True Grit and Green Hornet

True Grit

Storyline: A 14-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) sets out to capture her father’s killer, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). She hires a tough U.S. marshal Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn (Jeff Bridges). Against his wishes, Mattie insists on accompanying Cogburn on the dangerous manhunt as she does not trust him with her money and his work to her. Before their journey can start, a Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Matt Damon) also ventures in the town looking for Chaney for crimes committed int he state of Texas. He is after Chaney to claim a bounty set on his head by the State. Together they trek into the Indian Nations in search of Chaney.

Anyone who has read a well written cowboy story will appreciate how well this movie “tells” the tale. The details that are shown in various scenes, the authentic setting of the time the movie wants to portray, the gun fights and the dangers associated with them, the speech (accent) of the actors is all commendable! Directed by the Coen Brothers, True Grit is a wonderful western movie that truly deserves the accolades bestowed upon it. My rating – 8.5/10.

Watch out how the 14 year old ‘woman’ outfoxes a cunning man who is trying to cheat her of some horses. The exchange and the way she leaves him dumbfounded is hilarious.

Green Hornet

Seth Rogen cannot act in movies. There, the worst thing about this movie is out there now. His timing is just bad and timing is everything in comedy. If it had Jack Black instead of Seth, this would have been an awesome movie bcoz Jack Black has great comic timing. To me, Seth is like a bad version of Black, like a misfiring engine all throughout the movie. Seth needs a comic-tuneup (if there is such a thing).

The movie deserves its 6.6 rating on IMDB because of Seth Rogen. Apart from him, the script feels a bit lame at times. Its sad that it cost $90,000,000 to make this movie. The money could have been utilised in a much better way elsewhere. And then they try to rip off the audience by releasing a 3D version of the movie and charge $16 for the ticket. WHY? This is not a 3-D movie like Avatar or like that dragon movie (how to train your dragon). First it was Tron that inserted a few 3D scenes in the movie and charged extra money for a half baked 3D IMAX experience and now it was Green Hornet. But not again. This time I did not go for the 3D version but stuck to the 2D non-IMAX version.

Dont get all turned off. The movie does have its good moments as does Seth Rogen.

Seth Rogen  …  Britt Reid / The Green Hornet  – Heir to a newspaper empire
Jay Chou  …  Kato – The hornet’s sidekick
Cameron Diaz  …  Lenore Case  – Britt Reid’s secretary
Tom Wilkinson  …  James Reid  – hornet’s dad who dies
Christoph Waltz  …  Chudnofsky  – A mafia boss with mid-life crisis
David Harbour  …  Scanlon  – A politician with his own personal agenda

Directed by Michel Gondry, The Green Hornet is an adaptation of a radio show based on the same name. It was also a TV series where this goofy hero and his savvy side-kick go about town fighting crime. The Hornet keeps getting into trouble and his side kick bails him out. The way these two bond together is really weak as is the way they have a misunderstanding about them. It would not be right to call this a super hero movie, coz this is just an action movie with 2 guys with gadgets and costumes who fight crime as if they are super heroes.

Now, if one looks at the movie in this light, it is a good movie. The villain too is goofy and is going thru his own identity + mid-life crisis where people around him act like they are not scared of him and tell him that he is history. Then there is Cameron Diaz as the secretary and the Hornet hires her in a jiffy coz she is “hot”. This is the same guy who is dating models and has topless 20-somethings in his pool 24/7. Why Britt/Hornet hires a 36 year old wrinkly eyed Cameron with “barely there” T&A is as mysterious as his bonding with Kato.

Go for this movie after you have had a few beers and have nothing better to do. After watching this one, I felt that I should have watched Black Swan instead. My rating – 6/10.

!! Spike !!