If Alexander Payne's The Descendants is as good as it's purported to be, a mixture of humor and pathos that is the director's stock in trade then I'm calling it right now, it will be down to the wire between this and The Artist come Sunday February 26. 

 

Granted, I'm making this bold assertion on the basis of a couple of trailers and a handful of clips from both movies. I have yet to see the full length version of either one and lord knows it's possible that the best bits are in the trailers. There are, however, a lot of people who have seen both films, since they've both been traveling the festival circuit for the past few months.  I'm a fan of Payne's films (Election, About Schmidt, Sideways) and I have high hopes for The Descendants, plus who doesn't love George Clooney? He plays Matt King, an indifferent husband and father who has to reconnect with his two daughters after his wife suffers a tragic accident. At the same time he has to decide whether or not to sell his family's land that had been handed down from Hawaiian royalty and missionaries. I can't wait to see it when it opens November 18 in the US (although not until 27 January in the UK)