Late Night Bubbly Movie Blog

Just got in from watching TRUE GRIT.

1. Everybody may be going to see Bridges, and he does a fantastic job, but every single actor in this thing is performing at full capacity. Matt Damon and Barry Pepper give outstanding, underplayed performances and if somebody doesn't give Hailee Steinfeld an Oscar nomination for this, I'm going to burn down Hollywood.

2. Soundtrack is perfect, somehow capturing danger and momentum without resorting to minor-key experimentation.

3. While the theme is most certainly violence, the Coen's aren't quite as heavy handed with it. This also may be the most "easily" humorous Coen work. Whereas previous works have relied on left-of-center, quirky humor, this one seems a bit more intended for the masses.

4. To my mind, there were some strange editing jumps. It felt as if we were supposed to know the criminal "gang" better. A few scenes and conversations hint at a deeper storyline regarding that bad guys. They're great bad guys, but I felt a little shortchanged with how little they factored in.

5. It's been awhile since I watched the original, but the valley scene in this newest version looked exactly how I remember it from the original movie. Same location? CGI? My own faulty memory?