awards contenders on DVD: the studio films

December can feel overwhelming, for movie watchers, with all the awards contenders flooding the arthouses — if you’re in New York and Los Angeles — and multiplexes this holiday season. But it’s always true, too, that films from earlier in the year manage to get notice from critics groups in the pre-Oscar-nominations territory… and some … more…

my week at the movies: ‘Defiance,’ ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,’ ‘The Reader,’ ‘Revolutionary Road,’ ‘Gran Torino’

No official “press” screenings for me this week — it’s all FYC screenings. That is, “for your consideration.” These are specialty screenings that the studios hold for members of critics’ organizations, AMPAS (the “Academy” that awards the Oscars), and other industry guilds who will be voting on their year-end acclaims in the early weeks of … more…