20:10 The Scariest Movie Ever

As we wrap up the 2010 film year (one last week of awards brouhaha to deal with Oscar weekend and our own awards) a few more screenshots from the 20th minute & 10th second of last year's movies.

Today's topic Documentary Hopeful INSIDE JOB

V.O.: Scott Talbot is the chief lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, one of the most powerful groups in Washington, which represents nearly all of the world's LARGEST financial companies.

Interviewer: Are you comfortable with the fact that several of your member companies have engaged in large scale criminal activities?

Talbot: You'll have to be specific.

The interview responds with an incredulous "okay...uh...", preparing to get specific until Talbot realizes how evil not saying "NO" immediately may have sounded. (Hint: As evil as it actually is). He tries to recover with a more diplomatic response.

THIS IS THE SCARIEST HORROR MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN. Or at least that I've ever seen recently. Especially in light of the warfare on the middle class and Union workers that the Right Wing is waging at this very moment. But as for Oscar predictions... I do wonder if Inside Job is too dry and informational to take the Oscar? I still doubt that Exit Through the Gift Shop is going to pull it off. It's so unlike what Oscar goes for in the documentary category, regardless of the buzz. Should I predict Wasteland instead, a frequent audience favorite? What'cha think?

Oh My Link

Kenneth in the (212) spends an evening with Lisa Kudrow to discuss The Comeback. Jealous!
The Guardian wonderful piece on AMPAS membership. This had me in stitches

Now 72, Mother Dolores still retains her Academy membership and every year receives copies of the latest Oscar-nominated films from Ampas, thus making her the only fully ordained nun to adjudicate on the oeuvre of Quentin Tarantino.

Low Resolution Joe hands out his 2010 Movie Awards. Fun
Movie|Line Stu bravely predicts Annette Bening AND Jacki Weaver to win. My god, I'd be so happy... but doesn't he know about Oscar's ageism?

Scott Feinberg examines the pitches of nominated performances. All the Oscar narratives have been done before.
The Fug Girls fall hard for Brenda Song (of The Social Network)
Hero Complex James McAvoy talks about the bromance between Magneto and Professor X in X-Men First Class
Movie Morlocks revisits Vincente Minnelli's On A Clear Day You Can See Forever with Barbra Streisand. Did you know that it lost 60 minutes on the cutting room floor?
In Contention the foreign film oscar category still isn't fixed.

Finally, have you been following Movie|Line's Oscar index? They've now added time lapse animation to their charts and it's strangely hypnotic (and mnemonic) to watch the rise and fall of certain candidates. Here's one example, which is particularly instructive given the volatility: Best Supporting Actress. Watch the Black Swan pair jump in and out and up and down and note how at the last minute everyone is rising back up as it gets strangely competitive for so late in the game.

I guess this means they're predicting Hailee Steinfeld for the win but recognizing it as a very tight three-way race. Make it not be so Oscar gods. Make it not be so.

File Under Fun: Best Picture Palate Chart

Chart by Foodzie by way of I Love Charts

My favorite part is the chain from "imported or local", imported taking you to The King's Speech and local asking you "so local you'd forage it in your backyard?" which answers with The Fighter. LOLZ.

Review: Heartbeats

"The only truth is love beyond reason" goes the quote from French poet Alfred de Musset that opens Xavier Dolan's moody dreamy French Canadian film Heartbeats. That sounds beautiful in theory, sure, but living it is messier. Immediately the film cuts to a funny frank series of talking head interviews from people who have been unlucky in love. One woman compares herself to Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction and describes panicking at her computer, waiting for emails that never come.

If somebody died every time I hit refresh, there'd be nobody left alive. 

Poetic idealized notions of love clashing with humiliating darkly comic reality? It's a pretty apt way to introduce and describe this arguably slight but beautiful film...

Read the rest at Towleroad

Heartbeats is currently available in select theaters from IFC and On Demand. I'll have an interview with one of the actors shortly after Oscar weekend wraps up. 2011 Index of Movies. This will undoubtedly pick up soon.

A Map of the (Oscar) World

If all that chatter about the now infamous address where The King's Speech was partially filmed gets you thinking about location, location, location, here's something to make you even more obsessive. Here's  a map of the 83rd Oscar World.

View 83rd Annual Oscars, The Films of 2010 in a larger map

What's happening closest to your location? Is the Black Swan dancing near you? Maybe you're skinning squirrel's in those Winter's Bone Ozarks with Ree Dolly? Or horseback riding into dangerous True Grit territory? Or maybe you're attending college near The Social Network. (A lot of people do!). Maybe one of the foreign language films is happening right next to  you. Do you know where Amy Adams was born? I didn't until looking it up to drop the pin.

If you like it make sure to pass it on to friends. Or perhaps cartographers.

Related Charts: Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Animated Feature and Foreign Film.