Brothers, based off a Danish movie is the story of Sam (Tobey Maguire) and how he goes missing and is presumed dead after heading back to Afghanistan to fight in the war.  His brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) after getting out of prison helps comforts Sams wife (Natalie Portman) and her two daughters, as a faux romance beings to develop and the kids begin to look up to Tommy as a father figure.  When Sam is saved and brought back to the States, he is dealing with the horrors of living in captivity and what he was forced to do.  He never quite gets back into life and believes that something has happened between his wife and his brother, and is struggling keeping his emotions in tact to be part of the family and reality again.

The movie is incredibly well acted by the 3 stars, and Maguire should get an Oscar nomination for best actor.  He was brilliant and lost 30 pounds for the role and really captivates the audience with his portrayal.  The movie was good, but something was missing to make it great.  If you saw the trailer beforehand like I did you basically see the entire movie, nothing is different and they don’t hide anything.  The movie plays out exactly like the trailer presents it which was fine, but a little annoying.  Good movie and worth seeing for the acting itself, but missing a few things which could have put it over the edge and in the running for Best Picture.

Here is my Snap video review of Brothers

Click here to view the embedded video.

Three weeks now and still nobody can predict where The Blind Side will land at the box office, and how much it will take in. This weekend Sandra Bullock’s feel-good sports drama took in another $20.4 million. Sure, it’s down 49%, but the surprising bit is that after three weeks of staying at #2, it actually topped The Twilight Saga: New Moon to become #1…and it’s not even a new release. Side’s total is now a phenomenal (considering the circumstances) $120.3 million. It will be interesting to see if it is able keep up this type of box offfice success in the coming weeks.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon sunk 63.4% to second place taking in $15.7 million.  The movie’s total is now a healthy $255.6 million, easily making back its minimal $50 million budget and then some. A new release Brothers debuted at #3 with $9.7 million in 2,088 theaters. The film’s budget has yet to be released as far as I’m aware, so I’m unable to comment on that. However director Jim Sheridan’s previous drama Get Rich or Die Tryin’ actually made $4.3 million more in its first weekend at #5 in 2005, although Rich’s worldwide total was an abysmal $46.4 million. Brothers will surely make more than that in its total run.

A Christmas Carol moves up a spot but still falls 52.3% to fourth, with $7.5 million. The Disney family fare’s grand sum is now a “just okay” $115 million. Again, this movie still has to make back its $200 million budget. Old Dogs falls a spot (thank God) and 59.2%, rounding out the top five with $6.9 million. Its total is up to $33.9 million, a good amount lower than the $77 million Wild Hogs had accumulated by its second weekend.

Out of the top five-

• Nimród Antal’s Armored, starring Matt Dillon, did reasonably well considering, opening with $6.6 million on 1,915 screens.
• Kirk Jones’ holiday dramedy Everybody’s Fine debuted at #10 with $4 million, $10.5 million less than the opening weekend gross of Jones’ previous directing gig Nanny McPhee in 2006.
• Up in the Air, which I am so dying to see, debuted in only 15 theaters this weekend before it will expandnationwide on Christmas day.  Jason Reitman’s heavily hyped by word-of-mouth film managed $1.6 million at #13.
• Transylmania, which I had actually forgotten about while writing this post was also released. It bombed this weekend, opening with $252,000 on a decent 1,007 screens. Let this and the fact that the film earned a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes be a caution to movie studios to never make more of this trash again.

Here are the box office results according to studio estimates Sunday:

1. 1. The Blind Side…$20.4 million
2. 2. The Twilight Saga: New Moon…$15.7 million
3. 3. Brothers…$9.7 million
4. 4. A Christmas Carol (2009)…$7.5 million
5. 5. Old Dogs…$6.9 million
6. 6. Armored…$6.6 million
7. 7. 2012…$6.6 million
8. 8. Ninja Assassin…$5 million
9. 9. Planet 51…$4.3 million
10. 10. Everybody’s Fine…$4 million