Sunday Matinee (Jan. 26 - Feb. 1)

Reviews of 2008 releases have sidelined any work on reviews of classical cinema, although I was able to post a behemoth essay on Vertigo this week. (Only eight Hitchcock films left! Only three months behind schedule!) I'm planning a best-of-08 list to run before the Oscars, along with some awardsy notes and features, which I'll be doing with the utmost reluctance and resignation.

Here are my picks for Sunday reading:

• The Film Doctor looks at Frost/Nixon is an aptly titled essay, The Unimportance of Being Earnest.

• The wonderful Best of 2008 series at Getafilm rolls on.

• It's the second annual Blog Cabins End of the Year Spectacular.

• Matthew at From the Front Row unveils the 2008 Front Row Award winners.

• Dean at Filmicability continues his Master Lists series, this week with rankings of documentaries, westerns, and science fiction.

• The Dancing Image runs a tribute to the late John Updike.

• As much as it pains me to link to a critical assessment of Rebel Without a Cause, I must do so because Andrew at The Stop Button has the gift of elegant criticism on his side.

• Finally, one parting thought: This week I heard a man on the radio say he won't be watching the Super Bowl tonight because he isn't a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Arizona Cardinals and nowadays you can see all the commercials online at your own convenience. Ouch. But doesn't that point transfer nicely to the Oscars this year? All the mystery has been sucked out of the room with Slumdog Millionaire this week winning the Producers Guild Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award, the Scripter Award, and the Directors Guild Award. There's something to be said about being "the last word" on the year in film, but this year, the momentum just isn't there, especially when you can hop onto the Internet at 11:30 p.m. on Oscar night and learn what won Best Picture in 4 seconds instead of 4 hours.