Reviews are pouring in, and we definitely need a thread now as it's been called Coens' best film by at least a number of big-name critics.

MC: 93, 7 100s out of 15 reviews;
RT: 90%/8.0, 75%/7.0 COTC;
BFCA: 91
NSFC: 77 with 13 reviews

The COTC's score at RT is the weakest spot, but as more reviews are counted, I expect it to be back up to at least the 85%/7.5 level. Everything else looks great. The 91 score at BFCA tied for the 3rd highest, behind just an action sequel and a documentary.

It's been my choice to be the critic's list champ for a while, it looks solid for that title. Screenplay will probably win. Supporting Actor will probably win. It's not as strong as There Will Be Blood or Atonement, but it's in there.

Currently I could see following nominations:

Picture
Director
Adapted Screenplay
Actor, Josh Brolin
Supporting Actor, Javier Bardem
Cinematography
Editing

Any other techs?

Actor is way too strong for Brolin to get in, methinks. But the rest seem fine.

Brolins best performance shall always be in The Car

All joking aside this film looks very strong for Noms in all the big areas.

I think it will end up with 4 or 5 noms including most of the big ones.

Can't wait to see it... it comes out tomorrow yayyy. I'll treat myself maybe. or i could wait till sunday and maybe see it with my bf but i dont really want to wait

I really wanna see this too. I am a huge fan of the book.

Update:

MC: 94, 15 100s out of 27 reviews;
RT: 94%/8.3, 87%/8.0 COTC

COTC recovered even more impressively than I thought. It's getting close to be this year's Pan's Labyrinth, without subtitle and with an early, more friendly release date.

Brolin isn't making it, simply because in a year as strong as this he doesn't have the oomph. Cinematography would seem almost certain at this point, but Deakins still has his universally acclaimed work in Jesse James, and cinematographers rarely double. Otherwise it looks good though.

I can't fucking believe Deakins hasn't won an Oscar yet. That should and could be rectified this year.

Coens' films always get nominated in cinematography, and with a better box office and stronger overall profile, Deakins should be nominated here instead of for Jesse James.

I think Javier Bardem is going to sweep critic awards for supporting (unless some deem him lead) and wins the Oscar going away. And the film has strong possibility at grabbing three others (Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Cinematography). Still think it's 3rd behind Atonement and There Will Be Blood in the picture race at this point.

Yeah, I have a VERY hard time seeing Bardem lose S. Actor. His performance looks like it's gonna be THE performance of the year, and no other contenders have popped up yet to stop him.

I agree. It's no.3 right now. I want to place it at number 2 but the fact that Blood seems to be more epic and, based on that screening, an instant classic in film history keeps it up there. Can't believe we have to wait another 7 weeks for that one

I'd say that Day-Lewis is more likely to deliver THE performance of the year.

As far as the BP race goes...yeah, I'd say that There Will Be Blood, Atonement are definitely ahead and if all goes right, Charlie Wilson's War might get well ahead of it too.

This has been the picture to beat for awhile now IMO.

Entered IMDb's top 250 with just 1,322 votes, the lowest number of votes I could remember seeing to crack the list. This has a chance to go really high, higher than Fargo. It's only dragged down the female votes, probably due to excess of violence.

Nah

Go find my post! All you were like "No way" and I quietly slinked away!

Hmm... so I saw it last night and now I'm a bit confused.

It was great but it didn't blow me away. Then again, Fargo didn't do too much for me either. But I'm really not sure how the Academy will respond to this. One amazing thing about the movie though is it keeps you on the edge of your seat all throughout.

Javier Bardem was simply astonishing. Here's my reservation about him winning though. Would they award him for such a villain. I mean this guy is ruthless in the movie; just kills and kills and kills. The second scene he's in alone gives him a nomination in my opinion. I'd consider him the front-runner to win still, but I wonder if he'll get snubbed once again.

Villains do extremely well in nominations. Some villains who have won have been put in the lead though. That said, Bardem is definitely the most ruthless and murderous one.

Congrats on calling it early then...but it still has never been THE movie to beat. If anything that was Atonement for most of the time.

No Country for Old Men will NEVER be the front-runner, nomination or win. It may be the critics darling this year but the front-runner for the race it certainly is not and will not be.

I don't know... maybe I spoke too soon and need to let the film settle. After all after first seeing Brokeback, I thought a win would be a longshot and it got as close as you can get. I kind of got the same initial impression with No Country so I'll admit, I could be wrong. Guess I made too harsh of a statement.

It's just that at this point, I can see a few films actually winning...

Atonement: this one has all the goods to win, it just needs passionate support, something I'm worried it may not get.

Charlie Wilson's War: only if it absolutely blows people away and the competition around it falls apart.

The Kite Runner: honestly, I think this will be the dark horse throughout the race, for the nomination and the win. Apparently, it's really powerful. It will need people's support, raves even if it's not the critical darling, and strong box office to overcome not being as "American" as the rest of the films though.

There Will Be Blood: it doesn't look like Academy friendly material but I have a feeling this one is going to be a silent killer. It could go really far.

I just can't see No Country winning the big prize. HOWEVER... with ALL of the films I just listed, I think the Best Pic/Director wins will be split with Coens taking Director so that can work in the film's favor.

We'll just have to see!

Also a big reason why I can't see it as the front-runner is because it's way too violent to be the mainstream favorite.

Nowhere near as violent as this. This is like twisted, scary, ruthless. Departed was a mob movie; it was expected.

Still, see my previous post... I think the strength in Directing is its best form of support.