Does the term "talkfest" put you off a film? Well, I'll be honest: this is a talkfest. On the other hand, the talkers are A-list monologue-spinners (Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise... yes, dammit, Tom Cruise; he has improved as an actor since Cocktail, you know), and I found that the hour-and-a half flies by.Essentially we pass from location to location and eavesdrop on what's going on: a desolate part of Afghanistan (not that there's any other kind of part is there?) where a handful of American soldiers are planning a new kind of assault; the office of one of the high-ups (Cruise) in Washington who's ultimately behind the new military tactics, selling them to a not-quite-sure-why-she's-so-sceptical journalist (Streep); and the office of a professor at Berkeley (Redford), who ((ndash)) it turns out ((ndash)) taught two of the soldiers we'd seen earlier.I have a theory that it makes no difference whatever what we choose to screen on our first Tuesday of the year: exactly the same modest number of ANUFG regulars will come to see it, regardless. So I won't waste time trying to convince you to come. I believe I've described the film accurately. I mentioned that I liked it. My duty is done.