Trailer Talk Thursday: True Grit and The Tempest

Hello everybody, Travis McCollum of the Movie Encyclopedia here with another edition of Trailer Talk Thursday where I bring you the latest and greatest trailers to hit the silver screen. Today we will be covering two highly anticipated remakes coming out later this year: True Grit, the remake of an old John Wayne movie (which itself was an adaptation of a book by the same name) and The Tempest, a remake (and in some ways a re-imagining) of the classic Shakespeare play of the same name.

First up is True Grit:

 True Grit follows Mattie Ross, a 14 year old girl whose father gets killed by Tom Chaney, an evil drifter whose notoriety is known all over the West. Mattie is too young to take on Chaney herself so she goes into town to find someone who can take Chaney down. She hears about a US Marshall named Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn and his legendary grit (in other words his unstoppable drive to get things done) and so goes and tries to hire him. Along with Rooster, Mattie gets help from a sheriff and friend of Rooster's named LeBouef and the three of them go hunting for Chaney.

Joel and Ethan Coen are writing and directing this remake and in interviews have claimed that they are staying more true to the book, making it darker, more violent and of course a lot more funnier (because what's a Coen brothers movie without a little dark humor?). Filling John Wayne's shoes is of course The Dude himself Jeff Bridges which will make this the first time since Lebowski that Bridges and the Coen Brothers have worked together. Matt Damon plays LeBouef, Josh Brolin plays Chaney and Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie.

So without further ado...the trailer

So what do I think? Well it looks awesome. I was a huge fan of the novel as well as the original John Wayne film and have always been a Coen brothers fan so I have high hopes for this one. Bridges, Brolin and Damon all look great, the setting looks epic and the use of the now seemingly re-popular Johnny Cash song "God's Gonna Cut You Down" seems perfect for the movie. I can't wait and if the trailer is any indication, the Coen's may have Oscars in their future.

Next up is The Tempest:

This one is already stirring up some buzz. The casting decision of Helen Mirren as Prospera (a character originally male) as well as some changes to the original source material have driven a line in the sand with most viewers. Some are excited to see changes done to the story since it worked so well for Julie Taymore's last Shakespeare adaptation Titus and some Shakespeare enthusiasts hate the changes saying that this adaptation has lost it's true meaning and what made it special. Me? As an avid Shakespeare fan part of me questioned the idea of having a female Prospero (they changed the O to an A due to gender) but since I enjoyed Titus so much, as well as films like Scotland, PA I have no true problems with it. Changes can be good sometimes.

So without further ado...the trailer:


So what do I think? I really like this ensemble cast and the visual effects are quite stunning (in true Taymore fashion). Hopefully we see another trailer soon, showing us more but from this trailer alone I'm at least intrigued and hopefully this will be a really good adaptation. But I know it's going to be a seriously polarizing movie as well for a number of reasons.

What do all of you think? Are you looking forward to True Grit? Does The Tempest intrigue or piss you off? Leave comments in the section below and I will see you all next week on Trailer Talk Thursday.