True Grit

Hello, avid movie goers. I hope this holiday season finds you well, and you got everything your heart desired for Christmas. And of course, that you managed through family get togethers relatively unscathed. But enough jokes. Oh, and not to worry- my 2010 top 10 list is coming. I still need to see Black Swan before I can make my final selections.
So, we come to True Grit. As I'm sure you all know, True Grit is based on a novel, which has previously been adapted into a movie starring John Wayne. The filmmakers claim this version is closer to the book than the other adaption. I haven't seen that or read the book, so I'll take their word for it. This film is directed by the brother team of Joel and Ethan Coen. They are among my favorite directors in Hollywood. The reason for that is they have made a career out of defying convention. What this means is that they rarely do things the way other filmmakers do, but I've found that their doing so almost always enhances the quality of their films. Like for example, my favorite Coen Brothers movie- No Country For Old Men. In that film, they use diegetic sound. That means that all the sound in the movie is something the characters would encounter. No soundtrack. No score. It's ballsy, but in this case it really enhances the drama/tension of the film.
True Grit is not my favorite Coen Brothers film. It is a near perfect film, but not my favorite. The story is fairly simple: a teenage girl sets out to avenge her murdered father, with the help of a grizzled US Marshall named Rooster Cogburn and a Texas Ranger named LaBouef. The cast all turn in fantastic performances. Bridges in particular knocks it out of the park with his part. However, Damon does a fine job and Hailee Steinfeld holds her own well against the two. They often say working with kids is a kiss of death for a movie, because kids can't act. They can mostly play themselves. That really isn't the case here, but it's interesting because that character really isn't allowed to be a kid like she should be. She's forced to grow up fast to survive. Oh, and then there's Josh Brolin. He is the sought after killer, but he isn't in the film much until the end. He also turns in a solid performance as well. The dialogue in the film is entertaining and, surprisingly, played out for humor in a lot of scenes. The film is beautifully shot. Roger Deakins, who has worked on most of the Coen Bros. projects, is an amazing cinematographer.
I have one real complaint (Or Labouef, if you will). My complaint in this film is the pacing. The beginning and the film's final half hour or so is outstanding, and some of the best work I have seen all year. However, there are some sections of the film that are very slow paced, and nearly lost my attention completely. I know a lot of Westerns are like this, so I think it was done deliberately. This may be a case where I need to see the film again, now that I have an idea of what it is, so I can better appreciate those scenes. I was also really tired when I saw this, so there's that too. Other than that, I have no other complaints about the film. It is tense and exciting, and I would highly recommend it if you're considering seeing it at all. It makes me sad that Little Fockers won out at the box office this weekend. Nothing against that film, but it seems like America always chooses what they know versus seeing something different.

Fringe and The Friday Night Death Slot

Here's the deal. Fox has moved the show "Fringe" over to Friday nights. It's sad, really. Fringe is a really clever show that no one watches. Some of you who don't watch as much TV may be thinking "So? What does that mean?" I'm glad you asked. Fringe hasn't been pulling in great ratings this season. It's on Thursday night, for some reason. As good and clever of a show as Fringe is, there's no way it should be expected to keep up with other heavy hitters on Thursdays like The Bigger Bang Theory or Two and a Half Men. It's just not that show. It really needs to be on a night where it doesn't have to compete with that, and can build a fan base. Like Tuesday or Wednesday. So, Fox does what it always does when a show starts to lag in ratings- it moves it to Friday.
Now, this may not seem like a huge deal, except that the ONLY show ever to survive being on Friday was The X-Files. And that eventually got moved to Sundays. The truth is, people just don't watch a lot of TV on Fridays. Only the most dedicated and hardcore nerds do. Want proof? Here are some Fox shows that didn't make it on Fridays: The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr (1994), M.A.N.T.I.S (1995), Sliders (1997), Strange Luck (1996), VR 5 (1995) Firefly (2003), Fastlane (2003), The Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2009), Prison Break (2009), and Dollhouse (2010). There's a surprisingly long list of these shows over on Wikipedia. The reason I bring this all up is because now, Fox is claiming that they'll "Re-animate" Friday nights with Fringe. Call me a skeptic, but I have a strong feeling Fringe will be canceled by the time Fox announces its line up for the fall 2011 season. Usually with the same "It wasn't getting good ratings" line. That's because you moved it to Fridays, dickheads. Friday nights are a graveyard where shows go to die. Kinda like the summer season. So, RIP Fringe. You were great while you lasted.

Television's Most Hardcore Moments This Year

Admittedly, I watch a lot of TV. After watching last night's Supernatural, I thought I'd make a list of the most hardcore things I've seen all year, because a lot of what I have seen has been awesome. Here's the list. Oh yeah...spoilers. Lots of Spoilers.

True Blood: Russell's TV debut
This might be the most hard core thing I've seen...ever. It's that bad ass. What happens is that Russell, a really old vampire, goes insane after his lover Talbot is killed. He goes on TV to show people the "true face of vampire" and rips out the poor newscaster's spine.

Walking Dead: Zombie kill of the week
Hero Rick is walking through zombie infested Atlanta with a sidekick, as they try to get to a construction site to use one of the vehicles to make an escape. They camouflage themselves by smearing zombie guts all over them, to mask their living scents. However, it starts to rain and the zombies figure out what's going on. Rick makes a run for it, but not before nailing a zombie in the forehead. With an axe.

Vampire Diaries: Damon's "heart to heart" with Mason
Mason is/was a new character this season, and he's a werewolf. We all know that vamps and werewolves don't get a long, so it's no surprise that Damon immediately hates Mason. In this episode, Damon tortures him to find out what he and evil vamp Katherine are up to, ending with him ripping out Mason's heart. This leads to one of my favorite lines of dialogue all season, where Damon is taunting Katherine over the phone about what he did to Mason: "Yeah, Mason's right here, next to me. His heart's on the other side of the room, though." Awesome.

Supernatural: Sam makes a devil's trap out of his own blood
Sam has been hardcore this season, mainly because he doesn't have a soul, and therefore doesn't care about anything. They're trying to get it back, but...Anyway, in this episode, Dean, Sam, and Co storm a hideout of a demon named Crowley, who knows where Sam's soul is. They end up getting caught, but Sam escapes by making a devil's trap on the ceiling of his cell...with his own blood. Oh, and I forgot to mention that he made himself bleed by biting into his own wrist. Yeah, No-Soul Sammy is awesome.

And finally....

Sons Of Anarchy: Stahl finally gets what's coming to her
Stahl is an agent of the ATF, and she's been trying to bring down the Sons since the first season. She set up one of the characters (Opie) as a rat. As a result, Opie's wife Donna ends up getting killed. Now, Opie finally gets his revenge by killing Stahl in the same way- having her sit at the wheel of her car and putting bullets in the back of her head. It's very poetic.