Entertainment weekly.

The Hurt Locker: Easily the best movie I've seen since starting this blog. Kathryn Bigelow refuses to direct to the cheap seats, vigilantly patrolling the borders of the story lest it trend toward the melodramatic. Her direction strips away any and all distraction, focusing your attention solely on the work these soldiers do. She has no sweeping political statement with which to slap you across the face, merely the reality of these men and this war. It's a spare film, yet Bigelow employs her tools with expertise; you don't need to know the back-story (the film's one weakness - Evangeline Lilly), or see a stream of tears, to know these characters daily walk a knife's edge. I love this movie the way I love Children of Men, which is to say, a lot.

Let the Great World Spin: A good book that held me captive until the final two sections, when it veered dangerously close to contrived Crash territory. The need for all the narratives to intersect hit a nerve; I had trouble believing in such staggering coincidence. The writing, however, is wonderful; each section maintains a distinct voice and personality whether McCann writes in first or third person - Clare, Tilly, Lara, Corrigan, and Solomon all exist as clear, distinct people. I would have enjoyed it more if McCann had left things a little messier, but its strengths far outweigh its weakness.