Snatch (2000)

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"You should never underestimate the predictability of stupidity."
After Franky Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro) and his crew, disguised as Hassic rabbis, steal a flawless 86-carat diamond in Antwerp, he flees to London to sell the goods. Doug "The Head" Denovitz (Mike Reid) in London and his Cousin Ari Denovitz (Dennis Farina) in NYC, want it -- want it bad -- but then Four Fingers goes missing.

Ari flies to London to find him, hiring Bullet Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones) as his goon. Meanwhile, Boris "The Blade" Yurinov (Rade Sherbedgia) hires incompetent thugs (Lennie James, Robbie Gee, Ade) to find Four Fingers and retreive the diamond.

Meanwhile, an unlicensed boxing promoter named Turkish (Jason Statham) and his parter in crime Tommy (Stephen Graham) are pressured by one ruthless bookie, Brick Top (Alan Ford), to throw a match. When their boxer, Gorgeous George (Adam Fogerty), gets KO'd in a brawl with the pikey (Irish gypsy) named Mickey O'Neil (Brad Pitt), Turkish recruits Mickey to be the bare-knuckled boxer to go down in the ring to satisfy Brick Top.

Before long, everyone's after the diamond in this wild ride by writer/director Guy Ritchie.

Run time: 1 hour, 44 minutes

Rated R for violence and language.

My personal rating: B

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

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"I've never seen anything like it. Blind from cataracts. I'm not sure if he can hear. His bones indicate severe arthritis. His skin has lost all elasticity, and his hands and feet are ossified. He shows all the deterioration, the infirmities, not of a newborn, but of a man well in his 80s on the way to the grave."
Suspend your disbelief right from the start of this intriguing fantasy drama.

On the night of WWI Armistice, an infant is born but his mother dies in childbirth. Stunned and depressed, the baby's father abandons him on the streets of New Orleans where he is found by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) who works and lives in an old folks home. She takes the infant in and raises him as her own. Despite the prediction of his early demise, the old man in the baby's body grows and flourishes among the old folks and with the love of Queenie.

As his body gets larger, Benjamin (Brad Pitt) becomes less frail -- and younger.

The story is told as a diary read aloud by Caroline (Julia Ormond), the daughter of Daisy (Cate Blanchett), an elderly woman who is dying in New Orleans whist Hurrican Katrina heads toward Louisiana.

Others in the cast include: Elias Koteas as the clockmaker; Mahershalalhashbaz Ali as Queenie's husand Tizzy; Elle Fanning as a young Daisy; Jason Flemyng as Benjamin's father; Tilda Swinton as Elizabeth, the married woman Benjamin has an affair with.

Directed by David Fincher.

Run time: 2 hours, 48 minutes

Rated PG-13 for brief war violence, sexual content, language and smoking.

My personal rating: B+

Burn After Reading (2008)

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"You are part of a league of morons. Oh, yes. You see you're one of the morons I've been fighting my whole life."

Oy! Morons is right. Idiots, fools, paranoids, adulterers, vain people, unscrupulous twits, and those with just enough information to be dangerous all cross paths in Washington, D.C., to make one of the zaniest Coen brother films ever.

A CIA employee (John Malkovich) loses his job and his stern pediatrician wife (Tilda Swinton) kicks him out of the house because she no longer needs him as she is having an affair with State Department marshall (George Clooney) whose wife (Elizabeth Marvel) is a children's book writer currently on a book tour.

Meanwhile, a gym worker (Frances McDormand) wants liposuction, lifts, tucks, and augmentations but her insurance won't pay for the surgeries so she recruits a gum-popping co-worker (Brad Pitt) to help her blackmail the former CIA employee when a CD full of information is found in the locker room. Another co-worker (Richard Jenkins) tells them this is dangerous but the woman gets a Russian diplomat (Olek Krupa) involved.

The former CIA agent's former boss (David Rasche) takes what information he's gathered to a superior (J.K. Simmons) who tries to figure out what the heck is going on with all these people.

"Report back to me when...I don't know, when it makes sense."

Written and directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen.

Run time: 1 hour, 36 minutes

Rated R for pervasive language, some sexual content and violence.

My personal rating: A-

A River Runs Through It (1992)

It is those we live with and love
and should know who elude us."

Based on the memoir of Norman Maclean, this is the story of two brothers -- the reserved Norman Maclean (Craig Sheffer) and the rebellious Paul Maclean (Brad Pitt) -- sons of a Montana preacher (Tom Skerritt) and his wife (Brenda Blethyn).

Fly-fishing is clearly the family's second religion and much of the film centers around fishing. Despite this, there is much here for those who don't fish to admire. Not the least of which is Brad Pitt.

Other cast members include Nicole Burdette and Susan Traylor as two of Paul's unconventional women friends: Emily Lloyd as Norman's girlfriend Jessie; Edie McClurg as Jessie's mother; and Stephen Shellen as Emily's Hollywood brother.

Directed by Robert Redford, who also narrates.

Rated PG for momentary nudity, and some language in a family drama.

My personal rating: B+

Sleepers (1997)

Quality Cast, Gripping Story, Terrific Music

Four young boys are growing up in the mid-1960's in NYC's Hell's Kitchen. The boys -- Shakes (Joseph Perrino), Michael (Brad Renfro), John (Geoffrey Wigdor) and Tommy (Jonathan Tucker) -- aren't really bad boys, just kids living in a rough neighborhood. They fall under the influence of the 'hood's Mafia leader, King Benny (Vittorio Gassman) but also have a solid friendship with their neighborhood priest, Father Bobby (Robert De Niro).

When they're 14, a foolish prank costs an innocent man his life and they're sent away to reform school where they immediately become targets for the loathesome Sean Nokes (Kevin Bacon), a brutal guard who is the ringleader of a group of guards who molest and beat the boys.

Thirteen years later, all grown up, Tommy (Billy Crudup) and John (Ron Eldard) are Hell's Kitchen thugs while Shakes (Jason Patric) is a low-level newspaper employee and Michael (Brad Pitt) is an assistant district attorney. Their childhood friend Carol (Minnie Driver), now a social worker, is still loyal to all of them.

When Tommy and John encounter the despicable Sean Nokes dining at a local bar and grill, they take the opportunity to exact revenge upon him by murdering him in cold blood -- with four witnesses present.

Shakes and Michael conspire and hatch a plan to not only get Tommy and John off but also to take revenge on the other guards who Sean Nokes lead to ravage the boys when they were young.

While Michael arranges to take on the case to prosecute Tommy and John, King Benny hires an alcoholic, loser attorney (Dustin Hoffman) to defend the boys.

Will the plan work? Will Father Bobby aid the cause?

A masterful ensemble of actors. Directed by Barry Levinson who is known for his films about male bonding (Diner, Tin Men, Avalon, Rain Man). Fabulous music from the '60s and '70s. Haunting sets and cinematography

Bruno Kirby appears as Shakes' alcoholic father.

I highly recommend this one if you can handle the intensity. Be warned that it is long but can easily be viewed in two sections -- when the boys are young and then when they've grown up.

Two-disc set.

Rated R for language, graphic violence and two scenes of strong sexual content.

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viewed Feb-2006