• Colin Firth and Robert Zemeckis on making a surreal, stylized “A Christmas Carol.” [The Guardian]

• A.O. Scott on darker thematic rhythms in recent children’s films. [New York Times]

• Roger Ebert revisits “Hoop Dreams,” considers it “the great American documentary.” [Chicago Sun-Times]

• Gregory Ellwood wonders if we have three Best Picture nominees locked up. [Awards Campaign]

• Kyle Buchanan talks to “Inglourious Basterds” editor Sally Menke. [Movieline]

• Dave Karger chimes in on the impressive weekend box office numbers for “Precious.” [Oscar Watch]

• Dana Stevens, stretching for a sensational point of view, dismisses the film as “poverty porn.” [Slate]

• “Avatar”: how they did it. [The Times]

• Peter Bart seems to think the collapse of studio dependents has meant the collapse of independent filmmaking, when in fact the dependents haven’t concerned themselves with true “indie” in a long time. [BF Deal Memo]