Four fine films that come from very different places:

Better Than You Heard Dep’t.:  Brooklyn’s Finest – Antoine Fuqua’s rather grim but powerful and thrilling tale of three cops (Richard Gere, Don Cheadle & Ethan Hawke) who face very different, very violent fates.  Gere is an aging who-cares veteran;  Cheadle is deep undercover;  and Hawke is a stressed-out strike force member who has too much guilt and too many bad ideas.  Great flick.

Stylish & Fetishistic Aren’t Bad Things Dep’t.:  A Single Man – Tom Ford’s look at a professor (Colin Firth in a stunning portrayal) who can’t get past his grief after losing a lover.  It’s a glorious beat-down, with a brief but equally powerful performance by Julianne Moore.

Probably Haven’t Heard Of This Dep’t.:  Salvage – While genre fans are busy talking about [Rec]2, this little-seen gem from Fantastic Fest last year is well-worth checking out.  A small North England village is impacted by something that was left in a storage container on a local beach.  A great little combination of scares and human drama, Salvage is one to watch for.

Yes, It Really Was That Good, Even Better! Dep’t.:  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – the first of three Stieg Larsson “Millennium” adaptations, this excellent mystery is expansive, dark and gritty, with terrific characters and performances across the board.  Yet the film feels perfectly self-contained rather than open-ended.  See it before going to The Girl Who Played with Fire, which opens locally this week.