Quite possibly the best film yet by the acclaimed brother filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men is a profound, violent reverie on the old American west, set in 1980 west Texas.

Tommy Lee Jones stars as a weary, retiring sheriff, faced with the bloodiest case of his career. He's not so much as solving the case, but helplessly following the blood trail of a killer (Javiar Bardem) so relentless he is compared to bubonic plague. The killer is after $2 million, taken from the grisly scene of a drug deal gone bad by a good-ol-boy hunter (Josh Brolin) who readily admits that doing so was probably the dumbest thing he's ever done. But he went ahead and did it anyway.

Well, if he hadn't, we would have this movie to watch. And what one hell of a movie it is.

No Country for Old Men is nominated for several Oscars, including best picture, best director, best supporting actor (Javier Bardem), best adapted screenplay and best cinematography (the bleak, beautiful borderlands are captured by long-time Coens' collaborator Roger Deakins). It has already won Baftas (best director, best supporting actor, best cinematography), Golden Globes (best screenplay, best supporting actor) and tons of other hardware and accolades. With a 94% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it is almost universally acclaimed.

It's a wonder to behold, and hard to put into words, though I managed somehow. I hope to see it again. Reportedly, it is not censored as other recent Hollywood releases have been.

In this year of heavy pictures up for the Oscars, No Country for Old Men is bookended by There Will Be Blood, so it is more than appropriate that Paul Thomas Anderson's grand, new epic opens the same week in Bangkok cinemas.

Loosely based on Upton Sinclair's Oil!, There Will Be Blood represents a bold, new direction for Robert Altman's heir apparent, Anderson, who previously directed the crazy, ensemble-cast laden comedy-dramas, Boogie Nights and Magnolia. Closer to the mode of his early effort Hard Eight (worth seeking out) and the overlooked Punch Drunk Love, this is more of a character study, about a turn-of-the-century California prospector, played by a powerful Daniel Day-Lewis, who develops a lustful, unabiding greed for oil, and will stop at nothing to get it out of the ground.

Like No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood is almost universally acclaimed. Daniel Day-Lewis has already won a Golden Globe and a Bafta for his performance. He, of course, is up for an Oscar. The film is also nominated for Oscars for best picture, best director, best adaptation and best cinematography, directly competing with the Coens in several categories. Critics are positively gushing about it, giving it a 91% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

It is reportedly NOT censored, and is showing exclusively at the Lido in Siam Square.

If films like No Country for Old Men or There Will Be Blood seem a mite heavy, then Handle Me With Care (Kod) might be the thing. This romantic comedy stars Kiatkamol Latha, or Tui AF3, as a guy with three arms, who considers his extra appendage an encumbrance. He sets out from his hometown of Lampang to Bangkok to have it cut off. Along with way, he hooks up with a pretty girl named Na (Supaksorn "Kratae" Chaimongkol), and the pair suffer through various misadventures.

Written and directed by Kongdej Jaturanrasamee, the film has a wry comedic touch, yet is also as predictably sweet and sentimental as anything produced by Grammy-Tai-Hub. It does have some social commentary about how we regard people who look like "freaks", or what we might think about girls with prominent bustlines. So for that, I think this is a road movie that's worth hitching a ride with.

Also opening

• Jumper - Okay, if you are really looking for something to not think about, here is a flashy action film about a young man (Star Wars I-III's Hayden Christensen) who can mysteriously teleport himself to anywhere. In fact, if you try and use your brains to figure this film out, you'll likely go nuts, or just have a bunch of unanswered questions. Hayden's character is pursued for mysterious reasons by a white-haired Samuel L. Jackson. Critics are jumping to trash the film, giving it a 15% rotten rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
• Dragon Wars - Kaiju cinema and Hollywood-style action combine in this CGI monster fest directed by Korea's Shim Hyung-rae. Also called D-War, this is Korea's first big try to break into Hollywood, and though the monsters look cool, there is little to get excited about. "The most disappointing aspect is the total absence of humour ... all the characters are deadly serious, as if all the monsters are real, and the world’s fate is really handing by the thread," writes the Korea Herald's Yang Sung-jin. "Even superb computer-generated graphics do not make up for a poorly written script." Other critics are also not compelled, giving the film a 25% rotten rating at Rotten Tomatoes. At the Lido cinemas in Siam Square and Century - The Movie Plaza near Victory Monument.
• Dead in Three Days - Austria shows that it, too, can make a teenage slasher horror flick. with English and Thai subtitles at House on Royal City Avenue.

Also showing

• Jodhaa Akbar - The controversial Bollywood historical romantic drama has been continued for a second weekend by Bollywood Thai. The is about the Muslim Mughal ruler of Hindustan in the 16th century, Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar (Hrithik Roshan), and his love with the fiery young Hindu Rajput Princess Jodhaa (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan). The film has been met with a mixed response from critics. Response from Rajput ethnic groups has been more harsh, with Hindu Rajput groups attacking cinemas and tearing down movie posters, saying the film is historically inaccurate. Man, I wish people in Thailand were as passionate about films as they are in India! Showtimes are at 8pm on Saturday (February 23) and at 4pm on Sunday at SF World cinema in CentralWorld.