NOW’s annual Holiday Movie Special is on the stands, and my cover interview with Inherent Vice‘s Joaquin Phoenix is a particular point of pride; we spent months getting everything lined up, and after all the negotiating it was just a pleasure to  talk to the guy.

I also get to nudge our readers to a few movies they might not otherwise see in a Top Five list of his finest performances — yeah, they probably know about Walk the Line, but We Own the Night and Two Lovers can always use a boost. 

Oh, and the issue also features an interview with director Rupert Wyatt, who moves from Rise of the Planet of the Apes to The Gambler. I wish I’d had time to ask whether he and Mark Wahlberg ever discussed Tim Burton’s Apes movie on the set, just to break the tension.