The New Republic

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It is presumably an unintentional irony that it is more than two hours into The Curious Case of Benjamin Button that star Brad Pitt observes, “I was thinking how nothing lasts.” It is more ironic still that nearly another half-hour passes before co-star Cate Blanchett concurs: “Nothing lasts.” READ MORE >>

Will Smith is testing us. Over the summer, he tried to get America to swallow the idea of a do-gooding p.r. flack (played by Jason Bateman) in Hancock. We did swallow it--and worse--to the tune of $228 million in domestic receipts. With Seven Pounds, Smith goes further, trying to force the idea of a do-gooding IRS agent down our throats. READ MORE >>

There’s a moment in director Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon, when James Reston Jr. (Sam Rockwell), who has written multiple books about Richard Nixon, sees the disgraced ex-president (Frank Langella) in the flesh for the first time and is taken aback: “He’s taller than I imagined.” READ MORE >>

“What do you do when you’re not sure?” intones a priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to his flock. “That’s the subject of my sermon today.” So begin the epistemological explorations of Doubt, which writer/director John Patrick Shanley has adapted for the screen from his Pulitzer-winning play. READ MORE >>

Gus Van Sant's Milk is not a bad movie. Star Sean Penn eschews his characteristic bluster, offering a powerful yet modest performance as Harvey Milk, the openly gay San Francisco supervisor who was assassinated in 1978. The supporting roles are also sharp, in particular Josh Brolin as Dan White, the disturbed former supervisor who killed Milk and Mayor George Moscone. And Van Sant's direction is generally smooth, if extremely conventional. READ MORE >>

Dear Baz Luhrmann, You have a problem, and the first step toward solving it is recognizing it: Despite your manifest gifts as a filmmaker, you can’t do tragedy. And you need to stop trying. READ MORE >>

Are English-speaking directors stupid? It may be an impertinent question, but it seems a necessary one in a year when chronically underutilized Kristin Scott Thomas has essentially reinvented herself as a French actress, first with a small role in Guillaume Canet’s evocative thriller Tell No One and now, as the mesmerizing lead of Philippe Claudel’s I’ve Loved You So Long. READ MORE >>

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