Culture Club: Readers review True Grit
Readers review this week's big film
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"Oh noooooo!!!!! How could they remake True Grit? Get some new ideas! The only reason True Grit was so brilliant was because it was John Wayne, acting at his very best. The story was average."
Jack Cajones Jacksie
"A straightforward western revenge yarn, very nicely done but lacking in any real depth. Not a patch (ho ho) on No Country for Old Men."
Graham Green
"'True grit' is what the Coen brothers have for remaking a film forever associated with John Wayne. The main reason it worked is because of Jeff Bridges's swashbuckling performance and the discovery of talented Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie."
Arnold Pearce
"I saw the original True Grit a long time ago and didn't remember it too well; I thought it was a little cheesy really, and was never a great John Wayne fan. This True Grit, however, was terrific – much darker in both tone and looks. Great performances from a very grizzled Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld as the determined Mattie Ross."
Nick1
"Pity they haven't got the brains to come up with a film of their own."
Paul Clarke
"Good, but not great. My expectations for Coen brothers' films are very high."
Peter Aitch
"I was disappointed. I struggled to hear anything Jeff Bridges said! Coen bros... I certainly expected more."
Jayn Roberts Sadler
"Compared to the John Wayne movie? The film overall is better, but though I didn't ever like John Wayne, he had more charisma than Jeff Bridges."
Kim Hatton
"I generally hate remakes, but this is in a different class."
Jonathan Rich
"Jeff Bridges is a far better anti-hero than Wayne ever was. Not classic Coen? What are you people talking about? The stylised dialogue going far far beyond period vernacular alone marks it as a Coen brothers film."
Clayton Tschudy
"A western classic to put up there with The Searchers and Ford's Cavalry Trilogy. Acting and direction top notch. Steinfeld is astonishing and is the heart of the movie. She's on screen for 115 minutes."
John O Sullivan
"The film deals in neither moral absolutes nor dangerous equivocation; it is a series of anti-climaxes. The baddies are not bad, just mad or – worse – tame. Barry Pepper shies off being a truly chilling nemesis; it's mainly his dental hygiene which provides the shudders... "
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Fleur Macdonald
"A boring film by the Coen brothers. Previously a contradiction in terms, not so in the case of True Grit. Why? The partial eclipse here of their hallmark philosophical pessimism. It makes a belated cack-handed appearance only in the otherwise gratuitous coda that is tacked on following the cessation of the main action."
John Taylor
"Loved it! The young girl acted her socks off."
Adam Matthews
"Awesome!"
Martin Cisneros Argeñal
Next week in Culture Club: Radiohead
Email your views on Radiohead's new album, 'The King of Limbs' , available as a download from Saturday 19 February, to cultureclub@independent.co.uk. The best will be published next Thursday
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