Jeff Bridges Almost Told Coen Brothers No On 'The Big Lebowski' (VIDEO)

True Grit: The Coen Brothers' Great Adaptation
By sticking to the Charles Portis book, the Coen Brothers have a box office hit. Allen Barra argues it’s their best film ever—and, a Western for the ages....

'True Grit' remake is lovingly told
Plain-spoken and with no nonsense, the Coen brothers' take on "True Grit" is surprising an d immediately endearing. The movie is a revival of the spirit and the substance of the great myth that was the American West. There is almost an irresistible urge to say that this movie, itself, has true grit. But then, why re sist? John Wayne won his only Academ y Award for playing the one-eyed boozehound Marshal Rooster Cogburn in the original "True Grit," directed by Henry Hath-away....

Top Five Liberal Political Triumphs of 2010
This is not a list of the year’s top five liberal political triumphs. Not that there weren’t some—just this week, we had the Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the passage of the Food Safety bill, and the ratification of the New Start Nuclear Treaty. Throw in health-care reform and Financial Reform from back before the unfortunate events of November 2nd and hey, there’s five right there. Trouble is, these were liberal triumphs only by the pathetically loose stan...

Beck, the Schlemiel
Is there a more fitting song with which to seal our list of the 100 greatest Jewish songs of all time than Beck’s “Loser”? While the list’s authors, Jody Rosen and Ari Y. Kelman, acknowledge that Beck is barely Jewish—his maternal grandmother is a member of the tribe—they’re spot-on about the particular charms of his break-out debut hit. “Often described as a song of Gen X malaise,” Kelman and Rosen write, “’Loser’ is actual...

Holiday Weekend Movie Forecast: True Grit Vs. Little Fockers
The Western that earned John Wayne an Oscar over 40 years ago returns to the screen this weekend, re-envisioned by the Coen brothers. True Grit stars newcomer 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld as the fearless and stubborn Mattie Ross, a girl determined to track down outlaw Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), her father's killer. Jeff Bridges plays U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, and he joins the Manhunt with LeBoeuf (Matt Damon), a Texas Ranger who seeks to take the killer back to Texas for the Murder of anoth...

Love Affair With Words
Early on in the Coen Brothers’ True Grit, the 14-year-old Mattie Ross has a negotiation with a cunning stupid merchant in the town where her father has just been killed. It concerns money, horses, legal threat, and language, and it is the surest signal of where this lugubrious but charming picture is headed. The merchant, Colonel Stonehill (played by Dakin Matthews), is devious and calculating, and for a moment you may believe his dainty language is a fair approximation of educated gentil...

Capsule reviews: 'True Grit' and other films
"Little Fockers" — Meet the latest in Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller's comedy franchise. Grit your teeth through the fairly short though agonizing duration of its stay. Then wave goodbye in relief as its huge cast of characters departs like the annoying in-laws they are. "Meet the Parents" was a tolerable trifle and "Meet the Fockers" was a bloated bore. But this third installment is tasteless trash, filled with abysmally unfunny gags involving vomit, enemas, erectile dysfunction and the l...

Box Office Preview: Little doubt 'Fockers' to win
"Meet the Parents" was the seventh highest grossing release of 2000, earning $166.2 million in the wake of an October weekend debut of $28.6 million. Its sequel, 2004's "Meet the Fockers," switched to the Holiday Season and collected $46.1 million in its first weekend, on the way to becoming the fourth highest grossing film of that year with $279.2 million. Despite weak reviews, the latest "Fockers" should land somewhere between the first two in the high $20 million to low $30 million range for ...

True Grit: a truly great remake
John Wayne made few great movies, but his mere presence in a picture often prevented lesser scripts from becoming bad movies. His style and his swagger caused us to forget that the film lacked a story — or that we had seen this tale before, only set on a different cattle range or down a different river. A number do stand out, notably Stagecoach, The Searchers, Fort Apache, Red River and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. And though he won his only Oscar for the original True Grit, few would count...

Today on Tablet
Today in Tablet Magazine, columnist Michelle Goldberg reports that the Texas House is a testing ground for Jew-baiting as a political tactic. Joan Nathan makes mouths water as she discovers unexpected dishes being served across the country. Alexander Gelfand enjoys—and is perplex by—Eli Wiesel in concert. The Scroll wonders how you roast chestnuts on an open fire in the city. Click here to cancel reply. Your email has been sent. What are the 100 greatest Jewish songs ever? Tablet ...

Christmastime in New York
What are your Christmas plans? Chinese and a movie? Soup Kitchen volunteering? Hiding your Children? Vox Tablet host Sara Ivry went a’profiling around New York City to find out how other Jews are going to spend the holiday. Click here to cancel reply. An Alvy Singer for a new generation? Your email has been sent. What are the 100 greatest Jewish songs ever? Tablet Magazine’s musicologists rank them all, from sacred to pop to hip-hop, from Rabbi Akiva to Amy Winehouse. A Brooklyn r...

Glimpse Of Horizon
Christmas is about family, it’s about being thankful for those you have around you and the life you live. For many it’s being thankful for their faith. The 17 year old daughter of a member in the Department I work in, Regina Nicholson, filmed a documentary about the pain and misery of Cancer she has endured and the faith that helped her get through it all. She has always loved films and her dream is to work in the film industry, behind the camera. The documentary was featured at the...

PBSs Smiley Sees Tolerance Decreasing in America, U.S. Seen as Arrogant, Elitist, Pompous
On Monday’s Tavis Smiley show on PBS, during a discussion with author Robert Putnam to discuss his book American Grace, after Putnam recounted the central Thesis that various religions in America - and even non-religious people - tend to tolerate each other well compared to other countries, host Smiley made known his view that tolerance is "decreasing" in America and cited attitudes toward Muslims as a recent example. Smiley: I'm not so sure that our religiosity these days ma...

Review: 'Tron' effects give it a knockout look
Get those colored lights going! It's time, 28 years later, for a sequel to "Tron." While you're at it, turn up the sound. Louder, please. Wide open! Other than neon-bright and stunning graphics, wit h bass levels pumped h igh enough to vibrate the theater, there isn't a great deal to "Tron: Legacy." But in this case, sound and light might be e nough. The ne w "Tron" would be great to show on the walls of a disco (or whatever bars have replaced them). Cut the dialogu...

Well, You Know, That's Just, Like, Your Opinion, Man
Chris Orr has a list of the best Coen movies ever. Once I saw that "The Big Lebowski" wasn't #1 I decided the rest was worthless. But you may want to check out his take anyway. ...

Boxing turns to silver screen for silver lining
The film about the hard-scrabble Boston-area boxer raked in more than $12 million its first full weekend, has been nominated for six Golden Globes and figures to be an Oscar darling when nominations are announced next month. Wahlberg and co-star Christian Bale even graced the cover of Sports Illustrated, which trumpeted the film as an instant classic. The sport itself only wishes it could get the same kind of publicity. While boxing remains one of the great storytelling backdrops, with its inher...

Monica Yant Kinney: How a savior and survivors finished 2010
Earlier this month, I fielded a "whatever happened to?" query from an economics teacher curious about an eminent-domain case I wrote about four years ago. I get requests like that all the time. News seems fleeting when it's flying by on Twitter, but if my in-box tells me anything, it's that great stories leave lasting impressions. So this Sunday and Wednesday, let's pause to catch up on people and issues in 2010 that grabbed - and, I hope, held - your attention. Surely you remember Gen...

Great news: Turkish TV to air pro-'Palestinian' 'documentary'
Just a reminder that I'm in Boston (although this is being scheduled anyway). Turkish television is to air a six-part 'documentary' about the Children of 'Palestine' starting Sunday. The lives of the Children of Palestine, arguably one of the world’s worst regions of conflict for decades, will come under the spotlight on the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation’s TRT Arabic channel this weekend when it starts broadcasting a new documentary series titled “The Rage of the Angels.”

Olympic filmmaker Bud Greenspan dies at 84 in NYC
NEW YORK (AP) — The trailblazing filmmaker who spent decades documenting the stories of Olympic athletes has died. Bud Greenspan was 84. Greenspan’s companion Nancy Beffa says he died Saturday from complications of Parkinson’s disease at his home in New York City. The award-winning filmmaker was known for documentaries chronicling athletes and their stories at both Winter and Summer Olympics. Beffa said his most recent work dealt with the rough cuts of films from the Vancouver ...

Olympic filmmaker Bud Greenspan dies at 84 in NYC
The trailblazing filmmaker who spent decades documenting the stories of Olympic athletes has died. Bud Greenspan was 84. Greenspan's companion Nancy Beffa says he died Saturday from complications of Parkinson's disease at his home in New York City. The award-winning filmmaker was known for documentaries chronicling athletes and their stories at both Winter and Summer Olympics. Beffa said his most recent work dealt with the rough cuts of films from the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. A native New Yo...

Merry Christmas from Bunni, Squirrel & Nut Edition
Merry Christmas from the Bunni Hutch to your house. I hope you all had a wonderful and Blessed Christmas Day, and a lovely evening to come. God Bless you all, and your family, pets and friends. This is the day that family gathers round the beautifully decorated Christmas Tree and indulges in some Christmas Cheer! I hope your gathering turned out a whole lot better than our friends, the Griswalds! I'm sure everyone has a relative somewhere like dear old Aunt Bethany! She obviously saw my post the...

PBSs Gordon Peterson Suggests Dream Act Would Pass if Illegal Immigrants Looked Like Norwegians
On Friday’s Inside Washington on PBS, during a discussion of President Obama’s failure to secure passage of the DREAM Act in the Senate, after panel member Evan Thomas of Newsweek asserted that "stupid politics" was behind the bill’s defeat, host Gordon Peterson brought up a quip by humorist Jimmy Tingle that "if they all looked like Norwegians, there’d be no problem." After introducing the segment with a clip of President Obama speaking favorably of t...

Public Broadcasting Subsidy: Unnecessary and Irrational
According to a Poll Position survey conducted in late October, 45 percent of Americans said “No” when asked whether the U.S. government should stop helping to fund NPR; 39 percent said “Yes.” Only those respondents identifying themselves as Republicans favored, by a 54 percent to 28 percent margin, ending Taxpayer support for NPR. Given that the federal Budget is more than $1 Trillion in the red and that Deficits extend into the future as far as the eye can see, federal Subsidies t

Holiday Dinner The Day After
Chef Dave Lieberman shares his recommendations for quick and easy holiday leftover recipes. Lieberman, who hosts America's Heartland on PBS and Good Deal with Dave Lieberman on the Food Network, tells NPR's Liane Hansen that a soup or sandwich is always a good second-day use for turkey. But you can also, take those mashed potatoes and make pancakes with toppings or use your cranberry sauce with the pan drippings to make a sauce. ...

It's Christmas!
Photograph by Mattron on Flickr Merry Christmas—or Merry Saturday—to all of you! It's a clear, snow-less day in New York City, and government offices and services are closed and Mass Transit is running on Saturday, Sunday or weekend schedules. If you need tips on some food options, here are our suggestions for getting that classic December 25th fare, Chinese Food, before you see a movie (hey, you could make it a Jeff Bridges double-feature with True Grit then Tron: Legacy!). Conta...