"True Grit" is Truly Impressive

At first glance, "True Grit" could be categorized simply as a Western, and given its first cinematic incarnation as the John Wayne vehicle that won The Duke his Oscar, that would make sense. But in the hands of the Coen Brothers the classic story blossoms into a soot-black comedy woven with King James Bible-brand dialogue and some of the best performances of the year.

Adapted from Charles Portis' 1968 novel, the film stars beguiling newcomer Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross, a no-nonsense 14-year-old who recruits U.S. Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to track down Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), the man who killed her father for a few horses and two California gold pieces, so she can exact avenge. As they set off into barren "Indian Territory," freshly dusted with snow, they're joined by La Beouf (Matt Damon), a Texas Ranger who's spent months on Chaney's trail.

Shot by Roger Deakins (marking his eleventh time as the Coen Brothers' cinematographer) in dusty sepia tones that give way to inky nights spent by the flickering glow of a campfire pockmarked by the occasional muzzle flash, the film looks and smells like a worn leather saddlebag—as does Bridges.

Sporting an eye patch, gin blossom nose and wheezing tobacco-charred voice, Bridges' whiskey-guzzling, sharp-shooting Cogburn is an acting high wire act. Somehow both grounded and grandiose, it's a turn so impressive, it makes you wonder if he could pull a Tom Hanks and win the Best Actor Oscar two years in a row. (Whatdayathink about that, Colin Firth?)

With brief, transfixing appearances by Brolin and the always impressive but hugely underrated Barry Pepper, the other name we expect to hear on the Academy's roll call this year (right after Christian Bale's for "The Fighter") is Damon's, who provides a great deal of the film's unexpected comedy and turns in his best work in recent memory.

The fact that Steinfeld, whose only notable credit before "Grit" was a TV movie called "Summer Camp," goes toe-to-toe with Bridges, Brolin and Damon, driving the story forward with her portrayal of a stoic, stalwart young girl hellbent on vengeance, is proof of an impressive career to come.

Lacking any sentimentality, but somehow full of heart and tenderness, unpredictably funny yet chillingly somber, "True Grit" is a genre-defying, impeccably crafted film that only the Coen Brothers could make.

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Watching Bridges and Damon on the trail, I kept flashing back to my Glamping extravaganza with Brian earlier this year, so I figured, why not resurrect that good ol' Cowboy Caviar Soup?

For the recipe, click here...

Lucy Punch Meets a Tall Dark Stranger

Lucy Punch is having a TKO year. The 32-year-old British actress has spent the last year working with the likes of Steve Carell, Kate Hudson and Justin Timberlake, is about to start production in Nick Cassavetes’ new film, and stars alongside Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts and Josh Brolin in Woody Allen’s new film, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, stepping into a role at one point occupied by Nicole Kidman. Not bad considering just before she won her part in Allen’s film, she’d been out of work for over a year and was considering a new line of work.

Settling into a suite at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, tall and lean, in a sheer fuchsia blouse and dark trousers, gold bracelets climbing up her arms, Punch explains that getting to be in Allen’s film took a lot of hard work and a little luck, all beginning with an audition on tape because, “Woody didn’t know who I was,” the actress offers good-naturedly. Liking what he saw on the tape, Allen invited Punch to New York for a meeting.

“Usually when you’re close to getting a part, the studio will pay for a [plane] ticket,” Punch says. “But because it’s Woody and [his movies are] always low budget and every actor wants to meet him, you pay for your own ticket. I was completely broke at the time but I was like, ‘Of course!’ The night before I was supposed to go, I found out he’d given the part away and I was devastated.” She jokes that when she found out it was Nicole Kidman who’d been cast in the role, “I was more understanding,” though still heartbroken. “But she dropped out!” Punch grins. Still, the part wasn’t hers that easily. “I really had to prove myself to him,” Punch continues. After another round of auditions, where she was asked to do “a number of scenes from the script,” she had what every actor dreams of; a part in a Woody Allen film, something Punch sums up as, “Insane and very intimidating.”

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger follows what happens to a pair of troubled married couples; Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) and Helena (Gemma Jones), and their daughter Sally (Naomi Watts) and her husband Roy (Josh Brolin), as their relationships fracture. After Alfie and Helena separate thanks to his growing late-middle life crisis, he takes up with Punch’s character, Charmaine, a call girl from the wrong side of the tracks who’s thrilled to find a sugar daddy. It was a part the required a very particular, and skin-baring, look that Punch describes as, “that kind of really unsubtle sexy that’s vulgar and almost a little repulsive.”

“Woody wanted her to be very sexy, so I went to my last audition really dressed as the character,” Punch recalls, chuckling. “I was getting some serious wolf whistles from construction sites and I thought, ‘Okay, I’ve got this down. I’m attracting the right kind of disgusting attention.’”

Even after landing the role, Punch didn’t meet the notoriously retiring director until she walked onto his set the first day. “I’d spoken to some actors who’d worked with him before, so I knew I’d get very little [in direction],” she says. But that didn’t stop her from using her time with Allen to the fullest advantage. “I had a hundred gagillion ideas which I was constantly pestering him with,” Punch admits, “and he was like, ‘Don’t tell me, just do it. I don’t need to hear about it.’ It actually gave me a huge amount of confidence that he put his trust in me.”

Allen doesn’t need to be verbose to get the most out of his actors. For Punch it was three little words that made all the difference in her performance. “One day I was doing a scene and I got a laugh from the crew and I thought, ‘I’m doing a good job.’” That was until she caught the eye of her director. “I looked up and [Woody mouthed], ‘Stop being funny.’ And he was right! This is the sort of part where it would be very easy to go bananas, but the style and tone of his films, the comedy is really grounded. As outrageous as the character is and looks, I was always aware, having Woody’s eyes on me, to be truthful.”

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger opens September 23.

Hollywood Bites Reviews: The Tillman Story

William Tucumseh Sherman once said "War is Hell."

In Amir Bar-Lev's skillfully composed documentary "The Tillman Story," the audience gets to see that war is also wasteful, heartbreaking, ruinous and shrouded in deceit.

There are few Americans who managed to escape the tragic tale of Pat Tillman, an NFL star so profoundly moved by the tragedy of 9/11, he walked away from a multimillion-dollar contract with the Arizona Cardinals in May 2002 so he could serve his country. On April 22, 2004, Pat was killed in the line of duty while in Afghanistan. It was a shocking death that whipped the media into a frenzy as each detail of his passing and funeral were documented in exhaustive detail and spun into pro-America propaganda by everyone from the local news to President George W. Bush.

But what managed to evade that microscopic gaze was that Tillman had actually been killed by friendly fire in a series of events typically referred to by the military term: Charlie Foxtrot, aka a clusterf--k.

Told through interviews, news clips, archival footage and Josh Brolin's gravely voiceover, "The Tillman Story" unravels the harrowing reality of Pat's death, something the military and Bush administration calculatingly covered up in favor of a flag-waving yarn of patriotism that could be used as a party line.

Wisely, the Tillman family wasn't content to quietly weep into the perfectly folded flag they were given in condolence, instead seeking answers to questions about their son's death. As the murky, disturbing truth slowly comes to light, Bar-Lev uses second hand accounts, photos and a few short video clips to give viewers the opportunity to meet and fall in love with Pat Tillman. While you discover he was a man who loved Noam Chomsky, opposed the war in Iraq, was a natural leader, capably heroic, well educated and thoughtful, the film isn't a eulogy, it's an intimate and touching portrait of loss that flings the audience from grief to rage and back again.

Appalling, disturbing, beautifully assembled and emotional, Bar-Lev weaves a documentary that sinks into your bones, leaving its weight behind long after you've left the theater, especially when you realize Pat's story is one of millions to illustrate the horror brought on by war.