Movie | No Country For Old Men | Pass

The Coen brothers are back with this mix of Blood Simple and Barton Fink with a modern day western twist, a la 1978. There's no humor in this story of a guy who stumbles across a drug deal gone bad and makes off with two million dollars. A single focused killer for hire is sent after him and things go really bad.

Extremely violent, with a knockout cast there are quite a bit of those trademark Coen Bro nebulous story and character elements (Tommy Lee Jones' character in general and the ending, are two examples among several). That will probably bother some people, but I loved it.

The other thing I loved is the complete lack of any and all music in the soundtrack. That's a huge risk and can result in a really boring movie. Or, as the Coens did, you use the atmospheric sounds to create an environment that not only makes the fantasy world of a movie more real, but can also trigger nostalgic sense memories. Kudos to them for this risky move! It paid off.

A picture perfect cast, with superb actors. Everything else is perfect, too. This would make a really good duo with another thinker's Western, The Proposition.

Two thumbs up.