Last night I watched the Coen Brothers True Grit, starring Jeff Bridges, followed by A Film With Me In It, starring Dylan Moran and Mark Doherty.
I watched True Grit first. I was trepidatious about watching this film, as I am a great fan of John Wayne's portrayal of the Rooster Cogburn character. And although I consider Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon both fine actors, my experience with recent westerns, and prejudice against the movie-remake as a concept left me luke-warm about this film.
But as I became aware on watching it, True Grit is not a remake of the 1969 movie but rather a more faithful adaption of the original book. Beautifully shot and filled with odd characters, this film is dark, cold journey through a brutal wilderness that sees a head-strong girl bent on revenge find adulthood through death and loss. No-one will ever fill John Wayne's boots as Rooster J. Cogburn, and I will always prefer the original (if somewhat marred by the presense of Glen Campbell) movie, but this True Grit is a great western, something vanishing rare among films made after 1980.
A Movie With Me In It was a hilarious situation comedy. An out of work actor named Mark shares a ram-shackle basement apartment with his profoundly disabled brother and girlfriend until a series of incredibly unlikely accidental deaths find him and his writer-director friend Pierce rushing to escape from near certain murder charges. People with weak bladders will want to take precautions before watching this movie, it's that fscking funny.
I watched True Grit first. I was trepidatious about watching this film, as I am a great fan of John Wayne's portrayal of the Rooster Cogburn character. And although I consider Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon both fine actors, my experience with recent westerns, and prejudice against the movie-remake as a concept left me luke-warm about this film.
But as I became aware on watching it, True Grit is not a remake of the 1969 movie but rather a more faithful adaption of the original book. Beautifully shot and filled with odd characters, this film is dark, cold journey through a brutal wilderness that sees a head-strong girl bent on revenge find adulthood through death and loss. No-one will ever fill John Wayne's boots as Rooster J. Cogburn, and I will always prefer the original (if somewhat marred by the presense of Glen Campbell) movie, but this True Grit is a great western, something vanishing rare among films made after 1980.
A Movie With Me In It was a hilarious situation comedy. An out of work actor named Mark shares a ram-shackle basement apartment with his profoundly disabled brother and girlfriend until a series of incredibly unlikely accidental deaths find him and his writer-director friend Pierce rushing to escape from near certain murder charges. People with weak bladders will want to take precautions before watching this movie, it's that fscking funny.
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