• After a false start, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” was finally unveiled, to considerable applause… but is it too chilly?
• Maybe. In his gutsy early predictions, Kris names “Slumdog Millionaire” the one to beat.
• InContention readers, however, are less sure.
• In a week of revelations, “The Reader” also screened — but the response on these pages was ambivalent.
• Not everyone agrees, however. Which has us asking where this leaves Kate Winslet’s Oscar chances.
• Amid the confusion, this week’s Off the Carpet column drew the conclusion that 2008 simply isn’t a vintage year.
• Onto surer things, we wondered whether Heath Ledger is the inevitable winner of this year’s Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Your answer? A resounding yes.
• Mapping out some alternative possibilities in the Best Documentary Feature race.
• An interview with with “Changeling” scribe J. Michael Straczynski.
• Just in case you hadn’t heard the name “Benjamin Button” enough this week, we were treated to the film’s score.
• On the other side of the pond, meanwhile, “Mamma Mia!” continues to break records. Does BAFTA beckon?