I’ve kind of been going nuts lately at the amount of people reporting from the Oscar Nominees Luncheon leaning on the amount of applause Max von Sydow received as if it’s, in and of itself, an indication of anything. If you’re a film industry professional and you have a chance to applaud for a guy like that, you’re going to do it. Annette Bening got a lot of applause at last year’s event. It just means respect. Plus, Christopher Plummer wasn’t even there, so you can’t gauge one response versus the other. This week, Dave Karger uses the burst of applause as a reason to move von Sydow up to #2 in his Best Supporting Actor rankings, but that’s really where he should have been since day one. I’ll say it again: von Sydow’s mere presence in the category makes things interesting. [Entertainment Weekly]
With the BAFTA ceremony right around the corner, citizens of the UK vote “The King’s Speech” their favorite winner in the organization’s 65 year history. [Telegraph]
Apparently Demián Bichir leads Best Actor Tweet mentions, I’m guessing because so many are unfamiliar with him and his work. Welcome to the spotlight! [24 Frames]
Nigel M. Smith sees that “Halftime in America” Clint Eastwood Super Bowl spot as “the second coming of David Gordon Green.” Um, okay. [indieWIRE]
Steve Pond talks “Hugo” with Oscar-nominated sound mixer Tom Fleischman. [The Odds]
Todd McCarthy critiques the year in movie music. [Hollywood Reporter]
Greg Ellwood on the brave new world of electronic billboards for Oscar ad purposes. [Awards Campaign]
Sasha Stone on the race for Best Director. [Awards Daily]
Roger Ebert takes a crack at guessing Oscar’s major categories. I think he’s gonna bat 1.000. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Finally, it’s really heartening to see The New York Times step up its crafts coverage via its Below-the-Line series and pieces like this. [New York Times]