Four Brothers - (2005) - This was a weekend movie channel discovery. Nothing better to do, saw Mark Wahlberg in the credits and thought "Why not?". The movie is about four troubled boys adopted by their foster mom. She raises them to be honorable if not exactly law abiding. They are family, first, last and always. When their mom is killed apparently as an innocent bystander during a store robbery. The four brothers (played by Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin and Garrett Henderson) decide to hunt down the shooters and take justice into their own hands. Things get complicated and violent from there. Under normal circumstances this movie wouldn't have much to appeal to me but I found myself continuing to watch. It is the relationship between the brothers that makes this movie watchable. Between the violence and the almost constant obscenity I kept thinking about the movie "
Boondock Saints". "Four Brothers" just seemed to have more warmth, more soul than the other.
Is this a great movie? No. If you like lots of shooting with a little character (plus Sophia Vergara walking through the shot periodically) then you just might enjoy this movie.
Rating - *** Worth A Look
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011) - A magazine publisher accepts an invitation to investigate the disappearance of a young woman 40 years before. It involves him with the secretive dysfunctional family of the missing girl and a strange young woman with secrets of her own who agrees to work with him on the mystery. Based on the best selling novel by Stieg Larsson and a 2009 movie version done in Sweden this is a claustrophobic murder mystery. From the moment that Daniel Craig's character meets the family in question you know something is wrong with them. Just how much and what kind of wrong slowly unfolds. Rooney Mara plays the girl in the title (As a football fan it is required that I note her NFL pedigree. She is named for her family lines. She is a grandchild of both the NY Giants Mara family and the Pittsburgh Steelers' Rooney family.) and is incredible weaving her way between the insanity of the character's life and the deeply rooted troubles of her personality. At the same time she creates a young woman that you want to root for even when she needs to do some truly terrible things. The cast is spiced with some fine actors - Stellan Skarsgard, Christopher Plummer, Joely Richardson and Robin Wright. Great story, acting and overall look.
Rating - **** Recommended
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