(each Thursday, I like to give a movie suggestion for the weekend. Why Thursday and not Friday? Because talking about it on Thursday gives you time to put it on your Netflix cue for Saturday, or to at least scour their streaming library or the video section of your local library for one of these great movies!)
So, I’ve been wanting to watch this movie for some time. Back when it was first coming out to theaters, I had heard an interview on NPR with one of its stars, Hailee Steinfeld. She was talking about the making of the film, her role as the lead-female, etc., and I was intrigued at how this new, young (14 at the time!) actress handled herself in the interview. That alone made me want to see the movie; she plays a central character, carries much of the movie and is in almost every scene. Could she pull it off?
Thankfully, yes. This movie is so good. It should be; it is done by the Coen brothers who always have something interesting to show us --“Raising Arizona“, “Fargo“, “O Brother, Where art Thou?” among others -- and is also starring Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon. And what the Coen brothers did most surprisingly was that they did NOT do a remake of the 1969 John Wayne version
--they went more with the original storyline of the 1968 serial written by Charles Portis. It tells the story of Matty Ross, a young upstart whose father is killed by an outlaw, and whose goal throughout the movie is to see that justice is served to this man. She employs the help of a codgy, grizzled old US Marshall (played by Jeff Bridges), and together (with the help of a somewhat pompous Texas Ranger, played by Matt Damon) they set out on across the western plains, tracking the outlaw, and running into various other ne’er-do-wells along the way. The title of the movie weaves its way through the storyline beautifully --I found myself looking for and finding “true grit” in various characters (even a horse!).If you’re concerned about age-appropriate viewing, you can check out various websites to get the scoop on content, language, etc. When my girls were younger, I always checked things out on screenit.com before viewing it as a family or allowing them to see it at a friend’s house, etc. That website is still around (I checked!) but it looks like they now only give info on a “membership” basis (not sure if there’s a cost involved or not). You can always just check imdb.com --that is the place everyone goes to now to get the low-down on past, present, and future releases. It’s info is not as thorough as screenit.com, but it will usually tell you what you need to know.
True Grit, starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Hailee Steinfeld is rated PG13. Watch it and let me know what you think!
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