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“Imagine every butt-kicking, unflinching character Clint Eastwood has ever played. Now imagine seeing them in their twilight years, wrinkled, haggard, on death’s door, and spitting in the face of death one last time to help a friend. His performance as Walt Kowalski in Gran Torino is his best work as an actor in years , a return to all of the things that made him great as a younger man.

“He’s brilliant and imposing, shocking and so over-the-top he’s often funny. And Torino is a movie you must see — smarter than it seems and broader, funnier, and more straightforward than you’d expect. This is the Eastwood we all remember in a perfect final performance. He’s riding off into the sunset scowling, snarling, and spitting blood.” — Cinema Blend‘s Josh Tyler in a 12.8 review.

“Film critics have been getting whacked lately like they’re in the third-act montage of The Godfather,” writes Nothing But The Truth director-writer Rod Lurie, a former journalist himself, in a HuffPost-ing. “They’re going down with an unforgiving ferocity that spells danger not just to the craft of film criticism but to print journalism as a whole. Why? Because the local film critic has always been symbolic of the individuality of the American newspaper and magazine.

“The latest victim is the stylish and tough Glenn Whipp of the Los Angeles Daily News. He was preceded in the gangland slayings by some other superb writers: Glenn Kenny at Premiere (who, by the way, gave me my share of metaphorical prison rapings when he wrote about my films), Carina Chocano, Kevin Thomas at the Los Angeles Times, Jonathan Rosenbaum at the Chicago Reader and…well, the list does sort of go on and on.

“Newspapers have been in a downward spiral for close to a decade now (I blame Craigslist most of all since classified ads have always been a major source of income for newspapers — but no more). In order to cut costs, management goes first to critics — a bit like how schools slash arts programs. There is something they do not take seriously about them. They find them easily replaceable or, maybe, not needed to be replaced.

“When these newspapers and magazines fire the Whipps and the Kennys and the Wilmingtons, they are hurrying their own demise by cutting out one of the very things that makes them unique: the voice that often prompts people buy the newspaper in the first place. (The same thing applies to another budget-slashing victim: the political cartoonist.)

“You know, it used to be that somebody would say, ‘I heard that such and such a newspaper loved or hated a movie.’ That’s silly, of course. The newspaper’s critic — not the paper itself — loved or hated a film. But because that critic was so identified with the publication, it served the same purpose.

“There is hope I suppose. There are several critics I still love to read. I’ll admit that some of the internet guys are pretty good. But, it’s not like it used to be, which breaks my heart.”

If Nikki Finke‘s tip about Summit offering the New Moon directing gig to Chris Weitz comes true (i.e., if he’s actually offered the job and takes it), it’ll prove that Summit truly hasn’t a clue.

The Twilight films have to be directed by a woman, period, and certainly not by some sensitive, well-intentioned but fatally middlebrow journeyman like Weitz (The Golden Compass, About A Boy). The obvious candidate is The Hurt Locker‘s Kathryn Bigelow…is it not?

Finke’s tipster says “another reason [for the Weitz offer] is because Weitz and Summit’s president of production Eric Feig are longtime pals.” Jesus…do they play poker together? Forget Weitz, grab Feig by the lapels and slap him around and tell him that flaunting the old-boy network is bad p.r., and then hire Bigelow. Simple.

If Weitz winds up directing New Moon everything that Summit honcho Rob Friedman told Patrick Goldstein yesterday will be immediately tossed out the window. Weitz? Why not dangle the job in front of Stephen Sommers while they’re at it?

I got out of a 3 pm showing of The Day The Earth Stood Still only about 30 minutes ago so forgive my being slow to respond to the news about Andrew Stanton‘s WALL*E winning the Best Picture prize from the L.A.Film Critics earlier today. Waahhhlleeeee! Big development, you bet.

It’s a good decision born of bold and original thinking. Hooray for LAFCA not putting its paws up and yelping for Slumdog Millionaire. They stood up and shot their own wad.

Right now, today, as of this precise minute, the Slumdog juggernaut is idling in traffic, stopped at a red light, and just a tiny bit worried. I wouldn’t be. Things will pick right up again tomorrow for Slumdog once the unusual WALL*E win — the first-ever animated pic to win LAFCA’s Best Picture award — is processed and kicked around. But at least today’s surprise win has given the Best Picture race a little contour, a little shading, a little “oh, yeah?” attitude.

The Dark Knight was the Best Picture runner-up. Honestly? It would been a little bit cooler if Chris Nolan‘s film had won instead of Stanton’s. WALL*E, trust me, isn’t going to bust into the Academy’s Best Picture race, but The Dark Knight might, and it could’ve used LAFCA’s support to pursue this. But what does LAFCA care about the stupid Academy? Nothing. They’re playing their own game.

LAFCA’s Best Director trophy went to Slumdog‘s Danny Boyle . It’s a sop, of course — a make-up for the disappointed Slumdog contingent. But as long as LAFCA was going off the script they should have at least given the Best Director prize to Nolan, who was first runner-up after Boyle.

Milk‘s Sean Penn won the Best Actor award (fine), and The Wrestler‘s Mickey Rourke came in second (tough break).

This columnist recognizes that Sally Hawkins‘ performance in Happy-Go-Lucky was crackling and throbbing and gifted-crazy, but the kind of person she played — a happy fascist who insists on happy-vibing everyone she runs into until they’re down on their knees and begging for mercy– is the sort of positive soul I find personally detestable, so I say “no” to this in order to discourage all of the other happy fascists, both in other forthcoming movies and in real life.

But yay for Best Actress runner-up Melissa Leo, the desperate people smuggler of Frozen River .

The Best Supporting Actor prize went to The Dark Knight‘s Heath Ledger, and Happy Go Lucky‘s Eddie Marsan, whose performance I enjoyed much more than the one given by Hawkins, was named runner-up.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Elegy‘s Penelope Cruz was named Best Supporting Actress, and Doubt‘s electrifying power-hitter Viola Davis came in second.

Here are the rest of the awards.

“I respectfully request a moratorium on Holocaust films,” writes Stewart Klawans on the Jewish culture site, Nextbook. “By continually replaying and reframing and reinventing the past, these movies are starting to cloud the very history they claim to commemorate. Call it the law of diminishing returns — or call it a paradox that mirrors the Torah’s famously self-contradictory commandment at the end of Parshat Ki Tetze, concerning the people who were the prototype of Nazi Germany: ‘Thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget.’ Very soon, with Holocaust movies, we’ll need to forget if we want to remember.”

Running into town for afternoon screenings of Seven Pounds and The Day The Earth Stood Still. Back around 5 pm eastern. Probably.

Speaking to L.A. Times/”Big Picture” columnist Patrick Goldstein about the firing of piece-of-work Twilight helmer Catherine Hardwicke from shooting the upcoming sequels. Summit honcho Rob Friedman yesterday insisted that the first follow-up, titled New Moon , was not being rushed into production.

“We love the draft [that Melissa Rosenberg] turned in,” he says. “Melissa has worked very hard on the material and was an integral part of what made the original film such a success. This is not a rush job. The movie only gets released when it’s finished. I’d like it to be next year, but we’re not going to put out a bad movie to hit a release date.”

“On the other hand, Summit can’t dawdle,” Goldstein writes. “Unlike with Harry Potter, whose characters aged with each book, the characters in the “Twilight” series remain young forever, so if the studio is going to rely on its newly-minted stars, Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson, to carry the entire series, it has to move full speed ahead. Summit has options on its lead actors, but since they are now in demand for other films, if Summit doesn’t press ahead quickly, it could lose them for months on end to other productions.

“Hardwicke’s abrupt departure has also fueled rumors that she clashed with the all-male hierarchy at Summit. It’s a charge often leveled at Hollywood’s largely all-male executive ranks, which has a woeful track record of hiring female filmmakers on mainstream studio projects. Friedman insists there were no gender issues .

“‘It’s an insult to me personally as well as to our company. I’m the father of four daughters. When I was at Paramount, we did Kathryn Bigelow ‘s K-19: The Widowmaker. I was the person who marketed Mimi Leder‘s Deep Impact [often cited as one of the most commercially successful films directed by a woman]. Here at Summit, one of the first films we’ve bought was The Hurt Locker, which is also directed by Kathryn Bigelow. We would definitely make another film with Catherine Hardwicke, just not the sequel to Twilight

Goldstein’s best passage in the piece, to wit: “Summit’s handling of Hardwicke’s departure is more reminiscent of what Universal did with its Bourne series, which was also in the hands of a prickly indie filmmaker.

“Doug Liman launched the franchise with his dazzling The Bourne Identity, but he went way over schedule and drove the studio crazy with his improvisational perfectionism. Even though the movie was a big hit and seemed to carry Liman’s personal stamp, the studio ditched him, bringing in Paul Greengrass, a filmmaker with equally indie-minded credentials who could better deal with the deadlines and demands of a studio environment.”

The great Revolutionary Road was blanked entirely in this morning’s nominations for the 14th Annual BFCA Critics Choice Awards, including a denial of Kate Winslet‘s fully deserved Best Actress nomination. BFCA, your middle name is shame. This is a manifestation of the “it’s too gloomy” sentiment that deep-and-heavy-soul types have been muttering all along.

Milk and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button did best with eight nominations apiece. But where’s Kristin Scott Thomas‘s Best Actress nomination for I’ve Loved You So Long? This is ridiculous. Who are these Shallow Sallys and Quarter-Inch-Deep Williams doing the voting?

The positive-surprise standouts were Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress noms, respectively, for Nothing But The Truth‘s Kate Beckinsale and Vera Farmiga; the negative-shocker standout is the omission of Revolutionary Road‘s Michael Shannon for Best Supporting Actor — a performance that is universally acknowledged as totally killer. Shannon is the baby who got thrown out with the anti-Road bathwater.

The too-abundant-and-therefore-close-to-meaningless Best Picture nominations contain no surprises.

The 10 Best Picture noms went to Changeling (a worthy film but not interesting or masterful enough to truly be called one of the year’s best), The Dark Knight (fine), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (okay), Frost/Nixon (default over-50 fave for reasons of efficiency, brevity, quality of performances), Milk (fine), The Reader (a too-generous call — tasteful, well-rendered pic doesn’t deliver emotionally); Slumdog Millionaire (naturally), WALL*E (of course) and The Wrestler (boldly cast downbeat grit, but I have doubts about those metal-staple and delicatessen sliced-hand scenes, which are clearly intended to make viewers flinch and recoil and moan).

The awards will be handed out in Los Angeles on Thursday, 1.8.09, at 9 pm. The show will air on VH1.

The Best Actor nominees are Gran Torino‘s Clint Eastwood (yes!), The Visitor‘s Richard Jenkins (certainly), Frost/Nixon‘s Frank Langella (of course), Milk‘s Sean Penn (yup) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button‘s Brad Pitt (I loved Pitt in Burn After Reading, but his Button thing is at best passively stirring — the sponge-man thing doesn’t deliver much in the way of arcs or turns), and The Wrestler‘s Mickey Rourke (a given).

The Best Actress nominees are Nothing But The Truth‘s Beckinsale (hooray, Kate! — I’ve been pushing her all along), Benjamin Button‘s Cate Blanchett (take away the de-aging CG and Jack Crabbe old-woman makeup and you’re left with a fine but less-than-breathtaking performance), Rachel Getting Married‘s Anne Hathaway (natch), Changeling‘s Angelina Jolie (very good work but a bit of a perplexing character — why did she accept the replacement kid in the first place?), Frozen River‘s Melissa Leo (naturally) and Doubt‘s Meryl Streep.

The Best Supporting Actor noms went to Milk‘s Josh Brolin (good work!), Tropic Thunder‘s Robert Downey, Jr.(inspired), Doubt‘s Phillip Seymour Hoffman (first-rate), The Dark Knight‘s Heath Ledger (the best) and Milk‘s James Franco (a good man delivering a fine perf).

The Best Supporting Actress noms went to Vicky Cristina Barcelona‘s Penelope Cruz, Doubt‘s Viola Davis, Nothing But The Truth‘s Farmiga, Benjamin Button‘s Taraji P. Henson (who’s fine, but she had a much better role in Hustle & Flow), The Wrestler‘s Marisa Tomei and The Reader‘s Kate Winslet.

“Clint Eastwood is America’s great humanist director at present, making eloquent calls for compassion in films like Million Dollar Baby, Letters From Iwo Jima and this year’s Changeling, but never at the expense of spinning a good yarn.

“Gran Torino is a plea for racial tolerance but also a compelling story of friendship which lingers in the mind when the extravagances of Benjamin Button and Australia have faded from memory.

“As with Eastwood’s other recent films, the film is ultimately a tearjerker with a momentously moving finale. As Clint’s own gravelly voice starts up over the end credits singing the mournful title song, it’s genuinely sad to think we might not see him act again, but somehow fitting that he should bow out with Walt Kowalski.” — Screen International‘s Mike Goodridge, writing from London.

Earlier today the Guardian‘s David Thomson, a longtime admirer and recent biographer of Nicole Kidman, asked if Ms. Frozen Forehead is “becoming box-office poison.” Becoming?