No Country For Old Men is not an easy movie to watch. It is full of subtleties and nuances in addition to the in your face violence. Throw in the Texas drawl to the mix and you’re guaranteed to have a hard time understanding everything. A small-towner running away with a bag of cash he finds from a drug deal gone bad (imagine lots of dead people and even a dog too, that bad). A psychotic professional (and really scary) killer running after him. People dying left and right (and up and own). It sound like your average predictable thriller, but it’s actually unpredictable and quite riveting all the way down to the very end. I have to confess that it doesn’t totally make sense to me but I liked it and I’ll most probably watch it again just to make more sense of it.

Rating: 4/5

In Gone Baby Gone, a young and idealistic rookie private detective takes on more than what he bargained for when he took the job of finding a toddler who had disappeared. Along with his associate/girlfriend, he starts the investigation. As they slowly unravels the mystery, they suffer from the mental and physical toll of the work. And along the way, but especially towards the end, they must make or rationalize decisions and actions that are morally and ethically ambiguous. The movie doesn’t take sides on these issues and generally just presents things as they unfold. The ending scene is, however, a bit different as it seems to imply a possible result of his final decision. But still, is it the right decision? It is still up to the viewer. A good movie with a compelling story and interesting characters. Especially more so, coming from first-time actor-turned-director Ben Affleck.

Rating: 5/5