•  Kristin Thompson gets into the milkshake thing.  It's here to stay, folks. [DavidBordwell.net]

•  Jeffrey Wells points us to the Coen brothers' Wikipedia page, revealing the helmers' penchant for writing "the archetype of unstoppable evil" into their films. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  Sasha Stone offers a "This is your life" look at the work of film editor "Roderick Jaynes."  Hear, hear! [Awards Daily]

•  Gina Piccalo talks to Gil Cates about "Plan A," safely underway with that pesky strike done and over with. [The Envelope]

•  The Coens "don't understand" the awards success and Oscar trajectory of "No Country for Old Men." [Los Angeles Times]

•  David Carr reviews "Atonement" in that bubble-wrapped state of aural diffusion he's making so wildly popular. [The Carpetbagger]

•  David Poland sticks up for poor Julian Schnabel, getting picked on for his eccentric pajama wearing.  I still don't understand why's he's become such an easy target.  I love the guy! [The Hot Blog]

•  William Keck sits down with SAG winner and Oscar nominee Ruby Dee. [USA Today]

•  Anne Thompson profiles the successful release pattern of "No Country for Old Men." [Variety]

•  Marc Peyser thinks the the Oscars must die. [Newsweek]

•  Jeffrey Wells begs to differ. [Hollywood Elsehwere]

•  Sasha Stone, in love with "No Country" till the day she dies, tosses an excerpt from the book left lying on the cutting room floor, so to speak. [Awards Daily]

•  Video highlights from last weekend's SAG Awards. [The Envelope]

•  EW places its bets in all fields. [Entertainment Weekly]

•  A list of films not nominated for Best Picture that puts everything into perspective. [Gold Derby]

•  Hank Steuver sits down with the heckled Julian Schnabel. [Washington Post]

•  Nathaniel Rogers is uncomfortable with the way the media and Hollywood at large have responded to Heath Ledger's passing. [The Film Experience]

Entertainmnt Weekly's Dave Karger has a typically thoughtful piece up surmising the potential effect of Sunday's SAG Awards on the upcoming Oscar ceremony.  Here's a peek:

As the only SAG nominee to snag a Best Picture Oscar nod, No Country for Old Men was certainly the movie to beat for the night's ultimate prize. That one of the bigger hits in the category (Hairspray, American Gangster) wasn't able to upset it only strengthens its Oscar chances....

...After Gone Baby Gone's Amy Ryan won the Critics' Choice Award and I'm Not There's Cate Blanchett picked up the Golden Globe, 83-year-old Ruby Dee scored a SAG win with her minutes-long performance in American Gangster. SAG voters might have been going for the career-achievement thing with this one, so Dee isn't necessarily the Oscar front-runner now. But it's the most even major race this year.

Read the rest.

•  T.L. Stanley takes umbrage with Josh Brolin's SAG acceptance speech on behalf of the cast of "No Country for Old Men." [Gold Rush]

•  "Easern Promises" and "Shake Hands with the Devil" dominate the Genia Award nominations. [Variety]

•  Tom O'Neil offers some thoughts on the noms. [Gold Derby]

•  Jeffrey Wells may be hopping mad if "Falling Slowly" gets the boot from the best Original Song category. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  Picking through the 'dos of Sunday's SAG fashion extravaganza. [The Envelope]

•  Pete Hammond responds to the week in guild presentations. [The Envelope]

•  Ryan Adams spotlights some of the favorable reviews of the SAG telecast. [Awards Daily]

•  Claudia Puig talks to Catherine Deneuve about lending her voice to the Oscar-nominated "Persepolis." [USA Today]

I went to YouTube this morning looking for some SAG clips from last night, but I stumbled quickly across this clip of Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal introducing the "Brokeback Mountain" package in early 2006.

Much was made at the time of Ledger's giggling throughout the introductory paragraphs, but I thought his was an honest reaction to a stilted monologue that tried to wrap the film up with a neat little bow.  And regardless, it is at once difficult and refreshing to gaze upon the laughter and levity of a man who left us not even a week ago.

We miss you, man.

Alright, so the show wraps up with a big win for "No Country for Old Men."  I suppose the Oscar is essentially in hand.  So...odd.  Anyway, Josh Brolin cracked me up with his comment, "This is Javier Bardem's 497th award."  And his little jab at the end was cute as well: "The Coens are freaky little people, man.  And we made a freaky little movie, whether you liked the ending or not."  My only question is "what ending," but fair enough, Josh.

(Full winners list at the bottom of this post.)

Live blogging the awards as they come down (and as my satellite freaks out due to the weather):

7:00 p.m. -- Here's the big daddy.  Tom Cruise takes the stage.  The actor goes to the cast of......."No Country for Old Men."
6:59 p.m. -- Christie brings so much class to the stage here.  Very nice.  Big love for Sarah Polley.  "This really does belong to you," Christie says.  "And if I've forgotten anybody, well it's just because I'm still in character."
6:57 p.m. -- And the actor goes to...Julie Christe.  That's what 100,000 DVDs will get you.
6:56 p.m. -- Forest Whitaker comes on to give out Best Actress.  Let's see, this is where Ellen Page has to make her move...
6:54 p.m. -- No matter how similar they are, I really have enjoyed Day-Lewis' speeches and discussions this season.  He invokes Heath Ledger here, to a quick burst of applause and appreciation.  He's using such a large portion of his speech to Ledger's work.  He first goes into the performance from "Monster's Ball," then into "Brokeback Mountain," calling the performance "perfect."  He didcates his win tonight to the fallen actor.  Cheers, Daniel.  Just...cheers.
6:51 p.m. -- Daniel Day-Lewis.  Shocked?
6:50 p.m. -- Best Actor.  Shouts and murmurs for Hirsch, Mortensen and, of course, Day-Lewis.  And the actor goes to...
6:48 p.m. -- Suddenly it occured to me.  Tom Cruise will be presenting Best Cast in a Motion Picture.  Might it be a big ole Scientology love fest, Cruise handing the goods over to John Travolta and company?  Icky...

Commercial Break

6:43 p.m. -- Tommy Lee Jones doesn't even seem to understand the plot of "No Country for Old Men" as he intrpduces the clip.
6:40 p.m. -- Even Viggo looked a little surprised there.  I think, as do a few of my colleagues, that at least one of these old-timers is going to triumph on Oscar night.  Either Hal Holbrook or Ruby Dee, that is.  I expect maybe Dee is the one to watch now, and if the lead categories go as we all expect them to go, watch out for a 4/4 match-up with Oscar.
6:39 p.m. -- FINALLY a slight surprise.  Ruby Dee takes the win.
6:38 p.m. -- Man, I know Viggo is gonna take some hits for that ensemble, but he looks like a sweet pimp in those clothes.  The goatee is the perfect touch.  He's presenting Best Supporting Actress.  And the actor goes to...
6:36 p.m. -- Another montage from our friend Mr. Underwood.  Where's he doing that from, some underground bunker?  Anyway, I've lost the theme of these clip packages.  Ooh!  Viggo Mortensen...

Commercial Break

6:30 p.m. -- Indeed, Ledger pops up at the end of the montage in a brief shot from "Brokeback Mountain."  Very respectful whistles and applause.
6:26 p.m. -- Josh Brolin waltzes on out looking like the coolest dude in the room and offers up the In Memoriam package.  I think it will include Heath, perhaps at the end.  There's been no mention of Mr. Ledger yet.
6:21 p.m. -- Mickey Rooney comes out, decorated like an army general.  He spoke so long I didn't even realize he was handing out an award.  It's Best Actress in a TV Movie or Mini-Series.  The actor goes to Queen Latifah.  She beat out some distinguished competition there.  And there's something funny about Mickey Rooney saying "Miss Latifah?"
6:19 p.m. -- Ben Foster comes out to introduce the "3:10 to Yuma" clip.  Love that score.  LOVE IT.
6:17 p.m. -- I never saw "The Company."  I need to pop it in the DVD player here soon because, "Jack Frost " or not," Michael Keaton is the bomb.  But it seems Kevin Kline took the cake this evening instead.

Commercial Break

6:13 p.m. -- Boy, Durning's speech really hit the right notes with that crowd.
6:05 p.m. -- Here's Burt Reynolds to talk Durning up some more and give him the Lifetime kudos.  It's actually quite a sincere little speech.  But boy, those eyes are bloodshot.
6:02 p.m. -- Oh yeah!  Durning rocked in "Dog Day Afternoon."
5:56 p.m. -- Denis Leary kicks ass.  "Heloo, friendos.  I'm here to honor my good friend Charles Durning."  Awesome.
5:55 p.m. -- Here's the suit, offering the requisite guild rhetoric.
5:53 p.m. -- Blair Underwood introduces another montage.  At least they're keeping them fairly short.

Commercial Break

5:48 p.m. -- Jenna Fischer, will you marry me?  (How quickly I move on from Marion.)
5:46 p.m. -- "The Office," thank god, takes the ensemble award away from "30 Rock."  I miss that show more and more every week.
5:43 p.m. -- Ruby Dee gets a hell of an applause as she graces the stage to present the "American Gangster" clip.  Maybe she'll win the award for supporting actress?
5:42 p.m. -- Alec Baldwin wins as well.  See next entry.
5:39 p.m. -- Tina Fey wins for a show, the love for which I don't think I'll ever understand.  First mention, I think, of support for the WGA.

Commercial Break

5:31 p.m. -- It's too bad Holbrook wasn't given the opportunity to grace the stage for this performance, but there's always the Oscars.  But Bardem's speech was nonetheless inexpectedly beautiful.
5:29 p.m. -- Javier Bardem
5:28 p.m. -- Marion Cotillard -- strike that -- the beautiful, hope she'll marry me, Marion Cotillard presents Best Supporting Actor.  Big cheer on Holbrook's clip.  And the actor goes to...
5:26 p.m. -- Emile Hirsch and Hal Holbrook get on stage to present the "Into the Wild" clip.  Nice applause.  The tracking of "Guaranteed" over the clip just makes you wonder, yet again, what the hell is wrong with the Academy's music branch.
5:25 p.m. -- Has A3 just been living off the risiduals of "Woke Up This Morning" for the past 8 years?  I know I would.
5:23 p.m. -- Yet another TV award (didn't they used to get some feature stuff in there early on?), and this one is Best Drama Ensemble.  And the winner -- pardon me -- and the actor goes to...(these clips are way too long)...the cast of "The Sopranos."  Hat trick.
5:18 p.m. -- Blair Underwood introduces the first of what looks to be a series of clips celebtrating the 75 year history of the organization.  This one is about the small group of "courageous" actors came together to form the union, yada yada, yada...

Commercial Break

5:12 p.m. -- Another win for "The Sopranos."  Falco says, "This was so not supposed to happen."  Yeah it was, Edie.
5:10 p.m. -- The first clip of the evening is for "Hairpray," presented by John Travolta and an as always bubbly Nikki Blonsky.  If it wins this award...weird.
5:07 p.m. -- Gandolfini takes the win for "The Sopranos."  Totally anticipated, right?  Given the denoument of the series.


And the actors went to...

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The cast of "No Country for Old Men"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Julie Christie, "Away from Her"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Ruby Dee, "American Gangster"

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
The cast of "The Sopranos"

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
The cast of "The Office"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
James Gandolfini, "The Sopranos"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Edie Falco, "The Sopranos"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Tina Fey, "30 Rock"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Kevin Kline, "As You Like It"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Queen Latifah, "Life Support"

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
"The Bourne Ultimatum"

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
"24"

God, I get so tired of E!'s red carpet coverage.  The painful lack of creativity and...

...sorry.  It just makes me want to take a shower more often than not.  What can I say?

I'm kind of buried in the guilty pleasures of "National Treasure" on USA at the moment, so I'm forgetting the red carpet coverage of tonight's SAG awards.  But reading through David Carr's coverage at The Carpetbagger, I noticed that he's reporting "The Bourne Ultimatum" as the winner of that shiny new category, Best Performance by a Stunt Ensemble.  Well deserved.  "24" apparently won on the television side of things.

There was also a line from Ellen Page that made me laugh out loud.  In response to the notion that she doesn't take her work home with her, so to speak, she quipped: "I'm not that Daniel Day about it."  Juno lives.  She breathes.  She walks the red carpet.

Here at homebase this week was a preview of the weeknd's DGA Awards, but now there's also an intensive spread on the Screen Actors Guild ceremony, which will be aired live on TNT Sunday evening.

Bob Verini has the lede, spotlighting the guild's introductory Stunt Ensemble category this year.  The feature film nominees, by the way, are "300," "The Bourne Ultimatum," "I Am Legend," "The Kingdom" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worl'd End."  Kudos to SAG for finally giving these cats some recognition.

Libby McCarthy follows it up with details on the WGA waiver that will allow the show to go on, amidst the SAG's 75th anniversary celebration, while Addie Morfoot juxtaposes the wide array of ages represented by the year's crop of nominees.

Dave McNary gets into the guild's preps for talks, which may or may not end in a strike of their own, and David Mermelstein writes up actor Charles During's upcoming Lifetime Achievement Award.

There's also a timeline of SAG goings-on throughout the years, from 1933 through 2007.  Very interesting that.

Give it a look.

•  Place your bets! [Hollywood Stock Exchange]

•  Sasha Stone previews the DGA race, warns against getting caught up in last minute predictions chaos, and mixes in some other considerations for good measure. [Awards Daily]

•  The DGA Awards, by the way, will be hosted by Carl Reiner. [Variety]

•  We've also got a massive preview of the awards, with looks at peripheral nominees (assistant directors, anyone?), the newbie nature of the group and some huzzahs for DGA attorney Jay Roth. [Variety]

•  An old post, but Jeffrey Wells considers nominations for art direction, cinematography, costume design and score to be "soft" tips of the hat for "Atonement." [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  Tom O'Neil says to bank on Julie Christie at Sunday's SAG Awards.  Lionsgate flooded the screener market again. [Gold Derby]

•  David Carr makes some final observations on the nominations, taking note of the newbies and diversity in the line-up and pointing out that "Into the Wild" deserved "better treatment." [The Carpetbagger]

•  New York Magazine draws humorous parallls between the year's Best Picture nominees and the current political climate. [Vulture]

•  In analyzing this year's nominees, Kyle Smith makes us wonder why he's even in this business. [New York Post]

•  In case you haven't heard, things are looking up for the Oscar telecast. [Variety]

•  Scott Bowles follows it up and digs up some industry chit-chat on alternatives. [USA Today]

•  Finally, A.O. Scott writes up the legacy of Heath Ledger for The Paper of Record. [New York Times]

•  "There Will Be Blood" and "Zodiac" top a critics poll of the year's best. [indieWIRE]

•  Gerard Kennedy surveys the top contenders for Best Original Song. [In Contention]

•  Award Central begins its Golden Globes countdown in the Features department. [Variety]

•  Pete Hammond weighs in on SAG and the blows felt by "Atonement" and "Sweeney Todd" yesterday. [The Envelope]

•  But Tom O'Neil makes sure it's clear that the winner of Best Cast doesn't always forecast the winner of Best Picture. [Gold Derby]

•  And David Poland is bored with the announcement, as usual. [The Hot Blog]

•  Sasha Stone has a comparison chart for contending performances this Oscar season across three awards-giving bodies. [Awards Daily]

•  Gurus 2.0 go on the record again, pre-SAG, having hastily knocked "Into the Wild" down far too many pegs in response to the HFPA near shut-out. [Movie City News]

•  Nathaniel Rogers can't get "Sweeney" tunes out of his head. [The Film Experience]

•  Hank Rosenfeld draws out the similarities between Nicole Kidman's evil Ms. Coulter ("The Golden Compass") and conservative nut-job Ann Coulter. [Los Angeles Times]

•  Scott Bowles gets in some quality time with Daniel Day-Lewis. [USA Today]

•  And a final list of awards designations before the holiday, courtesy of yours truly. [In Contention]

I forgot to mention this in this morning's SAG entry, but the guild added a new category to the roster this year: Best Performance by a Stunt Ensemble.  Here are the introductory nominees:

"300"
"The Bourne Ultimatum"
"I Am Legend"
"The Kingdom"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"

I kind of think it'll come down to "300" and "Pirates" for the win, but that's just because those two films have a lot of people on the screen compared to the other nominees.  We'll see how the category shakes out in its first year.

•  Anne Thompson says the group went indie and may not predict Academy voting behavior. [Thompson on Hollywood]

•  Sasha Stone says "not so much" for "There Will Be Blood," but that doesn't compute since no one expected an ensemble nod and Daniel Day-Lewis remains far and away the Best Actor frontrunner. [Awards Daily]

•  Jeffrey Wells says bah, humbug. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  Ramin Setoodeh calls it the "most confusing year ever."  Kind of, but not so much if you just remember the mantra: critics do not vote for Oscars. [The Gold Digger]

•  Lou Lumenick considers the nominations "most interesting for what was left out." [New York Post]

•  T.L. Stanley says it's "either/or" for awards-giving groups when it comes to "Atonement" and "Into the Wild."  Perhaps over-simplifying, but that's how the stats are coming down this season nonetheless. [Gold Rush]

•  Nathaniel Rogers responds per category with his usual breed of insightful commentary. [The Film Experience]

The Screen Actors Guild announced its list of nominees in five cateogries today, and boy did Focus Features' "Atonement" take a major hit.  The Golden Globe nom leader showed a big goose egg from the actors, leaving some serious doubt for its Best Picture prospects this season.

On the other hand, Paramount Vantage's "Into the Wild" picked up a major head of steam after a weak HFPA showing by grabbing four nods, including a mention for Best Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.  The film led the pack with four nods altogether.

Surprises included Johnny Depp (and his film, "Sweeney Todd") being absent from the roster, the first major mention of the season for Ruby Dee's supporting performance in "American Gangster" and, in a total head-spinner, "3:10 to Yuma" picking up some attention for its enemble.

Regarding the latter, it seems all the hard work Ben Foster and Peter Fonda have been putting into Q&A appearances for the film, not to mention Christian Bale's latest wave of December publicity here in town, paid off in the long run.  I couldn't be happier as I've been waiting patiently for some awards notice for the film all season long.

Typically SAG gets the ladies' categories right when i t comes to forecasting Oscar, especially in the leading category.  So we might have those arenas sewn up.  The fellas' areas are a different bag of tricks, however, seeing past mentions for actors like Russel Crowe ("Cinderella Man"), Don Cheadle ("Crash") and James Garner ("The Notebook") that didn't carry over with AMPAS.  With that in mind, I would personally say the weak spots are Ryan Gosling ("Lars and the Real Girl"), Viggo Mortensen ("Eastern Promises") and Tommy Lee Jones ("No Country for Old Men").

Today's announcement is significant in that it is the first set of nominations to come from the industry rather than critics groups and journalists.  The guilds are where it's at where predicting Oscar is concerned, so stay tuned over the next couple of weeks.

The full list of nominees:

Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"
Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"
Ryan Gosling, "Lars and the Real Girl"
Emile Hirsch, "Into the Wild"
Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises"

Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
Julie Christie, "Away from Her"
Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"
Angelina Jolie, "A Mighty Heart"
Ellen Page, "Juno"

Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"
Hal Holbrook, "Into the Wild"
Tommy Lee Jones, "No Country for Old Men"
Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton"

Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Cate Blanchett, "I'm Not There"
Ruby Dee, "American Gangster"
Catherine Keener, "Into the Wild"
Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"
Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton"

Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
"3:10 to Yuma"
"American Gangster"
"Hairspray"
"Into the Wild"
"No Country for Old Men"

Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
"300"
"The Bourne Ultimatum"
"I Am Legend"
"The Kingdom"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"