Jim Sheridan's "Brothers" Hits Theaters Today

Despite a career which has included a string of critical hits such as "My Left Foot" and "In the Name of the Father," the 60-year-old Irish director Jim Sheridan returns to cinemas this week with his latest film "Brothers," a depressing study in post-tramatic syndrome but a rewarding journey, is set to hit theaters today.
"Brothers" is an adapted from the award winning Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier's "Brødre" in 2004, and it's about human frailty, and tells a story of how the two brothers find themselves changing roles. When a straight-arrow Marine Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire, the "Spider-Man") returns to the war in Afghanistan, he leaves his wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and his children behind. He also leaves his black-sheep younger brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), who is having issues with their father. But when Sam is thought to be dead, Tommy steps up and begins to help Grace with the house, hoping to deal with both of their loss. Happily, Sam is not dead and he returns battered and bruised, but alive. Yet his return is only after he has suffered some painful experiences. And once he is back, he struggling to adjust to civilian life and suffers from guilt, anger, sadness and paranoia, leaving his family broken and afraid. As a result, the siblings whose lives have gone in completely different directions. One is a hero who returns from the front erratic and violent, and the other is an ex-con who learns self-control when he's handed responsibility.
The increasingly impersonal Jim Sheridan is doing his personal best to further the Irish tradition of storytelling. On the big screen or in conversation, the diminutive Irish filmmaker spins tales of a mesmerizing nature, covering politics, history, religion and literature, and sometimes all at once. With strong supporting performances from Oscar nominees, Sheridan's movie delves deep into the mental scars of war in a way that is reminiscent of Michael Cimino's 1978 classic "The Deer Hunter." "It's the difficulty of the warrior coming back to a civilian situation, and how he has to adjust," Sheridan says. As a melodrama, "Brothers" is a powerful statement on loyalty, love, calamity of the human heart and the cost of war. The movie stays with you long after leaving the theater...maybe forever.

Satirical "Men Who Stare at Goats" Hits Theaters

The first-time director Grant Heslov has come up with something wackier and more whimsical, a quirky rapid-fire military comedy "The Men Who Stare at Goats" which has hit the nation's movie screens today. The movie offers a fitfully amusing adaptation and "inspired by" British journalist Jon Ronson's book, about the U.S. Army's exploration of New Age concepts and the potential military applications of the paranormal techniques, and purports to be closer to the truth than many people would suspect. A title card claims, "More of this is true that you would believe," indicating that Goats is just the tip of the absurdest iceberg.
You might not know that there's a silly side to the military-industrial complex, but the folks behind fhe film certainly do. In this quirky dark comedy inspired by a real life story, you will hardly believe is actually true, it set in Iraq, and follows a reporter, Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor), who stumbles onto the story of a lifetime when he meets a special forces operator, Lyn Cassady (George Clooney). As they embark on a new mind-boggling mission, Lyn reveals his twenty-year involvement in a top-secret wing, psychic military unit and shares details of their activities, each more bizarre than the last.
The film has such a fantastically odd story that Heslov would have been well advised to stay out of the way and let the bizarre details stand on their own. He has tried to crowbar Ronson's anecdotes into a feeble story, and slips too easily into lackluster wrap-up mode down the stretch, but it still has enough serious satire to recommend it. Meanwhile, the screenwriter Peter Straughan hit on more juicy material than he knew what to do with when he adapted Ronson's controversial book and began researching the subject matter himself.
As the result, the film is merely a light-hearted approach, advocating peace and acid not war. It has a glorious good time satirizing the extravagant lengths to which the military and intelligence establishments will go if they think there's a payoff at the other end. However, the film somewhat disappoints because the narrative Straughan has come up with isn't that engaging? the best stuff is in the flashbacks where Clooney, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey do battle for the future of the New Earth Army, which contains the most actual material from the original book.

"Inglourious Basterds" Attack the Movie Theaters

Though it is only August, Brad Pitt leads the list of Oscar contenders thanks to his performance in his highly-anticipated new fantasy film, "Inglourious Basterds" hits theaters today. A new World War II film from director Quentin Tarantino.
The title of the film was inspired by Italian director Enzo Castellari's 1978 movie "The Inglorious Bastards," but it is not a remake of that film, with the eagerly anticipated "Inglourious Basterds," Tarantino manages to simultaneously surprise and revert to predictable form. The surprise lies in his choice of period and subject matter. Set in Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. Pitt plays Lieutenant Aldo Raine, the commanding officer of the "Basterds", to recruit a team of Jewish soldiers for their mission. No pleading or bargaining allowed—just a bullet to the head or the business end of baseball bat to their skulls.
For once, a movie that meets or exceeds the hype! A classic Tarantino genre-blending thrill ride, "Inglourious Basterds" succeeds on many level, such as violent, unrestrained, shocking, extremely bloody and thoroughly entertaining. His finest effort perfectly balances brilliantly written dialogue with completely insane violence. This film tells a tale of swift and merciless justice and the way more fun than the real World War II. The film reviews on Rotten Tomatoes rating has been climbing every day and is at its peak as the film is released today, as 87% of positive reviews. I would say it's the best movie of the year to this point! And also wish it success could help the Brothers Weinstein's financial failures.