Nominated for Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Sound, and Sound Editing.
Ethan and Joel Coen have made a career out of cooking up off beat films. Films that may follow conventional themes and plots, but feature maybe some dialogue or characters that are just a bit off center. Call 'em quirky or just downright strange, but it also makes them memorable and honestly, I haven't seen a Coen Bros film I didn't like. No Country for Old Men keeps this streak alive. This film has things that you just don't see often. The wide open prairies of west Texas are beautifully shot. This Texasness permeates every aspect of the film. Not just your main characters Llewelyn (Josh Brolin), Chigurh (Javier Bardem) and Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), but every bit player with a line oozes Texas. After Llewelyn finds 2 mill cash at a drug deal gone bad, he's pursued by assassin Chigurh, while Sheriff Bell follows the trail of both. Where did this Josh Brolin resurgence come from anyway? He was big brother Brand in Goonies for Christ's sake. Now he pops up in No Country, American Gangster and In the Valley of Elah? This guys agent is the shit! He's great here, creating an authentic character that you really pull for. His opposite is perhaps one of the greatest villains in recent memory. Chigurh kills not for pleasure but for no reason, just indifferently deciding if he will kill someone or not (even using, in the best scene of the film, a flip of a coin). Bardem gives him a psychotic look in his eyes that most actors just can't achieve. No country is a near perfect film, my only complaint is I'm not entirely satisfied with the fates of our characters. Maybe it's the best ending they could give this film, and it's probably the most likely ending, but it's an unsatisfying ending. This can't erase the pure entertainment of the rest of the film though, so look for it to clean up on Oscar night. Bardem is a lock for Sup Actor. It has a good chance for cinematography, editing, and adapted screenplay. The Coen's should take home Best Director(s) after a lifetime of great films, and it's my pick for Best Picture.The Sneaky Cheetah's Grade: A
Ethan and Joel Coen are the auteurs of this film. Their nominated for Producing, Directing, Editing, and Adapting the Screenplay. They've won an Oscar for their screenplay for Fargo (1996). Their past nominations are for producing and editing Fargo and writing the screenplay for O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000).
Producer Scott Rudin was previously nominated for Best Picture for The House (2002).
Javier Bardem was nominated for Best Actor in Before Night Falls (2000)Cinematographer Roger Deakins is also nominated this year for The Assassination of Jesse James. He has 5 other nominations for The Shawshank Redemption (1995), Fargo (1996), Kundun (1997), O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000), and The Man Who Wasn't There (2001).
Sound Editor Skip Lievsay is also nominated in the Best Sound category.
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