The ASC guild has spoken and they've chosen the following DPs as the tippity top of 2008 excellents.If a movie must be lit, let it be lit by...

• Roger Deakins (Revolutionary Road and The Reader)
• Anthony Dod Mantle (Slumdog Millionaire)
• Chris Menges (The Reader)
• Claudio Miranda (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
• Wally Pfister (The Dark Knight)

As you may already know, Roger Deakins (who also lensed Doubt and consulted on WALL•E this year) has photographed films like Fargo, No Country For Old Men, O Brother Where Art Thou?, The Village, Jarhead, Kundun and Shawshank Redemption. He's a hero to cinematographers. He has never ...

The BAFTA long lists have been announced. "The WHAT now what list?" I hear awards newbies screaming. Basically the British Oscars have a "semi-finals" round which narrows things down in all categories. Unfortunately it's still (mostly) the same films again. The following films might be nominated for the British Oscar for Best Picture:

• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Burn After Reading, Changeling, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, In Bruges, I’ve Loved You So Long, Milk, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Slumdog Millionaire, Wall-E and The Wrestler

[Warning: Rant averse readers should scroll away to ...

I know: could anything be less worthy of your time than a critical defense of an already reasonably well-received Sam Mendes prestige pic? Reviews have been mostly positive, per-screen grosses have been okay; yeah, it's not setting awards' season aflame, but that's probably fair: If you judge a film by the impact of its final act, Revolutionary Road is a dud. As it reaches the finish line, Mendes' faultless-to-a-fault direction can't help but scream "This is important, goddammit!" when a more appropriate response to the catastrophic denouement of Frank and April Wheeler's marriage is probably a (terrified) ...