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- Roger Ebert’s Journal: Roger Ebert, the esteemed film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, has revealed his annual top 10 list, a spot on which is widely considered to be just as — if not more — valuable to a film’s awards propsects than acknowledgment from many awards groups! His picks this year: (1) “The Social Network,” (2) “The King’s Speech,” (3) “Black Swan,” (4) “I Am Love,” (5) “Winter’s Bone,” (6) “Inception,” (7) “The Secret in Their Eyes,” (8) “The American,” (9) “The Kids Are All Right,” and (10) “The Ghost Writer.”
- Box Office Magazine: Phil Contrino reports that the domestic box-office haul for 2010 will cross the $10 billion mark this week, making it only the second year in history in which that fiscal marker has been crossed. (The only other was last year, when “Avatar” propelled record ticket sales.) The biggest grossers of the year, thus far, are “Toy Story 3” ($415 million), “Alice in Wonderland” ($334.2 million), “Iron Man 2” ($312.1 million), “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” ($300.5), and “Inception” ($292.5 million).
- BBC: Stephen Mulvey reports that the BBC Archive has posted the audio of the real king’s speech that is at the center of the best picture hopeful “The King’s Speech,” namely the one in which England’s King George VI (Colin Firth) rallied the British people at the outset of World War II. Mulvey observes, “The address is almost six minutes long. As it progresses, it becomes clear that the King’s frequent pauses are not just rhetorical, but the result of his stammer – overcome to a degree, thanks to the help of speech therapist Lionel Logue, but always threatening to gain control.
- The Huffington Post: An unattributed report indicates that film critics weren’t the only ones laughing out loud at the three Golden Globe nods that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association bestowed upon the abysmally-reviewed but star-studded action-thriller “The Tourist” — the film for best picture (musical or comedy), Johnny Depp for best actor (musical or comedy), and Angelina Jolie for best actress (musical or comedy). Jolie says that the people responsible for the film couldn’t help but chuckle, too: “We were laughing because it’s the first time that I’ve been in the comedic category, so it’s new for me.”
- The Hollywood Reporter: Tim Appelo recounts the high number of 2010 best actress contenders who received oral sex in their performances this year, a bizarre phenomenon first observed by Jeff Wells, who is always attentive to these sorts of matters. Indeed, no fewer than three top contenders in the category — perhaps the top three — do so: Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” (a “scary” encounter, courtesy of Mila Kunis); Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right” (a “lighthearted” encounter, courtesy of Julianne Moore); and Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine” (an “intensely romantic” encounter, courtesy of Ryan Gosling). Appelo humorously notes that one oral sex receiever who has yet to be recognized is the “Chateau Marmont girl du jour” who derived little pleasure from her somnambulant experience with Stephen Dorff in “Somewhere.”
- The Hollywood Reporter: Gregg Kilday reports that film legend Robert Duvall, a best actor Oscar winner for “Tender Mercies” (1983) and a best actor hopeful this year for “Get Low,” will join the select group of movie stars whose handprints and feetprints have been immortalized in cement outside of Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood at a special ceremony on January 5.
- National Public Radio: Terry Gross chats with Melissa Leo about the role for which she is a best supporting actress hopeful this year, Alice Ward — “a gruff, bleach-blond Massachusetts native who tosses four-letter words around with ease and manages her sons’ [Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund, played by Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, respectively] boxing careers like a stage mother on steroids” — in “The Fighter.” Leo, 50, is only a decade older than her castmates, and tells Gross that when director David O. Russell first approached her about playing the part, she asked incredulously, “Aren’t I too young to play Mark and Christian’s mother?”
- Frame Crawler: Wendy M. passes along an exchange that Amy Adams, a best supporting actress for “The Fighter,” and comedian Conan O’Brien, the host of the late-night show “Conan,” had during one of last week’s episodes, during which it came to light — in all seriousness — that O’Brien’s sister Kate O’Brien plays “Beaver,” one of Micky Ward’s (Mark Wahlberg) colorful sisters, in “The Fighter.” The role marks Kate’s big screen debut.
Photo: Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake in “The Social Network.” Credit: Columbia.