Went and saw True Grit yesterday at the pics in Cineworld, and despite the massive queue to get in (well it was a Saturday afternoon, in fact can't believe the difference between that place and Clydebank where there is hardly anyone and you can stroll in!).
And as it was a Cohen brothers movie it was quite entertaining, while certainly not their best movie it was definitely worth a watch. Having not seen the original I can't say how it compared, but I thought overall Jeff Bridges gave a fine performance as the old chiselled veteran marshall Rooster Cogburn (even though you can't make out what he says half the time!). The rest of the cast were also fairly impressive with Matt Damon (I didn't even recognise him at first!) as a Texas ranger, and most notably the young Hailee Steinfield as the plucky girl Mattie who calls upon Cogburn's services to bring back the man who killed her dad, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin) to justice. I thought it was high time the Cohens did a Western as they have sometimes had an affinity about making films about people from the South so why not do a Western. The tone of the film is also surprisingly fairly light hearted for the Cohen's while they are no stranger to comedy there is always a dark tone to their movies, but despite a couple of moments, its all rather jaunty and pleasant. As usual visually its a very appealing movie as the superb Roger Deakins provides the cinematography duties again and Carter Burwell also produces a fine elegiac score befitting the period. The only downsides as I said were the western accents are pretty thick so its hard to make out what some of the characters are saying, particularly Jeff Bridges and or two others, also the timeline of the film appears to be askew, as the young girl Mattie at the end of the film is supposed to be 40, but the woman playing her appears much older! Also Josh Brolin's part in the film was very small, surprisingly he was only in it for maybe 10 minutes at the most! Doubtless his fee for the film would have been very good!
Regardless of that True Grit is an enjoyable Cohen brothers pic, while not worthy of their best work, it is a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.
Moving onto the tennis once again, I caught up with watching the finals of the Qatar Ladies Open today, and was really pleased to see that Vera Zvonareva (my fav female tennis player at the mo, and rather nice) defeat Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets scoring 6-4 6-4. It was quite a good final although I think the windy conditions made it difficult for the match to really flow, as both girls kept making alot of unforced errors and double faults. But therein I think Vera was able to hold her own in those conditions while Wozniacki struggled to as she was broken several times, it was also good to see her be challenged, and having to respond. Admittedly I did feel a bit sorry for Caroline toward the end when she tried to return a shot in a rally and she lost her balance and missed the ball which bounced just within the baseline, and in frustration she slammed her racquet down. But in the end I think Vera deserved the title, she battled through two tough matches in the quarter and semi finals and she held her composure and pulled through. Also it was her first title in over a year, so well done lass!
Speaking of first titles in a while, I was also pleased to see the return of Juan Martin Del Potro, who this year has made his comeback after a serious wrist injury in 2010 knocked him out of play for the year. After undergoing surgery, he's now back in the game and he won his first title tonight at Delray Beach since winning the US Open in 2009 against Federer. It must be one of the quickest return up the rankings in a while as Del Potro started off the year as about 486, and after making 2 semi-finals this year and winning at Delray Beach, his ranking will go back up to within the top 100. This year could also potentially see Del Potro resurging back into winning the Masters tournaments, if not a Grand Slam, well perhaps not, but you never know. Federer and Nadal watch out!
Speaking of which, onto the last tennis tournament of the weekend I'll mention, it was good to see Djokovic carry on his winning streak at Dubai as he defeated Federer in straight sets 6-3 6-3, proving once again how formidable his standard has become. This has to be Djokovic's year, if he carries this on he will certainly win a couple of Grand Slam titles, so Wimbledon and US Open definitely might be in the cards. Unless Del Potro beats him there first, mind you that could take a miracle for that to happen again, but as Federer once said "tennis is a crazy game".
Anyway enough blogging for one night. Tara!
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