Awards mutterings.

Pamela McClintock at Variety confirms what's been rumored for a few weeks:Warner Bros. is moving up the release date of Clint Eastwood's Japanese-language "Letters From Iwo Jima" -- the companion pic to "Flags of Our Fathers" -- from Feb. 9 to Dec. 20.This puts the film in contention for an Oscar for this year, which seems to be the point:Eastwood made the date change for "Letters" after a screening in Japan earlier this week led to an enthusiastic response and after consulting with Steven Spielberg, who brought in Eastwood to direct "Flags" for DreamWorks. Spielberg is a producer on both pics. It's been a pretty flabby year for film, at least from where we're standing (either that or we've been unbelievable grumpy for months), and there aren't many award contenders left. Aside from "Iwo Jima," good Germans and shepherds, the only titles left that's built up advance buzz is...

Pamela McClintock at Variety confirms what’s been rumored for a few weeks:

Warner Bros. is moving up the release date of Clint Eastwood‘s Japanese-language "Letters From Iwo Jima" — the companion pic to "Flags of Our Fathers" — from Feb. 9 to Dec. 20.

This puts the film in contention for an Oscar for this year, which seems to be the point:

Eastwood made the date change for "Letters" after a screening in Japan earlier this week led to an enthusiastic response and after consulting with Steven Spielberg, who brought in Eastwood to direct "Flags" for DreamWorks. Spielberg is a producer on both pics.

It’s been a pretty flabby year for film, at least from where we’re standing (either that or we’ve been unbelievable grumpy for months), and there aren’t many award contenders left. Aside from "Iwo Jima," good Germans and shepherds, the only titles left that’s built up advance buzz is Bill Condon‘s "Dreamgirls," which David Poland continues to breathlessly hype at Movie City News:

Dreamgirls landed in Beverly Hills (and across the country) last night… and left a giant crater in the Oscar season.

The film was everything promised and more.

More measured is Eugene Hernandez, who at his blog writes:

Bill Condon’s "Dreamgirls" is a bright, toe-tapping, entertaining big screen musical. A lot of fun, its light on story but full of heart (with lots of music). Its family friendly and seems well-suited to its upcoming holiday release. But, is it a best picture contender? Perhaps, as an alternative to the heavier fall films out there. Whatever the case, it sure was a lot of fun. However, will its prospects whither under over analysis and high expectations? No matter, Paramount is already pushing it hard (with "for your consideration" ads even running this week on indieWIRE).

Over at the Risky Biz blog, Anne Thompson makes us wonder if "The Good German" is too arty for mainstream consumption (and makes us really want to see the film):

To his credit, Soderbergh convinced everyone to shoot the film for no money. That’s because The Good German is as experimental in its way as Soderbergh’s Schizopolis, Kafka, Solaris, Full Frontal or The Limey. It will keep cinephiles like Dave Kehr and David Bordwell in clover for years as they deconstruct Soderbergh’s exploration of the language of cinema. What’s real? What’s fake? What’s genre? (This is film noir. Or is it?) What’s point-of-view? What’s a movie star? What do audiences want from a movie?

Over at All These Wonderful Things, AJ Schnack has a detailed breakdown and analysis of the doc shortlist.

+ Clint’s ‘Letters’ coming early (Variety)
+ Dreamgirls Wake (MCN)
+ dreamgirls (Eugene Hernandez’ Blog)
+ Soderbergh’s Good German Recalls Casablanca (Risky Biz blog)
+ The Doc Shortlist At Length (All These Wonderful Things)