The Short Take: Humpday, Rough Anties, Lymelife, Thriller in Manila, Mary and Max, The Greatest, Push, Big River Man, Moon and Paper Heart .. so far.

Gregg Goldstein's Sundance Sales Chart: Black Dynamite expolodes overnight. An Education schools the competition with Sunday night action, as the true con-man, gay-romantic, prison-sex comedy-drama I Love You Phillip Morris defies all expectations, and Spread spreads its negotiations into Monday.

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.

The Weekend Report
by Leonard Klady

Paul Blart: Mall Cop was intent to serve and protect and delivered an estimated $32.9 million during the three-day portion of the Martin Luther King holiday frame. Blart out-performed expectations as did another freshman release, the musical biography Notorious that ranked third with a $22.2 million gross. There were also solid returns for the two other new entries - the shocker My Bloody Valentine 3D rang up $20.7 million and family targeted Hotel for Dogs grossed $17.1 million.
Weekend Estimates (Full List)

3-Day Estimates	Weekend	% Chg	Cume
Paul Bart: Mall Cop	32.9	-	32.9
Gran Torino	22.9	-22%	73.9
Notorious	22.2	-	20.7
My Blood Valentine 2D	20.7	-	20.7
Hotel for Dogs	17.1	-	17.1
Bride Wars	11.5	-45%	37.3
The Unborn	9.8	-51%	33
Defiance	9.2	-	9.5
Marley and Me	6.2	-45%	132.6
Slumdog Millionaires	5.9	57%	42.8

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.

________________________________

Wilmington on Movies
Defiance, Hotel for Dogs, and Paul Blart, Mall Cop
by Michael Wilmington

Defiance has received mixed reviews. Variety's Todd McCarthy, who is usually right on the money, compared it unfavorably to the superb Belorussian sagas of Russian directors Larisa Shepitko (The Ascent) and Elem Klimov (Come and See). But that seems a little unfair. The Ascent and Come and See are two of the greatest, and most unjustly neglected, war films in movie history. Should you knock a good new newspaper movie by comparing it to Citizen Kane? Defiance is a good, and unusual, World War 2 movie, and it deserves its audience.
Wilmington on DVDs

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	-	-	-	-

________________________

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.

Pride, Unprejudiced
Wrapping Up 2008
by Ray Pride

Sea changes in production and distribution surround us, but I wouldn't complain about the movies I've been able to see this year. I missed some larger events, and I bet there's a lot more to admire from 2008 out there, even if it's only another fistful of sweet grace notes. The two most magnificent sound-and-image experiences of my year were witnessing a moving masterclass by Terence Davis at Thessaloniki International in November, and the deafening-blinding My Bloody Valentine concert at Chicago's Aragon Ballroom in September.

__________________________

Frenzy on the Wall:
Spring Preview '09: Part Two
by Noah Forrest

I read the graphic novel quite recently; I was worried that if the film wasn’t any good, then the novel would be ruined for me so I wound up reading the thing in an afternoon and found out why the comic was so lauded. Now, my anticipation level is through the roof and I’m praying that Zack Snyder has done justice to this fascinating, difficult material that transcends the superhero/comic book genre.

_______________________________________

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?

_______________________________________

MCN DVD
Pineapple Express

If James Franco is far more likely to receive an Oscar nomination for his superlative work in Milk, than for playing a space-case dope dealer in Pineapple Express, it's only because being stoned to the gills isn't up there with autism, cancer, elephantiasis or ALS as Oscar bait.

Also .. Babylon AD, Righteous Kill, The Grocer's Son, The Royal Air Force at War, Death Race

DP/30
Mike Leigh Sally Hawkins Happy-Go-Lucky	Sally Hawkins Happy-Go-Lucky	Darren Aronofsky Mickey Rourke The Wrestler
Peter Morgan Frost/Nixon	Benicio del Toro Che'	Richard Jenkins The Visitor
30 Minutes With The People Who Make The Movies

Voynaristic:
No Regrets: Why Even "Amateur" Films Deserve Honest Reviews
by Kim Voynar

The whole issue of what's amateur versus what's professional, and whether such things should be even be considered at all in reviewing them crops up all the time, especially for those of us who spend a lot of our time on the fest circuit or have a stack of indie screeners sitting on our entertainment centers.

Do you review independent films and studio films by different standards?

_______________________________

The Gurus look at the top 8 categories post-Globes. Not a lot of changes in Best Picture ... but Kate Winslet moves up in the actress categories. Gurus January 12 Gurus: December 30 Gurus: December 12 Gurus: December 9

20 Weeks of Oscar
6 Weeks to Go: Almost There
by David Poland

The truth is, the field always narrows, there are always expected award players that turn out to be misses, and there are always a few big surprises… but on that last one, not this year.   

I think the lack of surprise is a combination of certain surprise tricks no longer being surprising and the films that hoped to film that place just not being compelling enough to overcome the more expected films. 

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

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

Along With Taking Ads For Movies, Oscar's Cutting Cost Of Commercials

IFC Films, Two Days Before Che Goes Video-On-Demand, Announces Partnership With SXSW, Wiith Some Day-And-Date VOD And Festival Premieres

Meximogul Carlos "Slim" Helu Set To Pump Several Hundred Million Into NY Times

Black Dynamite sells to Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group for a Cool $2 million

From I.O.U.S.A. To Spongebob Squarepants

Time Out NY Ousts Film Editor Anderson

Senator Nabs Under-$20 million Brooklyn's Finest in a Low-to-Mid Seven Figure Sundance Deal, but Will Dump Ending

A Surveillance Camera Captures The Hudson River Plane Crash And The Amazing Escape

Ebiri On How The Movies Might Treat Obama

"Before Christmas, I sent a programmer a couple of joints and two tickets to see Broken Social Scene. Like, ‘Hey, you should know one of the greatest bands in the world.' You don't get the sense they're having any fun over there."
Canadian Filmmakers And Artists On What's Wrong With The CBC

On-Leave Steve Jobs Still To Stand For His Seat On Disney Board

On The Camera-Ready Comedy Of Dashiell Hammett As The Thin Man Turns 75

Emma Thompson Tells M. Phillips How Much Chicago Is In The London Of Last Chance Harvey

Circuit City Liquidating Last Of Its Stores

Motion Picture & Television Fund's Actor's Hospital And Home In Woodland Hills To Expire

Roland Emmerich To Chip Away At Asimov's Foundation Trilogy

John Mortimer, Novelist, Barrister, Creator Of Claret-Quaffing "Rumpole," Father Of Actress Emily Mortimer, Was 85

Andrew Wyeth, 91, Painter Of Wistful American Imagery, Notably The Great "Christina's World"; Quietly Homaged By Many Directors And DPs
And - Look At "Christina's World" And Say You Haven't Seen This Reflected In Movies Like Zodiac (bottom of page)

TCM Quietly Announces Major Vintage Film DVD Initiative

Longtime Champion Of Film, UK's Channel 4, Likely To Lose Independence Along With More Of Identity

"Studios are going to have to renegotiate a lot of talent deals if new movies are going to get made. There's nowhere else to shave the money than with the talent."
Reported 21% Fall In DVD Revenues Likely To Accelerate Falling Star Pay

Minneapolis Star-Trib In Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Plea

U.S. Rights To Ingmar Bergman Pics Now Held By Theater In Aspen After Legal Mishaps By Svensk Filmindustri

Oscar Presenters Are A Secret

Fox Gets Sizable Pile Of Cash And Piece Of B.O. in Settlement With WB Over Watchmen

DreamWorks Buys 17 Development Projects From Paramount

Hawaii Jumps Into The Digital Pool

BAFTA Nods... Winslet Nods Back As Double Best Actress Nominee

How Ill Is Steve Jobs?
Earlier - Jobs Cites Health As Reason For Leave From Apple Until June; Intends To Stay Involved In Major Strategic Decisions

Can You See The Dead Trees For The Dead Crickets?
LA CityBeat's Andy Klein Latest Told To Go Opine Elsewhere

"Boss! The Gates! The Pearly Gates!"
Ricardo Montalban Was 88
Plus - Are You In The Market For A 1975 Chrysler Cordoba?

India Awaits D. Boyle's Mumbai Meller
And - A. R. Rahman Wants Oscar For "Jaiho" From Slumdog
While - The Hindu's Writer Thinks Slumdog's One Shot Away
Earlier - Bollywood Big Amitabh Bachchan Bad-Blogs Slumdog
And - Bachchan's Unfiltered Blog-Of-Consciousness

Unsigns Of The Times: Times Square Virgin Megastore To Dim; Union Square Location Also Endangered

Newspaper Mega-Chain Gannett Sez All Non-Union Workers Must Take Week Without Pay
While - New York Mag Keeps Staff Writers, Trims Their Pay

Aronofsky On Fight Pics Pinned By Wrestler

UK's Nat'l Theatre To Broadcast Live To Cinemas, Starting With Dame Mirren In "Phèdre"

YouTube's Muting Videos That Mashup Makers Post With Unauthorized Tunes

"This global company gives filmmakers one-stop shopping with a more global focus."
Anne-T On Focus Features Go-Going Global

On The Battle Of Chicago's Newsstand Tabloids (Now There Were 3)

Patrick McGoohan Was 80
As Was - David Withers, Producer Of "The Prisoner"

Wim Wenders On Speed

Foundas Flies To Forefront Of Gomorrah Failure Fury

Polanski Has No Plans Ever To Return To The U.S.

Copy Rites: Matt Seitz On YouTube vs. Kevin B. Lee

Film In Focus Gets Filmmakers To Confess 2009 Resolutions

"It is a time for clear thinking and analysis, not uninformed speculation."
The New York Times Contests The Atlantic Monthly Article That Asserts They're Going Bankrupt This Spring

"'Is this once again a going-back to the West's voyeuristic obsession with joy amid poverty, vitality among the super-poor?' asked Hindustan Times columnist Mondy Thapar."

Another Confusing SAG Shilly-Shally: Doug Allen, Fired Negotiator, Un-Fired, Not Fired, Or Something, At Epic National Board Meeting

Costume Guild Dresses 13, Including Revolutionary, Milk, Button, Slumdog, Sex, Wrestler
And - Vancouver Crickets Make Rain For Milk

Shawn Levy Read "The Watchmen" Over The Weekend And Now Worries The Movie Could Never Be Good Enough

What's At Stake With Cablevision's Infinite TiVO? Money... Careers... Copyrights
And - Open Mic Music Nights Will Die, Not Because They're Often Crap, But Because Strapped Music Rights Orgs Are Suing Mom-And-Pop Bars For Allowing Singing

Oscar Shortlists Nine Foreign Language Noms

Tom O'Horgan, 84, Created "Hair," Directed B'way's "Lenny," "Jesus Christ Superstar"

Following A UK Precedent, Chicago Trib Going Tabloid For Street Sales

Ebert's 1987 Account Of Going On-Set For Barfly With Mickey Rourke And Bukowski
Plus - A Reporter's Unearthed Tale Of Two Months On The Set Of Easy Rider

The Times' First Substantial Sundance Stroke: Bret Easton Ellis' The Informers

Slumdog Drumroll, Please...
"The first emblematic film of the Barack Obama era. It is such a radical contender for Oscars, and in ways that correspond to what appears to be Obama's world view."

Is YouTube Cracking Down On "Critical Essays" That Use Copyrighted Footage?

"The awards are very flattering, obviously, and great for what I like to call my bathroom ego, which is the ego no one sees but me, when I look into the mirror. What's really important is the platform they give the film."
Danny Boyle Sez Awards Are A Bottom-Line Necessity For Pics Like Slumdog

The Headaches Caused By Studios' Rush To 3-D Without Enough Screens In Place

Why Movies Can't Learn From "The Wire"

Focus Announces 2009 Slate With Coens, Jarmusch, Ang Lee; Hippie-Hippie Shake MIA

Paul Newman Biographer Shawn Levy Finds The One Bad Photo Ever Taken Of The Great Man

The History Of "Miss Double G," The Woman With The Golden Globes In Her Hands

Is Stanley Fish's NY Times Top 10 Films Of All Time The Worst List Ever Typed?

Japan's Prestigious Kinema Jumpo Film Awards Include Foreign Director Nods To Lumet And Penn

"The pressure of working for Lew Wasserman and Sid Sheinberg was so great, Tanen kept guns and ammunition in the trunk of his car, and would occasionally leave work and drive to the desert in the middle of the day to fire off some rounds and relieve some of the stress."
Producer Bill Horberg's "Minutes Of The Last Meeting Of The Ned Tanen Appreciation Society"

Profiling "The Mozart Of Madras," Slumdog's Millions-Selling A. R. Rahman

John Patrick Shanley On The Difference Between Doubt And "The Flying Nun"

The Cinema Editors Make Their Nominations

Carr Equates: How Can Media Address The Expectation That Everything Has To Be Free?
And - "12 Major Media Brands Likely To Close In 2009"

Trailering Sundance's Michael Shannon-Starring The Missing Person

Today Is HAL 9000's Birthday

Oscar-Winning Claude Berri Was 74; Producer Of Secret Of The Grain, Tess; Directed Jean De Florette

"The line in Lionsgate’s marketing division is that every job already includes 'D.F.E.,' or 'Do F---ing Everything.'"
New Yorker Goes Long On Lionsgate Publicity Pasha Tim Palen

Karina Longworth Really, Truly, Hits The Gongs That Mattered At The Globes

"I would like to grow up to be like Clint Eastwood. Eastwood the director, Eastwood the actor, Eastwood the invincible, Eastwood the old man. What other figure in the history of the cinema has been an actor for 53 years, a director for 37, won two Oscars for direction, two more for best picture, plus the Thalberg Award, and at 78 can direct himself in his own film and look meaner than hell? None, that's how many."

Hot Diggity Slumdog!
Globes Results Are Here

Rupert Pupkin's Payphones Are No More

Sussing Out The Underpinnings For Sales At Sundance This Year

How The Reaction To Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" Shaped Modern Western Society

SAG Set To Euthanize Deadly Strike Threat?

Bashir's Ari Folman On His Future Past

Nick Fraser On The Pitfalls Of Literally Faithful Biopics

The Sunday NY Times
Busby Berkeley Had The Moves (And Movies)
And - Waltz With Bashir "will always be up-to-date because something will always happen again."
Plus - Telling The Holocaust Like It Wasn't