From everything I’d heard about MASTER AND COMMANDER, I expected it to be great. But it surprised me in many ways. Mostly, its maturity and quietness.

There’re fewer naval battles than I expected and more time getting to know the crew and the period details of life on the ship.

The sound design is masterful. The score only comes in at key moments, so you’re mostly hearing the waves crack and the ship’s creaks.

Visually, the staging and cinematography make…

With the context of hindsight on our side, it’s safe to say that this is one of the best films of the 2000s.

It’s startlingly effective in every sense—from the Coen brothers’ evocative writing and directing, to Roger Deakins’s cinematography, to the pacing, to the perfect casting, to the nuanced way that timeless themes of good vs. evil are explored.

It’s a neowestern with a noir sensibility. Josh Brolin’s Llewelyn Moss is remiscent of a John Wayne-like character from a…