200801311444.jpgAs we approach the apex of the inter­na­tion­al awards sea­son the biggest week for qual­ity cinema releases in memory is upon us. With 8 Oscar nom­in­a­tions, the Coen Broth­er­s’ No Coun­try for Old Men leads the pack and opens today at Read­ings, Light­house Petone, Para­mount, Sky City Queens­gate and the Embassy. Based on a Cor­mac McCarthy goth­ic crime nov­el, No Coun­try reportedly sees the Coen’s back in their finest form since Fargo . Josh Brolin (Amer­ic­an Gang­ster) plays a hunter who stumbles on a suit­case full of money and decides to keep it. He doesn’t real­ise that one of the biggest badasses in screen his­tory (Javi­er Bardem) is com­ing to get him – and the money.

George Clooney as Best Act­or is one of sev­en Oscar nom­in­a­tions gained for Michael Clayton, a para­noia-thrill­er about a cor­por­ate fix­er who uncov­ers a plot that can­not end well for his cli­ents – or for him. Writ­ten and dir­ec­ted by first-timer Tony Gil­roy (co-writer of the Bourne tri­logy), Michael Clayton brings to mind 70s clas­sics like The Par­al­lax View and Three Days of the Condor (dir­ec­ted by Sydney Pol­lack who stars in Michael Clayton). Read­ings, Empire, Light­house Petone, Pent­house and Sky City Queens­gate.

[The rest of this week’s new releases after the jump]

The third Best Pic­ture nom­in­a­tion to open this week is the sur­prise Indie hit Juno, which, like Little Miss Sun­shine last year, came out of Sund­ance to win the hearts of cinema-goers every­where. Ellen Page’s 16-year-old Juno McGuff finds her­self preg­nant and thinks she’s mature enough, not to have it and keep it, but to find decent par­ents for it. All over town at Read­ings, Empire, Rialto, Regent-on-Man­ners, Light­house Petone, Pent­house, Sky City Queens­gate.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s pas­sion­ate envir­on­ment­al doc­u­ment­ary shouldn’t slip under your radar this week: The 11th Hour is, by all accounts, a pos­it­ive and uplift­ing call to arms about build­ing a sus­tain­able future. You can find it at Rialto and the Pent­house.

Also at Rialto (and the Para­mount), Don Cheadle stars in Talk to Me, the true story of the Wash­ing­ton D.C. ex-con turned radio star and civil rights act­iv­ist “Petey” Green. 10 years ago, dir­ect­or Kasi Lem­mons made the won­der­ful Eve’s Bay­ou and Talk to Me has garnered some pos­it­ive reviews in advance of arriv­ing here.

Finally, the kiwi-made vam­pire thrill­er 30 Days of Night opens at Read­ings and Regent-on-Man­ners. Pro­duced by the Xena and Herc out­fit led by Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, it stars Josh Hart­nett, Melissa George and Danny Hus­ton plus a host of loc­al faces under lots of make-up.

Juno has already been reviewed at Funer­als & Snakes and the rest will be fea­tured next week (and in the Cap­it­al Times on Wed­nes­day).