Date: January 9
Location: Clifton Living Room

A sharp, downbeat little film that features two of the best actors working today, The Savages is easy to appreciate but hard to love. Phillip Seymour Hoffman turns in his third award-worthy performance of 2008 as a son dealing with his father’s deteriorating mental health. Laura Linney, as his sister, is equally good in the showier role. These two should be in every movie released — they’re that good. As for the film itself, I respected what it was doing and I found it very real and often quite powerful. But I can’t imagine ever popping it into my DVD player again, and that hurts it a bit in my rankings.