Joe Leydon has warned of severe consequences if I keep up with the Zodiac thing, but it would be cavalier of me to blow off this excellent 1.6.07 assessment by N.Y. Times critic Manohla Dargis, who also feels that this…uhm, you know, Z-film should be a Best Picture nominee and that David Fincher should be nominated for Best Director. Maybe it’s time for Leydon to get in touch, straighten her out, etc.

Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean said something very cool today during a speech in New Hampshire that was aired on C-SPAN. I don’t have an exact transcript, but here’s the gist: “I think it’s great that the Democratic candidates look like America….that we have a woman, an African-American and a Hispanic candidate, all with a real shot at the White House. But the Republican candidates…look at ’em, they look like they’re right out of Dobie Gillis in the 50’s.”

Somebody has convinced Times Online‘s John Harlow that George Clooney has been a big influence in “persuading actors to boycott against film award ceremonies that threatens to reduce next weekend’s Golden Globe Awards to a shambles and is jeopardizing the most important event in the Hollywood calendar, next month’s Oscars.”
Harlow writes that “special ire” is felt for Clooney by producers of the Golden Globes and Oscar shows and the TV networks airing them. “We know Clooney is a major force” behind the decision to keep actors away from the Globes,” an NBC executive is quoted as saying. “He has been ear-bashing others who may have been willing to cross picket lines.”
Sources close to Clooney, writes Harlow, have laughed at the image of ‘Red George’ as a strike-organizer. “He does not ear-bash, he is far too easy-going for that,” said a “business associate” of Clooney’s.

Another snatch…’that’ll work.”

Cheers to the National Society of Film Critics for denying their Best Supporting Actress award to Gone Baby Gone‘s Amy Ryan, and instead handing it over to I’m Not There‘s Cate Blanchett. Somebody bucked the tide! Admire that backbone. On top of which Blanchett deserves.

There Will Be Blood took the Best Picture award, and Paul Thomas Anderson was named Best Drector. Blood‘s Daniel Day-Lewis was named Best Actor, Away From Her‘s Julie Christie was named Best Actress, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford‘s Casey Affleck was named Best Supporting Actor, and Blood‘s Robert Elswit was named Best Cinematographer.
Cristian Mungiu‘s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days was named Best Foreign-Language Film of 2007, and Charles Ferguson‘s No End In Sight was named Best Non-Fiction Film (i.e., Best Documentary).
Here’s a backstage report on the NSFC voting from The Envelope‘s Tom O’Neil.

A discussion about the ending of No Country For Old Men on the official Miramax website. Moderated by Elvis Mitchell, it features Glenn Kenny (premiere.com), Harry Knowles (aintitcoolnews.com), Jen Yamato (rottentomatoes.com) and Jim Emerson (rogerebert.com). Thanks to Variety‘s Anne Thompson for linking to it earlier. Here‘s an mp3 of the scene in question.

Dr. Phil to the rescue of Britney Spears! What can a world- famous celebrity meltdown case like Spears do at this stage that’s in any way positive or clarifying? Her career is over. She can’t see her kids any more. She’s a total wreck, a symbol of profligate indulgence and self-ruin. She’s Norman Maine and beyond.
The only thing Britney Spears brings to the table of any value right now is that she’s made her life into a stirring cautionary tale. Hundreds of thousands of teenage girls the world over will hereafter say to themselves for decades to come as they decide whether or not drug or alcohol consumption is going to be part of their nocturnal lives, “I don’t want to end up like Britney Spears…please God, not that. I will not trash my dignity.”
So in the end, despite having ruined her life and her career, Spears will have done more to keep impressionable youths from a life of pathetic boozing than if she’d been alcohol-free and filmed a series of p.a. spots about the pitfalls of the disease. If her life was a movie she’d kill herself in a car crash of some kind, or she’d be found dead like Janis Joplin or Jim Morrison. Then she’d really be a cautionary tale.

David Lynch…speaker of truths, suffers no fools!

I recorded a 25-minute chat yesterday afternoon with Sweeney Todd director Tim Burton. Affable guy, easy to talk to, knows his stuff. Saying it once more — Sweeney Todd is an art film extraordinaire and Burton’s finest since Beetlejuice. (Even with the blood.) Anybody who has a chance to catch a digital presentation of Sweeney Todd, please do this — it’s the only way to go.

Tim Burton — 1.5.08, 9:15 pm

I took this shot at a small party for Burton and the Sweeney Todd producers last night at S Bar, on Vine Street south of Hollywood Blvd. Not too crowded, great Lemon Drop martinis. It was raining cats and dogs outside.

Burton, Word Theatre‘s Cedering Fox

“David Carr is outstanding….by web standards.” The N.Y. Times Oscar blogger (a.k.a., “the bagger”) visits Arnie Sawyer Studios, a Manhattan advertising firm on West 27th Street that specializes in Academy Award print campaigns.

Please, lock me away / and don’t allow the day / here inside / where I hide / with my great sadness / I don’t care what they say / I won’t stay in a world that gives a Best Picture nomination to Juno over Zodiac.