If such positive reviews continue as a trend, then the latest Clint Eastwood pic puts him back in the Oscar derby as a frontrunner, just like "Million Dollar Baby" (best pic winner) and "Mystic River" (nominee).

Variety and the Hollywood Reporter give "Flags of Our Fathers" rousing huzzahs.

The Reporter notes that the film "does a most difficult and brave thing and does it brilliantly ... It is a movie about a concept ... not just any concept but the shop-worn and often wrong-headed idea of 'heroism.'"

Adds Variety: "Ambitiously tackling his biggest canvas to date, Clint Eastwood continues to defy and triumph over the customary expectations for a film career in 'Flags of Our Fathers.' A pointed exploration of heroism — in its actual and in its trumped-up, officially useful forms — the picture welds a powerful account of the battle of Iwo Jima, the bloodiest single engagement the United States fought in World War II, with an ironic and ultimately sad look at its aftermath for three key survivors. This domestic Paramount release looks to parlay critical acclaim and its director's ever-increasing eminence to strong B.O. returns through the autumn and probably beyond."

Photo: Three soldiers who planted the flag in the famous Iwo Jima photo are "treated like gold-plated heroes everywhere" in the film story, notes Variety.
(Paramount)