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Of course, so did The Phantom Menace, but I'm trying to stay optimistic here.

Herewith, a rant about a visual gaffe in the current cinema.

On Friday's GuideLive cover, you'll see a large publicity photo of the stars of The Other Boleyn Girl (the same photo that's used in a movie ad inside the section). In the picture, Natalie Portman is at right, portraying Anne Boleyn.

Natalie herself looks great -- but what she's wearing made me cringe. The gown and hairstyle are OK. It's the jewelry that isn't working.

They have Anne Boleyn wearing a little pearl necklace with a big gold "B" hanging from it -- the like of which you might see in, say, a 21st-century Wal-mart. I seriously doubt you would have seen it anywhere in 16th-century England.

A little cross or crucifix hanging from the pearl necklace, or a pearl pendant, perhaps? Those styles would be historically acceptable. The big gold "B" is so not. You might as well have Eric Bana sporting a Rolodex as Henry VIII, and Scarlett Johanssen as Mary Boleyn with an iPod plugged into her ears.

It seems New Line is about to fall victim to the new economy of movies. Not even the Hobbits could save it.

This morning, the Today show aired a little clip from the Sex and the City movie, one that revealed a couple of new plot points. The biggest news seems to be that Charlotte is pregnant in the movie (or has somehow ingested a couple of basketballs). Also, the clip gives Mr. Big's full name (yippie). The footage made its way to YouTube and, of course, was promptly taken down, but if i see it anywhere on the Web in a more official capacity today, i'll get a link up.

I got an e-mail today from the governor's office of New Mexico bragging about the fact that the upcoming Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins will be filmed in New Mexico from May through August this year before a theatrical release in May 2009.

I wonder if Texas was ever in the running for this project?

A few years ago, I wrote an article about how Texas was trying to get more competitive with New Mexico and other states to lure movie makers.

But there was a good bit of skepticism about whether Texas had the financial will to outbid other states, and I wonder if the Lone Star State was ever in the running for this film.

I also wonder, speaking as a fairly hardcore Terminator fan, whether this movie will suck.

The realist in me says yes, since Ahhnold will have, at best, a cameo appearance. But then again, Christian Bale is starring as John Conner, and I don't think he's made a bad action movie yet.

Wanna see Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis when she hits town Thursday to speak at the Nasher Salon? I've got your hookup. The first two people to e-mail me with OLYMPIA in the subject line will win a pair of tickets to the sold out event, which begins at 7 p.m. A screening of Moonstruck will follow. Shoot me that e-mail at sbecker@dallasnews.com.

Clear view from the top
Vantage Point, the political thriller about an assassination attempt viewed from multiple angles, found plenty of eyeballs over the weekend on the way to $22.9 million and the No. 1 spot. It proved to be the only real success of the four new movies with semi-wide distribution.

The AFI Dallas International Film Festival has announced a pair of new awards that come with hefty prizes. The winner of the MPS Studios Texas Filmmaker Award will get $20,000 in cash, goods and services. The winner of the Current Energy’s Earth Friendly Award, for films and filmmakers that communicate the importance of environmental sustainability through the art of film, will get $10,000.

The festival will run March 27 – April 6, with the awards ceremony taking place on Sunday, April 6 at the W Hotel. Other awards include the $25,000 Target Filmmaker Awards for Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary, the $10,000 HDNet Award for the best film shot in HD, and audience awards in the Narrative Feature, Documentary and Short Film categories. For more info on the fest visit www.afidallas.com.

Tell Us:

Who do you think got robbed Oscar night?

What was the most surprising moment during Sunday's show?

How did Jon Stewart fare as host of the big event?

From the Associated Press:
See behind-the-scenes video, slideshows and multimedia projects on the 80th Annual Academy Awards.

If you've seen There Will be Blood, well, there should be laughter while viewing this SNL skit.

That was a fairly uneventful Oscarcast, and I like that. Didn't have to make any last-second tweaks to to my lead except plug a few quotes in and crunch some single-digit numbers, then it was off to the capable hands of my editor (what up Becker).

Sorry if that's too much info on how the sausage is made. Here are Some random observations to close things out:

For anyone who might care (hi mom), it looks like I had a pretty solid night, going 11-for-13 on the categories I predicted. I'll take that any day...
Picture: No Country
Director: Coens
Actor: Day-Lewis
Actress: Cotillard
Sup. Actor: Bardem
Sup. Actress: Dee --- miss (Swinton)
Original Screenplay: Juno
Adapted screenplay: No Country
Animated film: Persepolis -- miss (Ratatouille)
Documentary: No End in Sight
Foreign Film: The Counterfeiters
Song: Falling Slowly from "Once"
Score: Atonement

With four awards, No Country for Old Men ends up the night's biggest winner, earning picture, director, supporting actor and adapted screenplay. The real surprise comes with the second most honored film, The Bourne Ultimatum. Who would have thought?

We now have 16 films that have taken home awards, the same number of films that won Oscars last year. If you picked The Bourne Ultimatum as the night's big winner, you're looking good, as it leads the pack with three. Close behind are La Vie en Rose and No Country for Old Men with 2. Look for No Country to take over the lead shortly...

Taxi beat out the Iraq overview No End in Sight, which, in hindsight, makes sense. Taxi puts a more human face on what's happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. Powerful film. It's also still at the Angelika, so you can check it out pretty easily.

It wasn't an upset - the Enchanted songs canceled each other out, and they simply weren't as good. But Falling Slowly is still the best underdog story of the night. Once was made for next to nothing, and it is about the power of music. Great line by Stewart after Hansard's humble acceptance: "Man is that guy arrogant." And very nice touch letting Irglova come back out to say her piece after the commercials.

With 13 of the 24 awards given out, the leaders, all tied with TWO, are No Country for Old Men, The Bourne Ultimatum and La Vie en Rose. Seven other films are tied with one. Not hearing their names called yet: best picture nominees Atonement, Juno and There Will be Blood.

Cotillard was considered a possibility by many, but I'm pretty shocked. I didn't think enough people had seen the film. Shows what I know. Kudos to the Academy for making a surprising and cosmopolitan move. (And, yes, to Becker for calling it).

Good to see Bourne pick up a couple, even if they were in the un-glamorous sound categories. I still say it was one of the best films of the year. And yes, it did sound good.

She deserves it, too. I kinda like the Goth/funereal look, set off by the shock of red hair. The Oscars could use a little punking up. Nice crisp speech too, with props for Clooney. More for Michael Clayton ahead?

Nice to see Dallas' Owen Wilson presenting the best short animated film Oscar. He's been through a rough couple of months, but at least for a few minutes out there onstage, he looked pretty good. Here's hoping for more of the same.

If you're scoring, with the best short film Oscar now handed out, that marks 7 Oscars tonight won by 7 different films.

Botched haircut victims the world over rejoice. Seriously, he's a great actor, and that was a terrifying performance.

Among the presenters tonight, we have Katherine Heigl, The Rock and Miley Cyrus. Now you might ask: Why them and not other people who have no real ties to this year's ceremony. The answer may lie in the fact that the show is being broadcast on ABC (home of Heigl's Grey's Anatomy), which is owned by Disney (the studio behind The Game Plan featuring The Rock and Hannah Montana featuring Miley Cyrus). Could all be a coincidence, but on a show this big, you can bet everything is thought out.

So with the strike did Jon Stewart and company have only two weeks to prepare or did he/they have more than two months? Based on the quality of the jokes, it could go either way. An opening bit on the strike fell flat but then he gained a little traction when talking about "the slate of Oscar-nominated, psychopathic-killer movies." He summed up the year's movies by asking "Does this town need a hug? thank god for teen pregnancy?" -- a reference to the lone comedy, Juno.

Shouldn't we have given out a little supporting sumthin-sumthin by now? Some of us have deadlines over here. Growl. Now we get an Enchanted song.

Ratatouille wins for animated feature, and as much as I loved Persepolis, I can't front on the rat. Brad Bird is genius; his two major Pixar films, The Incredibles and Ratatouille, form a passionate, high-flying defense of high standards.

Elizabeth wins for costumes...which, at this point, are the only parts of the movie I can remember. Sorry Cate.

Just to be on the record, here are my predictions:
Picture: No Country
Director: Coens
Actor: Day-Lewis
Actress: Cotillard
Sup. Actor: Bardem
Sup. Actress: Dee
Original Screenplay: Juno
Adapted screenplay: No Country
Animated film: Persepolis
Documentary: No End in Sight
Foreign Film: The Counterfeiters
Song: Falling Slowly from "Once"
Score: Atonement
I think I will skip the other categories. Feel free to slap me around when I miss one and tell me how awesome I am when I get 'em right.

George Clooney just showed why he's George Clooney, making Regis feel like a million bucks and an old drinking buddy all at once. Talking the usual Oscar stuff, he casually mentioned the rising fortunes of Notre Dame's basketball team. He knows where Rege's passions lie, and he was quick to make ever-casual small talk over sports. Check out Joel Stein's highly entertaining "I had Clooney over for dinner" story in the new issue of Time, which ends with this nugget: "George Clooney is a movie star because he's happiest when he controls how everyone around him feels. Because that's what movies do."

Count on Gary Busey to provide some welcome wheels-offness on the red carpet. First he calls out Seacrest - "I've been looking for you" - then he gives Jennifer Garner some, um, unwelcome hug-and-kiss action. "He almost puched her in the face right there," quipped Seth Rogen moments later. Go Gary. Break up the monotony with madness.

John Travolta is sporting a close-trimmed hair cut that makes him look even more like a Ken doll than usual. The hair looks painted on. And what do you know up comes Dwayne The Rock Johnson with the identical hair cut. Let the rumors fly.

Um, what's Patrick Dempsey doing at the Oscars?

E's crew are all abuzz about George Clooney coming with his girlfriend Sarah Larson. The presence of the former Vegas cocktail waitress and Fear Factor contestant (she bit the head off of a scorpion) set off a frenzy of engagement speculation.

Ryan could not contain his man-crush. He was still swooning over George and his perfect hair when Jason Bateman walked up. Jason said "Yeah, it's looks so real. But if you get the camera up close you can see the netting."

Jason Bateman confirmed that there is a push to make Arrested Development: The Movie a reality. "The snowball is rolling downhill and getting bigger. All the creative are on board."

Quote of the night: Asked about how hard the intense scenes in Michael Clayton were to shoot, Tom Wilkinson said no, in fact, it was easy. "I mean Hamlet is going through hell, but the actor isn't, because it's written so well." Also he confessed to be a "Friends" addict, watching it every day, getting upset when he can't watch it. "I met Lisa Kudrow the other day and I was completely tongue-tied and blushing. She must have thought I was mad, but I was thinking 'she's Phoebe."

She's wearing Calvin Klein, if you care. And she's looking forward to a "magical night" but the pay-off of her red-carpet moment was her pretending to punch Ryan Seacrest again and again, complete with "Thwack" sound effects. Nice.

With no big stars arriving yet -- no little stars either, for that matter -- the next best thing is to talk about the stars that will be here. The first big news of the night: Ryan unofficially outed Angelina Jolie as pregnant. Showing a picture from her arrival at yesterday's Spirit Awards, with her belly obviously bulging, he quipped "She's either pregnant or she's got gas." Har.

E's red carpet/carpet-bombing coverage of the Oscars actually began hours ago, but Ryan Seacrest and the rest of his A-team of C and D listers is on the carpet so it begins in earnest now.

The AFI-Dallas International Film Festival has announced that Then She Found Me, Helen Hunt's directorial debut, will play as the opening night film on March 27 at the Majestic Theatre downtown. The Oscar-winning actress will be in attendance to walk the red carpet. The film previously played at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and will also screen at South by Southwest in March.

Don’t feel like watching the Oscars from your couch on Sunday? Then head over to the Angelika Film Center (5321 E. Mockingbird Lane in Dallas) to watch the Academy Awards on the big screen. The free event begins at 6 p.m. and will feature some special giveaways. Might want to get there early, though, as seating is first come first served.

One of the interesting things about the Harry Potter films has been the way the series has grown and evolved through its direction by several different directors: Alfonso Cuaron in Prisoner of Azkaban, Mike Newell in Goblet of Fire, and David Yates in last summer's Order of the Phoenix. (Chris Columbus did a workmanlike but less inspired job when he directed the first two Potter films, Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets.)

Producer David Heyman and the Potter cast and crew seemed to have really hit it off with Mr. Yates, because he was also asked to direct the sixth film, Half-Blood Prince, now in production. HBP also marks the return of screenwriter Steve Kloves, a native Texan, to the Potter series. (He skipped writing OoP in order to work on his own film project, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.)

There has been much speculation about who would direct the film of author J.K. Rowling's seventh and final Potter book, Deathly Hallows. Rumors flew: Would Mr. Cuaron come back? Would superstar director Steven Spielberg perhaps take the helm?

Mr. Heyman and Warner Bros. aren't talking. Yet. But a nugget of news arrived from a most unlikely source: the blog of Lois Lowry, another well-known children's author.

Ms. Lowry wrote The Giver, a Newbery Award-winning book that is expected to become a movie. But, as she posted on her blog a couple of days ago:

Bad news from The Giver Movie front. David Yates, the director currently working on the next Harry Potter film, was supposed to begin The Giver film next. But he has just decided he wants to do the final Harry Potter first, thereby postponing The Giver by several years.

No. 138 with a bullet (Fox Searchlight)

So we thought it would be fun to take this year's best picture nominees and see where they rank in the all-time scheme of things. Read on for the results.

Good story this week in USA Today, which profiles Marfa, Texas, where both No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood -- both nominated for Best Picture -- were filmed. It was hilarious to hear what the locals had to say from this ranching town, whose population hovers around 2,000. They still prefer the 1956 James Dean classic Giant, which was also shot in the desolate West Texas town. My favorite quotes were from local resident W.E. "Chip" Love, whose grandmother was an extra on Giant. The Coen brothers talked him into being one in No Country for Old Men. "They said all I had to do was get killed with a stun gun and fall down," the 50-year-old president of the Marfa bank told USA Today. "I figured I could do that. I could fall down." But a two-minute scene involved a lot more work than he thought it would. "They must have had me killed eight different ways. Heck, I had a stunt double — for falling down. It's funny how much it means to movie people."

Last week we broke down the best actor and actress categories, throwing our weight behind Daniel Day-Lewis and Julie Christie. And now it's on to the last two major categories: best director and picture. In the interest of saving our dessert for last, let's discuss the best director race first. Typically, the favorite in this category is whoever directed the best-picture favorite, leading me to believe that the Coen Bros. have the inside track. But I think there is a ligit wild card in this field: Julian Schnabel. The Diving Bell in the Butterfly is a film where you see the director's artistic fingerprints all over it. And I think the reason Schnabel scored the nomination over Joe Wright is Wright took a very heavy-handed approach to directing Atonement. The result is that the viewer feels as if Wright is constantly tapping him on the shoulder saying, "Hey, don't forget who put all of this together!" Schanbel took a lighter approach, and the result is a film that feels effortless.

The Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, could make Oscar history this year, says the AP's David Germain. The siblings could win four awards for one movie, No Country for Old Men. And one of those awards might go to a man who wasn't there: Roderick Jaynes, the Coens' film-editing pseudonym.

There's one big question should the Coens sweep all four of their categories come Oscar night: Will the real Roderick Jaynes be there to collect his editing prize? The Coens describe their alias as a cranky geezer in his late 80s who lives in England and doesn't like to travel.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences acknowledges the Coens as quadruple nominees even though their names are not on the ballot for editing.

So who gets the trophy if Roderick Jaynes wins?

"We're going to read the name on the card," said academy spokeswoman Leslie Unger. "Who comes up remains to be seen."

Hop to the top
A couple of new franchises and an established one took the top three spots at the box office over the extended Valentine’s Day through President’s Day weekend. Jumper ($32 million) and The Spiderwick Chronicles ($24.7 million), both of which could spawn a sequel, took the top two spots, while Step Up 2 the Streets, the follow-up to Step Up, earned $22 million to keep the machine humming.

Wanna buy some deodorant? (New Line)

Are the products selling the movie? Or is the movie selling the products? Is this blog posting selling both? Does it even matter anymore?

What a tangled green web we weave.

Our "Actors who've never won an Oscar" series: They're among the best in the business. But they don't have an Academy Award. Yet. We've been counting down the five best regularly working actors who haven't had their moment of Oscar glory.

No. 5: Laura Linney
No. 4: Don Cheadle
No. 3: Leonardo DiCaprio

Tell us: Also, who do you think should take home the best actor/actress Oscars on Sunday?

Many questions came to mind when the Oscar nominations were announced: Who's going to win best picture? Why wasn't Once nominated more than once?

Does anyone care anymore?

It's not the kind of question anyone in Tinseltown would ask aloud. However, the entertainment industry must surely be wondering if its biggest night has started, like the pictures in Sunset Boulevard, to become small.

Read more.

Tell us: Do you care about the Oscars?

Last week we looked at the supporting categories, placing our bets on Javier Bardem and Cate Blanchett to win their respective categories. Today it's time to break down the lead acting categories. Let's start with the men, and what seems to be the obvious question: Daniel Day-Lewis seems to be the heavy favorite here -- is there any reason to think that he won't take the stage and accept the award next Sunday?

‘Gold’ rush
Fool’s Gold followed a tried-and-true formula (hot stars + plenty of skin = big pile of cash) over the weekend to claim the No. 1 spot at the box office with $21.6 million. With Valentine’s Day plus a holiday weekend also in play, look for this date movie to chug along nicely.

For those of you salivating over the possible details of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, you need only wait until Thursday for more info. The first trailer of the film will air on Good Morning America and then will be available at Indianajones.com. And if you are catching one of the four new releases in theaters that night, you've also got a shot of seeing it on the big screen.

AT&T and Martin Scorsese have teamed up for a sorta funny public service announcement that will begin running in movie theaters, urging people to shut off their cellphones. I'm all in favor of that, though I think the next step is to ask people to stop texting. Why anyone would pay $8 to sit in a dark room and type is beyond me. Anyway, here's the PSA if you wanna watch.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Roy Scheider, a two-time Oscar nominee best known for his role as a police chief in the blockbuster movie Jaws, died Sunday. He was 75.

Roy Scheider died at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital in Little Rock, hospital spokesman David Robinson said. The hospital did not release a cause of death.

Read more.

Tell us: What's your favorite Roy Scheider movie?

Chris Vognar broke down our strange love affair with the movie hit man in today's GuideLive, and now we ask for your favorite movie hit man. Also, can anyone shed anymore light on why we seem to like these killers?
My favorite is kind of an obvious one, but I never tire of watching Samuel L. Jackson's Jules in Pulp Fiction. The way the tension builds up as he toys with his prey in that apartment, eating the guy's Hawaiian burger and drinking his soda before reciting some cold-blooded Bible verse -- it's a strange combination of joy and dread.

It's that time again -- time for the DMN Oscar watchers (aka, Chris Vognar, Tom Maurstad and me) to break down the big races leading up to the Feb. 24 Academy Awards. Today, we'll discuss the supporting categories, beginning with supporting actor. I want to proclaim this race as all but over, with Javier Bardem putting the finishing touches on his acceptance speech. He's already claimed the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award in this category and was installed as the favorite well before then. So my question is: Is there any way one of the other nominees reaches up and grabs this one?

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK — Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of painkillers, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety medication and other prescription drugs, the New York City medical examiner said Wednesday.

The cause of death was "acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine," spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said in a statement.

Read more.

Miley high
Hannah Montana cannot be stopped. The teen sensation’s concert film easily took the top spot at the box office with $31 million, more than double what its closest competitor, The Eye, pulled in. Of course, jacked up ticket prices and drummed-up demand due to a supposed one-week airing didn’t hurt any.

Harold and Kumar, the Rolling Stones and Helen Hunt: that's how the SXSW Film Festival will roll next month. The full lineup for SX 2008, running March 7-15, has been announced. Here's some stuff we're looking forward to.

Spike Lee is coming to North Texas. The two-time Oscar nominee will discuss his life and career at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, at Texas Hall, 701 W. Nedderman Drive, on The University of Texas at Arlington campus. Tickets for the event are $15, $10 for faulty, staff and UT Arlington Alumni Association members and $5 for UT Arlington students. A $50 ticket, which includes a reception with Mr. Lee, is available in limited supply. Call 817-272-2963 or visit www.utatickets.com to purchase tickets.

My brother forwarded me this link last week while I was on vacation. If we can elect Generals Grant and Eisenhower, why not Zod?
Unfortunately, the Constitution doesn't allow for great leaders who were not born on U.S. soil to become White House residents. This guy knows all about that.

Our neighborsgo.com site features a reader observation of the Paris craze the night of The Hottie and the Nottie premiere at Regent Highland Park Village. The short of it: Paris = gracious, her boys = faux thuggy.

• Neighborsgo reader review of the scene
• Stephen's 1/23 story on the scene