In brief: Frost/Nixon

(Let's forget about everything else, shall we?)

Taut and suspenseful; unexpected from Ron Howard, especially after I yawned and player-hated my way through A Beautiful Mind and avoided The Da Vinci Code like the plague. The film was one-sided, though, and Nixon is an easy target to vilify. But I didn't know the outcome of these famous interviews, and it played much more exciting than something predictable like Slumdog Millionaire.

And did I mention great cinematography? Because there was great cinematography (by relative newcomer, albeit three-Ron-Howard-film-collaborator Salvatore Totino). In particular: Frost and Nixon in their chairs for the interview, the light changing as the television cameras roll, the backgrounds disappearing and isolating the two men in a sea of black and, in a few spare shots, showing the onlooking crew in silhouette, watching as shadow-ghosts as the two joust through the interview.