It's Oscartown, Jake
The Close Races
As The Race Closes
by Kristopher Tapley

One more column before the Oscars come and go and the only thing I can think of that is worthy of discussion this late in the game is the close races.

One of the first categories of the night will answer a heated question right off the bat. Will the Academy see fit to honor George Clooney for his magnificent year with a Best Supporting Actor trophy for Syriana, or will they be overwhelmed with the desire to make up for two snubs in a row and give the award to Paul Giamatti for Cinderella Man

Digital Nation
by Gary Dretzka

City of God and Amores Perros are the most recognizable examples of the trend, but also representative are such merciless treatises as Our Lady of the Assassins, Sweet Sixteen, the little-seen Pizza, Beer, and Cigarettes (from Argentine, it recently was released here on DVD by Facets Video) and the woefully under-screened, On the Outs. While vastly different from each other, newcomers Tsotsi and Dirty fit the same mold of pictures fueled by heartless violence, pulsating variations of American hip-hop music, nearly indecipherable street patois and a refusal by their directors to offer easy solutions or Hollywood endings.

The Weekend Report
by Leonard Klady

Tyler Perry evaded the “terrible twos” as his ribald, comic Madea’s Family Reunion was the clear weekend viewing favorite with an estimated $30.4 million. However, he didn’t get much support as two other national debuts - the animated Doogal and the thriller Running Scared - performed indifferently and most holdover titles experienced 40% to 60% declines that translated to rollbacks in the audience.
The Weekend Estimates (Full List)
Top Domestic Grosses
Domestic Market Share

The last Guru gang-up is here... Few surprises, lots of agreement and the locks, shocks and surprises that would rock. The Charts

20 Weeks To Oscar
Faster Oscarcat, Award, Award
by David Poland

It's looking like The Bookend Oscars this year... tune into see who gets Best Supporting Actor, take a three hour nap, then wake up to check out Best Picture. Nothing else seems terribly interesting... with due respect to the many whose hearts will be leaping out of their chests all day on Oscar day, regardless of how locked in many of the winners seem to be.

The Oscar Chart Quiz
1. Will Larry talk?
2. Could still pull the upset.
3. More nods to come.

MCN DVD Wrap-Up
Rent

It took 10 years for Rent to make the leap from Broadway to Hollywood, but only a month to disappear from the megaplexes. More >>

MCN Review: If Rent: The Movie was cut by 30 minutes, since somehow, on film, the rent battle becomes truly uninteresting, it might have been really terrific.

Pride, Unprejudiced: Chris Columbus says Rent is the movie he was born to make.

Plus: Wallace and Gromit, Domino, North Country, Rent, Zathura, All The President's Men, Emmanuel's Gift, Grey's Anatomy, The Journey, Just Like Heaven, La Bete Humaine, Midnight Cowboy, MirrorMask, Nine Lives, The Pretender, Proof, Significant Others, The Thing About My Folks, The Dick Cavett Show

The Ultimate DVD Geek
Cinderella Man
by Doug Pratt

It's a great story. Martin Scorsese has probably poisoned boxing movies forever with the revelation that most boxers are violent, pig-headed lugs, but Braddock was genuinely good-natured and emotionally stable. As a result, however, Howard may have replicated the family scenes as accurately as if he'd found film from a camera hidden in the walls of the original Braddock apartment, and yet the movie can't shake the sense that the scenes away from the boxing ring are somehow false or artificial, because everyone is so nice. But the fights are thrilling—most viewers will duck and bob right along with the fighters—and the film is as honorable in its intentions as it is rousing in its dramatic arc.
MCN Review
Dretzka's DVD Review
The Hot Button

Five short documentaries about the number 12… What did you want to be when you were 12? Did you ever see a 12-toed cat? People—and animals—will always surprise you.

Updated throughout the day
Updated: 4:35 pm

Update (4:33p) - The Academy Has Confirmed Its Ruling That Crash's Original Song Nominee, "In The Deep," Is Not In Any Way At Issue And Is Qualified For Its Nomination And Win, If It So Happens On Sunday
Earlier - The Oscar Nominated Song From Crash Is In Another Undistributed Film Called The Civilization Of Maxwell Bright.... Sources Tell MCN That The Academy Is Now Investigating And Considering Disqualification, Though It Is Unclear Whether Any Academy Rule Has Been Broken

The Woz Cain't Quit Focus Features

The Family Media Guide Says Crash And Munich Are The Most Problematic Oscar Nominees... Though Brokeback Mountain Does Take The Sex Cake

The San Diego Union Tribune Looks At San Diego Native Michelle Williams

The Attacks On Paradise Now Ramp Up, Too Late To Have Any Effect, And In A Way That Grossly Exaggerates The Rage Against The Oscar Nominee

Quiz of the Day
How Well Do You Know Your Oscar Fashion?

Peter Stomare Crushes The Ebonic Language For Volkswagon In The Funniest New Ad Not Involving A Creepy Mask Since The Super Bowl

By The Way... The Oscar Polls Are Closed...

An Ambitious Film Festival Thais One On

Stout Heart, Julian Fellowes

The Origin Of The Oscar Species
Who Taught Bennett Miller & Danny Futterman?

Stu Chats With Bob Berney About The Endanged Domestic Market For Foreign Films
And - How Can Indie Filmmakers Make A Buck?

Sony's Blu-Ray Hi-Def DVD Announces A Release Date... May 23... But Perhaps Even More Significantly, Most Titles Are Aimed At The Geek Crowd And Not At Adults

Oh My, How Things Change...
After Screen Gems' Great Success With Promotions Inviting Civilians To Make 1-Sheets, Universal Bellies Up To The Bar With A TV Spot Invitational for Slither... Use This Copyrighted Materials As You Will!

The CBC Offers A Chance To See One Of The Oscar Shorts For Free... Cashback
Or For An Absurdly Pricey $9.95, You Can Buy Cashback And The Other Four Oscar Nominated Shorts On iTunes

A Terribly Ugly Disney Story That Doesn't Seem To Really Be Much About Disney At All, But Requires Acknowledgement

The Chicago Tribune's Mark Caro Does A Terrific, Fast, And Utterly New Media Job Bouncing Around This Morning's IFC/VOD Story, Reminding Us That Mark Cuban Wants To Change The World... As Long As He And His Get Paid
Earlier - IFC & Comcast Do The Industry A Favor... IFC Puts Its Product On the Line, Which Will Not Prove That Day & Date Can Work For Majors, But Will Define Some More Clear Parameters Of Possibility

The Bagger Makes Lanky Adulthood Look Cool

A VFXWorld Chat With The Visual EFX Nominees (free reg req)

Occasionally Funny, Often Smug & Ignorant 10 Awards They Missed From Time (See: Most Supportive Spouse Award For Some Really Ugly Dismissals Of Some Spouses Who Are As - If Not More Talented Than Their Nominated Counterparts)

One More Chat With Phil
And - Our Miss Crabtree Reminds (Via The Anne-T Blog) That Not Everyone Is Rooting For Phil's Capote To Win The Center Square

A Brit Journo Reflects On The Film
Michael Winterbottom's The Road To Guantanamo Is The Kind Of Polemic That Could Be Called G-9/11... So Why Haven't American Distributors Bitten?

Danny Huston Keeps Rising

Is Manderlay,A Racist Slap That Black Actors Should Have Stayed Away From? A View From Across The Pond

David Thomson Remembers Richard Bright

Dreamgirls Dreaming Of The Audiences Rent, Phantom And Producers Couldn't Find

Natalie Portman, All Grown Up
"I think you're objectified whether you want to be or not — as a public female. The magazine rankings of women, like they’re cars or something."

It's Oscar Quiz Time

It's All Geek To Me
The First NYC Comic-Con

Dressing For Oscar, Literally

Losing Three Greats In Three Days... At Least Chad Everett Can Relax Now
Dennis Weaver Says Goodbye Mis-ter Dil-lon At 81
Earlier - Don Knotts Leaves Mayberry Forever At Age 81
And - The Night Stalker/The Old Man, Darrin McGavin, Passes Away At 83

The Cinematographers Go For Memoirs Of A Geisha
And - So Does The Costume Designer Guild
Plus - Sound Mixers Go for Walk The Line

NetFlix Gets Into Production... But Will Being On "The Other Side" Make Them A Target For Unions?

David Thomson Worries For Oscar's Old Age

Thank God For The Wall Street Journal
A Serious Look At The Paranoiamount Situation By Marr & Kelly
Reprinted (Somewhat Illicitly) For Non-Subscribers

Snider Releases Statement... DreamWorks Deal Is Done... Her Contractual Status for Rest Of 2006 Is Up To Universal
And Ms. Waxman Gets The Release Too

A Brief History Of Pellicano

Growing Up Bond

G-Whipp Chats 2005 With T-Ho

Rea On The Evolution Of Paul Walker

Expanding Production, Literally, In New York At Silvercup

Robin Wright Penn: The Update

A 19 Year Old Non-Actress Rationalizes Giving It Up For Regados' Art
"She thinks the scenes were more difficult for Hernandez than for her, probably because he's married."

Matthew McConaughey, Take 17

Is Blu-Ray Walking Dead? The Road To Hellville... Leading To A $499 Pricepoint Launch For Toshiba's HD-DVD

20 Years Of David Lynch