Two more True Grit reviews

December 21, 2010

[EveningStar]

Chicago Tribune, Michael Phillips:
A grittier 'Grit' Talent upgrade better matches a classic novel

McClatchy-Tribune via The Orange County Register, Christopher Kelly:
'True Grit' is a true classic

[Personal Responsibility]

I’m a sucker for good westerns too. The girl who plays Mattie was very good. IMO, she steals the show. If only they had cast someone like Willem Defoe or Gary Oldman instead of Matt Damon....sigh...

[Drennan Whyte]

I haven’t seen this True Grit but already what I’ve seen and read makes me think it’s much darker and drearier than the book or movie ever was. I also have a weird feeling that the Bible-quoting Mattie is being turned into a vengeful, hateful right-wing teapartier. I got this idea from an article in the New York Times this week. In fact, Mattie is a God-fearing, fine girl and woman with lots of character, moxie and humor. In fact, if I remember the book correctly, she supports Al Smith for the presidency!

I saw it this afternoon and I think you're fears are groundless. The movie was very faithful to the book, as was the original John Wayne version, so much so that they both use some of the same lines of dialogue. It was very well done.

I never thought I’d say this but: bring back Kim Darby!!

I do think that Kim Darby was the better Mattie. But the kid they had in the new one did a good job.

[BibChr]

Quoting whom? Whoever it was, he wasn’t much of a Wayne-watcher — hadn’t, for instance, paid much attention to Wayne’s performances in The Quiet Man, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance, to name three.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

He was always John Wayne. It wasn't his fault. It's not a criticism. It's a fact. John Wayne was not an actor. He was an institution.

[basil]

It has been such fun to read your memories of that little newspaper and to learn that it's still around, only that it's now more of a magazine than a newspaper. It truly was a patriotic publication, though in the 50's, it wasn't necessary to point that out. Most Americans were patriotic in those days.

Sadly, how far we have fallen..............

[BibChr]

Well, I do disagree with you. He does not get nearly enough credit for his acting. Check the three I mentioned: you can’t name an actor who’d bring those characters alive as effectively, let alone more effectively, and evocatively.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I saw those movies. They're great movies. Been remade dozens of times in various guises. But John Wayne was playing John Wayne in them.

That's what happens when your persona supersedes your art.

[Mr. Blonde]

Saw it, thought it was great. I even liked Matt Damon in it, but then I don’t dislike Matt Damon at the outset like so many on here do. In fact, I generally like him in movies. So far no actor has so annoyed me that I can’t watch and enjoy their films. Kanye West is the only entertainer who has earned that distinction.

[Mariner]

I just got back from the Drive-in where I saw this movie.

In my opinion it's better than the original.

I'm one of The Duke's greatest fans...but I have to say that ROLE will win another actor an Academy Award. And, Mattie, if it wasn't for this crazy PC world would win Best Actress at the age of 13.

The Coen brothers will win several as well.

[Mariner]

Read this review by Peter Travers of Rolling Stone.

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/true-grit-20101221

[Borges]

The original film just wasn’t that great. It was typical of the big, overlit, slackly edited westerns that had become the refuge of the old guard in the late 1960s. Consider that The Wild Bunch came out the same year and see the distance seperating them.

[tgdunbar]

speaking of the NYT, today Stanley Fish has a review titled Narrative and the Grace of God: The New ‘True Grit’