Slumdog Wins Big at Critics' Choice

Slumdog , Benjamin Button , Milk join Reader and Frost/Nixon in best-picture fight

(NEWSER) - The countdown begins to Hollywood's night of nights, with big guns that "are easier to admire and respect than to love" competing for top honors, writes David Gritten in the Daily Mail. No doubt the tabloids are hoping for a Brangelina sweep of the Best Actor and Best Actress categories. Will underdog fave Slumdog Millionaire nab Best Film? Click the image to view a slideshow of the nominated actors; to view trailers of the best-picture nominees, click "video." More»

(AP) - Meryl Streep and Sean Penn took lead-acting honors tonight at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, she for Doubt and he for Milk. The prize for overall cast went to the rags-to-riches saga Slumdog Millionaire, while Heath Ledger and Kate Winslet took supporting honors for The Dark Knight and The Reader. 30 Rock swept the TV comedy honors; Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin took the individual acting prizes, and the show won the ensemble cast award. More»

Streep, Hoffman earn nods; Pitt, Jolie, Penn join them

(NEWSER) - The Screen Actors Guild released its award nominees today, and left no Doubt which flick had the most star power in 2008. As with the Golden Globes, all four Doubt leads earned nods, which, combined with a best ensemble nomination, gave it the most potential honors overall. Brangelina again did well, with both halves of the power couple seeing nominations, the Los Angeles Times reports. More»

Funny and un-funny moments abound at ceremony

(NEWSER) - Oscar night was filled with highs and lows, from the predictably inspirational moments when Kate Winslet finally won and Heath Ledger’s family received his posthumous award, to the cheap shot of producers cutting to Angelina Jolie’s face during Jennifer Aniston’s presenter speech. More from the Los Angeles Times. Best:

• Sean Penn opened his acceptance speech by greeting “you Commie, homo-loving sons-of-a-gun.”

After number-crunching, Slumdog is tops

(NEWSER) - FiveThirtyEight.com stats-cruncher extraordinaire Nate Silver shifts his sights from politics to the Oscars in New York magazine. He compiled data from 30 years of Academy Awards to discover the best predictors of success, and found that other awards (SAGs, Golden Globes) carry the most weight. Genre is also key; release date and MPAA rating don’t matter. His predictions: More»