Frenzy on the Wall:
Kate Winslet Should Not Win the Oscar this Year
by Noah Forrest

There is the argument that if Winslet wins for The Reader, it’s really a win for both films, but that’s not true. She would be winning for a specific performance in a specific film and since that film is The Reader, it would be inappropriate when the other four performances are all better than Winslet performance in that particular film.
____________________________

Weekend Report
by Leonard Klady

The debut of rom-com He’s Just Not That Into You led the frame with an estimated $27.9 million. Three other films bowed this weekend to varying results including a sturdy start for the 3-D animated Coraline of $16.3 million that ranked third overall. There was OK response of $9.9 million for the thriller Push but in light of cost and awareness, The Pink Panther 2 gross of $11.8 was viewed as disappointing.

Weekend Estimates (Full List)

DP/30 Created & Presented by David Poland
30 Minutes With Oscar Nominated Documentarians
Trouble The Water Deal & Lessin	Man On Wire Ryan & Meditch	Nerakhoon Ellen Kuras

DP/30 Created & Presented by David Poland
30 Minutes With The World's Top Animators
Andrew Stanton Wall-E	Henry Selick Coraline	Ari Folman Waltz With Bashir

Wilmington on Movies
Coraline, He's Just Not That Into You, Pink Panther 2 and Fanboys
by Michael Wilmington

Other movie genres may need some more oomph. But -- at least among the big popular, well-budgeted and well-distributed movies that have huge poster displays at the Multiplexes -- animation still seems in a kind of modern Golden Age.
    
That certainly goes for Henry Selick’s Coraline, a delightful, sharp, whimsical, wittily imagined and wondrously executed feature cartoon for adults and the smarter or more sophisticated kids ...

Also ... Wilmington on DVDs

20 Weeks to Oscar
Who Let the Dogs In?
by David Poland

Ladies & Gentlemen… children of all ages… seven Oscar nominees who really didn’t go into this season expecting to be attending the Academy Awards… Viola Davis. Courtney Hunt. Richard Jenkins.
Scott Hamilton Kennedy. Melissa Leo. Martin McDonagh. Michael Shannon. All deserving.  All appreciating.

The Charts
Best Picture | Director | Screenplay
Actor/Supporting Actor | Actress/Supporting Actress

Richard Jenkins The Visitor	Melissa Leo, Courtney Hunt Frozen River	Viola Davis Doubt

Oscar Outsider :
Who's the Best of the Best Director Nominees?
by Kim Voynar

Here we are 17 short days from Oscar, the "Biggest Movie Event of the Year," and over on the Gurus chart, they've got it nailed down to their top two picks in each category. I've written a lot of Oscar columns since coming on board here, covering the adapted and original screenplays, the acting categories, the foreigns, and the docs. Now, with less than three weeks to go until Hollywood's big hot date night with itself, I'm taking a look at the contenders in the Best Director category.

____________________________

MCN DVD
Zack And Miri Make a Porno

Zack And Miri remains just another R-rated romantic comedy for teenagers in need of cheap laughs. The adult industry has repeatedly proven that it's perfectly capable of making fun of itself, while also lampooning mainstream entertainments. The best moments, here, actually take place away from the set, at a class reunion and in Z&M's darkened apartment. Indeed, some of the material included in the bonus package—a pair of faux making-of featurettes—is funnier than anything in the movie.

Also .. Lakeview Terrace, Soul Men, Oliver & Company, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, The Rocker, His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th, Bottle Shock

____________________________

Frenzy on the Wall:
Two Lovers
by Noah Forrest

With this film, James Gray has put himself back on the list of auteurs to watch. It seems as if he’s realized that Brighton Beach, rather than crime, seems to be his real muse. Life is complicated enough without introducing murder and corruption into the mix and with this film, Gray seems to have grasped that concept. They say you’re only as good as your last picture and with Two Lovers, James Gray has created an important, beautiful and wonderful motion picture.

____________________________

The Gurus give their number 1 and number 2 picks in every category ... including the shorts. Gurus - February 3, 2009

Voynaristic
Slumdog Millionaire and the Politics of Spin
by Kim Voynar

What is it with the media's insistence on attempting to spin stories to harm particular films?

After enjoying the bounce of positive buzz from the Telluride and Toronto film festivals, solid critical support and a box office take bigger than anyone could have dreamed for a subtitled Bollywood hybrid, Slumdog Millionaire finds itself the target of media attacks on several fronts, and once again, the language of spin is at the forefront, both in mainstream media publications and the blogosphere.

DP/30 Created & Presented by David Poland
30 Minute Chats With Oscar Nominated Directors
Ron Howard Frost/Nixon	Stephen Daldry The Reader	Danny Boyle Slumdog MIllionaire

The Ultimate DVD Geek
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
by Doug Pratt

It is said that flaws can be tolerated in friends and strangers, but not in one's parents, and that definitely seems to be everybody's opinion when it comes to the father of Star Wars, George Lucas. It is because the first movie was so good that the other films became so frustrating and their flaws so obsessively glaring (if only, in Phantom Menace, he had shown the mother killed, like Bambi's mother, the entire series might have been taken more seriously…).

_________________________

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

Ad Age Counts 65,100 Job Losses In Media In Current Downturn (And It's Not 5pm Yet)

"I work fast. I do not make 20 parallel versions of the edit and then cannot decide which one would be the best. I just do it once and then plow on until I’m through the film and then that’s the film."
Mr. Herzog Is Brisk As Well As Brusque

"This is a film whose essential metaphorical thrust is to exculpate Nazi-era Germans from knowing complicity in the Final Solution."
Ron Rosenbaum Sez Oscar Ought Not Peruse The Reader

Should The Joker's Bespoke Fuschia Velveteen Suit Be Hung Up For Good?

NY Observer Will No Longer Dine Out

The Return Of Julia Roberts (To The Arts Section Of The Times)

Tony Kushner On Milk

In Berlin, Winterbottom Bummed By Banks

"'The only problem was, it was Christmas Eve. Getting it delivered was out of the question. Then I thought, "OK, maybe I can find a bookstore that had it in stock."' His next thought — he'd drive to Canada and deliver the $26 book himself."
The Day's Best, Craziest Story About An Author Connecting With A Reader

Sad Stories Behind The Shuttering Of The Motion Picture & Television Fund Hospital

"Martin Luther said if he knew the world ended tomorrow, he would plant a tree," Werner Herzog told me. "I would start a film."
Ebert Negates Despair

Isla Fisher Is A Clown

Next For Coraline: The Musical

New George Lucas-Designed Film Film School At USC Is Swanky, But Still Needs Bucks

Clay Shirky On Why Micropayments Won't Save Publishers

The Rise Of The Cinema Simulcast

DreamWorks Finalizes Releasing Product Under Disney Touchstone Banner

Red-Band Trailering Observe And Report; AKA "Rude Blart"

Coraline's Neil Gaiman On The Humble Button

"I am not quite sure if they really understand the situation. This is a mess for all of us."
Magazine Wholesaler Anderson News Folds; Deliveries To Newsstands Threatened

A Modest Proposal: $62 Billion For The Arts

German Federal Film Fund Invests Almost $10M In Tarantino's Basterds

SAG's Former Negosh Doug Allen Re-Fired

Complete BAFTA Winners List Here
Earlier - Guardian Live-Baftas

The Sunday NY Times
Chip Kidd On Redesigning Downey
And - Tom Perrotta On Winslet
Plus - Hirschberg On Standout Talents
With - Hustvedt On Pitt
And - Jane Smiley On Penn
With - Almodóvar On Penélope
And - Barry Levinson On Rourke
Plus - Chris Buckley On Langella
And - Keener On Kat Dennings
With - Cooking With James Gray
And - Bossing Gomorrah
With - Mich Workers Get Film Training
And - DreamWorks Ani's Charm Offensive
And - The Producer Wears Prada
Plus - Gyllenhaal And Sarsgaard Off Broadway
And - Remaking Friday The 13th
Plus - Buñuel's Wildest, New To DVD

Readering The Case For A Stephen Daldry Oscar Upset

Lukas Moodysson's Latest Booed In Berlin

"I never, ever take a film thinking this is going to be a big success."
Then Again, Clive Owen Didn't Want To Be Bond

Sports Illustrated Depends On Swimsuit Issue For 11% Of Its Income?

For 3... It Is Written
WGA Writers Inscribe Slumdog, Milk, Bashir

Johnny Handsome Redux? Rourke Reteams With Mr. Walter Hill

"'Hollywood's doing OK,' John McCain said."
National Endowment For The Arts, Film Industry Funding Stripped From Stimulus Bill

Why The Values Of Classic Arthouse Cinema Must Not Die

"Jim was a tough little son of a bitch who went through the meat grinder of an unspeakable war and survived it. Then he came home and quietly set about doing what he loved doing most, which was acting."
Darabont Remembers James Whitmore

A Glimpse Of 13 Most Beautiful..., The First DVD Of Warhol Screen Tests

Give 'Em Heaven, Harry!
James Whitmore Was 87

Daniel Myrick's Escape From Blair Witch

How Pixar Hires (video)

Glenn Kenny's Not Soft On The Work Of Joe Swanberg
And - A Reply By Admiring Craig Keller

The Guardian Interview With Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Director Of Oscar-Nommed Three Monkeys

"Truly perverse and antithetical to the idea of democracy."
Journal Gets Academics To Critique Oscar Voting Set-Up; Bonus Ishtar Joke!
While - Oscar Offers Party Tips, Including Wolfgang Puck Recipes
And - Vote A Student Journo Onto The Red Carpet

"There is a poignant, slow-motion moment when Carrie realizes Vera Wang isn't suitable for Studio B."
Script Suggestions For Sex And The City: The Sequel

Some Senators Think Funding Broadband Internet For The Country Is... Well, Not Good

Ginnifer Goodwin Relates

10:12a PST - Barnes And Cieply Break The DreamWorks To Disney Instead Of Universal Story
10:20a - Nikki Finke Runs Ron Meyer's Angry Excuses For Why The Deal Going Bad Was DW's Fault
11:40a - Variety Chimes In
12:27p - Poland - Disney Dreams Where Sane Multinationals Do Not Dare

Danny Leigh On Whether Our Film Taste Reflects Our Age

Spout's Karina Longworth Dons Liz Claiborne (Click On Pink, Seated Figure)

A Short History Of Stop-Motion Animation (With Video)

On Herzog's La Bohème Set In Ethiopia

A Spirited Exchange About Fair-Use In The Case Of Associated Press Vs. Shepard Fairey's HOPE Iconography Case

Winslet Sez Love Scenes Are Just Part Of A Day At The Flicker Factory

The Bagger On Why Being Famous Mostly Sucks

Tom Tykwer And Wachowskis To Run, Speed, Run Together

Mira Rostova, 99, Acting Coach To Montgomery Clift, Others

The Woz Has Words For Bride-Centric RomComs

An Authorized Mole On Scorsese's Shutter Island Set

Financial Times Drops Sport Coverage

Rupe Sez Baz's Oz Moolah Will Just Barely Top A Dilly Bag

SFX House Orphanage Shutters

Considering The Career Of Gary Kurfirst, 61, Music Entrepreneur, Produced Stop Making Sense, Managed Talking Heads, Eurhythmics, Rickie Lee Jones

The Daily Deadwood
NY Times Cutting 10% Of About.Com Staff As Well As Contributor Rates
And - NewsCorp's $8.4 Billion Writedown, Largely On Wall Street Journal
With - Murdoch's Quarterly Report (pdf)

"We're gonna be in the Hudson." ... "I'm sorry, say again."
The Audio As Flight 1549 Safely Lands On Water

Walter Isaacson, A Wealthy And Powerful Journalist, Lectures On "How To Save Your Newspaper" While Asserting He'd Be "A Fool Paying For" The NY Times

TIME Talks To Slumdog Maestro A. R. Rahman

Cleopatra Pushed Back, Soderbergh Bunts For Math-'N'-Baseball-Themed Moneyball: The Art of Winning An Unfair Game, Adapted By S. Zaillian, With Brad Pitt

The Making Of Laika, The Portland-Based Studio Behind Coraline

"It takes Hollywood to turn woman into an hysterical fashion-mongering man-craving anorexic caricature."

The NY Times Magazine's Great Performer Portraits Are Swell This Year (Kat Dennings #3, Anyone?)

Hollywood & Fine On Musing The Face

Ebert On Holding Your Tongue And The Classing Of The Reader As A "Holocaust Movie"

D-D'Arcy's Short History Of "Politicking The Academy"

As The Guild Turns
Sunday SAG Sesh Set; Expected to Fire Former Exec Director Allen A Second Time

Bill Wyman Notes NYTimes Does Steve Martin A Mitzvah Talking Banjo Music But Not PP2
Earlier - "Making movies may be the least interesting thing Steve Martin does."

Forry Ackerman's Estate Sale Includes Fritz Lang's Metropolis Monocle And Lugosi Loot

Hitchcock's Favorite Pooch, The Sealyham Terrier, Walked In His The Birds Cameo, Near Extinction?

Thank You For Cracking
Lionsgate Preemptively Sues WeinsteinCo Over Claims To Push: Based On The Novel By Sapphire
While - The Big Cieper Gets Unnamed Sources To Dish Its Commercial Hopes

London Critics Heart The Wrestler, And Slumdog And Kate And Button, Too

New Line Moots A Sorta-Remake For 2010 Of He's Just Not That Into You With Same Writers, Set In Garry Marshall's L.A.

Polanski On Trial Again

Explaining The Broadband Stimulus Proposal And How It Helps Media And Users