Tuesday Tally

Modern Westerns Edition

This is a list of the best 21st century westerns. By westerns we mean law movies taking place in the west, but in the modern era.

No Country for Old Men: This is the Cohen Brother's masterpiece. In West Texas we have an innocent man in way over his head being chased by drug dealers, more drug dealers and the law, played magnificently by Tommy Lee Jones who stands in contrast to the Psycho-killer Anton Chigurh. The mood and feel of this film are just brilliant. As the protagonist Josh Brolin gives his best performance. (Ok this one takes place in 1980, which is important to the film's feel, but it was made in the 21st Century).

Hell or High Water: This one is in central Texas and follows two brothers on a crime spree, robbing the branches of a bank that's about to foreclose on the family ranch and then using their own money to pay them back. For mood we have the great plains of central Texas and all around towns are dying and homes are being repossessed. Jeff Bridges plays the law this time, to excellent effect.

Sicario: We follow Emily Blunt as an FBI agent completely over her head in the border drug war. The cartels are using terrorist tactics, the government is using Delta Force teams, the DEA is waterboarding suspects. This movie is almost anti-feminist. Played by Benicio Del Toro this time the psycho-killer is on our side, hunting down Mexican drug cartel king pins. Josh Brolin is a CIA spook running operations and gives another fine performance as a free-wheeling, free-spirit in flip flops.

True Detective Season 1: Marty Hart and Rustin Kohle track a satanic cult in western Louisianan. Hart is the straight man to Kohle's damaged, philosophical Kohle who with just a tweak could be in the satanic cult himself, and maybe he is. I was never a Mathew McConaughey fan, until this.
Again mood is key here. Oil refineries, meth dealers the grind of slow misery of southwest LA's poor. Watch out for anyone wearing anything yellow.

*I've read that a Sicario sequel is planned, Soldado. Please lord, make this happen.