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Los Angeles Times and Morning Edition film critic Kenneth Turan reviews American Dreamz, directed by Paul Weitz. It stars Hugh Grant as a Simon Cowell-like host of an American Idol knockoff. It's is satire that takes on pop culture and politics.

The film adaptation of Christopher Buckley's 1994 satirical novel Thank You for Smoking is about to hit the big screen. He talks with Liane Hansen about the movie from a smoke-filled bar in Washington, D.C.

The documentary Unknown White Male follows the life of a man who awoke one day at Coney Island with no memory. The film tracks his attempts to get reacquainted with his life and the everyday events he can't remember ever having experienced.

Dave Chappelle's Block Party is a mix of Dave Chappelle's sketch comedy and musical interludes. It's a movie inspired, in part, by the 1973 documentary Wattstax. The movie is a fun mix of music and Chappelle at his best.

Suppose the South had won the Civil War and slavery were still a part of America. Kevin Wilmot's mockumentary Confederate States of America dreams up a world where slaves are bought and sold over the Internet, and the U.S. has a tense relationship with Canada.

Los Angeles Times and Morning Edition film critic Kenneth Turan reviews Thank You For Smoking. It is a satirical film about a super-lobbyist for the tobacco industry.

After a long acting career, Felicity Huffman has received an Oscar nomination for her lead role in the film Transamerica. She also stars in the hit television show Desperate Housewives. Huffman talks with Michele Norris about femininity and motherhood.

Film critic Bob Mondello reviews the DVD release of three classic black films: Hallelujah, Green Pastures and Cabin in the Sky. He says they are interesting, both as history and as works of art.

A new film production of the Charles Dickens novel Bleak House will make its debut on PBS Sunday night. Gillian Anderson, of X-Files fame, plays Lady Honoria Dedlock. She tells Scott Simon about her role.

A Good Woman is based on Oscar Wilde's play Lady Windermere's Fan. But unlike Wilde's play, which is based in Victorian England, the film is set in Italy decades later. Critic Kenneth Turan is worried the story can't survive such a drastic change of scene.