In a year that has already seen a pair of outstanding modern-day war pics (“The Hurt Locker” and “The Messenger”), the latest from director Jim Sheridan, “Brothers,” adds another intriguing entry into the genre.

Anchored by a strong cast and a solid story, this remake of a Danish film is a competent piece of filmmaking that deserves an audience.

The film stars Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal as Sam and Tammy Cahill, brothers from a military family whose lives have taken completely different paths.

Sam (Maguire) is a decorated military officer, following in the footsteps of his father (Sam Shepard), married to his high school sweetheart Grace (Natalie Portman) and the father of two beautiful young girls.

Tommy (Gyllenhaal) is a drifter, just out of prison and still trying to find his way through life.

When Sam is deployed to Afghanistan and then feared dead, Tommy is there to comfort Grace and her two daughters, developing a strong bond with them.

That new bond is tested when Sam is rescued and returns home, convinced that Tommy and Grace are more than just friends – a paranoia brought about by his experience overseas that has left him severely traumatized.

The entire cast is first-rate, especially Maguire, who shows a lot of range in a really difficult role. I’ve been a fan of Portman since “The Professional,” so it is nice to see her take some more challenging roles, and I think Shepard’s role is really good and might not be getting its just due.

The story is also solid, not going in the direction I feared from the film’s rather lengthy trailer.

Sheridan does an OK job for the most part, although I wish he wouldn’t have been so straightforward with the material – perhaps not letting Sam’s parallel story as a prisoner of war be fully revealed until after his return. It takes away some of the film’s effectiveness, because we already know the heart of his trauma – something I believe could have been done more effectively if we learned of his fate at the same time Grace and Tommy did.

Despite that objection, I found “Brothers” to be a fairly powerful piece of work. It may not be up to the level of “Hurt Locker” and “The Messenger,” but it still packs a pretty intense punch.

DVD dandy of the week

This week’s dandy is “Inglourious Basterds” (A), writer/director Quentin Tarantino’s highly ambitious and highly entertaining effort that takes the war drama and crushes it to pieces – then reassembles a masterpiece that reinvents the familiar genre.

“Basterds” is divided into several scenes that tell the story of a group of Jewish-American soldiers, led by Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), who wreak havoc scalping and brutally killing Nazis in Nazi-occupied France during World War II.

Their story intersects with that of a young woman named Shosanna (Melanie Laurent), who witnesses the death of her family by a ruthless colonel named Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). Several years later, Shosanna is running a movie theater in France, trying to avoid any conflict, only to get thrown right into the middle of everything when her theater is picked to hold a premiere of a German propaganda piece. With every major Nazi officer, including Hitler, expected to attend the event, Shosanna sets out to get her revenge.

While the film is set in World War II, using several familiar historical faces, this is pure fiction. Tarantino takes real-life situations and turns them upside down, creating a film that is a little bit spaghetti Western, a little bit Sam Peckinpah and a lot Tarantino (including an extended scene in a bar that ends with a “Reservoir Dogs”-like Mexican standoff).

While his direction is sharp, it’s Tarantino’s screenplay that really sizzles. The film gets off to a rousing start with a great exchange between Landa and a French farmer harboring Shosanna’s family that is among the best 30 minutes of cinema I’ve seen this year.

While Pitt is the star, and does have his moments, the film belongs to two people – Laurent and Waltz. Both are Oscar-worthy, especially Waltz, whose mere presence in a scene creates doom and havoc.

I will concede that the final revenge may be a little too easy (and it will definitely offend any history buff expecting a straight World War II piece) and I did have a little problem with some of Landa’s actions in the final moments, but this is a film that easily overcomes those flaws.

This isn’t “Pulp Fiction,” but Tarantino has delivered a film that is almost in the same league. It’s definitely one of the best films of 2009.

“Inglourious Basterds” is rated R for strong graphic violence, language and brief sexuality, and will be available on DVD on Tuesday.

— Sportswriter/movie reviewer Micheal Compton has placed “Basterds” at No. 35 on his list of the Top 50 films of the decade. To see what else has made the list so far, visit his blog at mcompton.wordpress.com or his Twitter page at twitter.com/mcompton428. You can also e-mail him at mcompton@bgdailynews.com.