by Roger Ebert Hold me, and make it the truth... That when all is lost there will be you. Cause to the universe I don't mean a thing And there's just one word that I still believe and it's Love... love. love. love. love. --"Love Boat Captain," Pearl Jam "Song Sung Blue" tells a love story about two people who are apart only three days after 1989, who love each other in good times and in bad, and whose romance blossoms in shabby bars, smoky clubs and, once, in front of 30,000 people. Their names are Mike and Claire Sardina. If you're from Milwaukee, you oughta know them. They performed under the name "Lightning & Thunder," and were famous enough locally that they sold out their bookings. When they had troubles it made every local TV news show. And they had troubles. Who else do you know who had two out-of-control cars run into their house in four years?

A. I saw "Synecdoche, New York" at the Austin (Texas) Film Festival, and I of course loved it. But little did I know that Charlie Kaufman would be answering questions. So of course I had to ask one, but I messed up my wording. And he said, gasp, "I don't understand what you mean." I had such a weird feeling of regret because I think maybe someone who had a good, sensible question didn't get the chance to ask it. Should I be proud that I confused the writer of "SNY"? The question I wanted to ask him is whether his writing is carefully planned, or if he lets the writing take him wherever it wants. Stefan Gillson, Hungerford, Texas A. As a serious writer, he would no doubt refuse to answer that question. So I will helpfully answer for him: He starts with the need to work. About "SNY," he has revealed, "Originally Spike Jonze and I were approached to do a horror movie." He stares into space. He solves a Rubik's cube with one hand behind his back. That inspires a plot. He visualizes some characters swooping in circles around that plot, wearing Jet Packs. They all look like Philip Seymour Hoffman or Catherine Keener. Then Kaufman starts writing hard as hell with no idea about where he is going, like an American who won't use a map in Hyderabad. He arrives somewhere. He parks his computer and strolls around a little to see where he is. He discovers some intriguing curiosities. He takes a taxi back to where he started from. He drives his wife, Denise, and their kids crazy by complaining he is a failure, he is almost 50, his hair isn't as curly as it used to be, he doesn't know what the hell he's doing and he thinks he should barbecue a chilled shrimp with his screenplay. Denise says, "Charlie, if you don't know what you're doing, I certainly don't know what you're doing. Why don't you go bother your twin brother, Donald? You're good at that." Charlie flies off to a film festival. This festival could be in hell and it would be an improvement. When he returns home he loads up his computer and tries to retrace his steps knowing what he knows now. He starts writing like hell again, arranging and changing, placing carefully there a strange thing and a known thing here. He crashes into a wall. When he regains consciousness, he is amazed to find there have been no injuries and during the blackout he has discovered a miraculous somewhere he has never traveled, gladly beyond any experience, "where your eyes," he tells Denise, "have their silence." Then he sends the screenplay in to Harold Ramis' agent.

"A Christmas Tale" (Unrated, mature audiences, 151 minutes) Catherine Deneuve stars as a woman dying of liver cancer and considering a bone marrow transplant which could also kill her. At Christmas there's a reunion with her large family, including some who are possible donors. Her her serenity prevents the film from being a procession into dirgeland, and in fact director Arnaud Desplechin sometimes works with a wink. Rating: Three and a half stars.

By Roger Ebert If you’re a vampire, it’s all about you. Why is Edward Cullen obsessed to the point of erotomania by Bella Swan? Because she smells so yummy, but he doesn’t want to kill her. Here’s what he tells her: He must not be around her. He might sink his fangs in just a little, and not be able to stop. She finds this overwhelmingly attractive. She tells him he is the most beautiful thing she has ever seen. I don’t remember Edward ever saying that to her. Maybe once. He keeps on saying they should stay far, far apart, because he craves her so much.

by Roger Ebert My respect for Garrison Keillor is unbounded, so I hope he will forgive me for this admission. Preparing to watch Robert Altman's "A Prairie Home Companion" again, I unconsciously found myself picturing Altman as the host of the radio show, instead of Keillor. The film is a loving evocation of the program, and also, I believe, a farewell of sorts from Altman. Both this film and the one that preceded it, "The Company," reflect his collaborative, elusive, almost telepathic style of directing.

"Quantum of Solace" (PG-13, 105 minutes). A disappointment. No Q, no Miss Moneypenny, no suave and seductive James Bond, and a Bond Girl under-named...Camille. The evil villain's globe-threatening scheme is to control the water supply in...Bolivia. Daniel Craig is handsome, agile, muscular, dangerous. Everything but Bond, who has been replaced by an Identikit action hero mixed in with incomprehensible CGI. Rating: Two stars.

"Ashes of Time Redux" (R, 93 minutes). First released in 1994, now reduxed. I didn't see the first version, which the director considered unfinished, requiring 14 years of additional thought. Murk medieval swordfight and romance epic, gorgeous to look at. Not the equal of Wong Kar-Wei's best work like "In the Mood for Love," despite his revisions. Rating: Two stars.

"JCVD" (R, 92 minutes). The Muscles from Brussels trashes his career, his personal life, his martial arts skills, his financial stability and his image, playing himself trapped in a misunderstood hostage crisis. It will be hard to believe Jean-Claude Van Damme as a Universal Soldier ever again. On the other hand, it will be easier to like him. Rating: Two and a half stars.

"Let the Right One In" (R, 114 minutes). A disturbing story of two lonely and disturbed Swedish 12-year-olds, one of whom is a vampire and has been 12 for a very long time. Dark, bloody, despairing, sometimes faintly funny. Takes vampires as seriously as the "Nosferatu" of your choice. Rating: Three and a half stars

by Roger Ebert I've sort of known Bonnie Hunt for awhile, from Second City and here and there, and I really like her. She's funny, direct, down to earth, and has real feelings. What you see is what you get. She's one of seven kids from an Irish Catholic family in Chicago and hasn't missed a home opener at Wrigley Field since 1977.

"Slumdog Millionaire" (R, 116 minutes). Bridges the two Indias, cutting between poverty and the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." The story of an orphan from born into a brutal early existence. A petty thief, impostor and survivor, he improvises his way up through the world and remembers everything he has learned. A miraculous entertainment by Danny Boyle, winner of the Audience Award at Toronto 2008. Rating: Four stars.

Virginia Madsen played the significant role of the Angel of Death, named "The Dangerous Woman," in Robert Altman's last film, "A Prairie Home Companion." She wrote down these memories at my request. Altman died on Nov. 20, 2006. I was still in intensive care, and Chaz withheld the news from me. Did Bob guess how near the end was? He was a very intelligent man, a realist, with leukemia and a heart transplant from 11 years earlier. By Virginia Madsen Working with Robert Altman was one of the most fulfilling experiences I have ever had. Each day on "A Prairie Home Companion," I would come to work at call time, get half-way ready with make-up and hair and just sit next to Bob or hang out watching Lily and Meryl, or the guys singing with the band in between takes, and wait to see if he needed me.

Frank Cottrell Boyce's teleplay "God On Trial" plays on PBS at 8 p.m. CST Sunday, Nov. 9, and will repeat. It's based on the true story of Auschwitz prisoners weighing the case against God. I met Frank online in the 1980s in my old CompuServe forum. He was in his 20s. Now he has become a leading British screenwriter. His credits follow this piece. After reading my blog "Roger's little rule book," he sent this article that appeared in the Guardian on June 30, 2008.

"Lola Montes" (Unrated, 110 minutes). Story of "the Most Scandalous Woman in the World," the mistress of Franz Liszt and King Ludwig of Bavaria, of students and artists, of soldiers and ringmasters. In in a New Orleans circus, she stars in a review of her sensational career. Peter Ustinov, the ringmaster, narrates her past as Lola revolves on a platform. Directed by Max Ophuls, badly cut at the time of its 1955 release, now complete for the first time according to his wishes, and restored in breathtaking color. Rating: Three and a half stars.

I just don’t believe a man who kills for a living doesn’t have nightmares. --Daniel Craig by Roger Ebert He is more analytical about James Bond than the other Bonds I've met. The earlier 007s spent a lot of time thinking about him as a character, but Daniel Craig approaches him as a comforting concept in an uncertain world. He asks himself, as some of the Batman actors have started to do, what it might be like for a real man to live the life of a fantasy hero.

Q. Richard Dreyfuss, who portrays Vice President Cheney in Oliver Stone's "W," appeared on "The View" and said he didn't like working with Stone, although their politics are similar. He was quoted: "You can be a fascist even when you're on the left." Do you agree? Eric Robert Wilkinson, Seattle A. I think he was trying to overload Elisabeth Hasselbeck's circuitry and force her into shutdown mode.

"Late Bloomer" (Unrated, intended for mature audiences. 83 minutes). Painful Japanese drama that's ever so much more than its billing as a thriller/horror film. About the pent-up rage and frustration within a man who has muscular dystrophy, and becomes alarming. Shot in contrasty b&w, slo-mo, fast-mo, with sometimes jagged cutting and sometimes an erratic hand-held camera that suggests the jerky way Sumida must view the world. Written, directed by Go Shibata. Rating; Three and a half stars

"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" (PG-13, 94 minutes). Bruno (Asa Butterfield) is an 8-year-old growing up in Berlin, circa 1940. His dad (David Thewlis) is a Nazi official. One day Bruno gets the unwelcome news that his dad has a new job, and they will all be moving to the country. There he finds a puzzling farm where the workers all wear striped pajamas, and makes a friend his age on the other side of a barbed wire fence. A heartbreaking story, a small tragedy wrapped within an immense one. Do not discuss the details with anyone Rating: Three and a half stars.

"Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" (PG, 88 minutes.). Same character, same challenge: Can wild animals survive in the wild? Our heroes tape together a crashed airplane and try to fly it home, but end up dealing with volcanos and drought. Brighter and funnier than the original. Rating: Three stars.

"Role Models" (R, 99 minutes). The kind of movie you don't see every day, a comedy that is actually funny. Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott play teammates who drive a super truck from school to school, touting a Jolt-like energy drink. They get into trouble, are sentenced to community service, and assigned two problem kids (terrific performances by Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Bobb'e J. Thompson). Rating: Three stars.