Jeff Bridges will probably end up winning an Oscar for his role in Crazy Heart, but if he doesn't you can bank on Jeremy Renner taking home the statue for his performance in The Hurt Locker. In a just world, Peter Capaldi would be doing the same thing for his brilliant turn as Malcolm "Prince of Fucking Darkness" Tucker in In the Loop. The fact that he probably won't even be nominated is insane. Similarly, Sam Rockwell will likely be ignored for his (inter) stellar work in Moon. Hard to believe that The Simpsons has been on the air for twenty years. Even harder to believe when you consider that it hasn't been consistently funny in over a decade. The Brothers Bloom is exactly the kind of small, quirky film you should find on DVD. It came and went in the theaters, but features great work by Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody (LAist interview here). more ›

In the same way that Wag the Dog was about the Clinton sex scandals without ever explicitly being about the Clinton sex scandals, Armando Iannucci's In the Loop is a searing and hilarious shadow satire about the run-up to the West's collective misadventures in Iraq. Alternately howlingly mean and relentlessly authentic, it may be the funniest movie of the year, weaving a pastiche of profanity so inventive one can't help but marvel at it. Further, if there has been a better performance this year than that given by Peter Capaldi, I haven't seen it. more ›