Film

In Mike Leigh's marvelous comedy Happy-Go-Lucky, a London schoolteacher tackles life's everyday travails with a good dose of the giggles. Film critic David Edelstein reviews.

Once best known as a star of action and Western films, actor (and former mayor of Carmel, California) Clint Eastwood is also acclaimed for his work behind the camera. His latest directorial effort is Changeling, starring Angelina Jolie.

Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaption) is known for his disjointed narratives and quirky characters. Now he brings that off-beat sensibility to his directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York.

Stefan Forbes' documentary looks at the life and controversial career of Lee Atwater, the political operative who ran George H.W. Bush's 1988 campaign — and introduced the nation to Willie Horton.

Filmmaker Oliver Stone couldn't wait for President Bush to leave office before he made a movie about him. And despite Stone's famously left-leaning views, his treatment of The Decider is surprisingly empathetic — though ultimately the film doesn't do justice to its characters.

Emmy-winning director and producer Larry Charles has a penchant for the ridiculous — witness his credits, which include Borat, Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Now, Charles wants to turn his latest film, Religulous, into an HBO series.

His starring role as George W. Bush in the new Oliver Stone film W. is the latest in a series of high-profile jobs for Josh Brolin — including the Oscar-winner No Country for Old Men. He was also seen recently in American Gangster and In The Valley of Elah.

David Edelstein reviews Body Of Lies, a new spy thriller directed by Ridley Scott and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe. Set in Iraq and Syria, the film charts a young CIA operative's growing disillusionment with his superiors in Washington.

Director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia) and screenwriter Jenny Lumet discuss their critically acclaimed new wedding dramedy Rachel Getting Married.

It's not often you hear the word "masterpiece" coming from a film critic. But David Edelstein says it applies to Jonathan Demme's newest film, a marvelously textured thing at once focused and bursting at the seams.

The new documentary Religulous offers a satirical — and critical — look at the world's religions. Directed by Larry Charles, the film features Bill Maher posing undercover as a man seeking spiritual guidance from various religious groups.

Oscar Award-winning actor Paul Newman died on Sept. 26 of complications from lung cancer. In this 2003 interview, the star of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Cool Hand Luke discusses his early work — both as an actor and as a salesman.

Once known as the awkward kid on the cult TV hit Arrested Development, he's become a bona fide movie star with roles in the hit comedies Juno and Superbad. Next up for him: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, another music-fueled teen love story.

Miracle At St. Anna, based on James McBride's novel, follows four soldiers of the all-black 92nd Infantry Division after they're cut off by Axis forces in the Tuscan countryside during World War II.

In the 1947 film, It Happened In Brooklyn, Frank Sinatra plays a soldier who returns after four years at war and decides to pursue a singing career. Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the recently-released DVD version of the film.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews two new coming-of-age movies: Towelhead, which features a young Arab-American girl who is sent to live with her father in Texas, and Hound Dog, about a troubled girl who takes comfort in the music of Elvis Presley.

Joel and Ethan Coen's new black comedy sets its dim-bulb characters careening through a blackmail-and-infidelity plot. The cast is top notch, but the directors seem so little invested, they might as well be on autopilot.

The two collaborated on the new Steve Coogan comedy, about a failed actor and overzealous drama teacher who mounts a musical sequel to Shakespeare's most famous tragedy.

Critic at large John Powers remembers film critic and artist Manny Farber, who died Aug. 18 at the age of 91.