No Country For Old Men

I still have yet to see Juno, but I can now honestly say that No Country For Old Men deserved to win Best Picture at this years Oscars. It was nice to see the movie get recognized, and also see the director/producer/writer combination Coen brothers finally move into the mainstream. These two have been responsible for a variety of quality classics including Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O' Brother Where Art Thou and more.

Anyone who thinks it is easy to take a book and make it into quality movie should see adaptations of Dune, or I am Legend (Will Smith's was the third attempt) or the latest Dr. Suess horror which looks more like Shrek 4 than the beloved classic we all grew up with.

As usual I don't think a review will sway too many fence sitters. But I will say what worked for me when watching No Country. Despite what you will hear in the trailer, there is no music until the credits. It has been called a "modern day" Western, but there is no soundtrack when a villain produces a gun. From the opening of the movie you are greeted with the vast Texas landscape and you hear its sounds and feel its emptiness. I am not anti-music in movies, but for some movies a lack of music enhances the silence and allows tension to build on its own.

One other part that sets people on two sides: like or dislike, is of course the ending. It is more than the unexpected. Without giving anything away I can only say that I enjoyed it more the second time because my brain and my ears were working in better harmony.

There are few forms of entertainment like a good movie. That will have you scared one minute. In anticipation the next. Hoping the entire time. In shock with each blow of the action. Then leaning forward to hear the final words. And of course talking for days afterwards with friends.


Trailer: No Country For Old Men

**Thanks to imdb.com for information and Yahoo.com for the picture.

~Seth Davis


Seth