I’m generally not a fan of movie re-makes. If the film is a classic, it should obviously be left alone, since mucking around with perfection can only make things worse. If it was bad the first time (Tron, Clash of the Titans), there was probably a reason, and filmmakers should be looking for better source material. True Grit is an exception, in part because the original 1969 version falls short of being a classic. The Coen Brothers were also doing the remake, and I was very interested to see how their devilish, manic sensibility would fit with the slow, often elegiac rhythms of the traditional Western (one genre they haven’t explored: No Country for Old Men doesn’t count). The answer is…almost perfectly. The Coens’ True Grit improves on the original in almost every way. For the most part, they also tell the story simply, and allow the darkness and menace inherent in the plot to develop naturally. As many readers undoubtedly know, the story is about a teenage girl named Mattie Ross (played brilliantly by newcomer Hailee Steinfeld) who hires a federal Marshal named Reuben aka “Rooster” Cogburn to track down the man who killed her father and bring him
Movies
‘Green Hornet’ Movie Debuts Friday
Can comedian Seth Rogan serve as a plausible action hero? We’ll know this Friday when The Green Hornet debuts. The trailers don’t make it clear; from what they show, the film could either be amusingly fresh or downright awful. Check your local listings for theaters and times.
TCM Presents a Laurel and Hardy Festival
Turner Classic Movies brightens up the week with twenty-four hours of Laurel and Hardy movies, beginning Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were both brilliant comedians and quite simply one of the best comedy teams of all time. They could raise gales of laughter without resorting to obscenity or vulgarity, an important lesson for today. Schedule here.
Marriage Sells: The State of the Union May Not Be So Dire
By Mike D’Virgilio I’m not a big fan of reality TV, unless of course it’s “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” Can’t get enough of that (that’s to tweak you lefty Palin haters and you righty elitist Palin haters). But my daughter seems to have a thing for “The Bachelor,” and since she’s home from college on break it’s being recorded on the DVR. Really annoys me. She offered, being the well raised-kid she is, to turn it off as I fixed dinner last night, knowing it annoys me. But I let her keep it on so I could revel in my annoyedness and implicit superiority to the ditzy broads and handsome vacuous guy on the show. But something struck me. Here are a bunch of attractive women doing whatever they can to lasso the attractive guy, and get hitched. I guess how it works is that they spend the show interacting in some way—I just saw them talking on a bench—and at the end the guy gives roses to the ones he will let stay and the others are out. Finally at the end just one gets the rose and Mr. And Mrs. Right get married. But I had thought marriage was
Movies You Were Too Good to See in 2010 : NPR
NPR, of all places, makes the case for good, old-fashioned entertainment in the movies. Without agreeing with all of the writer’s evaluations, it’s nice to see a populist look at the cinema. Story here.
Is Hollywood Unusually Prone to Coincidences? And Why Won’t ‘True Grit’ Be Getting Much Respect in Europe?
On WND, Erik Rush doesn’t think the wholesale promotion of minority actors to command positions on highly-rated TV shows is just a coincidence: An interesting phenomenon has recently come to light … suggesting that at least one faction in Hollywood is attempting to directly influence public opinion as regards President Obama. If this is true, it goes far beyond simply carrying the water for those with whom they are ideologically kindred, as described in Negrophilia. . . . . In order to to counter the perception of ineptitude that has come about associated with Obama and his lack of leadership skills, an effort seems to have been made to portray blacks in high places as competent leaders in dramatic roles. To be fair, some of these occurrences took place prior to Obama actually taking office, but a good case could be made that it was the intent of these organizations to prepare the American public for the leadership of a black individual via positive portrayals of black leaders. I would contend that America needed no such preparation, but that’s another issue. The stronger argument exists in these concerned parties making their efforts in the face of Obama’s subsequent plummeting popularity.
Holiday Weekend Box Office Report: Good News for Fockers, ‘True Grit’; Disaster for ‘Gulliver’s Travels’
Little Fockers topped the U.S. holiday weekend box office. Gulliver’s Travels flopped. True Grit thrives. Story here.
‘True Grit’ a Worthy Reimagining
True Grit veered from the traditional depiction of the Western frontier conquered by rough-and-tumble men, instead portraying the attempts to refine and civilize the West at century’s end through still strong yet feminine instincts. In the instance of True Grit, the woman is a 14-year-old girl, Mattie Ross, with a distinct sense of justice and seeming preternatural understanding of the law.
‘TRON: Legacy’ easily zaps the competition at the box office – USATODAY.com
Tron: Legacy got off to a great start at the U.S. box office. Unfortunately, the excellent Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader continued its disappointing performance in its second week. Story here.
“The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” Is Worthy of Its Source
It would be misleading to call this adaptation “faithful” to the book. This movie is more like the fruit of the book. Some elements of the story are minimized or skipped over; other elements, minor in the original, are magnified and dramatized for cinematic effect. The result is bigger, more spectacular, faster moving, and more unified in narrative.
TCM Andy Hardy Festival
I don’t know why they’re showing them in reverse chronological order, but a good deed is a good deed: Turner Classic Movies is doing a public service by showing MGM’s charming and often insightful Andy Hardy movies Thursday, December 16.
The Numbers – Weekend Box Office Chart
Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader Tops Weekend Box Office.
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