The Gurus offer their first impressions in all the categories... and if this holds up, it's going to be a very predictable night in most of the top categories... Page One Page Two

20 Weeks To Oscar:
Nominations Morning
I Hear You Knocking...
But It's Time To Kick The Door Down Or Just Shut Up
by David Poland

Another big advantage for Brokeback Mountain in the Best Picture race… it will be the highest grosser of all five BP nominees as of some time this week.

Brokeback has to be the presumptive favorite, but I am still of the belief that a strong Phase II campaign for Munich can score the Pianist-style upset, though in Best Picture and Director and not in Best Actor (where it's not nominated).

In the absence of a full-blown push by Universal, the strongest contender to upset Brokeback Mountain will be Crash. Lionsgate will NOT give up on this movie ever again.

_________________________

It's Oscartown, Jake
Veni, Vici, Vhatever
by Kristopher Tapley

The single greatest moment of the morning for this viewer was hearing Terrence Howard's name mentioned in the short list of Best Actor contenders for his ground-shattering performance in Hustle & Flow. He has held the stage like no other this season and has obviously wanted it. Well, he got it…and I dare say if anyone has the strength to muscle past Philip Seymour Hoffman's potential early peak, it's a pimp from Memphis

_________________________

Very Few Surprises
In Oscar Nominations

Brokeback Mountain leads with 8 nominations... Crash with 6... Munich pulls out 5 including
Picture/Director/Screenplay.... Terrence Howard grabs a Hustle & Flow nom... Star Wars shockingly left out of EFX category
Full List
By The Numbers
By Film
Fact Sheets
Reactions
Discuss The Nominations

Sundance: Status Kuo
Episode Sixteen: Al Gore: Man of the People (quicktime)

Episode Fifteen: The Annual Slamdance/Sundance Sledding Competition
Ride the wild snow with the filmmakers in the fifth year of the one-sided tradition

Episode Fourteen: Wristcutters: A Love Story
Wristcutting with Shannon Sossamon & Director Goran Dukic

Episodes 1-15

10 Days Of Sundance
It's STILL About The Movies, Stupid .. Part 2
by David Poland

The movie line-up at Sundance is very much like the indie business… confused. There was a lot of self-awareness out there, but not a lot of inspired audaciousness. There are always one or two great movies that Sundance misses in the massive work of sifting through primarily original, unrepresented material out there. But, all things considered, it is always a good bet that we had the chance to see most of the best of what is new out there in this year's 10 days in Park City. And sure, Ken Turan had to change his cell number when Paris Hilton refused to stop calling, but that was the exception to the rule. The hype was more a side dish than since the early days.
It's STILL About The Movies, Stupid .. Part 1

Also...
MCN's Sundance Video Collection
MCIndie Photo Blogs An Exit
The Reeler Writes His Way Out Of Park City
___________________________

The Weekend Report
by Leonard Klady

Weekend movie going was dominated by a couple of unusual females as the debuts of Big Momma’s House 2 and Nanny McPhee ranked first and second in box office sales with respective estimates of $27.4 million and $14 million. There was also a passable national bow for the military romance Annapolis and good limited bows for the Imax formatted Roving Mars and the Brit import Tristram Shandy. However, there was no discernable pop for The Bubble.
Weekend Estimates (Full List)
Domestic Market Share

________________________

The Reeler
Another Thursday At Sundance
by ST VanAirsdale

I should have more to show for Thursday, I know, but this place is totally starting to depress me. There's just too much space and fewer and fewer people want to be here and my ghetto Internet hook-up at Reeler HQ West makes posting about as pleasurable an experience as circumcision. The parties become insufferable; the oily Hollywood douchebags scurry through the snow like rats. And when Jeff Lipsky's ham-fisted Flannel Pajamas turned out to be the only New York feature I could catch all day, my spirit crashed somewhat violently and I wound up having to watch two hours of C-Span just to help flush the immediate memory.

MCN DVD Wrap-Up
Junebug

It isn't often that so much heat is drawn to an independent movie as intellectually challenging and commercially fragile as "Junebug. More >

Mutiny City News: Revenge came in the form of a precocious redhead named Amy Adams.

The Hot Button: I must say this movie has grown on me, starting even as I watched it. Amy Adams gives a home run performance that stays just this side of impossibly cloying.

Plus: All Souls Day, The Aristocrats, Chan is Missing, Cisco Pike, Dallas, Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, Educating Rita, Flightplan, Grizzly Man, Junebug, Lois & Clark, Lord of War, Missing, My Date with Drew, Oliver Twist, Partner(s), Puppetmaster vs. Demonic Toys, Sueno, The Tomorrow Show: Punk and New Wave, Thumbsucker, Two for the Money

Updated throughout the day
Updated: 11:46 am

Paramount Confirms Close Of DW Deal... Couches Story In Imminent Sale Of Library, Which Is The Biggest Danger To Viacoom Stock Price
Yesterday - The Fact : The DreamAmount Deal Closed On Tuesday
The Rumor Wednesday Will Be A Major Pink Slip Day At Paramount, Led By Hits In Marketing & Distribution

The Omen, Which Will Be Released On 6-6-06, But Is Not Called Omen 666 (Or Pennsylvania 6-5000) Has A Teaser Trailer... And When We Say "Tease," We Mean That If You Watch It Your Soul Will Be Eternally Damned

Louis Lumenickus III Says Goodbye To Yet Another Landmark NY Theater (That Has Been Kinda Stanky In Recent Years)

Mathews Handicaps The Oscar Race

The Bagger Breaks Down The Top Categories

Canada's Dry Joy For Crash

A Fine Occar Whine From The NY Observer

Oscar Noms From The Brit View

Why L.A. Doesn't Have Natascha McElhone To Kick Around (Or Stare At) Anymore

If You Went To A Doc Fest In Tahiti, Would You Make It to The Theater?

The Woz On Clooney's Triple Crowning

USC Professor Larry Gross Digs Into The "Year Of The Queer"

More Reactions To Oscar
"Brokeback is going to go all the way, I think. And how could you feel badly about that, being in the company of all these wonderful films this year?"

Digging Into The Powerful Draw of Brokeback Mountain For Some Gay Men

Which Critics Group Is The Best Oscar Predictor Of Them All?

Eugene Hernandez Talks To The Nominated Bossmen

Thelma Adams On The Oscar Snubs

MCN Respectfully Acknowledges The Passing Of Coretta Scott King... A More Important Story Than The Oscars, Even In The Movie City

Rick Sands, Who Claimed To Be Leaving DreamWorks Because He Wanted To Work For A True Independent Tops Expectations.. Becomes COO For A Company So Independent It No Longer Exists, MGM

The Carpetbagger SAGs

Anne Thompson Calls Out Todd McCarthy For Sundance Whining

Tourists Chase Brokeback Mountain In Wyoming... But It's In Canada

A Real Life Intimate Of One Of The Men Killed In Munich Speaks Out Down Under

Julia Roberts' Draws 'Em To Broadway

Peter Howell's Sundance Blog Well Worth A Look

The First Ever Feature Length Movie Made With Cell Phone Cameras Only Wraps

Passings
Breakthrough Video Artist Nam June Paik Digitizes At 73
Carrie Rickey Says Goodbye To Fayard Nicholas
Wendy Wasserstein Passes At 55

Golden Rasperries Catch Awards Season Disease Of Nominating For Attention Instead Of Quality... Well, In This Case, Instead Of Crappiness

Reuters Mistakes Israeli Passive Aggression On Munich For Critical Thinking

The Reeler Flees Sundance

The Indie Stars Of Sundance

Daniel Gross On The Threat Of A Steve Jobs Iger Sanction

Will Geisha Get Into China?

SAG Awards
Ensemble - Crash
Lead Actor - Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Lead Actress - Reese Witherspoon
Supporting Actor - Paul Giamatti
Supporting Actress - Rachel Weisz
The Complete List, Including TV

Newsweek Does Its Anual Presumptive Directors Roundtable

Disney's Only Been Doing It For A Decade
The Media Once Again Mistakes Good Marketing Of High-Profile, Micro-Budget Direct-To-DVD Biz For An Anti-Theatrical Trend

Anne Thompson Wraps Sundance In Her Blog

Using Digital Filmmaking To Preserve Personal Dignity And Integrity

The Last Stand of The X-Men?

Ang Lee Wins DGA For Brokeback Mountain... Werner Herzog Wins DGA's Best Documentary Director For Grizzly Man

For The First Time, The Audience And Jury Agree On The Drama And Doc Awards
God Grew Tired Of Us And Quinceanera Take Top Awards At Sundance
And - Watch The Star Of GGT Tell The Story Of The $25,000 Donor
Plus - Quinceaneraa Llikely To Land With Picturehouse
And For Adults Only - A Look At The Previous Work Of The Quinceaneraa Co-Director

"I'd like to thank the Academy for the big box office boost we're going to get. It truly is an honor just to be nominated!"

Trailer du Jour
The Notorious Bettie Page

House of Sand Wins Alfred P. Sloan Prize At Sundance

The Slamdance Awards

The Lipp Mounts Brokeback Marketing

The Paper Of Record Hits Sundance.... Deja Vu Ensues
Tony Pony's Up The View From The Thin Air Of Sundance Tower
Jean-Claude Clark On The Traditional Low Return On The Sundance Prize
Catching Up With Last Year's Shifting Indie-Nomics Using Sundance As a Prism

A Review Of Marshall Fine's Cassavetes Bio

Inside The Mind Of The Academy Historian

Lumenick On Sundance Studio Pix

Matt Dillon Still Skiing Indie Hills

Gunner Palace Has Been Rated... Twice: The Real Story From Michael Tucker

Smells Like ParaWorks/AOL Spirit
Some Disney/Pixar Details... Including Pixar's Staying In Emeryville

What Did They Give Away In "The Envelope Lounge?" And What Does Sundance Have To Do With The Oscars Anyway?
Why Does Sundance Remain A Draw For Unrelated Markets? Because Major Non-Tabloid Papers Do Stupid Stories Like This That Make It Financially Viable

Superman Returns In Pictures

Anne Thompson Wraps Up Sundance With Her Take On The Facts

Before Istvan Szabo Was An Oscar Winning Filmmaker He Was A Communist Informant

Bauer Martinez Picks Up The Widely Disliked Darwin Awards

Woody & Buzz Head Back To Pixar For Sequel Duty As Part Of The Deal

Two Films At Sundance, A Possible Nomination, And More To Come From Paul Giamatti

Al Gore, Superstar
"It's a movie about global warming. Starring Al Gore. Doing a slide show.With charts. About "soil evaporation."