I’ve been asked to weigh in on whether Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” will somehow game the system or benefit from the screwy new best-picture voting process and unexpectedly walk away with the Oscar as best picture.

Here’s what I think: I don’t care.

Mainly, I don’t care about this it’s-not-broken-so-let’s-break-it voting system. I believe it goes like this: People throw darts at ballots and . . . no, wait, they have to rate them from 1-10, but use their left hand for the odd numbers and close one eye for the even . . . no, that’s not it. (More…)

My friend Jeffrey Wells recently ran a link to my review of Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island,” which I really liked, on his always interesting website, Hollywood Elsewhere. Then he undercut it by referring to me as part of a Scorsese-worshiping cabal, willing to give the director a pass on what Wells obviously thinks of as a lesser film:

“I can see right now where the ‘Shutter Island’ discussion will go. Hip, older urban critics like Marshall Fine will do the usual solidarity thing (i.e., their standard response whenever a reasonably decent film by a venerated director comes out) and pass out ‘Friends of Marty’ buttons at screenings and so on.”

Wells later wrote, “Scorsese occupies a hallowed place in the hearts of the older, brainier, more thoughtful critics, and that it’s usually in keeping with the character of this crowd to cut Marty some slack whenever a new Scorsese film comes out.”

I hate being called older (mostly because it’s increasingly true), I’m flattered to be called brainy, thoughtful and hip (my kids would certainly disagree) – but what I take issue with is the idea that there is something disingenuous about my review. (More…)

I’ve got an idea for how to change independent film and kick-start the kind of serious attention that video-on-demand seems to require.

And it all stems from the fact that Tom Hanks has been on my mind of late, though I’m not sure why. (More…)

The biggest surprise of the 2010 Oscar nominations was how few surprises there actually were.

For the first time in recent memory, none of the best director nominees directed movies that weren’t also nominated for best picture. Of course, the fact that the Academy, in its effort to plump up TV ratings (and let us not forget what this is really about), expanded the best-picture category from five nominees to 10, may have had something to do with that. On the other hand, this also means that half the best-picture nominees were by directors who weren’t nominated. (More…)