The boost developers mailing list recently discussed the differences between reinterpret_cast<> and static_cast<> C++ casting operators.
The general consensus is that reinterpret_cast<> provides virtually no guarantees, does not have portable behavior and should only be used when you are trying to perform a cast that you should basically not be performing in the first place. The only legitimate use for reinterpret_cast<> seems to be converting between integral types and back, for instance, from a char * to an int and back to a char *. static_cast<> should be used for virtually anything that dynamic_cast<> and const_cast<> cannot do.
