True Grit (2010)

When this movie first came out in 2010, I was very excited to see it. I was and still am a fan of the Coen brothers as well as two of the stars of the film Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski, Tron) and Matt Damon (The Bourne Identity, Good Will Hunting) . For what ever reason I couldn't find the time to go see it. Much to my surprise as I was going through Netflix I saw this movie sitting in the Newly Added section. Without hesitation, I hit play and started watching it.

The movie is about a girl played by Hailee Steinfeld (She's a Fox, Grand Cru) whos father was killed by a member of a gang. She enlists the help of a stubborn marshal played by Jeff Bridges to lead her into Indian territory to help her find the man who killed her father.

I am not normally a fan of child actors and actresses. I feel like most of the time they just don't end up working that good in movies. So, I was very surprised when I found myself enjoying Hailee Steinfeld's acting throughout the entire movie.

True Grit is a character piece who's plot is primarily propelled by the dialogue between characters. This means that to fully understand the movie, you have to pay attention. There are also very few gun fights. The lack of gun fights may be a strength of the movie though, because it makes the few times guns are used much more powerful. It is a slow paced movie that may not be for everyone.

If you are the type of movie watcher that doesn't mind a slower paced movie, than I would highly suggest True Grit. While it wont get you adrenaline pumping with amazing action scenes, you will grow very attached to the characters.

As of writing this (1/6/12) True Grit is available to stream through Netflix.

Tucker and Dale vs Evil

When I started this movie, I was under the impression that it was going to be a generic slasher movie. I was wrong. What I ended up watching was a comedic homage to the slasher genre much the same way Shaun of the Dead was to the zombie genre.

The movie stars Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Suburgatory) and Tyler Labine (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Sons of Tucson) as two hillbilly friends who buy a dilapidated "vacation" home in the middle of a forest. Mean while, a group of college students are camping nearby. Eventually, the college students mistake Tucker and Dale for murderers and all hell breaks loose.

As I said before, I did not expect this to be a funny movie. Luckily, I am a fan of comedy movies so I wasn't disappointed. There were laughs throughout the whole movie, without being too slap-sticky in its delivery. I grew attached to the characters, and got sad at the bad things that happened to them. As well as being well written and acted, it is also gratuitously gory, and very violent.

Overall I would highly suggest this movie to everyone, unless you are not a fan of gore. It is charming, funny, and above all very entertaining. As of writing this (1/5/12) it is available to watch on Netflix Instant Watch.

The Game

The Game is one of those movies that I have been waiting to watch for quite some time. I am a fan of the director, David Fincher(Fight Club, Seven, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), and was curious to find out how the plot to this movie was going to unfold. In short, it did not disappoint.

The Game is a movie about San Francisco Banker Nicholas Van Orton  (Michael Douglas) who receives a present from his brother (Sean Penn) to play a special type of game. It isn't long before Nicholas Van Orton finds himself questioning what is reality and what is part of this elaborate game.

Apart from the unique story, my favorite part of this movie has to be the amazing performance put on my Michael Douglas. Over the course of the movie, I found myself shocked and awestruck at his gradual slide into insanity. Also, with a run time of almost 2 hours, I didn't find myself checking the time at all.

One thing I was not a fan of was that there were too many "What If" parts of the movie. Without giving anything away, a few things that happen over the course of the movie may have been disastrous if something minute hadn't happened earlier.

Over all, I would suggest this movie to people who are a fan of psychological thrillers. If you want a movie to watch absent mindedly as you do chores of some sort, you would probably not enjoy this movie much at all. At the time of writing this (12-25-11) it is available to watch on Netflix Instant Watch.