Todd's movie shorts: ** Australia - pretentious, contrived and long while managing to be engaging, this epic screams EPIC. It is propelled not by its big stars but by a delightful little boy with long hair who has never acted before, according to my wife, but who should now be a bigger star than the ordinary Nicole Kidman (who could respect a woman who was married to Tom Cruise?) and some guy who apparently spends his entire life in the gym so that he can make the cover of People. *** Milk - great acting, but lousy other stuff, as all heterosexual eyes, and perhaps even some gay ones, are left dry when Harvey is murdered. I drifted off at times as the story seemed to lose excitement the longer it went on. Sean Penn, a wonderful actor despite his politics, is amazing, as are most others, but the heavy handed celebration of the gay movement doesn't impact. ***** Slumdog Millionaire - A clever and compelling film that tells the story of a young man's journey out of the ghettos of India in flashbacks triggered by questions he fields as a contestant on his country's version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." If you're not afraid of movies that offer a good love story, great storytelling and drama, and keep you glued to the screen without sex or explosions, this is one not to miss.