Frenzy on the Wall:
Nomination Autopsy
by Noah Forrest

It’s funny, the night before the Oscar nominations I was remarking to everyone I knew that this would most likely be the first time the Academy didn’t nominate a film for Best Picture that I absolutely detested. I mean, I expected them to nominate a film like The Dark Knight which I wasn’t particularly fond of, but it was still a good film. So I was looking forward to the first Academy Awards where every film nominated would be something decent. Then, they went and nominated The Reader ...

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Voynaristic
Sundance: It's a Wrap
by Kim Voynar

In the year of its 25th anniversary, the Sundance Film Festival coincided with the inauguration of a new president who offers hope to a country beaten down by war and a tough economic climate; it's the first time in my own adult life I've ever cared enough about the inauguration to block out time on my own schedule to watch it, and you could hear the crickets chirping around Park City the morning of January 20th as folks skipped screenings to attend any number of inauguration bashes. The mood at Sundance this year, especially given the quality of films, should have felt festive, even buoyant. Overall though, the air at the fest was low-key and somber.

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Weekend Report
by Leonard Klady

You can keep a bad man down … but not by much. The bow of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans was top of the pops on its opening day but lost ground as the weekend progressed; finishing with an estimated $20.5 million. But bragging rights went to the second-weekend gross of Paul Blart: Mall Cop, who shopped 'til he dropped $21.3 million.

Weekend Estimates (Full List)
2008 Market Share

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Wilmington on Movies
Revolutionary Road, Inkheart, Notorious and Outlander
by Michael Wilmington

Revolutionary Road is one of these novels I've always been meaning to read -- like Remembrance of Things Past, or Middlemarch or At Swim Two Birds, but a somewhat easier read. So I was happy to see it on screen, successful or not. The Sam Mendes version of Richard Yates' highly regarded 1961 novel -- a book which got great reviews and maintained its reputation afterwards --gets points with me. It gives me a chance to buy and read Yates' book, in a nice cheap movie tie-in paperback with Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet on the cover, nuzzling noses and swaddled in white.
Wilmington on DVDs

The Gurus take a look at all of the categories - Best Picture to Sound Mixing - post nominations. Gurus January 22 __________________________
All The Nominations Nominations by the Numbers Nominations Fact Sheet Nominations Trivia Sidebar Nomination Reactions __________________________
The Hot Blog O2 and O3: Looking Ahead by David Poland The only Top 8 race I now see as seriously competitive is Best Actor, where Penn, Rourke or Langella will win, but it could easily be any one of the three. A bit less competitive is Best Actress, where Winslet has a lead over Streep and everyone else is just happy to be there. The Charts Best Picture | Director | Screenplay Actor/Supporting Actor | Actress/Supporting Actress ___________________________________________

DP/30 Created & Presented by David Poland
Oscar Nominees
Mickey Rourke The Wrestler	Richard Jenkins The Visitor	Frank Langella Frost/Nixon
Amy Adams Doubt	John Patrick Shanley Doubt	Viola Davis Doubt
Boyle & Beaufoy Slumdog Millionaire	Josh Brolin Milk	Man On Wire The Producers
Ari Folman Waltz With Bashir	Peter Morgan Frost/Nixon	Marisa Tomei The Wrestler
Mike Leigh Sally Hawkins Happy-Go-Lucky	Ellen Kuras Netakhoon (The Betrayal)	Melissa Leo, Courtney Hunt Frozen River

Gurus o' Sundance: A list of the top picks of Sundance 2009.

Reviews and Short Takes: Humpday, Rough Aunties, Lymelife, Thriller in Manila, Mary and Max, The Greatest, Push, Big River Man, Moon, Paper Heart, Cold Souls, An Education, Adventureland...

Gregg Goldstein's Sundance Sales Chart: As available titles enter uncharted territory, will there be a pre-awards buy? New Oscar nominations for 2008 Sundance docs helped make The Cove, Art & Copy, The September Issue hotter.

10 Days of Sundance Page: Rolling out the best of everything that's written about the festival every day. 10 Days Of Sundance Blog: The repository of information from our four main writers during the fest.

MCN DVD
Brideshead Revisited

Typically, the British import is lovely to watch and extremely well acted. Newcomers to the story may want to follow-up the movie by watching the readily available DVD version of the 16-part mini-series. Rounding out the DVD package are deleted scenes, commentary and a making-of featurette

Also .. Appaloosa, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Funny Girl, Swing Vote, Choosing Connor, Brick Lane, Taxi Blues, The Children of Hunag Shi

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Digital Nation
The Betrayal
by Gary Dretzka

If they handed out special Oscars for patience and perseverance, Ellen Kuras would be a mortal lock for this year's prize. Twenty-three years in the making, the veteran cinematographer's haunting documentary, The Betrayal (Nerakhoon), has made the short list of titles being considered in the feature-length category. It also has been nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.

Defiance	-				-
Hotel for Dogs	-	-	-	-
Paul Blart, Mall Cop	-		-	-
Notorious	-	-	-	-
Chanda Chowk	-	-	-	-
Last Chance Harvey	-		-	-
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	-
Revolutionary Road	-				-
Valkyrie	-		-	-
The Wrestler	-	-	-	-

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Oscar Outsider
Here We Go Again: The Foreign Language Oscar Shortlist
by Kim Voynar

The Oscar shortlist for foreign films was announced yesterday, and in spite of the rules changes that were supposed to stop such things from happening, Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah failed to make the short list. Really shocking omission, considering the film won the the Grand Prix at Cannes, the Silver Hugo, and has been well-received critically; it does kind of feel like a repeat of last year's 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days brouhaha, which the rules' changes were supposed to help avert. Guess that process still needs a wee bit of tinkering.

The Ultimate DVD Geek
The Chronicles of Narnia
Prince Caspian
by Doug Pratt

The science of sequels has bedeviled Hollywood for years. Which elements should be retained? Which altered? The makers of the follow up to The Chronicles of Narnia The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe faced an even more vexing problem. Should they go with the next C.S. Lewis book in the series, which has a compelling story but very few of the characters from the previous book, or should they skip ahead to the next book that has most of the central characters that appeared in the boxoffice hit, even if its story is moderately less involving?

285 Top Ten Lists tallied; 265 films listed; 106 films with a single vote -- proving there's some love out there for almost everything Updated Top Ten Scoreboard The Top Ten Lists

Headlines, Awards, Top Tens, Features and Reviews at MCN's Awards Watch.

Frenzy On The Podcast
Che's Peter Buchman
by Noah Forrest

This week Noah chats with Che screenwriter Peter Buchman about working with Soderbergh, researching Che Guevara, and his stalled Alexander the Great project.

Noah also talks with ..
Matteo Garrone
John Patrick Shanley
J. Michael Straczynski

H'wd & Fine On How Three 1968-70 Jewish Comedies, Take The Money, The Producers And Especially Where's Poppa? Paved The Way For Today's Rude Comedy

Q: Who Keeps Leaking Details To Gossip Columns, Claiming Hugh's In Control?
A: No One At The Academy... Not Even After Today's Board of Governors Meeting
Another Oscar Leak Accurately Has Baz Luhrmann Directing A Number For Hugh Jackman On The Show

Lewis Carroll Is 177 Today; Alice Remains 7 1/2

Once Was

LouLu Unburrows Long-Unseen Adaptation Of Updike's Rabbit, Run For Download

Lim Brings The Grim To Slumdog

Republican Congressman Introduces Bll To Make Cameraphones That Do Not Click Illegal
And - "This is just another piece of crap-work that government does to make the illusion that they are 'doing work.'"
WIRED Readers Wade In

Monte Hellman Illuminates His 10 Favorite Criterion DVDs

Backside To The Future: Here Comes 3-D Porn

The Times' Terrific Street Fotog Bill Cunningham Took The Train To D.C. Last Tuesday And Came Back With This "Mahvelous" Show

Shmuger, Linde Re-Up Four More Years With Universal

A. O. Scott Cruises Midnight Cowboy (video)

Mike Jones' Bittersweet Au Revoir To The (Festival) Circuit

Acad Makes Exception On Three-Producer Rule For The Reader, Listing Minghella And Pollack

The Curious Case Of Gran Torino

LouLu On "The Straight Tab Hunter"

Rabbit Ran: John Updike Was 76

Nicole Laporte On How Twilight Got Away From Paramount (And The Silly Notion Of Hiring One Guy Who Got It)

Ebert Refs Swear-Replete Epic Recitation Of Dude-Cricket Face-Off (Fabricating John Anderson's Side Of Tale; Ends With MCN's Extended Duderino Explication)

Trailering Medicine For Melancholy

Did Obama Really Sneak Into Sundance? (video)

Netflix Posts 45% Spike Upward In Fourth Quarter

"We know that he was a perfectionist. We also know the dangerous thing for a perfectionist is that, at a certain point, he comes to a zero."
Digging Into Kubrick's Unmade "Aryan Papers"; Plus A Wistful Thought That Ang Lee Would Be Welcome To Make It

Backstage Co-Founder Allen Zwerdling Was 86

"Every child should have one class period a day to dive within himself and experience the field of silence-bliss, the enormous reservoir of energy and intelligence that is deep within all of us."
David Lynch Raising Money To Teach Meditation To Kids

Robert Downey, Jr. Admits To Being A Self-Googler

Anne Thompson Blogs Variety Exit

Iceland Collapses; First Gov't To Fall In Credit Crisis

NY Times Reports 65,000 Jobs Axed Today Alone

Hudsucker Proxy: The Musical, From The Writer Of "Xanadu"

How Slumdog Millionaire's Success May Have Led To More Variety Layoffs

Errol Morris Asks Three Foto Editors For Their Favorite Pics Of The Former President

Matt Damon's Slap Leads Conservative Pundit Bill Kristol, Just Fired From The NY Times, To Suggest Convening A Panel
And - The Times On Saving A Couple Of Bucks To Let The Error-Prone Columnist Go

England's Swell But Money-Bleeding Upmarket Newspapers, The Independent And Independent On Sunday, On Block To Stem Holder's €1.4 Billion Debt

Fox Interactive Cuts 100 Jobs

"Call me gullible or impressionable, but I'm actually feeling kind of hopeful this week. It's not just the new year or the inauguration or even that — please, please — publishing business firings are coming to an end, at least for a while."
Fired Publishers Weekly Editor's Last Note Was "Hopeful"

Variety Slashes Not Listed, But Bart Says "Integrity" Not Compromised
And - As Part Of Reed Biz 7% Solution Of Staff Firings, Variety's Sister Pub, Publishers Weekly, Dismisses Well-Liked Editor
Earlier - Variety's Latest, Ongoing Axings Prompt Thoughts Of Where Reporting Talent Will Go
While - Village Voice Media De-Inks Cartoons Chain-Wide
And - Fresh-Dropped Tom Tomorrow's Take On This More-Modern World
While - President Obama's Suit-Maker Files For Bankruptcy

Lionsgate's Ortenberg Jumps To WeinsteinCo; Takes Same Theatrical Pres Title

Brad Pitt Gets His Chuck Close-Up

Another Take On Failed SAG Negotiator Doug Allen's Exit

Charting The Gurus O' Sundance

Alfred E. Neuman Reduced To Being Only A Quartely MAD Man

An Interviewer Picks Up On Submerged, Unlikely RomCom Resonances In He's Just Not That Into You (Ginnifer Goodwin As The Great Margaret Sullavan?)

Cooke, Ben Cooke, Is The Kiwi Go-To Stuntman

SAG Negotiator Doug Allen Pushed Out

Marketwatch Carries Water For New Waxman Site AKA The Latest Great Old Media To New Media Hope/Hype

A Glimpse Of NYC Vid Temple Kim's Mondo Video, All Emptied Out (The Second Pic's A Sad Kick)

SAG Hands Out The Actors

"Ah, look! Look! That's the pipeline where we always play, wow."
From Mumbai's Dharavi, Home To A Million Where Slumdog Was Shot, Praise For The Pic

The Sunday New York Times
Stripping Down The Downey-Silver-Ritchie Sherlock
And - Riff-Rafferty On Korean Tale Of Two Sisters, Remade As Uninvited
Plus - Was Barry Jenkins' Medicine For Melancholy The First Post-Race Racial Movie Of The Obama Era Since Two Years Ago?
With - Lim Limns Filipino Serbis, Set In Decaying Sex Cinema
And - The Peril Of Bingeing On TED Talks

The Sunday L.A. Times
Yes, Another Piece That Finds A Number Of People In India, A Country Of 1.147 Billion, Who Are Not Fond Of Slumdog
With - Molly Ringwald's 40 Candles
And - The Horror, The Horror: The Studios' Cheap Thrills For 2009
Plus - Behind The Latest Self-Destructive SAG Urges
And - Sharkey Lands Racism Theme At Sundance
And - Inkheart's Tattoo Lady

"It may be a hothouse, but it's an important one."
Beeb Doc Big Nick Fraser Stories Sundance

"I don't believe that race doesn't matter. I believe that it matters enormously. But I wish people would say, 'It matters enormously. Now let's get dessert.'"
Rachel Gets Married's Jenny Lumet Is Cool To "Post-Racial" Gab

Caro Adds To Chorus Of Voices That Sings Failure For ABC's Oscarcast Sans Dark Knight Noms
And - Jonah Nolan Thanks Website That Tub-Thumped For Bat Bid

Deep Inside Chicago's Darkened Uptown Movie Palace

A Dizzying Display Of Visual Literacy: Take A Breath And Check The Periodic Table of Visualization Methods

Trailering State Of Play

"You start getting into a really weird, messy gray area when you look at people's gray areas."
A History Of The Movie Star Rating System
And - "People think that their own reaction is more important than the work itself. It's a lazy way to write."
Are "Internet Mobs Taking Experts' Jobs?"

Investment In Beloved Blighty's Film Production Fell 23% In 2008
While - Nigeria's "Nollywood" Now Produces 2,500 Movies A Year (At About $15,000 A Pop)

Oprah Skypes Slumdog

Harryhausen Producer Charles S. Schneer Motion-Stops At 88

PGA Treads Where All Else Dare... Slumdog; Wall-E; Man On Wire

Sundance Top Jury Picks: We Live in Public, Push, Rough Aunties and The Maid; Aud Faves Feature Afghan Star, An Education, The Cove and Push; Nicholas Jasenovec and Charlyne Yi Get Waldo Salt Scribe Award For Paper Hearts

Goldstein Touts The Deals
Spread Closes At About $4M
And - Zowie! Moon Waxes Sony Deal Into SPC Theatrical

The Man Wraps Sundance
And - McCarthy One More Scribe To Ascribe Every Last Thing In Culture As Consonant With The Obama Moment

A Japanese Trailer For The Next Harry Potter

RJ Cutler's Got Taste: Project After September Issue On Pioneering Chicago Chef Who Lost His Taste

Behind The Music Rights Issues That Keep Fine Sita Sings The Blues From Release

Why All Those Noms For Button Might Still Not Spell Profit For Par, WB

"It's delightfully surprising. I had no expectations. What does all of this mean? Four letters: W-O-R-K."
Nominee Reactions

Par Sets Complicated Schedule To Provide "Virtual Print" Fees To Some Exhibs For D-Conversion

IFC Gets Gandolfini Comedy In The Loop, Goldstein Reports, For Just Under $1 Million

Ringel Misses Oscar Gong For Her "Achingly Desolate, Beautifully Bleak" 2008 Femme Fave

Sweet, Earnest Oscar Nominee Quote Of Day, From Milk Scribe Lance Duncan Black
Plus - Match Generic Quote To The Nominee

Sundance Sales... Is There An Oscar Nomination Effect?

Anderson vs. Dowd: The Rock 'em Sock 'em Re-Creation -- starring Michael Jai White as John Anderson and The Dude as Himself
and ...
Jeff Dowd Explains What Happened

Oscar Nominations
The Dark Knight & Doubt Pushed Aside For The Reader... Winslet Single-Nodded For Reader... Melissa Leo in... Button Leads with 13, Slumdog with 10, Knight & Milk with 8
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

The Dude Is Working The Ropes
Earlier - "The necessity to stop an ill-informed review trumps anything else... I was surprised he didn't draw blood."
Established Critic Of John Anderson AJ Schnack Gets Words From Dowd On Dustup
Originally - In This Cafe Corner, Battlin' John Anderson... And His Heavyweight Challenger... The DUDE!
Depleted Sundance Celebrates Unlikely Grudge Match: indieWIRE Sketches
And - Voynar Scopes The Scene
"He was accusing me of not caring about the state of the world because I didn't like his film."
Plus - Thompson Pieces Together The Verbal Indignities (With Anderson Quotes)
While - Poland Wonders If Variety Can Review Now, Whether Yea Or Nay (Thompson Reports Anderson's Off The Assignment)

The Country Cottage From Withnail & I Is Yours For £145,000

Post-Oscar Noms,WeinsteinCo Will Release Years-Shelved Mickey Rourke-Starrer Killshot On 5 Whole Screens In Phoenix

Kenn Glenny On His Screen Time In Sundance-Preemed Soderbergh Gentle Porno, Girlfriend Experience

Sending Up Bat Signal For Oscar

Dave Karger Ponders Tomorrow's Oscar Surprises

The Love Guru Finds Karma With Razzie Noms

Summit Entertainment & Participant Media Hook Up for Distribution

IFC Films Bites Off Domestic Rights To Norwegian Zombie Flick Dead Snow At Sundance

The Winning Season Wins $3 Million-Range North American and UK Deal With Lionsgate

Sony Diagrams North American And Latin American Rights to An Education in $3M Deal

Following Obama's Lead, Ashton Kutcher & Friends Make A Pledge
And - Today's Inaugural Speech
And - Inaugural Speeches of the Past - Kennedy, Truman, Bush, Clinton, Eisenhower (video)

Warner Fires 800 Burbankers; The Valley's Loss Is Poland And India's Gain

It's Not SciFi: Obama's Limousine Thinks It's A Tank (Cool Graphic)
And - While We're On Cool Design On Inauguration Day, The New White House Website Is Swell