STEPHEN KING'S BEST OF 2007: MOVIES

2. GONE BABY GONE
The second great film to come from a Dennis Lehane novel. What makes this special isn't so much the terrific performances by Casey Affleck (pictured, left), Michelle Monaghan (right), and Ed Harris (center), or the tight script; it's Ben Affleck's smart, heartfelt direction. He puts lower-middle-class Boston on the screen as it really is, and tells a story that could happen in any American city. You call that universality, folks, and it's rare. Particularly in Hollywood.