Film.com's FREE movie of the week is "Love the Hard Way." Oscar-winner Adrien Brody and Charlotte Ayanna star in this drama about a thief who falls for a curious, beautiful young woman. As their intimacy grows, a slick cop (Pam Greer) is closing in.
A potent melding of crime, action and psychological drama, this sharply turned epic is director Michael Mann's best L.A. story (easily superior to Collateral), also notable as Robert De Niro's last great role before he devoted himself to self-parody. With its softball analysis of De Niro and Al Pacino's extended onscreen coffee klatch, the bonus disc is mostly self-congratulatory flotsam and could've used a documentary on the real-life copycat heist Heat inspired.