TRUE GRIT.

Warning: Mild spoilers.

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As I come to the end of Western Month, I'd like to end with the film all of this was leading up to (though not as a part of 60/60, mind you). True Grit tells the story of Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), a 14-year-old girl whose father was killed in cold blood by Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). With quick wit and a sharp mind, she eventually hires Marshall Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to hunt Chaney down and bring him to justice. Along for the ride, however, is Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Matt Damon) who wants to bring Chaney in for the death of a politician back in Texas. The film also includes Barry Pepper as "Lucky" Ned, the outlaw that Chaney is riding with.

The most notable thing about this film is how it showcases the humor of the Coen Brothers. There is a lot of dialogue in this movie, and at least half of it (if not more) is quite funny. The interactions between the characters, particularly between Mattie and, well... anyone else... was always delightful to watch. The first 2/3s of the movie didn't really have any action at all, but it just flew by thanks to the sharp writing and great acting.

And the acting really is fantastic. The three leads of Steinfeld, Bridges, and Damon are superb. I don't typically pay attention to awards until the final nominations are revealed for the Oscars, but I have heard that Steinfeld is only up for supporting actress, which is ludicrous. The girl was in practically every frame of the film, more than any other character. She is not only the lead actress, but the lead character. To grant her supporting actress is like a slap in the face. And she deserves that lead nomination. She was absolutely fantastic. However, despite the fantastic acting here, the acting (and partially directing) is where the film falters.

Like with the Coens' other western--No Country For Old Men--this film sinks in its third act. Once Tom Chaney and gang are introduced, everything just starts getting... strange. Now, I haven't seen the original, so I can't compare. But here, Brolin acts Chaney like he'd rather be playing Lennie in Of Mice And Men. It doesn't go (to quote Tropic Thunder) "full retard," but there's something amiss with Chaney that completely threw me off. And then you have another member of his outlaw gang that walks around making animal noises... and that's it. That's his sole purpose in the movie: animal noises. Chickens, cows, you name it. It wasn't funny... it was stupid, and I'm not exactly sure what the Coens were thinking. Then, to top it off, the film's antagonist switches to Barry Pepper's Lucky Ned, despite having only heard of the guy maybe twice in the entire film prior and never in more than an offhand comment or question (the most we hear about him is during the "cabin" sequence, and we're only hearing about him because he's riding with Chaney, their main target). But the big showdown in the film isn't even with Chaney, but between Cogburn and Lucky Ned. Granted, Pepper does a great job with the character, but it just feels strange spending the entire movie going after Chaney and then having a finale hardly focusing on the guy (which might have been for the better anyway).

Still, the third act wasn't a complete waste. Unlike No Country, there were some redeeming factors in its finale. And the overall film was definitely worth seeing. Between the writing and humor, the good cinematography, and the (mostly) great acting and directing, True Grit is a fine western. Was it my favorite western I'd seen this month? No, but it wasn't the worst, either. I say it's pretty far up there in the most enjoyable, though.


A Keanu 'Whoa'

BURN AFTER READING.

So I finally got around to seeing this movie, and I now know why they didn’t show really any plot within the trailer. It’s best summarized in the last couple lines of the film, but I won’t write them here, because it’s one of the biggest laughs of the movie. So instead, I’ll try to do my best here. Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) quits his job at the CIA after they start to screw him over and decides to write his memoirs instead, but this doesn’t bode well with his wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton). Katie is an austere hardass who just so happens to be having an affair with the highly paranoid Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney), who is also married and having numerous affairs with other women. Katie starts to file for divorce against Osborne and pressures Harry into doing the same with his wife so they can be together. Enter Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand), a woman with low self-esteem who works at a gym and wants to get four different cosmetic surgeries, but just doesn’t have the money to pay for it. And then a disc that includes copies of Osborne’s memoir notes shows up at the gym, wherein Linda and her friend/co-worker Chad (Brad Pitt), a goofy and rather innocent ‘good Samaritan’, think they could get some kind of reward for returning what looks to be highly confidential information. But things get mixed up and everything begins to spiral down and become chaotic, causing bad things to happen to pretty much everybody.

The movie starts off rather slow. For about the first twenty or so minutes, I would figure, everything seems slightly random and unimportant. I wasn’t sure what to make of the movie, especially when it would use highly over-dramatic music for scenes about practically nothing. But the movie really starts to pick up once Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt are introduced. I would say that they were the highlight of the movie (specifically Brad Pitt). The only character I liked better than Pitt’s was JK Simmons’, but he was only in the movie for two scenes (though those two scenes were basically two of the best/funniest scenes in the movie). And the humor itself was randomly dispersed throughout, so it wasn’t non-stop laughter, but there were a good amount of laugh-out-loud moments.

The two best things about the movie, I would say, were the acting and the camera work. The acting from everybody was top notch, which is expected from such high-caliber actors and actresses. The underdog of the acting scene of the movie, however, was Richard Jenkins, who I don’t believe was even promoted to being in the movie, even though he has a rather big role. His character was rather heartbreaking, really. His and Brad Pitt’s character can really be seen as the two ‘innocents’ of the film (even though Pitt was involved in blackmail schemes, the quality of his character wasn’t even remotely malignant). And as I mentioned, the camera work was great. There were some really fun angles and shots that caught my attention as I was watching. Though this is a Coen Brothers’ movie, so that is expected.

There isn’t much else to discuss about the film. Those are all my positive and negative comments about it. I think the beginning could have been done a bit better, but the second half of the movie is just superb and really funny. There should have been more JK Simmons, though. Similar to my biggest complaint about No Country For Old Men, I would have almost complained about it having some anti-climactic moments (for not showing huge events and just ‘telling’ about it instead, especially at the end), but the only times that happened, it was ‘told’ during a JK Simmons scene, which really redeemed the quality of the effect. Otherwise, that’s all I have for you.

A Keanu 'Whoa'

P.E.S.T.

I really do apologize that y'all aren't receiving much lately. This would have been a good movie-viewing weekend, too... had it not been for stupid Hurricane Ike heading directly for us. But alas, even though I shall be in the evacuation process by the time you read this, I shall still give you it anyway... and that 'it' is none other than... Pre-Emptive Strike Thursday! (No hurricane/evacuation pun intended... or 9/11 pun, either, as I just realized that it'll be 9/11 when this is posted. Anyway...).

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Title: The Women.

Pre-Thoughts: ...Come again? I've never even heard of this movie... at least, I didn't until one of the teachers at the high school randomly brought it up last week. I haven't seen a trailer or heard anything about it. But it has the following people in it: Meg Ryan, Annette Benning, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Bette Midler, Carrie Fisher, and Cloris Leachman. It probably should have been re-title "The Women... Without Huge Careers Anymore All In One Movie." So... yeah, probably not gonna see it.

Pre-Score: Uh... couldn't tell you even if I wanted to.



Title: Burn After Reading.

Pre-Thoughts: The next big Coen Brothers movie, and one of the big two coming out this weekend. Personally, even though the trailer doesn't give too much information on what the hell the movie is actually about (except a computer disc, a disgruntled and slightly awkward John Malcovich, and a dancing Brad Pitt), I think it'll be pretty good. The Coen's are great directors, especially in their comedies (gotta love The Big Lebowski). And amazingly enough, it will be coming here, so that's awesome.

Pre-Score:

A Keanu 'Whoa'



Title: The Family That Preys.

Pre-Thoughts: On the one hand, it's a clever pun in the title. On the other hand, it's Tyler Perry... yet again.

Pre-Score:

The Zed Word



Title: Nothing Is Private.

Pre-Thoughts: ...except the advertising on this film, which I haven't seen. I've heard of it, of course (under it's other name, Towelhead), but I haven't really kept up much on it. Though I've heard it's really good. I'll keep an eye out for it, though I don't think it's coming here.

Pre-Score:

A Keanu 'Whoa'


Title: Righteous Kill.

Pre-Thoughts: Earlier this year, we were blessed with the pairing of Jet Li and Jackie Chan in one film. Now that we're later into the year, we have a movie that, after 20 or 30 years, has re-united Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro. I think it looks good, though with the potential of becoming overrated. But I'll have to check it out before I say anything. It's number two on my list (Burn After Reading comes first). Otherwise, yeah, I'd check it out.

Pre-Score:

I Am McLovin!