With a stacked — and rather rewarding — slate of films on my plate yesterday, I didn’t get to see Harvey Weinstein’s keynote speech at the London Film Festival. But no matter: Screen helpfully provides a transcript. It would appear that preservation and piracy were the two chief issues on his mind: he laid into Hollywood film execs for their limited knowledge of their film heritage (“I began to wonder if any of them had even heard of John Ford”) and celebrated the French for their hard line on illegal content-sharing, which he claims has bolstered the local film industry, allowing them to finance such grown-up hits as — and here come two wholly impartial examples — “The Artist” and “The Intouchables.” [Screen Daily]
Michael Cieply on the Academy allowing members to “recommend” — not campaign for — films to other members, particularly in the documentary branch. [New York Times]
The Playlist guys offer up a lovely retrospective of the late Harris Savides’ work. Still reeling from this. [The Playlist]
Jennifer Lawrence is joining Natalie Portman as one of the faces of Miss Dior. So nice to see her getting some exposure. [The Telegraph]
Oscar hopeful “Argo” has opened to robust box office, but looks likely to be pipped to the post by Oscar hopeful “Taken 2.” [Variety]
R. Kurt Osenland’s ponders “Argo”‘s Oscar prospects — and would rather see Scoot McNairy with a Best Supporting Actor nod than Alan Arkin. [Slant]
Tom O’Neil claims that Daniel Day-Lewis “can’t lose” his third Oscar for “Lincoln.” Unless, you know, he does. [Gold Derby]
Meanwhile, “Lincoln” is Steven Spielberg’s best film since “War Horse.” Ha. [The Envelope]
Matt Spaiser detects a kinship between “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” and “Skyfall”: it’s all in the cut of Bond’s suit. [Clothes on Film]
David Denby’s mourning the demise of movies for adults again, this time at the New Yorker. I liked his New Republic essay, but this is surely overkill. [New Yorker]