The Brothers Bloom (2008)

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"See, you've reached an unethical conclusion. You think you want out, but you don't. One last con. "

The quirky little tale of Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and his brother Bloom (Adrien Brody), two life-long con men who decide to retire from the biz. But Stephen urges Bloom to join him in one last “big one” –- swindling money from heiress Penelope (Rachel Weisz). The only problem is, Bloom begins to fall in love with the wealthy young woman and appears to be torn in his allegiance.

The romp takes place all over the globe: Japan, Mexico, Prague, New Jersey.

Also appearing are Rinko Kikuchi as the beautiful but mysterious demolition expert Boom Boom; Robbie Coltrane as the curator; and Maximilian Schell as the evil Devil Dog.

Written and directed by Rian Johnson.

Run time: 1 hour, 53 minutes

Rated PG-13 for violence, some sensuality and brief strong language.

My personal rating: B

Cadillac Records (2008)

Based on a true story

"Now, the first time a gal took off her underwear and threw 'em on stage was on account of guys singin' the blues. Now, when the white girls started doin' it, they called that rock and roll."
Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody), a white boy from Chicago, promised his girlfriend's father that when he married, his wife was going to drive a Cadillac. McKinley "Muddy Waters" Morganfield (Jeffrey Wright), was a sharecropper from Mississippi when Alan Lomax (Tony Bentley) came through making recordings of folk music for the Library of Congress. The year was 1941 and the seeds of rock and roll were planted.

Inspired by hearing himself sing and play guitar on Lomax's recording, Muddy hiked to Chicago and began playing on street corners. Later Chess was approached by a "race" records producer outside Chess' blues club in southside Chicago. She was looking for talent and asked Chess to call her if he heard anything. Muddy met Little Walter (Columbus Short), a 17-year-old harp player extraordinaire, and they formed a perfect duo.By 1947, they added Jimmy Rogers (Kevin Mambo) to become The All-Star Trio and were playing in Chess' Macamba Club.

When Chess asks Muddy to break up the trio so Muddy can record solo, they head to Mississippi in Chess' Caddy to peddle the record to radio deejays, including one (Vincent D'Onofrio) who promotes the heck out of Muddy's new records helping Muddy earn his first Cadillac from Chess.

After the Macamba Club mysteriously burns down, Chess uses the insurance money to build Chess Record Studios and produce Cadillac Record. He reunites Muddy with Little Walter and Jimmy Rogers and makes them all big sensations. Willie Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer) enters the picture with songs he's written specificially for Muddy to sing in the early 1950s, Along comes Howlin' Wolf (Eamonn Walker) to challenge Muddy's place in Chess' studio.

And then comes country singer Chuck Berry (Mos Def) and his "Maybelline." Muddy tries to discourage Chess from recording Berry because he isn't playing the blues but Chess is committed and knows Berry's music is "something else." When Chess and Berry take their recording to Alan Freed (Eric Bogosian), freed declares it to be "rock and roll -- and it's too fun for anyone to sit out on, white or colored" and the airwaves are integrated. "And all it took was one man duck-walking across the stage to bring us together."

With the popularity of television and American Bandstand, rock 'n roll rocked the nation. Chess was hunting for a woman performer and meets up with the outspoken Miss Etta James (Beyonce Knowles). Chess knows how to change Etta's internal anger into great passion in her recordings.

The rest is history -- history that includes Leonard Chess' stable's influence on the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton and many others while Chess was trying to update his own stable of performers to the up and coming style of rock 'n roll.

Also appearing are Emmanuelle Chriqui as Chess' wife Revetta, Gabrielle Union as Muddy's wife Geneva.

Written and directed by Darnell Martin.

Run time: 1 hours, 49 minutes

Rated R for pervasive language and some sexuality.

My personal rating: B+

The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

"I wonder if the three of us would've been friends in real life."

Brothers Francis (Owen Wilson), Peter (Adrien Brody) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) have apparently never been really close and haven't even had contact with each other since they missed their father's funeral together a year before.

But after Francis has a near fatal motorcycle accident, he calls his brothers to join him in India for soul-searching, brother-bonding spiritual journey.

The interaction between the brothers is both humorous and poignant as they struggle to reconcile issues from their past. Of course, the fact that they are traveling with thirteen pieces of their father's luggage doesn't go unnoticed -- it's hard to not notice! -- as they come to terms with the baggage they carry in their lives.

The trip through India via train prompts the boys to also go search in Tibet for their mother (Anjelica Huston) who has always given more of herself to others than she can possibly ever give to her sons.

Wallace Wolodarsky appears as Brendan who is facilitating the trip for Francis. Rita, the beautiful Indian train hostess, is played by Amara Karan while the train steward is richly played by Waris Ahluwalia. Irfan Khan as the father of a little boy who the brothers tried to save but failed.

Cameo roles include Natalie Portman as Jack's ex-girlfriend, Bill Murray as a traveling American businessman, and Camilla Rutherford as Peter's pregnant wife
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The wonderful soundtrack draws from Beethoven, Debussy, The Kinks, Rolling Stones, several Merchant-Ivory films, and several Bollywood films.

Directed by Wes Anderson, who also cowrote the script with
Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman.

Rated R for language.

My personal rating: B-