The older I get, the more things I remember fondly about my dad. He was complicated. But now I remember him for the kind of stuff only dads can do, like teach their daughters to love Westerns. I don’t know when it happened, or how, but somewhere after countless hours watching movies like She Wore a Yellow Ribbon in a nearly catatonic state of boredom, I suddenly started loving them. I still remember going to see Unforgiven with my dad the weekend it opened (I was 13), and I remember after all those years of training in the language of Westerns I walked away thinking it was the most perfect love song of a Western you could possibly make. I thought it was the best movie I had ever seen. I still think that, to this day.

So now the Coen brothers have remade True Grit. This is a tough one, because this is John Wayne territory we’re stepping into here. It’s like remaking The Godfather and finding someone to fill Marlon Brando’s shoes. But it’s coming out this Christmas, and Jeff Bridges is Rooster Cogburn, and maybe that’s just absolutely right. Either way, I need to rewatch the original after a couple of decades away from it and get ready. If the Coen brothers and a John Wayne remake weren’t enough, Matt Damon is in it, too. And I love Matt Damon.