No Country for Old Men vs. Atonement

With today's announcement of the Boston Film Critic Society Awards, it is looking like No Country for Old Men is the more likely Best Picture winner over one of the most buzzed contenders of the decade, Atonement. But what will it be? Let's take a look, shall we?

-No Country for Old Men has an Rotten Tomatoes rating of 96%, and 91/100 on Metacritic. Atonement has an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 85/100 on Metacritic. There is no denying that these are both great ratings, but No Country is certainly the critical darling of the year (alongside Ratatouille, which, of course, can't quite manage a Best Picture nod).


-Atonement is pure Oscar bait...right? On paper, it would seem so: a love story set in a time of war. However, the Academy is starting to give the big prize to darker films (The Departed, Crash; even Million Dollar Baby, Chicago and Lord of the Rings to a lesser extent). No Country is just that type of film.

-Is the Academy ready to honor a movie with no real message? That's a very legitimate question. While some would say that The Departed didn't have much of a message, it's important to keep in mind that the vast majority of Best Picture winners, dark as they may be, do end up having a theme. I'm not saying that No Country for Old Men is bad for that--it's my favorite film of the year by a mile--but it could bring it down.

-Atonement was praised in Europe and No Country was very well-liked, while in America, No Country was praised and Atonement was very well-liked. To me, this means that Atonement will win the Golden Globe and the BAFTA, while No Country for Old Men will take the Oscar. But we'll see. If No Country dominates the Golden Globe nominations to be announced on Thursday (wow, this year has gone FAST), then there will be little reason to question that it will take home the Academy Award for Best Picture. But we'll see, won't we?