I cannot tell you how glad I am that Miramax sent out screeners of “No Country for Old Men” to the various critics’ groups. If I’d had to wait until it actually came out on DVD to resolve these questions, it surely would have driven me crazy.

Some astute readers have posted follow-up questions and observations on my previous two posts about this movie (here and here), and since I have the resources, here are some answers!

Q Tip: “When [Bell] pulls up to the motel there are two doors that are roped off in the crime scene and both room doors seem to have their locks blown out by the pressurized cow-killer.”

Marie: “There were two hotel rooms with locks blown out. I supposed that he was in the room next door, after it was confirmed that he was not in the room Bell entered. And I assumed that Sheriff Bell sensed that as well, but backed away and didn’t attempt anymore exploration, because he knew that he was just an old man, not up for the fight.”

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My friend Dawn Taylor had access to a studio at a local hippie-run radio station, so we recorded a 45-minute podcast discussing the best and worst movies of 2007, as well as several other subjects that popped up that you might call “tangents” or “sidetracks.” You can listen to it here; if you subscribe to my weekly “In the Dark” podcast, your podcast-subscribing device has probably already downloaded it for you. Enjoy!

[NOTE: This post is about the film "No Country for Old Men" and is brimming with SPOILERS. Do not read this if you have not seen the movie.]

In a previous post, we talked about an element of “No Country for Old Men” that had led to misunderstandings. Now we address something where there truly are several possible explanations: Sheriff Bell and Anton Chigurh in the motel room. Were they there at the same time? What is the deal with that scene?

First, the events leading up to it. Bell arrives at the hotel just as the Mexicans are fleeing the scene. (They learned where Moss was by talking to his mother-in-law at the bus station, you’ll recall.) Bell sees numerous spent bullet shells next to the wall outside the swimming pool, where Moss was standing the last time we saw him; floating in the pool is, presumably, the woman he’d been talking to. Bell hurries to Moss’ hotel room, where a wounded Mexican is crawling away and where Moss lies dead just inside the door.

It would appear the Mexicans arrived while Moss was still talking to the pool girl. Moss was carrying his rifle (in a case), so he was able to return fire on the Mexicans before fleeing to his room. With one of their own having been hit, and with the money not sitting in plain sight, and with Moss fighting back, the Mexicans aborted their mission and took off.

Bell informs Moss’ wife of her husband’s death, then goes to the morgue, then has coffee with the local sheriff, who tells him the money was not in the hotel room. He guesses the Mexicans must have taken it, but Bell points out that they were speeding away pretty quickly.

During this time is when Anton Chigurh visits the hotel room. When Bell returns after having coffee, the lock has been blown off the door. He stops outside the door. We can see the reflection of something off the shininess of the blown-off lock, but it’s impossible to tell exactly what we’re seeing, whether it’s Bell’s own reflection or the reflection of someone inside the room.

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The main reason I make sure to go home for Christmas every year is that I almost always get a “Snide Remarks” column out of it. (Also, I love my family. But that’s not relevant here.) This year’s edition, “Male Pattern Badness,” includes mention of a fun new game we came up with, one that all families everywhere can enjoy.

This week’s “Snide Remarks,” including the audio version, is here.
The audio version (i.e., the podcast) is also here.
Subscribe to the podcast’s feed here.

To celebrate the first weekend of the new year, the major Hollywood studios have decided to just roll over and take a nap. “Go see ‘National Treasure’ a second time and catch the subtle nuances you missed the first time!” they seem to say.

The only wide release today is “One Missed Call,” which is one of Hollywood Shameful Secrets©, i.e., a movie that was not screened for critics, which is almost always a bad sign. In this case, it technically was screened — at 10 p.m. last night, at a theater 15 miles outside of town (though they probably didn’t arrange it that way in every market; just Portland). I went, but I ain’t writin’ a review at midnight just to tell you what you can probably already guess about a movie in which teenagers receive voice mails foretelling their own deaths.

My review will be posted at Film.com sometime today or tomorrow. [UPDATE: Here it is.] For now I’ll just say that it’s not as bad as it could have been. (If anyone from Warner Brothers is reading this, you may feel free to use that quote in your advertising.)

In limited release is a very good scary movie called “The Orphanage” that I heartily recommend to you. It is Spain’s entry for the foreign-language category at the Oscars, and while it’s slightly unusual to submit something as un-prestigious as a horror film, this one has an added layer of poignancy to it that makes it rise above being “just a scary movie.” Oh, and it’s also actually scary, which “One Missed Call” mostly isn’t.

Sign up for the “In the Dark” e-zine here.
Listen to this week’s podcast version here.
Subscribe to the podcast’s feed here.

I stumbled across this picture in conjunction with a show these clowns are doing in Boston. I was instantly terrified.

We can all agree, I’m sure, that clowns are evil creatures in league with the devil. This “Bucky” fellow looks particularly malevolent. The slogan “You will laugh until it hurts!” sounds like a vicious threat.

Then there’s this description of the show, which moves me from finding them creepy to being actively hateful toward them:

Chris & Gina Allison a.k.a. Bucky & GiGi aren’t just any clowns. These two comedians combine circus skills, physical comedy, mime, and comedy magic to create a memorable show that will leave children from 3 to 103 laughing out loud. Bucky & GiGi’s travels have taken them around the world, most recently to Liuzhou, China for their International Clown Festival.

Bucky’s goofy and lovable character is a bit of Jerry Lewis and Jim Carey mixed together, while GiGi’s school marm persona is just what Bucky needs to keep him in line…or at least try.

These two funsters will amaze and amuse both young and old with their comedic antics combined with magic and juggling.

I have never seen a 103-year-old child, and I do not wish to! I also do not wish to see the antics of anyone who can be accurately described as a “funster”! Why do we as a society continue to tolerate this?

Remember, people: If you don’t vote for Rudy Giuliani, EVERYONE WILL DIE!

What’s funny is that at first I thought this was a parody of over-the-top fear-mongering political ads. But nope! It really is such an ad. Stay classy, Rudy!

[NOTE: This post is about the film "No Country for Old Men" and is brimming with SPOILERS. Do not read this if you have not seen the movie.]

By far the most thoughtful discussion I’ve ever seen on this website has been the one about “No Country for Old Men” (the best film of 2007, in my opinion). If you read the comments people have posted, you’ll see a variety of interpretations of the film’s themes and messages, and even some alternate theories about the plot.

Many of these interpretations are perfectly valid insofar as they are not contradicted by anything within the film itself. But there is one theory — a persistent one, surprisingly — that is flat-out wrong. It is the theory that Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), the man who steals the bag of money and tries to outrun the evil Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), is not killed when the movie says he is killed and in fact is still alive, hiding out, perhaps in preparation for a sequel.

Miramax has been kind enough to send screener DVDs of the film (along with other “prestige” pictures) to members of various critics groups. Now that I have the film in hand and am not relying solely on memory, I hope I can end this speculation once and for all.

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Let’s start the new year with a fresh batch of unwitting hilarity, shall we? It’s always nice when people post comments on the columns and reviews here at EricDSnider.com; when those comments are flawed, it is only slightly less nice. We collect them here for you to enjoy, with our favorite parts cast in bold type.

DUMB COMMENTS POSTED ON ERICDSNIDER.COM

“Underdog”:
I think I was an excellent movie. [I think you were an excellent movie, too!] My son loved it and that was all that matters. He won’t stop talking about it. He is 3 yrs of age and There couldn’t of had been a better movie for him.

The dog in the movie I thought was cute and a perfect fit. I really didn’t sit and analyze the movie as others have done, but rather watched my son as he stared into the movie screen theater with and anxiety that was overwelming. ["Anxiety": I do not think this word means what you think it means.]

I think Disney has done a great job entertaining our kids and will continue doing so.

Think about what kind of entertainment there is for a child these days. Praise God

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“Picasso at the Lapin Agile” (theater production):
You are a moron. Lapin Agile is the name of an actual bar in Montemarte in Paris. Steve Martin did not make it up, therefore it is not “a very Steve Martinian name for a bar”.

[It is true that I was not aware that Lapin Agile is a real place. Whether my lack of familiarity with the bars of Paris makes me a moron is debatable. However, the fact that Steve Martin did not invent it does not preclude it from being "a very Steve Martinian name for a bar." On the contrary, the name's Steve Martinianness is no doubt why he was attracted to it.]

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“Just My Luck”:
when i was this movie i feel im a lindsay lohan and my partner is chrise pine.thank you

[Parents of America, please take a moment to reflect on this question: Why are your children so stupid? Thank you.]

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