that every time I go to a Coen Brothers movie, I always walk out of the theater feeling better than when I walked in? Tonight was no exception.

I had the opportunity this evening to see an advanced screening of the new Coen Brothers film, “No Country For Old Men.” If, at this moment, I were to go into a protracted, laudatory spiel about this film, you would think I was blustering. So, I will say nothing but this: This was, by far, the best film I have seen this year. Having said that, I must tell you that the person I saw the film with stated that he was “glad this movie was free.” And two young men who were walking behind me as we left the theater were talking and I overheard one of them say, “This was not one of the Coens’ best. In fact it may have been the worst. They need to go back to making movies like ‘Raising Arizona’.”

No. No, I don’t think they do. There are great movies and then there are masterworks. In my opinion, “No Country For Old Men” is the latter. Even now as I sit before this glowing screen, typing these words, I am recalling with my mind’s eye, all of the wonderful, beautiful, grotesque and shocking images that poured from the screen and into my psyche. Shattered glass and bloodied shirts of flannel. Men screaming in agony as they were mowed down by hot, scattered lead. The sound of gunshots whizzing through the back windows of old pickup trucks. Dirty men, both physically and morally. And not only was the film visually captivating, but it was infused with that great dialogue that only the Coens seem to have a flair for these days. Old men sat at tables in diners and in old, dilapidated houses doing nothing but telling stories — stories so rich and visual in just the telling that they pirouetted through my mind and lodged themselves into my memory. I won’t forget this film for quite a while. This kind of movie was meant for darkened movie houses on late Saturday afternoons. It was meant for people who have nowhere else to go afterwards. People who aren’t preoccupied with the future. But those who desire to be taken, for a brief while, out of the present.

Although I don’t put much merit into awards, I guarantee that this movie will be nominated for at least three Oscars. Mark it down. Best Picture. Best Screenplay. Best Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem. At least three if not more. The Coens are two of the greatest filmmakers out there right now. Let’s hope this is the beginning of another streak of great films by them.