I'm leaving Park City today and arriving late this evening at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, which kicked off last night. The opener was Lawrence Kasdan's Darling Companion (Sony Classics, 4.20), a lost dog movie which is very, very slight. Variety's Lael Lowenstein said it "won't be long before this one turns up at the Netflix pound."

It's basically about an older, well-to-do Denver couple (Kevin Kline, Diane Keaton) getting in touch with their issues through a relationship with a mixed collie they've adopted after Keaton and her daughter (Elisabeth Moss) find him huddling...Read More

I really must have three forthcoming Masters of Cinema Blurays -- Lifeboat, Double Indemnity and The Lost Weekend -- to have and hold. British and region-locked, of course. Which means I'm finally thinking about getting a Momitsu 799 or 899 multiregion player. Recommendations?

Every new movie generation delivers its own attitude and aesthetic. I was reminded of this when I first saw Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson 's black-and-white Bottle Rocket short in '94. And I was reminded again today when I caught Andrew Edison and Luke Loftin's BINDLESTIFFS early this afternoon at Slamdance. They're only 20 and 21, respectively, but they're probably a two-headed version of the new Todd Phillips, or maybe they're a new hybrid of Wes Anderson mixed with John Waters or something like that. I haven't quite figured it out.

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High-Def Digest's Josh Zyber has assembled a four-panel video that shows that the allegedly "fixed" overture sequence in the West Side Story Bluray still isn't right. Here's how he explains it:

"As you can see [in the video], the original version of the sequence dissolved from a red (or orange) still image, to green, and finally to blue. In the first Blu-ray, the green section was missing entirely, replaced with a fade to black and then a fade back up to blue. In the new 'fixed'; version, the green is still missing.

"Instead, the...Read More

Here are four non-finalized versions of Reid Rosefelt's one-sheet for Turn Me On Dammit! (New Yorker, 3.30). He's asking HE readers to rate them in order of preference plus offer up any comments that might occur. The line illustration is by Kelly Lasserre. Three of the color treatments are by Ron Ramsland of New Yorker Films; one is by Rosefelt.

"As you can see the poster is not in any stretch of the imagination in Saul Bass territory," Rosefelt writes. "Along the way I had to make compromises and one of them was that the...Read More

It's 8:50 am, and I'm committed to catching a 9:30 am screening of Room 237, the doc about wackjob fans of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, followed by a 1 pm Slamdance screening of Andrew Edison's Bindlestiffs. The final viewing of the day will be a 6 pm Egyptian showing of Katie Asleton's Black Rock.

Yesterday I wrote for half a day and then saw Shut Up and Play The Hits, Lynn Shelton's Your Sister's Sister and finally California Solo. Too shagged to write about any of these late last night, and no time to get into...

A good friend who goes to a lot of parties and film festivals often talks about how delightful it is to run into people who are "so nice." Meaning that they're friendly, gracious, funny, witty, open-hearted. It's the easiest thing in the world, of course, to turn on your nice lights at a social gathering. The worst psychopath in the world can put on a "nice" face anywhere, any time. About as meaningful as a snow cone.

What impresses me is whether a person exudes a straight, no b.s. vibe, and looks you in the eye when they shake hands and seems to...Read More

There's a little bit of Strangers on a Train thread in the plot for this, the latest Nicolas Cage potboiler. Guy Pearce isn't exactly Bruno Antony with a shaved head, but he's talking the same basic concept of murder-swapping. If only they'd stuck with the original title -- The Hungry Rabbit Jumps.

Yesterday's Oscar Poker was recorded a few hours after yesterday's Oscar nomination announcements. Just myself and Awards Daily's Sasha Stone. Here's a stand-alone mp3 link.

LIKELIEST BEST PICTURE CONTENDERS

1. The Descendants (d: Alexander Payne); 2. The Artist (d: Michael Hazanavicius); 3. Moneyball (d: Bennett Miller); 4. The Tree of Life (d: Terrence Malick); 5. War Horse (d: Steven Spielberg); 6. A Separation (d: Asghar Farhadi); 7. Hugo (d: Martin Scorsese); 8. The Help (d: Tate Taylor); 9. Midnight in Paris (d: Woody Allen).

LIKELIEST BEST DIRECTOR CONTENDERS

1. Alexander Payne, The Descendants; 2. Michel Hazanavicius , The Artist; 3. Bennett Miller, Moneyball; 4. Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life; 5. Steven Spielberg, War Horse; 6. Tate Taylor, The Help.

LIKELIEST BEST ACTOR CONTENDERS

1. George Clooney , The Descendants; 2. Brad Pitt, Moneyball.; 3. Woody Harrelson, Rampart; 4. Michael Fassbender, Shame/A Dangerous Method; 5. Michael Shannon, Take Shelter; 6. Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; 7. Jean Dujardin, The Artist. SPECIAL DISPENSATION: Damian Bichir, A Better Life.

LIKELIEST BEST ACTRESS CONTENDERS

1. Viola Davis, The Help [even though Davis's role is definitely not a lead]; 2. Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs; 3. Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady; 4. Charlize Theron, Young Adult; 5. Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin; 6. Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn. SPECIAL DISPENSATION: Olivia Colman, Tyrannosaur.

LIKELIEST BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR CONTENDERS

1. Christopher Plummer, Beginners, Barrymore, Girl With The Dragon Tattoo; 2. Andy Serkis, Rise of the Planet of the Apes; 3. Albert Brooks, Drive; 4. Patton Oswalt, Yougn Adult; 5. Jonah Hill, Moneyball; 6. Corey Stohl, Midnight in Paris.

LIKELIEST BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS CONTENDERS

1 Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus; 3. Shailene Woodley, The Descendants; 4. Octavia Spencer, The Help; 5. Jessica Chastain -- Take Shelter, The Help, The Tree of Life; 6. Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids; 7. Judy Greer, The Descendants.

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Set in the early '90s, James Marsh's Shadow Dancer is a low-key LeCarre-esque thriller about a young IRA-allied mother (Andrea Riseborough) who's nabbed by a British MI5 officer (Clive Owen) and told she'll go to prison and lose her relationship with her young son unless she turns snitch and rats out her own. She reluctantly agrees, and you know (or can certainly guess) what probably happens from this point on.

But you can't know until you see it, of course, and I'm telling you the ending delivers jolts and eerie...Read More

The passionately praised Beasts of the Southern Wild, which I finally saw last night at Park City's MARC, is everything its admirers have said it is. It's a poetic, organic, at times ecstatic capturing of a hallucinatory Louisiana neverland called the Bathtub, down in the delta lowlands and swarming with all manner of life and aromas, and a community of scrappy, hand-to-mouth fringe-dwellers, hunters, jungle-tribe survivors, animal-eaters and relentless alcohol-guzzlers who live there.

It's something to sink into and take a bath in on any number of dream-like, atmospheric levels, and a film you can...Read More

Andrea Riseborough (W.E., Brighton Rock) delivers an unforgettable traumatized-Irish-lassie performance in James Marsh's Shadow Dancer, which screened tonight at the Eccles. The after-party happened at the Grey Goose lounge on Main Street. Thanks to Susan Norget for the invite, etc.

A brief portion of Josh Radnor's q & a after Sunday's 3:15 pm screening of Liberal Arts, which many (myself included) are calling a mature and significant uptick from Radnor's last film, happythankyoumoreplease.

In 1981 I was that guy in this shot. Almost. It didn't happen on a Fifth Avenue apartment balcony overlooking Central Park, but on an apartment building rooftop during a fairly wild party on a hot July night. I was wearing a suit and she was dishy and a little bit bombed, and she smelled like soap and flowers and had cigarette breath. We came close to forgetting ourselves. It all came back when I happened upon this DVD Beaver frame capture from the just-out Bluray of Woody Allen's Manhattan.

As much as I tell myself I'm Lee Marvin, the truth is that sometimes I'll cave in to peer pressure and follow the crowd. And when I do that I'm usually a bit sorry. Which is to say not always. But today I am.

After seeing Ben Lewin's The Surrogate at 8:30 am, recording a special Oscar Nomination Announcement Oscar Poker with Sasha Stone and then tapping out a three-paragraph Surrogate review, I caught a 1 pm screening of Craig Zobel's Compliance. The plan after that was to go to Joe Berlinger's Under African Skies at 3...Read More

I saw Ben Lewin's The Surrogate this morning, and yes, it's a touching, thoughtful and comforting film about touching, needing, being open and the finding of fulfillment. It's an emotionally erotic variation on the themes in My Left Foot, The Sea Inside and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly with a little dash of Who's Life Is It Anyway? thrown in. And John Hawkes will almost certainly get some awards action eight to ten months hence; ditto Helen Hunt.

The only thing the film (i.e., Lewin) lacks is a strong visual imagination. Any film about a paralyzed protagonist needs to somehow free...Read More

"This is cheerful news for me and for the family of cinema in Iran, specially the nomination for the best original screenplay. It seems that although people speak different languages around the world but there is one common universal language which everyone understands -- the language of cinema." -- Asghar Farhadi, director-writer-producer of A Separation, reacting to nominations for Best Foreign-Language Film and Best Original Screenplay.

Says a critic friend: "The fact that the Academy gave a Best Picture nomination to Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close but blew off Shame and Drive and [forgetting his last example but fill in the blank]....says it all.'

If only five Best Picture nominees were allowed, which of this morning's nine nominees would be included? Not The Help -- be honest. Not Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close -- due respect. Probably not War Horse or The Tree of Life. It's delightful, of course, that The Tree of Life has been nominated but I'm stunned that 5% of the membership gave #1 votes to the other three. These moves are worthy and commendable in their own way, but they're #3 or #4 picks.

This morning's biggest "holy moley" is the Academy's blowoff of the great...Read More

I got caught up in a couple of Bingham Ray posts late this morning and consequently missed the 12:30 Eccles screening of Ben Lewin's The Surrogate, which played like gangbusters, I'm told. (The crowd gave it two standing ovations.)

I made the 3:30 showing of Sheldon Candis's LUV, and I'm sorry to say that I found it dispiriting and repetitive (too many characters with malevolent minds and motives) and generally Dante-esque.

Then came Julie Delpy's comedic 2 Days in New York, which follows the rules of farce, French or otherwise, by keeping the dialogue peppy, the action frenetic and...Read More

Late this afternoon the San Francisco Film Society held a memorial gathering at a brewery bar on Park Avenue for the late, legendary Bingham Ray, who died earlier today following a stroke. I arrived only during the last half-hour, but the sad faces were all familiar-- Ray's former October Films partner Jeff Lipsky, various Indiewire staffers; IFC Films' Jonathan Sehring and Ryan Werner; producer Christine Vachon; former MGM honcho Chris McGurk, Sony Pictures Classics co-chief Tom Bernard, and several journalists, ex-pals and acquaintances.

The memorial was reportedly "originally planned by Ray as a party for the San...Read More

The following is from the opening pages of a draft of "Down & Dirty Pictures," a screenplay adaptation of Peter Biskind's book by Joshua James Craig and Dean Craig. The story is by Ken Bowser & Joshua James. I'm posting this excerpt because the late Bingham Ray appears as a character with some (for me) amusing dialogue. Here it is:

TITLE CARD ON BLACK:

"To fight the empire is to be infected by its derangement. This is a paradox: Whoever defeats a segment of the Empire becomes the Empire; it proliferates like a virus, imposing its form on its enemies. Thereby it becomes...Read More

Bingham Ray, one of the coolest, smartest and most passionate fellows to work in indie-level distribution and one of the absolute stars of Peter Biskind's Down & Dirty Pictures, has died of a stroke suffered over the weekend in Park City, according to the Sundance Institute announcement and a Variety link that came through on my iPhone. He was a man of honor, and one of the funniest guys (with one of the darkest senses of humor) I've ever known in this racket. My heartfelt condolences to his friends, colleagues and especially his family.

Someone should organize an impromptu memorial service of...Read More

This isn't anything special -- just a clip of Spike Lee and the cast of Red Hook Summer during the post-screening q & a at the Eccles. And a welcome realization that someone besides myself is walking around Park City with a black cowboy hat.

I've just spent about 75 minutes tapping out my final Oscar nomination predictions in anticipation of tomorrow morning's announcements, and then it wouldn't save so I refreshed the profoundly weak and unreliable wifi signal at the Park Regency and somehow the whole post was wiped out. Great! I don't care all that much anyway. Partly because my favorites haven't been faring as well as they should, and partly because one of the shallowest and most gimmicky Best Picture contenders in the history of the motion picture industry is likely to win.

Sasha Stone and I will voice...Read More