The Screening Room

One more reason to hope Tuesday's weather isn't too apocalyptic: I am scheduled to join Fort Worth Weekly's Kristian Lin for a discussion of all things Oscar. The event, slated for 7 p.m. Tuesday, is part of the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History's PUBlic Knowledge series, which features experts discussing various topics in an informal setting over a few beers.

We'll gather at the Magnolia Motor Lounge, a car-savvy bar that makes a seriously tasty burger, and hope the skies don't fill with ice. Admission is free, the conversation will be lively, and there will be prizes. If the Great Freeze prompts cancellation we'll let you know.

This week's Wednesday release of True Grit has Chris Vognar comparing Jeff Bridges and John Wayne, Coen brothers film against Coen brothers film, and the differences between old English and the older King James English.

For more on True Grit, read the full review.

Do you think Jeff Bridges deserves an Academy Award for this performance?

Everyone say "Hi Lawson!"

DMN theater critic Lawson Taitte joins Chris Vognar in this week's video about Disney's Shakespeare adaptation The Tempest, starring Helen Mirren and a whole bunch of other people.

For more on The Tempest, read the full review.

Bard lovers, is this a film you must see?

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.

In this week's video, Chris discusses how this comedy with "some mainstream appeal, in which the characters are gay" represents progress in Hollywood.

For more on I Love You Phillip Morris, read the full review.

What do you think about Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor playing lovers?

In this week's video review, Chris gives his take on the dark thriller Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.

For more on Black Swan, read the full review here

And get show times and leave your own review on GuideLive.com

I don't know about you but I like Nicolas Cage best when he's going absolutely bonkers. This may be because he's certifiably insane, though that's not my line of work so I can't say for sure. What I do know: this montage of onscreen Cage meltdowns is a cornucopia of stop-and-stare overacting. (Something else I know: the language is for adults only, so drink responsibly).

Holidays mean family time, and family time means you're likely planning a group outing to the movie theater. So check out Chris Vognar's Holiday Movie Preview and choose your picks now.

Courtesy

Clockwise from top left: The Green Hornet, True Grit, Tron: Legacy, and The Tourist

What are Johnny and Angelina up to? Could an indie film sneak in to snag the best picture Oscar? Welcome to our annual holiday movie preview, in which we tackle 10 questions you wish you had asked.

More movies: Reviews | News | Blog | Show times | Twitter

In this week's video review, Chris talks about the Austin documentary Boxing Gym, which opens tomorrow at the Angelika Film Center.

For more on Boxing Gym, read the full review here

And get show times and leave your own review on GuideLive.com

BONUS: Read Chris' Why are Frederick Wiseman's films so compelling?, and look for his Top 5 Direct Cinema titles (that genre he mentions in the video above) at dallasnews.com/movies tomorrow.

Here's a dirty secret about movie critics: we love short movies. When we walk into a screening the first question we ask each other is "Do you know the running time?" If the answer is 90 minutes it's a happy day. 146 minutes? Not so much. We've got writing to do.

Of course there are exceptions. Last weekend I found myself watching a pair of movies that each pushed the three-and-a-half-hour mark. I'd seen both before, multiple times, but something about this seven-hour commitment got me thinking about what makes a long movie work.

What are the odds? This week brings both Don Michael Corleone and Consigliere Tom Hagen to town. Mafia convention? Nope, just a couple of high profile personal appearances to make film buff hearts flutter.

In this week's video review, Chris talks about Danny Boyle's latest 127 Hours, which opens tomorrow at the Angelika Film Center in both Dallas and Plano.

For more on 127 Hours, read the full review here

And get showtimes and leave your own review on GuideLive.com

We like Fort Worth around here; none of that intercity rivalry stuff for us. So we urge you to head west over the next few days and check out the Lone Star Film Festival, rolling out up the road through Sunday.

Highlights include the new Mike Leigh film, Another Year, which screens Friday night; and a whole slew of movies featuring Jeff Bridges, recipient of the festival's life achievement award. And here's a treat: Bridges will perform with his fellow Crazy Heart Oscar winner T Bone Burnett at the closing night party on Saturday.

In this week's video review, Chris talks about Due Date, the road trip comedy starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis.

For more on Due Date, read the full review here

And get showtimes and leave your own review on GuideLive.com

This week's "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room" video talks about Nowhere Boy, a film about John Lennon before he was the famous Beatle.

For more on Nowhere Boy, read the full review here

And get showtimes and leave your own review on GuideLive.com

Lots of leftover quotes from my interviews with Aaron Sorkin and Jesse Eisenberg, the writer and the star of The Social Network. Keep reading for some of the best stuff from the cutting room floor.

This week's "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room" video talks about "the Facebook movie," The Social Network.

For more on The Social Network, read the full review here

Or leave your own review on GuideLive.com and get showtimes

This week's "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room" video talks about the not-to-be-talked-about "reality thriller" Catfish.

For more on Catfish, read the full review here

Or leave your own review on GuideLive.com and get showtimes

As you gear up for the genreific greatness of Fantastic Fest this weekend here's some more good Austin film news: the Austin Film Festival, running Oct. 21-28, has unveiled its full lineup. And it's packed with great stuff. What kind of great stuff? Keep on readin'.

This week's "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room" video review looks at Ben Affleck and cast in The Town. Are we done making fun of Affleck yet?

For more on The Town, read the full review here

Or leave your own review on GuideLive.com and get showtimes

As mentioned in today's column the Toronto International Film Festival continues to rock our docs off and prove truth can be far more compelling than fiction. Keep reading for the scoop on some of the best documentaries at the fest.

I arrived in Toronto this morning for the film festival - the largest in North America - and have spent some time getting the lay of the new land. The new hub is downtown, on King Street, and even though I haven't seen a film yet there's a different vibe than in years past. In the long run it will be good; everything is closer together, more bars and restaurants and the new Bell Lightbox complex, a five-screen theater and multi-purpose cinephile center, looks swanky from the outside.

I'll be blogging for the next six days while I'm out here, and Twittering up a storm (twitter.com/chrisvognar. Tomorrow morning I'm talking to Ben Affleck and Jon Hamm about their fine new Boston crime movie, The Town. (Gone Baby Gone: not a fluke). This afternoon I'm seeing Biutiful, starring Javier Bardem and directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Much more to come as I get my sea legs and hunt down wireless access.

This week's "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room" video review looks at George Clooney in The American. Note: It's not what it seems. (Read: not an action film.)

For more on The American, read the full review here

Or leave your own review on GuideLive.com and get showtimes

This week's "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room" video review highlights Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 debut film Breathless as it returns to theaters with a 50th anniversary restoration.

For more on Breathless, read the full review here

Or leave your own review on GuideLive.com and get showtimes

The lineup for the Austin Film Festival gets better and better. The fest just announced that David Peoples (Blade Runner, Unforgiven) will be on hand to receive the festival's Distinguished Screenwriter award. That's a good get, especially when paired with David Simon (The Wire, Treme) who will be honored as Outstanding Television Writer. AFF is the most writerly festival around, with copious writing panels to go with the screenings. This year's event runs Oct. 21-28. Added bonus:The Texas Book Festival runs Oct. 16-17. Make a week of it. I plan to.

This week's "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room" video review highlights Julia Roberts' growing performance, and new acting wrinkles, in the adapted Eat Pray Love.

For more on Eat Pray Love, read the full review here

Or leave your own review on GuideLive.com and get showtimes

This week's "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room" video review looks at the buddy cop spoof The Other Guys, starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.

For more on The Other Guys, read the review and get showtimes here

Or leave your own review on GuideLive.com

Back from a recharge week in my adopted hometown of Cambridge, which also happens to be one of the best movie watching cities in the country. I didn't make it to the Brattle, where they were spinning film noir goodies. Instead I parked it back-to-back nights at Harvard Film Archive so I could soak up some of the Nicholas Ray retrospective.

Cue the chase scene music because Angelina Jolie is back with the girl power in this week's release of Salt, an action spy thriller from Columbia Pictures. Watch what our movie critic has to say about it in this week's "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room" video.

Watch the video, and post your comments below.

For more on Salt, read the review, watch the trailer, and get showtimes here

Or leave your own review on GuideLive.com

This week in "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room", new Christopher Nolan dreamy film Inception is looked at.

Watch the video, and post your comments below.

For more on Inception, read the review, watch the trailer, and get showtimes here

Or leave your own review on GuideLive.com

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.

Chris Vognar wrote an essay recently on what film criticism means to him. Here, he answered reader questions.

UPDATE: Here's the essay, or look for it in Sunday's GuideDaily section.

===============

Do you hate movie critics? Love 'em to death? Next Tuesday at noon you'll get a chance to tell despicable me all about it.

This weekend we'll run my essay on how I approach my job and why I love it so (it will be posted on the blog as soon as it's online). Give it a read if you can, and show up here noon Tuesday to fire away with your questions and comments. You can start now if you want: Leave a comment here on movie criticism, its worth or lack thereof, or email me at cvognar@dallasnews.com. We'll put you in the question cue.

A little sneak preview fodder: I believe a movie critic's analytical skill takes precedent over his or her opinion. As I write in the essay, my job is not to tell you what to see. It's to engage you and hopefully make you think.

Seeya Tuesday.

The man is back, and this week in "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room" we hear Chris' thoughts on the lovable, animated Despicable Me.

Watch the video, and post your comments below.

For more on Despicable Me, read the review, watch the trailer, and get showtimes here

Or leave your own review on GuideLive.com

The Asian Film Festival of Dallas has been among the best-run film fests in town for eight years now. Today AFFD announced the full lineup for its 2010 installment, scheduled for July 23 - July 29 at the Magnolia and the Angelika. The big dates on the slate:

Opening night (7 p.m. July 23, Magnolia): Au Revoir Taipei, a Taiwanese comedy about a guy brushing up his French before heading to Paris to see his girlfriend.

Centerpiece Film: IP Man 2 ( 7:30 p.m. July 25, Magnolia): A Hong Kong action sequel set in the 1950s.

Closing Night Film: The People I've Slept With (7:30 p.m. July 29), a Canadian drama about an unapologetically promiscuous woman.

The ninth annual festival includes 33 features and 21 shorts from ten different countries.

No video review this week; I've been working on some longer stories. I'll be back in the screening room next week with Despicable Me, which tickled me. But not in an Elmo kind of way. Look for my Fourth of July essay on Sunday's front page. Peace, and have a festive Fourth.

This week in "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room" Chris shares his thoughts on the Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz action/romance Knight and Day.

Watch the video, and post your comments below.

For more on Knight and Day, read the review, watch the trailer, and get showtimes here

Or leave your own review on GuideLive.com

Love her or hate her. This week in "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room" we see into the life of Joan Rivers.

Watch the video, and post your comments below.

For more on Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, read the review, watch the trailer, and get showtimes here

Or leave your own review on GuideLive.com

If you're heading to the movies this week I recommend skipping the '80s flashback brigade (The A- Team, Karate Kid) and checking out Best Worst Movie at the Inwood (Here's my video review). I'm not usually one to buy the "so bad it's good argument"; I sort of prefer movies that are so good they're good. But Best Worst Movie, which tackles the cult bomb Troll 2 , isn't just about making a fetish of the horrible. It's about the double-edged sword of fringe cult fame, or knowing you're loved because your film is so fascinatingly abominable.

So what's your favorite bad movie? Why do you like it? At one point does a bad movie go far enough to become good? If you like it can it still be bad? These are some of the questions raised by Best Worst Movie. Which, by the way, is good. In a good way.

Here's a fun one for you. This week in "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room" Chris reviews a movie that's about a movie. To be more specific, he looks at Best Worst Movie, a documentary about the 1990 cult phenomenon Troll 2. Ever heard of it? Me neither. But after watching the screener Chris loaned me I feel like I have to. :P

Watch the video, and post your comments below.

For more on Best Worst Movie, read the review, watch the trailer, and get showtimes here

Or leave your own review on GuideLive.com

ALSO: George Hardy will attend the 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. showings of Best Worst Movie tonight and Saturday at the Inwood Theatre, 5458 W. Lovers Lane at Inwood, Dallas. 214-764-9106. And, Troll 2 screens as the Inwood's midnight movie tonight and Saturday. It's also on Hulu!

No Couch Potato in the paper this week (I was busy, so sue me), but that's what the Internet is for. Well, that and and other less wholesome things. Keep reading for my thoughts on Shutter Island, the Martin Scorsese mindgame thriller that comes out Tuesday.

"Chris Vognar in The Screening Room" is back this week, and Chris shares his thoughts on the stupid-funny Get Him to the Greek starring Jonah Hill and Russell Brand.

Does he recommend this big summer comedy?

Watch the video to find out, then post your comments below.

For more on Get Him to the Greek, read the review, watch the trailer, and get showtimes here

Or leave your own review on GuideLive.com

Chris Vognar is in New York this week covering the BookExpo America with Michael Merschel, so the weekly "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room" video review series will be back next week. In the meantime, catch up on his previous on-camera reviews:

Iron Man 2 | Harry Brown | MacGruber

In this week's "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room" video, Chris speaks to moviegoers interested in the Saturday Night Live skit-turned-movie MacGruber, in theaters today.

Watch the video and post your comments below.

Read the review, watch the trailer, and get showtimes

Leave your own review on GuideLive.com

The latest in an ongoing series: Vintage films you gotta see.

I've had Prohibition on the brain of late, a consequence of doing research for a story running this Sunday on Daniel Okrent's new book Last Call. So it seemed like a good time to revisit Raoul Walsh's 1939 gangster classic, a story of World War I veterans who decide to make a buck through bootlegging when the country goes dry.

The Texas Theatre holds a place in the national imagination as the place where Lee Harvey Oswald was cornered after the Kennedy assassination. But Howard Hughes opened the place for business way back in 1931, and now it's jumping again.

The Texas is now running a weekday series of classic American films and a Sunday series devoted to Latino films. Tonight at 7:30 it's the Coen Brothers' first (and possibly best) film, the neo-noir Blood Simple. This Sunday at 3 p.m. you can see the U.S./Mexico co-production Sin Nombre (Without a Name). There's even a nod to Hughes in store: The May 27 double feature showcases Hughes' Hell's Angels and Martin Scorsese's Hughes biopic The Aviator.

Click here for more information on this Lone Star landmark's latest happenings.

In this week's "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room" video, the man takes a look at the dark Michael Caine flick Harry Brown, in theaters Friday, May 14.

Watch the video and post your comments below.

Read the review, watch the trailer, and get showtimes

Leave your own review on GuideLive.com

With the beginning of the blockbuster summer movies season, we're launching "Chris Vognar in The Screening Room," weekly videos of the DMN movie critic's takes on some of the week's new releases.

Today we bring you his first: A look at Tony Star, his alter ego Robert Downey Jr., and Iron Man 2. Click here to watch it, and post your comments below.

Among the many thoughts that crossed my mind as I watched the epic sheep drive doc Sweetgrass: I gotta see Red River again. The immaculate Howard Hawks Western is actually about a cattle drive but you get the drift. Lots of animals being transported over endless miles for greener pastures.

What was a pioneer of New German Cinema doing on Sunday's season premiere of The Boondocks? However Werner Herzog got the gig it was a stroke of genius.

Herzog made his name with hugely ambitious and surreal films including Aquirre,The Wrath of God and his remake of the silent vampire classic Nosferatu. But for a new generation of fans he's best known for the clinical but empathetic narration in his superb doc Grizzly Man. By having Herzog lead the German film crew that interviews the Freeman family about the Obama election victory, Aaron McGruder and the rest of the Boondocks gang managed to send up anthropological filmmaking and Obamamania in one fell swoop.

The tone of voice is key: detached and oddly soothing even when it dips into the outlandish. At first I thought the 'Docks episode was just a parody of the style. Nope. There's only one Werner.

As 3-Dot king James Faust just observed the Dallas International Film Festival is about half-way history. And if you want my advice on how to see a good movie in the next few days it's pretty simple: Go to a documentary.

As you may have heard the Dallas International Film Festival starts tonight with an Angelika-full of screenings, many of which appear to be down to rush ticket status. (Great for the fest, bad for walk-up customers). In the good timing department, the power went down in the area around and including Mockingbird Station last night, during the media party at the Palomar (a more down-to-earth spot than the W, former festival HQ). Good to get the lights-out done with before the Big Event commences.

The party itself was, well, a film festival party. Chris Howell, director of the buzzy Dallas boxing doc Sweet Science, asked me early in the evening what one does during these things. Eat and drink, I replied. Sounds doable.

Fort Worth's Bill Paxton, a friend of the festival since its inception, was in the house and quite approachable. I had a good talk with him about A Simple Plan, the 1998 film starring Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton and Brent Briscoe and directed by Sam Raimi before he became the Spider-Man God. Paxton told me he thought Briscoe should have gotten a supporting actor nomination, and I had to nod in agreement - it's a wrenching performance. Also learned that Paxton's dad is in all three Spider-Man movies. So these parties can be educational and fun. Who knew?

I'll be on the case tonight and faithfully Twittering at twitter.com/chrisvognar.

With more than 65 features on tap, the Dallas International Film Festival offers choices galore. Here are 10 titles that movie critic Chris Vognar either recommends or can't wait to see.

American: The Bill Hicks Story - Documentary about the late Houston-born comedian and deep thinker.

Casino Jack and the United States of Money - Oscar-winning documentary maker Alex Gibney turns his attention to Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

City of Life and Death - Epic drama about the Japanese invasion of Nanking.

Earthling -This sci-fi indie from Dallas' Clay Liford got big buzz at South by Southwest.

No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson - Steve James ( Hoop Dreams) looks at the 1993 trial and imprisonment of the future NBA star.

Obselidia -A Sundance favorite, co-produced by Dallas' Ken Morris, about a librarian, a movie projectionist and a Death Valley road trip.

Shirley Adams - A South African drama about a mother at the breaking point.

A Surprise in Texas - A documentary look at the 2009 Van Cliburn competition.

Sweet Science - Dallas filmmaker Chris Howell's years-in-the-making look at amateur boxing.

Thunder Soul - Houston's Kashmere Stage Band brings in the funk and revolutionizes the high school band world in this doc.

- Chris Vognar

Got back from Austin Sunday after ten days of SXSW-ing. Good times. But now it's time to gear up for Dallas' own big movie shindig - the Dallas International Film Festival.

DIFF runs April 8-18 (here's the full schedule). You may remember it as the AFI Dallas International Film Festival. But the AFI licensing agreement done expired, so Dallas International Film Festival it is.

I've been able to see a few of the featured titles, including City of Life and Death, Thunder Soul (which won the SXSW Lone Star States award) and American:The Bill Hicks Story. Those were stellar, and I'm looking forward to seeing more. We'll be covering DIFF cover to cover (reel to reel?) so keep it right here and look for blow-out-the-budget preview coverage in the very near future.

I had the pleasure of revisiting one of my favorite stories Monday night. In 2006 I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with Conrad O. Johnson, former bandleader of Houston's Kashmere Stage Band. KSB, the pride of Kashmere High School, was a freakish musical anomaly during their '70s heyday: a high school stage band that played like a seasoned funk outfit. They didn't just defeat their stage band competition; they owned it. Johnson, who passed away at age 92 in Feb. 2008, inspired his musicians to become not just crackerjack players but better people. (Here's my KSB story from 2006).

So I was thrilled to discover that Thunder Soul, Mark Landsman's KSB documentary that had its world premiere at SXSW, is a first-rate piece of work.

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.

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.

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

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.

Next week's Sapphire Blue-ray release of The Godfather and The Godfather II brings up a debate that's always fun: Which movie is better? In today's Couch Potato column I state my case for Part II, but by no means is it a slam dunk. One point I make only in passing: Part II does a brilliant job of using the Mafia as a metaphor for the American corporation, especially in the Cuba section ("That's why they call him Superman." Thanks Fredo). In some ways the bottom line ends up corrupting Michael just as much as family loyalty.

In any case, any excuse to watch these movies is a good one. They get better with every viewing. And how about this '70s hot streak for Coppola: The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Conversation (see it now if you haven't) and Apocalypse Now. As they used to say on SportsCenter, en fuego.

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.

When I chose to review 35 Shots of Rum and write about Paris, Texas for the Couch Potato column I didn't immediately see the connection - at least not consciously. Rum director Claire Denis (an acquired taste that I long ago acquired) cut her teeth with fellow minimalists including Jim Jarmusch and Wim Wenders. She was an assistant director on Wenders' indelible Paris, Texas. That's not all - Rum's cinematographer, the great Agnes Godard, was first assistant camera on Wenders' film.

Watching Rum and Paris back to back was quite the immersive experience. They are both, by any objective measure, slow. But they're also very assured; they absolutely nail a dreamlike mood of wandering and uncertainty. I'm thrilled that Denis' films still get distribution in a mid-size market like Dallas (thanks to The Cinema Guild and the Angelika for making that happen). The big Oscar contenders are all well and good but it's always a pleasure to have the option of something different.

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.

Got a lot of response to my Top 25 of the decade list, not all of it outraged and befuddled. But as I've discussed the list the past several days I've been reminded time and again of films that didn't make the cut. A decade is a long time, and, as I noted, lists of this sort are inherently unscientific (the fun ones are anyway).

So consider this a tally of honorable mentions, or movies that could have easily grabbed a spot if I were in a different mood when I did the official version. In alphabetical order:

American Splendor
Bob Dylan: No Direction Home
The Bourne Ultimatum
Brokeback Mountain
Capturing the Friedmans
City of God
The Devil's Backbone
Dig!
Good Night, and Good Luck
House of Flying Daggers
The Savages
Traffic
Waking Life
When the Levees Broke
You Can Count On Me

I wasn't a working movie critic for the first eight months of 2009, so we decided not to run an official year-end Top Ten (My Top 25 of the decade is here if you missed it). But I'm not a very official kind of guy anyway. Here are 10 movies I loved from 2009, in alphabetical order. For the record my No. 1 is Up in the Air.

Avatar - Never seen anything like it, and how often can you say that?
The Damned United - Great sports film that isn't about sports.
District 9 - Prawn power, baby.
The Fantastic Mr. Fox - My favorite Wes Anderson movie.
The Hangover - Fearless bawdy comedy.
Precious - Mo'nique terrifies me.
Star Trek - The handbook for future franchise reboots.
Up - Heartbreaking, then euphoric.
Up in the Air - Old-school comedy that couldn't be more topical.
The White Ribbon - Bergmanesque story of Future Nazis in the 1910's countryside.

Straining and suffering to pin down your favorite movies of the decade ? I feel your pain. Just filed my Top 25 list. It was a fool's errand; fortunately I was just the fool for the job. The list will run Friday in the Dallas Morning News, or you can check GuideLive.com for the Web version.

Can't reveal my No. 1 yet. Well, I could but then I'd have to kill you. I will say that fans of Wall-E, Mulholland Drive and The Departed will be happy. And I can name a few that didn't make it. No Country For Old Men. Amelie. Anything with a Hobbit. Crash. And hopefully that's enough to get you to read the final list.

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.

No one has taken more pleasure in skewering the Disney empire than Robert Smigel (and believe me, he's got plenty of competition). As The Princess and the Frog rolls out today we thought we'd bring you back to TV Funhouse's entirely inappropriate journey to the Disney Vault. Enjoy.

I'll be at the Nasher tonight talking about Christmas movies with Robert Wilonsky, Philip Wuntch, Michael Cain and hopefully you. (Two words: Bad Santa). Here's the schedule for the free event, presented by the Dallas Film Society:

6:30 - Gary Cogill discusses new releases

7 - It's a Wonderful Life

9:15-ish - Christmas movie discussion.

Stop on by.

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.

You've all probably been wondering about The Couch Potato's whereabouts. Or not. In any case, the C.P. has rolled over from Tuesday to Friday for the foreseeable future. This week's main DVD attraction is The Golden Age of Television, a stellar Criterion anthology of '50s teleplays featuring the likes of Paul Newman, Rod Steiger, Mickey Rooney Jack Palance and many others. Good stuff.

Golden Age is out now, but future columns will look ahead to the following Tuesday's releases. Next week look for the potato's take on Michael Mann's Public Enemies.

Happy Thanksgiving. Watch lots of movies.

I have a vampire story running this Sunday. That means I've been doing a lot of research. Which, in this case, means watching lots of vampire stuff.

Here's a partial sampling of my intake, with short responses.

Twilight/New Moon - OMG, she, like, touched his chest. I think Joy Tipping actually liked it more than I did.

True Blood, Season One - Hot sex on a vampire platter.

Nosferatru (1922, silent) - Max Shrek: scary dude. Could be a serviceable back-up center in the NBA.

Nosferatu (1979, sound) - More rats than Ben's basement.

Near Dark (1987) - The PBR of vampire movies. And we mean that in a good way.

The Lost Boys (1987) - What happened to all the great vampire hair metal bands?

And don't forget Richard Pryor's Wino meets Dracula routine. "You wanna suck what?

Following up on last week's Paste list of the decade's 50 best films, here's another tasty one: the decade's 25 best documentaries. As with last week I quibble with the very top but am very impressed with the overall tally, esepecially the inclusion of The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Dig, The Gleaners and I, No Direction Home and Murderball. Well played.

Once again The Couch Potato has french-fried the limits of our paper product with too much verbiage. We're thinking about moving our digs from Tuesdays to Fridays to avoid such real estate issues. In the mean time, here's a brief rundown of this week's releases. The reviews of Up and Heat (love one-word titles) Blu-rays will be online soon at http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/movies/ .

The Ugly Truth -- Katherine Heigel and Gerard Butler butt heads in this romantic comedy.

Spread -- Ashton Kutcher takes enough time off from Twittering to bed lots of ladies.

Sesame Street: 40 years of Sunny Days -- Two discs of Sesame gold. Get your Snuffleupagus on.

Death in the Garden -- Luis Bunuel gets jungle fever with Simone Signoret.

Logan's Run (Blu-ray) -- '70s sci-fi gets 21st-century treatment.

Near Dark (Blu-ray): Twiwhat? Kathryn Bigelow's 1987 down-home vampire drama is still a keeper.

Coming next week

Star Trek

Blu-ray: Gone With the Wind

I dig Paste magazine. It's hip without being hipper than thou, and the staff tends to have good tatse (meaning their interests coincide with mine). So peep Paste's tally of the Top 50 films of the decade (yeah it's about that time). No. 1: City of God. The rest? Keep reading.

The Couch Potato got so excited about this week's DVD releases that he wrote way over his allotted space. (Cursed newshole). Here's what got cut. Enjoy.

Gone but not forgotten

The best impressionists don't turn into carbon copies of their subjects; they take a trait or two and accentuate to hilarious proportions. That's what Will Ferrell does in You're Welcome America, his Tony-nominated one-man George W. Bush show captured for posterity by HBO.

Ferrell's Bush is the swaggering, eager-to-please frat boy more comfortable with bestowing jocular nicknames than conducting foreign policy. The anger of You're Welcome America -- and it's there if you look deep enough -- is wrapped snugly inside the comedian's art. And if you want a little bit of inexplicable full-frontal nudity, they got that, too. This is, after all, Will Ferrell.

Also this week

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 -- Underrated Tony Scott remake in standard and Blu-ray.

G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra -- The cobra rises. Filmmaking falls.

The Watchmen: Ultimate Blu-Ray -- Apparently even more ultimate than the previous Blu-ray.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Season One -- Love me some General Grievous.

Bela Fleck: Throw Down Your Heart -- Acclaimed documentary on the banjo maestro and the instrument's African folk traditions.

So the marketing-savvy folks at Disney have unleashed a combo DVD/Blu-ray package edition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. A few thoughts:

The film looks remarkably clear - almost too clear. There's something about the old-fashioned Disney animation style - 1937, in this case - that's a little jarring in Blu-ray. The line looks harder than ever; you half expect Her Fairness to jump of the screen and sing in your ear.

It is indeed a pioneering work of narrative feature-length animation: strong story arc, vivid characters, everything we would come to take for granted in animated movies.

Speaking of song: When I think back to the satiric slings and arrows hurled by Shrek, I think of Snow White. Spontaneous treacle abounds. This is one happy chick.

Finally: What's with the "fair" obsession? Why is the queen so color-conscious? Of course nine years later Disney would remove all subtext with Song of the South. Snow "White?" Hmmm. Better get Undercover Brother on the case. In the meantime, The Princess and the Frog await.

I've always had a thing for American movies of the '30s. The period is right up there with the early-to-mid '70s in terms of artistic creativity; the coming of sound and the turmoil of the Great Depression combined to yield some of the most bracing work to emerge from American pop culture. Now I've got an extra reason to indulge my habit. I'm almost done with Dancing in the Dark, Morris Dickstein's addictive cultural history of the Great Depression (which I'll be writing about soon in the DMN). So I've been staying up way too late digging into the world of '30s comedy, a field always worth revisiting.

The movie about the lovable robot takes home the Oscar best animated film. Holly, you saw Wall-E. Deserving or no?

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

Okay, for those who saw Bolt this weekend -- is it just me, or is Bolt the Buzz Lightyear story redux? Remember how Buzz in Toy Story thought he was the real-life action hero as portrayed on television, until he finally learns that he's just a toy? And now we have Bolt, who thinks he's a real-life action dog, until he finds out he's just a dog? What do you think? Is it just the monosyllabic name beginning with a B that's throwing me off?

Kevin Smith won an R rating from the MPAA appeals board today for his movie Zack and Miri Make a Porno. The film, which comes out Oct. 31, centers on two friends (Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks) who decide to make a homemade sex tape to sell in an effort to dig themselves out of debt.
Had the film been saddled with the kiss-of-death NC-17, as it was originally rated, it would have to have been edited, because it's doubtful distributor The Weinstein Co. would want to lower the film's potential earnings with the rating. Most major movie chains won't even bother with NC-17 movies.
And while we're on the subject of Zack and Miri, it seems worth pointing out that Elizabeth Banks will play both an amateur porn star and First Lady Laura Bush in the same month as Oliver Stone's W. will also be released in October. Now THAT's range.

According to MTV.com:

While Bernie Mac remains in the hospital under treament for pneumonia, his rep slammed widespread media reports that the comedian is in very critical condition.

Read more.

Three films this summer have made a big deal of keeping their plots tightly under wraps. The first, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, featured a storyline about aliens that left many wondering why Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford couldn't take better control of George Lucas. Next up was The Happening, the next installment in the M. Night Shyamalan spook-by-numbers series. It, too, opened solidly with $30.5 million, but the reviews were pretty harsh and its gross has fallen more than 60 percent each week that is has been out.
And now we have The X-Files: I Want to Believe. All most fans knew about the film before this week was that Mulder and Scully were in it. But once the reviews started to pour in, they learned a little more -- it stinks. (Need proof? It got only 28 percent positive reviews over at rottentomatoes.com.)
The common thread running through all of these movies is that the studios relied on the brand to sell the movie rather than informing the audience as to why they may want to come back for the next edition. So a word to the wise the next time a plot is "closely guarded" -- it's probably just code for "we'd tell you more about the plot, but even we don't think it sounds that good."

In the past two days, both Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper have said they are calling it quits on At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper and both have more or less said that they disagree with the direction that Disney wants to take the show. A Chicago Tribune story says that the Mouse House wanted to move the show in more of an Entertainment Tonight direction with more of a focus on Hollywood.
To which I ask: Don't we already have a ton of shows like that?
What made Ebert & Roeper (and Siskel & Ebert before it) special was that it was a simple show featuring two guys talking about the movies -- and none of the peripheral stuff surrounding them. If Disney wants to change the show's focus, that's their decision. But they should know going into it that they'll just be entering another show into an already crowded field.

From Movie Critic Chris Vognar:

I will be studying at Harvard University on a Nieman Fellowship until June 2009. I still have a few stories filed, which will run in the coming month, but The Dark Knight is my last movie review for a while. As that cuddly Terminator fella once said, I'll be back.

Dallas Morning News Movie Critic Chris Vognar will talk about the summer movie season so far with Christopher Kelly of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Think starts at 1 p.m., and you can listen live on KERA's Web site.

The July 30 opening of The Rocker will begin a three-week run of movies opening on Wednesday, a trend in movie exhibition that is starting to get on my nerves. In the past, the non-Friday opening was reserved for a couple of special occasions, namely for movies opening around holidays (Christmas, Fourth of July, etc.) that didn't fall on a Friday. But now it seems as if any ol' movie can move up its opening by a few days and give the impression that it is somehow "important."

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?

It's time to explain my recent spotty performance in the blogosphere, and perhaps hope that anyone noticed. You see, Ive come down with a bad case of what the kids used to call Senioritis. Except I'm not about to leave school. I'm going back.

I can't say much about the strange and wonderful Wall-E before the movie opens Friday or the Disney people will hunt me down and take my first born. But I can recommend catching up on a couple of sci-fi classics to get you in the mood (and perhaps help things make a little more sense).

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), in which Hal, the ship's computer brain, decides to take things into his own hands (and shows a remarkable grasp of lipreading). Stupid humans. What do they know?

2. Metropolis (1927), the silent slice of dystopia in which the masses are all-too-easily placated - until they decide not to be.

Sorry. That's all I got for now. (Except that the photo is courtesy of Disney/Pixar).

We like lists. We must like lists; magazines and organizations keep pumping them out and the hunger still isn't satiated. So, as part of a 1,000th issue stunt called The New Classics, Entertainment Weekly has worked up a list of the 100 best movies of the past 25 years (including a Pulpy No. 1, at right).

Should you care? Not really, but the random, arbitrary nature of such beasts is always good for a few arguments. Anyway, where else would you discover that Titanic is ten notches better than GoodFellas, or that Schindler's List eats Jerry Maguire's dust?

Check the list and share your beef. (Photo courtesy of Miramax).

I've heard from a number of readers unhappy with the fact that my review of The Happening gives away a crucial plot point, including one guy who thought I wrote the headline. (For future reference, that's the copy editor's job). They say I have violated the unwritten spoiler code of conduct. Here's why I disagree. Just in case, stop reading here if you don't want to know something that's revealed about 30 minutes into the movie. (Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox)

Both The Love Guru and Get Smart have been savaged by critics far and wide. Yet you'll find that both movies got the same not-so-bad B- grades in today's paper. (I did Love Guru, while Tom Maurstad handled up on Get Smart).

What gives? I can't speak for Tom, but the most important thing I can say about The Love Guru is that it made me laugh. It made me feel slightly ashamed for laughing. It sometimes made me wonder why I was laughing. But laugh I did. I can blame my inner eighth grader, but I can also admit that I went in with very low expectations, knowing that Mike Myers specializes in a sort of juvenile carpet-bombing humor. I got a slightly better version of what I anticipated - better than the last Austin Powers movie. Yes, I groaned through many of the gags, but plenty of them tickled me, and there's something to be said for a film that knows its limitations (The Love Guru barely bothers to tell a story). Plus it only lasts 88 minutes. Nothing makes a critic's heart sing like a movie that checks in at under 90 minutes. (Love Guru photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures)

The Love Guru and Get Smart will face off in a comedy smackdown this weekend, but this also shapes up as a battle between Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show over which is the better comedic farm team these days. In one corner, Love Guru is the brainchild of ex-SNLer Mike Meyers. In the other is former Daily Show coresponant (and current Office star) Steve Carell. Over the long haul, this is of course comparing apples and oranges as SNL has a much longer history and a wider cast of characters to chose from. But in terms of recent production, I'm going to have to go with The Daily Show on this one. In the last few years, it has spun out Stephen Colbert and Carell, two of television's biggest stars. And it has provided reliable side men like Rob Corddry and Ed Helms.
Which is not to say that SNL has performed poorly of late. Tina Fey has become the funniest woman on television with 30 Rock while boosting the profiles of fellow SNLers Tracy Morgan and Chris Parnell on the show. And Kristen Wiig is really making a name for herself with small but juicy roles in films like Knocked Up and Walk Hard. But the show has had its share of misses, too. Andy Samburg flooped big with last summer's Hot Rod while fellow graduates (Horatio Sanz, for one) have just drifted off into the ether. If there's a tie to be broken here, looking again at this weekend's movies provides the breaker. When Meyers needed to fill a couple of key roles in Love Guru, he didn't dredge the usual SNL pond for the Rob Schneiders and David Spades of the world. Instead, he picked current Daily Show corespondant John Oliver and the previously mentioned Stephen Colbert. That's a pretty strong indication of where the top talent resides.

Watching the Celtics take care of business against the Lakers over the last week got me thinking about He Got Game, the Spike Lee movie featuring the smooth shooting stroke (and surprisingly adequate acting chops) of one Ray Allen. Even though I was rooting for the Lakers (whaddya want, I'm from Cali), I was happy to see Allen, a class act for years, get his. I'm also happy to say the movie gets better every time I see it. (Photo courtesy of AP)

It may be the most famous (infamous?) advertisement ever, and it's still an incendiary piece of short filmmaking. Now Tony Schwartz, the man behind the Lyndon Johnson campaign's Daisy ad, is dead at the age of 84.

You think today's political spots have shock value? Here's a one minute clip that essentially says "If you vote for Goldwater you're asking for a mushroom cloud." Brass knuckles stuff, in the form of a child with a daisy.

Fun stuff over at EW.com: A rundown of the 22 best twist endings. (22? Sure, why not). You'll find plenty of obvious ones: Bruce Willis' recognition of his death in The Sixth Sense, Charlton Heston's unfortunate discoveries that Soylent Green is made of people and the Planet of the Apes is good ol' Earth. But what about Citizen Kane? No love for Rosebud? We're talking about a guy's childhood here.

Got a favorite twist? Bring it on.

Looking back at my review of The Happening I realize I didn't merely dislike the film. It actually made me angry. It made me bang my head against the back of my seat before I left the theater. It made me feel like this guy on the right. Why such a visceral reaction?

Part of it has to with the film's pace, a slog into nowhere and nothing. But there's also something about squandered potential that makes me want to go all Hulk. In this case that goes for a premise that goes to pot and a filmmaker with talent coming out of his pores - and an inability to harness it without drowning in pretension.

Grrrr.

As you probably know The Incredible Hulk begins sneak-peak screeenings late tonight (click here for a mini review and theater info). The film not only packs in references to the original comics, but also to the old TV show starring Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby. Stop reading if you don't want to know about some of the best in-jokes. Keep going if you do. And look for the full review tomorrow at guidelive.com

So The Incredible Hulk screened Tuesday night at the North Park. Screening started at 7:30 (or thereabouts). But the line to get in started at about 4 p.m., this after the frenzy for the early Iron Man screening prompted publicity folks to do a second showing later that night. Moral of the story: If you want to check out an advance screening of a superhero movie you had best get there in time to beat the fanboys.

We'll have a sneak peak review Thursday in the paper and at Guidelive.com. One side note: I watched the Ang Lee Hulk again when I got home last night. That is one loopy movie, and not just because The Hulk looks like Gumby. All that Oedipal mumbo-jumbo? The 'roided-up attack dogs? Weird, wild stuff. Suffice it so say that the new film is, well, different.

The abundance of movie Websites (and the completeness of IMDB) have made the mammoth-size VideoHound a bit obsolete. Apparently the Hound folk have realized this too: There's now a brand new VideoHound site that promises the same kind cross-referencing bliss as the big book. Check it out here.

Largely lost amid the talk of Errol Morris' Standard Operating Procedure : The production value is freakin' amazing. With a score by Danny Elfman and cinematography by Robert Richardson, the film - especially the re-enactments - reminds us that a documentary can look and sound every bit as good as a major Hollywood production.

"Documentary is interesting because you can re-invent it," Morris told me when he came to Dallas. "You can create something that is really different. Thin Blue Line to me was really different than anything that had been made before. I'm proud of it. Just because it had style and it's been constructed and thought out doesn't mean it didn't have facts underlying it, or an investigation underlying it. The same is true of this movie. I should use really bad cinematographers to make it more truthful? It is still a movie."

Much will and should be written about Sydney Pollack who died of cancer as reported in The New York Times today. But while he may be most lauded for his directing, it's his acting turns I can't get out of my head. He was terrific as the practical, just business lawyer in Michael Clayton (a character for whom the concept of conscience was nothing more than an annoying peculiarity that afflicts the weak-willed). But I will always see him as the agent in Tootsie -- so exasperated when Dustin Hoffman's character insists he has to feel like a tomato to play a tomato. I was even more impressed knowing the fierce battles he had with Hoffman on that film and how he managed to turn the tension of their difference into some of the most unforgettable comedic moments on film. I will miss him.

Does anyone think that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is setting up plans for a new series starring a younger adventurer? It is hard to believe that Harrison Ford could do any more of these and the way Shia LaBoeuf was looking at Indy's hat at the end, well...What do you think? Would the series, like Bond, survive a new actor in the role?

In honor of the new Indiana Jones adventure the folks at Rotten Tomatoes have posted a rundown of Steven Spielberg's ten best-directed movies. Jaws tops their list, and it tops mine as well. But I have to say I'm not the typical Spielberg fan. E.T.? Liked it when I was 11, not so much now. Minority Report? Loved it. Same with Munich, Close Encounters and Private Ryan (I guess that would be my five, with 2-5 jumbled and random).

What sayeth you?

I have a new favorite movie for the year -- Then She Found Me, directed by and starring Helen Hunt. I caught it at the Angelika in Plano Saturday night and it made me cry at least three times -- in a good, life-affirming way. Hunt plays a woman who wants a baby but rejects adoption as she herself was adopted and views that as a lesser option. When her devoted adoptive mother dies, her biological mother (Bette Midler) seeks her out. Rather than that being a panacea, it makes her life emotionally more complicated. And that, it turns out, is not a bad thing. Hunt is better than you've ever seen her in terms of summoning up the complex depths of her wounded character. Colin Firth is the most irresistible of leading men. And Bette is and always will be the Divine Miss M. What amazes me, too, is how this movie about a baby can come out the same time as Baby Mama and guess who gets the love? Well, not from me. Get thee to the Angelika.

I'm glad to see Prince Caspian top the box office, and I hope it will have legs this summer. Now I'm not one to trash on fellow critics (as the tables can turn oh so quickly), but one thing that bothered me in some reviews was the apparent lack of familiarity with the books. Too many critics have been comparing this one unfavorably to the first film OR comparing it unfavorably to Lord of the Rings. Hello? C.S. Lewis had different things to say about the nature of faith, the ways faith changes as you mature and how you deal with the apparent absence of God in dark times. Also, when I think of that haunting scene of those left behind as the Pevensies flee Miraz's castle, I'm impressed by the guts it took to film a scene in a family movie that deals so viscerally with the high cost of war.

In My Blueberry Nights Dallas' Norah Jones plays Elizabeth, a heartbroken traveler with a taste for blueberry pie. Audiences might have a hard time figuring out what makes the character tick. At first, so did the star.

If you missed the great animated film Persepolis and subtitles challenge your faculties, you're in luck. A dubbed version is rolling into theaters this weekend. I'm not sure if this sublime look at growing up in the Iran and Europe of the '70s and '80s would have made my Top Ten in a dubbed version - dubbed foreign films make my skin crawl - but hey, different strokes.

Beware if you have a chimp in your movie: PETA is watching. In the last week I've received two E-blasts from the animal rights organization, one concerning the new documentary Circus Rosaire (just played at AFI-Dallas; check the earlier post here), the other condemning the upcoming adaptation of the anime TV icon Speed Racer (which I'm tempted to condemn just because of its live-action format, but I digress).

Keep reading for the full text of PETA's Speed lament.

So on Saturday I moderated an AFI Dallas panel at the Nasher with the esoteric title "Listening to the Crowd: How Much Does the Audience Influence the Artist's Voice?"
My co-panelists were Michael Addis, who made the documentary Heckler; Jewel, who is featured in said documentary; and the great Dolph Lundgren, killer of Apollo Creed and the man behind the new film Missionary Man.

There were some interesting moments.

As promised, here are some more golden nuggets from the great Martin Scorsese. His latest, the Rolling Stones concert movie Shine a Light, opens today.

The star of the AFI Dallas International Film Festival Wednesday night at the Magnolia was not an actor, or a filmmaker, or even a person. It was a chimpanzee named Rickey.

Here's something wacky: a non-AFI blog item. I just got back from talking to one of my favorite actors, Chiwetel Ejiofor. He's exuded intelligence and range in Dirty Pretty Things, Talk to Me and American Gangster, among others, and now he's in David Mamet's upcoming Jiu-Jitsu film, Redbelt. The strongest impression from a 30-minute chat: This is a very international dude.

Has it really been 20 years since Public Enemy was the most incendiary and relevant thing in pop music? Damn you, old age. But you can relive the glory days, kind of, with the documentary Public Enemy: Welcome to the Terrordome. It shows tonight at 7:15 at the Angelika, and Chuck D is slated for a red carpet walk earlier in the evening at North Park. Chuck will also rock Ghost Bar after the movie with PE's prime provocateur, Professor Griff, and DJ Lord. (Where's Terminator X at?).

As for the film, I wanted a little more. The interviews are candid enough, but I wanted to be picked and put back down in the late '80s/early '90s Fear of a Black Planet days. The live footage is mostly from the last few years, well after PE's heyday, and the editing is pretty pedestrian. Still, this is PE, and I'll be raising my fist tonight in the presence of the great Chuck. Too black. Too strong.

Just hung out with Alex Gibney, who has become a major stud in the documentary world. His Taxi to the Dark Side won the doc Oscar this year, and his new film, Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson, plays AFI Dallas at 7:30 tonight and 12:15 Saturday at the Magnolia.

Among the surprising interview subjects in the film is Pat Buchanan, a Nixon man whom Thompson met covering politics for Rolling Stone (read Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, if you haven't). Gibney told me Buchanan originally declined to participate in the film, but changed his mind when the filmmaker reminded him that the great Gonzo's work spoke to folks of all political stripes and ideologies. (Apparently Thompson and Buchanan were known to knock back a beer or ten together).

Gonzo will be released by Marc Cuban and Todd Wagner's HDNet Films later this year.

AFI Dallas is ready to roll through April 6 and we'll be all over it like Jerry Jones on Darren McFadden. Peep our preview of the many small town Texas films on display here. Stevie Becker will be covering the opening night festivities at guidelive.com (I'll be reviewing Chris Rock. Very stoked). Check The Screening Room every day for news, reviews and all the AFI you can handle.

Chris Cooper, who can be seen in the new film Married Life, is a Kansas City native. But his people come from Texas. "I'm the only one that's not from Texas, going back generation to generation on both sides of my family," he told me recently.

It seems his great-great grandfather once had a chance to get in on the ground floor of a fledgling city called Dallas. But it didn't quite work out.

As promised, here's a little more on my Martin Scorsese interview Saturday. We talked mostly about his new Stones movie, Shine a Light, which opens April 4. If you're a fan of Scorsese's music flicks, this one is more of a Last Waltz-style concert movie than a No Direction Home study of Dylan.

Near the end of the interview I told him I was a fan of his doc A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies. He immediately lamented that his press schedule was causing him to miss a rep screening of Bigger Than Life, a Nicholas Ray/James Mason film that was playing up the street in New York and is featured in Personal Journey. Classic Scorsese: He's rather be watching a movie - even one that he's seen a million times - than doing anything else. Except, possibly, making a movie.

We'll have much more Marty as his film's opening date approaches.

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I somehow ended up on the Hillary e-blast list, which means I get to find out about every last campaign stop in the state. Anyway, the other day I got a message reporting that Melanie Griffith had endorsed Hillary (Woo-hoo!).The message went on to mention that "Griffith has starred in dozens of movies and won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in Working Girl. Uh, no. She was nominated, but did not win. Then again, politicians have always been prone to exaggeration.

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.

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.