Jeff Leeds’ weekend box-office story in today’s (1.3) New York Times quotes Box Office Mojo’s Brandon Gray saying something rather odd. The crop of Oscar-buzz films “is somewhat anemic this season, and that’s something the Academy needs to be aware of,” Gray says, referring to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, whose membership votes on the Oscars. He adds, “If they nominate only pictures that people are not going to see, they can expect lower ratings” for the 2.27 Oscar broadcast. Hear that, fellas? If the film or filmmaker you admire the most hasn’t delivered (or isn’t on the way to delivering) a handsome profit, deny him/her your vote.

Two similar-sounding, three-syllable, young-guy-with-a-problem movies are playing at Sundance ’05 — The Chumscrubber and Thumbsucker. And are both about suburban ennui and that line of country. Not to sound harsh or dismissive, but I really don’t want to see a movie about a guy who sucks his thumb. Arie Posin’s Chumscrubber, a Premiere selection about, yes, despair and alienation in an idyllic California ‘burb (is there any other kind?), costars Jamie Bell, Ralph Fiennes, Carrie-Ann Moss, Glenn Close, Allison Janey. Mike Mills’ Thumbsucker, playing in the Dramatic Competition section, is a portrait of addiction but is presumably about something else besides. (Please.) It costars Lou Pucci, Tilda Swinton, Keanu Reeves, Vincent D’Onofrio, Bemjamin Bratt, Vince Vaughn.