Film

Film critic David Edelstein reviews Casino Royale the new James Bond film starring Daniel Craig.

Actor Greg Kinnear stars in the new film Fast Food Nation, based on the non-fiction book about the fast food and meatpacking industries. Kinnear's other films include Little Miss Sunshine As Good As It Gets, AutoFocus and Nurse Betty. KINNEAR got his start as host and executive producer of Talk Soup on E! Entertainment. He subsequently hosted his own late-night talk show, Later with Greg Kinnear.

Funny Ha Ha, the first film by 29-year-old director Andrew Bujalski, made a lot of critics top 10 lists in 2004 — quite a feat for a film made with a minimal crew, a loose script, and the director's friends. Bujalski’s new film, Mutual Appreciation, features Justin Rice, lead singer for the indie pop band Bishop Allen.

Film critic John Powers reviews a new 50-movie DVD collection, Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films. Titles include The Seventh Seal, Pandora's Box, The 400 Blows and The Lady Vanishes.

Film critic John Powers reviews Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, starring Sacha Baron Cohen.

For his new book, Walt Disney: The Triumph of American Imagination, entertainment expert Neal Gabler was given complete access to the Disney archives. His biography begins when Disney was just a glimmer of an idea, and ends at the entrance to the Walt Disney mausoleum.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews Infamous, a new film about Truman Capote based on the book by George Plimpton. Toby Jones and Sigourney Weaver star in the film, which covers the same ground as last year's Oscar-winning film Capote.

Film Critic David Edelstein reviews "Flags of Our Fathers," directed by Clint Eastwood. The film is about the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima.

Forest Whitaker played jazz musician Charlie Parker in Bird, a British soldier kidnapped by the IRA in The Crying Game, a mafia hit man who models himself after a Samurai warrior in Ghost Dog, and an internal-affairs detective on the FOX TV show The Shield. In his latest film, The Last King of Scotland, he plays Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

Director Stephen Frears. His new film The Queen explores the tension between Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Blair in the days following the death of Princess Diana as they struggle to come up with the appropriate official response. Frears's other films include My Beautiful Laundrette, Prick up Your Ears, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, Dangerous Liasons, The Grifters, The Hi-Lo Country, High Fidelity and Dirty Pretty Things.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews Stephen Frears's new film The Queen

Playwright and filmmaker Neil LaBute has earned a reputation for writing characters who are selfish, mean, misanthropic and misogynistic. His films include In the Company of Men and Your Friends & Neighbors. His plays include "The Mercy Seat", "Some Girls" and "Fat Pig". The New Yorker's John Lahr says his plays are "complex and unnerving," and that "there's no playwright on the planet who is writing better." "Wrecks" is LaBute's new one-man play starring Ed Harris.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews The Departed, the new Martin Scorsese film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, and Jack Nicholson.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews The Science of Sleep, the new film from Michel Gondry. Previously, Gondry directed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Since the fall of communism, there have been few Eastern European directors who have become as internationally known as Roman Polanksi and Milos Forman. But now from Romania comes Cristi Puiu, whose film The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, premiered at Cannes in 2005 and has been winning awards ever since. Now it's out on DVD. Our critic-at-large says the film does something few movies ever do.

Writer-director Todd Phillips' new film is School for Scoundrels, starring Billy Bob Thornton as a cross between a self-help genius and a scam artist. Phillips' other films include Old School, Road Trip and Starsky and Hutch.

Ben Affleck currently stars as George Reeves in the new film Hollywoodland. The film is about the real-life unsolved murder of Reeves, the actor who played Superman in the original TV series.

A new film of Robert Penn Warren's novel All the King's Men stars Sean Penn as political boss Willie Stark, a role that won Broderick Crawford an Oscar in 1949. The remake also features Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Patricia Clarkson, and James Gandolfini. It's directed by Steven Zaillian, who won his own Oscar for the screenplay of Schindler's List.

Actor Ed Harris plays Ludwig van Beethoven in the new film Copying Beethoven, and he's also starring in the new play Wrecks, written and directed by Neil LaBute. The play is set to begin previews at New York's Public Theater on September 26 and open on Oct. 10.

Joan Graves, MPAA board chair is the only member of the board that the MPAA does not keep anonymous. Graves responds to some of the contentions in Kirby Dick's documentary, This Film is Not Yet Rated.