The Very Definition of Movie Making

Rating: 10/10 (9 January 2014)

I try to reserve a "10" vote for the best of the best, the classics, movies impossible to forget, scenes that play over and over in the mind. By way of preface, it is acknowledged that the good and bad ratings for this movie fall generally into two camps, i.e., men love it, women hate it. Women search for meaning in everything, a message, a story, an outcome that "says something", and for that and many similar reasons this movie disappoints them. Why? Because this movie just "is" . . . it is there, you can't explain it any more than Sheriff Bell can explain the violence he sees in Texas . . . the real violence we see all around us every day.
There are so many riveting scenes in "No Country for Old Men" it's impossible to pick one favorite. The breath-taking violence in the movie is eclipsed by the fine acting by every single actor in the movie. It is a well known fact that when Tommy Lee Jones appears in a movie ALL actors step up their performances, and this movie is a perfect example of that. Pick one (you could pick EVERY one) - Stephen Root. An actor perhaps best recognized for his previous goofy portrayal of a total nerd in "Office Space". But in this movie, in just a small part, he gives us a character so obviously vile that it oozes out with every word he utters.
It's difficult to be objective about a movie that will live on for ages as a classic, a movie that should be used to teach actors how to act. A movie that can entertain me again and again, no matter whether I watch it all or just three minutes. It defines movie making.