10) True Grit (2010)
tarring: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, and Hailee Steinfeld
Directed by: Joel and Ethan Coen
Sorry, you probably initially thought this was the original version starring John Wayne, but this is just a better all-around movie even if you think “The Duke” played U.S. Marshal Reuben “Rooster” Cogburn better than Jeff Bridges did. Although, one could make the argument Bridges played the seasoned disgusting alcoholic better than Wayne did.
The Coen brothers are some of the best writer/directors working today and they have the accolades to back it up including ten Academy Award nominations for “True Grit” alone.
Piggybacking off the success of the remake to “3:10 to Yuma” starring Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, and Ben Foster, the studio solicited the services of the Coen Brothers to capitalize on a rebirth of the western genre. It actually seemed like the western genre was going to make a comeback solely based on the success of those two films – much like the zombie genre did in the early 2000’s – but it never quite lived up to those expectations.
“True Grit” follows the story of a 14-year-old girl who hires the gritty “Rooster” Cogburn to hunt down the man who killed her father.