No Country For Old Men

Llewelyn Moss (Brolin), a Vietnam veteran hunting pronghorns in the West Texas desert, stumbles upon a scene of carnage in the middle of nowhere. There are several abandoned vehicles, even more dead bodies, a dead pitbull, and a truck bed filled with heroin at the scene. Moss discovers that one of the corpses holds a satchel containing two-million dollars and decides to take the money and run. Before long, a psychopath named Anton Chigurh (Bardem) is hot on Moss' trail to reclaim the cash that he believes is rightfully his. Even though the Texas desert is No Country For Old Men, it is up to aging Sheriff Bell (Jones) to try to save Moss from Chigurh's deadly aim. No Country For Old Men won Academy Awards® for Best Actor In A Supporting Role, Best Director, Best Writer (Adapted Screenplay), and Best Picture. (Stacey Pendry)

Special features on include up-front previews and the following featurettes: "The Making Of No Country For Old Men" (25 minutes), "Working With The Coens" (six minutes), and "Diary Of A Country Sheriff" (seven minutes).

The anamorphically enhanced 2.34:1 DVD exhibits a pleasing image with deep blacks and good color balance. Resolution is very well preserved, but fine details can look soft. Fleshtones have a natural hue that helps create a sense of realism. Shadow delineation is nicely rendered, assisting in the creation of a solid sense of dimensionality. Pixelation can be noticed at times, and shimmering artifacts are visible on occasion. Edge enhancement is fairly heavy. The Blu-ray Disc's H.264 AVC encoding provides a striking image, with very good resolution and inky black levels. Contrast is nicely balanced, and the desaturated colors match the time period well. The apparent dimensionality of the image is impressive. (Danny Richelieu)

The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack features good dynamic range and a very low noise floor, which is especially beneficial with the many quiescent scenes. Dialogue intelligibility is good, and voices sound rich and natural. The front channels are used well to create a sense of atmosphere with low-level effects, but the surround channels are often incorporated at such low levels that they are almost completely ineffective. The soundtrack is very reliant on the front three screen channels. Deep bass can be delivered well through the LFE and front full-range channels, but it isn't a major aspect of the sound design. The Blu-ray Disc's uncompressed linear PCM 5.1-channel soundtrack provides fantastic dynamic range and overall fidelity, but the mix has the same limitations as the DVD's. (Danny Richelieu)