Letters from Iwo Jima: Clint Eastwood sets the mood beautifully in this war film, with (his own) simple, delicate score and great all-around acting from the cast, in particular from the two central actors, Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya. The classic, linear structure and the respectful, balanced tone were good choices to tell the story, furthering the themes. Tom Stern, once more, shoots this film beautifully, but the color palette (excessively cold and desaturated, for the most part) is distracting.

Read also: Flags of Our Fathers