Frozen River Film Festival Presentation

The Athenaeum lecture series at Winona State University's Krueger Library will feature “The Development of the Partnership Between Winona State University and the Frozen River Film Festival” on Wednesday, January 26, at 1pm on the second floor of the building.

The lecture will be presented by Crystal Hegge, Frozen River Film Festival Director, Jeanine Sorensen, festival coordinator, and Diane Stevens, festival coordinator.

You can find out more about the Athenaeum series here. The Frozen River Film Fesival runs from January 26 - 30th and the offical website, including the schedule, can be found here.

2010 End of the Year Wrap Up

Here are my picks of the 10 best films of 2010:

1. Black Swan
2. The Social Network
3. Creation
4. Restrepo
5. The Kids Are All Right
6. The Town
7. Toy Story 3
8. Easy A
9. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
10. Inception

And here are the 10 worst films of 2010:

1. The Last Airbender
2. My Soul to Take
3. Cop Out
4. Grown Ups
5. Killers
6. The Other Guys
7. Skyline
8. Devil
9. The Switch
10. Legion

You can find arguments for each film plus lists of honorable mentions and trends from the past year by clicking here.

2010 End of the Year Wrap Up Episode to Air 1/16

On Sunday, January 16th, Sounds of Cinema will broadcast the 2010 End of the Year Wrap Up. The show will include my picks of the ten best and worst films of the past year, as well as observations about trends in cinema in 2010. Tune in to see if your favorites made the cut.

You can find past End of the Year Wrap Ups here.

Library of Congress Film Registry 2010

The Library of Congress has announced this year's additions to the National Film Registry:

• Airplane (1980)
• All the President’s Men (1976)
• The Bargain (1914)
• Cry of Jazz (1959)
• Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB (1967)
• The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
• The Exorcist (1973)
• The Front Page (1931)
• Grey Gardens (1976)
• I Am Joaquin (1969)
• It’s a Gift (1934)
• Let There Be Light (1946)
• Lonesome (1928)
• Make Way For Tomorrow (1937)
• Malcolm X (1992)
• McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
• Newark Athlete (1891)
• Our Lady of the Sphere (1969)
• The Pink Panther (1964)
• Preservation of the Sign Language (1913)
• Saturday Night Fever (1977)
• Study of a River (1996)
• Tarantella (1940)
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
• A Trip Down Market Street (1906)

The National Film Registry archives and preserves films that are deemed to be historically, culturally, or aesthetically important. You can find out more about this year's inductees here.

Variety: Lucasfilm settles lawsuit over 'anticompetitive' behavior

Variety has just published this article about a Department of Justice investigation into the relationship between Lucasfilm and Pixar. An excerpt:

The DoJ filed a complaint calling on the film, toon and FX powerhouse to stop entering into "anticompetitive" agreements with Pixar that the DoJ says have unfairly affected digital animators. The filing of the complaint included the proposed settlement to end the ongoing suit, pending court approval.

The complaint was part of a larger investigation by the DoJ's antitrust division into tech company employment practices.

The department asserts that Lucasfilm and Pixar each agreed not to cold-call employees at the other company with job offers, to notify each other when offering a job to an employee, and not to counteroffer when such an offer was made.

The article does not mention that Pixar was initially a part of Lucasfilm but was sold to Disney.

Filmography 2010

Check out this mash up of clips from the films of 2010. It's not much more than a montage of clips and music, but it is really cool.

Olbermann's Tribute to Leslie Nielsen

On Countdown on MSNBC, Keith Olbermann made a tribute to the memory of actor Leslie Nielsen, noting the actor's long career as a performer and how his deadpan style transferred seamlessly from drama to comedy. Nielsen died on November 28th.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy