Invictus and Bones’ Reviews Coming Through

Richard Corliss, in a Fall Movie Preview, writes up Invictus admiringly:

If there’s a whiff of colonialism in casting Hollywood stars as renowned South Africans, the actors work hard to find strength and nuance in their roles. Damon, beefed up for the occasion, makes Pienaar a stalwart yet courtly figure. Freeman infuses Mandela’s speeches with the same gentleness and gravity he’s brought to his numerous God roles and the Visa Olympics commercials. But the real deity here is Eastwood, still chugging away handsomely in his 80th year. Who’d have thought that old Dirty Harry would, with Letters from Iwo Jima and Invictus, become America’s prime director of international trauma and triumph?

The TIME Mag preview has a few words on other films, some it’s clear weren’t seen before press time and are really just previews, however Corliss does declare Up in the Air the Best Picture frontrunner.¬† The White Ribbon is also reviewed.

Colin Firth in A Single Man is also praised, “For a gentle man who’s lost his love, solitude has become a life sentence that simply must end. Firth makes that ache subtly, splendidly visible.”

Meanwhile, there are other reviews for The Lovely Bones, both positive, from Drew at Hitfix, and David Poland at MCN.