I usually don’t like remakes of older movies, don’t like taking something that stands up so well over the years and trying to redo it with a slicker look and more technology. You usually can’t outdo the original actors who made certain parts iconic. How could you remake Casablanca today and who could replace Bogart in it? Who could have the sheer charisma of Clark Gable’s Rhett Butler character in Gone With the Wind without appearing to do a lame impersonation of him? Or Henry Fonda’s Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath?
But after seeing the trailer for True Grit I am willing to make an exception, despite John Wayne’s iconic portrayal of Rooster Cogburn in the 1969 version. Maybe it’s the trust I have in the Coen Brothers who are doing this remake. Or maybe it’s the short clips of Jeff Bridges’ version of Cogburn that I’ve seen (this is no Dude here). I don’t know. It looks darker and angrier than the original, more about a biblical sort of wrath than the earlier version. I liked the early Wayne version but this looks like it could have fallen from the pen of Cormac McCarthy, and in the Coen’s hands that’s okay with me. I know it will be a different interpretation and not a mere retelling with new window dressing.
There are few films I look forward to but this is one. Look for it around Christmas. Here’s the trailer:
Redtree Times 
Like you, when I first heard about someone remaking True Grit, I figured it would be bad. Maybe not David Soul as Casablanca’s Rick bad, but bad.
But then I saw who was in it, and who was making it, and frinakly, it’s given me a reason to live.
But, apparently, not spell.
I share your apprehension about remakes in part as a commentary that there seems to be a lack of any true, new original ideas – there’s already a remake of that classic tale of heroism and loss known as Spider-Man from way, way back in 2002 in the works – but this looks like the real deal: a reimagining and not a “reboot.”
Thanks for sharing!