Brotherly Love

Advantages: Gripping and great entertainment
Disadvantages: If you were picky you could pull holes in the plot

...When their adopted mother is murdered in a grocery store robbery, four estranged brothers return to the rough Detroit neighbourhood to bury their beloved mother, but also to seek vengeance for her death. Turning the neighbourhood upside down in search of the killers, they soon discover things are not all they seem. The other day I watched an old John Wayne western called "The Sons of Katie Elder" which sees 4 brothers' return to their homestead to bury their mother and seek revenge for a handful of wrong doings. It was thoroughly enjoyable, but the whole time I had a nagging feeling that I recognized the storyline from a much more recent movie and then it hit me. John Singleton's "Four Brothers" pretty much uses an identical plot line but in a more contemporary situation and does a brilliant job of making a film which could easily...

christianfilmcritic 01.04.2008 · Read review
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Review of Four Brothers (DVD)

Brotherly love in modern China

Advantages: An interesting look at modern China, very entertaining
Disadvantages: Dwells on sex, silly at times

...Just before the Cultural Revolution, Baldy Li's mother and Song Gang's father met, fell in love and married. The two young boys took to each other immediately, and soon became fast friends. However, their comfortable existence is soon to be steam-rolled by the trials and tribulations of the Cultural Revolution. The family is of landlord stock, albeit in the distant past, and they become class enemies, forced to constantly self-criticise and accept abuse from those of a better class. Song Gang's father is beaten to death and Baldy Li's mother soon falls into a state of pining from which it is clear she will never emerge. Will the teenage brothers be able to survive on their own? And will their parents' death split the two of them up? Having lived in China for many years, I am always interested in reading about the country and its...

sunmeilan 27.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Brothers - Yu Hua

Brotherly Love

Advantages: Excellent paper handling, easy installation, reliable.
Disadvantages: Expensive toner cartridges, occasional black dots when printing.

...We run a small office, and originally bought two Kyocera FS-600 laser printers for printing the small quantity of technical manuals that we produce. The Kyocera drums are supposed to be super-environment-friendly and last for 100,000 pages. Sadly, this proved not to be the case. After our fourth drum at a total of only 60,000 pages, the first printer was out of guarantee and we looked around for something else. Cost is of course important, but to us, print quality is a number one concern. After comparing lots of print-outs in PC World, we opted for a Brother HL-1250. This printer ran wonderfully for a year, but when the drum needed replacing it turned out that we could buy a brand new Brother HL-1440 for just £20 more than the cost of a new drum. Thus my computer now has a one-year old Brother HL-1440, and I thought I would tell you...

izzwizz 15.09.2003 · Read review
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Review of Brother HL 1440

Brotherly Love!

Advantages: Excellent film
Disadvantages: none

...I do remember watching Rain Man at the cinema many years ago but I never had it in my DVD collection until just recently when I spotted it on offer at play.com. The film was made in 1988 and was much acclaimed at the time, winning four Oscars including the best actor in a leading role for Dustin Hoffman, best director and best picture. For those who do not know, Rain Man tells the story of Charlie Babbitt (played by Tom Cruise) and his discovery of his brother Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) who he never knew existed until the death of their father. Charlie fell out with his dad many years ago but was still hoping to inherit more than three million dollars. This is until he discovers that he has only been left his father's old Buick Convertible and a few plants while the bulk of the estate has been left to an unknown beneficiary. A little...

kingfisher111 19.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Rain Man (Special Edition) (DVD)

Brotherly Love

Advantages: Interesting story
Disadvantages: I really disliked the author by the end of it

...before I read this book although I recall a few years ago reading somewhere that he was gay and that he was furious because Madonna had outed him in an interview. I've read Madonna - Queen of the World written by Douglas Thompson and the more famous biography by Andrew Morton but both of these are about ten years old. It seems that there has been very little official information written about Madonna in the last decade and so I was a little intrigued to read her brother's version of the facts. Madonna quickly dismissed this book by saying that she had barely spoken to her brother for years so who's telling the truth? And why after so many years of playing the part of loyal, loving brother has Christopher Ciccone decided to write such a book? Could it perhaps have something to do with the fact that he is no longer on his sister's payroll...

micksheff 01.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Life with My Sister Madonna - Christopher Ciccone

Step brothers

Advantages: see review
Disadvantages: see review

...Lat night I was in need of watching something light and funny. Searching the shelves of my local video shop I spotted Step brothers starring Will Ferrell and decided to give it a try. Cast. ***** Will Ferrell-Brennan Huff. John Reilly-Dale Doback. Mary Steenburgen-Nancy Huff. Richard Jenkins- Dr Robert Doback. Adam Scott- Derek Huff. Kathryn Hahn- Alice Huff. The film runs for 98 minutes and is a certificate 15. The film is directed by Adam Mc Kay The plot. ********** Nancy Hoff and Dr Dale Doback meet and fall in love. They soon decide to get hitched and move in together. Both parents have 40 year old unemployed sons still living at home. Neither has ever had to take any responsibility and act more like 10 year olds than men. The sons have very similar characters and resent each other at the start. They both work...

anwar 19.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of Step Brothers

Brotherly Love

Advantages: Good movie with a clear message
Disadvantages: Dissapointing finale

...The trailer threatens you in a way that you need to see the film. You realise that seeing what you have in the trailer leaves so many things unanswered; it makes you want to investigate what evil thing has occurred. The trouble being for me was that while seducing me with its message it gave to much away, while ensnaring me it made one thing very obvious; and that one thing is the mystery the whole movie is about. I really enjoy the work of Paddy Considine from A Room For Romeo Brass, to In America; I have followed his career avidly. I'd heard lots of good and bad things about Dead Man's Shoes the one thing I never knew was that it had this highly underused actor in it. Having seen the trailer on the movie 9 Songs I decided to make the purchase £4.99 was all it cost from Play.Com. Something has happened to Richard's brother...

sghawken 16.01.2007 · Read review
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Review of Dead Man's Shoes (DVD)

Big Brother

Advantages: Nightly Entertainment, Can Be Good At Times
Disadvantages: Ran Out of Ideas, Repetitive

...Everyone has an opinion on Big Brother, regardless of whether you watch it or not. For some, it's entertaining. For others, it's pointless TV, watched by idiots, which is taking up time and money which could be used on other shows. ~~~ What's it About ? ~~~ Basically, a group of everyday people are put into a house which is completely covered by televsion cameras and microphones. The show then runs for a number of weeks (10+). The contestants participate in daily tasks which they must complete in order to gain a reward. They also get a main task which covers a few days, which depending on their performance, either earns them a food budget to buy what they like from the shopping list or earns them rice and other basic food. The contestants also nominate each other to decide who faces eviction. The public then vote for who...

Wils0408n 08.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Channel 4 - Big Brother

Step Brothers

Advantages: Over fairly quickly
Disadvantages: Just not very good...

...***Film Only Review*** Last night I sat down to watch Step Brothers after being told by a friend, who has a similar sense of humour to me, that it was pretty funny and worth a watch. Story ------- Brennan (Will Ferrell) and Dale (John C Reilly) are two 40 year old who still live at home with their parents. Dale's dad and Dale have been living together Dales' whole life, Dale doesn't work and loves the lifestyle of being able to do what he wants when he wants, especially jamming on his drum kit. Brennan is a slightly more sensitive character having been raised by his mother his whole life and likes still being looked after even though he is middle aged. When Dale and Brennan's parents hook up and get married, both of the boys (I say boys, meaning men!) have to learn to share and get along as step brothers. Initially...

chugglebunny 13.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Step Brothers

Brothers and Sisters

Advantages: Great drama show, secrets, lies
Disadvantages: None

...Families, drama, secrets and lies, what more could you want from a television show.!! Brothers and sisters is one of my favourite drama series out at the moment. It is shown in England on Channel 4 and more recently on E4. It first came out in September 2006 and as of September 2008 they are now in their third series. The DVD of the first series came out in February of this year. It is an American drama series featuring the Walker family of California. They are a fairly well to do family who live in Pasadena, California, just near Los Angeles. We are introduced to the family at a birthday party. The patriarch and much loved figure of William Walker dies in spectacular fashion and things are never quite the same again. What looked liked a charmed life from the outside soon begins to crack and the secrets come pouring out. Nora Walkers...

Spottydog11 23.09.2008 · Read review
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Review of Brothers And Sisters - Series 1 (DVD)