True Grit

We went to see this movie on New Years Day. Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and a young girl who has never been in a movie.

Having read about the movie beforehand I was aware that the Coen brothers wanted to write from the original book not remake the original movie which most are aware of. Having no strong recollection of the original movie this was not a concern of mine.

The movie: I cannot say enough. I was going to say that perhaps along with a totally different movie Toy Story III were the best movies of the year. Of course I see very few movies so i am not a great judge. But as I saw it on the first day of 2011 I must instead allow it to set the bar for 2011. A high bar it is.

The story of a young girl whose father is killed and her attempts to seek retribution for the murder. She hires a marshall played by Jeff Bridges ( Rooster Cogburn). I do not want to give away the whole plot but the scenery was wonderful.

Perhaps the most entertaining or interesting part of the movie for me was the language, the speech of the movie. The young lady, characters name Maddie Ross, speaks in such a way, with old proper English as do all the characters. To me it was by my description Shakespearan in the Old West.

Some of the deadpan comments by Bridges as Rooster Cogburn such as " That didn't pan out" were spot on and Matt Damon per usual for him was wonderful in his role as a Texas Ranger on the hunt for the same killer played by Josh Brolin,

This movie was a GEM. I give it a NINE

The Big Lebowski

I had heard so much about this movie. Festivals are dedicated to it. It is a real cult classic. The movie is enjoyable and watching it one can tell which lines are inevitably repeated by cultists like words from a higher power. Jeff Bridges as " The Dude" is wonderful and John Goodman plays the buffoon sidekick to the hilt. Somehow The Dude is caught in a caper involving kidnap, mistaken identity and embezzlement. The movie is much better than one might think it would be in reading a synopsis. Bridges is perfect in his role, the script is well done and I enjoyed this movie. It is not Anchorman but like that movie provides many lines which hordes of men of a certain age will quote endlessly. My wife would roll her eyes and call this another one of those movies that is not as good as I think but it was good...I give it a 7. It is not high brow but it does not claim to be. It does not need to be, it is the Big Lebowski


Rating: 7