The Screening Room

We'll be chatting up a storm while watching the NBC show. Won't you join us?

It's ridiculous to use the Golden Globes as a surefire predictor of Oscar chances, unless you think Avatar won best picture last year. But if you're a fan of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and/or awards in general, here are three tidbits from nomination morning.

Two of the biggest harvests were reaped by movies opening in Dallas this Friday. The King's Speech, the drama about a stuttering monarch (best actor nominee and serious Oscar contender Colin Firth), leads the pack with seven nominations, including best drama. The Fighter, David O. Russell's boxing melodrama starring supporting actor nominee Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg, scored six nods (including best drama), tying it with The Social Network for second-most.

The division of categories into drama and musical/comedy (because so many musicals are coming out these days) created some odd scenarios, as usual. Don't expect to see Oscar nods for musical/comedy picks Alice in Wonderland, Red, Burlesque or The Tourist (which was apparently a musical or comedy). On the other hand, both Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, musical/comedy actress nominees for The Kids are Alright, could be tabbed come Oscar time, and the film is a contender as well.

My favorite nomination: Jacki Weaver, best supporting actress for Animal Kingdom. Her crafty villainess was a marvel in the fine Australian crime yarn.

That is all.

Movie critic Chris Vognar has let you in on his favorite places to catch film in the Metroplex in the latest installment of the Best In DFW series.

Here's the intro. And here's the list of Best In DFW: Movie Houses.

Now, it's your turn. Tell us your favorite places to go catch a movie. Your comment could be published in Guide on July 30.

Aside from the censor fiasco, the Sunday MTV Movie Awards had its moments -- one of which being the premiere of the new Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows teaser trailer. Moviefone has broken down the trailer and asked for fan reactions, so I ask you: what did you think? Does it make you more excited for the movie or not?

Haven't seen the trailer yet? Feast your eyes:

Because I suppose it's never too early to start talking about next year, The Associated Press reports...

LOS ANGELES -- The Academy Awards are moving back to February. Awards organizers said Thursday next year's Oscar ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 27. That's about a week earlier than this season's awards show, which was held March 7 to avoid conflicting with the Winter Olympics. Though the show used to be held in late March, the Oscars have been staged in late February in most recent years to shorten the long Hollywood awards season. Nominations for the 83rd annual Oscars will be announced Jan. 25.

The ceremony will once again take place at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland and be broadcast by ABC.
Separately, the Producers Guild of America also set dates for its 22nd annual Producers Guild Awards, which will take place on Saturday, Jan. 22.
The 2011 calendar is quickly filling up. The Golden Globe Awards have already claimed Sunday, Jan. 16. The DGA Awards will be held on Saturday, Jan. 29, and the SAG Awards are set for Sunday, Jan. 30.

We finally saw how the Avatar-Hurt Locker battle played out, making for an exciting night. And so we give you...

Movie critic Chris Vognar's analysis of the 82nd annual Academy Awards: The Hurt Locker drops a bomb on Avatar with biggest Oscar haul

Media critic Tom Maurstad's review of the televised show: Show goes on and on

Slideshows of the winners and the red-carpet fashions

A chat replay of the real-time commentary from the movies staff during the show

Commentary from our fashion experts of the red-carpet

Photo: Dressed as a Na'vi from Avatar, Ben Stiller presented the Best Make-up award to Star Trek.

Our fashion experts dished on who's hot and who wasn't on the red carpet on the Shopping Blog.

Then, the movies staff provided live commentary of the awards show in our Cover It Live chat below with The Screening Blog readers.

See what our critics had to say about the nominees for Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress, Leading Actor and Leading Actress, Animated Feature Films, and Best Picture

Full list of Oscar nominees and winners

Chris Vognar and Tom Maurstad discussed the Oscar nominees for best picture.

Best Picture nominees: Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air

Full list of Oscar nominees

Previous chat: Animated Feature Films
Previous chat: Leading Actor and Leading Actress
Previous chat: Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress

Coming Sunday night: The movies staff returns to cover the 82nd annual Academy Awards live. Join us here at 7 p.m. as we watch and discuss the ABC-televised show.

You've been part of our live chat series the past month, and now the big day is almost here! We know you're totally stoked, so here are some fun local events to help you celebrate:

The Angelika Film Center presents Oscars on the Big Screen

Studio Movie Grill's Oscar Night America

The Magnolia features the Best Animated Short Films

The Magnolia features the Best Live Action Short Films at the Magnolia

AMC Theaters showcase the 10 Best Picture nominations

Attend an Oscars watching party

View interactive videos of the nominees and learn Oscar facts

Re-create red-carpet fashions with these expert tips

Hi all. I'll be talking Oscars today at 1 p.m. on Think, Krys Boyd's venerable interview show on KERA (90.1 FM). Christopher Kelly of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Stephen Becker of KERA's Art&Seek will also be participating. Give a listen; the three of us know each other well enough to bust some chops but still keep it fun. Plus you'll get the drop on our Oscar picks.

Chris Vognar, Tom Maurstad, Dawn Burkes and myself looked at the Oscar nominees for best animated film. This fun category isn't for just for kids anymore.

Animated Feature Film nominees: Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess and the Frog, The Secret of Kells, Up

Full list of Oscar nominees

Next week's topic: Best Feature Film
Previous chat: Leading Actor and Leading Actress
Previous chat: Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress

Movies critic Chris Vognar, media critic Tom Maurstad, Samantha Urban and myself discussed the nominees for the 82nd annual Academy Awards' best leading actor and leading actress categories. Read the conversation below.

Actor nominees: Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), George Clooney (Up in the Air), Colin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman (Invictus), Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)
Chris Vognar: Down-to-earth dudes George Clooney, Jeff Bridges are prime picks for an Oscar

Actress nominees: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side), Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Carey Mulligan (An Education), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire), Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)

Full list of Oscar nominees

We'll be chatting each Friday leading up to the March 7 awards show.

The Oscars in March are huge, but let's not forget all the smaller awards given out leading up to them. To name a couple:

The Beliefnet Film Awards give viewers a chance to select films, released the previous year, that are the most spiritual or inspirational. Each category gets a People's Award and a Judges' Award. Voting ends Feb. 26, so get your votes in. Winners will be announced March 1. A couple of the categories and nominees:

Best Spiritual Film of 2009: The Blind Side, Avatar, A Serious Man, The Stoning of Soraya M. and The Road
Best Inspirational Film of 2009: Up, Precious, American Violet, Away We Go and Invictus
Best Spiritual Documentary of 2009: Oh My God, Enlighten Up, More Than a Game, Earth and Unmistaken Child.

Then, soon after those awards, we have the 25th Film Independent's Spirit Awards at 10 p.m. March 5 on IFC, which will be hosted by Eddie Izzard. All independent films nominated in these awards must: be at least 70 minutes long; have either played one week in a commercial theater in 2009, or have been shown at one of six film festivals (the Los Angeles Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, New York, Sundance, Telluride, or Toronto); be made for no more than $20 million, including post.

You can vote for these too, but must do so by Feb. 22. A few categories and nominees:

Best Feature: (500) Days of Summer, Amreeka, Precious, Sin Nombre and The Last Station.
Best Screenplay: Adventureland, The Messenger, The Vicous Kind, (500) Days of Summer and The Last Station.
John Cassavetes Award (best feature made for under $500,000): Big Fan, Humpday, The New Year Parade, Treeless Mountain and Zero Bridge.

As the blaring Oscar nom headlines begin to fade I'd like to put in a plug for a couple of under-the-radar honorees opening in Dallas in the coming weeks.

This Friday brings The Last Station, for which both Helen Mirren (actress) and Christopher Plummer (supporting actor) earned nominations. Plummer plays Leo Tolstoy in his final years (or at his Last Station, if you will). Mirren is his wife Sofya, increasingly frustrated at her man's focus on the Tolstoyan cause and lack of attention to marital life. As director Michael Hoffman has pointed out, both performances are larger than life yet firmly grounded. Film acting doesn't get much better. Look for my story on Plummer - who somehow had never previously been nominated - in this Sunday's Dallas Morning News.

The following Friday we finally get The White Ribbon, which has bounced around the release schedule like a ping pong ball. The foreign language film nominee, directed by Michael Haneke, is among the best Bergman films Bergman never made. In a small German town, on the eve of World War I, bad things keep happening as floundering and corrupt authority figures and urchin-like kiddos shirk accountability. The White Ribbon is an ascetic jewel that could have been subtitled The Seeds of Nazism. Good times? No, but a great film.

Movies critic Chris Vognar, media critic Tom Maurstad and myself discussed the nominees for the 82nd annual Academy Awards' best supporting actress and best supporting actor categories. Read the conversation down below.

Supporting actor nominees: Matt Damon (Invictus), Woody Harrelson (The Messenger), Christopher Plummer (The Last Station), Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones), Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)

Supporting actress nominees: Penelope Cruz (Nine), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart), Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), Mo'Nique (Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire)

Chris Vognar: 10-film format varies little from Oscar tradition
Full list of Oscar nominees

We'll be chatting each Friday leading up to the March 7 awards show.

Next week: Discussing the best actor and best actress nominees

Having 10 Best Picture nominations is already making a difference. As the writer who reviewed The Blind Side (which won nominations for Best Actress and, amazingly, Best Picture), I gave it an A-minus -- though some have complained (correctly) that it's too commercial, even too corny. (To read my review, click here.) It is, however, an enduring crowd-pleaser and a remarkable true story, involving the life of Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Michael Oher, which may account for its box-office tally of more than $238 million. It proved to be the perfect vehicle for Best Actress candidate Sandra Bullock, who has undermined her talent over the years by saying yes to so many bad movies. Bullock, who spends much of her time these days in Austin, has already won Best Actress from the Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes and deservingly so. At the Oscars, of course, she will have serious competition from the ever-popular Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia), Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) and Carey Mulligan (An Education). She was aided by Texan John Lee Hancock, who wrote and directed The Blind Side. (To read my feature on Hancock, click here.) I was thrilled to see that Jeff Bridges, whose first major role came in The Last Picture Show in 1971, was nominated for Best Actor for Crazy Heart. No less an authority than Jackson Browne was raving about Crazy Heart before his recent sold-out performance at Music City Texas Theater in Linden. So far, Bridges has copied Bullock's success, winning Best Actor from the Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes.

Photo: A scene from The Blind Side

Couple of quick notes before I get cranking on my story:

Big ups for District 9. Great to see something that edgy score a best picture nod.

The Final Ten: Not so populist. No Hangover. No Star Trek. Great to see Up in there though.

If you checked in yesterday you know I'm stoked about Jeremy Renner. Good call, Oscar.

Gotta write.

Good morning movie lovers! We're up, it's early, and we're ready to hear who's been nominated for the 82nd Academy Awards. Watch the announcement along with us on ABC. 7:30 a.m.

7:35: In just a few moments we're going to see which 10 films get the Best Picture nom. Read Chris Vognar's predictions here.

7:38: It's starting! Anne Hathaway walks on to the stage to begin the announcement.

WHAT STUCK OUT TO ME
Supporting actor: Matt Damon (Invictus), Woody Harrellson (The Messanger), Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)

Best actress: Sandra Bullock, any surprise here? Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)

Best actor: Jeff Bridges *heart!*, George Clooney (Up in the Air), Colin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman (Invictus), Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)

Best director: James Cameron, bigelow, tarantino, lee daniels precious, reitman up in the air

7:42: The guys for Up

7:42: animated: Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess and the Frog, The Secret of Kells, Up -- My favorite category!

7:43: film: avatar, the blind side, district 9, an education, hurt locker, inglorious basterd, precious, a serious man, up, up in the air

Precious got 4 noms: Monique for supporting actress, and Gabourey for best actress, best film and screenplay

Up in the Air got 2 supporting actress noms, actor, director, picture, and adaptive screenplay. I wonder if it'll do better than it did at the Golden Globes.

Here's the full list on Oscar.com.

As you may have heard the Oscar nominations will be announced before anyone has a good reason to be out of bed Tuesday morning. Check here for some blog action starting at 7:30 a.m. In the mean time, here's a plug for someone who hasn't been getting a whole lot of buzz.

The Hurt Locker is a piercing look at the dangerous adrenaline highs of war; it will deserve its best picture nod, and Kathryn Bigelow will be a rightful best director nominee. But what about Jeremy Renner? His cock-of-the-walk swagger, and the coiled manic energy behind it, are vital to the film's effectiveness. I'd be very pleased to see him get some Oscar love. But I don't think he will. When a film is this well made, and so much of the vision belongs to the folks behind the camera, performances often get overlooked. (Anthony Mackie would be a solid supporting actor nominee as well). Hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

Not much of interest opening this week, though I do love the fact that Mel Gibson is still seeking revenge. (What are the odds he'll get tortured in this one)? So this Friday we'll be having some fun with the expanded 10-film Oscar field.

As you may have heard the Academy has doubled the usual number of best picture nominees. I'm going to take a stab at picking ten worthies, keeping in mind the Academy's stated purpose of including quality blockbusters and popular favorites along with with the "important" stuff. (If you ask me it's just another industry money grab but hey, it's fun). So think about how you might take advantage of the beefed-up ballot, and stay tuned for our grand experiment. The real noms will announced the morning of Feb. 2.

Read movie critic Chris Vognar's analysis story of the 67th annual Golden Globe Awards motion picture winners: 'Avatar' and its directors are winners at Golden Globes

Read media critic Tom Maurstad's analysis of the show and it's host Ricky Gervais: All seemed on their best behavior, and that's too bad

AP Photo: Robert Downey Jr. won Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical for Sherlock Holmes.

Avatar gets it! Is there any surprise here? Well, maybe a little for all you holding out for Up in the Air, which had the most nominations with 6 but only one win tonight (Best Screenplay).

Thanks to all for watching the 67th annual Golden Globes and blogging along with us! Read below for insights on the show, speeches, winners and losers from our critics Chris Vognar and Tom Maurstad and others. And if you missed any of the not-as-drunken-show-as-expected, get the full list of Globe holders here, see photos from the night and dish on the red carpet fashion here.

Stay tuned for deeper analysis of the show from both critics. In the meantime, tell us, what did you think of the show, its presenters and winners?

Jeff Bridges gets this one for Crazy Heart. I haven't seen it, but boy was he charming on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien Friday night. He sang "I Don't Know" from the film.

And in case you missed it last week, Chris Vognar wrote a fun piece on down-to-earth dudes George Clooney and Jeff Bridges.

Sandra Bullock wins the Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama for her great work in The Blind Side. I don't know if she 100% deserves it - I think I'd have given it to Carey Mulligan or Gabourey Sidibe. But such are the Golden Globes. Sandra Bullock is still having the best year of her career.

So what does this mean for Bullock's Oscar chances?

Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical goes to Robert Downey Jr. for Sherlock Holmes. Another surprise win!

Jeff Bridges wins Best Actor in a Drama for his work in Crazy Heart. Again, what does this mean come Oscar time? Who else do you think could win?

'Glee' wins Best TV Series - Comedy/Musical and 'The Hangover' wins Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical. As my friend Mark Norris just said to me, "Best Golden Globes for twenty-somethings ever!"

I know I'm pleased as punch.

Gervais: "I like a good drink as much as the next man. Unless the next man is Mel Gibson."

Nicely edited Scorsese montage for the DeMille award, especially the opening shots of the lone, obsessive protagonists looking into the camera. Scorsese at the Globes: a little like a master chef visiting Burger King.

Not a big Basterds fan but C. Waltz is a good choice. He was impossible not to watch, especially in the opening scene.

Someone needs to tell the Golden Globes that Big Love doesn't use the Beach Boys' God Only Knows as its theme song anymore. Nice of Chloe Sevigny to thank her "sister wives."

Mad Men wins the big TV award of the night, Matthew Weiner barely starts into his acceptance speech (opening with a funny line about being in the Beverly Hilton ballroom when he was 13, a reference to Drew Barrymore's speech, for his bar mitzvah) and the music starts swelling, playing him off. It's crazy and disrespectful, just what you (don't) want an awards show to be.

Even Harrison Ford smiles when Sophia Loren is announced. And I'm glad The White Ribbon; it's depressing but fantastic. Opens in Dallas Jan. 29. Kind of lame that the Hollywood Foriegn Press show scoots foriegn language winner Michael Haneke off the stage with the music treatment.

The coy stammering, the hyperventilating, the unhinged gushiness of praise and rapture -- another classic Drew Barrymore moment. Her speech is really the first (and probably only) crazy moment of the Golden Globes, an awards show that used to be an evening full of them.

Who jammed the tables so close together? Kevin Bacon almost had to jog to the stage (maybe he didn't like the music they were using to play him on). As it is, viewers are becoming too acquainted with the musicians' dulcet tones.

One good thing about it: The table set-up gives us more time to talk about the dresses, though. But that's the only thing ...

Awwww. Drew Barrymore just won a Globe! And now you see what I mean. Somewhere, Drew Barrymore is still making her way to the stage.

Meryl Streep is like, "do you know many Oscars I've won? Yeah, this is cool I guess. Next." Actually she's classy as always. That's just what I would be thinking.

Anyone else think Cher's dress looks kinda like a Converse All-Star tennis shoe?

A great swell of cheers greeted the announcement of Michael C. Hall as the winner of Best Actor, Drama for his lead role in Dexter. Wearing a black knit cap, reminding viewers of his recent bout with cancer. But not a word about it in his acceptance speech. Nice touch of class and restraint at an awards show.

And the award for Worst Impersonation of a Super Bowl Contender goes to - The Dallas Cowboys! Sorry. Couldn't resist.

The leggy woman onstage (wearing the pink gown) is none other than this year's edition of Miss Golden Globes, Mavis Spencer. She's the daughter of former Desperate housewife and Golden Globe winner Alfre Woodard and writer and producer Roderick Spencer.

Mavis, all of 18 years old, plans to continue modeling and equestrian show jumping while going to Columbia, according to the official press release.

The Mr. or Miss Golden Globes is always the daughter or son of a celebrity. Mavis follows in the footsteps of Rumer Willis (daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Freddie Prinze), Liza Huber (Susan Lucci) and Melanie Griffith (Tippi Hedren), all who went on to their own acting careers.

Judging by how quickly the music started to swell behind Pete Docter as he accepted his animation award for Up, you get about 30 seconds, unless you're a major, major, major star (think of Jonah Hill in Forgetting Sarah Marshall as you read that.)

Paul McCartney: "Animation is not just for children. It's also for adults who take drugs." Big Ups to Up. Would have been disgraceful if it had lost.

Toni Collette wins best actress for the really not very good Showtime series United States of Tara and Jon Lithgow wins best supporting actor for his great season-long performance as the Trinity Killer on the great Showtime series Dexter. Oh well, one out two is not a bad way to start the evening.

An extended riff on Steve Carrell and The Office, a shot at NBC, a couple of penis jokes and then a few jokes at the expense of actors (including a really funny Angelina Jolie joke) and then closing with another shot at host network NBC. All in all, a pretty good opening monologue.

Sweet. Mo'Nique actually showed up to get her award. Even cried.

More Gervais. Less awards. Oh wait, they haven't handed 'em out yet...

Tina Fey on the red carpet says: "It's not raining, it's God crying for NBC."

Before the show even begins, Paul McCartney has already won the award for biggest umbrella. Huge, like a black flying saucer hovering just overhead.

I've long championed the Globes no-host approach as the ideal format for cutting through so much of the time-burning tedium that bogs down the Oscars, et al. That said, if you're going to have a host, Ricky Gervais is the perfect choice. Hilarious and constitutionally incapable of playing nice, it should be great fun to see when and how (often) he skewers, in no particular order, NBC, Hollywood, celebrity and the pompous absurdity of awards shows. His The Office counterpart, Steve Carrell, declared "I guarantee he will be great." A little later Sigourney Weaver said "I'm really excited that Ricky Gervais is hosting" and Jon Lithgow added "I can't wait to see what he does."

Tina Fey just quipped, when Ryan Seacrest said the rain is falling harder, "I'm afraid my tattoos are going to start showing through." Hah.

It's pouring on the arrivals scene and it's a measure of any celebrity's starpower how wet or dry they are. The big stars are, of course perfectly dry because they have a staff of handlers covering them with umbrellas. The lesser stars are streaked with the shame of rain.

I've been posting my blogs in the TV section -- oops. In the words of Tom Hanks in Apollo 13, "Well I guess that's our glitch for this mission."

Who are you wearing? How, like, amazing is it to be here? Really, I'm just honored to be nominated. Remind me what the Hollywood Foriegn Press Association is again? Gimme my giftbag.

Don't you hate working Sundays? Me too. But it's not so bad when I have you, faithful readers, to help me blog along to the Golden Globes.

Here's the deal: Tom Maurstad and I will be live blogging the Globes right here starting at 7 p.m. Sunday. But wait, that's not all. You'll also receive...red carpet fashion blogging starting at 6 p.m. from the fashonistas at the shopping blog. Wacky.

Also, for you Twitter people, check updates at @guidelivemovies. 'Cause we got it like that too.

Director Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker picked up another best-picture award before the end of last year, this one from the National Society of Film Critics.

The critics association named Bigelow best director and handed an award to Hurt Locker star Jeremy Renner, who says he's not playing "Hawkeye" in the upcoming Avengers movie, as best actor. I'm going to keep showing my geek here; remember when Renner played a serial-killer vamp on Angel? (Really, is there any other kind? I'm looking at you Edward Cullen, also coincidentally unleashed upon the world by Summit Entertainment.)

(If you haven't seen it, The Hurt Locker was re-released on Dec. 18 at Cinemark Movies Grand Prairie and the AMC Grapevine Mills Cinema 30.)

Anyway, if this usually contrary outfit is agreeing with the mainstream critics groups, then Oscar had better watch out. He might be going home with Kathryn. Ms. Bigelow, if you're nasty.

(Photo of Jeremy Renner in "The Hurt Locker" from Summit Entertainment)

The Golden Globes nominees were announced this morning, which gives us ample time to discuss them until the Jan. 17 awards show. But some quick thoughts:

• I'm thrilled to see Inglourious Basterds and District 9, two of my favorite films this year, get some recognition.
• Am I the only one that chuckled to find that James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow are both nominated for Best Director? I mean, I expected them both to be nominated, but seeing their names together reminded me that they were once married.
• Who would have guessed that, among the cast of the Twilight films, it would be Anna Kendrick (nominated for Up in the Air) who would break away to success first?
• Did anyone expect Tobey Maguire to be nominated? I haven't seen Brothers yet, but that seems like a surprise.
• Sandra Bullock is having the best year of her career: two acting nods? Quite a feat!

Both the New and York and Los Angeles critics groups have tabbed The Hurt Locker as the best film of 2009. Impressive honors for Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq war action flick, especially considering it came out months ago.

But here's the real potential for fun: If Bigelow and her ex-husband James Cameron (Avatar) both get Oscar nods for best director we'll have former spouses going head to head for all the marbles. Consider the trash-talking gold. So you got the Benz and the Malibu beach house. But I got the Oscar glory. Yeah. What.

Thanks to Twitter-er Danyel Smith, former Vibe magazine editor-in-chief, I caught this clip on the And the Winner is... blog of comedian/actress/talk-show host Mo'Nique from last month. Fellow actors and friends Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard were on her show and ended up educating her both on what she needs to do in order to get her highly-likely Oscar nomination for her role in Precious and what to do afterward.

Entertainment Weekly's Oscar guru Dave Karger wrote about this in October, as word spread that Mo'Nique was reportedly "demanding appearance fees to show up at film festivals." Karger said, "I'd like to think that winning an Academy Award is only about the performance. But we all know that's not true. You have to play the game as well. Many observers still believe one of the reasons Marion Cotillard beat Julie Christie for Best Actress two years ago is because Cotillard worked the circuit hard, especially in the final stretches, while Christie mostly stayed home in England."

For one we can assume Mo'Nique has been busy with her brand new BET late-night talk show, but I think we can all agree with Karger. Ask any average American who wins awards - even titles like homecoming queen or the student council president - and they know, for the most part, it's the people who shake hands all day.

Watch the video below for yourself of Henson and Howard on The Mo'Nique Show. It's kind of long, but you can either just listen to the audio while you work or, like ATWI said, only pay attention to the segment from 3:42 to 9:53.

The National Board of Review has picked Up in the Air as its best film of the year. The past three winners - The Departed, No Country For Old Men and Slumdog Millionaire - all went on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

I'm not doing a Top Ten this year (missed the first half of the year; I'll do a Top 25 of the decade instead). But Up in the Air was my favorite of what I saw. Why? Check here tomorrow for my review. Yes, that's a tease.

From the Associated Press:

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- The Academy Awards are doubling the number of best-picture nominees from five to 10.

Academy President Sid Ganis said at a news conference that the academy's board of governors made the decision to expand the slate. Ganis said the decision will open the field up to more worthy films for the top prize at Hollywood's biggest party.

So, the Cannes International Film Festival got an uplifting start yesterday with Disney-Pixar's Up. There's always a first time, and this first was all animated. And 3-D.

Big names crowd the competition at this year's edition of the festival, including Jane Campion, Quentin Tarantino, Lars von Trier, Pedro Almodovar, Ang Lee and Ken Loach. Don't hate them because they're talented. Check out the list.

(Photo of Jane Campion by James Bridges)

It was December 1971. I was spending the holidays in New York City, where I decided to go to the opening night of a new movie set in Texas, titled The Last Picture Show. As a native Texan, it blew me away. I had no idea what a national sensation it would become, launching the careers of Cybill Shepherd, Timothy Bottoms and Jeff Bridges and giving director Peter Bogdanovich his best film ever. And no one, of course, can underestimate the genius of author Larry McMurtry, who wrote the novel in 1966. It was "lovingly dedicated" to McMurtry's hometown, Archer City, where the movie was filmed. He co-wrote the screenplay with Bogdanovich, earning the pair one of the film's eight Oscar nominations. And that's why Thursday night's screening of The Last Picture Show, and post-film discussion with Bogdanovich at the Nasher Sculpture Center, was so memorable. It proved to be one of the highlights of the AFI Dallas International Film Festival and served as a sublime beginning to the Nasher's new series, Free Films on First Thursdays. (See previous Playlist item for further details on the series and click below to read on!)

Photo: Peter Bogdanovich

South by Southwest Film festival had its closing ceremonies Tuesday, right before the hordes descended for the music portion of the fest. While the music festival is the loudest, the film festival has quietly become a place for innovative filmmakers to gather. Here are the prizes:

Film prizes go to eclectic set
By Susan King
(c) 2009, Los Angeles Times

HOLLYWOOD - Award winners for the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival were announced Tuesday evening at the Austin est's closing ceremonies. The prizes were divided into jury awards and audience awards.

Judi Krant's "Made in China," about an inventor lost in Shanghai, won the jury award for best narrative feature and also took home the SXSW / Chicken & Egg Emergent Woman Award.

OK, this is not exactly Oscar chatter, since the film in question isn't nominated for anything. But something has been bothering me since I saw the Holocaust movie, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, whose DVD release is March 10. I saw it in West Texas soon after it opened. The theater was packed. But when we got to the ending -- which I won't give away for those who have yet to see it -- the crowd reacted with such shock and horror that ... it left me cold, as though nothing having to do with concentration camps had bothered anyone up to that point. I'm not saying the crowd reaction was anti-Semitic, but have we as a culture grown so accustomed (jaded?) to stories of the Holocaust that the evil business of concentration camps no longer provokes a strong reaction? (Please click below to read on.)

Kate Winslet, Mickey Rourke (right) and Slumdog Millionaire continued their gallops toward the Oscars as each won big at the British Academy Film Awards. Slumdog won seven awards, including best picture and best director for Danny Boyle, who thanked the folks who helped get his father's cable back on. Winslet (The Reader) and Rourke (The Wrestler) took home best-acting honors.

Heath Ledger won the award for best supporting actor for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight.

(Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters)

Which one of five nominated fims (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, Milk and Slumdog Millionaire) will win a SAG award in the category Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture? Find out Sunday at a viewing party for the 15th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. The party, presented by the area branch of the Screen Actors Guild, will be at the Angelika Film Center. The awards ceremony will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS at 7 p.m. from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Visit the Web site to check out nominations in other categories. Reservations are recommended.

- Staff Writer Bindu Varghese

As the Morning News writer who reviewed both The Reader and Frozen River, I was thrilled to see that Kate Winslet and Melissa Leo both earned nominations for Best Actress. And believe me, "earned" is the operative verb. I don't envy Academy voters having to choose between those two. Initially, I was surprised to see that Clint Eastwood was shut out for Gran Torino (a fine film), but I, for one, can't think of anyone more deserving of Best Actor nominations than the five who earned them. I was surprised Bruce Springsteen didn't get a nod for Best Song (for The Wrestler). My biggest objection came in the documentary category, involving snubs for two films with Texas connections. (Please click below to read on!)

Photo: David Kross and Kate Winslet in The Reader

Studios with multiple nominations for the 81st Academy Awards:

Paramount: 17

Fox Searchlight: 12

Universal: 11

Focus Features: 9

Warner Bros.: 8

Walt Disney: 7

Miramax: 6

Paramount Vantage: 6

The Weinstein Company: 5

Sony Pictures Classics: 3

(From the Associated Press. Totals are based on the studio of record for domestic distribution for each film.)

Oscars: 'Slumdog,' Benjamin Button' get best picture nominations; Heath Ledger receives supporting actor nomination

Complete nominee list for the 81st annual Academy Awards

81st annual Oscar nominees' photos and trailers

Batman & Bollywood? Oscars eye 'Knight,' 'Slumdog'

To regain populist footing, Oscar needs a hero

Oscar loves 'em, dead or alive

Official Oscars Web site

The nominations are in! (Well, at least the big ones. We'll fill in the gaps soon.) Here are the nominees for the top six awards:

Best supporting actress: Amy Adams (Doubt), Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Viola Davis (Doubt), Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Marissa Tomei (The Wrestler)

Supporting actor: Josh Brolin (Milk), Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Milk), Heath Ledger (The Dark Night) and Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road)

Best Actress: Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married); Angelina Jolie (The Changeling), Melissa Leo (Frozen River), Meryl Streep (Doubt) and Kate Winslet (The Reader)

Best Actor: Richard Jenkins, Frank Langella, Sean Penn, Brad Pitt and Mickey Rourke

Best Director: David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon), Gus Van Sant (Milk), Stephen Daldry (The Reader) and Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)

Best picture: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Frost/Nixon; Milk; The Reader; Slumdog Millionaire

So tell us: Which actor, actress, director or film did the Academy overlook? Who should have gotten a nomination?

Good morning, movie fans! We'll be keeping you up to date with the nominations for the 81st Academy Awards. The announcements begin at 7:30 on E!

7:44 a.m.: Well, that was fast.

7:38 a.m.: Best supporting actress: Amy Adams (Doubt), Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Viola Davis (Doubt), Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Marissa Tomei (The Wrestler)

Supporting actor: Josh Brolin (Milk), Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Milk), Heath Ledger (The Dark Night) and Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road)

Best Actress: Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married); Angelina Jolie (The Changeling), Melissa Leo (Frozen River), Meryl Streep (Doubt) and Kate Winslet (The Reader)

Best Actor: Richard Jenkins, Frank Langella, Sean Penn, Brad Pitt and Mickey Rourke

Best Director: David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon), Gus Van Sant (Milk), Stephen Daldry (The Reader) and Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)

Animated feature: Bolt, Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E

Best picture: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Frost/Nixon; Milk; The Reader; Slumdog Millionaire

7:35 a.m. Hold tight. E! presenters are filling time until the announcements get under way.

Set your alarm clocks (and be glad you don't live on the West coast) -- nominations for the 81st annual Academy Awards will be announced beginning at 7:30 a.m. CST (that's 5:30 a.m. for our poor Californian brethren.)

Join us here starting at 7:30 to find out who got snubbed and who's getting a 5:45 wake up call from their agent.

And since the Golden Globes are often a good indicator of which way the Academy will vote, don't forget who has already taken home an award this year.

Thank you, Hollywood Foreign Press for wrapping up tonight's show in just two minutes over 10 p.m. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences? Take a lesson.

So Slumdog Millionaire score Best Motion Picture. Well played, Danny Boyle. Does this signal Oscar gold in the future? Time will tell.

I don't know whether to love or hate his outfit, but, man, I sure do respect it. Parts Johnny Cash, parts Elvis, parts Plastic Man (or Elongated Man, you pick), parts Waylon Jennings ... I could go on.

Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) says it's been a long way back for him, this winner of tonight's best-actor award. He would be right. Let's see if that face gets him some more real, meaty roles. Judging from the wild applause and cries when his name was announced, I'd say there's hope. Plus, he talked about his dog ... Wow, if anyone deserved to ramble, it's Mickey.

While I would have been happy to see any of these shows win (Dexter; House; In Treatment; True Blood), I'm glad to see the AMC show's sophomore season was just as strong as its first.

Kate Winslet was shocked when she was named for her second acting award of the night. After receiving the best supporting actress award for her turn in The Reader, she took Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama for Revolutionary Road.

Oh, SNAP. The audience seemed to be less than underwhelmed at Cohen's jokes this evening. Personally, I thought the comment that "Victoria Beckham hasn't eaten in three weeks" deserved a chuckle or two. But Charlie Sheen not paying for sex? Madonna firing personal assistant Guy Ritchie? C'mon! I didn't get the feeling he was being particularly vitriolic. It makes me wonder if another comedian could have gotten away with the same comments.

Slumdog Millionaire earns its second award of the night (the first was for Best Original Score) as Danny Boyle wins Best Director - Motion Picture.

Then Colin Farrell beats In Bruges co-star Brendon Gleeson and three others for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy.

I loved the walk down cinematic memory lane that Steven Spielberg's clip show just provided.

the best part: I had completely forgotten that Spielberg direction one of my all time favorite TV episodes: The Night Gallery pilot, "Eyes," starring none other than Joan Crawford. So while you're thanking Cecile B. DeMille for starting your film career, Steven Spielberg, thank you for helping create the science fiction/horror fan I have become.

Oh, Tracy Morgan. Way to sweep away with "Best Acceptance Speech of the Night," speaking for 30 Rock as "the face of post-racial America."

"Tina Fey and I had an agreement that if Barack Obama won, I would speak for 30 Rock from now on," he said.

I wonder then: If McCain/Palin had won, would Tina Fey have accepted the award with a heartfelt "you betcha!"?

Not taking home the award tonight: Showtime's Californication and Weeds, HBO's Entourage or NBC's The Office.

OK, so I'm a little late with this, but ...

Paul Giamatti won best actor for miniseries or made-for-TV movie for you know what. Maybe the Globes could just play back the acceptance speeches from awards shows past when a cast member from HBO's John Adams wins an award tonight.

I'm just saying.

Uh, I meant Renee Zellweger. What is she wearing?! My grandmother would say she dyed a croaker sack black. For those of you not versed in the old Southern ways, that's the rough bag they used to put flour in. Emphasis on the rough.

If you think you've heard it all before, well, you have. John Adams swept the SAG Awards and the Emmys last year (!) and now we get to watch them win all the awards again. "My," you say, "that must be some miniseries. I've got to see that." Well, you'd have to rely on HBO's programmers to run it back for you. And if they're worth any of the salary that they're making, they'll do a John Adams marathon. Or at least make a big DVD push.

I mean, people want to see what all the fuss is about. Right? I'm just saying that two years of honoring this could be quite enough. The Thorn Birds didn't get this type of hype. And I'll bet your grandmother saw that one.

The award goes to... Waltz With Bashir, the animated war film from Isreal, which opens here in Dallas on Jan. 23.

Director Christopher Nolan accepted the drama award for late actor Heath Ledger. The Globes had enough foresight to prepare a scene of the character's winning work as the Joker in The Dark Knight, since we all knew the well-liked and talented actor would win.

I don't know about a "hole ripped in the future of cinema" that Nolan mentioned opening upon Ledger's death, but his acceptance speech was respectfully brief. I thought Ledger's performance in the film was fearless, edgy and just what the Batman series of films needed. I mourn the passing of the once and future Joker (sorry, Jack and Cesar).

Why was Johnny Depp speaking that way? Is it his Dillinger voice? He's set to play the folk hero bank robber in a movie later this year. Or is it more Method nonsense?

It almost brought the show to a crashing halt, subduing it beyond recognition. I love you, Johnny, but really?

Of course, it was followed by a teary acceptance speech from Sally Hawkins (Happy Go Lucky), who won actress in a film/comedy or musical. Is she still talking?

Anna Paquin of True Blood takes home the statuette for actress/TV drama. She must have been as surprised as I was, since her speech lasted all of a two seconds. I was hoping she wouldn't win so we wouldn't get more of that awful accent that she uses on the show.

I'm a child of the South, and we don't all talk alike. And I watch and listen to that show. That's a lot of different dialects for what's supposed to be a small, vampire-ridden town. Ah, well.

Let's hear it for Gabriel Byrne of In Treatment, who won actor/TV drama and Laura Dern (Recount), who won supporting actress/TV series, miniseries or movie.

A voice just introduced us to what happens during a commercial break at the Golden Globes. He says they find old friends and make deals. Really?! Make deals? Come on ... the Globes' reputation as a freewheeling drink-a-thon belies that.

Maybe it's just a lot of "I'll call you" and "Let's do lunch" and "I haven't seen you since Surfer Dude!"

Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or TV movie (enough categories woven into one?!) went to Tom Wilkinson for John Adams, in probably the first of more than a few awards for that miniseries.

So glad it went to him. One can only hope he sweeps his categories. He's such a wonderful presence in anything he decides to act in. He's also nominated for best actor in a miniseries or made-for-TV movie.

It was nice to see Blair Underwood nominated, though. He should get some sort of longevity award ...

Of course, Globes voters couldn't resist giving Bruce Springsteen the song award for "The Wrestler" from The Wrestler, starring Mickey Rourke. Even he remarked on the fact that he was against Clint Eastwood (!) for the award. I'm torn between whether I want the Globes to start getting the nominees to sing the songs. Or not.

I mean, sometimes it's a welcome respite from all the star- and navel-gazing. And other times, it's some sort of random torture tactic dreamed up in a madman's world.

And in a category that I hoped would give us a surprise, we get Kate Winslet as Supporting Actress/Drama. She looks really good in the black dress, even if her present form makes me wish for Kate past. (Hold on, Viola, who also looked remarkably happy and relaxed. Remember, this isn't the Oscars.)

They're all so shiny. Jennifer Lopez, who always looks good in gold, presented the award.

Anyone remember that Madonna (right) directed a movie last year? Well, I'm not the only one who remembered Filth and Wisdom. She was honored (poked fun at?) with a Razzie nomination. You know the Razzies, for "the worst of the worst in entertainment." Other nominees included Tom Cruise, The Hottie and the Nottie, High School Musical 3 and a surprise nomination for Reese Witherspoon for Worst Actress for her work in Four Christmases and other 2008 films.

But Kate Hudson seemed to take it on the chin when she was nominated twice in the same category: Worst Screen Couple. This, on top of the dismal reviews her new movie, Bride Wars, is getting. Some people just can't get a break.

(Photo by Evan Agostini/Associated Press)

Fresh on the heels of its nomination for Best Picture from the Producers Guild, The Dark Knight received a nomination for best adapted screenplay from the Writers Guild of America.

The film was snubbed by the Golden Globes for any type of non-actor nomination, though Heath Ledger received a well-deserved supporting nod. And the movie did receive a nod for the stunts from the Screen Actors Guild. A note to the Academy: Just because a film has ears, a cape and a Joker doesn't mean it's not worthy of flying high.

(Photo by Stephen Vaughan/Warner Bros. Pictures)

OK, so I'm watching the David Letterman show on Monday night, when the guest is Dustin Hoffman, who's appearing in the new movie Last Chance Harvey. He tells a great story about the time he played a woman for the movie Tootsie (best comedy ever), for which he won the Oscar as Best Actor. He was dressed up in drag and found himself on an elevator near the Russian Tea Room in New York City. Legendary actor Jose Ferrer happened to be on the same elevator. Mr. Hoffman, who decided to remain in character, started a conversation with Mr. Ferrer, leading up to an obscene remark, which was of course bleeped from the Letterman show. But before then, he, or rather she, kept telling Mr. Ferrer how she had learned to act while doing shows in Dallas. Don't you love these local connections?

Photo: Dustin Hoffman

In my business, we're always looking for the local connection. So, it was quite a kick to come across it twice in recent days (see entry above as well). I got a chance to see the fabulous new movie The Wrestler, in which Mickey Rourke plays a broken-down professional wrestler. For my money, Mr. Rourke deserves to win an Oscar for Best Actor. It's an incredible performance. At one point, the wrestler is working in a butcher shop, which bores him to tears. A guy comes in to buy some meat. The wrestler pretends he's a quarterback and asks the customer to go out for a pass. He hurls the wrapped-up meat, which makes a perfect landing in the guy's shopping cart. "How 'bout them Cowboys!" the wrestler shouts. See, I told you there was a local connection.

Photo: Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Batman epic "The Dark Knight," the political biopic "Milk" and the gritty drama "The Wrestler" were among critical favorites that landed on the American Film Institute's list of the year's 10 best movies.

Also on AFI's list, released Sunday, were the animated "Wall-E," Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino," the superhero blockbuster "Iron Man," the indie dramas "Frozen River" and "Wendy and Lucy," the adapted play "Frost/Nixon," and the Brad Pitt epic "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

Unlike other film honors, the institute does not rank films or pick one as the year's best. The filmmakers behind the top 10 choices will be honored at a luncheon Jan. 9.

Many of the films on the list picked up Golden Globe nominations last week and are expected to compete for Academy Awards. Oscar nominations are to be announced Jan. 22.

Among Globe best-drama nominees were "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," David Fincher's drama about a man who ages backward, starring Pitt and Cate Blanchett; and Ron Howard's "Frost/Nixon," based on the Peter Morgan play about the famous TV interview of Richard Nixon by David Frost, starring Frank Langella and Michael Sheen.

The AFI also released a top 10 list of TV shows for 2008, featuring "Breaking Bad," "In Treatment," "John Adams," "Life," "Lost," "Mad Men," "The Office," "Recount," "The Shield" and "The Wire."

The top 10 lists were chosen by two 13-member panels, one each for movies and television. Members included writer Mark Harris, filmmaker Robert Towne, and critics Leonard Maltin, Elvis Mitchell and Richard Schickel.

PICTURE, DRAMA: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Slumdog Millionaire.

PICTURE, MUSICAL OR COMEDY: Burn After Reading, Happy-Go-Lucky, In Bruges, Mamma Mia!, Vicky Christina Barcelona.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE PICTURE: Baader Meinhof Complex, Everlasting Moments, Gomorrah, I've Loved You So Long, Waltz With Bashir.

DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire; Stephen Daldry, The Reader; David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon; Sam Mendes, Revolutionary Road.

DRAMATIC ACTOR: Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road; Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon; Sean Penn, Milk; Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler.

DRAMATIC ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married; Angelina Jolie, Changeling; Meryl Streep, Doubt; Kristin Scott Thomas, I've Loved You So Long; Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road.

ACTOR, COMEDY OR MUSICAL: Javier Bardem, Vicky Cristina Barcelona; Colin Farrell, In Bruges; James Franco, Pineapple Express; Brendan Gleeson, In Bruges; Dustin Hoffman, Last Chance Harvey.

ACTRESS, COMEDY OR MUSICAL: Rebecca Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelona; Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky; Frances McDormand, Burn After Reading; Meryl Streep, Mamma Mia!; Emma Thompson, Last Chance Harvey.

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder; Robert Downey, Jr., Tropic Thunder; Ralph Fiennes, The Duchess; Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt; Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Amy Adams, Doubt; Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona; Viola Davis, Doubt; Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler; Kate Winslet, The Reader.

ANIMATED FILM: Bolt, Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E.

SCREENPLAY: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire; David Hare, The Reader; Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon; Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; John Patrick Shanley, Doubt.

ORIGINAL SCORE: Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Clint Eastwood, Changeling; James Newton Howard, Defiance; Hans Zimmer, Frost/Nixon; A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire.

SONG: Down to Earth (performed by Peter Gabriel, written by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman), Wall-E; Gran Torino (performed by Clint Eastwood), Gran Torino; I Thought I Lost You (performed Miley Cyrus and John Travolta, written by Miley Cyrus and Jeffrey Steele), Bolt; Once in a Lifetime (performed by Beyonce), Cadillac Records; The Wrestler (performed by Bruce Springsteen, written by Bruce Springsteen), The Wrestler.

Nominees for television

They'll never do it, but the Golden Globe skit I'd most like to see is Meryl Streep in her nun habit from Doubt forgetting in the midst of a quietly intense tirade with Philip Seymour Hoffman what movie she's in and breaking into a song from Mamma Mia!, preferably "Mamma Mia, here I go again..."

I mean, if you're trying to save time in the telecast, wouldn't that be a fun way to combine mention of her nominations for Doubt and Mamma Mia!?

With Hancock out this week, it got me thinking about who are the top performers when it comes to having both recording and acting careers. Admittedly, it's pretty subjective, but I think Will Smith may be the top dual threat performer of all time. His movies have grossed more than a billion dollars and he's been nominated for two Oscars; on the music side, he was awarded the first-ever rap Grammy and he's had several No. 1 hit singles.
That being said, I don't think it's a slam dunk. Here are the other four performers who I would consider to be in the top five. I'm sure that I am forgetting someone, so I am relying on you all to serve me up good
-- Frank Sinatra: The music side needs no discussion as he's maybe the most famous and loved crooner in American history. But he was no slouch on the big screen either, as he was nominated for best Oscar for The Man With the Golden Arm and he won the supporting actor award for From Here to Eternity.
-- Barbra Streisand: She may be Sinatra's female counterpart when it comes to music. On the movies front, she has been nominated for five Oscars, winning the best actress award for Funny Girl and for a song in the film A Star is Born. She also gave memorable performances in The Prince of Tides and The Way We Were.
-- Cher: Between her solo career and her duo with Sonny Bono, she's sold more than 275 million records worldwide and is resposible for the biggest selling dance single ever, "Believe". She won an Oscar and Golden Globe for Moonstruck and she picked up another GG for Silkwood, for which she was also Oscar-nominated.
-- Bette Midler: She's got a pair of Oscar nominations (For the Boys and The Rose) and four Grammies to show for her storried career (and a Tony to boot).
So there's the list. I also considered Elvis, but his movies were really more vehicles for him designed to sell more records. Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Lopez, Queen Latifah and Jennifer Hudson also crossed my mind, but they all still have a ways to go to match this bunch. So, again I ask, who am I missing?

The early reviews of The Dark Knight are trickling in, and word is that Heath Ledger's final performance is one to remember him by. Los Angeles area critics got an early press screening Thursday night (luckies) and the best-supporting-actor campaign has already begun.
David Germain of the Associated Press writes, "With his final full film role, Ledger delivers what may be remembered as the finest performance of his career ... At times sounding like a cross between tough guy James Cagney in a gangster flick and Philip Seymour Hoffman's fastidious Truman Capote, Ledger elevates Batman's No. 1 nemesis to a place even Jack Nicholson did not take him in 1989's Batman.
The Dark Knight comes out July 18, aka, not soon enough.

Star power doesn't hurt when it comes to getting people out to a film festival, and the crew over at AFI-Dallas has certainly recognized that. The festival announced this morning that it will present its Star Award to festival attendees Helen Hunt, Mickey Rooney, Todd Wagner and Charlize Theron. Jack Lemmon will also receive the award, accepted by his widow, Felicia Farr.

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.

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?

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?

Among last year’s 20 acting nominees, there were five black actors (Eddie Murphy, Will Smith Djimon Hounsou and winners Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudston), two Latin nominees (Penélope Cruz and Adriana Barraza) and one Asian (Rinko Kikuchi). But this year, the diversity trend seems to have reversed itself: Ruby Dee and Javier Bardem are the only non-white actors nominated this year.

Every Oscar race has its showdowns, those one-on-one match-ups that transcend the field of five. Wanna know which ones we find most intriguing? Keep reading, oh loyal blog peruser.

I'm going to try to address some of the many snub comments/questions in one bulk posting. Here goes:

American Gangster: I think a lot of people just don't know what to make or do with it. It's a big, fairly mainstream entertainment with a morally ambiguous antihero, and it's a bit on the slick side. Denzel has had his Oscar glory recently (and has two awards), and his performance might have reminded some too much of Training Day. I will still steadfastly defend it, and him. The guy's got charisma and screen presence to burn.

Eddie Vedder: He got caught up in the surprising indifference to Into the Wild. His songs were the highlight of the film for me. I wonder if there's some Sean Penn hating afoot....

Ryan Gosling: I wasn't a big Lars fan; I could never get over the nagging feeling that everyone in it was slightly daft. I liked Half Nelson a lot more. In any case, he's going to be around for years, and he'll he part of the Oscar conversation for as long as he wants to be.

Here's a look at the nomination leaders, how much they've made at the box office and where you can see them:
Noms. Title Box office Where to see?
8 No Country for Old Men $48.6 mil. In theaters
There Will be Blood $8.7 mil. In theaters
7 Atonement $31.8 mil. In theaters
Michael Clayton $39.3 mil. In theaters
5 Ratatouille $206 mil. On DVD
4 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly $2.6 mil. In theaters
Juno $85.3 mil. In theaters

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again And again. And again. And again.

Sound mixer Kevin O'Connell picked up his 20th Oscar nomination, for Transformers. He has yet to win. Somewhere, Susan Lucci is smiling ear to ear.

It's now official: Juno is this year's Little Miss Sunshine, the boutique studio (Fox Searchlight) crossover that slayed the box office and scored nods aplenty. It has now made $87 million domestically on fewer screens than a lot of major releases. Jason Reitman, Ellen Page and Diablo Cody earned nominations to go with the best picture nod. I was especially happy to see Reitman get his - Cody has gotten endless, well-earned buzz for her screenplay, but Reitman has such a deft comic touch, as he showed with Thank You for Smoking. At 30, he's got plenty of plaudits ahead.

Looks like Sicko, Michale Moore's deconstruction of the American healthcare system, is one of the five nominees in the documentary category. Oddly enough, he may be rooting for another nominee in the field, No End in Sight. It's a lot more critical of Moore's favorite punching bag, Pres. Bush, than Sicko.

Cate Blanchett manages the rare double nomination, one in the lead category for Elizabeth: The Golden Age and one in the supporting category for I'm Not There. Many prognosticators felt that her frontrunner status in the supporting category meant that she'd be left off the lead actress list, but apparently Oscar voters can't get enough Cate. The last person to score two acting nominations in the same year was Terrell's own Jamie Foxx in 2004, for Collateral (supporting) and Ray (lead, which he won). The last time an actress turned the trick was 2002, when Julianne Moore scored for Far From Heaven (lead) and The Hours (supporting). She walked away with neither.

I can't say American Gangster's solo nod (for supporting actress Ruby Dee) is a shock; I think the movie was under-appreciated from the start, and I think time will treat it very well. (Nice to see it's still getting love over at IMDB).

Once again we see the value (not much) of a Golden Globe win in the musical/comedy category. Dreamgirls didn't get nominated, and neither did Sweeney Todd. It's hard out there for a demon barber.

And what about Into the Wild? Some experts predicted nods for Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch and Catherine Keener. Zip, zip and zip.

As some of you know, I've been tracking the possible nominees week by week since October, so today is the I was going to finally get to show the world how smart I am. Instead, I would say this is the day I showed the world how sorta smart I am. Of the 30 nominees in the major categories, I correctly predicted 22, giving me a batting average of 73 percent. If you're curious about my exact misses, read on...

So this is what life looks like before 8 a.m. Fascinating.

Tommy Lee Jones and Laura Linney are both considered surprises, but to me both are no-brainers. I said TLJ's Elah performance was the best of his career when the film came out, and I still think so. So much of his acting is in his face, very appropriate for a character who can't admit to himself that he's in a lot of pain. It's a luminous portrait of stifled grief. As for Linney, she can do no wrong in my book (her other great performance of the year, in Breach, has been all but forgotten by now). She makes deeply flawed people appealing and human.

Here are the nominees in the major categories:
Best Picture: “Atonement,” “Juno,” “Michael Clayton,” “No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood.”
Actor: George Clooney, “Michael Clayton”; Daniel Day-Lewis, “There Will Be Blood”; Johnny Depp, “Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street”; Tommy Lee Jones, “In the Valley of Elah”; Viggo Mortensen, “Eastern Promises.”
Actress: Cate Blanchett, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”; Julie Christie, “Away From Her”; Marion Cotillard, “La Vie en Rose”; Laura Linney, “The Savages”; Ellen Page, “Juno.”
Supporting Actor: Casey Affleck, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”; Javier Bardem, “No Country for Old Men”; Hal Holbrook, “Into the Wild”; Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Charlie Wilson’s War”; Tom Wilkinson, “Michael Clayton.”
Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, “I’m Not There”; Ruby Dee, “American Gangster”; Saoirse Ronan, “Atonement”; Amy Ryan, “Gone Baby Gone”; Tilda Swinton, “Michael Clayton.”
Director: Julian Schnabel, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”; Jason Reitman, “Juno”; Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”; Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood.”

Should be getting the nominees any minute. Interesting that ABC decided it would be a good idea to show an ad for the Oscars, without knowing that they're definitely even having a show.

Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences

Do you agree? Disagree? Share your thoughts and your picks.

Yeah, your lives are tragic. But cheer up, Oscar's on the way (Focus Features)

I think the Oscars are looking like a best picture/director split between Atonement and the Coens. I just don't think Schnabel has enough skins on the wall to win the big one, though I'm sure he'll be nominated, and Joe Wright doesn't have the rep. I also think Bardem, Christie and Day-Lewis can give their victory speeches now. Blanchett? Not as sure.

Ok, so they're not anti-American in the traditional sense. But this year further proves that the Golden Globes cannot be taken seriously as a predictor of the Academy Awards for one simple reason: the Hollywood Foreign Press Association seeminly picks a foreigner whenever possible. A quick rundown: Drama actor Daniel Day-Lewis (British), drama actress Julie Christie (British), comedy or musical actress Marion Cotillard (French), supporting actor Javier Bardem (Spanish) and supporting actress Cate Blanchett (Australian). In fact, the only American to win a major acting award was Johnny Depp -- and he lives in France. The best drama winner was Atonement (made in England), the comedy or musical winner was Sweeney Todd (ditto) and the directing award went to Julian Schnabel, whose film is in French.
All of these winners are perfectly deserving on a case-by-case basis. But collectively, it sure seems as if the HFPA prefers the import.

It should be noted that, although the Writers Guild did not picket the new conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, about a dozen entertainment industry workers gathered outside to beg the writers and producers to return to the bargaining table. With many productions shutdown because they are out of scripts, the worker bees on those shows have found themselves out of jobs. Howard Keys, a set medic with the ABC show Private Practice, told the Associated Press, “We're the workers, the grunts of the industry. A grip, a camera operator, a set lighting technician — they can't work elsewhere. These are our full-time jobs, our careers.”

NBC has got to be royally furious. It's 8:38 and E! and the Golden Globes Web Site have already announced all the winners (congratulations Atonement, btw). Meanwhile, NBC plots along to the finish, announcing winners to an audience that can potentially see into the future. If there was a way for this news conference to be botched any further, this is it.

Bardem wins. Meanwhile, the Cowboys blog has 381 comments posted since the end of the game.

Strangely, the AP already seems to have the winners list. I'll refrain from posting it here, but note that the time is 8:21 and I am predicting Javier Bardem as the winner in the supporting actor category.

And the first winner announced, for Best Supporting Actress, movies, announced by Billy Bush was "Cate Blanchett for I'm Not There. And, sure enough, she wasn't there. Coming soon, the sequel, "I'm Not Here, Either."

How sweet would it be if all awards shows moved this fast? I think these striking writers are onto something here.

It's been a tough day (unless you are a Cowboys hater like Vognar), but we will try to muster up the strength to blog tonight on the Golden Globes following the life-force-sucking loss of the Cowboys today.
So far, none of NBC's prepackaged junk has inspired me much to forget the game. Dated interviews with nominees and 15 minutes of Kathy Griffin being snarky have me wishing the network would just move up tonight's episode of American Gladiators. I'm sure things will pick up once the new conference gets here. (Has that sentence ever been written in the English language before?)

There's one awards presentation the WGA will still participate in: its own. The scribes announced the nominees for this year's WGA awards today, and one local film made the cut: The Rape of Europa, co-produced by Dallasite Robert Edsel, snagged a nod for best documentary screenplay. Wanna know the rest? Keep reading.

The Golden Globes have already been reduced to a not-so-golden press conference. Might the Oscars suffer a similar fate? Check the Hollywood Reporter's update here.

I'm an oilman and I'm OK: Day-Lewis gets bloody (Paramount Vantage)

Incidentally, both Blood and Country make excellent use of the arid Marfa landscape. Maybe the National Society will be vacationing there this year.

The Golden Globes have always been good for some wacky celebrity drinking escapades and a little Oscar prognosticating. But it looks like the party element is about to take a hit, courtesy of the writers strike. The latest word is that the stars won't show next Sunday when NBC broadcasts the show.

I usually watch the Globes only because I have to, but suddenly my interest level has shot up. What will the cameras do in lieu of a drunken Nicholson shot? Will any B-listers dare cross the picket line? Might Conan come by and spin his wedding ring form laughs? It should be interesting, and let's face it, that's not a word often associated with this dog and pony show.

Where's the love for Josh? (Miramax)

I was fascinated with the movie No Country For Old Men from the very first scenes. With very little dialog, Josh Brolin gave a fantastic performance. It was as though he was born and raised in the West Texas desert country. For me, he, not "the killer," set the tone of the entire picture. Why do you think he wasn't nominated for an award? It reminds me a bit of Kurt Russell and the fact that he always gives a stellar performance (even in bad movies) with little or no recognition.

My response:
I think there may be a couple of things at work here. The biggest thing working against Brolin (and Tommy Lee Jones for that matter) is that No Country is film made up of a bunch of supporting players — really, there is no lead actor in the story. Brolin just doesn’t have as much work to do in the movie as, say, George Clooney in Michael Clayton or Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will be Blood. So if we can say that Jones, Brolin and Bardem are all sort of supporting players, Bardem has been getting the most buzz I think because his role is the showiest. He gets to kill people and be menacing. Brolin (and Jones) are much more internal. Now, I agree with you that it’s a lot more difficult to pull off the subtle performance. But unfortunately, subtlety isn’t usually what grabs the attention of awards voters.

I'm always here to help. sbecker@dallasnews.com

I'm starting to second-guess my confidence in Cate Blanchett's spot in the best actress field, though I have had her in the mix since I started my predicting. What's changed my thinking? I've been doing some heavy reading of theenvelope.com, the awards site run by the Los Angeles Times that puts all others to shame. On the site is a little section called The Buzzmeter, which polls various critics and insiders to see who they think will score the nominations. And let's just say the buzz isn't very good over there on Cate. The thinking, I think, is that she's a dead-solid lock for a supporting nomination for I'm Not There, and maybe Oscar voters want to spread the love a bit.
So who is the most likely candidate to replace Cate in the field? The smart money is on Keira Knightley from Atonement, but there also seems to be a swell of support for Amy Adams for Enchanted.
I suppose I would not be all that surprised to see both of them in the field, though I think with no Blanchett, Angelina Jolie will be able to fend either Adams or Knightley off.
What does it all mean? Julie Christie, Ellen Page and Marion Cotilliard are all still locks. The other two spots will come from some combination of Blanchett, Jolie, Knightley and Adams. If i had to pick today, I'd go with Jolie and Knightley for the final two.

Could someone, anyone, name a movie besides No Country for Old Men the best of 2007? Now it's the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association's turn. Congrats to the Coens. This is the one that really counts.

The rest, in order of preference:

2.Juno
3. There Will be Blood
4. Atonement
5. Michael Clayton
6. Into the Wild
7. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
8. The Kite Runner
9. The Assassination of Jesse James by etc.etc.
10. Charlie Wilson's War

Other DFW winners:

Best actor: Daniel Day Lewis, There Will be Blood
Best actress: Julie Christie, Away From Her
Best supporting actor: Javier Bardem, No Country
Best supporting actress: Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
Best director(s) - The Coen Brothers, No Country
Best documentary: King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Best foreign language film: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Best animated film: Ratatouille

It's surprising that there are actually any snubs here, as the HFAA has no limit on how many nominees it will name in a given category. But the following people may have slammed down their coffe cups this morning after not hearing their names called:
Tommy Lee Jones -- This was maybe the biggest shocker, as the Texan gave two of his finest performances this year in No Country for Old Men and In the Valley of Elah. Look for this situation to right itself come Oscars time.
Brad Pitt -- Apparently winning best actor for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford at the Venice Film Festival doesn't carry a lot of weight these days. At least the Coward Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) scored a much-deserved nom.
Judd Apatow -- How could the funniest movie of the year (Knocked-Up) and second-funniest movie (Superbad) not break intot the best picture, musical or comedy category? Apatow directed Knocked-up and produced Superbad. And to make matters worse, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story was also left out of the field. At least John C. Reilly was named in the best actor, comedy, field.

First off, let's acknowledge that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is not about making tough choices. For starters, there are different categories for drama and comedy or musical. But on top of that, why limit the number of nominees in each category to five when you can just nominate everyone? That seems to have been the thinking in the best picture, drama, category, as seven films will compete. Those films are: American Gangster, Atonement, Eastern Promises, The Great Debaters, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. The HFPA kept the musical or comedy category to the tradional five with Across the Universe, Charlie Wilson’s War, Hairspray, Juno, Sweeney Todd.
Some of you may be scratching your heads at seeing Charlie Wilson's War named in the category comedy. Afterall, isn't this a film about the U.S.'s role in helping Afghanistan defeat the invating Russians in the 1980s? Well, yes, but it happens to be a funny movie about that time period. I know -- I was as surprised as you when I saw it.

Smile, you won: Javier Bardem looms large in No Country (Miramax)

The rest of the NBR list, in alphabetical order: