Doubt (2008) Rated PG-13. Directed by John Patrick Shanley. Starring Meryll Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Set at a Catholic school in the Bronx, it centers on a nun who grows suspicious when a priest begins taking too much interest in the life of a young black student. Is she being overly protective or not protective enough? And can she work within the system to discover the truth? 104 mins.

Revolutionary Road (2008) Rated R. Directed by Sam Mendes. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett. It's 1955. Frank and April Wheeler have fallen into a life that appears to most as being perfect. But April has forgone her dream of becoming an actress, and Frank hates his job - one where he places little effort - although he has never figured out what his passion in life is. One day, April suggests that they move to Paris - a city where Frank visited during the war and loved, but where April has never been - as a means to rejuvenate their life. April's plan: she would be the breadwinner, while Frank would have free time to find himself and whatever his passion. Initially skeptical, Frank ultimately agrees to April's plan. When circumstances change around the Wheelers, April decides she will do whatever she has to to get herself out of her unhappy existence. 119 mins.

Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) Rated PG-13. Directed by David Fincher. Starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. On the day that Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans, elderly Daisy Williams (nee Fuller) is on her deathbed in a New Orleans hospital. At her side is her adult daughter, Caroline. Daisy asks Caroline to read to her aloud the diary of Daisy's lifelong friend, Benjamin Button. Benjamin's diary recounts his entire extraordinary life, the primary unusual aspect of which was his aging backwards, being diagnosed with several aging diseases at birth and thus given little chance of survival, but who does survive and gets younger with time. 166 mins.

Defiance (2008) Rated R. Directed by Edward Zwick. Starring Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell. Jewish brothers in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe escape into the Belorussian forests, where they join Russian resistance fighters and endeavor to build a village in order to protect themselves and about 1,000 Jewish non-combatants. 137 mins.

Milk (2008) Rated R. Directed by Gus Van Sant. Starring Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch and Josh Brolin. This film traces Harvey Milk’s career from his 40th birthday to his death as he leaves “the closet” and New York to open a camera shop that becomes the salon for San Francisco’s growing gay community. Milk organizes gays’ purchasing power to build political alliances, and runs for office with lover Scott Smith as his compaign manager. Victory finally comes on the same day Dan White wins in the city’s conservative district. The rest of the film sketches Milk’s relationship with White and the 1978 fight against a statewide initiative to bar gays and their supporters from public school jobs. 128 mins.

Gran Torino (2008) Rated R. Directed by Clint Eastwood. Starring Clint Eastwood and Christopher Carley. Walt Kowalski is a widower who holds onto his prejudices despite the changes in his Michigan neighborhood and the world around him. Kowalski is a grumpy, tough-minded, unhappy an old man, who can't get along with either his kids or his neighbors, a Korean War veteran whose prize possession is a 1972 Gran Torino he keeps in mint condition. When his neighbor Thao, a young Hmong teenager under pressure from his gang member cousin, tries to steal his Gran Torino, Kowalski sets out to reform the youth. Drawn against his will into the life of Thao's family, Kowalski is soon taking steps to protect them from the gangs that infest their neighborhood. 116 mins.

The Reader (2008) Rated R. Directed by Clint Eastwood. Starring Clint Eastwood and Christopher Carley. Walt Kowalski is a widower who holds onto his prejudices despite the changes in his Michigan neighborhood and the world around him. Kowalski is a grumpy, tough-minded, unhappy an old man, who can't get along with either his kids or his neighbors, a Korean War veteran whose prize possession is a 1972 Gran Torino he keeps in mint condition. When his neighbor Thao, a young Hmong teenager under pressure from his gang member cousin, tries to steal his Gran Torino, Kowalski sets out to reform the youth. Drawn against his will into the life of Thao's family, Kowalski is soon taking steps to protect them from the gangs that infest their neighborhood. 116 mins.

The Wrestler (2008) Rated R. Directed by Darren Aronofsky. Starring Mickey Rourke and Marissa Tomei. A drama centered on retired professional wrestler Randy “The Ram” Robinson as he makes his way through the independent circuit, trying to get back in the game for one final showdown with his former rival. 115 mins.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) Rated R. Directed by Danny Boyle. Starring Dev Patel and Anil Kapoor. A Mumbai teen who grew up in the slums, becomes a contestant on the Indian version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers. 120 mins.

Australia (2008) Rated PG-13. Directed by Baz Luhrmann. Starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. In northern Australia at the beginning of World War II, an English aristocrat inherits a cattle station the size of Maryland. When English cattle barons plot to take her land, she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn stock-man to drive 2,000 head of cattle across hundreds of miles of the country's most unforgiving land, only to still face the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by the Japanese forces that had attacked Pearl Harbor only months earlier. 165 mins.(20