Argo

Well, didn't Argo do well at the Oscars?! Best movie, best adapted screenplay, and best editing -- not a bad haul at all.

It had always quite taken my fancy, and unimportant Academy Awards notwithstanding, I finally checked it out. It's a true story, y'know, based on a just-so-crazy-it-might-work plan to rescue American embassy workers stuck in Iran in 1980. And a fascinating story at that.

Pretend to be location scouting, give the Yanks some Canadian passports and new identities, and smuggle the muthas outta there. Yep, nutso.

And Heisenberg's involved, so you know it's gonna be a hair-raising adventure! 

Actually, it's a pretty incredible all-star cast, and that can often be a bad thing. But here it all works out fine. All the performances are solid, and nobody has one of those OTT turns that upstages everyone else, thankfully.

Of course, John Goodman is in it, because he is now officially in every movie made since 2004. Are filmmakers trying to make the most of him before he drops dead from his obesity or something? I like him enough, but sheesh... enough already.

Anyway, I really liked it. It was a fun ride with a few laughs along the way, coupled with some great casting of convincing enough lookalikes of the real folks involved. And Ben Affleck did a lovely job at the helm, as well as putting in a decent bit of acting.

Scores: 75 out of 100. And if you don't like that, Argo fuck yourself.

Surveillance

Okay, so I sort of spoiled this one for myself by reading the synopsis in Sight & Sound a few months ago, back before it had a UK distributor. I think I thought I'd never get to see it, so what did it matter, right?

Surveillance is the latest picture from David Lynch's daughter Jennifer. Yes, she of Boxing Helena fame. Those of you who saw Boxing Helena may have decided to give this a wide berth. I, though, have not seen BH, so I dived straight in.

Basic premise is that two FBI agents are in Hicksville to help the local dumb cops after a series of violent roadside homicides. So far, so formulaic. The Feds are played by Julia Ormond and Bill Pullman. Most of the rest of the cast are more or less nobodies, with the exception of Michael Ironside as local cop chief.

To get to grips fully with the situation at hand, Pullman watches over three simultaneous interviews of survivors: one cop, one young woman, and one girl.

The story then unfolds in flashbacks up until the point that some fresh bodies are found in a nearby motel. There follows the denouement.

I found the movie to be nicely shot and edited. Well played. The problem is, truthfully, the storyline. While not bad, it is incredibly slight. And once you've seen it once, you'd have very little reason to watch it again. Which, of course, is directly the opposite feeling from the one I get when I watch a David Lynch film...

It's a long time since my last review, so I'm out of practice on scoring. Let's say 53 out of 100. And that might be being a bit generous.

The Punisher (2004)

I watched this on TV about three nights ago, and until I saw it on my list of films to review just now, I'd forgotten I'd seen it. So, totally forgettable, I guess. Points: 16 out of 100

Mamma Mia!

How do I follow my review of California Dreamin', which was better than any other film I've seen in the past couple of years? How? By reviewing Mamma Mia!, that's how. From the sublime to the ridiculous.

Mamma Mia!'s paper-thin plot revolves around the looming wedding of Sophie, the daughter of single mum Donna. The pair of them live on a Greek island. Neither Donna nor Sophie know who is the father of the latter, so she invites all three possibles (taken from her mother's diary) to the wedding, in the hope she will know him when she sees him.

Cue much hilarity. Much hilarity, that is, if you are over 60, for clearly this is the target audience for this piece of fluff masquerading as cinema.

It is, of course, just a showpiece for some of Abba's best-loved tunes and is based on the successful stage musical of the same name.

Granted, I don't much care for musicals. And I've never cared for Abba either. But even by the low standards I'd set for this film in advance of seeing it, it still failed to deliver.

The acting was pretty poor given the talent attached (Streep, Brosnan, Skarsgård et al), and there was barely an acceptably pitched note to be heard in many of the "singing" parts.

Slight, predictable, insulting, embarrassing. Truly awful. Avoid at all costs. The only moments I laughed were at the terrible acting and singing. I award Mamma Mia! a dismal 19 points out of 100.

300

I like comic books as much as the next guy who used to work in a comic-book store, and I have enjoyed some comic-book movies in my time. The movie 300 is based on a graphic novel (read: comic book for grown-ups) by the legendary Frank Miller (responsible for reviving the comic-book fortunes of Batman and Daredevil among others), which in turn was based on an old movie called 300 Spartans, which in turn was based on a 2,500-year-old battle between the Ancient Greeks and the Persians. So, we're talking historical re-enactment or re-telling.

First up, 300 is so full of close-ups that it was obviously designed with Blu-ray Disc in mind. And on that level the faux reality looks quite amazing.

But. And it's a big but.

The script is fucking appalling. Also, the acting is by and large very bad (none of the actors are good enough to single out by name here), and the direction (of the actors at least) would appear to be average. What is good, though -- indeed, very good -- is the fight choreography.

And that's about all.

And another thing: the CGI blood spatters were soooo ripped off of Takeshi Kitano's Zatoichi (2003)... Grr. And the CGI wolf was really bad.

I wasn't disappointed as such, because I expected nothing. This is not a patch on Sin City, also based on a Miller graphic novel. I'll give 300 52 points out of 100.

Born Into Brothels

Another documentary viewing. Since I often watch films with very little beforehand knowledge, Born Into Brothels was completely different from what I was expecting from the title.

What I thought I was going to see was a film about kids born into brothels in India, and that was not wrong, but I did not know that it was also a film about photography and liberation.

Film-makers Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman decide to show the lives of these kids through their own photographs, so they issue cameras and film to eight of them. Kids whose mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers are all on the streets; whose fathers are strung out on dope; whose lives are filled with chores from dawn till dusk and later, and yet whose families cannot afford 25 US cents to hire a babysitter for the evening. These are kids and their families living in the kind of abject poverty most of us can barely imagine.

And the funny thing is: almost the most heartbreaking part of that is that the kids know they have no future, that they will probably end up working the streets as prostitutes and pimps and pickpockets. They know the way they live is disgusting. You'd almost feel better if they "didn't know any better" and thought this was okay.

So it's incredible to see the enthusiasm with which they take to their new hobby, in order that, as 13-year-old Gour puts it, they can "show in pictures how people live in this city. I want to put across the behavior of man." But there is also a considerable amount of talent within the small group.

There are both tears and laughter throughout the 85-minute running time, good news and bad. But this is a heart-warming documentary that may well stay with you for some time. The DVD includes a couple of good extras too, such as highlights of the kids seeing the film for the first time and taking stock of how their lives have changed over the course of three years.

The film won the Best Documentary Feature Oscar at the 2005 ceremony, and I in turn award Born Into Brothels 80 points out of 100.

Murderball

What could be better than a load of paraplegics ramming holy fuck out of each other in specially reinforced wheelchairs? Virtually nothing, that's what!

Murderball -- or wheelchair rugby, to give it its more PC name -- is just that. Oh yeah, and you have to get a ball from one end of the court to the other, just like in able-bodied rugby, football, and other games of that ilk.

The documentary Murderball follows the US and Canadian teams in the run-up to and in the 2004 Olympics, focusing on a few US players, the coach of the Canadian team (himself a former player for the USA), and a recently paraplegickized (that's a word, right?) young man named Keith.

It's a cracking little film, full of fun and tears, and one that ultimately sends a good and positive message. Here's hoping they show some of the Paralympics stuff in this year's Olympics coverage and that murderball might be among the clips shown.

I give this movie 72 points out of 100.

Lars and the Real Girl

I'm happy to report that, in Lars and the Real Girl, Ryan Gosling admirably redeems himself as an actor after the travesty that was Half Nelson. The character of Lars is everything that the other character wasn't, not least someone you could care about and someone you believed.

Lars is a lonely man, living in the garage of the house his late parents left to him and his brother. The main house is occupied by his brother Gus and his wife Karin; they are expecting a baby.

The "real girl" of the title is actually a sex doll Lars ordered online, yet she becomes his companion. Will this eccentricity be accepted by the God-fearing community? And what will the impact be?

First-time helmer Craig Gillespie handles directorial duties well, though perhaps the handheld camerawork at times of emotional upset is a tad obvious. Peter Berg's name pops up in the opening credits as executive producer, and Patricia Clarkson's appearance is usually a guarantee of something worthwhile.

On the surface this is a comedy, and certainly it has some good lip-curling moments. But it was absolutely not the laugh riot that the woman behind us in the cinema thought it to be. And when her inappropriate mood-breaking laughter was immediately followed by the phrase "Only in America", I just wanted to punch her. But that's an aside...

This is the best I've seen of the recent spate of tragicomedies hitting our screens, and I would recommend you catching it if you haven't already. I give Lars and the Real Girl 73 points out of 100.

Elf

As a general comment, the larger Jon Favreau gets, the less good his work seems to be. I don't mean that in a "fattist" way; just saying. Like, clearly he ain't starving; and we all know that starving artists are the greatest.

Fortunately for all of us, Elf -- Favreau's second proper feature as director -- despite being made deep into his "healthy-eating period", is very fucking funny, if not necessarily the best film ever made. At least, I laughed a shitload. I was like some sort of demented idiot at times, with the crazy laughing and all.

I've got, like, a brazillion reviews to get through, so I'm keeping some of 'em brief. Want fun and laughter? Watch Elf. But you might want to wait till Christmastime for maximum seasonal effect. I score it 69 points out of 100.

Richard Widmark RIP (1914–2008)

This film was a rare second viewing for me. Rare these days, that is. I used to rewatch films often, but not so much now.

Samuel Fuller's Pickup on South Street is a real class act that works on several levels. Despite being a film noir, this was actually made more than a decade after The Maltese Falcon, and this distance has helped Fuller to get a bit post-modern on the genre. There is a humour throughout the picture that you just don't see much of in those earlier noirs. The speed with which Candy falls in love with Skip, for example, is laughable, but you go with it because you know you're going to get paid off in spades later. But not in Sam Spades, because this is Fuller's world, and the detective can never be the guy you root for.

The plot revolves around some pickpocketed microfilm of US governmental secrets that is on its way to being sold to the Commies. Well, it's 1953, folks, and the red threat was all around. But this isn't really the point. The microfilm is the MacGuffin that drives the story. Don't get me wrong -- the story is slight, but what do you expect in 80 mins?

What you should expect is fun and action and the subversive take that Fuller brings to all his pictures. Never one to shy away from the ugly truth, Fuller takes the Bogart-style slaps across women's faces that are so commonplace in noir and shows us the deep bruising and swollen jaws that follow. The wide-angle tracking shot that Fuller uses to shoot the brawl between Candy and her traitor boyfriend Joey is a real eye-opener. It's brief, but in these days of fast cutting and close-ups and half the time not having a clue where you're supposed to be looking, this approach looks as fresh now as it did then. Gritty and real. A true tussle unfolding before you in real time.

Aaahh, you know, I liked this film. It's not a great film, as I said, in terms of story, but it's a simple tale brilliantly told and expertly made. If you're not familiar with Fuller's work, pour yourself a Scotch on the rocks, get your best dame beside you, and check this out. Shit, even if you like Fuller and you know this film well, why not pour yourself a Scotch on the rocks, get your best dame beside you, and check this out again?

What's the scores on the doors, then? I'll give it 72 points.

There Will Be Blood

I can't remember a title of a film that so literally but unspectacularly promised what was forthcoming. And yet, on that note, There Will Be Blood could equally well have been called There Will Be Sweat, Tears, Humour, Pathos, Grimacing, Deafness, Anger, Sadness, Toil, Riches, Religion, and/or many other things. Because, my dear friends and readers, it is a long time since I saw a film that is as rich in content as this masterpiece from Paul Thomas Anderson.

In fact, since this is a film about the burgeoning oil industry, blood is almost the last thing you might reasonably have expected. Sure, people probably died, but PTA does not shy away from some horrible accidents that might fair make you jump like you were watching a horror flick.

Maybe this is a horror flick. Certainly it is dark and gothic. Certainly there is blood and gore. And there are a lot of things that you wouldn't want to face on a dark night on your own.

The tense opening scenes perfectly set the tone. Pioneering spirit. Adventure. Discovery. Danger. Injury. Difficulty. Reward. And we are asked, as audience members, to watch a opening sequence or two with no words. I'm an impatient type. I feel words are imperative to a film. I like to hear them spoken. So to have to wait what was possibly eight minutes for the first real words was interesting for me. It worked. It worked just fine. But I was glad when they came!

When was the last time I saw a film -- or that you saw a film -- in which you would be laughing heartily one minute and seriously distressed the next? Or when you were almost moved to tears in one moment, only to be chuckling the next? Sure it happens from time to time. But this film took it to an extreme for me. A good extreme. One that wasn't anticipated and was so much the better for that.

And you know? As the last scene ended and the credits began to roll, I realized I was sitting there grinning like a total idiot. And that, too, is rare: for me to actually be smiling after a movie ends, just because it was so damn fulfilling.

I'm not a Daniel Day-Lewis freak. He's never troubled my radar much. But this was by far the best I've seen him. By far. It's a masterclass. Can I realistically put it up there with Welles as Kane and De Niro as La Motta? You know, maybe I can... Maybe. Further viewings are necessary to be absolutely sure, but it's a damn fine show he puts in.

After Punch-Drunk Love, we were all a little scared of what to expect next from PTA, I think. Hard Eight was a nice little thriller; Boogie Nights and Magnolia so perfect; Punch-Drunk Love so... so... not what we wanted, at least not in my house. It's due a second viewing, for sure...

But There Will Be Blood is very, very good. The acting just right throughout. Just spot-on. The photography beautiful. The sets sublime. The music (and this from a guy who doesn't care for scores) was good, if perhaps slightly too much in places.

Arguably the film could be 20 minutes shorter. Arguably. But it matters not. There is such a boldness, a ballsiness to PTA on this movie that you can allow him the tiniest of indulgences. Because what we are witnessing here is a fucking great attempt at something enormous. And it comes pretty damn close. Not once did my attention wander, truly. And I didn't fall asleep during the last words, as was virtually the case in that other Oscar contender this year.

I liked this. A lot. It was far better than No Country for Old Men. I give There Will Be Blood a massive 88 points out of 100, and I look forward to buying the DVD.

Knocked Up

Oh, wow...

Knocked Up tells the story of a girl who gets pregnant on a one-night stand and what happens afterwards.

This is one of the worst films I have ever had the misfortune to sit all the way through. And it feels like it lasts about nine months. Absolutely horrible. And almost completely unfunny, unconvincing, and unlikable. Wow.

Since I have to score it, I'll give it 14 points out of 100 -- one point for each good line, and two points for the feat of getting it made.

Walk The Line

Synopsis: Walk The Line is the story of country-and-western singer Johnny Cash.

Y'know, it's funny. Growing up, I seem to recall my dad had the Johnny Cash Fulsom Prison album. And I seem to recall thinking it was extremely dull. And despite the recent renaissance afforded Cash, in light of him being dead and all, I still find myself thinking the same way.

In a world of Presley and Holly, Richard and Lewis, Berry and Cochran, Cash (admittedly in a slightly different genre) just doesn't cut it for me.

And you've seen one bio-pic, you've seen 'em all.

Joaquin Phoenix is one of my favourite "young" actors, though, and I will gladly give him a couple hours of my viewing time. Reese Witherspoon was good, too. But I can't help feeling that, like Cash's music, IMHO, the movie was a whole lotta hoopla about nothing, albeit well-acted and well-directed (by James Mangold, of Cop Land fame) nothing.

I award Walk The Line, story notwithstanding, 64 points out of 100.

Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

It's still Oscar season, and Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was nominated for some Oscars -- three to be precise -- and won one (Art Direction).

The story of Sweeney Todd is one that kids hear from an early age over here in the UK. He's this almost mythical figure we are told about as a side note in history lessons at the age of about 10 or so. When we're learning about old London town and the Tower of London and Guy Fawkes and the Great Fire and all of that, somewhere in the mix Sweeney Todd gets thrown in. Kids love the idea of a barber who cuts the throats of his victims and puts them into pies. I mean, what's not to love?!

In this film version of the story, adapted from the Sondheim stage musical/opera of the same name, Johnny Depp takes the lead role and is a man who has spent 15 years wrongfully imprisoned. He's back in London under a new name to take revenge on the man who sent him away and destroyed his family...

Directed by Tim Burton and starring his two muses, Johnny Depp and "ladyfriend" Helena Bonham Carter, Sweeney Todd is, as one should expect, beautifully shot and acted.

The supporting cast is strong, too, and includes Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, and Sacha Baron Cohen.

I don't like musicals -- there, I've said it. I tend to find them too twee. But some rise above that categorization to become something more than just a musical. Sweeney Todd definitely does that.

I laughed. I cried. Well, no I didn't cry actually, but I did laugh. And I did grimace. Burton has not shied away from the gruesome act of blood-letting. He positively paints every available surface red, like a modern-day Argento. The sticky shiny scarlet stuff splashes superbly.

As with all musical theatre, the lyrics can be a bit rough in places. This is a necessary evil when telling a story, and I can just about put up with that. There are also some nice little rhyming couplets here and there that make up for the rest, almost.

Overall, I had a blast watching Sweeney Todd, and I'll give it 77 points out of 100.

Eastern Promises

Seeing as it's Oscar weekend, I figured I'd review Eastern Promises, the latest flick by David Cronenberg, for which lead actor Morten Harket Viggo Mortensen has been nominated for a gong.

I have a love/hate relationship with Cronenberg. Well, that's a bit strong. Maybe a "like a bit/don't much care for" relationship. I read the book Cronenberg on Cronenberg many years ago and found it quite fascinating, and yet when I've watched his films I have often felt cheated. It's like the ideas are great, but something gets lost in the translation.

I actually think he's a very good director, in the sense of being a very good film-maker. I'm not at all convinced, however, that he has the first idea how to direct actors. Viggo comes out of this movie well -- indeed, he shines -- but almost everybody else looks like a huge ham (and no, I'm not including that thing between Viggo's legs in the bathhouse scene, girls).

The story: Naomi Watts works in a hospital. Following the death of a young girl in childbirth, Watts finds her diary, which is all in Russian. She (duh) takes it to the girl's boss -- who also happens to be the head of the local (London) Russian mafia -- for translation, despite her own stepfather being Russian. Big mistake! Let the fun begin...

Naomi Watts is about as bad as I've seen her. That first scene of her on her motorbike? Laughably bad. And her motivations and character choices are absurd. Admittedly this is a script problem, but she doesn't bring any truth to the role either. (I'm horrified to see the screenwriter is co-penning the adaptation of Shutter Island, which is one of my favourite books of recent years. Oh, shit.)

Vincent Cassel presents what I'm sorry to say is yet another cliché-ridden psycho show. It's too bad; he's a great actor. But he's being asked to churn out loony Euro roles far too often.

Armin Mueller-Stahl is also very good. But he is a seasoned actor, and he knows his craft inside out.

All the other acting is bad, bad, bad. And the story is thinner than I've become on my inadvertent diet.

There were some good bits in this film, yes, but it was still rather disappointing overall. Well, at least it was better than A History of Violence. I give this movie 64 points out of 100.

Freddy vs Jason

Here's a rad premise. Take Freddy Krueger (of A Nightmare on Elm Street fame), add Jason Voorhees (of Friday the 13th et al), and whaddya got? Freddy vs Jason, dudes!

Helmed by Ronny Yu -- who came up via Hong Kong film-making and hit the US shores with the gloriously silly Bride of Chucky before directing the Liverpool-set Sam Jackson starrer The 51st State -- Freddy vs Jason is almost worth watching for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, who doesn't want to see any member of Destiny's Child getting killed? Actually, I can't even remember if Kelly Rowland gets offed or not, but the anticipation that she might is just too good to miss.

Secondly, Robert Englund always seems to have such a great time as Freddy that it's almost criminal not to watch him.

The plot: Wait, there was a plot? It's a slasher film, guys: teens in house getting killed one by one. Duh.

It was funny, with a few made-ya-jump moments thrown in for good measure. Not as original as New Nightmare, of course, but not a bad way to pass 90 minutes in the dead of the night. Is anyone gonna argue if I say 53 points out of 100?

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

What a fucking terrible film.

NOT!

(Of course, this is a Borat in-joke; I would personally never tell a "not joke".)

It took me a long time to get around to watching Borat, it must be said. But I had been reasonably interested since day one. I mean, I liked Ali G and other Sacha Baron Cohen creations back in the day on Channel 4's 11 O'Clock Show, and it was only overfamiliarity that led me to a state of "meh"-ness about the big-screen Borat outing.

Well, after about 75 minutes of constant laughing, chuckling, and "oh-my-God"-ing, suffice to say I recommend it for viewing.

SBC is great in the lead role, as is his sidekick. We know Borat is there simply to make Americans say dumb things, and that he does to perfection. It seems not to take much to get people cheerfully talking about stringing up gays or which weapons are best for slaying Jews. Oh, wait... that's not actually funny at all. It's quite disturbing.

As was the Christian church scene with people running around in the aisles and "speaking in tongues". My mouth was agape throughout that entire thing. So terrified was I that I now want to see such a service in real life. (Don't wait for the "Naaaaaaht!", cos I might just be serious here, I'm not sure yet.)

The whole thing was also directed beautifully by Larry Charles, responsible for the helming and/or writing of several episodes of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Genius.

Borat is short but sweet. I'm gonna award it a very respectable 69 points out of 100.

Constantine

Back in the day, when I was a comic-store worker, I used to read Hellblazer. It was one of very few DC titles that I read, being more of a Marvel and Dark Horse fan. So when I first heard that a film was being made based on Hellblazer, I was mildly interested.

Despite this interest, it has taken me from then to now to actually get around to watching the film, which came to be known as Constantine and stars Keanu Reeves as the grouchy, chain-smoking eponymous John C.

First up, let me start by saying it's a long time since I last read any of JC's adventures, but the film didn't seem much like I remember from the books. (That might be just me, though, and my poor and fading memory. Old age comes to us all.) As such, I felt like I spent a good chunk of the film trying to work out what was wrong with the film.

The truth is, as a film in its own right, there's not that much wrong with it, per se. But I don't know how much it would work for people who don't know the comics. And you gotta feel for the filmmakers: you tackle a fairly unknown comic-book character (it's not Spider-Man or The Hulk, y'know?) and you have years of source material, but you want to make a fast action movie that will appeal to non-readers, ideally without alienating long-term fans...

The story was okay. The effects were okay. I dunno what to tell you. It was okay overall.

The most interesting performance came from Tilda Swinton as Archangel Gabriel. She is a great actress and always good in androgynous roles. I really enjoyed watching her. Peter Stormare makes an appearance as the Devil himself, and he was fun in that hammy way that he is fun. (Having seen Ray Wise in Reaper, though, I can't help wondering why he hasn't played the Devil more often!) Keanu was Keanu: you know what you're gonna get, more or less. And Rachel Weisz (who shares my birthday) was good and watchable, as ever ("I'm a librarian!", anyone?). Oh yeah, Shia LaBeouf was in it too.

So, all in all, it was okay. But okay just don't cut it in my house, and ultimately I wished I could have back the time I spent watching it. I give Constantine 60 points out of 100.

K2

Films such as K2 are almost exactly suited to a blog called "Movie Reviews (such as they are)", because you really need say so little.

Firstly, though: what the hell happened to Michael Biehn? I mean, one minute he was every fan boy's preferred movie star; the next he's hamming it up like the ham store just run out of him in K2, and playing such a completely unappealing character, too.

Remember Vertical Limit? Now that's how you make a perils-up-a-mountain action movie. K2, not so much.

And it even had Matt Craven in it, from the was-oh-so-great-in-Season-1-but-then-they-fucked-it-up-in-Season-2 show Boomtown. Man, this guy knows how to act badly!

So, if I were to sum up K2 in one word, it would probably be: "Ha!" But I do my summing up in numbers, baby, and here's my digits: 19 out of 100.

No Country for Old Men

I've long been a fan of the Coen brothers' work, so I was keen to see No Country for Old Men, which has been touted by many as a return to form, following a couple of near-duds in the form of The Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty.

The fact that the film had Javier Bardem in what I would consider the lead role (shame on you, Academy) was yet another reason to spring £6.50 (US$13) on a ticket for the cinema rather than waiting for the DVD.

The plot is actually far simpler than I had imagined. Dude finds money; another dude wants it back and will kill anyone in his way (and pretty much anyone not in his way, too); a third dude tries to stop second dude from killing first dude (while investigating the multiple other killings along the way).

Anyone expecting profundity will be left wanting, I'm afraid, regardless that the source material comes from Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Cormac McCarthy. (BTW, I hate how we're awarding writers who are trying to do away with punctuation.) As a comment on society and the effect money has on people, it doesn't work as well as Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan -- though I appreciate that the intent of No Country is more to do with changing times than with greed and the like.

So that's the premise dealt with. What about the performances, direction, mise en scène?

First up, the performances, as you would expect with a cast of this calibre, are truly wonderful. Bardem steals the show, of course. But I will say this to all those banging on about his hairdo: the film is set in 1980. That hair is completely pertinent. It's the hairdo sported by Josh Brolin that is anachronistic. Nobody looked that fucking cool in 1980s Texas, I'm pretty damn certain!

I've seen Bardem in a few Spanish-language films over the years, and he is a fine actor, so it was no surprise to see him doing great work here as an utterly reprehensible human being.

Brolin was also very good. He's come a long way since Best Laid Plans!

Tommy Lee Jones is a funny one. He sort of leaves me cold as an actor, though I accept that he's good at his job. I feel he always plays essentially the same role, though, and that role kind of bores me. Meh.

Some people are claiming that Kelly Macdonald has been overlooked for an Oscar nomination. My view: no, she hasn't. She simply didn't warrant one. She's okay. She doesn't do enough, though, to be rewarded for her performance... which is as much a comment on the thinness of the characterization as it is on her ability.

The look of the film and the set-ups of the scenes are, as you would expect from the Coens, quite lovely, and the movie looks great and feels great from beginning to end, with that underlying sense of dread you get from all the best thrillers.

So, sort of a mixed bag, overall. Not quite the movie I thought it would be, but a great film nonetheless, in the sense of art created for the movie screen. Great looking, and great entertainment, if the tiniest bit too long. I give No Country for Old Men 72 points out of 100