Well, Christmas is over. Anyone get/give anything good?

Here is something that happened to me: We had lamb for dinner, and then I took my half-empty glass of water from the dinner table into my bedroom. Then, in the middle of the night, I took a sip, and the water tasted like lamb. Lamb water! Lamb of God water. L.O.G.water. Ew. Anyway, I'm not even Christian. What day is it?

MOVIES!!!

Brad Pitt is born an old man, grows backwards into a little baby (Karl Pilkington-style)! Wise and spiritual black people help. I think. I haven't seen it. But Paul Constant did:

The nearly three-hour movie sails by, and director David Fincher's dogged determinedness to get the perfect shot pays off well, too: The film—with its seemingly effortless historical accuracy, rich color palettes, and beautiful cinematography—is real, rich eye candy. There are serious flaws (Button's aging doesn't flow as it should, and his narration, supposedly from a diary, becomes omniscient whenever the story needs it), but those almost make the movie more endearing. And several scenes—especially a midfilm dalliance with Tilda Swinton and a few suspenseful moments where the audience can see doom coming from miles away—are cinematic perfection.

Eli Sanders recommends Frost/Nixon:

It's compelling to watch because of how much was at stake then, with much of the American public desperate for the trial and conviction that the presidentially pardoned Nixon had managed to avoid (until he agreed to take $600,000 for a interview with Frost). It's also compelling for the resonance with this particular moment: a publicly unrepentant president, cloistered and clearly troubled by the mistakes he's made, grappling with whether to stonewall any and all attempts at a public reckoning.

Valkyrie, not so much:

Not that the United States under George W. Bush and company was Nazi Germany, but wouldn't a story about making sacrifices to resist an outlaw government have been a little more relevant several years ago? Or even just last year? Released, as it will be, during the transition from the Cowboy Presidency to the Hope Presidency, Valkyrie loses any sense of moral urgency. Which is too bad, because it didn't have much else going for it.

Paul Constant claims that The Spirit is, somehow, not quite as bad as it looks (it looks like your grandma getting waterboarded):

The saddest thing about The Spirit is its lack of imagination. There's nothing here—from the cartoony visual effects right down to the Converse All-Stars on the hero's feet—that wasn't done, and better, in Sin City. Rather than being an aw-shucks, lantern-jawed hero, Gabriel Macht's Spirit is a womanizing hard-boiled tough guy who continually soliloquizes about how his city is his "sweetheart," his "plaything," his "love" and "wife."

Bedtime Stories, says Evan Stewart, is exactly what you think it is (plus extra farts!):

Disney is obviously phoning it in this time, throwing in its patented heartstring-pulls whenever the story seems like it's sagging. And mama, this story sags more than a cheap hammock. Is the audience losing interest? Mention the kids' absent father! Is the forced romance between Keri Russell and Mr. Sandler fizzling? Bring up the kids' school being closed by the evil big company! The lazy formula is down pat: The first act makes you happy with the setup, the second act makes you sad with the conflict, and the third act makes you happy again, with a race to save the school and the passionate kiss at the end.

And Jen Graves writes a whole bunch of amazing sentences about The Reader:

When one is not eyeing Winslet's nipples, one is meant to note her pale, wrinkled face—even during the scenes when she is young, sh e (playing a lonely tram conductor) looks exhausted—and her frumpy, frizzy hairstyle. The veneer is of a serious role in a serious film about a serious subject, and this movie is already being talked about as Winslet's first-Oscar vehicle. Yet the movie's most lasting quality is that it is hot. The Reader is an erotic movie about the Holocaust.

Oh, and I have no idea what Concessions is about this week.

Other things you should go see: All About Eve, Escape from New York, Late Bloomer, Day of Wrath, The Godfather, and The Godfather Part II.

Search our complete movie times here.