Movie Cricket

Apparently, millions of American high school girls are sleeping through algebra class today.

The Thursday midnight screenings of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" sold as much as $26 million in tickets, according to the Los Angeles Times' "Company Town" blog.

This beats the previous midnight-movie record, set this summer by "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." And that one wasn't on a school night.

It's part of the end-of-year tradition for movie critics: Studios send "for your consideration" screener discs of their Oscar-contending movies.

The first disc of the 2009 season arrived on the Cricket's desk today: "(500) Days of Summer."

The stack may be a bit smaller this season, though. Some distributors are cutting back on the number of screeners they're sending out. The Utah Film Critics Association has already heard from one mini-major distributor that it won't be sending screeners to regional critics groups this year.

All the fangirls are excited for "New Moon," but there are five other movies opening in Utah today — most of them really good.

But first, a word about "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," an overlong and plodding second chapter in Stephenie Meyer's sparkly-vampire franchise — this time with the wishy-washy Bella (Kristen Stewart) getting dumped by vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson) and finding out that her longtime pal Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) is a werewolf. Fans will go, enough to bust the box-office records. (Read about the fan phenomenon here, and read Tribune colleague Sheena McFarland's report from last night's midnight opening here.) The rest of us will stay home.

Two excellent dramas from this year's Sundance Film Festival, each featuring potential Best Actress Oscar nominees, hit town today.

"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" is a gut-wrenching drama of a Harlem teen (played by newcomer Gabourey Sidibe) with everything wrong in her life: Pregnant for the second time by her sexually abusive dad, living with her physically abusive mom (Mo'Nique), illiterate, obese and feeling worthless. The fact that this story is ultimately empowering and hopeful is a testament to Sidibe's performance, and director Lee Daniels' colorful and dynamic touches. (Read the Cricket's interview with Daniels here, and read the Tribune's Ben Fulton's analysis of Sapphire's novel here.)

"An Education" is a deeply literate and moving adaptation of Lynn Barber's coming-of-age memoir, elegantly written by first-time screenwriter Nick Hornby (a novelist whose books include High Fidelity, Fever Pitch and About a Boy) and directed by Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig ("Italian for Beginners"). The story, about a teen (Carey Mulligan) slogging through her exams in 1961 Britain but finding herself enthralled by an older man (Peter Sarsgaard), is a thoughtful tale of love and ambition — and Mulligan's wise and luminous performance makes it worth the look.

Sandra Bullock gives one of her best performances in "The Blind Side," the real-life story of football player Michael Oher (played by Quentin Aaron), who was practically homeless in the Memphis projects when he was taken into the home of Leigh Anne Tuohy (Bullock's character) and her family. Director John Lee Hancock ("The Rookie") softens the hard edges of Oher's life a bit, but the movie remains heartwarming and compelling.

"Five Minutes of Heaven" is an actors' showcase, a two-man duel between Liam Neeson (as a former Protestant paramilitary member in Ulster) and James Nesbitt (as the brother of the man Neeson's character killed 33 years earlier). Directed with precision and understated tension by Oliver Hirschbiegel (who directed the Adolf Hitler drama "Downfall").

Last, and very definitely least, is "Planet 51," a charmless and dull computer-animated tale of an arrogant astronaut (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) who is treated like the alien when he lands on an already inhabited planet.

Read it now: The Cricket's review of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."

Only two stars, alas. Not that it matters. If you're into "Twilight," you were already going. If you're not, you weren't.

The Oscars' documentary shortlist is out — 15 movies vying for the five nominations next year.

Here's the list:

• “The Beaches of Agnes,” Agnès Varda, a self-portrait of the French director and her life.

• “Burma VJ,” Anders Østergaard, following the video activists trying to sneak cellphone footage of military crackdowns in Burma.

• "The Cove,” Louie Psihoyos, the docu-thriller in which the filmmakers sneak into a Japanese coastal town to get the evidence of a secret dolphin slaughter.

• “Every Little Step,” James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, a behind-the-scenes look at auditions for "A Chorus Line."

• “Facing Ali,” Pete McCormack, a look at Muhammad Ali from the view of his opponents.

• “Food, Inc.,” Robert Kenner, an expose of the industrial food industry.

• “Garbage Dreams,” Mai Iskander, a look at the lives of Egyptian trash collectors.

• “Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders,” Mark N. Hopkins, following four volunteers in the humanitarian group in war-torn regions of Liberia and Congo.

• “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers,” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, a profile of the Pentagon insider who leaked the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times.

• “Mugabe and the White African,” Andrew Thompson and Lucy Bailey, about a white farmer in Zimbabwe who challenges President Robert Mugabe's land-reform law when the government tries to take his farm.

• “Sergio,” Greg Barker, a biography of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the rescue effort to save him from a car-bombing in Baghdad.

• “Soundtrack for a Revolution,” Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, a look at the civil-rights movement through the music of the era.

• “Under Our Skin,” Andy Abrahams Wilson, about the spread of Lyme disease — and what the film argues is a corrupt health-care system that ignored it for years.

• “Valentino The Last Emperor,” Matt Tyrnauer, a fond biography of the famed fashion designer.

• “Which Way Home,” Rebecca Cammisa, which follows child migrant workers through Mexico, trying to get into the United States.

The Oscar nominations will be announced Feb. 2.

UPDATE: Notable snubs: This year's Sundance winner "We Live in Public," the rock doc "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" and Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story."