Brothers

This movie was different. I love Natalie Portman; her performance in this movie takes me back to her role in Where The Heart Is minus the cheesy-ness.

I was not expecting this movie. We know what it is about and you are not fooled there, BUT the whole premise of the movie is a bit of a sham. There was no affair, the brother didn't take over anything, didn't violate anything, besides a harmless kiss that never happened again; which is just loneliness taking over.

I wanted to see something like what happened in Pearl Harbor! Do you remember that? Friend dies, leaving girlfriend behind and slimy best friend to take care of her while he is dead. Nope. Not in this movie.


Don't get me entirely wrong, the movie was intense and pretty factual in terms of part-traumatic stress syndrome from the war, but it was kind of dumb. I wanted more scandal and less crazy war hero (who, by the way, doesn't like being called a hero - I agree, he was not a hero).

Anyway, the movie should have ended about 5 minutes before it did. That would have made a much more dramatic ending and it would have gone along with the intensity of the movie. Plus, I am sick of these American-happy-endings.

I've heard talk of this movie being Oscar worthy and the acting being Grammy winning. I disagree. The movie was good, but certainly not award winning!

Expert Says: 3 Stars, Intense

The Other Boleyn Girl

This movie didn't get nearly as much hype as it should have, and was highly under promoted. I hadn't even heard of this movie until I saw it on DVD, but as soon as I pressed play I feel in love.

It is hard to not be captivated by the beauty of Anne (Portman) and Mary (Johansson) Boleyn in this movie. Set in past, and about the creation of Queen Elizabeth, I am sure this movie is not all factual. Even if the movie is only HALF true, it is a great story depicting the lengths a man is willing to go, in order to "bed" a lady.

Typical to families today, this movie depicts one sister who is sweat, kind, and caring; while the other sister is manipulative, callus, and deceiving. From there, you can pretty guess the lengths that are gone to in order to fight for the King.

This movie does a poor job of depicting time. They make it seem like a 3 years journey. When, in reality, this happened over a time of 5-8 years. It's still only a minor detail as this movie was not intended to be a biography or entirely factual.

You will wonder to the end what comes of the sisters and who wins in the end.

Expert Says: 5 Stars, one of my favorites!