anticipate TRUE GRIT by the Coen brothers

I wouldn't say one Cogburn is better than the other. Wayne made at least 20 better westerns.

yes, and you are

Bridges was fine if unsurprising. Wayne's turn is more winning when you've got those 20 other performances in mind.

wayne's better for the part too cuz he actually was a fat piece of shit - bridges looks like a trainyard hobo and it sounds weird when people keep calling him a fat old man

Yeah, the consensus amongst friends who were familiar with the original: Wayne >>>> Bridges

Despite top-billing, Bridges definitely kept his character in supporting role to Mattie Ross'. It's another cliche that I'm willing to forgive in this case, the young warrior taking guidance from an eccentric chief.

Some of the things in the book that were cut out of the Coen's version, like Rooster shooting the rat after asking it for writ of habeas corpus, could've filled out the 2010 Rooster character, but that wasn't really the new version's point to make.

xpost OTM

he's a year younger than Wayne was, and if I'm fat, he's fat

Aw, hell. I'll post one more:

http://orangepunch.ocregister.com/files/2010/06/grover-cleveland-1.jpg

They're both fat (Wayne and Bridges)

fat aint fat no more

bridges isnt fat, hes just like a normal old guy - prob same deal w/morbz

Let's not talk about One-Eyed Morbs.

heh i thought real cineastes hated the term 'noir'

how'd you get that idea

― Princess TamTam, Monday, January 3, 2011 9:13 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

so what you're saying is that you're not very real

could be the day I quit ilx

joshing ya, fwiw.

forgot to mention that when she fell down the snakepit hole, kid next to me said, "That's the most EPIC FAIL ever"

I liked how the snake bite itself was almost thrown away: no hysterical music or cutting. It just happens.

thought this was pretty great. bridges and damon and pepper were awesome, hailee steinfeld was even better. brolin's character was strangely sympathetic and really, really well-played. the scene at the river, that kinda genuine dumb concern on his face when he's asking her why she's all the way out in the wilderness is kinda heartbreaking even.

brolin's character was strangely sympathetic and really, really well-played. the scene at the river, that kinda genuine dumb concern on his face when he's asking her why she's all the way out in the wilderness is kinda heartbreaking even.

yeah i really liked that its not at all cut and dried that brolin's character is Evil or w/e

exactly. The best thing about the movie and the book is the shades of grey within all of the characters.

also Damon needs to have a half-severed tongue in every role

Saw this today. It might not make my Coens' top five, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

This was pretty good. Man, those snakes looked so fake though!

Herpetological realism is very important.

After Anaconda came out I was crying in my bedroom for weeks

Yeah, fake snakes :(

I liked how the snake bite itself was almost thrown away: no hysterical music or cutting. It just happens.

There was an article somewhere that said the Coens remove all trad climax from this story - that things simply happen, luck occurs, heroism is circumstantial if at all - can't remember who wrote it now, but it makes sense to me. The Coens are very existential - things usually are happening TO their protags rather than because of them. They get caught up in machinations they can't control. Mattie would seem like a huge counterexample, but even her indomitable will is at the mercy of so many happenstances and this new version clarifies that.

...the Coens remove all trad climax from this story - that things simply happen, luck occurs, heroism is circumstantial if at all... The Coens are very existential - things usually are happening TO their protags rather than because of them. They get caught up in machinations they can't control.

― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, January 5, 2011 2:45 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

this is OTM, but at the same time, the coen's take care always to reward, or at least to excuse, decency, and (of course) to cruelly punish sin, especially greed, cowardice and pride. odd combo of punitive moralism and existential absurdity. like, not a pleasant universe in which to wrestle with one's baser angels.

"fake snakes." tsk, a generation's inability to suspend its disbelief, except for entire CGI dream cities.

I can't suspend my disbelief for the dream cities either, FYI

Tried really hard with the snakes, though

did the snakes really bother you? who cares!!!

sorry... its your prerogative... to hate fake snakes...

It's not that they were fake, it's that they looked fake. The town looked real.

To be fair, if a bunch of computer graphics started slithering over my shoulder I'd be pretty wigged out

Josh should've called up his dad. James Brolin didn't fuck around with fake rattlesnakes... Ate the real one in Capricorn One, and shot the real one *playing a fake one* in Westworld.

I realize this is a stretch but I couldn't help thinking of parallels with US foreign policy. Go into a foreign land to avenge a wrong done to your "family", hire some local talent with dubious ethical history, get your satisfaction through extra-legal means, and come home an amputee.

damn

def flew thru my head, cept Chaney actually did kill her father, presumably

Presumably

Wait... is Dr. Morbius suggesting something about 9/11? Just trying to read between the lines here!

of course not, we all know Saddam did it

Oh yeah! Heh. Whoa.

"He tried to kill my daddy"

exactly. The best thing about the movie and the book is the shades of grey within all of the characters.

― VegemiteGrrrl, Tuesday, January 4, 2011 1:36 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is kind of a political statement too ... call it a reaction to the reactionary-ness of american conservative's idea of a 'fall' where at one time in the past morals were clear & clean, things have always been messy & complicated

the phrase "shades of grey" irks me. it seems to deny some basics of dramaturgy. basically the coens gave their characters several traits: a few admirable, a few less so. the film isn't exactly infinitely complex. it just presents its characters as a mix of good and bad.

this is kind of a political statement too ... call it a reaction to the reactionary-ness of american conservative's idea of a 'fall' where at one time in the past morals were clear & clean, things have always been messy & complicated

that's stretching things. see almost every western since 1950.

i dunno if i can think of specific examples but in my mind a lot of films ive seen would be more likely to position the person getting revenge as a morally righteous one.

rather than a person who, proactive or not, is dealing w/ outside confluence of events

Saw the '68 version tonight, and man, did it just seem silly.

COMMUNIST!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL6cwB-L6Uw