Mad about Movies

DRAMA, SIX-TIME Academy Award-nominee Jim Sheridan's Brothers makes it to national screens this weekend. The film stars Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhaal as leads.

Based on Susanne Bier's 2004 Danish film of the same name, the script follows marine captain Sam (Maguire), who goes missing during his tour of duty in Afghanistan, leaving behind his wife (Portman) and two daughters.

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Meanwhile, Sam's brother Tommy (Gyllenhaal) turns into a source of comfort for the distressed family. But when Sam returns, changed from his time in terrorist captivity, he suspects that there's more to the relationship his brother and wife share.

Peter Bradshaw writes in his review of the 105-minute film for The Guardian that it is a “mainstream Hollywood with a weird dollop of painful arthouse drama.”

Although, Maguire did receive an Oscar nomination for his performance in Brothers, and the performance of all three leads have been praised, the US box office figures have not been favourable.

Trivia:

· Maguire nearly had to decline the lead role in Spider-Man 2 due to back injuries, and Gyllenhaal was the top choice to replace him.

· Brothers also received a second Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture for U2's Winter.

Clash of the Titans

GETTING A 3D and special effects upgrade this weekend is 1981's Greek mythology-inspired, fantasy adventure flick Clash of the Titans.

Helmed by Louis Leterrier (Transporter 2, Unleashed and The Incredible Hulk), the eagerly awaited remake features Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes and Gemma Arterton in major roles.

In Clash of the Titans, demi-god Perseus (Worthington), better known as the mortal son of Greek god Zeus (Neeson), faces legions of increasingly frightening monsters in a quest to save mankind.

American box office figures of the 106-minute film have been favourable with it holding the number one spot for two weeks in a row.

But film critics have unanimously panned the film with Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter reviewing Clash of the Titans as a “a popcorn movie” with its major drawback being that “Added as an afterthought in postproduction, the 3D barely registers. Few moviegoers will think it's worth the extra bucks.”

Trivia:

· Originally, Stephen Norrington was going to direct Clash of the Titans, but since he hadn't seen the original, he wasn't sure he could make a faithful remake, and thus the project was handed over to Leterrier, who grew up watching the film.

· Actor Liam Neeson took a role in this film because his sons are big fans of Greek mythology.

Brooklyn's Finest

THE LATEST IN the eternally popular cop thriller genre is Brooklyn's Finest, a film directed by Antoine Fuqua (The Replacement Killer, Training Day and King Arthur) and starring an ensemble cast of Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, and Wesley Snipes.

The plot of the feature follows the disenchanted Eddie (Gere), a cop on the verge of retirement, Sal (Hawke), a detective working hard to support his pregnant wife and two kids and undercover cop Tango (Cheadle), who works the drug beat.

As the scriptwriters would have it, the lives of the three unconnected cops converge at the location of a massive drug deal.

Brooklyn's Finest marks the first film to sell at under five million dollars at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. The 133-minute flick has garnered severely negative reviews from critics and audiences alike.

Meanwhile, Roger Ebert wrote in his review of the film for the Chicago Sun-Times that “The film has a basic strength in its performances and craft, but falls short of the high mark Fuqua obviously set for himself.”

Trivia:

· Brooklyn's Finest marks Wesley Snipes' first US theatrical release in over five years since Blade: Trinity. The rest of his films either went straight to DVD or suffered from lack of distribution channels.

· Due to some financial problems, Brooklyn's Finest was unable to receive a 2009 opening. The film was sold again to Overture Films at the Venice Film Festival.

Also releasing this weekend is coming-of-age drama, director Julie Anne Robinson's The Last Song starring Miley Cyrus, Liam Hemsworth, Greg Kinnear, and Bobby Coleman, first Emirati film, Ali Mostafa's City of Life and 2007 horror flick Black Out.

davina@khaleejtimes.com