“True Grit”
*** stars | What a croak Jeff Bridges gives Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn’s whiskey- and smoke-scuffed voice in this adaptation of Charles Portis’ 1968 novel. And with the aid of Joel and Ethan Coen’s spare aesthetic and righteous script, newcomer Hailee Steinfeld brings a headstrong certainty to the character of Mattie. Matt Damon plays the prideful ranger who grudgingly joins Cogburn and Mattie in the hunt for her father’s murderer. This “True Grit” makes the original almost unwatchable except as a curio. John Wayne’s film was shot in Colorado; in the new version, Portis’ novel is returned to its proper locale: the west of the Missouri and Arkansas hollows, hills and woodlands. Strikingly shot by the brothers’ go-to cinematographer Roger Deakins. PG-13; 1 hour, 50 minutes. Lisa Kennedy, The Denver Post
“Another Year”
*** 1/2 stars | What a challenge it must be to mine our ordinary lives in ways that reveal and revel in the quietly meaningful. Writer-director Mike Leigh meets it in a film that taps the rich vein of a working marriage with bemused grace. Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen are Tom and Gerri, the fixed orb around which the less-stable bodies track. Throughout a story full of ouchy and awkward encounters and many moods, they remain believably wise. It’s tempting to describe them as being above the fray when what they are is wonderfully grounded. PG-13. 2 hours, 9 minutes. Lisa Kennedy.
“The Company Men”
*** stars | This economic drama follows division honcho Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones), ace salesmen Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) and Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper) as their relationship to their shipbuilding company gone transportation conglomerate changes under them. The title has a 1950s flavor, and there is something deliberately prefeminist about its domestic dramas. Bobby’s wife, Maggie, proves an exception. Rosemarie DeWitt performs quiet heroics as a woman who accepts the plenty but isn’t addicted to it. Kevin Costner arrives on site as Maggie’s gruff older brother, a building contractor. It takes on the meaning of labor, loved and lost. R. 1 hour 44 minutes. Lisa Kennedy
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