The Hot Button
Munich: In Sequence
by David Poland

I've been looking for the best way to engage in a discussion about Munich. What I have found, as I discuss the film with others, is that people end up citing different scenes that have had an impact on them.

So what I decided to do, as a starting point, is to break the film out, sequence by sequence, which I have done for Act One, Act Two and Act Three. In the process of doing this, a lot of the detail work becomes clearer.

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It's Oscartown, Jake
What A Difference A Day Made
by Kristopher Tapley

Or two days, as it were.

Last week the four major guilds from the film industry announced their nominees (the writers, the directors, the producers and the actors). What we are left with are four films that hit the grand slam, including the Screen Actors Guild's Best Performance by an Ensemble, establishing in the minds of many a collectively "definitive" list of shoo-ins for the Oscar's Best Picture line-up.

The Weekend Report
by Leonard Klady

The down and dirty Hostel went for the chills and iced the type of impressive first weekend numbers that more than suggest a second offering will be served. Produced for less than $5 million, it’s an instant profit generator even if the bills still have to be processed.

In the course of compiling the 2005 market share I was reminded of something that I had forgotten. There were no great surprises, though perhaps a small blip, that box office declined by 5.4% rather than 6% or 7% had the year end releases continued to underperform.
Weekend Estimates (Full List)
Top Worldwide Grosses - 2005
Domestic Market Share - 2005

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The Updated Scoreboard
31 new critics.. not a single move up or down in the top 16. Brokeback Mountain extends lead... all nine Best Picture candidates in Top 19

The Big Scoreboard Of Bad
Stealth exposed in the Worst Of Year Scoreboard.

The Top Twenty: Batman Flies Into The Top Twenty

The Scoreboard At A Glace
Critics Awards, Top Tens And The Gurus All In A Row

The Individual Lists
The List of Critics
The Worst
Critics Awards Scoreboard

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Digital Nation
The Consumer
Electronics Show
by Gary Dretzka

After eight years of spectacular growth, the sky-rocketing business of renting and selling DVD products has cooled its jets and made a soft-landing back on Earth. In its annual state-of-the-industry report, issued over hors d'oeuvres Thursday night in a Bellagio Hotel ballroom, the Digital Entertainment Group announced that consumer spending for DVDs was up merely 8 percent from last year’s numbers.

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20 Weeks To Oscar
"My Sister... My Daughter... My Sister... My Daughter... She's My Sister AND My Daughter!!!!"
by David Poland

You know the teacups at Disneyland? They look tame, but there isn't a ride in the park more likely to make you (or your mom) throw up? Welcome (yet again) to Oscar season 2005/6.

With Brokeback as pretty much the only lock for a Best Picture nomination right now, the mountain that I'm thinking most about is Cold Mountain. As in, will Munich be this year's Cold Mountain?

The Oscar Chart Quiz
1. The perfectly measured cocktail.
2. Veteran power.
4. The closest thing to a commercial favorite...
3. Will they embrace the former TV actor doing a tribute to TV?

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Passive or Active Tense,
and Other Conundrums:
The Best Films of 2005
by Robert Koehler

Like so much else that thinks of itself as writing about film, the most misdirected stream of commentary in 2005 was devoted to the supposed collapse of the moviegoing audience, layered with various helpings of sturm und drang about where “they” have all gone. I was struck at not just how this trendy topic utterly missed the problem, but that missing the problem -- or failing to notice -- characterizes so much film writing and what passes for reviewing right now.

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Best Picture
Best Director
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay

Crash rises... Geisha falls... Gurus see Cronenberg, Jackson, Meirelles fighting for last directing slots... Surprised by Virgin WGA nod...

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The Ultimate DVD Geek
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
by Doug Pratt

there is nothing dumb about Revenge of the Sith. There are annoying cheats and cribs that Lucas employs to fit his stories together, but the Machiavellian conflicts and emotional flaws of the characters are valid and thoughtful, and big blockbuster films have been constructed around much less. The film's spectacle, on the other hand, is utterly enthralling from its first image to its last. You can freeze almost any frame on the DVD and marvel at the scientifically-based fantasy architecture, engineering, biology, and so on.
The Ten Best Of 2005

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Updated throughout the day
Updated: 9:41 pm

The People Have Spoken
The People's Choice Award Winners

Want To Be In A Movie, Little Girl?

Crashing The Image Awards

Another Day, Another Unknown Filmmaker Who May Find Success At A Festival

Rotten Tomatoes Golden Tomato Award Goes To Good Night, And Good Dog

Army Archerd Talks To Terrence Howard About Being Thurgood Marshall

E! Gives The Most Thorough Coverage Of Mr Blackwell's List

Patrick Grades Studios On The Goldstein Curve.. Reasserts Many Box Office Myths That The Media So Loves

Heath Ledger - "I heard a while ago that West Virginia was going to ban it. But that's a state that was lynching people only 25 years ago, so that's to be expected."
And Washington Post - "The last two reported lynchings occurred on Dec. 10, 1931, in Lewisburg, W.Va."

Corliss Gets Worked Up About Four 2005 Performances... 4 Supporting, 2 Leads

AMPAS Announces The Oscars For Scientific and Technical Achievements

The Very Ordinary Eric Bana

Nominations From The Online Film Critics

"No musical numbers. No, really. Seriously." And 14 Other Suggestions For Oscar

The BFCA Critics Choice Awards
Brokeback, Witherspoon, Hoffman, Crash
Scoreboard Update

Academy Sets Seven For Squeal Off For Sound Editing?

If You Can't Negotiate In The Press, What's The Point In Having A Press?
Lesher ParaMentals His Most Excellent Megan Colligan Hire For PC, Publicly Announcing The May '06 Hire In January, Hoping Peter Rice Will Blink, Cut Colligan Loose Early

Is Last Holiday Really Food Network: The Motion Picture

"I regard myself as a Chinese filmmaker. I just happen to be white. Or pink, actually."

Tonight In LA - The Critics Choice Awards, Live On The WB... Who Will Win? Who Will Show? Who Will Dennis Miller Insult?

We're Queens, Light's Green, Get Used To It

Indie Bubbles Over

The Reeler Goes To NYFCC Awards... Lots Of Rose Stemming All Around

Roger Ebert Takes on Scott Foundas Over Crash

It's Crash For The Chicago Film Critics
The Awards Lists So Far

Kong, Narnia, Potter & Star Wars Vie For The Visual Effects Awards

Making Wong Kar-Wai Look Good

Going To The Movies With Your Favorite Drill Instructor

Movies Featuring Fake Products For Sale

The Hard Life Of Stage Dogs

Terrorism + Democracy = Peru

Quiz: Do You Know Your Woody Allen?

St. Louis Gateway Critics Go For Brokeback .. And Wedding Crashers

Emanuel Levy Goes To Palm Springs, Sees Stars

MerMarr Reports That George Soros May Be The DreamWorks Library Buyer

All Joking Aside, A Key Win For Capote's Oscar Nomination Possibilities
The NSFC (Not The Nearly-Forgotten Society Of Film Critics... But Close This Year) Goes Capote, Hoffman, Witherspoon
But Why Is It That Capote Was Ranked So Low Or Not At All On So Many Of The Voters' Top Ten Lists?
And - Tom O'Neil Gets The Voting Details From The NSFC Exec Director
And -The Updated Scoreboard

Happy Musical News
As Confirmed By MCN Sources As Well, Tim Burton Back On Board Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, With Johnny Depp As The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

Brokeback Curious
Screen Count Projection For BBM On Thursday At 483
Screen Count Actual On Friday Counted As 398 By Leonard Klady
Salt Lake City Theater De-Books BBM, Apparently, Mid-Week
Discuss The Box Office On The Blog

Joe Morgenstern Goes To The Pixar Exhibit

The Future Of TV On Demand

The Sunday Times
Pushing A Filmmaker With No Commercial (Or Sundance) Acceptance
Two Sons Of Francisco... Oscar Bait In America, Smash Hit In Brazil

Heath Ledger Finds Ennis Del Mar
"I wanted the light to be too bright for him and the world to be too loud."

The Professional Projectionist: A Dying Breed

Jim Emerson Rounds Up The Round-Ups Of The Round-Ups

Trouble For Bloodrayne Or Just Growing Pains For A New Distributor?

In The Land Of Irony, The Art Director Of Good Night, And Good Luck, Apparently Uncontacted Before The Paper oF Record Ran A Story About Her Alleged Mistake, Contacts A Blogger To Get A Correction
Earlier - Obsessing On Typefaces At The Movies

The First Great Movie Story Of 2006
Wal-Mart Scraps Computerized DVD Suggestion System That Pushed Planet Of The Apes To People Searching Martin Luther King, Jr.
Talk About It

Sundance Goes To Brooklyn

Gene Shalit (aka The Voice Of The Right Wing) Under Attack For Calling Brokeback Lover A Sexual Predator

Anne Thompson On The Slow And Steady Route To Oscar

David Poland Looks Forward To Sundance

Tom Hanks Rolled Out At Consumer Electronics Show

Breakfast On Pluto With Cillian Murphy
"I swapped notes with Gael Garcia Bernal. He told me, 'Wax, don't pluck.' But I plucked"

George A. Romero Talks About The Tales Of Hoffmann

Flying The Unfriendly Skies Of 9/11 In The Trailer For Flight 93

Sam Mendes Takes The Ollie Stone Route... Blames Stupid Americans For The Failure Of His Award Bait Movie

USA Today On The Jon Stewart Hire

Paramount Round-Up
indieWIRE Breaks Amy Israel To Acquisitions Post For Par Classics
Expect Megan Colligan For Publicity Announced In Next Days, Though She Is Still Scheduled To Be In Park City For Searchlight
And - Most Recent Word Is That Terry Press Will, Indeed, Stay At DW Animation, Oversee Oscar Campaigns For Ongoing DW Product
Plus - Possible Shift Of DW/WB Partnered Eastwood Film Flags Of Our Fathers To WB For Domestic Release

Wacky Awards Season Piece Du Jour
USA Today compares Kong & Brokeback

Discuss The Guild Nominations On The Blog