True Grit Breathes Life Into the Western

True Grit is a western that owes little to John Ford or Howard Hawks. It’s in a class by itself. Forget the John Wayne version. Joel and Ethan Coen, the directors and writers, created an original vision based on the novel by Charles Portis.

It’s a simple story of a 14-year old girl, Mattie Ross (played by the astonishing Hailee Steinfeld) determined to bring her father’s killer Tom Chaney (played by Josh Brolin) to justice. She asked the sheriff for the best bounty hunter in the town. But the sheriff’s idea of best wasn’t hers. She wanted the meanest and toughest. He turned out to be Rooster (Rubin) Cogburn, played by Jeff Bridges to perfection. We meet him in the outhouse outside a bar when Maddie is determined to hire him. He’s crusty and blunt, telling her to get the hell away. His old, tired and grizzly act is just that: an act. He spars with her and protects her. Bridges has a way with the almost artificial language that speaks of its era. He chews on the dialogue like a juicy bone.

Mattie Ross was tough as nails. She was tart tongued with a withering response for everyone. She negotiated straight on with all the older men she meets, whether it’s restitution for her father’s property or for Rooster Cogburn’s help. When Cogburn left her behind to find Tom Chaney, she galloped after him, called him a thief and demanded her money back.

There are elegiac moments worthy of the best of Ford’s Monument Valley pics. When Mattie is bitten by a rattlesnake, Rooster takes her on a ride on her beloved black horse through the glowing landscape of the west, with the deep horizon and multi-hued sky bearing down on the riders (cinematography by Roger Deakins).

To catch up with Rooster after he leaves without her, she gallops into the water up to her horse’s neck. The climatic shootout between the gang harboring Chaney and Cogburn was thrilling. Bridges charged towards four adversaries, guns in each hand with the bridle in his mouth. Two-fisted, deadly accurate shooting. Matt Damon as La Boeuf was a bit of a goodie two shoes as a straight arrow Texas Ranger. Josh Brolin as Tom Chaney struck the right note of resignation as if he’s thinking, what next can possibly happen to me.

An interesting point is how civilized, almost courteously, the rivals behaved toward each other even though there was grisly violence. When Lucky Ned Pepper (played by Barry Pepper) grabs Mattie as a hostage, he treats her as an equal, listening patiently to her story and charging Chaney to keep her safe.

Jeff Bridges and Hallie Steinfeld are an odd couple made in Western heaven.

The Aftermath of My Trip to Washington (not Ms. Smith Goes to Washington)

Ever since I attended a rally in Washington at the end of October, my life has been altered considerably, and not for the better. People treat me like trash in my home town of 30 years. An irate patron called me out in my local Starbucks who demanded that I leave the store, the reasons for which remain unclear.

I wrote a detailed 9 page essay on the experiences I had leading up to the trip, the trip itself and its lengthy aftermath of exile. Here are some excerpts from the story:

I wanted to see some of Washington before I went to the rally. I didn’t think I’d get too close to the rally, anyway. I was dressed in what I thought was an innocuous rock and roll outfit, leather and lace, trying to imitate the Stones. But at this point in history, the Stones are too dangerous. Even I felt that as I put on the clothes, the leather vest I got at Trash and Vaudeville, the jewelry from Chico’s, and the leather jacket. I stuck out. No shrinking violet.

I ended up at the “VIP Tent” of “The Rave” of the rally, where I was given a wrist band and encouraged to partake of consumer goods (which now, in the light of day, I see were sponsors of the rally).

But I wasn’t a sponsor of the rally. I was unwittingly enrolled as its "colorful character", a role I didn’t know I was playing and it was extremely taxing. After absorbing some more negative energy from the crowd even within the “VIP Area” while trying to dance to some great bands, I wandered off to try to find Union Station and get the hell back to NY. I already missed my 8pm train and had no hotel room. No one could or would help me. I approached many people on the street. It wasn’t funny anymore.

Needless to say, I was poorly treated and very frightened. The rest of the essay will be available soon. To whomever let me go “viral” and spread rumors about my “nastiness”, there is a special place reserved for you and it’s not in the skybox at Yankee Stadium.

The Golden Globes Show Was Very Moving

I really enjoyed watching the Golden Globes last night on NBC. The actors and actresses were all very glamorous. I have no quarrel with their fashions. They looked great.

Ricky Gervais was a great MC and very funny, though perhaps considered caustic by delicate sensibilities.

The Social Network was the big winner. It won best drama and top prizes for both David Fincher, great director of (among others) Seven, Fight Club and Zodiac, and Aaron Sorkin, the wonderful showrunner/writer emeritus of the West Wing, which dealt with matters of politics and power very deftly.

I was moved by his acceptance speech. He praised the founder of Facebook and also gave a ringing shoutout to all the mothers, sisters and daughters out there that it was cool to be smart. That's the code I live by. Good to hear it on such a platform.

Why the Words "Blood Libel" Should Be Taken Seriously

It should always be taken seriously when people use code words like "blood libel". These are words laden with meaning for the Jewish people, as they refer to anti-semitic beliefs that date from medieval times that were used to subjugate and (possibly) justify the holocaust.

There is another strong piece of anti-semitic literature called "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." This is a Russian hoax/forgery drummed up in the late 19th century that purported to be the blueprint of the Zionist takeover of the world. It is the worst kind of hatemongering cloaked in wolves' clothing. It was used to justify pogroms and the rise and development of the Third Reich. It is still extremely popular today in certain circles.

If you want a brilliant, graphic re-telling of the "Protocols" and its origins, read Will Eisner's (the creator of The Spirit, among other things) "The Plot". It was his last great work and one he'd prepared for all his life.

I wrote the following post back in September while in California reading the news from NY. I thought it would be appropriate to remind people of the power of hate speech:

This country is headed down an ominous path. Contrast two stories in the NYT yesterday which showed the chilling effect of what happens when a country decides people who practice a certain religion are a cancer that must be cut out of the body politic.

One article told the story of German child psychiatrist Hans Keilson, a Jew who fled Germany in 1936 after his first novel was banned by the Nazis. He had watched the brownshirts grow in power but never thought he'd be a target:

"I was so German," he said. "I thought they would not do this to me. I am one of them." But he soon realized that Germans no longer recognized him as part of themselves. He remembered a literature class in which he read a poem by Heinrich Heine, who was born Jewish. The class president stood up and said: "We refused to talk about this. This is not a German poem."

The same tactics and even the same language are being used against Americans who practice Islam. People have been worshipping at a tiny mosque in upstate New York for the last 30 years. It's housed unobtrusively in a plain, unadorned building. Recently a pack of teenagers tried to hit the son of one of the mosque's founding members. One of them fired a shotgun in the air. A few days before that, he'd driven by shouting anti-Muslim epithets.

The ancient (but still invoked) charge of blood libel, the belief by Christians that Jews drain the blood of Christian children for their religious rituals, was echoed by this teen's words. He heard it was a cult house where people drank blood. He added as justification, "How many real religious places do you see that do not have a sign stating that it's a religious place?"

Right now it's mainstream discourse in America to question whether a citizen practicing a certain religion is a loyal American. In fact, the atmosphere is poisonous with accusations that we have terrorists within our midst (especially the President) with a secret agenda to take over.

This is not new in our history. Senator Joseph McCarthy made his bones on accusations that the American government was infiltrated by American communists. JFK had to contend with accusations that his loyalty was to the Pope in Rome. (Ironically, Kennedy was one of the few Democrats who never denounced McCarthy. McCarthy was also a Catholic and extremely influential.)

The amount of hatred and vituperation against Muslim Americans is reminiscent of Dr. Keilson's story. The desire to cleanse America of a foreign toxin in order to purify it has echoes in the darkest times of civilized society.

Unless we have some pushback from powerful voices, this unchecked aggression will destroy people. The hordes will pour forth strippping the flesh from the bones of what's left of the rule of law. How can such ignorant hatred drive American policy without being called out?

"Have you no sense of decency? Have you left no sense of decency?"--U.S. Army's chief legal counsel Joseph Welch to Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Casino Jack: Spacey Is A Winner As Abramoff

I walked into Casino Jack , directed by the late George Hickenlooper (he just passed away in October 2010), thinking it would be a straightforward retelling of the Jack Abrahamoff story, disgraced lobbyist, and the events and people caught in his web. Double Academy-Award winner Kevin Spacey was playing Jack, so I knew he’d be charismatic and charming.

But a strange thing happened. I wanted to hate Jack on principle: I’m a progressive, he’s a Republican lobbyist with no morals who was instrumental in the Florida recount and the smearing of John McCain in South Carolina during the 2000 campaign for Republican nominee. I believe lobbying is bribery writ large; Abramoff is the super lobbyist.

But I couldn’t. The way Spacey played Abramoff, he was sympathetic even at his wormiest—wheeling and dealing with the Native American tribes about casinos they wanted to build (hence the name) while he was ripping them off at jacked-up prices. Spacey starts off the movie in front of a mirror telling himself what’s really important: that he’s Jack Abramoff and he works out every day. The script, by Norman Snider, turned Abramoff from a headline into flesh-and-blood, however corrupt.

The movie shows the wreckage Abramoff left behind, embodied by Barry Sprague (Graham Greene), a highly respected Native American eminence who was steamrolled by Jack when he got in the way of his huge fees. But Jack never wavered in his belief that he provided access to power and greased the wheels of our democracy. He was doing God’s work.

Both Jack and Michael Scanlon (Barry Pepper), his protege with even less of a conscience than his mentor, had good women with sense. Jack’s wife Pam (Kelly Preston) questioned him about late mortgage payments while he’s building an empire of restaurants (kosher and non), orthodox school for boys and buying a floating casino. Michael’s fiancé Emily (Rachelle Lefevre) was appalled when Michael bought a run-down DuPont mansion. She also marched decisively into FBI headquarters armed with details on their schemes when she found out Michael was cheating on her.

The floating casino deal brings in Jon Lovitz as Adam Kidan, who was a laugh riot as the owner of a bankrupt mattress company. Nothing fazes him except getting attacked with a ball point pen while being strangled. Watch him as he complains to Jack about his boredom while in a Miami hotel room with hot babes strewn about in their undies.

The movie’s farcical tone increases as Jack finds out that Lovitz had the Greek owner of the floating casino whacked while he shepherds one of his tribes through the White House to meet with the president. He also finds out his right-hand man Mike Scanlon (Barry Pepper) spilled the beans of their entire crooked operation to his fiancée because they “were going to be married,” as Scanlon cries his eyes out in the back of a limo.

Of course, the empire Abramoff built came crashing down and Abramoff, along with Tom DeLay, Bob Ney and various colleagues, are jailed. Spacey has a great moment at the end in front of a Congressional hearing as he defended himself against three felony charges in front of Congressmen whose coffers he had filled over the years. But did it really happen?

I have a weakness for people who love movies and Jack loved the movies. He quoted them to the distinct irritation of his various bosses. After disaster struck and he was facing years in prison, he flew to Paramount Studios to pitch a Bible epic like a latter day Cecil B. DeMille. He teaches screenwriting in prison. The man is indefatigable. He’ll be back. Watch yours.

Let Us Mourn for Representative Gabrielle Giffords & 6 Others Killed

This is a short post without editing. I mourn deeply for the violence and hatred in this country that has led to these assassinations. People cannot deny accountability for stirring up hatred for political gain, holding rallies where there are cries of "Lynch 'em" and worse.

If we choose to kill instead of engage in reasoned debate, then who are we as a society?

An example of how our culture devalues human life: the story on the front page of a paid subscription content provider from a media source they circulate put together 2 + 2 and got snake eyes.

I don't know who the writer was, but it's not at all funny to worry about death threats or to think your life is in danger, then find out too late you were right all the time. It doesn't feel good to be right about that.

God help us all.

Inception: Enter Its World And You May Never Want to Leave

In Inception, Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Memento), who directs and writes the film, asks the question, “Are we living in a dream world or is it real? And which is more desirable?” The viewer can answer for himself as Inception plunges the audience into both worlds. The arena of Inception, a system containing the wild creations of its dreamers, grows more vivid, thrilling and tangible as the movie unfolds.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Cobb, an expert extracter, someone who is able to enter the dream state of another in order to steal confidential information from their subconscious. He works mainly corporate espionage, until one of his targets, Saito (Ken Watanbe) hires him to do an inception. Instead of stealing another’s ideas, he is to implant one.

Cobb knows the power of ideas. In one of the opening scenes, he states that ideas are the most powerful invaders of humankind, impossible to forget and capable of growing. Di Caprio is utterly convincing as the master dreamer and leader, the one who has the power to guide the others through the maze of their dream states and get out safely. This is not an easy sell because Nolan is asking us to suspend our belief about how we comprehend reality.

The dangers of inception are clear. There isn’t just one level. To implant the idea, his team must go 3 levels down, to a dream within a dream within a dream, comprehending and dodging the obstacles of their target, Fischer, played by Cillian Murphy.

Nolan visualizes this world powerfully. It becomes increasingly harder to distinguish the dream world from the waking world. People are in danger. Revolutionaries, security forces and armies hunt them down. Ellen Page as the architect, Ariadne, conjures up an entire cathedral-like structure on top of existing buildings through which she and Cobb roam freely, breaking the laws of physics. It’s like a multi-dimensional M.C. Escher drawing.

Our willing suspension of belief is referred back to during the climactic scenes, where the team tries to guide Fisher through the deepest level of dream state so he can discover the implanted idea himself. Nolan cuts between Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur, Cobb’s right hand man and a sober, level headed influence, as he battles Fischer’s security forces in zero gravity while the rest of the team squares off on snow-capped mountains dodging an avalanche while battling gun-toting adversaries. In “real time” the dreamers are packed in a van plunging off a bridge into slow motion.

Cobb is tormented by a secret sorrow. He cannot prevent his wife from entering his dream states and destroying his plans. Ariadne acts as the outsider, the one who questions Cobb’s obsession and tries to protect him and the group against it.

The cast is uniformly excellent, with Tom Hardy playing Eames, the wise-cracking master of disguise and Dileep Rao as Yusuf, the chemist charged with jolting the team from their self-induced comas and driving the van plunging off the bridge. But Christopher Nolan is the master, creating enrapturing scenes that make you pause as you try to answer the question I posed at the start of this review.