Gus Van Sant’s stunning drama may push buttons you didn’t even know you had. Read more

“Milk,” Gus Van Sant’s quasi-documentary biopic about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the United States, should add fuel to the flames ignited by California’s recent ban on gay marriage. Read more>>

“Have bullhorn, will travel”could have been gay civil rights activist Harvey Milk’s mantra, instead of “I’m Harvey Milk — and I’m here to recruit you.”Whatever the rhetoric, Milk’s message was a simple one of respect, equality and hope. Read more

Baz Luhrman’s sweeping romantic adventure is packed to the gills with something for everyone. And, like that wise old adage, this hugely ambitious epic proves, while you can please some of the people some of the time, you can’t please all of them all the time. Read more

In one of the most ambitious, exciting filmmaking feats of the year, Baz Luhrmann has created a compelling, romantic frontier adventure that is, in its weight and grand ambition, on the epic scale of “Gone With the Wind.” Read more

Director/producer/co-writer Baz Luhrmann’s long-awaited film “Australia” plays a bit like an Aussie version of “Gone With the Wind”: lushly beautiful, melodramatically epic and nearly as long as the Civil War. Read more>>

Bigger isn’t better when it comes to Baz Luhrman’s large-scale, over-budget failure Australia. Read more>>

While I rarely issue parental warnings, there’s a scene in this PG-13 holiday-themed romantic comedy in which the verisimilitude of Santa Claus is not only questioned but denied. I’d hate to think parents would inadvertently bring youngsters, only to have them disillusioned in such a crass, tactless way. Read more

AWFJ highlights films made by and about women: Read more

Stephenie Meyer’s path to becoming the worldwide best-selling writer of the “Twilight” series started with a dream. Read more>>