The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – The film based on the very popular novel follows the story of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander as they try to unravel the murder of a young girl on an island in Sweden from forty years ago. The running theory is that she was killed by a family member, but no one can find any evidence of this. The film is gripping and it’s exciting to see the two leads dig up clues that lead to a dark family secret. For fans of the book, they should not be disappointed by this adaptation, which is being released on DVD just before the second part of the trilogy – The Girl Who Played with Fire – hits theatres.
Brooklyn’s Finest – This film stars Richard Gere, Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke and is about three generations of NYPD who all come together for a drug raid. Gere is the veteran who is close to retirement, Cheadle is an undercover detective looking for a desk job, and Hawke is an officer who is pocketing money from drug raids to help support his family. The film is directed by Antoine Fuqua and it received mixed notices during its release.
A Single Man – This film stars Colin Firth and Julianne Moore and is about an English professor who is having trouble coping with life following the death of his male lover. His lover’s family planned to withhold the news of the death to him as they did not want him attending the funeral. The professor cannot deal with life decides to get his affairs in order before he commits suicide. He ends up spending his last hours with friends to talk about his life and begins to reconsider what he plans to do. Colin Firth received an Academy Award nomination for his performance.
Machine Girl – This film gets another re-release, and for those who have not seen it yet, you might be interested. The plot revolves around a girl named Ami, whose brother is killed by the yakuza and she is taken hostage. She barely escapes after her arm is cut-off and she seeks refuge in a shop, where the owners build her an arm that is also a machine gun. The gore and violence in this film is extremely over the top, but it is also a lot of fun (in a sick sort of way).
TV ON DVD
Life on Mars (UK): The Complete Series – The original version of the show follows police officer Sam Tyler in the year 2006. That is important because he gets hit by a car and awakes, only to find that he is in 1973 at the same job. Is Tyler dead, crazy, or somehow used the space-time continuum to get to 1973? The series is highly acclaimed and worth checking out.
ER: The Complete Thirteenth Season – This season begins right where season twelve left off with chaos in the ER. Sam and Alex are still stuck in the van and are trying to escape their assailants, while the staff at the hospital deal with the shooting of Jerry. I didn’t watch this series, but the first episode of the season sounds like a great start to season thirteen.
Until Next Tuesday!
