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Director Michael Haneke's film 'The White Ribbon' is a brilliantly paced slow burn into the secrets of a small town somewhere in north Germany. Haneke also wrote the screenplay setting it just before 1914 and the run up to WWI. He shot his masterpiece in magnificent black and white, which places your imagination as close to this period of time as most would imagine. True to many of Haneke's recent films, we see the worst of human nature. Yet his ability to bring you so close to each character secures you to your seat motivating your internal desire to see how it all plays out.

Strange things are set in motion inside this tight community when someone plants a trap causing the town's doctor to take a fall from his horse causing him serious injuries. His two kids lost their mother in a mysterious death 5 years earlier, which resulted in the town's midwife looking after the children as the doctor spends months in recovery in an out-of- town hospital.

The spiritual leader of the community, a Protestant pastor is a strict, guilt-slinging father of 5 kids for which he provides severe punishment so they become 'pure' adults. You have the Baron and wife who are disliked by most as they employ about half the town. They too have dirty secrets. The Barons steward and his wife and kids struggle as he tries to keep his family in line.

Adults start dying, children are tortured, yet no one can find the culprits. The story is narrated by the schoolteacher, a new town resident, who recalls the story years after the war to the best of his recollection.

'The White Ribbon' won the Palm d'Or, the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. It's also nominated for 2 Oscars, Best Achievement in Cinematography and Best Foreign Language Film of the Year.

Seek this film out. Your taste in cinema will change forever.

Shortly after my drafted, eldest brother returned from Vietnam he encouraged me not to go anywhere near the Armed Forces. I took his advice.

Instead, I'm a fifty-something year old who has viewed WWI, WWII, Korean, Vietnam and the recent middle-eastern conflicts on television and the big screen. Each story does its best to share what life is like for so many soldiers in the heat of battle. Five minutes into this film my wife leans over to whisper, "this doesn't feel like a film." She was right – it wasn't just a film it was an experience.

After watching 'The Hurt Locker' I slowly walked out of the theater feeling for the first time I gained a far deeper understanding of what battle is like in current wars. It's an experience so many men and woman should bathe themselves in to better understand words like dedication, honor, liberty and freedom.

'The Hurt Locker' is a film surrounding three men, aged twenty-something, whose job is to disable improvised explosive devices (IEDs), found on roadsides, buildings or anywhere they can kill or immobilize their targets. While other soldiers find shelter this team walks up to the device, finds the trigger and attempts to render it useless. They do all this while knowing the many locals who peer through doorways, windows and rooftops could be holding the trigger. This film puts you dead in the middle of this team as you too count the number of days left before your unit is rotated out of hell. 'The Hurt Locker' is not a violent or graphically difficult film to watch. It's an extremely intense, real-life drama that may stay with you long after you leave the theater.

I encourage everyone to seek out this film. If you can't, please recommend that others see it. They will gain insight to a world experienced by few.

Not since the 2000 Argentine hit 'Nine Queens' (Nueve reinas) or the better-known 1973 film 'The Sting,' has there been a more entertaining, who's running this con, screenplay than 'The Brothers Bloom'.

Penelople (Rachel Weisz) is a rich, eccentric 'Jersey' heiress with nothing to do but collect other people's hobbies becomes 'the mark' of con artist Brothers Bloom.

Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody) grew up parentless and products of the foster home system (the first10 minutes of this film provide some wonderful footage of how and why these two were motivated to complete their first pre-teen scam.) It's hilarious.

Years pass and after many a con, the two reunite in Montenegro where Stephen does his best to convince Bloom to do one final scam of Penelople and her riches. Reluctant Bloom leaves with elder brother for New Jersey where they join a near mute explosives expert and sidekick Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi.) They conduct surveillance on Penelople while Stephen unveils his elaborate plan.

'Brothers Bloom' is an adventure with laughs, missteps, cons gone wrong and many twists and turns which will have you wondering, who is scamming who? The film takes you from Serbia to Prague and St. Petersburg with the sophistication and elegance each city brings to the screen. Ruffalo, Brody, Weisz and Kikuchi are all unique in their roles yet they are perfectly cast for this easy to follow and unpredictable plot.

See 'The Brothers Bloom'! Getting conned has rarely been this much fun.