True Grit

True Grit has hit theatres this week. It stars Jeff Bridges as Marshall Rooster Cogburn, Hailee Steinfield as Mattie (my momma's name, don't see that too often), and Matt Damon as Texas Ranger LaBoeuf. The screenplay is by directors Joel and Ethan Coen. It's based on the novel of the same title by Charles Portis. This novel was also the basis of the 1969 True Grit film starring John Wayne. The plot of the story centers around 14 year old Mattie seeking retribution for the murder of her father- a crime committed by the hand of Tom Chaney (played by Josh Brolin-he got third billing over Hailee for some reason). To accomplish this, Mattie hires Rooster Cogburn, who is joined by LaBoeuf and unwittingly Mattie herself, to seek out and bring in Chaney. This takes them on an adventure through unsettled territory where Chaney fled off to.

I will open by stating plainly that this one of the best movies of the year. I'm ranking it #3 on my 2010 list. Behind only Kick Ass and Let Me In.

The acting is outstanding. Oscar and other nominations could easily be coming for Bridges and Hailee. And for the whole movie as well. It has some real heroic moments where the music takes off and you're ready to take some people down. But at the same time the movie is realistic. The characters all have their flaws. Stubbornness and arrogance abound.

The main theme that you start out with is obviously revenge. Revenge for a family member. But this evolves to loyalty and what makes a family. I could elaborate a bit on that but that would lead to spoilers of the ending...Once the final events of the film unfold - you will understand the title and what it means to have true grit....

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Black Swan

This review will be different from any other review I have done.

For this review I'm not going to summarize the movie and how it begins. I was told before I viewed the movie, that the less I knew about it the better the experience would be. I don't know about other people but for me this was true. I would recommend that you watch the trailer...better yet don't watch the trailer just look for a TV ad or blindly go without looking at anything. The trailer reveals a little too much in my opinion.

I will readily say that Black Swan is not for everyone. I say this because I saw five people get up and leave throughout the showing that I attended. I won't speculate as to why they got up, but rather say that this movie takes an acquired taste and an open mind.

This movie is one of the most gripping and engaging ones that I have watched all year. The acting was perfect on all parts and it was real. The overall intensity of it was turned all the way up and never came down. Few movies can pull that off and still end up being good. I don't have any complaints about the movie at all. Without going further into what I thought of the movie( so i don't spoil it), I would like to say that I was pleasantly surprised. For the second time....this movie isn't for everyone, but if you are bold enough I would recommend that you....

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Review: Tron Legacy

Tron Legacy is the long awaited sequel to the 80's classic. The movie follows Sam Flynn, the son of Kevin Flynn( the main character from the first movie). We find out early on in the movie that his father has been missing for almost 21 years. In that amount of time Sam has grown up and is the majority shareholder of ENCOM. Sam shirks the responsibilities that come along with that power and is uninterested in running the company that his father was CEO of. All of that changes when Alan Bradley( a close friend of Kevin Flynn) receives a page from Flynn's arcade. When same travels there to investigate, he finds himself eventually transported to the Grid and the world of Tron.

Tron Legacy is one of the best movies that I have seen this year. It is visually stunning, and the 3D is really good. It's like looking at candy for your eyes for 2 hours. With amazing graphics comes an amazing story that never gets boring or tedious. The acting is first rate and is never overdone.

The only thing that I didn't like was the CG that was used for Clu and the younger Kevin Flynn. Other than that one small complaint the movie was excellent.

Overall, Tron Legacy was an amazing ride and it should be seen, especially in 3D. The only thing that I can say more is to......

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The Tourist

The Tourist is a new movie of the spy genre in the tradition of James Bond, etc. It co-stars Johnny Depp as Frank and Angelina Jolie as Elise. It is directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. The basis of the story is Elise running around doing some spy stuff in Europe which Frank, a tourist, gets caught up in unsuspectingly.

The main thing I liked about this movie was getting to see two of favorite performers, Angelina and The Depp, on the screen at the same time.

But beyond that there wasn't a whole lot to it. There really isn't a great big good story (it's on the same level as Jolie's Salt). The characters aren't nearly as deep as I was hoping they would be. Johnny had said that he really wanted to do a movie with Jolie. So I think he just jumped into this one because it was there. I don't feel this role really challenged him. Most anyone out there could have played it the same way. It isn't one of his definitive performances. I would like to see Johnny and Angelina try another movie sometime-one that's deeper. Also too the ending was kinda easy to foresee (that always bothers me).

Not a bad movie but nothing spectacular...FX/TBS It.