True Grit (the new one)

On the way back from Jordan they had the same selection of films as they'd had on the way out. A shame since there wasn't too much on. On the way out there I'd plumped for Unstoppable mainly because nothing else was too appealing.

Apart from True Grit. True Grit didn't appeal to me when it was in the cinema and only its nomination for an Oscar made me think it might be worth a go - basically I always want to have seen the Oscar-nominated films so I can have an opinion. Hence watching it as a last resort on a plane.

The Coen brothers love America don't they? There's a constant theme of reverence towards the kooky part of State-side culture that runs through all their films. In some of their films it's more prominent than others. Raising Arizona is all about the comic excesses of being a hillbilly, whereas films like Fargo or No Country For Old Men are content to play with US language and accent. True Grit sits firmly in this mould, allowing Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon free reign to don their thickest wild west accents and mumble their way through oodles of frontier gibberish.

I enjoyed watching Jeff Bridges let loose to stamp his interpretation of a southern drawl all over a Western. I was also entertained by the to-and-fro between him and Hailee Steinfeld - who plays Mattie Ross, the young girl who's father was murdered and hires Bridges' character (the drunken Federal Marshall Rooster Cogburn) to get revenge. A good actress in the making there, she carries her lines with incredible poise and maturity.

Other than that though it's a bit of a throwaway film. An OK story with some good performances and a few laughs with some grisly deaths thrown in for good measure. Standard Coen brothers stuff these days, they're operating on the successes of their earlier films at the moment. Perhaps they need a few years off without releasing anything to give them a chance to come up with some new ideas. I'm happy with my decision not to pay to see it at the cinema.