This is one gorgeous movie. There is a scene where Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) and Mattie Ross (Hallee Steinfeld) are riding on their horses at night and the backdrop is just a black sky filled with stars and it takes your breath away. I swear I swooned.

“True Grit” is a classic Western. There are VERY bad guys, kind-of good guys (in comparison to the badder guys), tough gals, spirited horses, wide-open spaces, lots of dirt, lots of gunplay and a pot of beans. Little wonder they seemed to like to sleep outside considering all the beans they allegedly consumed.

Obviously, everyone was excited at the prospect of the Coen brothers reuniting with Bridges after the glorious results of their last outing, “The Big Lebowski” (for those of you who are movie-illiterate). Jeff is more in “Crazy Heart” codger than Dude mode here…so I guess the catch-phrase ... Read More

Quite frankly, I was NOT excited to see this because I thought, “Here we go again…’The Wrestler’ was so huge that we’re now going to get all these failed-athlete-makes-comeback flicks.” The executive producer of “The Fighter” IS Darren Aronofsky, who produced and directed “The Wrestler”, so it seemed like he had discovered a winning genre, much like a lot of the Mafia-entrenched directors/producers form the 70s (you know who I mean).

This time, however, the director is David O. Russell (“I Heart Huckabees”, “Spanking the Monkey”, and lots more) who has reteamed with one of his “Three Kings” stars, Mark Wahlberg. (You didn’t think it would be George Clooney, did you? If you don’t know what I’m referring to, you get a D- for your knowledge of Hollywood gossip).

The beginning of the movie leads one to believe that this is, indeed, “The Wrestler II”, as we’re presented with ... Read More