Sad news to report today: Director and actor Sydney Pollack died on Sunday at the age of 73. He had been diagnosed with cancer nine months ago.
The hard-working actor and highly respected director is known for a variety of accomplishments.
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From now until the 2008 Oscars air on Sunday night, I'll be breaking down the five contenders for Best Picture, giving you the scoop on why each film could win and why it might not stand a chance. I started off with There Will Be Blood, and today I'm turning my sights to Michael Clayton.
The plot description on IMDB is most succinct: "An attorney known as the Fixer in his law firm comes across the biggest case of his career that could produce disastrous results for those involved." 
As the title character of Michael Clayton, George Clooney is stunning as a conflicted lawyer, and as that lawyer, he's outfitted appropriately with the latest gadgets and technology. Most notable is his BlackBerry, which is glued to his hand and ear and provides the picture of a modern, hardworking attorney on the case of his life. Happily for me, the BlackBerry wasn't the only tech eye-candy — in fact, there were many gadgets that played important roles in the plot.
With so much ado over the Oscars each year, it's always interesting to see what impact, if any, the king of all award shows has on the nominated films at the box office. This year's not looking so good: Lacking major blockbuster crowd-pleasers a la Lord of the Rings, this year's five best picture nominees will likely be the second-lowest box office earners in two decades.
Still, studios put a lot of stock in these accolades. 
There were smiles all round on Sunday night, as the British Academy of Film and Television award winners were announced in London. Jonathan Ross presented the award ceremony, in place of the familiar Stephen Fry, and the gongs were split fairly evenly over the best films of last year. Out of its massive haul of fourteen nominations, Atonement picked up only two awards – although one of those was the top award of Best Film, and La Vie En Rose picked up four awards. 
No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood led the field this morning when the Oscar nominations were announced in Hollywood. Each film snagged eight nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
After it raked in a huge number of Golden Globe nominations, Atonement made less of a splash here, scoring nods for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress but largely getting shut out of other major categories.
Warner Bros. has announced today that the George Clooney drama Michael Clayton will get a re-release in approximately 1,000 North American theaters starting January 25. The film was originally released in October and didn't do too well at the box office — but this was before all the awards buzz started up. 
Nominations were announced today for the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the only major awards ceremony guaranteed to still happen now that the writers' strike is threatening the Golden Globes. Into the Wild dominated the film side with four nominations, followed by No Country for Old Men and Michael Clayton with three each.
On the TV side, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, and Mad Men were among the recognized series. 
Atonement came up big this morning when the nominations for the Golden Globe Awards were announced in Hollywood. The film snagged seven nominations — three for the acting of stars James McAvoy,
Keira Knightley, and Saoirse Ronan and four more for Best Dramatic Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Score.
Also getting a lot of attention from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association: Charlie Wilson's War, which snagged five nominations, including Best Musical or Comedy and acting nominations for Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. 
Not a lot of folks are going to the movie theaters lately, but those who are seem to be most interested in the super scary vampire flick 30 Days of Night, which came in at No. 1 at the box office with $16 million. What with all the highly dramatic dramas coming out, maybe it's understandable that people are drawn to the fun unreality rather than checking out movies that address the starkest aspects of human life. 
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