No Country For Old Men: Collector's Edition (US - BD RA)
Gabe takes a look at the re-release of 2007's best motion picture on Blu-ray
Feature
Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) thinks he’s made his big break. One morning while hunting in the Texas desert he comes across a pile of dead bodies, shattered vehicles and cocaine. It’s a drug deal gone bad. After a little more exploration Moss finds a satchel filled with two million dollars cash and takes it. He tells his wife (Kelly Macdonald) he's going away for a while, and goes into hiding to plan his next move. Moss is trailed by two pursuers—an enigmatic, stone-cold killer named Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), who carries an air-powered cattle gun and heavy gage shot gun with a silencer, and Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), an aging man with a golden heart trapped in a violent situation he simply doesn’t understand.

The last time the Academy got the Best Picture section of the Oscars correct was The Return of the King, but that sweep was such a boring forgone conclusion the ceremony was entirely robbed of any suspense. Also, the less nerdy side of me would’ve actually preferred that City of God get the 2003 Best Picture Oscar, and would’ve preferred that Fellowship took the award in 2001. But before 2003 I can’t think of the last time the Academy awarded even the second best picture the coveted prize (I guess 1993?). Post ROTK the awards have been especially disappointing, even in 2007 when Martin Scorsese’s genius was finally recognized for The Departed, a film which doesn’t even crack the director’s top ten best productions. The award was for a body of work, not a single picture, which cheapened the win (arguably the same thing occurred with ROTK). Out of these shadows came the 2008 ceremony where not only did the best picture win the top award, the Coen Brother’s long deserved recognition comes for one of their best films, maybe even the best in their impressive catalogue.
No Country for Old Men is a breathless chase movie, a snare-taught thriller, a snide and smart comedy, a blood caked horror show, and a stoic traditional western confined to the unfamiliarity of the early 1980s. This is every film genre but sci-fi, and not a single one is given less weight than any other. Why was it the best movie of 2007 and possible the Coen brother prestigious career? Because it’s brilliant, that’s why.

The Coen’s have conveniently split this masterpiece into two parts—the part that makes you react and the part that makes you think. The majority of the film, the first part, works on a purely visceral level. Seeing the film in an audience packed theatre was an incredible fascination. After the brutal introduction of Chigurh the entire stadium seated crowd recoiled and audibly held their breaths at the very sight of Bardem. With minimal development the audience agonized for even his least likeable victims. The Coen’s up the tension by pulling back their usual verbal banter. The dialogue in general is distilled to its reptilian mind minimum, but doesn’t lose an ounce of wit.
Then the top of the last act sweeps visceral rug from under the edge-of-their-seaters. I can’t go into the specifics of the film’s more thoughtful moments because it would constitute some major spoilers, and not just the kind that could ruin plot points, the kinds that could ruin the entire experience of the film. Casual film audiences have spoken out against some of the Coen’s last act choices, but without them No Country for Old Men would just be a worthy follow-up to the violent thrills of Blood Simple and rousing humour of Raising Arizona. With the choices in-tact the film becomes a transcendental subversion of everything the filmmakers created before it.

Bardem’s supporting actor win was another Oscar no-brainer. His performance is fairly comparable to Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, but it’s also totally different. Anton Chigurh is the quintessential bully—cold, mocking, and repetitive—and Bardem taps into him without ever laying all his cards on the table. Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones end up overshadowed and overlooked, but both performances are equally attention worthy. Brolin had quite the badass year between this and Planet Terror, and manages to pull our attention away from Bardem’s sun-like gravity long enough to really care about his nearly silent characterization. Jones, along with supporting player Woody Harrelson, doesn’t stretch himself anywhere beyond places he’s already been, but it’s hard to argue with typecasting when it fits so perfectly.
The little touches are what really push the film over the line into that too often quoted ‘modern classic’ category. Chigurh’s hair cut, his strange choice of weapons, nonchalantly lifting his boots to avoid pooling blood, the repetitive use of pit bulls (‘There’s a dead dog’), the surgical sequences (all elements of the original book, which the brothers practically transcribed for their Oscar winning script)—these are the moments that even casual audiences and people that didn’t like the film will always remember. The violence is frightening in both its excesses and its procedural nature, but it’s also entirely beautiful. No Country represents the Coens’ utter obsessive-compulsive control better than any other feature. There isn’t a second of film that doesn’t appear sharply and specifically tuned, nor even a sound effect that appears to have escaped unnoticed and readjusted.

Video
No Country for Old Men isn’t an ugly film by any imaginable stretch of the imagination, even the most violent bits, and Blu-ray Disc is the ideal way to view the non-ugliness. This new release looks to be identical visually to the previous release, so no need to upgrade if that’s your only concern. The early outdoor sequences are, bar none, some of the best images I’ve seen out of a live-action Blu-ray release. The Texas vistas are deep and full, almost three-dimensional, and the sun bakes them to a nice bright yellow. Details are so sharp you can actually make out flecks of dust as they’re kicked up by horse hooves and cowboy boots. Night scenes suffer only the slightest bit of low level noise, while still maintaining the transfer’s overall fine details, which is very important to the experience of the film. Colours are impressive overall, but after the film leaves the desert the colouring is more natural and less flashy, so the later parts of the disc are really all about the clarity.
Both the Blu-ray and DVD releases have issues with edge enhancement, especially in sharp background contrast, but the DVD has noticeable compression noise on the edges as well. Even when upscaled there really isn’t any comparison between the overall detail of the two releases, but the DVD isn’t anything to shrug off either. The blacks are thick without too much blocking or noise, and colours pop without bleeding much (though some of the reds show signs of blocking).

Audio
The Best Picture race was close this year, but for my money the sound editing and design awards were even closer. No Country for Old Men has shockingly minimal music, like, almost none, but the Coens don’t waste a moment of the film’s minimalist audio. The biggest standout moment comes when Bardem and Brolin first face off. First the silence of wait is cut by the sound of Chigurh’s footsteps and the beeping of his transponder as he gets closer. Then the silence is cut again by an air compressor’s piston ejecting a deadbolt, Brolin tumbling out of a second story window, a truck crashing, and two very different shotguns unleashing their loads.
I suppose the best reason to re-buy the disc is the new DTS-HD Master Audio track. I’ve said before that even though I’m behind the times enough to not get the full benefit of DTS-HD, but in general such tracks sound better on my system than PCM tracks, which should be respectfully identical. For me this is a step up in overall volume, breadth, fidelity, and bass. The track is quite clean and eerily natural, including hauntingly silent sequences featuring slight wind effects, cracking leather boots moving across creaking wooden floors, and in juxtaposition some very impactful bullet hits, and a single huge explosion.

Extras
‘This disc might as well come with a slip of paper reading ‘Special Edition to come’.’
I love it when I guess them right, even if I did follow that sentence with the all too true:
‘Actually, given the Coen’s track record it should probably read ‘Disappointing Special Edition to Come’.’
The extras begin (again) with the aptly titled ‘The Making of No Country for Old Men’, which is a better than average EPK, running about twenty-five minutes, and full of the usual mix of behind the scenes, interview, and film footage. The Coen’s are enjoyably awkward, obsessively fidgeting and picking at their finger nails, and are pleasantly offset by the cast and crew who are all well spoken individuals. ‘Working with the Coens’ is eight minutes of cast and crew butt kissing, with more interviews and behind the scenes footage. These extra eight minutes really don’t bring anything new to the table. ‘Dairy of a County Sheriff’ is a slight explanation of the film’s deeper message. Most casual filmgoers will misunderstand who the main character of the film really is, and to them the last act likely came as a sort of downward shock. In these seven minutes the always-enigmatic filmmakers kind of let us in on the fact that Tommy Lee Jones is the real heart of the film, and the title is the point.

The new extras start with ‘Josh Brolin’s Unauthorized Behind-The-Scenes’, a nine minute featurette that starts with a whole freakin’ lot of the same interviews as the other featurettes. Fortunately there are some new behind the scenes images, and a few Brolin conducted interviews, including pretty much all the major cast members. Eventually it’s made pretty clear that the whole thing is kind of a spoof of the whole making-of pantheon.
Next is a ‘Press Timeline’ of events surrounding the film. These include press interviews with various cast and crew members as conducted by David Poland (26:00), L.A. WGAW (24:00), Variety (03:00), EW.com (13:00), Creative Screenwriting Magazine (audio only, 21:25), NPR All Things Considered (audio only, 04:44 and 07:49), Peter Travers (14:51), some guy at an in-store appearance (40:31), Charlie Rose (the best of the bunch, 22:33), WNBC Lyons and Bailes (10:00), Cannel Four News UK (03:46), KCRW (audio only, 28:30), NPR Day to Day (audio only, 06:37), Spike Jonze (yes that Spike Jonze, 10:00), and NPR Weekend Edition (audio only, 05:32). The Coens themselves are uniformly quite awkward and uncomfortable, while Bardem, MacDonald and Brolin are uniformly quite amusing and charming. The questions and answers themselves get really repetitive after two interviews.

Overall
No Country for Old Men is still a must see, but it doesn’t beg a re-purchase. This new release is the disappointing special edition I expected, and only really worth buying for people that prefer DTS-HD to PCM, and for those that don’t own the older release. The new extras are a database of press events for the film, and the interviews get really repetitive really fast, even if they fill a lot of physical time. The Video still looks nearly perfect, so the old release is obsolete, but I’m just not sure most fans will care.
* Note: The above images are taken from the Blu-ray release and resized for the page.
Review by Gabriel Powers
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Existing Posts
In my opinion Gabe, you do a great job - keep 'em coming!
But that is only my opinion
But that is only my opinion

Ok I've wanted to see this movie so I'll keep my comments about it shut until I do but the comments you've received back have inspired me to say something.
1. I agree with hogaburger's stance but not the explanation. If one won't read the review to understand the reviewers explanation of why this got this while the other got the other than you shouldn't be commenting.
2. The Departed was a bland film and was a remake anyways. and...
Chris Gould wrote: Tell me, exactly how has he made his opinion fact? Are you one of these people who expects reviewers to write 'in my opinion' after everything? He wrote it, of course it's his opinion. He shouldn't have to spell it out for people in giant letters by adding a stupid disclaimer to the end of every sentence.
<3 I agree 100% here. This world has gotten so ridiculous and so PC that even in normal conversation you must say "in my opinion". Oy!
1. I agree with hogaburger's stance but not the explanation. If one won't read the review to understand the reviewers explanation of why this got this while the other got the other than you shouldn't be commenting.
2. The Departed was a bland film and was a remake anyways. and...
Chris Gould wrote: Tell me, exactly how has he made his opinion fact? Are you one of these people who expects reviewers to write 'in my opinion' after everything? He wrote it, of course it's his opinion. He shouldn't have to spell it out for people in giant letters by adding a stupid disclaimer to the end of every sentence.
<3 I agree 100% here. This world has gotten so ridiculous and so PC that even in normal conversation you must say "in my opinion". Oy!
Not to even mention that I'm reviewing 'No Country For Old Men', not 'The Departed'. If I was forced to cover every aspect of my contextualization, and use 'in my opinion' after every statement my reviews would be books, not reviews. But since you obviously aren't an idiot NTRO, I'll add that not only wasn't 'The Departed' in Scorsese's top 10, but IN MY OPINION it wasn't even in the top 10 for 2006.
You see, this is one of my pet hates. No, scratch that, not a pet hate, it really gets on my nerves. Tell me, exactly how has he made his opinion fact? Are you one of these people who expects reviewers to write 'in my opinion' after everything? He wrote it, of course it's his opinion. He shouldn't have to spell it out for people in giant letters by adding a stupid disclaimer to the end of every sentence. Also, if you're going to criticise someone for 'discrediting' themselves perhaps you should take a look at your spelling and grammar. It might aid your 'credibility'.
On another note, why do people miss the scores? I'm interested from the point of view of someone who doesn't mind that they're gone. I find assigning a numerical value to various elements too subjective to be of any real use. Do people use them as a short cut to avoid reading the whole review? Are they missed because you're used to them? I'm curious, because I'm really not missing them at all.
On another note, why do people miss the scores? I'm interested from the point of view of someone who doesn't mind that they're gone. I find assigning a numerical value to various elements too subjective to be of any real use. Do people use them as a short cut to avoid reading the whole review? Are they missed because you're used to them? I'm curious, because I'm really not missing them at all.
Gabe, you really need to stop with making your opinion a fact (it discredit's you as a critic) because technically, "The Departed" is in Martin Scorsese's top ten productions easily. Is it in the same league as "Raging Bull", "Taxi Driver", or "Goodfellas"? Probably Not! But it could easily fall in the top 10. From a filmmaker's stand point let alone a storytelling stand point, the film was well crafted in its substructure just from the five pillars of a screenplay’s story configuration which it succeed in from all aspects of conflict, movement, economy, structure, & vision.
I don't know what you're hatred or your inclination is towards "The Departed"? Is it because Scorsese got his first Academy Award with it? Because if that's it then? Sorry to say -- that's just nonsensical & ill-advise let alone foolish on your behalf. "The Departed" was easily one of the best films in 2007 from a critical acclaim stand to a filmmaking & storytelling perspectives & to an entertainment value viewpoint. Scorsese's "The Departed" deserved its 4 Academy Awards. So, Scorsese didn't win for "Raging Bull" or "Taxi Driver". It wasn't his year those years for whatever reason it was at the time. Does that taint his win or his film "The Departed"? I don't think so & I could get into heavy entailment but for anyone that thinks it does? That’s just ignorance on their part. Hey, I could name directors all day that never won an Academy Award but should have won one or name a director who should have won for another film but that shouldn’t by any means discredit the feature & the win for the film they won with. You have a right to dislike something but when you put no substance behind your theory let alone show any type of knowledge or acquaintanceship with the art of filmmaking & storytelling. I find your opinion impolitic on many levels.
I don't know what you're hatred or your inclination is towards "The Departed"? Is it because Scorsese got his first Academy Award with it? Because if that's it then? Sorry to say -- that's just nonsensical & ill-advise let alone foolish on your behalf. "The Departed" was easily one of the best films in 2007 from a critical acclaim stand to a filmmaking & storytelling perspectives & to an entertainment value viewpoint. Scorsese's "The Departed" deserved its 4 Academy Awards. So, Scorsese didn't win for "Raging Bull" or "Taxi Driver". It wasn't his year those years for whatever reason it was at the time. Does that taint his win or his film "The Departed"? I don't think so & I could get into heavy entailment but for anyone that thinks it does? That’s just ignorance on their part. Hey, I could name directors all day that never won an Academy Award but should have won one or name a director who should have won for another film but that shouldn’t by any means discredit the feature & the win for the film they won with. You have a right to dislike something but when you put no substance behind your theory let alone show any type of knowledge or acquaintanceship with the art of filmmaking & storytelling. I find your opinion impolitic on many levels.
Blue-Kal-El wrote:
I was also wondering where the scorecard went, I really miss it.
Yep, me too.
I was also wondering where the scorecard went, I really miss it.
Yep, me too.
Great movie...when it gets to $15, it will be a definite purchase.
I was also wondering where the scorecard went, I really miss it.
I was also wondering where the scorecard went, I really miss it.
Great movie, don't have the original release.
I love this movie, way better than the overrated "There Will Be Blood" imo. Held out for this release, but might buy the first edition, since it will probably be pretty cheap now that the SE is out.
For any fan of any film, be it a serious or a casual one, this releases begs the question that movie studios want us to ask. To double dip or to not? Depends if you feel like those extra features are worth the dive or not. I feel like this is a worthy double-dip, if you own the original DVD it's easily worth it (it's in a 3-disc digipack). However if you do not own any version of No Country For Old Men, this is a perfect choice.
If you do own the original Blu-Ray or DVD, ask yourself if you want to spend your money on special features. If the answer is yes, than double-dip.
if it is no, keep the original and enjoy.
If you do own the original Blu-Ray or DVD, ask yourself if you want to spend your money on special features. If the answer is yes, than double-dip.
if it is no, keep the original and enjoy.
I had a feeling this would be the case. Glad I didn't pick this up when I was out earlier this week. I'll stick with my old blu-ray.
On a side note:
Personally I kind of like it without the numbers on the side. Quantities tend to make people compare what a reviewer thought of a certain movie against other movies, and in some cases people will even bring it up.
"How could you give this a *insert number* but give this other movie a *insert higher number*"?
This current format pushes people into actually reading an objective review of the movie instead, and I like that. Just my $.02
On a side note:
Personally I kind of like it without the numbers on the side. Quantities tend to make people compare what a reviewer thought of a certain movie against other movies, and in some cases people will even bring it up.
"How could you give this a *insert number* but give this other movie a *insert higher number*"?
This current format pushes people into actually reading an objective review of the movie instead, and I like that. Just my $.02
I enjoyed you review, and I agreed with a lot of your observations (although I'm of the opinion that The Departed is one of Scorsese's best, and that the Academy nailed it that year). But even tho I agree with many of your points, the overall degree to which I view these elements as 'great' is slightly less than yourself. 'Very good' is more akin to how I'd categorize this flick.
And I have no doubt "There Will be Blood" should have won that year.
Just out of curiosity, have you completely gotten rid of the numbered 'scorecard' on the right sidebar, or is that just in need of an update?
And I have no doubt "There Will be Blood" should have won that year.
Just out of curiosity, have you completely gotten rid of the numbered 'scorecard' on the right sidebar, or is that just in need of an update?
Pointless re-release and terrible movie.


Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian
Disc Details
Release Date:
6th April 2009
Discs:
2
Disc Type:
Blu-ray Disc
RCE:
No
Video:
1080p
Aspect:
2.35:1
Anamorphic:
No
Colour:
Yes
Audio:
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English, DTS 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles:
English SDH, French, and Spanish
Extras:
The Making of No Country for Old Men, Working with the Coens, Diary of a Country Sheriff, Josh Brolin's Unauthorized Behind-The-Scenes, Press Timeline Archive, Digital Copy
Easter Egg:
No
Feature Details
Director:
Joel and Ethan Coen
Cast:
Javier Bardem, Rodger Boyce, Josh Brolin, Barry Corbin, Beth Grant
Length:
122 minutes
Ratings
Awards


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