CORRECTION found here.Both Eastwood and DiCaprio are nominated twice in respective categories (Director and Actor). This smacks of the HFCA looking for more press. Oops, I just took the bait. Oh well. In the process, they're watering down their Oscar prognostication myth, where their nominees are intended to look like presumptive nods at the big show next year. The Academy doesn't allow duplicate nominees in their categories, and it's widely accepted Eastwood is in for Iwo Jima and Dicaprio or Depahhhted

The inimitable Peter Boyle has passed on.

Katie Couric is falling far behind in the ratings. Brian Williams-hosted NBC Nightly News is now a free video podcast available the same evening...did I mention for free? Keith Olbermann is cementing himself as our Murrow-inspired straight shooting, ok-with-having-an-opinion news man.

Continental and United merger would create largest domestic airline. Does this mean they'll ret-con the name of the movie in future home video releases?

With the flurry of critcs' awards that have come out in the last week or so, everyone's getting more firm on their Oscar nomination shortlists, so here's where I think Best Picture sits at the moment. I'll come up with a comprehensive list I'll post periodically over the next couple weeks for other categories. On to Best Picture... I see it as a crowded field now when it seemed very different a month or so ago. Only four movies are locks, by my estimation: Dreamgirls, The Departed, United 93, and Letters from Iwo Jima. Past that, it's up in the air. I hesitate on Letters... a bit, if only for the acting branch of Academy voters throwing more support behind a home team-acted pic. It's the only one listed above that might get bounced. As for slot 5... I think The Queen is less certain as #5 due to the surge in support of The Departed, Letters..., and ...Sunshine, not originally considered certain contenders. Helen Mirren and Michael Sheen may be more likely to be recognized for their performances than the movie as a Best Pic. The fifth slot will almost certainly be one of the following, listed in order of perceived probability: The Queen Babel Little Miss Sunshine Little Children It behooves me to note that I have not seen any of the above films. Did I mean that as a slight critique on people getting personal about what gets nominated based on personal preference? No, certainly not....

Just officially announced today, the great Alan Rickman is to play the lecherous Judge Turpin in Tim Burton's Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. A wonderful choice.

Good guy Austinite filmmaker Bryan Poyser (The Cassidy Kids, Dear Pillow) has been announced as the new Director of Artist Services for the Austin FIlm Society. The lion's share of his time will be devoted to helping independent Texas filmmakers like himself get funded so they can make indie films in what is, in my estimation, one of the few places you still see them made: the Lone Star State.

Based on what I've read since it was announced, and especially the wonderful Q&A Harry has conducted with Sly from AICN readers' emails, Rocky Balboa could open to big box office due to a fresh take on a revered character (Casino Royale, anyone?). He's a man I respect as an artist and good guy overall. Leno namechecked the movie the other night, and Roger Ebert he's not, but he went out of his way to pimp the movie. I may be headed for a heaping plate of crow, but a Best Pic nod might happen to everyone's surprise.

Seven years in prison is what our legal system thinks is fit punishment for illegally recording movies in a private screening room. In Florida, that's about three years shy of what you get for drawing a firearm on someone.

From IMdB by way of Consumerist, Regal is taking a proactive stance on ensuring the Regal Experience by providing elder patrons with a button-push system to report cell phone usage, rowdiness, uncomfortable temperature, and lackluster projection. Why not just give people a stick?