True Grit

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Welll as promised we caught this movie this afternoon. I must say that heretofore I have admired each and every Coen Brothers movie as a true classic. Put a guy like Jeff Bridges in as the lead (Rooster Cogburn) and remake the 1969 classic where John Wayne won the Oscar for Best Actor and one would think that this is an epic in the making

Well think again. Bear in mind this is one man's opinion. Have you ever heard the phrase, "this is one movie that shouldn't have been made"........well this is one of them. What a disappointment. Jeff Bridges was terrific and almost certainly will be nominated but this movie just isn't in the same league as Crazy Horse. The story line is quite simple. Young girl's father was killed by a man (Josh Brolin). Young girl hires US Marshall (Bridges) to track him down and just for the heck of it, let's throw in a Texas Ranger (Matt Damon) who is also looking for the man for a crime in Texas. Some 2 hours later when watching the rolling credits all we could say was "huh"

This movie for me had high expectations. Who can forget all of the Coen bros prior films. This was to be no exception...right.

Wrong...for me at least

Sorry Phelonius for the review because you too seemed to have high expectations and to you Jay_S don't bother putting it in your Netflix queue. Catch it instead aboard some long distance flight as a way of filling the hours.

Just my $0.02
 

rsbeck

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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The Coen Brothers' previous film, A Serious Man was also a stinking pile of huh?

I love a lot of their films, but they definitely clank one off the rim from time to time.

I haven't seen this one.

My teenaged son who loves Westerns reported the same thing as you, Steve.

This has prompted me to buy the original True Grit on Blu-Ray to share with him.
 

cjfrbw

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Apr 20, 2010
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I rather liked "A Serious Man". The rolling, existential angst struck a chord with me. The cascading misfortunes combined with the discomfiting tendency of relatives, friends, enemies or "experts", whether they be clerical or legal, to merely cast an even more confusing house of mirrors distortion to the unfolding events, seems familiar somehow, ha ha!
I suppose it depends on whether you think movies should entertain or mystify.
It seems that at least some of the Coen films are roundly panned when they first come out, only to be resurrected and reassessed later as much better films.
I was an early adopter of "The Great Lebowski", which has become something of a cult hit later, but was rather churlishly received at first.
My wife doesn't like Westerns, so I guess I will have to watch "True Grit" on my own when it is DVD'd.
 
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rsbeck

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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I suppose it depends on whether you think movies should entertain or mystify.

Nope -- that doesn't explain it.

I'm happy to be mystified by a piece of art, whether film or any other.

I didn't find Simple Man mystifying in that way.

I found it mystifying in a different way, sort of like a shaggy dog story that takes twenty minutes to tell and ends on a groaner of a punch-line.
 

rsbeck

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Okay, so I finally saw the Coen Brothers True Grit. I liked it. It's a simple tale beautifully told. Lots of nice details. The scene where the girl negotiates with the horse trader is priceless.
 

cjfrbw

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Pleasanton, CA
Finally saw it, liked it a lot. If you didn't click with the language or the ethos, I could see how it might not be one's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it.
 

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