Tony: "True Grit" Review

To check out Matt's review of the film, click here. Now, I haven't read Matt's review because I've been looking forward to this movie since I first saw the trailer. It's brought to you by the brilliant Coen brothers, Joel & Ethan. The pair won director Oscars for No Country For Old Men, which also took home the Best Picture Oscar. Now comes True Grit, a good old fashioned western. The movie stars Hailee Steinfeld, the 14 years actress getting a lot of attention. She hires Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon to track down the man who killed her father. The killer is played by Josh Brolin. Read my likes and dislikes after the jump!

What I liked about the movie:
The Story

Sometimes, the best stories, are the most simple. I always believed the best stories could be summarized in a sentence or two... 'A young girls hires two law men to help avenge the death of her father'. Brilliant! The movie dives deep into each character's motives. The script was also written by the Coen brothers, so the fact that character development was important does not surprise me. They're just as good, if not better writers as they are directors. The story is simple and easy to follow.

If there is any action, its to compliment the story, nothing more. The narrative is carefully constructed as to not give anything away and sets a nice pace for the movie.

The Acting

Oh wow. Now, I haven't seen Colin Firth in The King's Speech yet, but Jeff Bridges is damn good in this one. We all know he won his first Oscar last year for Crazy Hearts, he may follow in Tom Hank's footsteps and win back-to-back Oscars. Bridges totally embodies this alcoholic mess of a U.S. Marshall. There is a court room scene that will blow your mind. He's amazing.

Matt Damon plays a Texas Ranger who was already on the hunt for, and knows everything there is to know about Josh Brolin's character. Damon is quick and witty in this one. Going toe to toe with Bridges. They have some hilarious scenes together where they're arguing.

Last but certainly not least is the actress getting a LOT of attention. Miss Hailee Steinfeld knocks it out of the park with her performance in the film. She has some of the most emotional scenes and most difficult dialogue in the movie. You seriously forget the girl was born in 1996! If you watch the movie, enjoy the negotiating scene with miss Steinfeld, amazing young actress.

Another notable performance is by Barry Pepper, who I believe is one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood. The man has turned in consistently good work, but just doesn't have the face of A-lister I suppose. I don't know what the reason, but he's so good in this film. It's a small role that could have EASILY been ignored by a different actor. Pepper does not disappoint. Kudos to the Coens for casting him. I bet the studios has their own actor in mind for the part.

The Direction

I am not as big a fan of Coens as Matt is, but I do respect them tremendously. They've found their own style of film making that no one can touch. The cinematography was spectacular; it gave the settings the scale needed for the story. The sets were realistic; the brothers helped create a fully functioning town that only helped enhance the film. The score was fitting and never tried to take over the story or the characters. The editing was perfect and fit every scene accordingly. The list could go on and on. They just did everything right!


What I didn't like about the film:
Oh! There he is!
This is a minor complaint amongst all the great aspects of the film. I hate when any movie does this, so I have to gripe about it here. I don't like when a character, good or bad, so conveniently reappears during a crucial moment in the film. That happens in this film and its forgivable.


The movie is amongst the best I've seen in a long long time. I'm really not doing it justice with this review, but it's the best I got. I hope Jeff Bridges does win his second Oscar and hopefully Steinfeld or Damon get recognized by the Academy as well. Two big thumbs up here! The Coen brothers are in true form with True Grit!

Tony: No Country For Old Men Review

Holy mother of wow... Let me start off by giving you a warning: this is not an action movie. This is one of the purest drama's to ever be made. "No Country..." is one of those "hard to explain" movies... "you just have to see it". But I'll try my best.
The movie is dark... real dark! The Coen brothers are remarkable. They also wrote the script which is amazing. The dialogue in this movie will be studied for years to come, it's that good. Speaking of dialogue, Tommy Lee Jones gives a performance that will be remembered as his best since "The Fugitive" in which he won an Oscar for.
All the acting is phenomenal in this movie. I was scared of the scary characters, and I cared for the "good guys". How long has it been since you were literally "on the edge of your seat" in a movie? Well I was during "No Country...". The cat and mouse game is so good, it's uncomfortable to watch sometimes. It's uncomfortable because you never know what's going to happen, and that my friends is the entire concept of the movie. Not theme, but concept. There are many themes in the movie, just read the title. But the primary concept is unpredictability.
Remember "Forrest Gump"? My cousin Mat and I have a perfect example of the concept of a movie: In "Forrest Gump", the concept was coincidence. Everything amazing that happened to Forrest Gump was pure coincidence. If things were just the tiniest bit different, he wouldn't have been a war hero, or met all those presidents or been a world ping-pong champion. In "No Country..." nothing is predictable. The best parts are when you start to get cocky and think you've figured it out... you haven't figured out a damn thing.
There are no cliches throughout this movie that helps you predict the ending, it's all about unpredictability. The ending will be talked about for years... you will see why if you ever watch it.
There are other techniques in the movie that lend themselves to the dark feel. For example, there's no sountrack... let me say this again, there's NO music throughout the entire film. You may not pay attention to the music in the movies you watch, but its the music in certain scenes that create emotion. You hear happy music in a scene when a family is at the park, you feel happy. You hear a symphony playing during a scene where someone dies, you feel sad. There's no music in "No Country..." you will feel nothing. And the absence of emotion is what lends to the darkness of the film. Another technique is the lack of color. Everything is so plain, even ugly at times. Dirty browns, greens, etc. also create a cold mood throughout the movie.
This movie was just nominated for 8 Oscars, and it's not for being an average movie. But you have to watch carefully, or you will walk out of the theater cheated, but it will be your own fault. Pay attention to the dialogue, pay attention to the sites and locations, pay attention to the mood the directors have setup for you. If you do these things, I'm telling you, "No Country for Old Men" will be one of the best movies you ever see. What if you don't like the movie? It's ok, because that means we just Agree To Disagree.