No quarter from 'No Country'

The “No Country For Old Men” win for ensemble was no surprise. It was the only one of SAG’s five nominees in the category to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.

Its win cements the perception that Oscar night -- whatever night that may be -- will be a “No Country” coronation, with wins for picture, screenplay, supporting actor and possibly director, though I’d like to think the Academy might want to spread the love and throw an award Paul Thomas Anderson’s way.

As for Josh Brolin’s acceptance speech … well, you can’t exactly blame the guy for taking his time to enjoy his “freakin’ moment,” since, as he humorously noted, “This is Javier Bardem's 497th award.”

And I loved his dig at the end of the speech: “The Coens are freaky little people, man. And we made a freaky little movie, whether you liked the ending or not.”

At that point, I thought I saw that SAG statuette’s bronze-colored “actor” drop its mask and extend a certain finger on that already extended hand. But it might have just been the cocktails kicking in. It was the last award of the night.

-- Glenn Whipp