It’s common knowledge that January is a cruel month for moviegoers — assuming you can’t just jet off to Sundance for the hell of it, once you’ve caught up with the late-releasing awards titles, there’s little left to see but studio dregs like “Gangster Squad.” Ty Burr considers the problem, digging up such noble January exceptions as “Dr. Strangelove” and “The Silence of the Lambs,” and making this suggestion: “We should simply declare the first month of the year a new-release-free zone. As a preliminary step toward regaining our trust, studios would have to rerelease their most underrated entertainments from the previous year for a second chance: 2012″s sly meta-shrieker ‘The Cabin in the Woods,’ say, or the found-footage superhero movie ‘Chronicle.'” [New York Times]
Jenelle Riley asks: Can Hugh Jackman beat Daniel Day-Lewis to the Oscar. (No, but we need something to talk about for five weeks.) [Backstage]
John Patterson loves Day-Lewis’s Abe Lincoln, but believes he’s first among equals when it comes to actors playing the beloved president. [The Guardian]
Robbie Collin is horrified by studios using fan tweets instead of critics’ quotes on film posters. [The Telegraph]
Following debatable categorizations in this year’s Oscar list, Joe Reid lists 14 supporting Oscar nominees who were actually leads. [Film.com]
Wendy Mitchell gets started on the conversation of which Sundance hits this year could be in the Oscar race in a year’s time. [Screen Daily]
For the hardcore techies among you: the Cinema Audio Society reveals its technical achievement nominees for production and post-production. [Variety]
Glenn Whipp predicts “Argo” for Best Picture, as a growing number of pundits seems to be doing. [LA Times]
A week old, this, but I missed it first time round and I love it: “Holy Motors” director Leos Carax on accepting a Best Foreign Language Film award. [The Vote]
And finally Michael Winner — director of “Death Wish” films, but a celebrity for other reasons in the UK — has passed away at the age of 77. [BBC News]