True Grit

Some forty years ago, the American cowboy John Wayne won his only Academy Award for playing the rowdy, one-eyed sheriff Rooster Cogburn in the western True Grit. And now, the most recent winner of the award, Jeff Bridges, inherits the role in this second version of the novel by Charles Portis.

As this new version by directors, producers and writers Joel and Ethan Coen opens up, a dead man lies outside his house. That man is Frank Ross, who tried to stop his hired hand, a drifter named Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), from exacting revenge for a poker game gone awry. But Frank Ross isn’t important; instead, it’s his daughter, Mattie (Hailee Steinfeld) that the film focuses on.

After quite some effort, she hires Cogburn to go after Chaney, who’s gone off to Indian Territory. They’re joined by LaBoeuf (Matt Damon), an inept Texas Ranger going after Chaney for a Senator’s murder. And their quest makes up the plot in a nutshell.

The Coen Brothers are known for their black sense of humor, and True Grit definitely has it. It's certainly amusing to see Chaney actually tell Mattie how to fire a gun when she finally gets her chance to shoot him. But it's definitely shocking to see the prejudices of this old society out in the open. But what about the rest of the film?

As Cogburn, Bridges gives another scene-stealing performance. He's joined by Steinfeld and Damon, who go great together as a duo, while Steinfeld is also great on her own. Although Brolin, who appears an hour in the film, doesn't make for a formidable villain, just writing about it makes me think that was the point. After all, he's a loser like Cogburn and LaBoeuf.

With the Coen Brothers' usual crew at hand, including cinematographer Roger Deakins and editor Roderick Jaynes (actually the Coens themselves under a pseudonym), they have created another stylish entry in their filmography. It may not be a masterpiece as No Country for Old Men was, but this adventure is worth going to.

Black Swan

To be honest, Black Swan is not a cheery movie. But then again, Swan Lake, the ballet that ballerina Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) gets cast in, doesn’t end cheerily either. However, as a horror movie, it surely is well done.

Nina is cast as Odette, the Swan Queen, in her company’s production of Swan Lake, after impressing company director Thomas (Vincent Cassel). In the story of the ballet, Odette’s chance for true love is blown by her evil double, Odile the Black Swan.

The allegorical Black Swan comes in as Lily (Mila Kunis), a new dancer who ends up being her understudy. Whereas Nina lives a sheltered life under her domineering mother, Erica (Barbara Hershey), Lily is a definite free spirit. That’s when the stress of Nina’s life finally gets to her…

This film is a realized nightmare on screen. From Nina slowly, and painfully, turning into an actual Black Swan (since she must also play Odile), to off-screen terrors we can only hear, the film’s purpose is to jolt the audience’s perception of reality and fantasy. As an assault of sight and sound, it definitely works.

What it also has going for it is Natalie Portman. She’s definitely convincing as an innocent soul, and as a mentally cracked individual. Mila Kunis, meanwhile, makes for a memorable “antagonist.” And among the other cast, Winona Ryder gives the best performance as the aging ballerina whom Nina replaces. It’s definitely another perfect showcase for actors.

Its director, Darren Aronofsky, left The Fighter to do this film. And it is under his direction that all talent, both on-screen and off, gives exceptional output. Even if one is put off by the intensity, if they can somehow manage it, then they can sure admire how well it is done.

Tron: Legacy

And now, we have another belated sequel to an iconic 80’s film. The original Tron came out in 1982, and was a pioneer in the use of CGI effects. Now that CGI technology has advanced, we have a sequel, Tron: Legacy, to show it off.

In the previous film, programmer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) was trapped inside the computer generated world of The Grid. With the help of his digital likeness, CLU, and the heroic program Tron (Bruce Boxleitner), Flynn defeated the villains, both real and digital, and escaped with his life.

Some time later, however, Flynn found himself back in The Grid, this time indefinitely.

And now, his grown-up son Sam (Garrett Hedlund) has arrived in The Grid. He’s forced to compete in gladiator games by a despotic dictator, who’s none other than CLU himself. With the help of Quorra (Olivia Wilde), Sam escapes the ring and finds his father. Together, they must get back to reality and thwart CLU’s scheme to do the same.

This is a film where story plays second fiddle to visual effects. Aside from the digital environment, the film’s strongest effect is the de-aging of Bridges into CLU and a younger Kevin Flynn, reverse Benjamin Button style. Its first-time director, Joseph Kosinski, directed a few video game commercials prior to this, so he certainly knows what he’s doing.

Available in both 3-D and flat screen formats, this film is definitely suited for the former. The film opens by warning the audience that a few scenes were shot in 2-D. So that when the “good stuff” comes on, it’ll certainly stand out for them as it did for me.

On the down side, the script could have certainly been improved a bit. For instance, CLU’s goal is to get to the real world, but then comes the question “then what?” The lack of answer for that question doesn’t really add much needed tension to the narrative. But yet, for a visual and audio extravaganza, Tron: Legacy certainly delivers on both counts.

The Fighter

As long as there have been boxers, there have been movies about them. Fulfilling the Oscar boxing movie quota for this year is The Fighter. And it wins by a unanimous decision.

The eponymous fighter is “Irish” Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), who is regarded as “a stepping stone” in the boxing world. His half-brother and trainer, Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale) once beat Sugar Ray Leonard, but now can’t stay out of trouble. His mother and manager Alice (Melissa Leo) has a tight grip on his career and even finds Micky’s romance with barmaid Charlene (Amy Adams) threatening.

After Dicky, the former “Pride of Lowell,” gets busted again, Micky decides to try some autonomy in his boxing career. With the help of Charlene, his father George (Jack McGee), trainer Mickey O’Keefe (playing himself), Micky finally rises up in the boxing world. But what about the rest of the family?

Its director is David O. Russell, whose previous film, the very-bizarre comedy Nailed, crashed and burned during production. So, what does that tell you about this film? The answer should be “a good comeback story.”

Its ensemble actors make up one of the film’s strongest points. In particular, Christian Bale’s role as Dicky is both a hilarious and affecting performance. While Dicky makes for the best character, the rest of the cast is up to the task. So much so that one can’t help rooting for Micky, and really wanting to tell Alice to go away.

Amongst the off-screen talent, there is Editor Pamela Martin. Her work on screen helps make the boxing matches quite effectively brutal, and the off-ring action as emotional as it needs to be. Along with a screenplay by four writers, David O. Russell has created a definite crowd pleaser. It surely is a winner.

Waiting for Superman

There are no stars in Waiting for Superman, but plenty of real people. And they have one problem: the U.S. Education system sucks! It’s so bad that not even the Man of Steel (who appears via stock footage of the George Reeves TV show) can just fix everything in a single bound.

So, what can we do to save the day?

Davis Guggenheim, who won the Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth, dedicates his newest documentary opus to the decline of American education. If you feel outraged, disappointed, and even a bit hopeful after watching this, chances are Guggenheim has done his job.

The stars, for lack of a better word, are just five ordinary kids and their families all across America. All five of them are of very-working class families. Because of this, they’re stuck with public schools that fail them five days a week. Their only hope is their local KIPP Private Schools, but space is limited.

Director Guggenheim's case is a very well argued one. According to him, many fools in the system, including teachers unions, are to blame here. With the help of stock footage, Guggenheim greatly mocks those teachers who use tenure as an excuse for incompetence. Lousy teachers may be bad enough, but they're not the worse fools in the system. Consequently, it’s hard not to feel shocked at these findings.

It’s hard to feel shocked at the revelation that so much of the educational crisis is easily solvable. That’s the impression I got from Waiting for Superman, and it’s a film that’s certainly one of the best of the year.