World Trade Center

Any three-hour movie needs to hook in and not let go, and the 'controversial' Mr. Oliver Stone usually delivers epics fitting of the extra silver. Rather than the anticipated personal Stone take on terrorism, capitalism and their juncture, 'WTC' is explicitly conventional hero drama. Reality gets more screen time here than most 'reality-based' films do with the agonising, slow ordeal of two NYC cops McLoughlin (Cage) and Jimeno (Pena) being portrayed with the actual men's blessing and oversight (both listed with writing credits along with their wives). For agonizing stretches the need to reach out and brush some caked-on debris from their faces gets terribly unbearable. Though five years gone, reinvigorating the public empathy feels worn out. Sure it's weird to get a blunt homage from Stone in place of history rewritten, but how satisfying too. In the new era's wake of endless talk and politics without leadership, heroic moments are refreshing, no matter how schmaltzy. [David Winton]