Movie house proves it has true grit

Proving that nobody circles the wagons for cinema like Sisters, "True Grit" became the all-time top grossing film to grace the screen at Sisters Movie House. That honor was previously held by Captain Jack Sparrow and the rollicking crew of 2006's "Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." The Coen Brothers' intense and iconic adaptation of the classic Charles Portis novel opened December 22 nationwide and has performed strongly straight through the holidays into January with sterling reviews and enthusiastic word-of-mouth.

"True Grit," starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Hailee Steinfeld, was nominated for 10 Academy Awards including a nod for Best Picture of 2010, a number second only to "The King's Speech."

There was a lot riding on the local success of the movie, which the movie house had to fight to get on its release date.

Sisters Movie House owner Lisa Clausen wished to express her thanks for the great turnout and loyal response, helping to assure Sisters' place in continuing to present a wide variety of quality Hollywood offerings.

"Support of the Sisters Country folks helps us when we try to acquire film that can often be critically acclaimed that distributors feel will only play well in urban settings," she said. "We are small and we can be very powerful with films that skew older and have a strong story attached. Studios are often more apt to place three or four prints with a giant multiplex in huge urban areas like Portland rather than devote a single print to a tiny market like Sisters. When our film buyer can point to the numbers and say 'Look!' that says a lot. It's a constant struggle and we just keep at it."

Sisters Movie House will surely nab premiere tent-pole blockbusters coming out this spring and summer like "Thor," "Cars 2," "Cowboys and Aliens," "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2," but also hopefully be assured of smaller release titles such as "Water For Elephants," "Jane Eyre" or "The Lincoln Lawyer."

"Like I said before, Sisters loves anything with horses, dogs and old dudes," joked Clausen. "That formula works every time."