A very strange thing happened at this year’s Golden Globes ceremony. Somewhere between Ricky Gervais’ biting monologue/critique and Robert De Niro’s uncomfortable lifetime achievement acceptance speech, an epic international arthouse film won the award for Best Made for Television Movie or Miniseries, beating out the other nominations in the typically HBO-dominated category. Olivier Assayas’ Carlos is, from an American perspective, quite difficult to classify. We first heard about it when it was met with rave reviews at Cannes and other festivals, then it was distributed theatrically through IFC (in its original 5 ½ hour run time) while it had a three-episode “miniseries” run on the Sundance Channel just as it had done in France when originally commissioned for French television. Now, before an explicitly planned DVD release (though there is some certainty that the film will be the latest IFC release to get the Criterion treatment), it’s available streaming in its three-part miniseries form via Netflix (which is how I eventually saw it). All this is to say that it’s quite a task to say with any certainty precisely what Carlos is and in which medium it belongs. The film was financed by French television, yet it’s shot in a widescreen aspect ratio (2.35:1) typically reserved for theatrical cinema, and its 3-episode structure doesn’t follow the expectations of brief closure at the end of each segment typical of, say, an American television miniseries (it comes across more like a necessary break for exhibition and an arbitrary break in storytelling). Now

Brian Gibson loves to buy DVDs. So does his buddy Kevin Carr, who sits on his couch this week for Brian while he’s otherwise indisposed to cover his weekly journey into the depths of credit card debt as he tells you what to buy, rent and avoid.

The award formally known as Interior Decorations is now Art Direction. Either way, its all about an eye for style.

With only 3 nominees for Best Visual Effects, this should be an easy one to pick, right?

It’s a surprising shortlist for the best visual effects Oscar this year, with some startling inclusions and some even more startling omissions.

With big action/fantasy releases like I Am Legend and The Golden Compass hitting the box office, we can hear audiences voicing two very loud opinions on the use of Computer Generated Imagery.

Until “2 Girls 1 Cup: The Gospel Musical” makes it to the cineplex, we’ll stick to this list.

It was not such a good weekend for The Golden Compass after all.

The Golden Compass pointed toward controversy leading it up to its release. But was it really that controversial?

Knock a few back with us while watching The Golden Compass, and you just might want to take on the Catholic church all by yourself when you’re done.

Rather than saying, “I wonder if the Magisterium is supposed to represent the modern Catholic church?,” sit on the edge of your seat and say “Wow! Two polar bears beating the shale out of each other. Cool!”

Well, we all know what’s going to be number one at the box office this weekend…

New Line Cinema has released the first five minutes of Chris Weitz’ new film for your viewing pleasure.

Simply put, this is as good-looking of a film as you’ll find this year or any other for that matter and it is accompanied by a music score by Alexandre Desplat (2006′s The Queen) that is more than suitable for the genre.

The Catholic League has set out to boycott the upcoming fantasy adventure The Golden Compass, starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. But as the filmmaker explains, that shouldn’t hurt too bad.

Posters, comin’ atcha! This week we have four (yes, FOUR!) new posters to share with you. We’ve got bears fighting for a compass of some sort, Vince Vaughn as Santa’s derelict brother and two Boleyn girls who put the “sex” back in “corset”.