The Mortal Storm - 1940 *****

'The Mortal Storm' is a powerful and utterly heart-breaking film about the destruction and pain people can cause others because of their small mindedness and routine precision with power and gain. James Stewart acts wonderfully as a German who refuses to go with the crowd and leave his small town where he has grown up and support the Nazis. He then falls in love with a beautiful Jew whose father, a professor at the local university does not agree with the current political situation and is eventually captured by the Germans. This leaves the couple in a horrendous situation - do they stay together and defy the odds or break apart to save themselves?
Beautifully shot and mesmerizingly painful to experience, Frank Borzage is a true master of his art and has painted a sumptuously powerful picture that needs to be seen.

The Small Back Room - 1949 ** 1/2

I was a bit peeved to discover at the end that this was a Powell and Pressburger movie. Generally the quality of their films is outstanding, but this didn't do much for me after the first 20 minutes or so. Getting deeper into the film seemed a bit like watching 'The Lost Weekend' and I came out of the experience feeling depressed and miserable.
The lead character Sammy is full of woe and self-pity, in a way that renders him utterly unlikeable, and none of the other characters have anything that I could convey as emphatic personalities. He spends his time working as a scientist doing research in a hidden 'Back Room' in London and drinking the evenings away.
In particular the girlfriend of Sammy was awful. Wimpish, with no self respect or anything about her, she clings on to him like a sack of potatoes, regardless of how badly he treats her.
Not one of the ones I would recommend from the otherwise great duo.

Brothers - 2009 ***

I'm not sure what I thought of this film. It wasn't a particularly original plot ('Pearl Harbor' has to some extent been there and done that) but it was performed quite well with a knockout performance from Tobey Maguire.
Maguire plays a marine named Sam, who is presumed dead when his helicopter crashes over water. Sam's wife Grace (Portman) and his brother Tommy (Gyllenhaal) come together to support Grace and Sam's 2 young girls after hearing the awful news. You need to watch to see whether they actually become lovers or not, but when Sam is found, alive (albeit with hideous emotional scars) he immediately presumes the worst and becomes obsessed with the idea of his wife and brother.
I'm not sure how much of a good representation it is to someone who has been through the horror of war, although Maguire (in particular the kitchen scene) does astoundingly well in my opinion. You can literally see the pain etched into his face.
The other 2 are okay, and Portman makes a fair contribution as Sam's military wife/widow, but I think the 2 young daughters really stand out in their parts a little more than she or Gyllenhaal do.