No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood

I finally watched these two movies in the past two weeks.

No Country For Old Men surprised me by being an excellent movie. I had read somewhere that it was about a drug deal or something, and took place out in the country or something, and I didn't think I would like it that much.

In fact, the movie is about this this go-it-alone Texan who finds $2 million versus a genuinely scary sociopath who's trying to track him down. It's gripping, goes by quickly, and is fairly amusing in parts. One recurring feature I particularly enjoyed was how the characters kept pulling out or acquiring these interesting props, for example a set of tent poles. You keep thinking "what's he going to do with that?"

I can only recommend this movie.
Cost*: 2/5
Payoff: 5/5

There Will Be Blood, on the other hand, was a bit of a letdown. I was really looking forward to more Daniel Day-Lewis, who was awesome in Gangs of New York, but the point of this movie was somewhat lost on me. The plot in the first half was pretty cool (mesmerizing, in fact) but it didn't really go anywhere worth going. In addition, the soundtrack was downright distracting at times (it was very dissonant). Still, it has interesting subject matter (turn of the century oil prospecting and screwing over of the people who live there) and Daniel Day-Lewis, so it's not all bad. Probably worth watching if the trailer looked cool to you. I'm glad I saw it.

Cost: 4/5
Payoff: 4/5



* I was thinking it would be interesting to rate movies not only based on how "good" they are, but on how much time and effort and sanity you have to spend watching them. The ideal 1 on this scale is "completely engrossing and leaves you feeling refreshed" while a 5 means "requires endurance and leaves you feeling exhausted".