True Grit (2010) review

A feisty little bugger (a very impressive Hailee Steinfeld) 'hires' slovenly Sheriff Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to help her track down the man that killed her Daddy; U.S. Marshall Matt Damon tags along to act as Cogburn's more disciplined and straight-laced foil. Though it's not exactly the movie to re-write the Western as we know it, it's a snarky, efficient picture about justice and female empowerment, as tough bugger Steinfeld holds her own with the men of the movie, full of bravado and quite skilled at rolling a smoke (and to quote Jean Cocteau, "Murderers have been known to find that young girls give them more trouble than anybody else"). The usual Coen Bros. attention to details is present as always (and Roger Deakins' cinematography impressive as usual), but it's their rambling dialogue that really made this pop for me: the characters creatively ramble and prattle well past the point where they would normally shut the hell up (often to comical effect). The Clint Eastwood Westerns are an influence, but the tone is significantly lighter.