And the quote from True Grit….Fill my hands eh?
To quote Val Kilmer from a lesser known but a fine western, Tombstone
‘I am your Huckleberry!’

I see your point, and while I agree he’s put in some brilliant performances, I just didn’t feel he was right for this role. Maybe if I wasn’t comparing the two movies, I would have probably been more generous.

Of course, if you still disagree with me, in response, I can only quote John Wayne before the climactic shootout in True Grit
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065126/quotes

I read the article again and I find no mention of Mr. Roger Deakins, the cinematographer of True Grit and this is his 9th Oscar Nomination! (his credits include: Shawshank Redemption, Big Lebowski, Assassionation of Jesse James (one of my favourite looking films), No Country for Old Men, Fargo, A Serious Man, Dead Man Walking etc vetcectra). I am not sure I would pass this nomination as a mere “technical” category to make the number, because this Deakins old chap has collaborated on some fine films which I can see you imply to be great films (Fargo, No Country) so the category and the comparison now becomes all the more important and relevant. You have mentioned about the difference in look of the films and that is the doing of Deakins here.

On Jeff Bridges: of whom you have mentioned in your review/comparison “It doesn’t help that Jeff Bridges looks exactly the same in almost all his movies”, “We get the infinitely more bearable (and talented) Hailee Steinfeld”, (Okay) apart from a couple of other observations. Now I have a few things to say about Mr. Bridges and his consistent look.

Hailee is a find, sure is just like Norton was in Primal Fear (1st film and nomination) but you can’t obviously be comparing her with the over 40 year film career of the much loved, famously underrated Bridges. He jokingly once remarked that he lost his status as the “cult underrated” because of the win for Academy win for Crazy Heart. Hailee may be hailed as the Jodie Foster of the future, but we still remember Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver.

Also, I found myself browsing through an article about Bridges that appeared in the NY Times a year back, after reading your post. I want to quote some of it; I like to think it will help in what I have to say. The Article says about Bridges that:
“He (Bridges) probably can’t do the outrageous explosive scenes that Robert De Niro brings off in ‘Mean Streets,’ ” she wrote. “But De Niro — a real winner — is best when he’s coming on and showing off. Jeff Bridges just moves into a role and lives in it — so deep in it that the little things seem to come straight from the character’s soul.”
But in the 1970s male actors didn’t necessarily earn the juiciest parts for going deep on the little things, as suggested by the ascendancy of Mr. De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, James Caan and Dustin Hoffman, among others, who had nuance but also volume. The era’s most enduring heroes were obsessed and often obsessive, given to railing at diner waitresses and their own lovers, robbing banks and waving around guns, screaming at one another and alone in existential solitude. Their outsize pain did not make an obvious fit for Mr. Bridges.” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/movies/awardsseason/28dargis.html

I quote the above to observe that although he does “look” the same in most of his films, as you did point out, but he makes the necessary small adjustments rather than the large dramatic ones when hopping from one role to another, keeping his characters very real and grounded even if the film is set in fantasy/drama/action. I mean we would look the “same” most of the time as well.

Cases in Point:
Pre Lebowski: Thuderbolt and Lightfoot, Starman, Fearless, The Last Picture Show, The Fabulous Baker Boys (FBB) [The handsome recluse lead character who has perhaps two pages of dialogue in the film, plays the piano and woos Michelle Pfieffer, unlike the Dude who would], Jagged Edge
Post Lebowski: The Contender (plays the US President but he perhaps needs to be Harrison Ford and fight terrorists to be remembered for this superb performance), Ironman (one of the most realistic portrayals of scheming“villains” in a superhero movie, bald and dutiful), Sea Biscuit (you felt he was going to ask for a White Russian in Sea Biscuit?), Arlington Road (bleak, bleak) Crazy Heart (some songs sung by him as well).

Well, my point simply being that his looking like the same guy is his strength and not a limitation for then we know this is an accurate potrayel and more of an acting choice made by the actor. I think the Oscar nominated performance is an illustration of capturing authenticity in mannerism and dialect, this is new ground for the Dude!
I loved reading your piece, I too am a Lebowski fan, so don’t come back all guns blazing, Mr Cogburn! Cheers.