gone baby gone

Cate Blanchett got all the pre-awards-season buzz for playing Bob Dylan in I’m Not There, but it was Amy Ryan’s performance as a spectacularly unfit Boston mother in Ben Affleck’s top-notch private-eye thriller (adapted from the novel by Mystic River author Dennis Lehane) that won all the critics’ prizes for Best Supporting Actress. Up yours, Blanchett!

in the shadow of the moon

The concept is simple—the surviving astronauts from NASA’s Apollo missions describe in their own words the experience of traveling into space—but the impact of David Sington’s beautifully made documentary is genuinely profound. If you need your faith in the human race renewed, this is the film that will do the trick.

romance and cigarettes

The Dictator has a weakness for musicals starring people who can’t actually sing or dance, and John Turturro’s bizarre extravaganza (starring that modern-day Astaire/Rogers team of James Gandolfini and Kate Winslet) takes an honoured spot on his DVD shelf, right next to Colma: The Musical, Everyone Says I Love You, and the BBC version of Pennies From Heaven.

tell me you love me: The complete first season

You’d think an HBO series featuring not just abundant male and female nudity but also some of the most explicit sex scenes in mainstream TV history would have gotten more buzz, but this oddly unsatisfying little series struggled to find an audience. At least on DVD you can fast-forward through the endless therapy scenes.