If you can’t get out to the air-conditioned wonderfulness of a movie theater, at least you can stay in the air-conditioned wonderfulness of your TV room with these new releases on home video.
Brooklyn’s Finest – This Don Cheadle / Richard Gere joint didn’t make too many waves on the big screen, which was a disappointment – I thought it was a nice, tightly-wound little drama about three cops trying to navigate the morally fraught world of deepest Brooklyn. When three cops get tasked with cleaning up one of the borough’s most dangerous housing projects, their varying approaches to enforcing the law while filling their pockets bring them into a spectacular confrontation. Watch the trailer.
Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Best-selling Swedish crime novelist Stieg Larsson’s work hits the big screen after his mysterious death, to middling reviews. These thrillers are dark, intense, and complex, but the real breakthrough is Noomi Rapace as unscrupulous computer hacker Lisbeth Salander, one of the two protagonists called in to investigate a mysterious disappearance on a remote private island. Watch the trailer.
A Single Man – A little more serious-minded, this Colin Firth drama follows a college professor spun into existential crisis by the death of his lover and struggling to right his ship during the volatile days surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis. If you’ve had enough explosions and kegstands over the 4th of July weekend, this might be what it takes to wash your palate clean and pretend to be human again. Watch the trailer.