sophistication that for Cary Grant came as easy as putting on a grey suit.

Gene Kelly



EW's Ultimate Hottie Moment Whipping off his cape at the start of the fantasy tango to "La Cumparsita" in 1945's Anchors Aweigh. A man looks his best when he's at his best.)

Z's Ultimate Hottie Moment I don't know but for me being in love is like dancing around in the rain like a big sap. Of course no one illustrated that better than Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain. You just don't see grown men in real life being so unabashedly silly and romantic and that's why Gene Kelly is such a beloved part of Hollywood history.

Paul Newman



EW's Ultimate Hottie Moment Standing outside Joanne Woodward's bedroom wearing nothing but boxers and that grin in 1958's The Long, Hot Summer

Z's Ultimate Hottie Moment Well if you're a sucker for pool sharks like me then there's absolutely nothing hotter than Paul Newman in The Hustler. And it's not just his mad pool skills that get me. All of those intimate and ridiculously sexy scenes he shares with Piper Laurie are almost too painful to watch.

Gregory Peck



EW's Ultimate Hottie Moment The two seconds that the outlaw towers over ghost-town tomboy Anne Baxter in 1948's Yellow Sky, before stealing the hottest kiss in the Western genre

Z's Ultimate Hottie Moment Young Gregory Peck, old Gregory Peck, it's all very, very good. I think though my defining moment with him was when I first saw Spellbound. I know, I'm going with yet another Hitchcock film but his beauty in this movie is undeniable. I'll never forget both my mom and me gasping as soon as he came on the screen.


So that about does 'er! I know it may seem strange to lust after and worship men who are either old and crotchety or have been dead for years, but trust me. Rent any one of these movies and you'll understand.

The little things

I don't know why but this picture makes me indescribably happy. ZQ's arms, Masi's adorable smile, Milo's new haircut (yeah I still haven't gotten over it, Mom), the way they're all maxin' and relaxin', it's all wonderful. And what better way to celebrate Friday than by paying tribute to those little things that get you through the work week. Thanks, men of Heroes. You're the best :)