Defiance

If you like the Bond character played by Daniel Craig, you will most likely love this role for him as well. This is a great story. Maybe even the best "untold" story of WWII. Edward Zwick is a genius. He does these great stories and makes them so captivating that we don't realize we're being taught history.

Liev Schreiber plays the younger brother of Craig's character. This duo is amazing together.

Make sure to watch the special features before you watch the movie. They are so good you may find yourself tearing up. Tears for special features? Yeah, they are that good and will give you a great history lesson about what really happened and who brought the story to light. Chalk up another one for doing family history?

Alexa Davalos is amazing. She gives the second best, second biggest, monologue in the story.

Watch this movie with someone who has family from Central Europe.

The Last Samurai

Generally speaking, Tom Cruise movies are over-hyped. This movie however was the most under-rated movie of 2003. Not only is Cruise (if you don't know, never mind) fantastic as the drunken mess of a civil war hero, but his supporting cast is literally world class.

Ken Watanabe of Japan (Batman Begins, Memoirs of a Geisha, and Letters from Iwo Jima) was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in this film, but did not win. It was a tough year to be nominated. While Watanabe appears to play the same type character in each movie he does, he does it do well, nobody cares. You can't help but like this guy regardless of which character he is playing.

Billy Connolly of Scotland (Disney's Pocahontas, Muppet Treasure Island, and The Boondock Saints) is Cruise's comic sidekick. Connolly is funny as a stand-up comic and is fun to watch in every film he does. His voice is also in high demand in animated movies.

Other familiar American and Asian faces are found throughout this story. It is a gritty telling of how the U. S. government sometimes does more harm than good when it goes messing with the domestic policies of other countries. Sound familiar?

This movie was also nominated for art, sound, and costumes, winning none. Regardless, each is a treasure for the audience. Director Edward Zwick (Legends of the Fall and Blood Diamond) does a faithful job of telling this story. If you didn't know the difference between a Ninja and a Samurai before, you will after watching this movie.

The action is worthy. The emotions are deep. The characters are human, and the scenes are complete.

Watch this movie with someone who knows the difference between blind patriotism and true heroic loyalty.