“Greetings all. We’ve reached the long weekend that indicates the end of the year. How do I plan on spending it? Why watching as many movies as possible, of course. Seriously, I’ve got a fairly intense plan for the next couple of days. Well I suppose there’s ways to make it intenser, but the current plan includes 7 movies in five days (today counts as one movie and one day), and should leave me having seen EVERYTHING currently playing at the Fenway. Im not sure that’s a feat Ive managed before. I know I’ve come close, in the summer when everything’s on multiple screens so there’s really only like 7 things showing. I wont give away my plan, in case I dont end up sticking to it.
But yeah, kicked things off tonight with True Grit. I actually sorta wanted to go see this over the past weekend. Mom had suggested catching a movie a couple times, but the weather was so awful (note: I do love the snow, but I love admiring it from indoors) that I just didnt wanna deal. Kinda felt bad later when I realized that she was stuck in doors for two days straight with nothing to do. That’s not unusual for me, but this was supposta be a vacation for her. Right, so I opted to go tonight. Was close to being persuaded not to, but we all know how stubborn I can be. I had a plan, and goddammit I was gonna stick to it. At least tonight.
Dont you love how I can write for paragraphs and still not mention a single thing of consequence about the film Im blogging?
True Grit. Remake of an old John Wayne film. This time helmed by Joel and Ethan Coen. As a rule, I dont like westerns. I did enjoy the 3:10 to Yuma remake with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe (one of two films where I’ve liked the man. The other should be an easy guess), but everything else Ive seen: Unforgiven, Shane, The Searchers, etc; didnt quite do it for me. It was like my brain’d shut off as soon as it saw sand. Not sure why. But this one, you can lump it with Yuma because I very much enjoyed it.
The main reason I liked it has to have been the characters, Mattie Ross (played by Hailee Steinfeld) in particular. We’ve long since established that dialogue is key for me. And I love a character who can spout off words quicker than you can think. That was her. Just quick, smart, dialogue. Hell, the girl was able to hold her own in a silver tongued mouth off against Matt Damon. Its no wonder there’s talk of a possible Oscar nod for this lil half pint.
Josh Brolin was the one who struck me next most, even if his screen time was limited. I dont know, I think it was his voice. Just so different from usual. (Im \m/) Matt Damon was fantastic, of course. I was a bit concerned because he kinda annoyed me in the trailer, but I guess it was just some weirdness with how they cut it because he really was great and amusing. Or maybe I just have a soft spot in my heart for Texas Rangers. Yes because of Chuck Norris.
That leaves us with Jeff Bridges. Im not sure if it was quite the uber performance that some are making it out to be, but it was quite spectacular. I just loved his delivery when stating the obvious. That right there woulda made the whole movie (if Steinfeld hadnt done that for me already). He’s got nothing on Colin Firth for the big prize this year, but an honorable performance nonetheless.
The musical score in a film doesnt often catch my ear, but it did this time around. Mostly because I recognized it right away. The whole thing was based around an old church hymn. Interesting choice that worked rather well, even if the vocalist they added over the end credits sounded funny.
Sooo yeah, I guess this holiday weekend got kicked off on a good note
True Grit – \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/