Brothers

Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhall

Directed by Jim Sheridan

Rating: 4 stars

Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) is believed to be dead in Afghanistan. His younger brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) is an unresponsible troublemaker. However when the news reaches Sam's family that he is presumed to be dead, Tommy steps up and tries to help his brother's family. When Sam ends up alive, he comes home but is troubled from his time being captured by the enemy. Grace (Natalie Portman) tries her hardest to get through to Sam but it almost seems impossible.

Brothers is a moving movie showing a family's struggle of losing a husband, and father, only to find out he is alive. The only thing is, he's clearly not the same man who left for Afghanistan. Sam Cahill went through a lot after being captured by the enemy with another Marine soldier. Tommy lives in his older brother's shadow, he never seems to be good enough but he becomes responsible once he hears of his brother's death. Brothers plays a lot on emotion. It's a bit slow and not a lot of conversation takes place. I think it deserves four stars though because this film does a good job at portraying the hardships of losing someone and then finding out they are alive. You see different relationships grow and fade away. For example, Tommy and Grace. Though nothing really develops between them romantically, you see how Tommy matures and becomes dependable. Then there's Sam. Sam comes home but he is traumatized and it's hard for him to be around people. Tobey Maguire's performance was really outstanding because you can just look at his character and see how hard it was to be in Afghanistan taken prisoner.

I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone to watch. It was depressing but at least it was shorter than two hours. I would recommend this to the people who like war movies (but this isn't all entirely a war movie, there are just some clips of Sam being a prisoner). If you're curious to see this movie because it has an actor you like, then by all means watch it. You won't finish this film thinking it was great though, so don't say I didn't warn you.

Love and Other Drugs

Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway

Directed by Edward Zwick

Rating: 5 stars

This romantic comedy wouldn't have been so good without the two actors cast as the lead roles. Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway are so good at making you feel the emotions they go through. Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a young pharmaceutical salesman. He'll do anything to make the sale, so he and his mentor Bruce (Oliver Platt) can make it to the big city of Chicago where they will make tons of money. Along the way, Jamie meets Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway), a young 26-year-old who has been diagnosed with Parkinsons. They both agree that they're both not looking for a relationship but slowly, they're "friends with benefits" relationship turns into the real thing. Of course, this wouldn't be a real love story without problems and they argue and break up. But in the end, they decided to work things out and Jamie wants to stay, despite her disease.

I would give this movie five stars because it's not your typical romance/love story. Sure, boy is a jerk, boy meets girl, boy likes girl, eventually boy loves girl, and then there's a happy ending. But what's different about this movie is that it shows Jamie and Maggie's relationship isn't perfect. When they both meet, they could care less about committing and use each other for sex. Eventually, they fall for each other but their relationship still isn't perfect. Maggie has Parkinson's disease which she has to deal with as it slowly gets worse. During this hard time, she feels like Jamie won't want to stay and that'll only hurt her later. Breaking up doesn't help, in the end they realize that they don't want anyone else.

What made this a good movie was that it made you laugh, it made you feel sad, and some people out there could probably connect with this story. Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway are a perfect on-screen couple, they compliment eachother so well. You might remember that they played husband and wife in "Brokeback Mountain". Since this movie is rated R (and with good cause), I would recommend this movie to those who don't mind nudity or sex scenes. That was pretty much why the movie was rated R. It was definitely for mature audiences since it contained things adults would understand, though I'm sure there's lots of teenagers who would understand too. So, if you're feeling up to spending $8.50 or however much it costs to go to the movies these days and you're wondering what movie you want to see, I would recommend this one. It's for guys and girls! So don't think it's just another "chick flick". Guys, you'll find things to laugh at at this movie too.