NCFOM is a REALISITC movie; that's why it has no ending or hardly any music in it. It is sort of a mixture between a documentary, a piece of art and a an ordinary story. Unlike an ancient drama - and basically every BIG US movie ever made - it has not a simple design: build-up - climax - resolve; or music, there is hardly need for music to add emphasis. Viewers used to this tradition will find they, i.e. this predictable structure and the music, are lacking, but then they might just be unable to reflect their viewing habits. In NCFOM, the pictures stand or speak for themselves. - From this point of view, TWBB is just another movie; NCFOM, however, is a moving transgression: proably the best movie I have ever seen.

Tony Melonee, Newstad, East Twickenham

It seems a divisive subject, I think both films had flaws, but by god they also had moments of sheer brilliance. Stop fighting and thank God oil and money that Hollywood is finally making movies that offer an alternative to Spandex Muppets jumping off buildings in dumb costumes. Mr Anderson and Messrs Coen, I salute you. PS. Daniel Day Lewis can overblow it all he likes in my opinion. More of the same please!!

Tom, Dublin, Ireland

Mr. Christopher, without meaning to offend, I think you are one of the critics caught up in the phenomenon more commonly known as "The Emperor's New Clothes" when it comes to the movie There Will Be Blood. You complain that you could not understand the last reel of No Country For Old Men, but without the vapid and pretentious movie that you champion? There Will Be Blood looks like it's about something but the pieces don't add up. It looks like art. It appears to be about something. But in the end, it's merely a dull movie by a technically skilled but overrated filmmaker that desperately wants to make a movie about something but has nothing to say.

cinemoose.com/there-will-be-blood-and-the-emperors-new-clothes/

Cinemoose, Los Angeles, CA, USA

I cannot fathom the movie critics' fawning adoration of Daniel Day-Lewis. In my view his performances are pretentious and over done. In fact I wonder if he & Nic Cage were separated at birth.

But I digress. One of the joys of movies is that people will draw different conclusions. Ten years ago I winced as the Academy showered awards on the appalling Titanic, but I'm pleased to say that on this occasion thier votes have been more sensibly cast.

No Country For Old Men was easily the most accomplished creation of the year and deserved it's Oscar. If you had even bothered to read your peers' reviews, let alone McCarthy's book you would appreciate the bravery of the Coen Brothers' decision to reproduce the original ending.

But this is all moot. Pirates of the Caribbean turned the biggest money last year so my 8-year old nephew was probably right to judge that the best movie of 2007 and who are we to argue with that logic..?

John, Bournemouth,

There Will Be Blood is one of the most pretentious films I have ever seen, and I am happy it didn't get the Oscar.

Day Lewis's performance was overblown, and he should not have had the Oscar either.

My opinion!!

Martin Lovett, London, UK

THERE WILL BE BLOOD was robbed!!! One of the best movies EVER and without a shadow of a doubt and by a COUNTRY mile - the best film of the year....

Aranya Syed, London, England

Marion Cotillard was so fabulous as Edith Piaf and if she had not won the oscar for her performance there would be no justice. How a young girl could act like this is wonderful, I just imagined Edith Piaf on the screen, and could not believe a young girl could portray such a complex character. A wonderful film

elaine, Brighton, UK

The role of Piaf in LA VIE EN ROSE was much more challenging; Cotillard submerged her own star quality to bring her character to life. It is a bravura performance and will become iconic. Julie Christie's work has always been terrific; hers was a smaller film where delicacy was the goal, but it could not compete with the requirements of Cotillard's movie. Moreover, there was some distress in the US over the fact that voters at the SAG Awards received copies of AWAY FROM HER but not LA VIE EN ROSE, thus making Chistie the shoo-in for Best Actress. Once Oscar voters saw the French film, they simploy made the choice between the two, and (I think rightly) chose the more difficult performance. Also, Cotillard is a highly accessible person, charming, young, and gorgeous; none of this hurt her. But remember that she arrived for the Awards Season virtually unknown. Brava, Marion; a righteous choice. From anonymous to world-famous in three nights -- a true Hollywood story.

Kit van Cleave, Houston, TX/USA

Thanks, Jamie, for your explanation of "No Country..."
I still don't like the film but am interested in and respect your reasons for your enjoying it and appreciating it.

Gillian , Concord, California

Adding my two cents here about a few films... Why not?

Julie Christie's performance was lyrical, nuanced and incredibly accomplished, not a bravado turn--the kind that usually win an Oscar. Still, it was a very fine performance despite the fact that the film was made in Canada... Somebody tell me: Is there something wrong with this?

There Will Be Blood is operatic, a sort of Grand Guignol of the West; not everyone's cup of tea but ambitious and far-reaching.
NCFOM has the same feeling; it's almost as if the Coen Bros and Anderson warred on epic bordering territories.

Atonement was one of my favorites, because I'm partial to sweeping period films, English accents and the people who speak them.

Overall, I thought it was a fine year for film...

P.S. The Bourne Identity was expertly edited and deserved an award for this.

Elan Durham, Santa Monica, CA/US

You cant expect any award ceremony to get it completely right with the rest of the worlds opinions. The Academy are probably best equipped to vote for the awards.
TWBB was a good film though it could of been somewhat shorter and DDL performance was strong. Though for that matter it made his character so strong it did draw away from other aspects of the film. He did, however, deserve best actor as none of the others nominated were outstanding. I believe his performance in My Left Foot was far more deserving though.
NCFOM was also a great film and I believe a lot of the responses against it are simply people who didnt quite get it. The characters were believable, the cinematography excellent, the sound quality high, and the plot made sense. It came together as an interesting film. Perhaps who simply dont get it need to step back and view it again rather than writing it off as a poor film.
As for Atonement, its score (outstanding) matched the film perfectly thus deserving the award.

Patrick, Canberra, Australia

If the ending of NCFOM is simplistic (which I dispute), then what on earth is the ending of There Will Be Blood???? I liked the movie a lot, but jeez ... We spend about 2 hours witnessing the battle between the rapacious capitalist and the phony evangelist for the soul of America. DDL ends up wealthy and lonely in his mansion, where Paul Dano visits him and DDL makes the point that he has "won" because he has already drained Dano's land of all of its oil.

Not content to leave it at that, we then have to witness DDL beating Dano to death with a bowling pin -- just in case we missed the point that capitalism won the battle.

Point made, and re-made, and then remade with violence.

And I would question whether thematically the film is accurate anyway. Given the resurgence of fundamentalist Christianity in America in the last 20 years, is it clear that capitalism defeated religion in American history. A more subtle message would have been how the two have merged together.

Scott, Toronto, Canada

I agree with you , Atonement is too overated. You get the feeling in the British media that this film deserves to get awards because it is British and for no othe reason. I do not agree that Julie Christie deserved the award for best actress i think marion coutillard gave an absoulutely fantastic performance in La Vie un Rose , i cheered when she won the BAFTA.

Imogen, Birmingham, England

"all the artistic punch of a daffodil"
A glorious golden flamboyant trumpet bursting from an elegant star suspended on a slender green wand. If this is the sort of punch packed by Juno it must indeed be artisitic. I can't wait to see it!

JB, Derbyshire,

I couldn't agree more about the ending to No Country For Old Men! Highly overrated!

Wesley, Milton Keynes,

Agree entirely on Martin Scorsese and the Departed - the Hong Kong original is far superior, and Scorsese has made far better films that weren't honoured.

matt, Shanghai, China

There will be blood was an amazing film and did deserve more yet even the fact that Jonny Greenwood wasn't nominated for his score was a bit suspect. It was as if the academy didn't want to be too predictable with it already certain daniel day lewis would get best actor.

No Country for Old Men's ending was very simple- evil has always been around and the evil faced in the preceding two hours is nothing new but the main message is that in spite of this evil there is always hope because you can always go to your father's house and it will be fine. It's a message of hope in even the bleakest of times. Also the reason there is such an anti climax at the ending is because the endgame is never really in doubt.

James, Liverpool,

"The title is a Biblical warning that old-fashioned values no longer apply."

Biblical? Umm, more likely W.B. Yeatsical.

Marko, Zagreb,

What greykangaroo, Sydney, Oz said - exactly!
In addition, how it TWBB "a marvellously entertaining soap"? I don't see that at all. And just because something is artsy, doesn't make it good. And just because something is entertaining, doesn't make it bad.
Oh, and, of course, vice versa.

KS, Germany,

so, basically James Christopher thinks you should get an oscar if you're british. what a surprise.

rudy, london,

No Counrtry was an excellent film, but There Will Be Blood was amazing. It was unlike any film I had ever seen with awesome performances, great cinematography, art direction, and score. Paul Thomas Anderson did a great job directing and he created one hell of an ambitious story. It is a movie that will live on.

Ryan Wall, new york, new york

As far as Martin Scorsese's pat on the back , last year, was concerned, I felt it was a bitter sweet moment.
At last, it was his turn and what film did they award him for?
'Raging Bull'? Good Fellas? Not on your life!!
It was for a poor remake of an excellent Chinese police thriller, make only a couple of years' previously.
It was an embarrassment for me to watch.
What must it have been for Mr. Scorsese?
Or maybe he wanted the elusive statuette so much, he just didn't care?

PRUDENCE EELY BOND MCGUIRE, LONDON, ENGLAND,UK.

Sorry to hear you are "gutted."

NCFOM worked completely as a film where all the disparate elements worked together to support the story and make it seamless. Not one element overshadowed or over-rode the other.

TWBB was a film of disparate elements- music, acting, art direction, direction where each was wanting to show off -- more than the other. It started with an over the top hammy performance by a man playing 'John Huston', with a musician showing how clever he could be and then it did not stop.

You were right about one thing...it was indeed an old fashioned parable and this does not a film make.

Mark, Mullumbimby, NSW, Australia

Yep, the Academy gets it wrong everytime. Hitchcock never won an award during his lifetime. Yep, the Academy's credibility is shot.

There Will Be Blood is not just about Daniel Plainview; the themes are rich and the supporting cast is amazing. They help give meaning to Plainview's character. If people stopped their obsession with Day-Lewis, people would see just how balanced and rounded the film is- it has a community, it has Eli Sunday, it has the artwork of the oil rigs and the land, it has a narrative score, and so much suspense and tragedy.

Contrast that with the series of chase scenes that comprise NCFOM. Macho talk, and no development. Everyone just says that is the point of the fim? Well, if dead end killing as an end in itself is what everyone is after, NCFOM is the perfect DVD for you. It also comes with the free book its based on so you can use the book to (try) to stand the film on steady feet.

E Moffat, London,

If any film goer is interested in seeing 'John Huston', portrayed to perfection, by an actor, you need go no further, than viewing, 'White Hunter, Black Heart', in which Clint Eastwood, plays John Wilson (John Huston), . Clint by the way, is very adept, at directing himself, in this really memorable 1990 film.
Huston's actor son, Danny Huston, is pretty good too, at using his Dad as a 'sense memory', in the Australian film 'The Proposition'.

PRUDENCE EELY BOND MCGUIRE, LONDON, ENGLAND,UK.

There Will Be Blood was flawed because of the flawed, third-rate novel it was based on. The theme of the battle between fundamentalist religion and capitalism for the soul of America was unsubtle. The movie was made top-heavy by the hammy performance of Daniel Day-Lewis.

Scott, Toronto, Canada

No Country for Old Men is a masterpiece, and a perfect movie. Every scene achieves precisely what it was going for, and the film has the unsettling, relentless march of a perfect Hitchcok thriller. The ending was brilliant, except to those people who want the conventional resolution to a thriller where good must vanquish evil so that we can all properly digest ouer popcorn. Chigurh disappears into the mists for the very reason that he represents the new America of meaningless violence without any code of honour or behaviour to justify his actions. For him to be defeated would have undermined the theme. And Tommy Lee Jones moving final monologue sealed the theme of America having so changed that the sheriff could neither face nor even comprehend the new world he wakes up into (the old world having become as distant as a dream). Deeply moving and very profound about the culture of senseless violence that has changed America.

Scott, Toronto, Canada

And for those who say NCFOM was too violent or even gratuitously violent, nonsense. The filmmakers create an incredible sense of dread and the AURA of violence, yet the actual violence shown on the screen is not all that much. Again and again, violence is hinted at, but not shown -- the shooting of Woody Harrelson (not shown), the death of Josh Brolin's wife (not shown), the death of Josh Brolin (not shown). And other times, the feeling that violence will break out is incredible, yet violence does not occur -- the coin tossing scene in the gas station, where the viewer fears that Chigurh will explode; the sassy fat woman who mouths off to Chigurh at Brolin's workplace; the scenes in the hotel.

I would go so far as to say the Coen's used incredible restraint in showing violence, and relied on very skilful filmmaking to evoke a dangerous world without actually showing it.

If Hitchcock had made this movie, all the critics who dislike it would be declaring it to be great.

Scott, Toronto, Canada

You can use "chicanery" and any other 10-point words you want, but calling The Bourne Ultimatum a formulaic blockbuster automatically calls your opinion into question.

Keil S., McAllen, USA

Danny Day Lewis was so over the top that I didn't believe in his character. He was almost annoying and irritating in his performance, I left before the movie finished as couldn't take him any longer. Then again no actor playing normal or happy are ever gonna win an oscar. they have to play mad, dead, terminally ill, psycho. Marion deserved her oscar as Julie character was a cliche and again got a nomination because the character was ill. Bardem was great and another deserving winner, had his role been played by Danny D.L we would have got another over the top psycho.

Maria, New York, USA

'No Country for Old Men' is a bad film. Boring and pretentious; even the end is so boring, the bad winning. All that gratuitous violence, I’ve seen better films than this. I’m bored to death with the Cohen brothers.

Alex, oxford, England

Everyone knows that DDL was "doing" Houston and very hammy it was too. Three very cartoonish caracters were nominated in the Best Actor category this year, add Viggo and Johnny to the mix . Only George and Tommy Lee were playing real men.

Patricia, London ,

The Academy as you put it, consists of many people involved in the US film industry, including tutors at film schools. Most never get to see every film up for nomination (some say half) and hence tend to vote according to others opinions or with the general sentimentality. Hence this can lead to such anomalies as Ordinary People winning over Raging Bull and Tom Hanks receiving more Oscars than De Niro or Pacino. Over the last few years the red carpet and the host of the ceremonies has taken center stage and according to many, have been more memorable than the winners themselves.
No Country... or There Will Be Blood? Who cares ? Their both worth going to see, Oscar or no Oscar.

Paul McCloskey, London, UK

Actually, James, if you're going to examine the curiously lop-sided nature of this year's awards, you should start with the technical gongs given to The Bourne Ultimatum. There was evidently some studio chicanery involved in getting this formulaic blockbuster nominated for anything other than Most Obvious Reworking Of A Stale Cliche.
Incidentally, how are you? Been a long time.

Alix Sharkey, Miami Beach, USA

I would like, to ask an open question-
If, Daniel Day-Lewis' performance, in this latest film, is, so good, pray tell me, why, he lost out previously, for his portrayal of Bill (The Butcher) Cuttings, in the almost, unwatchable Scorsese film, 'Gangs of New York'?
It was the same performance, with a different accent!

PRUDENCE EELY BOND MCGUIRE, LONDON, ENGLAND,UK.

Could someone who understands why "No Country..." was such a good film explain it to someone who didn't .
Please.
Gill, San Francisco

Gillian McBreen, concord, California

I totally agree with "PRUDENCE EELY BOND MCGUIRE", Julie Christie's acting is just ok, not much else. Daniel Day Lewis on the other hand is so over the top, it is sometimes unbearable to watch. But I loved No Country for Old Man, a masterpiece no less. And Marion Cotillard was a truly deserving winner, a knock out.

eddie, newcastle-upon-tweed, England

I found Day Lewis to be a fantastic actor stuck in a rather boring film that was too long. It treated religion with stereotypes which also gets boring but it was reasonably touching when it came to subplot of the treatment of the poor son & impostor.

No Country was much better by far, more gripping early on, lovely local accents like the Coens are famous for, a truly frightening menacing maniac and an even look at the old virtues of courage and innocence and the new pointless vices of cash greed and thoughtless cruelty in modern society. If it was a bloke's film that's cool, I'm not one, I thought it a great film. In fact could we hae more bloke's films and fewer 'chick' flicks please? I wouldnt bother with a film like Atonment it looks like a sob story even if adapted.

The only drawback of NCFOM I thought was Lee Jones' monologue at the end, it seemed to cut off suddenly, which made me think I hadnt been listening and then I thought happily that I would have to watch it again.

greykangaroo, Sydney, Oz

Hasn't anyone else noticed that what Daniel Day-Lewis was doing was a brilliant impression of the late John Huston?

John, Killarney, Ireland

Explanation of No Country For Old Men:
First of all the film is about fate and chance. The man at the gas station is saved because he calls heads correctly. The theme pops up repeatedly thru the film. The car accident at the end is a recurrence of this
The second thing is the recurrence of the violence. Tommy Lee Jones wants to retire because he says the country has got too violent for him. His uncle (in the wheelchair) however says that none of that is new, and tells a story about a man been killed by the comanche at the turn of the century.
The theme of the past happening again is cemented by Tommy Lee Jones dream at the end. He is following in the footsteps of his father. This links back to the beginning where he talks about being a sherriff at the same time as his grandfather.

Jamie, London,

I wholeheartedly agree!
'Blood Simple' was film making par excellence!
It told it's story in minimal fashion and didn't need the length of 'Country for old men'.

PRUDENCE EELY BOND MCGUIRE, LONDON, ENGLAND,UK.

I'm delighted Daniel Day-Lewis won an oscar. The guy is simply magnificent.

I watched No Country For Old Men and I didn't think it was anything special.

Chris , Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The nominated films were an embarrassment, the host was a joke(the only one of the night), and the "stars" had about as much glamor as a sweaty overweight Al Gore. This was global boring!

The award shows(all of them) are failing because the art they are attempting to recognize no longer exists. No music, no theater, no film, no kidding.

Steven C., New Jersey, USA

Personally, both films left me cold. I didn't find much intelligence there, or much film-making ability. There Will Be Blood is the cinematic equivalent of being run over, while No Country for Old Men is meandering and pretentious.

Where are the ideas? The artistry? All of the nuance is missing. Both films, while beautifully shot, seemed to have been directed by 14-year-olds. Blood Simple is a far better film.

And There Will Be Blood has the worst score in film history.

Jerry Winslow, Westram, UK

Julie Christie, did not deserve to be named best actress, in a role, which, was really nothing more, than, a supporting role.
The film, 'Away from her', was a small Canadian t.v. film, made several years' ago and had the smell of a 'ring in' to me.
As, for Daniel Day Lewis, his acting is too over the top for this film fan .It was bad enough, he got an 'Oscar' for 'My Left Foot', but, to anoint him, again, words just fail me!
Any dramatic performance, that, has the audience roaring with laughter, is, a none starter, as far as I am concerned.

PRUDENCE EELY BOND MCGUIRE, LONDON, ENGLAND,UK.

What seemed unusual to me was the layered qualtiy of the ceremony, the double entendres, and the unseen guests.

Completely surprising, unnerving and humiliating at times.

Elan Durham, Santa Monica, CA/US

Your film "died face down in the mud"? Listen Mr Christopher, I got buddies who died face down in the muck so that you and I could enjoy this family awards ceremony...

Well done the Coens. Long overdue.

scott oliver, nottingham,

No Country For Old Men is a deserving winner. The ending is unconventional but what is wrong with that? Considering the themes of the film it fits perfectly. Blood is a superb film too. though, and it could have gone either way really.

At the end of the day, the Oscars usually gets it wrong anyway.

Moorish, London, England