AndrePhilidor

As a rule, remakes should be relegated to the waste bin. This is one of the few exceptions. Largely due to Hailee Steinfleld, age 15, portraying 14 year old Mattie Ross. Totally believable, convincing and perfect in the role. Persuasive enough so you have no doubt when she confidently holds her own and is not about to be hornswoggled by adults, not by the horse trader from whom she buys a sting of ponies, nor by the drunkard Rooster Cogburn, excellently played by John Wayne in the original, and here by Jeff Bridges. I so enjoyed both movies, I had to read the book which I just finished this evening. Both films are true to the written novel. I recommend both films for all audiences.

As a former Canadian, I grew up in the British Empire and lived through WW II. I was mesmerized as a boy listening to King Edward's radio speech of abdication for "...the woman I love". In the film she appears as an evil seductress (close to the truth!). The actor playing Winston Chuchill appears grotesque. Everyone else is superb. The times were momentous and the high drama of the British Royal family served a useful purpose. The English people and the rest of the free world were rallied to oppose the Nazi hordes. Hitler soon ruled over all of Europe. England was next, and very nearly fell to a Nazi invasion. Now comes this movie based on a ridiculous notion, a drama about a speech therapist and his patient with an intractable stammer. Their eventual triumph as King George VI in his radio address rallies the free world brought the theater audience to a round of applause, well deserved.