The movie isn’t obsessed with film like that of Tarantino’s. Here’s where Grit gets it right: brazenly directed, brilliantly scripted, and it’s bold, baby, bold. Releasing a Western in a time regularly reserved for the likes of Yogi Bear and Tron: Legacy, or hell, in general, is a risky task. But every lick of True Grit is a dusty homage to once-booming cinema Americana; in the ways No Country for Old Men was heavy True Grit is breezy and incredibly dry. Newcomer Hailee Steinfeld gives everyone a run for their money as Mattie Ross, still a kid and albeit a girl at that in the eyes of a grungy town who after a public spectacle of a hanging trots down U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn, played with a mix of slapstick and know-it-all elderly cynicism by Jeff Bridges, at a murder trial to help her in finding Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), the man who killed her father in cold blood. Tagging along is La Boeuf, Texas Ranger and a character Matt Damon really sinks his teeth into.

I won’t dance around the point with fancy words and bore you with allegorical phooey the Coens try to manage here – because they don’t. I love True Grit to its blackness of a core, and for perhaps the first time in any of Joel and Ethan’s movies this one isn’t bleak. It’s funny, heartfelt, and confident in pushing its audience not only to accept that they’re not going to let up any on that this is completely a genre film, but to plant them in their seats and give them class-act storytelling at its finest to replace any thumb-sucking for high-flying action. This is not an action movie, nor is it a send-up: the Coen brothers see to it through and through that nothing of the sort creeps in when it isn’t called for. As for it being overrated? Forget about it.

The motivation behind the duo’s decision to translate another interpretation of Portis’ novel for the big screen has been put into question as more an “assignment fulfilled” than anything else, but it might be that True Grit was released today that grants it special significance. The bar’s been raised again. True Grit, one of the year’s absolute best, is a drunken godsend running on token black humor, a dark homage to the long-forgotten Western film genre where its heart for sympathy and retribution should be.

MUST-SEE.

Bad Blake is dealing with the crossroads of his dying career while watching his protege Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell) become a rising country star.  With no money, and alcohol controlling his life, he looks towards his new relationship and his predecessor for a second chance at a new life.

This movie is a slow paced character driven movie revolving around the singers troubles and his hopes for a new chance.  Jeff Bridges puts on a performance that may win him the Oscar, at least I think he will win it.  The movie touches a cord and the fact that Bridges sings and plays the guitar gives it an extra dynamic.  Don’t expect any real action, but if you like top notch acting and character pieces, this movie is for you.

Snap Review of Crazy Heart

Click here to view the embedded video.

What did you think of Crazy Heart?