Rango

A very attractive animation featuring Rango, the lizard.
So, as you could find out from the above line, Rango is a lizard. More than that, he's a lizard who got lost in the dessert (actually, he was lost by his owner). An alone lizard in the dessert. A very likely dying lizard in the dessert. However, he's one of the cutest and lonely lizards from out there. For me, the movie was a must see. The theater was full and they were very much entertained. Rango is a bad-ass sheriff who is there to fight for the rights of his fellows. A hero who fights against the system even if the system is the one who puts him there. He is the law, and he makes order without concerning about his job. The domestic lizard Rango faces the evil and malefic dessert. He embarks a quest to get water into the town. As the movie progresses, he gets up for the job and done it affecting the local mayor who is stopping water for control and for prospecting the land. Rango's adventure gets a happy ending by making the job done.

But the lizard...he's goin' to die.

The story takes you in a unique universe of th wild west. It has all the western characters, farmers, bad boys, saloon, gold diggers. The atmosphere is intense, because the village in which Rango enters is lacking a sheriff. Rango, who is a terrarium chameleon, has to make a name for himself. He is used to acting because he exercises with his toy fish. After being introduced in the Dirt town by the Beans, he scares away the bad guys ruled by Bad Bill, of course, with some help from a red tailed hawk and an accidentally collapsed water tower. Afterwards, he became the sheriff of Dirt town. He is put to investigate the lack of water reserves. In his adventure, he defeats remarkable foes like Balthazar, the leader of moles and other subterranean creatures, Rattlesnake Jake, who is the greatest terror for Dirt citizens. He finally resolves the puzzle, finding that the city Mayor is a landowner who really wants to buy all the land in order to build a city.
The story and the hook-ups are beautifully inserted in this western-like animation. Johnny Depp is one of the guarantees of the fact that you will enjoy the movie. He collaborated well with Gore Verbinski, who also directed the first three Pirates of Caribbean movies, and with Graham King, the producer.
Altogether, this is a great animation with great details, thanks to the animation crew and a well build story. Enjoy your watching.

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True Grit

Revenge is one of the most common things which can be seen in action movies, and True Grit is among this type of movies. On top of all that, what should highly be appreciated is the fact that it tries to reinvent a genre.
The story is well built around the revenge of Mattie Ross. She is a stubborn girl who has enough money to hire a tough U.S. Marshal, who would help her track her father. At the beginning, Rooster Cogburn is not willing to accept her offer, but he accepts it eventually. The toughest part for the two of them is represented by the Indian Nations lands that are surrounded by "get back or die" signs. On their way, a bounty hunter, LaBoeuf, aids them in order to catch Tom Chaney, who is also the killer of Mattie's father. Their adventure is thrilling and has everything you want to see in a good western.
The movie is a remake of the one in 1969, which starred the famous John Wayne. The same role is now played by Jeff Bridges, who also starred in The Big Lebowski, Iron Man and TRON: Legacy. I think he was an inspired decision, because he really impersonates a "true grit" hero. Altogether, he is charming, he sounds like his mouth is full of marbles every time he speaks like a real all-day drunk man. After completing this movie he stated:

'I'm hoping this will revive the western'

The Coens make a good western display it contains everything for a success story. The remake of True Grit and the way they see it makes it exemplary. They created more intrigue making Rooster Cogburn one eye drunk man and they even make you sense the smell of his breath. All characters speak with formal diction; this is Coens' little joke that the formal talk merely decorates the savage moral incoherence of the west. You cannot see a 14 years old girl, adventuring on the Indian Territory to revenge her father as an everyday scenario. The Coens recreated the western: if in the beginning the westerns were only for good actors to get in shape, now they were replaced by romance comedy that are much more entertaining, where actors put their cowboy hats only to fool around. Just for reinventing the western and bringing it to a new threshold, this movie must be seen.
Mattie is interpreted by Haille Steinfeld - she is good at impersonating a fourteen-year-old girl in pigtails, who is stubborn and desperately wants to revenge her father's death. Mattie is the kind of character that can really impress you. This makes her one of the characters that must be watched in this movie.
One thing I didn't like about the movie in general (I have nothing personal with it though, is the role of LaBoeuf, who I consider being there when he shouldn't be. I didn't react as his decisions; he didn't impress me with his intelligence or his skills. And Matt Damon doesn't even fit in the character's skin. My personal point of view is that he is intended to be the annoying part of the movie.
However when I went to the cinema, in its early penning days the movie theater was empty so I would rather think that the western is not so well appreciated by the movie communities. All in all, as a genre lover, I recommend this movie to everyone who wants to see it.

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