Is it out on DVD yet? What's it about? Who's in it? Here's a breakdown:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
OSCAR NOMS: 13
DIRECTOR: David Fincher
STARS: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett
LENGTH: 2 hours, 40 minutes
STUDIO: Paramount
OPENED IN THEATRES: Dec. 25
BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $122.6 million
OUT ON DVD? Scheduled to be released April 20.
SUN RATING: 4.5 stars (out of 5) from Kevin Williamson
CAPSULE REVIEW: "Dark and dazzling, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button gives us a character who ages in reverse. The notion: Isn't it a shame we most appreciate life at the end, when we're least capable of enjoying it? Contemplative, sumptuous and haunting, this is one of the year's best films. Arguably more resonant than Forrest Gump."
-- Kevin Williamson
Milk
OSCAR NOMS: 8
DIRECTOR: Gus Van Sant
STARS: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin
LENGTH: 2 hours, 8 minutes
STUDIO: Focus
OPENED IN THEATRES: Nov. 26
BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $26.7 million
OUT ON DVD? Scheduled to be released March 10.
SUN RATING: 4 stars (out of 5) from Kevin Williamson
CAPSULE REVIEW: "As Harvey Milk, the slain gay-rights activist whose life and subsequent murder is detailed in this bravura bio-pic, Sean Penn's transformation into an essentially happy person is as absolute as it is remarkable. Penn delivers one of his finest performances. This flm represents. Gus Van Sant's most accessible work since Good Will Hunting or Finding Forrester."
-- Kevin Williamson
Slumdog Millionaire
OSCAR NOMS: 10
DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle
STARS: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto
LENGTH: 2 hours
STUDIO: Fox Searchlight
OPENED IN THEATRES: Nov. 12
BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $88.1 million
OUT ON DVD? Scheduled to be released March 31.
SUN RATING: 3.5 stars (out of 5) from Liz Braun
CAPSULE REVIEW: "A rags-to-riches saga that unfolds like a Dickens novel set in Mumbai. The storytelling is wobbly at times, but the tale itself is so engaging you'll overlook all that. Well, most of it, anyway. The story centres on Jamal, a boy from the slums who has somehow become a big winner on India's version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? but then he is accused of cheating ... A crowd-pleaser. "
-- Liz Braun
The Reader
OSCAR NOMS: 5
DIRECTOR: Stephen Daldry
STARS: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes
LENGTH: 2 hours, 3 minutes
STUDIO: Weinstein Co.
OPENED IN THEATRES:
Dec. 10
BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $19.6 million
OUT ON DVD? Scheduled to be released April 14.
SUN RATING: 3 stars (out of 5) from Jim Slotek
CAPSULE REVIEW: "Kate Winslet stars as a woman-with-a-wartime-past who has an affair in the '50s with a teenage boy in Berlin, a relationship marked by reading sessions in which he introduces her to great literature. The boy (David Kross) later becomes a law student who covers the trial of ex-Auschwitz SS guards. Metaphors about the secrets withheld from young Germans are lost amid the vividness of the sexual relationship."
-- Jim Slotek
Frost/Nixon
OSCAR NOMS: 5
DIRECTOR: Ron Howard
STARS: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen
LENGTH: 2 hours, 2 minutes
STUDIO: Universal
OPENED IN THEATRES: Dec. 5
BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $16.6 million
OUT ON DVD? Scheduled to be released April 21.
SUN RATING: 4.5 stars (out of 5) from Jim Slotek
CAPSULE REVIEW: "Frank Langella is all but possessed as Richard Nixon in this play-turned-movie about the 1977 pay-TV interviews between presumed lightweight David Frost (Michael Sheen) and the in-exile ex-prez, who believes he can rehab his image by running roughshod over his interviewer. A stellar example of what film can bring to a Broadway play without resorting to broad strokes."
-- Jim Slotek
