True Grit

[Jeff Lebowski]

Same. Looks great. But for some reason the pg-13 rating really left me feeling less optimistic. Coen Brothers rated R serious drama/dark comedy: usually an A. Coen Brothers rated PG silly comedy: usually a C.

You think this will be a silly comedy?

[Green Lantern]

Same. Looks great. But for some reason the pg-13 rating really left me feeling less optimistic. Coen Brothers rated R serious drama/dark comedy: usually an A. Coen Brothers rated PG silly comedy: usually a C.

To be honest though, it's just not really an R-rated story, especially if they're trying to do a faithful adaptation of the novel. I'd actually be a little worried if they'd felt they needed to add content just to score an R rating.

Bridges seems completely over the top and not real with his acting.

Not a fan?

[USUC]

Bridges seems completely over the top and not real with his acting.

In general or in this movie?

[cougjunkie]

In general or in this movie?

In this movie. But I have noticed it in other roles he has played as well but this one takes the cake. Granted I have never seen the original so maybe that is how he is supposed to act.

[Flystripper]

I am super excited for this. There isn't a Coen brothers movie I don't love and this should be fantastic.

And Jay "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" was anything but a "c"

[FN Phat]

And Jay "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" was anything but a "c"

Agreed. I loved that movie.

[jay santos]

You think this will be a silly comedy?

I don't. I was actually a bit shocked seeing the rating.

[FN Phat]

If we have another boy I want to name him Rooster. My wife is against it.

[venkman]

Saw this last night.

First off, there's only one Duke, but Bridges does a great job. I thought his marbles in the mouth accent was a little bit much at first, but occasionally he broke into his normal higher pitched whiny voice and I thought "Dude". Then I was like "ok, keep the marbles in the mouth". It grew on me. You could tell he was having fun. He's not bigger than life like John Wayne, and lacks the Duke's charisma, which is really the only drawback to the movie. But he did a great job, as well as you could expect from anyone nowadays.

Matt Damon was good, but he's still, you know, Matt Damon.

The girl playing Mattie Ross was awesome, much better than the original girl who was super annoying. She in a sense carried the movie.

Barry Pepper as Ned Pepper was great although he was channeling Robert Duvall, which I guess isn't a bad thing.

As for the Coen's, I'm a fan of the original and was a little worried this would be "a Coen Brothers movie" (not that I dislike their movies, on the contrary, I like them), you know but a little weird, a little crazy. But this is a straight up western. I'm glad they didn't feel the need to R it up. I liked what seemed to be era appropriate language. (Even bad guys didn't drop f-bombs left and right back in the 1800's.) There was some realistic gun violence so the PG-13 rating was appropriate.

Good story, writing, acting, cinematography, score, pacing. Solid movie. I'd give it a B+. I think the Duke would've liked it.

[UtahDan]

We saw this last night and really liked it. It diverges from the original in some significant ways, particularly the ending. But I really liked the way they went with it. Jeff Bridges has hit his prime age as an actor. He owed Rooster Cogburn. Venkman is right that the Mattie character was infinitely better here. Last, and this will be heresy to some, it reminded me that as much as I love the Duke, he played himself most of the time or at least his Duke persona. It was cool to see someone else's take on the character (which is a literary character rather than a John Wayne invention).

[venkman]

Last, and this will be heresy to some, it reminded me that as much as I love the Duke, he played himself most of the time or at least his Duke persona. It was cool to see someone else's take on the character (which is a literary character rather than a John Wayne invention).

I was thinking about this. It's not heresy and I think you're right. The 1969 version is a "John Wayne movie"; this version is a movie with a character named Rooster Cogburn. I think Bridges played it right.

[SeattleUte]

I haven't seen the Coen movie, though I will see it. As a kid, the original movie and the novel were favorites of mine. I read and re-read the book. If the Coens did it like they did "No Country for Old Men," they basically downloaded the superb novel, the dialogue, imagery, everything. I've never seen such fidelity to a novel as was "No Country for Old Men." Here is a good article about the author of the novel "True Grit," which has been a cult classic.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/bo..._r=1&ref=books

With my love of Cormac McCarthy, Lonesome Dove, True Grit, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and the Cowboys, I surprise myself at my apparent love of great Westerns.

By the way, to say that John Wayne always played himself is a cliche (he carried that label for much of his career, we've heard it a thousand times), very pat, and somehwat unfair particularly applied to True Grit. I think you could say the same thing about DeNiro, Nicholson, and other icons. True character actors like Robert Duvall are rare. Regardless, having absorbed the novel True Grit and the original movie, I can say that Wayne was made to play Rooster Cogburn. I also think it's true, as is also the conventional wisdom, that if Wayne always played himself, True Grit is the exception that makes the rule, as his acting was spectacular in that role, whatever you want to call it.

Bear in mind too that True Grit is partly a comedy, even somewhat of a spoof of Wayne's life work.

Is there a more thrilling exchange in cinema?:

"I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man."

"Fill your hands, you son of a bitch!"

[LiveCoug]

I saw it last night with my FIL and 3 BIL's. I loved it. I thought it was very well done. Jeff Bridges did not annoy me at all, I enjoyed his performance. The girl did a great job as well..

My 15 year old brother in law did not like it. His reasoning? "You know when you have a human vs. alien movie and the humans plays music and the alien says "music? what is this music?". That is so overplayed".

I'm still trying to figure out what he meant.

[MarkGrace]

I saw it last night with my FIL and 3 BIL's. I loved it. I thought it was very well done. Jeff Bridges did not annoy me at all, I enjoyed his performance. The girl did a great job as well..

My 15 year old brother in law did not like it. His reasoning? "You know when you have a human vs. alien movie and the humans plays music and the alien says "music? what is this music?". That is so overplayed".

I'm still trying to figure out what he meant.

Sounds like we have another Grapevine in the making.

[creekster]

I thought it was a fantastic movie. Bridges played it just right IMO. He was not John Wayne, but he was a world weary, bleary eyed relic of the Civil War and he did it very well.

I really found very little wrong with the film. Two big thumbs up from me.

My biggest complaint was with the audience. It seems like a very high percentage of people younger than 30 treat movie theaters like their own frontrooms, speaking loudly, having side conversations etc. I used to think they were just rude, but I have come to think that they are just not raised to think of moives as any experience different than watching a film at home on the big screen.

I am also always a little dispapointed in how yougner crowds react to violence. For example, last night when Cogburn

Spoiler for spoiler:

shoots the guy in the face most of the youngish crowd we were seeing it with laughed out loud. I dont think that was supposed to be funny and the close up on bridges' vacant, weary, hollow looking gaze, with the little drops of spattered blood on his cheek was not intended to be amusing, but still they chortled. Sad.