For such a formulaic film, Blood Diamond does have one very nice surprise. (Plus: Leo’s good in it.)

Homeless for the holidays in Will Smith’s feverish Pursuit of Happyness. Plus: Dreamgirls and Mel.

What the horror-show Turistas has in common with Babel. Plus: Remembering Robert Altman.

Bill Nighy makes great art in the territory between utter poise and utter collapse.

The History Boys shows why Dead Poets Society was such a sham.

Reinvention, indeed: Daniel Craig is a Bond we could get used to seeing in a tuxedo.

As Diane Arbus in the quasi-biopic Fur, Nicole Kidman suffers from personality-deficit disorder.

Volver’s heady pleasures expire a little too soon. Death of a President is a sleepy provocation.

Borat’s uproarious, until he’s not. Riding the new wave of squirm comedy.

No one does bad parenting better than Annette Bening. Plus: Dirty Harry’s anti-violence campaign.