True Grit

[puerco]

Not the 1969 version with John Wayne, but the Coen Brothers remake that's due out on Christmas day. Apparently it will more closely follow the book, which according to Ethan is funnier, tougher and more violent than the John Wayne vehicle that won The Duke his Oscar (the one he actually deserved for The Searchers).

Jeff Bridges plays Rooster Cogburn, Josh Brolin is the coward Tom Chaney who shot Mattie Ross' father, Matt Damon has the Glen Campbell role as LeBouef and some chick named Hailee Steinfeld who I never heard of plays Mattie.

Anyone else looking forward to this as much as I am? Normally when I see these kind of remakes I think "oh, no," but I have a feeling the Coen Brothers can pull off something special here.

I'm just wondering if Jeff Bridges will put the reins in his teeth, pull out his guns and say....

[Switchblade]

Yeah, I am. The Coen Brothers are one my favorite directors.

[puerco]

Here's a bit from the filming in Granger, Texas.



And here's a good look at the Granger set itself.

[Celticrugby]

They are remaking it? Another film I'm not going to watch.

[puerco]

Originally Posted by Celticrugby

They are remaking it? Another film I'm not going to watch.

That was my first reaction until I saw that the Coen brothers were doing it. I can see them doing something really interesting with it.

[Celticrugby]

I don't want to see remakes. Do something new.

And the Coens...despite them being from Minnesota are really hit or miss for me.

[puerco]

Originally Posted by Celticrugby

I don't want to see remakes. Do something new.

And the Coens...despite them being from Minnesota are really hit or miss for me.

I hear you. More often than not you get something crappy like DePalma's version of Scarface or Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho. But sometimes you get remakes that hold up well enough against the original (The Thing, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, etc.). Once in awhile you get a remake that's fresh because of an original twist, such as Roxanne (Cyrano de Bergerac). And once in awhile you get a remake that's truly outstanding in its own right (even if not surpassing the original), such as The Magnificent Seven (The Seven Samurai), A Fistful of Dollars (Yojimbo the Bodyguard) or The Departed (Internal Affairs).

The Coen Brothers missed big on their remake of The Ladykillers, but hopefully their True Grit remake will be closer in quality to No Country for Old Men or Fargo.

[Celticrugby]

See, I thought No Country was ****. Them, Tim Burton (to a lesser extent Wes Anderson, but he hasn't done much) are the biggest hit and miss directors. Sometimes I really enjoy it, and other times I wonder why I watched it.

[puerco]

I loved No Country for Old Men, but I see your point about the Coen Brothers. Fargo, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski. All top stuff. The Ladykillers, Intolerable Cruelty and a couple of others, not so much. I wasn't terribly thrilled with Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? either.

But they do have an originality that makes me think they can bring something different here. And from the comments I read from Ethan Coen, they're basing this on the book, not the John Wayne movie, and, like the book, the film will be presented in Mattie's voice and with the humor that came with that. I think that has a chance to be really interesting because the 1969 movie was all geared to be a John Wayne vehicle and while The Duke was The Duke and always a blast to watch, the film actually could have been better. I'd be far more concerned if they were trying to remake something truly great like The Searchers (one of the five best films of all time, in my opinion). But True Grit was really rather light fare and all about starring John Wayne, so I'm willing to give them a chance here.

[Blue]

I think I will give it a watching tbh...the Coens could pull it off and Bridges should be good as the grizzled ol Rooster