If the Matthew McConaughey hype train makes it all the way to Oscar town, let it be said that we were there to tearfully bid it bon voyage as it left the station. Today it made an important refueling stop on its journey, in Independent Spirit Awardville (it’s a terrible town name, no one’s arguing that), where McConaughey was nominated both as a supporting actor or his FilmDrunk-approved role in Magic Mike, AND as best lead actor in Killer Joe. I don’t know how he celebrated, but ten bucks says it was shirtless.

Here’s the full list of Nominees:

Best Feature
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”
“Bernie”
“Keep the Lights On”
“Moonrise Kingdom” (our review)
“Silver Linings Playbook” (our review)

Best Director
Benh Zeitlin, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Ira Sachs, “Keep the Lights On”
Julia Loktev, “The Loneliest Planet”
Wes Anderson, “Moonrise Kingdom”
David O. Russell, “Silver Linings Playbook”

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"Hey, remember when we were both in Hugo, one of 2011's Best Picture Oscar nominees?"

After last week’s amazing selection of  quality cinema on DVD, this week was bound to feel like a bit of a let-down, but really, it’s not all that bad.  There’s The Dictator, which was practically scientifically engineered for all of your ‘I’ll wait for the DVD’ needs.  There’s also a Jack Black flick you probably missed as well as new flicks from Robert De Niro, Jennifer Connelly, and Dolph Lundgren.  There’s a whole bunch of sincere indie dramas, an Oscar winning film, an elevator-based thriller, and a documentary about people who probably have sex less often than you do. Now that’s saying something. There’s even a zombie a-hole.

The DVDs:
The Dictator
Bernie
Freelancers
One In The Chamber
Virginia
Home Run Showdown
Let Go
A Separation
Hide Away
California Indian
Elevator
Ecstasy Of Order: The Tetris Masters
Shuffle
Children Of The Hunt
A Day Of Violence
Zombie A-Hole

Can’t remember which one of those won an Oscar?  Can’t guess which one is set on an elevator? Really?  You can’t figure that one out?  Christ, you can be dense sometimes.  Lucky for you I break it all down beginning on the next page. There’s even an open letter to Robert De Niro along with the usual Netflix streaming suggestions. You can skip to it right now by clicking here, but that’s kind of cheating unless you’re the real Robert De Niro, in which case, “Hi!” Read the rest of this entry »