Cinematical was just handed this exclusive clip from the film Mongol, which finally arrives in theaters in limited release on June 6 after being nominated for a Best Foreign Language Oscar. Mongol comes from the award-winning Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov (Prisoner of the Mountains), and it follows the early years of Genghis Khan -- before he took on that name, through his perilous childhood to the battle that sealed his destiny. Cinematical's Eric D. Snider reviewed the film when it played the Portland Film Festival, and said: "The battle scenes, in particular, are thrilling and visceral without being too nauseating, and Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano's performance as Temudjin has the stoicism and dedication you need for an effective biopic hero." I think it goes without saying that we all love a film with a few good battles in it, and Mongol looks to give us just that ... and then some. Check out the clip above, then the poster, then get your asses to the theater when it arrives on June 6.

Darned politics! It's always getting in the way of our entertainment. This year, there were Oscar worries due to the writers strike. Next year, there is going to be some presidential interference. Unless you've been living on a remote island under a rock, by now you should have caught on that there's a presidential race a-brewing to figure out who is going to replace Dubya in the White House. Whatever person gets picked will have their inauguration on January 20, 2008.

That's the day that the 81st Annual Academy Award nominees were going to be announced, like they are every year, on a Tuesday in mid-January. To completely avoid a showdown, The Hollywood Reporter posts that the Academy will ignore tradition next year and announce the nominees two days later -- Thursday, January 22 at 5:30 am, PST.

So, the Oscar schedule for next year is as follows:

December 1 - Credit forms are due.
December 26 - Nomination ballots are mailed.
January 12 - Ballots are due back.
January 22 - Nominees are announced.
January 28 - Final ballots mailed.
February 2 - Annual nominees luncheon.
February 7 - Scientific and tech achievement awards given.
February 17 - Final ballots due.
February 22 - Fancy-garbed actors and notables flock to the Kodak Theatre for the awards.

Even though we're all having a good time geeking out over last night's Oscars telecast, the actual show turned out to be a ratings nightmare. According to preliminary ratings from Nielson, the 80th Academy Awards came in 14 percent lower than the least-watched ceremony ever! And 21 percent lower than last year! Damn, looks like at least one record was set last night. So what's the problem? Is it that a majority of the public haven't seen the nominated movies? Is it because the show is too long? Is it because the categories aren't flashy enough?

After they announced the second sound-related award last night, I turned to my friend and noted that they could've easily replaced one of these sound categories with something a little more fan-friendly. Or even if they want to stick with what they have, perhaps more people will watch if they have more say in how the awards show plays out. So in the spirit of brainstorming, what would be a good category to add to future Oscar telecasts? Best fanboy film? Best comedy? Or how about a viewer's choice award? Would something like asking, ya know, actual paying moviegoers which film they liked the best take away from the epic-like ceremony?

What can Oscar do to turn this sucker around? (And no, having Miley Ray Cyrus announce every award is not a good solution.) Sound off below ...

Well here we are. The Oscars are only a few hours away. I was up early this morning ironing the pajamas I'm going to wear tonight while I, along with Kim Voynar and Scott Weinberg, live blog the hell out of the Oscars ceremony. In case you don't know, Kim will be up first live blogging the red carpet at 6pm EST, then each of us will be up front and center for each hour of the broadcast. We always have a ton of fun doing this, so make sure you stop by and say hello.

In the meantime, there's a slew of Oscar-related goodies to feast on. First up, Film School Rejects assembled a list of Oscar picks from across the web -- including predictions from Cinematical, Coming Soon, First Showing, IESB, Latino Review, The Movie Blog, Double Viking and Bullz-Eye. So to see how your picks stack up against those from around the web, head on over here.

Once you're done there, definitely skip over to our Oscars hub. In it, we've included our reviews for practically every nominated film, as well as all of our wacky Oscar predictions, images, polls, the works. Then, since it's only a hop, skip and a jump away, you should definitely check out Moviefone's Oscars Hub. They went all out this year, with a ton of fun galleries, polls -- heck, if it was a topic that could be written about, it's there.

So make sure you keep it tuned right here to Cinematical for the ceremony. We'll be live blogging and updating the winners in real time; it'll almost feel like you're at the actual ceremony ... except more funner!

If you still haven't seen all the Oscar-nominated films, you're not alone. I still haven't seen a number of them, and I have less excuse than most people. After all, I live in a city in which pretty much every nominee has played. Some major contenders I haven't gotten around to -- with little reason for not -- include Atonement, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Into the Wild, all of which are still in theaters and are probably best to see on the big screen.

Apparently, at least according to Variety, a lot of people are seeing the Oscar nominees on the big screen compared to in previous (recent) years, as cumulatively the five Best Picture contenders have seen a significant bump at the box office since the nominations were announced. I would be extremely excited if I didn't believe the truth is that Juno's tremendous success has elevated the Best Picture box office average. The comedy is showing on far more screens, is much more accessible to a wide audience and has so far earned twice as much money domestically as the next highest-grossing Best Picture nominee. Variety also this week had published a story about how Juno is the one movie that may save the Oscar telecast's ratings, since it's the one movie people have actually been able to or bothered to see. One thing I will note, though, is that Best Picture nominee Michael Clayton came out on DVD this past Tuesday and yet there was still a significant number of people seeing it in theaters through the week. Additionally, I would be interested to know how many people took advantage of yesterday's AMC Theatres-hosted Best Picture marathon.

You already know Cinematical's Oscar predictions ... now it's your turn to vote. Let us know who you think will win at the Oscars on Sunday. And then be sure to come back Sunday night, when we'll be liveblogging the Oscars starting with the red carpet at 7PM EST. And in the meantime, you can see all our Oscar coverage, including predictions and reviews of Oscar-nommed films, at our Oscar hub.

Now that the writer's strike is over, the Academy Awards will arrive next Sunday (February 24) with a red carpet, with a host, with our favorite actors and actresses, and, most importantly, with writers (because what would we do without that witty banter in between awards?). So, in an effort to provide you with as many predictions as possible, we here at Cinematical will shovel out a number of different posts. Starting next week we'll have up an Oscars hub, which will include our reviews for all of the Oscar-nominated films, as well as predictions, galleries and a bunch of other fun stuff. Excited yet?

For our predictions, we'll be doing our usual official predictions post (based on a poll conducted within Cinematical headquarters), and we'll also be giving you some more, um, unique predictions, from folks like Jose, the New York City cab driver, and, well, Ernest Borgnine (who visits us annually with thoughts on the year's grandest awards). So before you submit your office poll predictions, you might want to hang around Cinematical this week to see what we (as well as all our friends) have to say.

Note: While we'll take full credit if we're right, don't go blaming us for your losses if we're wrong. But we should be right. Maybe. Who knows. But that's what's fun about it all.

Saw Juno last night. And I want to be real careful not to hype this one up too much because it's the kind of film you'll enjoy more if you go in not expecting much. My friend made a good point when he said that it's this year's "you're hip if you love it" flick. And that might turn off some people -- you might get folks who didn't love it, but say they loved it just to fit in with everyone else. Remember Garden State? Yes, Juno is quirky -- it's got the whole hip soundtrack thing down, pop-culture references, original characters who speak in their own warped, teen-influenced language. It's Knocked Up lite. Instead of curses, you get words like "home-skillet;" instead of "c*ck," you get "junk;" and instead of an obsession with naked women on film, you get an obsession with old rock music. But it's fun, it's cute, it's got a wicked sense of humor and it's got one of this year's best on-screen female performances.

When people talk about Juno, they rave about Diablo Cody's script. And it's a good script, don't get me wrong -- I'd love to read it one day -- but the film truly belongs to Ellen Page. Come Oscar time, Cody will most likely be nominated for original screenplay (pretty much a given at this point), but they'd be making a huge mistake if they overlook Page's career-defining performance here. In short, she's a powerhouse. She commands your attention in every scene, and you'd be hard-pressed to find an actress who could've pulled off a similar (or better) performance in that role. Of course, it's also a dangerous role for Page: last thing we need is this girl to show up as the angsty, sarcastic teenager in every dark comedy the future holds. But for now, in this film, she's perfect. I'll even go on record as saying out of all the teenage talent coming up, Page is the one with the most promise going forward. Ten years from now, this girl could very well be the best actress in Hollywood.

But if she is nominated for best actress, and all this attention is thrust upon her, what will her future film slate look like? Will she succumb to the high-priced offers and wind up starring opposite Jon Heder in some stupid romantic comedy? Will they throw her in an Iraq war film in order to get her teen following to give a crap about politics? So far, so good -- she's got one role lined up in the lesbian flick Jack and Diane (opposite her Juno co-star, Olivia Thirlby), and she's got the ensemble piece Smart People. However, Oscar hasn't knocked on her door yet with a basket full of mediocre scripts and a bundle of cash. Is it better to highlight her talent now on Hollywood's biggest stage, or should we let her fly under the radar for a few more years, guaranteeing us an assortment of meaty, challenging roles? You make the call.

Once again it's time to complain about the Academy's foreign film rules and point out the great films ineligible and/or disqualified from being nominated in the category. The Hollywood Reporter has a surprisingly long article about the annual controversy, in which the trade lays out everything you wanted to ever know about the Oscar for "Best Foreign-Language Film." Basically, the usual complaint is that such an award can't always truly honor the best foreign-language film, only the best foreign-language film that falls within certain guidelines.

Some of this year's obvious exclusions are Ang Lee's Lust Caution, which was denied submission by Taiwan because the film is hardly representative of the country's film industry, and Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which was passed over by its potential submitter, France, in favor of Persepolis (as was La Vie en Rose), which could have settled just fine with being an Animated Feature nominee. Other disappointments include The Band Visit, which was denied for having too much English dialogue, and The Kite Runner, which can't be submitted by Afghanistan because it was directed by Marc Forster, a Swiss-American, and featured an international crew. Afghanistan ended up with no submission, while Israel had to quickly substitute The Band Visit with Beaufort and Taiwan had to replace Lust Caution with Island Etude.

Last year, the Academy retooled some of the restrictions for its foreign-language category, although now it appears they could use some more tweaking. Also, I would like them to retroactively honor excluded films of the past, which they could do in some way without revoking the Oscars it has handed out (except the one for Tsotsi -- that one was really undeserved, and I'll say it again and again).

The record 63 films eligible for the foreign-language Oscar were announced last month by the Academy, and Cinematical's Eric D. Snider comments on that list here.

"This summer...hold on to your crown...The Queen rules again bitches!" Yes, Variety is reporting that writer Peter Morgan is working on a follow-up to last year's Oscar-winning hit, The Queen. The Queen was a very British story, but this time he's bringing America into the mix, specifically Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The new film will deal with their relationships to Prime Minster Tony Blair (played wonderfully in The Queen by Michael Sheen, who is expected to return for the sequel). The film "will focus on Blair's reaction to the handover of power between Clinton, a natural liberal ally, and Bush, who came from the other end of the political spectrum." The project will actually be the third in Morgan's series of films about Blair, which began with the Channel 4 telepic The Deal.

The most intriguing aspect of this film might just be its casting. Who can effectively capture the good old boy charisma and charm of Bill Clinton? John Travolta did a very nice job playing a highly Clintonesque character in Primary Colors. I sure wish Phil Hartman was still alive (for a variety of reasons), I don't think anyone's nailed Clinton better, and I always sensed Hartman could have easily handled drama. Who can get across the thick layer of bluster, blind confidence, and -- what's a nice word? -- naivete present in a George W. Bush speech? Something tells me they won't go the Will Ferrell route. My pick for Dubya would be the great William H. Macy, he's got the "shifty dude whose world is crumbling around him" thing down pat. What do you guys think? Assuming they don't go with unknowns, who would you cast as two of the most recognizable figures in politics -- Bush and Clinton?

As I reported over the weekend, Israel's submission for next year's foreign-language category at the Oscars is The Band's Visit, a well-received comedy about an Egyptian police band that gets lost in Israel. It swept the Ophirs (Israel's Oscar equivalent), winning eight awards including best picture and best director. It won awards at Sarajevo and Cannes. And Sony Pictures Classics reportedly paid more for it than anyone has ever paid for an Israeli film.

So what's the problem, Oscar-wise? It might have too much English in it.

L.A. Weekly's Nikki Finke reported on Sunday that the film's "rivals" -- people involved with movies that weren't selected, one assumes -- are claiming that more than 50 percent of The Band's Visit's dialogue is in English. The Academy rules for this category (which you can read in their entirety here) simply say that to be eligible, a film must be "predominantly" in a language other than English. The rules don't give specifics about percentages.

Cinematical's James Rocchi saw the film at Toronto (and liked it). His recollection is that it was mostly in Hebrew and Arabic without too much English. He told me: "The use of English to me seemed like either a) people talking about song lyrics or other concerns in the language they were written in or b) a natural sort of meeting place -- 'I speak Arabic; you speak Hebrew; we both speak bad English....'"

The Academy won't get into it until after the Oct. 1 submission deadline. If they decide the film is not "predominantly" in a foreign tongue, they'll disqualify it -- and it won't be the first time. Just two years ago, Singapore's entry, Be with Me, was bounced for this very reason. We'll keep you posted on the fate of Israel's film.

The Toronto International Film Festival is over, we have a couple months respite before Sundance, so naturally thoughts turn to the Oscar race. While I'm as curious as anyone else which films will end up garnering the big nod (and I will be really surprised if Juno doesn't get a few noms, especially for screenwriting), as an indie girl I'm most interested in the docs and foreigns. I'm a documentary dork, and one of the things I most look forward to covering at any given film fest is the doc slate -- which, as both David Poland and Anne Thompson have noted in post-Toronto columns, have been weak this year relative to the past couple years. No one really seems to be sure why this is, exactly, although the surprising success of March of the Penguins in 2005 fueled an interest in documentaries that led, perhaps, to a bit of a glut.

The trouble with documentaries is that, penguin love aside, docs are not something your average person is going to go out of their way to shell out ten bucks to see at a theater. Rent from the video store or add to your Netflix queue, perhaps, but when you're looking for a film to see on date night, the depressing topics that tend to make up much of the available documentary fare are not really the first thing that comes to mind. When's the last time you said, "Hey, honey, I know what to do tonight -- let's get dinner at that place over in Little Italy we like, and then let's go see that new Iraq war doc!" Given a choice between a bummer doc and, say, Superbad, most folks are going to opt for the laughs over the conscience-pricking dose of reality.

The October 1 deadline looms large, and the countries that have not yet submitted their candidates for the Best Foreign Language Film category at next year's Oscars are hurrying to do so. Three nations announced their choices over the weekend: Hong Kong, Estonia, and Macedonia.

Hong Kong's pick is Exiled, from the much-buzzed-about action director Johnnie To (whose Triad Election played in a few U.S. cities earlier this year). It's an underworld crime caper full of shooting and double-crosses and associated mayhem. Not typical Oscar fare, maybe -- but then again, The Departed won Best Picture this year. Scott Weinberg reviewed Exiled mostly favorably at the Philadelphia Film Festival in April.

Two Hong Kong films have earned nominations in this category before -- Raise the Red Lantern and Farewell My Concubine -- but the country has no wins so far.

Estonia chose The Class, a disturbing drama about high school students who takes revenge against bullies. Directed by Ilmar Raag, the film has played at film festivals in Cannes, Karlovy Vary, and Copenhagen. This is only the fifth time Estonia has submitted a film for Oscar consideration; before 1991, the country was part of the Soviet Union.

Macedonia's candidate is Milcho Manchevski's Shadows, a drama about a doctor whose life changes after he survives what should have been a fatal car accident. Macedonia -- which you'll find wedged between Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria, and Greece -- broke off from Yugoslavia in 1991. This is the country's sixth Oscar submission since then.

Major players such as Spain, Mexico, Brazil, and China haven't announced their submissions yet, so watch for that news in the next few days.

As we've reported on various countries' candidates for the Best Foreign Language Film category at next year's Oscars, we've observed that many of them are longshots at best. Countries like the Philippines and Singapore have never even secured a nomination in the category, let alone a win. That's not to say it won't happen this year; just that it's not as likely.

But now two countries with solid Oscar track records have announced their entries: Israel is putting up The Band's Visit, while the Czech Republic offers I Served the King of England. Israel has submitted a film every year since 1977 and fairly regularly before that, earning six nominations but no wins so far. The Czech Republic had six nominations including two wins back when it was Czechoslovakia; since the split in 1993, Czech Republic has had three nominations, with a win in 1996.

Israel's The Band's Visit (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret) automatically became its Oscar entry when it took the top prize at the Israeli Film Academy Awards on Thursday. The comedy, about an Egyptian police band that gets lost in Israel, won the audience award at the Sarajevo Film Festival and the Jury Coup Du Coeur in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes. It also played at Toronto, where Cinematical's lovely and talented James Rocchi reviewed it favorably. Sony Pictures Classics is set to release it in the U.S.; Variety says the amount they paid was a record for an Israeli film.

I Served the King of England (Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále) is based on an epic novel and spans years before and after World War II. It was directed by Jiri Menzel, whose film Closely Watched Trains won the Oscar back in 1968.

A lot of countries have small film industries, and there's often an "obvious" choice when it comes to selecting an entry for the Oscars' Best Foreign-Language Film category. But not France! France has such a large, thriving movie industry that it can pick and choose, and even snub deserving films in favor of other deserving films.

Case in point: France has announced its entry for the 2008 Oscars, and it's not La Vie En Rose, the Edith Piaf biopic that received rapturous reviews in the United States (including one from our Erik Davis) and seemed like a lock for an Oscar nod. Instead, it's Persepolis -- which won the Jury Prize at Cannes earlier this year and has nothing but positive reviews so far at Rotten Tomatoes. James Rocchi reviewed it at Cannes, calling it a "masterpiece"; Kim Voynar saw it at Telluride and offered her approval, too.

It's hard for me to imagine a movie coming out of France this year that's better than La Vie En Rose, but the consensus is that Persepolis might be just such a film. It certainly isn't an out-of-nowhere choice. Furthermore, its subject matter -- a little girl's story of living in Iran during the Islamic Revolution in the late '70s and early '80s -- is weightier and more serious than that of La Vie En Rose.

Meanwhile, for lovers of La Vie En Rose, there is still hope that its star, Marion Cotillard -- undoubtedly the best thing about the film -- will be nominated for Best Actress. If that doesn't happen, THEN I'll start working up some serious outrage.