Snipers are taking shots at Million Dollar Baby (and not just the Paulettes), and now New York Times critic A.O. Scott has given voice to the one I’ve been hearing for weeks about critics liking Sideways because they relate to Paul Giamatti’s Myles character — they look like him, think like him, he’s a critic type, etc. And because he winds up with a hot soulful lady (Virginia Madsen) who gets what he’s about. Well, yeah…partly…nice fantasy. But if a movie has three good scenes that touch bottom, it’s a movie that stands up on its own despite what admiring critics say. And Sideways has (1) the back porch pinot noir scene between Giamatti and Madsen, (2) Giamatti’s heart breaking when he meets his ex-wife and her new husband after Jack’s wedding, and (3) Giamatti listening to Madsen’s phone message about his book at the very end.

In a TV clip, Don Cheadle said about the real-life story behind Hotel Rwanda: “It’s Africa’s holocaust, and it’s still happening, and people…don’t know about it.” Cheadle paused between saying the words “people” and “don’t,” and I’m sure he briefly considered saying “don’t want to know about it”…until thinking better of it.

Brad Grey, the big-wheel talent manager, is “expected to be named head of Paramount Pictures as early as this week,” according to a Sunday story by L.A. Times reporters Claudia Eller and Sallie Hofmeister. The move “is likely to bring sweeping changes for the storied and recently troubled studio.” Sources said Grey was in the final stages of negotiations with Paramount parent Viacom Inc. to succeed studio chief Sherry Lansing, who announced two months ago that she would retire after 12 years on the job. Grey, the story noted, “has a relatively poor box-office track record, having produced such flops as City by the Sea, What Planet Are You From? and The Cable Guy.” However, the likely ex-chairman of Brillstein-Gray “does enjoy strong ties with talent and agents, whose frayed relationships with Paramount [Viacom honcho] Tom Freston [who hired Grey] is eager to mend.” Paramount production president Donald De Line is apparently on his way out, as he told Freston he’d be gone if he were passed over for the Paramount gig.

A filmmaker friend sat down with Harvey Weinstein in London a few days ago and says he’s lost 35 or 40 pounds, and that the apparent inspiration is that he’s got a new British actress girlfriend and “he’s in love.” I wrote a London columnist friend and asked about this….nothing back yet. Poly Giannabi, a London reader, says she “saw Harvey Weinstein on British TV, at the British premiere of The Aviator. It’s true about the weight loss…he’s down at least 30-40 pounds. I almost didn’t recognize him.”

Got a hot Sundance ’05 pic. Actually, just a flick I’m hearing may be one of the hotties…for GenXers with a desperate need to feel superficially hip, at least. It’s John Asher and Jenny McCarthy’s Dirty Love, a “Park City at Midnight” selection about a Hollywood girl named Rebecca (McCarthy)going through betrayal, homelessness and hard times. The program calls it “a laugh-out-loud, hilarious manifestation” of Asher and McCarthy’s “warped minds,” with “unforgettable and outrageous hijinks.”