Brothers - A Review

On paper, Brothers is exactly the kind of movie I should love. It has an extremely talented cast, a gripping story, and eye candy in the name of Jake Gyllenhaal. It upsets me more than you will ever know to say that I did not love it. It was good enough, but I wanted it to be and thought it should have been great. I expected to walk out of the theatre simply blown away by the experience, when in reality I walked out thinking… that’s it? Much Sadness.

Brothers is the remake of a Danish movie of the same name, and as generally happens with remakes, I suspect some things were lost in the translation. Jim Sheridan's film, adapted from Susanne Bier's 2004 movie, concerns Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) a Marine who receives orders to ship out for yet another tour of duty in Afghanistan. But before he leaves his supportive wife, Grace (Natalie Portman), and his two elementary-school-age daughters, Sam picks up his black sheep brother, Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), who has finished a prison stretch for robbing a bank. While overseas, Sam's aircraft gets shot down and he's thought dead. Back home, irresponsible Tommy gets his act together in order to be an anchor for Grace and the girls, and the two grow emotionally -- though not physically -- close. As the family finally begins to make peace with their grief, soldiers rescue POW Sam and he returns home. Sam's experiences overseas have caused him such emotional turmoil, he has a difficult time adjusting to civilian life, and soon his fear and paranoia manifests itself in the form of jealousy for his brother's relationship with his wife. Sam Shepard and Mare Winningham co-star as the brothers' father and step-mother. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

As I said in an earlier post, if you have seen the trailer for this flick, you pretty much know what happens. For me, as a whole, the movie felt unfinished. It just ends, pretty abruptly, with no real resolution. Sam tells Grace what happened while he was held captive, they hug….. and what…. Everything is okay again? Sam isn’t crazy anymore? Lame.

Also one major part of the story just didn’t work for me. I don’t want to completely spoil the film for the dozen or so of you reading this, but what Sam does as a POW, what tips him over the edge mentally, is so completely out of character, so totally the opposite of everything he has done thus far in the film, it feels as if it was added in simply to amp up the drama.

Happily though, this is a movie that is redeemed by the fantastic performances of Maguire, Portman and Gyllenhaal. Tobey Maguire is outstanding as the conflicted and emotionally damaged Sam. Apart from Pleasantville, I really haven’t seen him in anything but the Spiderman series. After this movie, I deffo think he needs to be in more films. His performance was disturbing, scary and heartbreaking all at the same time.

I am a huge fan of Natalie Portman. Not only for her acting (Stars Wars movies not withstanding), but also for how she has managed to avoid the pitfalls of stardom. She even went to Harvard to study psychology, and didn’t demand a security detail a la Ashley Judd. Anyways, she is also impossibly beautiful, something that I found stood against her a little in this film. She seems too gorgeous to live in that town, with those people, living that life. Performance wise though she was fabulous as always.

Do you agree that no one does puppy-dog eyed dreaminess like my boy Jake Gyllenhaal. He plays the bad boy who turns his life around perfectly. And watching Tommy horse around with his two nieces, helping them overcome their grief over the supposed death of their father made my shriveled black uterus skip a beat for just a second.

I thought the performances by the actors playing the young daughters – Bailee Madison and Taylor Grace Geare with natural and impressive. And to see Mare Winningham on the big screen again. Yay! I have adored her since St Elmo’s Fire. Her unrequited love for Rob Lowe's Billy..... sigh.


Overall, Brothers was a decent film. It was good - not great. The flaws in the film were redeemed by the impressive performances by the three leads. But I just wish it had been more ya know? I think that nine times out of ten, a remake of a foreign film falls a little bit flat. Things are typically lost in translation and the powers that be often seem hesitant to allow American audiences to see the film as it was intended to be. Don't get me started on one of my favourite foreign flicks - The Vanishing - and the travesty it became when they remade it. Bastards gave it a f*cking happy ending. Boo Hiss.

XO

Christmas Conundrum!

Up until 5 years ago, I worked pretty much every Christmas. It was fine with me, I have very few family here and thought it would be good karma to let those who were from here spend time with their family. Whether they wanted to or not! Anyways now that I have a more office-type job, I get to live like a somewhat regular person and not work on Christmas or Boxing Day.

In the past 5 years my Aunt and I have developed a fun Christmas ritual. Christmas Eve we go to Christ Church Cathedral to sing carols (every year it makes me happy to not burst into flames as I walk into a house of G.O.D), we then go back to her house where I spend the night, then next morning we have Eggs Bennie then she drops me at home and does her thing while I normally end up getting taken in as a stray by one of my friends.

This year, I must confess that I am a little torn. I love spending time with my friends and their families, but this year there are some amazing films being released on Christmas Day. Would it be totally wrong to just spend some quality time alone in a darkened theatre on Christmas Day instead? I can’t decide!

There are no less than three films scheduled to open on December 25th that I am peeing my pants to see. I could conceivably see two of them on Christmas day and then see the next on Boxing Day right?

First up is Sherlock Holmes. RDJ, Jude Law, Rachel McAdams. How could I not see this? Guy Ritchie directing. RDJ shirtless. Enough said. I have been completely in love with Robert Downey Junior since I was a teenager. Remember the movie Less than Zero? I know that his character Julian was a drug addicted male whore who overdosed at the end, but I loved him. Loved him enough that I decided that if I were to have a son, they would be named Julian. Then in my first year of University I met a guy called Julian who was the complete and total opposite of RDJ’s tortured Julian. Ruined the name for me. But not the man. Mad mad mad love for Robert Downey Junior. Can’t wait to see this movie.

Second is Rob Marshall’s musical masterpiece Nine. Daniel Day Lewis… Nicole Kidman… Penelope Cruz… Marion Colltiard…Dame Judi Dench… Sophia Loren. How could you not want to see this?? It looks amazing. I don’t even really care what it is about……something to the effect of DDL is a director trying to work on his latest masterpiece. Things are not going well, so he looks back over his life, at the women who have influenced him. It has music. It has Nicole Kidman. It has Daniel Day Lewis. I am sold!

Opening in limited release on Christmas Day is Heath Ledger’s last film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Directed by Terry Gilliam, this movie looks totally fantastical. It played at the Vancouver International Film Festival in September. They actually had to add extra screenings for it. I didn’t go, because I am lame. Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law stepped in after Ledger’s tragic death and are playing the character of Tony in the different “worlds” that he goes to. And the fact that they donated their paychecks to little Matilda melts my cold black heart. I am just hoping that limited release includes Vancouver!

That is three. Can you appreciate the quandary I am in? I know that I should do the social thing. But if you know me in real life, you know that I am not a fan of any organized holidays. Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day, Thanksgiving. Any of them. Don’t care for them. They insist upon themselves (random quote from The Family Guy just popped into my head). Seriously though, they are commercial and frankly lame. Boo hiss. I am a grinch I know.

And it is not just Christmas Day movies I need to consider. There are quite a few other films coming out just in time for Award Season that I am super excited to see……… A quick rundown of how I will be spending my weekends until the New Year (another Holiday I traditionally do not partake in).

Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire opens next weekend. By all accounts, this is a movie that pretty much devastates whoever sees it. It looks amazing and I am curious to see Mariah Carey sans makeup.

Up In The Air with George Clooney, Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga. Jason Reitman’s latest film looks amazing. Clooney stars as Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and after he’s met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams.It is receiving accolades everywhere it screens and I really cannot wait to see this film.

I am intrigued by Tom Ford’s directorial debut: A Single Man starring Colin Firth. Yes, that Tom Ford. It is about an English professor who tries to go about his day after the death of his partner. I am expecting an extremely well styled film – especially since it is set in the 1960’s. And it also has Julianne Moore, so I am happy.

There is also The Private Lives of Pippa Lee written and directed by Rebecca Miller (daughter of Arthur Miller and wife of Daniel Day Lewis), which I am hoping opens in Vancouver. Robin Wright is Pippa Lee who while trying to find her true self confronts both her past and the seeming perfection of her present life. It has a great supporting cast including Alan Arkin, Keanu Reeves, Julianne Moore, Maria Bello, Blake Lively and Monica Bellucci. It looks amazing.

Then there is Brothers with Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire. Although the trailer pretty much tells you the whole plot of the movie (consider that your spoiler warning), the cast alone is sufficient to sustain my interest. Ii has finally been getting a little press. I am expecting to cry like a baby. It is a remake of 2004 Danish film, which worries me a little. Hopefully it doesn’t get f*cked up like most remakes.

And these are only a few of the flicks I wanna see. There is also The Messengers, Avatar, The Lovely Bones (another Christmas Day release – boo hiss), Invictus, The Young Victoria and probably more I have forgotten. These are also only films being released in 2009. If we move through to 2010…..I would be completely screwed.

So if you don't hear from me until the new year, I will be at the movies......

XO