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Posts Tagged ‘Coen Brothers’

True Grit

Posted in At the Movies, Favorite Things, Neat Stuff, tagged , , on November 17, 2010| 3 Comments »

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:

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I’ll Fly Away

Posted in At the Movies, Favorite Things, Video, tagged , , , , , , on April 20, 2009| 2 Comments »

Far WatchI use a single bird sometimes in my paintings.  The most common meaning for me is of the bird being the watcher, overseeing everything.  It represents patience and wisdom in this case.

I see the bird most often as a hawk but sometimes it’s a crow.  I admire both, the hawk for its physical prowess and the crow for its intelligence.  I remember watching a group of crows chase a hawk and when it appeared the hawk had nowhere to go he started leading the crows upward in  long loops.  As he rose, the crows closed in and just as they were about on him he made this powerful dive that carried him from above the spot where I was on a hillside to a point in the valley below, nearly a mile away.  The crows couldn’t match the dive and were left so far behind they gave up the pursuit.  It was an impressive escape.

Sometimes the bird represents to me a type of memento mori, a reminder of our mortality.  The bird is still the watcher but more of a spirit guide.  

In the spirit of this meaning, I’m segueing into a video of the old gospel song I’ll Fly Away sung by Allison Krauss and Gillian Welch. It feature scenes from the movie from which was taken, the Coen Brothers’ O Brother Where Art Thou?, one of my favorites.  It’s one of those films where when I see it’s on television will turn in it at any point to see what point the movie is at.  I particularly like the look of the film, the way they pulled a lot of the color out, replacing it with a sepia tone that kind of gives it a dated look.  The title of the movie is taken from the great Preston Sturges  film, Sullivan’s Travels.  In it, Sullivan is a movie director of mainly comedies who wants to make a deep, socially conscious film chronicling the poor and downtrodden, to be titled O Brother Where Art Thou?  He sets out disguised as a tramp to get a first hand look at the conditions of the poor and encounters many obstacles along the way.  Ultimately, his film is not made.  That is, until the Coens took the baton and finished the job.  Both are great, great films.

Anyway, here’s I’ll Fly Away…


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Gutterballs

Posted in Video, tagged , , on January 15, 2009| 2 Comments »

] Faust's GuitarI’ve mentioned before that I often have movies playing in the studio while I’m working, listening to the dialogue as I paint and occasionally looking up to take in the really visual aspects.  Some movies I have seen many times and know when to look up to catch something that really excites my eye. This is especially true of movies from the Coen Brothers.

The Big Lebowski is a favorite in the studio and I always have to stop and watch when the Dude enters the realm of fantasy.  I particularly enjoy Gutterballs with Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) from Kenny Rogers and the First Edition as a backdrop.

It’s a great, lavish production and always makes me grin like an idiot.  

The Dude abides..

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