Man on Wire is way ahead in the Shooting People Oscar Poll. If you’re a member get voting now. There’s money in it for the lucky winner!

Here’s the list. I’m really pleased that Waltz with Bashir has been nominated in the Best Foreign-Language Film category because if it wins, and I think it should, then two docs can win big Oscars. Best picture The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Frost/Nixon Milk The Reader Slumdog Millionaire Best Director David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon Gus van Sant, Milk Stephen Daldry, The Reader Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire Best supporting actress Amy Adams, Doubt…

Not bad, not bad. This list often causes some consternation in the doc community as great films are ignored in favor of the obviously not so great but this year’s list includes some really strong films. I, like many others, am disappointed that Margaret Brown’s assured and intelligent The Order of Myths is not on this list but I am really thrilled to see Jeremiah Zagar’s In A Dream on there. I saw In A Dream at the Woodstock Film…

That old “what defines independent” chestnut gets a little tiresome but I read this from Andrew O’Hehir at Salon with interest: “The academy showers its laurels on a film that has made about $63 million in domestic box office, while the big winner at the supposedly independent Spirit Awards has grossed double that amount.” Boring Oscars. Interesting Times.

This week’s Kultureflash editorial looked at the media’s attention on the increasingly tense relationship between Hollywood and the internet in the wake of this year’s somewhat low key Oscars. I thought the articles linked to by KF might be of interest: The Economist: ‘Coming Soon’; The Economist: ‘There will be blood’; Telegraph, and Wall Street Journal . Tamsin SP London

This could have saved me 2 hours and 59 minutes in front of the telly last night!

It’s always long and a little bit silly but I found last night’s Oscars more exhausting than usual. I liked that Diablo Cody was so genuinely choked up and Marion Cotillard’s speech was lovely but everything else left me a little cold. Although it was nice to see Euro-folk win so many awards. Tilda Swinton is beyond cool (even in that bizarre dress). Amusing titbit from the Guardian Film Blog: “Every year it’s the same thing. The five nominees for…

There’s so much going on at the moment I feel rather gleefully overwhelmed. The Spirit Awards will be broadcast live on IFC tomorrow at 5pmET but I’m also going to be watching a webcast of the red carpet on IFC.com at 2.30pmET with commentary from SXSW’s Matt Dentler and IFC’s Alison Willmore. And then of course on Sunday there’s some Oscar something or other happening. I’m going to find a friend with a bigger TV than mine and make some…

Some people want to do the trailer voice. You know the one I mean, that impossibly deep, always slightly hilarious voice saying stupid things like: “In a world without love, without hope, without chocolate, one man never gave up.” I never wanted to do the trailer voice but I did want to make montages. I love me a good montage. They always make me goose-bumpy even if they’re awful. I’m going to do a blog post one of these days…

Here’s the shortlist. AJ Schnack has more information on each film on his blog including some robust criticism of the list that I find myself agreeing with. I was really disappointed that films like Billy The Kid, We Are Together, Manda Bala, and The King of Kong didn’t make the list. The King of Kong is one of the funniest and most skillfully constructed documentaries I have seen in a long time and I wish that films like this would…