Shorts, lists, etc, 1/14.

By David Hudson on 01/14/2009

"Andy Klein, one of the wisest and most smoothly readable film critics in the known universe, has been whacked." Jeffrey Wells: "LACitybeat, which he's been reviewing for since '03 or thereabouts, has cut him loose."

Sigh. Ok, meantime, the year-end list-making is down to a trickle now, but good and fresh entries are still coming in. Salon's Andrew O'Hehir, for example, lists "DVDs you should have seen in 2008, but didn't."

Reverse Shot is still at: "While we might not decry the following motley bunch of films as truly horrific, they have received praise far outsized to their modest, negligible, or, in most cases, nonexistent achievements."

Jan Troell's "Everlasting Moments" and Tomas Alfredson's "Let the Right One In" were the big winners at Sweden's Guldbagge awards; Annika Pham has the full list at Cineuropa.

"One year ago this week, I wrote with astonishment and anger about the omission of Romanian director Cristian Mungiu's Cannes-winning abortion drama '4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days' from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' nine-film 'shortlist' for the 2007 Foreign Language Film Oscar," blogs Scott Foundas. "'Gomorrah' isn't the only notable omission from this year's Foreign Language shortlist; it's merely the most galling."

David Phelps has more on "Made in USA" in the Auteurs' Notebook: "[A]dvertising does exactly what Godard's openly artificial mise-en-scène threatens to do at every step: flattens, objectifies, and abstracts human endeavor to a series of simplified forms and ideas." I've been meaning to mention, by the way, that last week's entry on the film stayed pretty lively even after it fell off the front page here.

"It was as inevitable as the tide, as Oscar-season food-fights, as politicians blaming the media. The 20 Actors Meme, or, as it's known around the Siren's place, more goddamn homework. Mind you, the Siren loves Tony Dayoub, who tagged her, but this time the Siren is doing it her way."

"For whatever reason, 'Naked City' has always been kicked-around the dirt and picked-on in my playgrounds: a joke, a jab to the ribs, a spit in the face." Pacze Moj: "But it always got up, dusted off its jacket, wiped the spit off its face with the back of its hand; and always with a grin."

"Now, into one of the worst DVD markets of the last 10 years, comes Pink Eiga, a labor of love by Nadav Streett, Ayumu Oda and Chris B who work together at the post-production facility, The Post Office." Grady Hendrix: "Much is written about puritanical American and most of it is belly aching over nothing, but listening to what Pink Eiga went through to get their films released here is nothing short of hair raising."

Patrick Z McGavin talks with Danny Boyle about "Slumdog Millionaire" for Stop Smiling. The film's "biggest challenge might just be reaching Indian audiences," reports Rhys Blakely for the London Times. "Slumdog" premieres in India on January 23.

"Universal is merging Focus Features and its international production operation into a single entity, Focus Features International, with global reach," reports Anne Thompson in Variety.

"Ricardo Montalban, the Mexican-born actor who became a star in splashy MGM musicals and later as the wish-fulfilling Mr Roarke in TV's 'Fantasy Island,' died Wednesday morning at his home," reports the AP's Bob Thomas. "He was 88.... Montalban had been a star in Mexican movies when MGM brought him to Hollywood in 1946. He was cast in the leading role opposite Esther Williams in 'Fiesta.' He also starred with the swimming beauty in 'On an Island with You' and 'Neptune's Daughter.'"

Online listening tip. Slate's Julia Turner, Dana Stevens and John Swansburg discuss the Golden Globes, "24" and "Notorious."

Online viewing tip. Ray Pride has Wim Wenders talking speed.

Online viewing tips. From the Zellner Brothers, all three episodes of "Fiddlestixx."

[Covers: LA CityBeat, November 27 - December 3, 2008; "Tokyo Booty Nights," Pink Eiga, 2004]

Tags: burglar, Darren Trumeter Jr, Episode 102, IFC, Sam Brown, The Whitest Kids U Know, Timmy Williams, Trevor Moore, Zach Cregger