Film

Film critic David Edelstein reviews Half Nelson, starring Ryan Gosling. Gosling stars as a young inner-city junior high school teacher who develops a drug habit, and the friendship he strikes up with one of his students.

Matt Dillon, who recently starred in the comedy You, Me and Dupree, next plays the lead role in Factotum, based on a novel by Charles Bukowski. Dillon was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in the film Crash.

Actress Maria Bello often seems to find herself playing characters involved with men in trouble -- take the films A History of Violence and The Cooler, for example. She now stars as the wife of a Port Authority officer trapped in the rubble of the Sept. 11 attacks, in Oliver Stone's upcoming film World Trade Center.

Oliver Stone's new film World Trade Center, starring Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena, follows two Port Authority policemen trapped in the rubble of the towers. Our critic says the film raises a lot of questions about how we grieve.

Actor John C. Reilly is probably best known for his association with filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, who cast Reilly in the films such as Hard 8, Boogie Nights and Magnolia. He also earned an Oscar nomination for his performance in Chicago. Reilly steps into a comedic role along Will Ferrell as a NASCAR driver in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

The black comedy Little Miss Sunshine revolves around a 7-year- old girl and her dream of winning a childrens' beauty pageant. The movie is the feature debut of the husband-and-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who made their names directing music videos for groups such as REM and The Smashing Pumpkins. Our film critic has a review.

Miami Vice, the '80s TV sensation starring Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two vice squad detectives, has been given a makeover by its former executive producer. Michael Mann directs an updated version for the screen, starring Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx. Our film critic has a review.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews M. Night Shymalan's new film, Lady in the Water.

Our film critic has a review of Edmond, a thriller directed by Stuart Gordon, with David Mamet adapting his own stage play.

Richard Linklater's new film, A Scanner Darkly, is based on the book by Philip K. Dick -- a haunting tale of drug addiction, paranoia and surveillance set in the America of the near future. Live-action footage is overlaid with an animation technique first used in Linklater's 2001 film Waking Life.

Coach Bill Resler and former player Devon Crosby Helms are at the heart of the basketball documentary The Heart of the Game. The film follows the Roosevelt High School Roughriders, a Seattle-area girls' team, for six seasons.

Inspired by a ride at Disneyworld, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was a surprise blockbuster in 2003, grossing close to half a billion dollars and winning an Oscar nomination for Johnny Depp -- a rare honor for a comic lead performance. Virtually the same cast and crew returns for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

Our film critic reviews Superman Returns. The new feature is directed by Bryan Singer, who made The Usual Suspects and X-Men. Newcomer Brandon Routh plays the man of steel, and Kevin Spacey is archenemy Lex Luthor.

Movie musicals usually get lumped together as a category. But classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz says that a batch of original musicals from MGM and 20th-Century Fox, just released on DVD, reveals an array of categories that date back to the earliest sound films. The batch includes Till the Clouds Roll By, Summer StockDown Argentine Way and It's Always Fair Weather.

Emmy Award winner Brian Cox will be appearing on the HBO series Deadwood this season. Cox has been in more than 100 films and TV shows over the past 40 years.

The Lake House, starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, and Nacho Libre, starring Jack Black, are very different films with very different stars. But both provide good old escapist entertainment.

Our film critic reviews A Prairie Home Companion, Robert Altman's film adaptation of Garrison Keillor's long-running public radio show.

John Lasseter, chief creative executive of Pixar, Inc, talks about the animation company's new feature film, Cars. Lasseter is a founding member of Pixar and served as director and animator of the feature films Toy Story, its sequel and A Bug's Life.

In a new documentary, soldiers on the front lines in Iraq capture their own footage of the experience of war. The War Tapes, directed by Deborah Scranton, opens in New York and Los Angeles this weekend.

The film follows three men: Sgt. Steve Pink, Sgt. Zack Bazzi and Spc. Mike Moriarty, members of the National Guard who arrived in Iraq in March 2004.

Critic at large John Powers has just returned from the Cannes film festival. The top prize winner at Cannes was director Ken Loach's The Wind That Shakes the Barley, a film about the Irish rebellion against British rule and the country's subsequent civil war.