In Theaters: "True Grit"

The trailers: I saw three movies in one day and I wasn't exactly taking notes, so I am not even going to attempt to list the upcoming releases I heard about. They were mostly forgettable though. Not surprising, since we're headed into the post-Holiday Death Valley that is the movie climate in the early new year.

The film: Several people I know saw "True Grit" recently and highly recommended it. Westerns aren't really my favorite type of movie, but I'll enjoy any type of movie if it's done well. The "3:10 to Yuma" remake is a fantastic movie and I would recommend it to most people, even those who don't care for Westerns. But in the case of "True Grit," I really do think there is a disconnect to some degree between the quality of the film versus my personal enjoyment of the film. For some movies, quality and personal entertainment don't match up. A movie's quality is very objective and can be analyzed the same way by everyone. But a movie's entertainment ability is very subjective and can differ from person to person. For example, I think "Blade Runner" is an excellent movie. However, I don't like it much and find it rather boring and morose. On the other side of things, I openly admit that I enjoy watching "Ace Ventura" movies. They aren't good movies by any stretch of the imagination, but through nostalgia and a (sometimes) juvenile sense of humor, I like them. Through this preface, you can probably infer by now that I didn't love "True Grit." The best word I can use is "underwhelming."

It was a good enough adaptation of a novel that was already adapted into what I hear is a good film. The cast, including Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon, is capable, although the only one who truly shines is the young Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross. She handles her role very well for her age and holds her own among bigger name stars. Josh Brolin, as much I love him, is in the movie for what felt like five minutes. Bridges and Damon are good, but really, do you expect anything less than that from them?

My biggest issue with the movie revolves around its pacing. It spends a great deal of time in town, establishing Mattie Ross as a headstrong, intelligent young woman. While I enjoyed the verbal wit and crisp writing, in retrospect I wish they had focused more on the journey than the build-up to the journey. She then manages to get the team together, lots of manly pissing matches ensue, they follow one or two leads to find Brolin's character before the trail goes cold, miraculously stumble upon him, and kill him in a very abrupt climax. I felt like the movie wanted to have a big emotional ending that it just didn't quite earn. Considering the subject matter, two big things that were missing were any sense of urgency and a sense of danger. But maybe this is supposed to be all about the characters, not their man-hunt. The characters all come to respect each other by the end, but I just didn't buy it. For a movie that is almost two hours long, it felt incredibly short to me. Also, aside from the snippets of humor, there wasn't much about it that was very Coen brothers-esque. Sure, the film is beautifully made as well, but once again, do you expect any less from the Coen brothers? Perhaps without the big name cast and the Coen brothers behind the scenes, this movie wouldn't have gotten nearly as much as buzz. Personally, I feel like you could have put entirely unknown actors in the roles and gotten the same exact movie.

A lot of this boils down to personal opinion, I suppose, since the majority of people out there loved "True Grit." I'm no professional, this is all just my humble opinion. And in my humble opinion, there's nothing special about this respectful and well-done yet dull adaptation.

My grade: C-