Quite Possibly the Worst

After the new Hastings opened just down the street from us, we decided to rent the first movies we'd rented in at least four months. The new store was really nice, and we knew they gave a $2 credit for rentals returned the next day. As we were roaming down the aisles of new releases, we stopped in front of "No Country for Old Men." We picked it up off the shelves, thinking, "This movies has to be good because it won an Academy Award this year." WRONG!!! SO WRONG!!! We watched it on Saturday with my little brother, Colin. After it was over, we all three simultaneously said, "What? Who would vote for that?!" The story had no redeeming value whatsoever. Despite the outstanding acting, it still sucked. The story line was weak. There was no resolution, and nothing got solved or even close to being solved. It ended with no point. I thought Hollywood must've lowered it's standards for Academy Award winners. I am a literature buff. I read constantly, and I am always looking to learn about parts of history. All I got out of the movies was some old guy with no sense of direction and a creepy serial killer who killed for absolutely no reason other than just to do it. I would not recommend watching it to anyone. However, it beat the heck out of the other movie we rented.

We decided that if we were going to rent one Academy Award winner, we might as well rent two. So, we picked up "There Will Be Blood," since we had heard raving reviews from people obviously on crack. It was quite possibly the worst movie I've ever seen. I feel sorry for myself because I saw it. After eating dinner with my family at Cracker Barrel, I told my sister, Carrie, that we were going to watch it. She told me she had seen it and absolutely hated it. Carrie and I typically have similar tastes in movies, so when she said that, I figured I probably would not just love it. We paid $4 to rent it for a week, so we decided to watch it no matter what. I am also a big believer in making up my own mind about things, so I wasn't going to let Carrie's opinion shape mine completely. We popped it into the DVD player, and it began. At first, I found it confusing and a little on the boring side. I didn't hate it, but I didn't really care for it. There was no action, other than the occassional guy getting popped on the head with part of the oil rig or barrel or whatever it was. Carl looked at me and said, "You don't really like this do you?" I told him that I didn't really get what was going on and that there was not any real action. He explained that it was documenting the rise of industrialization and how the world was affected by the oil industry. I understood that. I do love history, but I was falling asleep from boredom and missed some parts. I decided to stay awake and see if it picked up. It did, and about halfway through the movie I thought it might be an okay movie after all. WRONG, again. Daniel Plainview, the lead character, randomly started killing people and not caring at all about doing it. His killing spree seemed to come out of nowhere. The scenes got pretty bloody, which doesn't really bother me, but it certainly did not help me to like the movie any more. It, too, ended with no redemption and no point. The last scene was horrific and didn't really make much sense. I will say that I understood the movie in the long run, but I absolutely hated it! It sucked!!! Carl and I looked at each other with this horrified, confused expression. He didn't like it at all either. We both decided that whoever nominated and chose this movie to be the winner of an Academy Award has some serious issues and wouldn't know good movies if they smacked them in the face. At 11:30 at night, we went to turn the movies in. It was dark, and Hastings is new, so we didn't know where the drop off was. At the front of the building sit two big, green trash bins. From a distance, they looked like they might be return bins. Luckily, we figured out they weren't and found the return bin. But, as we were driving off, Carl said, "Both of those movies could've gone in the trash." I said, "I know. I feel like we need to save people from watching them." I am literally sad for myself for having watched them. For years, the worst movie I have ever seen was "The Talented Mr. Ripley." Now, I am almost convinced that it is "There Will Be Blood." Carl and I are not trusting Hollywood any more.