His Movie Reviews

Now hitting rental shelves near you, this con man flick is a quirky, fun, little caper. Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Brothers Bloom are very successful con men (as the movie notes, the best in the business) that use their highly dramatic and adventurous stories to swindle money from the richest of people.  Their last and final con is to be played out upon the lovely billionare Penelope Stamp (Rachel Weisz). She is a girl who has no problem crashing a Lamborghini in the morning and having it replaced before lunch. In addition, she is quite a strange lot, so they will have to stay on their toes to fleece this damsel. But of course they are the Brothers Bloom…

This film is created by the same  man that created the film Brick, so I had high hopes for this film.  And after viewing, I would have to say this film doesn’t live up to the awesomeness of that movie – but I don’t think it has to.  This film has a different quality about it. If he wanted to make a copy of his last film he would pull a Guy Richie and make Snatch.  But he didn’t, I think he tried something new and different and definitely didn’t come out with a Swept Away. Alright enough Guy Ritchie analogies….The truth is that he made a decent little film that is worth a rent.  Maybe I can’t get enough of con men films like Ocean’s Eleven or Matchstick Men with witty dialogue and trying to fool everyone at every turn, but I love these kinds of films.  And this one brings a little indie style and storytelling to the film that gives it a quaint yet enjoyable feeling.  Its like you are in this storybook land of con men with their crazy yet amazingly great sidekick Bang Bang. You sort of follow the team on their tale and see where it all ends up. I do admit, however, that I was a bit disappointed by the final con (which I won’t give away here) but you connect with the characters. You enjoy the ride.

I give credit for this to not only the storybook style and quaint charm, but also to the amazing actors that appear in the film.  Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody do wonderful jobs as the Bloom brothers. And Rachel Weisz is absolutely outstanding as always.  However, the biggest highlight of the film is definitely Bang Bang.  With pretty much no dialogue, she is just a fun character. She is just a bad ass Asian girl that really likes to blow stuff up – and for that you love her.  Also throughout the film look for other small parts played by great actors.  Alot of Brick cast members make appearances in the film if even for a spilt-second (Don’t think we didn’t notice you Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Hell now that I am flipped over to IMDB, did the whole cast show back up for this film?  Nora Zehetner plays a very small role (I think she is awesome ever since Brick came out – check her out now on the new season of Grey’s Anatomy). Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) shows up for a bit and even the kid from Where the Wild Things Are (Max Records) has a bit.  So be on the lookout for great talent while getting lost in one of the Bloom fabricated stories.

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