Our date night movie on Friday night was True Grit. Oh! the blissful anticipation. The Coen brothers at the helm, Matt Damon, Jeff Bridges... it was a wealth of riches and the reviews were good, even from my sister.
So you know I really wanted to enjoy this film, I wanted to love it, adore it, worship the ground it's reels rolled on. But I didn't.
I can't write a coherent review because I just have a bunch of random thoughts about it (it was so slow moving I had ample time to have random thoughts... and I had many):
* It was like a Jane Austen novel in the wild west. All that witty banter, so right in Pride and Prejudice, so wrong in True Grit.
* The sight of Matt Damon in western gear with those spurs.... oooh... um... what was I saying?
* Matt Damon was amazing, gorgeous, wonderful in Good Will Hunting.
* Jeff Bridges is very hard to understand. After a while I gave up squinting at the screen in the hope of understanding what he was saying.
* Jeff Bridges was very excellent in The Big Lebowski.
* The Coen brothers are capable of such wonderful filmaking: Raising Airzona, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski... even No Country For Old Men. Why this?
* If you spend millions (many) on a high calibre movie hire someone to check the details. E.g. if a girl swims through a river behind a horse she will get out dripping wet; if a man gets shot through the back of his jacket, through his shoulder, there will be more than just a clean hole where the bullet went through... there will be blood on the jacket, at least there will be black gun residue.
* A 14 year old girl, no matter how feisty, will be raped quick smart when left out in the wilderness with a bunch of outlaws.
* This story would have worked much better as a dark tale, with the inheritent dangers built up and played out, rather than as a quaint period drama with an emphasis on beautiful [clean] costumes and flowery language.
Sorry Ethan and Joel, you've really missed the mark with this one and I can't believe this has received such glowing reviews. Did we all see the same film?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Oh - it was on my 'must see before the Academy Awards list' (like everything else - the only one I *have* seen is 'The King's Speech'). Maybe I should try for '127 hours' instead!
Post a Comment