“True Grit”

★★★★ (out of four)

The filmmakers behind such adult-oriented movies as “Blood Simple,” “Fargo” and “No Country for Old Men” might not seem like the most logical choices to adapt Charles Portis’ classic western “True Grit,” about a 14-year-old girl who forges an unlikely bond with an ornery pseudo-lawman during their hunt for her father’s killer. But the Coens are always full of surprises. They’ve dealt with lighter material before (“Raising Arizona,” “The Big Lebowski”), and with “No Country for Old Men” they displayed a clear knack for working with a Western motif. Still, I wasn’t prepared for the delicacy with which the Coens handle “True Grit,” which is essentially a heartfelt family film set against a violent backdrop.

“Black Swan”

★★★★

“Black Swan” is Darren Aronofsky’s borderline-experimental attempt to immerse the viewer in madness and, in effect, replicate the experience of complete mental collapse. Naturally such a film requires an intensely psychological approach, but to my surprise, Aronofsky keeps everything under control in the midst of absolute chaos, never allowing his wilder impulses to engulf the carefully structured narrative. This is the work of a master. 

“I Love You Phillip Morris”

★★★★

Jim Carrey is a great actor. He never gets his proper due, but over the course of the past 12 years — starting with “The Truman Show” and then “Man on the Moon” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” — he has demonstrated not only keen dramatic skills, but also a willingness to throw himself into difficult roles with absolute confidence and commitment. Carrey may have made a name for himself by dressing in tutus and talking with his butt, but these periodic forays into strange and dark territory have proven that he is willing and able to deliver brilliant, completely unique performances when given the right material. (I know I’ll get flack for this comparison, but honestly, the only other high-profile actor I see routinely displaying this level of creatively and risk-taking in his performances is Daniel Day-Lewis. Yeah, chew on that for a while. You know it’s true.)

“Faster”

★★★

This is exactly what Dwayne Johnson needed. After years of ignoring his true calling as a badass action star, preferring instead to parade around in tutus in a bizarre attempt to establish himself as a “family-friendly” nice-guy talent, the actor once known as The Rock has finally flung himself full-force into action-movie anarchy.