Here is a recap of what our reviewers said about the five movies nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award.
Babel (star)(star)(star)1/2
The latest movie from the incendiary director-writer team of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Guillermo Arriaga, a film about a modern, metaphorical Tower of Babel, following four groups of people on three continents through a chaos of misunderstandings, confusion and tragedy. A powerhouse film, beautifully made, with a mixed, multilingual cast of professionals and amateurs, including Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Koji Yakusho and Gael Garcia Bernal. R. 2:23.–Michael Wilmington
The Departed (star)(star)(star)
It’s a kick to find director Martin Scorsese back in prime form. Based on the 2002 Hong Kong export “Infernal Affairs,” Leonardo DiCaprio plays a tightly coiled undercover officer worming his way into the inner sanctum of a crime lord played by Jack Nicholson. Matt Damon is the mobster’s protege, pretending to be a Special Investigations cop. R. 2:31.–Michael Phillips
Letters From Iwo Jima (star)(star)(star)(star)
A companion piece to “Flags of Our Fathers,” which told the battle of Iwo Jima from the American perspective, “Letters” (mostly in Japanese with English subtitles) takes a mournful, graceful look at the other side. Navigating an artful array of flashbacks, “Letters” eavesdrops on a full variety of voices in crisis, trying to make sense of a hopeless situation. R. 2:21.–M.P.
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Little Miss Sunshine (star)(star)(star)1/2
“Little Miss Sunshine,” the stellar feature debut from directors (and spouses) Jonathan Dayton and Val-erie Faris, takes a well-worn idea (stick a family in a vehicle–here a malfunctioning VW bus–for a few thousand miles and watch the sparks fly) and makes it new again. New–not to mention funny, and thoughtful, and deeply, viscerally satisfying. R. 1:41.–Jessica Reaves
The Queen (star)(star)(star)1/2
In this buoyant mixture of deft, lightly impudent high comedy and human-scaled drama, the grand Helen Mirren goes well beyond technical acuity in her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II. Screenwriter Peter Morgan’s story is really a portrait in dueling governance styles: The queen’s and the plucky new prime minister Tony Blair’s (played by Michael Sheen). PG-13. 1:43.–M.P.