The big stories
Oscar nominations
The glitz! The glamour! The gradual realisation that, as much as you wanted your small-time favourite (Melancholia / Drive / Take Shelter) to win, you can't fight the inevitable! Yes - it's Oscar time again. The nominations were announced this week, with Martin Scorsese's Hugo narrowly pipping The Artist with 11 nods to the silent wonder's 10. We live-blogged the announcement, explained why we think Michel Hazanavicius's film will still win big come February and griped about those that were left out. Join us on 26 February for an all-night bonanza of gowns and gongs, back-slapping and blubbering. It will be just like being in LA. But with cynicism.
Sundance film festival
Park City's received its annual influx of film-makers as the Sundance film festival rolled into action. Chief among the big hitters was Spike Lee, in town to present his new film, Red Hook Summer. Lee used his press conference to rail against a movie industry that "knows nothing about black people". He was joined by a man who knows something about haranguing Hollywood from a Utah mountain - Kevin Smith, who continued his attack on the studio's distribution model by launching 'Kevin Smith and SModcast Presents ...' to help exhibit the work of new film-makers.
• All of our Sundance news and reviews
Theo Angelopoulos
Greek director Theo Angelopoulos died in a road accident this week. He was 76.
"Angelopoulos's themes are the great themes of exile and return, and the equivalent interior, spiritual sense of alienation and longing for peace," said Peter Bradshaw in his tribute to the film-maker behind critically acclaimed films like Eternity and a Day and The Weeping Meadow. Elsewhere we presented Angelopoulos's career in clips and a selection of images from his work.
In the news
• 'Stop that blatching Tarquin!' Harry Potter game kicks off at Oxford
• What does the American dream taste like? The Artist's PGA-winning producer Thomas Langmann knows
• Getting into the role: Diane Kruger to inhabit The Host
• All's Welles ... Hearst family forgive Citizen Kane director after 71 years
• Crow back in flight: Producers settle legal row at caw of dispute over re-make
• Entering the scrum: Mickey Rourke gets into shape for Gareth Thomas biopic
• Joke overboard!: Aardman cuts Pirates' leprosy gag
• Old dog: Uggie to retire after the Oscars. Cites difference of opinion over new tricks.
• Mountain man: Spielberg planning gritty reimagining of the story of Moses
• Playing with his ghoulies: Russell Brand to spook film audiences with The Hauntrepreneur
On the blog
• Soft-centred: Spielberg's War Horse offers a chocolate box interpretation of the first world war, says David Cox
• Back from the dead: Underworld: Awakening draws blood at US box office
• No gong going on: Joshua Alston picks his favourite of Oscar's soon-to-be also-rans
• Take a different line: How Youku is helping China's film-makers get round Youtube's censors. By Nicola Davison
• Race for the prize: Spielberg's War Horse wins at a canter at the UK box office
• Pride in the industry: The Parade shows Serbia's gay cinema coming out in force, says After Hollywood's Phil Hoad
• Charm offensive: Angelique Chrisafis explains why the French adore Jean Dujardin
• Undead, but tech savvy: Sony's product placement is a Resident Evil in the Retribution trailer, says Stuart Heritage
Watch and listen
• Watch! An exclusive clip from Roman Polanski's satirical comedy Carnage. It's not the one where Kate Winslet blows chunks all over a coffee table, but it does show Christoph Waltz taking his trousers off. The feature length version of all of that bad behaviour hits the UK on 3 February.
• Hear! Film Weekly sees Jason Solomons and Xan Brooks inspect this year's Oscar nominees, including front-runners The Artist and Hugo. There's also an interview with Drake Doremus, director of SXSW hit Like Crazy.
Further reading
• Terry Gilliam dropped into the Guardian office to host the online premiere of his new short, The Wholly Family. Peter Bradshaw was on hand to field your questions for the veteran director. You can read how the night went down here and judge The Wholly Family for yourself here.
• 'We're all just a bunch of sinners crashing around in the darkness' - Sir Anthony "Just Tony" Hopkins talks to John Crace
• Do not adjust your eyeballs: The Chemical Brothers introduce their first concert film
• Sky high stories: Hollywood loves a skyscraper, says Steve Rose and we've gone and picked the best of them
• And there's early reviews of the four star Muppet movie and the three star The Descendants
In the paper
In the relaunched Film & Music section ... Steve Rose marks the day the cross-dressing comedy died after braving Adam Sandler's Jack & Jill; Martha Marcy May Marlene star Elizabeth Olsen heads our round-up of the class of 2011; and we wonder what oogling Peter Parker's teapots can tells us about The Amazing Spider-Man.
On Saturday, Like Crazy director Drake Doremus explains why eves-dropping on intimate conversations is the only reasonable way to get a movie made, Johnny Jewel talks about giving Drive's Ryan Gosling music to stomp heads to, while John Patterson picks through the merry Carnage of Polanski's latest.
Online tomorrow
• Our Reel review of The Descendants will see Xan Brooks drain his Mai Tai, grab his board and head for the beach ... only to find George Clooney sobbing on the sand. Bummer.
• Ben Child's Week in Geek blog reports on Chronicles - the latest low budget, real world superhero movie.
Subscriber offer! For you! The subscriber!
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