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Topic: True Grit

Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.

Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004

posted 12-27-2010 08:23 PM

CINEMA: 13th Avenue Warren, Wichita, KS
AUDITORIUM: 19
PRESENTATION: Dolby Digital Cinema DLP/THX
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None [Cool]

RATING: Three stars (out of four)

Good grief. Is ANYBODY working this week? Another near-full auditorium.

THE PLOT: Justice. Wackiness ensues.

Really not much different from the original, save for the epilogue, and even THAT wasn't that different in the grand scheme. Better performances, I suppose. Not enough that I see the point in re-making this.

The girls in the audience were totally shrieking when the snakes started moving.

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Tom Petrov
Five Guys Lover

Posts: 1121
From: El Paso, TX
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 01-02-2011 06:05 AM

quote: Sam Graham
PRESENTATION: Dolby Digital Cinema DLP/THX

I am wondering if someone can post of pic of a theatre that still advertises THX. Not that I don't believe you, but here in the GTA, we do not have one THX advertised theatre.

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Mark Lensenmayer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1605
From: Upper Arlington, OH
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 01-02-2011 08:37 AM

You can search for THX Certified theatres at THX.COM. Search box is near the bottom of the page.

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Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.

Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004

posted 01-02-2011 10:27 AM

The 13th Avenue Warren auditoriums are all THX-certified and advertised as such. They have THX plaques in the lobby, and they play THX trailers before every show. The "voice of the theatre" often refers to it as well (even though he incorrectly refers to it as "George Lucas THX", which is no longer the case).

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-08-2011 08:57 PM

Very good movie all around. I was missing the "good-timeyness" of the John Wayne version, but other than that it was excellent. There were a few surprising changes from the original movie's storyline to keep a person who's seen the old one guessing a little.

The performances were great, especially Hailee Steinfeld. She holds her own. Bridges really inhabits the Cogburn role and you forget you're watching Jeff Bridges, unlike in the old film where you never forgot it was a John Wayne movie.

I liked Matt Damon in the LaBoeuf role. I was surprised that in both versions of the film, his character gets crap from Mattie about his hair. I figured they just inserted that material into the old film as a "tease" for Glen Campbell, who was famously fussy about his hair.

I guess the only scene I was a tad disappointed in was the snake-pit scene. I won't spoil it here for people who haven't seen the older film but I just thought that scene was not only more suspenseful and scary in the previous version but also provided a great surprise in the plotline. In this movie the scene seems rushed.

The old movie has a "Yee-haw" ending for sure. This one ends on a melancholy note. But, it's maybe a more fitting ending to the story and, it probably won't allow for a remake of "Rooster Cogburn" which is a good thing.

My wife who is not a big fan of westerns enjoyed it too. She's never seen the old version but now wants to.

Four out of five stars from us. If I hadn't seen the old show I might have given it four and a half.

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Claude S. Ayakawa
Film God

Posts: 2738
From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 01-08-2011 10:28 PM

I saw TRUE GRIT a week ago at Regal Peralhighland Theatres and enjoyed it very much although I do not care too much for westerns. I saw the original John Wayne movie many years ago when it was first released in 1969 and once again in Blu-Ray four days after I saw the new version starring Jeff Bridges and I was very surprised how similar they were to each other and I guess it was due to the way it was original was written in the novel by Charles Portis. John Wayne received an Academy Award for his performance in TRUE GRIT and Jeff Bridges also delivered a performance that will most likely get him a nomination for the award but his chances of winning is not good when he might be up against Colin Firth who will most likely win for his performance as King George VI in A KINGS SPEECH.

TRUE GRIT was beautifully photographed with very gritty color and contrast unlike the original that has a gorgeous Technicolor pallet. THe only thing I did not like about the new version was the use of harmless snakes that was suppose to be Rattlesnakes. The original featured a real Rattlesnake but the current version did not.

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Tom Petrov
Five Guys Lover

Posts: 1121
From: El Paso, TX
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 01-08-2011 11:52 PM

quote: Mike Blakesley
I guess the only scene I was a tad disappointed in was the snake-pit scene. I won't spoil it here for people who haven't seen the older film but I just thought that scene was not only more suspenseful and scary in the previous version but also provided a great surprise in the plotline. In this movie the scene seems rushed.

The old movie has a "Yee-haw" ending for sure. This one ends on a melancholy note. But, it's maybe a more fitting ending to the story and, it probably won't allow for a remake of "Rooster Cogburn" which is a good thing

I kind of mentioned this in my review. The ending kind of seemed shorter than it should of been. I thought the producers and studio stepped in a bit and modified the end from the way it might of been, it just seemed liked there was some more to play out.

I think that is True Grit crossed the 2hr mark, word of mouth would of suffered because it seems the film was cut for the broadest audience possible

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-09-2011 01:03 PM

quote: Tom Petrov
I thought the producers and studio stepped in a bit and modified the end

I doubt that very much -- I'm fairly certain the Coen brothers have gotten to the point where they have final cut.

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Stu Jamieson
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 524
From: Buccan, Qld, Australia
Registered: Jan 2008

posted 01-29-2011 06:37 PM

True Grit is an odd creature. It's as if a bunch of Coen characters went and hijacked a Clint Eastwood production. The characters are idiosyncratic in that peculiar Coenesque way, and they all "talk funny" with dialogue that is distinctive and great, but unlike the best Coens™ they're all wandering through a remarkably linear albeit familiar landscape with few turns in the road.

Performances are predictably grand from this cast (Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper) with the exception of newcomer, Hailee Steinfeld, who is a revelation; her elocution of the Coen's distinguished dialogue squarely hits the mark.

History has shown that the Coen brothers produce basically two types of film: quirky and peculiar flicks that are borderline arthouse (A Serious Man, Barton Fink) and the crowdpleasers designed to return a reasonable box office (Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers). This is understandable as the latter no doubt affords them a measure of creative freedom to create the former. True Grit aims for the middle ground and, by and large, it succeeds in its mission but is it an above average crowdpleaser or a watered down Coen? I guess it's both but it's a film which will sit better with mainstream audiences than it will with Coen fans. It's a stop gap film which will bring newcomers to the Coen fold while tiding over existing fans waiting for the next A Serious Man. All in all, though, it's a success.

7.5 out of 10.

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Tom Petrov
Five Guys Lover

Posts: 1121
From: El Paso, TX
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 01-30-2011 02:13 AM

Roger Ebert predicts Best Picture/Director will go to this movie.

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Michael Brown
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1522
From: Bradford, England
Registered: May 2001

posted 03-09-2011 06:13 PM

Presentation : 35mm with Dolby Digital Sound and a print with a nice tram line running down one side and horizontal scratches on the other. Anyway...

quote: Tom Petrov
The movie does feel a little shorter than it should of been. Also, after the big climax. the final end scenes seems forced upon us.

I'd agree totally with Tom. It was one of those movies where when the directors credit comes up at the end you sit there and say "What? Was that it?". It was too short (should have been around the 2hr 20m mark) and I found the ending un-satisfactory.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-12-2011 09:43 AM

quote: Claude S. Ayakawa
THe only thing I did not like about the new version was the use of harmless snakes that was suppose to be Rattlesnakes. The original featured a real Rattlesnake but the current version did not.

Agreed. In fact I was surprised how mild the "snake" scene was in comparison to the original. In the first movie, there were real rattlesnakes seen in closeup, and the scene was much longer and more harrowing than in the new film. I was surprised, because I thought sure the snake scene would be one of the most memorable (and difficult to endure, for snake haters) in the new film.

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