The news:

The contenders for the foreign language Oscar have been whittled down to a short list, which basically eliminated all the favorites (4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days; Persepolis), and at the same time, tossed a number of films with interesting female protagonists (4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days; Persepolis). Films from Russia, Kazakhstan, Canada, Serbia, Italy, Israel, Brazil, and Austria advance; the final nominations will be announced Tuesday.

Sundance kicked off yesterday with the hitmen-on-the-loose-in-a-Belgian-town-known-for-chocolate-&-lace caper In Bruges (written and directed by playwright Martin McDonagh). Salon’s Andrew O’Hehir previews the narrative hot tickets; reviews will continue to roll out at IndieWire and Variety.

Plus, you can watch a new short film for each of the next 10 days at the Sundance website. The first one—an Australian entry about a mildly post-apocalyptic crush—isn’t bad at all.

This week:

Bradley Steinbacher reviews the 9/11 allegory Cloverfield: It’s “a smart, and in many ways groundbreaking, creature feature.”

And in On Screen this week: Cassandra’s Dream (Brad again: “Woody Allen piles on the bleakness, daring to make his two brothers alternately pathetic and unlikable. Unfortunately, the gamble fails”), Mad Money (Christopher Frizzelle: “We would all like to think that Diane Keaton is more than just hats and belts and Woody Allen jokes, that she’s a person with dignity, a person who’s learned from herself, a person who wouldn’t subject herself, and the audience she’s built, to flaming piles of crap, but Mad Money is a flaming pile of crap”), 27 Dresses (me: “So sugary it made my jaw ache. Or maybe I was just clenching my teeth”), and Deep End (Brendan “Gas Huffer” Kiley: “Deep End isn’t as amusing as Harold & Maude nor as smart and rich as Rushmore, but its dark chronicle of young sexual frustration is, perhaps, more memorable”).

Don’t miss Lindy West on Crispin Glover (and drunk assholes) in this week’s Concessions (“Maybe this makes me creepy or snooty or borderline dead inside, but I’m not that freaked out by Crispin Glover and his taboo-smashing ways”). Can’t get enough Crispin? Read Kelly O’s interview from 2006. Can’t get enough Lindy West? The complete Concessions archive can be found here.

Also of interest:

^{Courtesy Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland}

Portland filmmaker Matt McCormick has an installation up at Seattle U’s Lee Center for the Arts on 12th Ave—I previewed it for the visual art section and finally saw it last night. Highly recommended.

Limited runs this week include Steep, Imaginary Witnesses: Hollywood and the Holocaust, and the 16mm Broth of a Boy at Kenyon Hall in West Seattle, plus a Walter Hill series (Hard Times and The Driver) at the Grand Illusion and two great evenings with editor Thelma Schoonmaker at Seattle Art Museum (if you’re picking between them, I recommend the rarer Bluebeard’s Castle on Tuesday, but Scorsese fans shouldn’t miss The Last Temptation of Christ on Wednesday).

For all your movie times needs, see Get Out.