I spent some time over the weekend catching up with the avalanche of film lists that inevitably hits the internet at this time of year, and while many of them cover similar territory (and, of course, similar films), I rather enjoyed Oli Lyttelton’s writeup of the year’s best scores and soundtracks, which underlines what an exciting year it’s been for contemporary alternatives to classic orchestral scoring. I rather like that we’re currently in a place where the electro-influenced scores for the likes of “Drive,” “Hanna” and “Attack the Block” are competing for attention with, say, John Williams at his most florid. And in the midst of a pleasingly diverse collective, I’m glad Lyttelton found room for Dario Marianelli’s work on “Jane Eyre,” as freshly classical a score as we’ve heard all year. [The Playlist]
Mark Harris surveys the acting categories in the wake of last week’s precursors, and proves once more why he’s the best in the game. [Grantland]
War journalist Janine di Giovanni has a pretty serious talk with Angelina Jolie about “In the Land of Blood and Honey” [The Guardian]
Christoph Waltz won Kris’ award for Best Performance In A Bad Film; Cinema Blend takes that idea to a Top 10 list. Hell yes to Bruno Ganz. [Cinema Blend]
Betsy Sharkey concludes that there’s been little comfort — but plenty of good movies — on our screens in 2011. [Los Angeles Times]
I’ve said before that it’s been the year of the dog in film. The Reporter runs with that idea, complete with (awwww) photo shoot of the canine stars of “The Artist,” “Young Adult” and more. [Hollywood Reporter]
Jacob Bernstein talks to Thomas Horn, the young star of the newly embargo-free “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.” [Newsweek]
As the trades handle the film guardedly, Brad Brevet goes out on a limb and calls it one of the year’s best. [Rope of Silicon]
Talking “The Artist” and tap-dancing with Best Actor hopeful Jean Dujardin. [Screen Daily]
Something for the silly season: in ‘honor’ of “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked,” a celebration of stupid sequel titles. [The Telegraph]