With the news that the musical score from The Dark Knight has been disqualified from Academy Awards consideration on the grounds that too many people were credited with composing it, outrage against the Academy's stringent, complicated rules has erupted afresh. In the interest of fueling this indignation and making the world an angrier place, let's take a belligerent march down memory lane and look at seven other controversial disqualifications.

The Jazz Singer disqualified for being a talkie. When the very first Academy Awards were held in May 1929, honoring films released between August 1927 and July 1928, everyone was talking about The Jazz Singer -- the first feature-length movie to use recorded sound in some of its talking and singing scenes. So great was the attention that the Academy disqualified the film from the inaugural Best Picture category, reasoning that its use of sound put it on an uneven playing field against the films still stuck in silence. Instead, the Academy gave Warner Bros. a special award "for producing The Jazz Singer, the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry." It's true, too! I don't know if you've noticed, but pretty much all movies nowadays have talking in them.

Young Americans disqualified from Best Documentary category ... after it already won. Whoops. This is a sad case, and a unique one. The documentary, about the peppy Young Americans show choir, won the Oscar at the 1969 ceremony for being the best feature-length documentary of 1968. But a few weeks later, the Academy discovered that the film had screened at a theater in October 1967, making it eligible for that year's awards and not for 1968. The Academy actually took back the Oscar statues from the filmmakers, Alex Grasshoff and Robert Cohn, and gave the award to the film that had been first runner-up. When Grasshoff died earlier this year, his widow told the Los Angeles Times how heartbroken he'd been. Can you imagine?

If you happen to already be of the opinion that Michael Moore is not the lovable man of the people he appears to be, then this news probably won't be changing your feelings about him anytime soon. One month after Moore offered up free downloads of his latest documentary, Slacker Uprising, Torrent Freak reports that "In a letter dated September 25th, lawyers representing Westside Productions LLC, owner of the Slacker Uprising copyright sprang into action, demanding the removal of a torrent linking to the movie from any and all international sites."

Moore's latest was compiled of footage from his recent college tour -- a tour in which he traveled to colleges in the so-called 'swing states' to speak to students in an attempt to energize young voters. The film is a re-edited version of Moore's 2007 doc, Captain Mike Across America, which screened at TIFF in '07 to lukewarm reviews. Moore initially said the reason behind the free download was both a reward to fans who have supported him over the years, as well as a way to get out his message prior to the upcoming presidential election.

The download was offered only to those living in the US and Canada, but it didn't take long for the film to start popping up on numerous torrent sites outside of North America. Moore's lawyers inexplicably sent their letter to the DNS service (easyDNS) of one of the international sites pirating the flick, which is not required to comply with US law. A co-founder of easyDNS responded to Moore's lawyers with the following: "...Anybody with half a clue knows the net doesn't work like that. In any case, I've sent them our standard 'we're not the web host, we're just the lowly DNS service', but I did point out this seeming contradiction in Michael Moore's message vs. his lawyer's actions."

So while Moore may have every right to control how his film is distributed, maybe someone should have explained that old saying about the internet and pee in a pool.

The latest documentary from Michael Moore will be released exclusively online beginning September 23. FOR FREE. Yes, that's right, and it's a dream come true for both Moore's fans and those millions of anti-fans that despise him. For the followers it's obviously good because they don't have to wait very long to own a copy of the movie. For the enemies it's good because they can check out the movie without giving the man a dime. Or be witnessed buying a ticket.

The 97-minute film is titled Slacker Uprising (formerly Captain Mike Across America), and it's about Moore's 62-city tour during the 2004 presidential election, as he attempts to rally young "slacker" voters. The premise doesn't sound quite as intriguing as his last election-year release, Fahrenheit 9/11 -- which may be part of the reason this one is not receiving a proper theatrical opening. But Moore also says this method is particularly to thank his fans as the 20th anniversary of Roger & Me approaches.

For everyone who's ever watched a bad movie and thought, "If this is what they produced, I wonder what they threw away?," the Village Voice has found an answer. In an amusing and fascinating article posted today, reporter Tony Ortega says he and a buddy accidentally stumbled across a recycling bin full of paper from Harvey Weinstein's office -- and not just from the office, but from Weinstein's own desk. Ortega proceeds to tell us all the juicy details he learned about the daily work of a movie mogul.

So what is Harvey Weinstein throwing away? Lots of copies of screenplays, naturally, as well as daily sheets (prepared by an assistant, no doubt) listing phone calls he needs to make or return. As you might imagine, the roster of people seeking Weinstein's attention is staggering, with actors, agents, lawyers, producers, and reporters all vying for his time. Michael Moore called him on April 25 and Weinstein didn't return the call for over a month. I'd say being able to ignore Michael Moore for a full month is the very definition of power.

Strangely, Weinstein's e-mails are printed out for him to peruse. (Maybe he gets eye strain from looking at a computer monitor? Maybe he just likes wasting paper?) There were some pretty interesting tidbits in the copies he tossed, including lots of stuff about the Weinstein-produced Project Runway, if you're into that.

If you read any part of that draft of W., Oliver Stone's Bush biopic, which hit the net a few months back, you might think it ludicrous for the film to be likened to Shakespeare. But Stone himself has done so, as part of an L.A. Times set visit interview. Lumped in with a quote in which Stone also contrasts the project to the work of Michael Moore, the Oscar-winning director's statement is in response to the film's level of seriousness: "W. isn't an overly serious movie, but it is a serious subject. It's a Shakespearean story. . . . I see it as the strange unfolding of American democracy as I have lived it."

The Times piece, which reports from Shreveport, Louisiana, where Independence Bowl stadium fills in for the Texas Rangers' Arlington Stadium, is very filling for anyone with an appetite for more W. updates. Included are a description of and dialogue from a scene between George W. Bush (Josh Brolin) and George H.W. Bush (James Cromwell), details on a "baseball-oriented fantasy" sequence, Brolin stating that he's not out to do a SNL-style caricature and admitting his initial hesitance to take on the role, a general overview of the project's coming together, and, best of all, a picture (seen, cropped, above) of Brolin as the future Commander in Chief looking like he's just had the crap beaten out of him. Also a fact I'd somehow never known prior to reading the article: Stone was "briefly a Yale classmate of Bush."

Because Michael Moore can't make enough movies to piss people off 24/7, we fortunately have people like Bill Maher, whose new anti-religious documentary, Religulous, hits theaters this fall. Of course, Maher has said that he shouldn't be compared to Moore, whom he considers to be a genius. Plus, Maher didn't direct the film, Larry Charles, of Borat, Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm fame, did. But in the same way that Al Gore is credited with An Inconvenient Truth, Maher, who hosted one of my favorite shows of the past (Politically Incorrect) and currently hosts HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher (which I've never seen, because I don't have HBO), will be continually given credit for this film. No matter who gets the higher billing, though, it's certain that Religulous is going to be hilarious thanks to the talents of both gentlemen.
Now, to help promote the film and presumably to get people either laughing or offended a few months early, Maher has unleashed a new website called Disbeliefnet.com. It seems to be part satire, part examination of the world's religions, part blog of religion-related news and part movie marketing. Movie fans might want to check out the grouping of clips/trailers from films detailing the endless suffering of Jews. Personally, my favorite gag is the "Donate Now" button that goes to a randomly chosen religion's donation form. Now I can give to everyone equally with ease.

And speaking of equal coverage, Maher and Charles' film seems to touch on all the major and minor religions of the world, bringing their "guerilla" shooting style into places cameras have supposedly never been before. But if the film doesn't focus any attention on your religion, don't worry: you can be offended about not being able to get offended. Or something.

Religious opens October 3rd.

Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 was pretty good as far as anti-Bush jeremiads go, but it ended with a cliffhanger. Would George W. Bush be reelected in 2004 despite all the reasons Moore laid out for his dismissal? Or would he overcome the odds, focus the campaign on silly non-issues, and get lucky by having a weak, boring opponent?

We know what wound up happening, and now Variety reports that Moore is making a sequel, as yet untitled but scheduled for release around this time next year. (There's a chance it'll premiere at Cannes, like Fahrenheit and Sicko did.) Moore is working with Paramount Vantage and Overture Films this time around, splitting from the Weinstein Company, which distributed his last two films. We're guessing he wasn't happy with the way Sicko underperformed and has struck out for new territory.

So what will the Fahrenheit sequel cover? Everything that's happening since the last film, apparently. It's interesting how much things have changed in four years. In 2004, Bush and the Iraq War were not terribly popular, but they both had enough supporters to get him reelected. Now, Bush's approval rating is at a record low -- and I mean it's a record not just for him but for all presidents since the polling began -- and a majority of Americans feel the war was a mistake and should be ended ASAP. All of which means Moore's new film will probably find a larger, more receptive audience than the last one did.

It was a damn fine year for movies, 2007. It's hard enough picking 10 top flicks from the crop after a just-decent year, so the task was especially tricky this time around. (At least at Moviefone we're able to pick the 50 best.) That's why I'm thankful for the unwritten critics' rule that Top 10 lists can start with a tie, so long as there's common thematic bond between them. Here are my 11 10 favorite movies of the 007.

10. Tie: Dan in Real Life / Grace is Gone (Widower Special)
What can I say, I'm a sucker for widowers. Some critics found the loving family in Steve Carell's poignant dramedy Dan unrealistic. I feel sorry for some critics. Plot contrivances aside, it succeeds both in capturing the dynamics of a large clan and telling a helluva love story. In a career-best performance in Grace, John Cusack is a flag-waving father of two whose wife is killed in Iraq. This tear-jerking drama might be misconstrued as a political statement, but finally it's a heartrending tale of human loss.

9. Hot Fuzz
Yes, this hilarious send-up of (tribute to?) Bruckheimer schlock tops Shaun of the Dead, the brilliant debut from Brits Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright. Whereas Shaun's first hour is pure bliss, it loses some steam in the third act. Fuzz gets better as it speeds along, offering up surprises and side-splitters in equal measure. Really, who would've thought anyone would ever pay homage to Bad Boys II?

8. No End in Sight
As you can surmise from the title, this ain't exactly a sunshiney look at the Iraq War. But it's the most thorough, eye-opening detailing of the mega-blunders made the Bush Administration in planning and executing the war to date (so THAT'S where the insurgency came from!), with nary a Michael Moore stunt in sight. Prepared to be educated, maddened.

7. Ratatouille
Like I've been saying it for a while now: The machines at Pixar appear to be challenging themselves more and more with each release: "What DON'T audiences think they'll fall in love with? How about a rat who cooks? Better yet, a French rat!" And of course, after 111 minutes of Pixar magic, most of us left with a newfound respect for rodents. (Reminds me of '91 when I saw Beauty and the Beast; haven't been afraid of beasts since.)

6. Superbad
Forget Knocked Up. Forget Walk Hard. This deliciously raunchy buddy comedy/love story will stand the test of time and prevail as the most influential Apatow movie of '07, defining a generation like Dazed and Confused and Fast Times at Ridgemont High did before it. Here's hoping Christopher Mintz-Passe (a.k.a. McLovin) will ever be able to convincingly play another character, though I wouldn't mind more McLovin.

Jeffrey Blitz had enormous success with his debut film Spellbound. It is the 14th highest grossing documentary (better than it sounds; it made more than $7 million worldwide, while most docs never break $1 million), it was nominated for an Academy Award and it has lasting acclaim (it's #4 on IDA's list of all-time best docs). So it's OK that his follow-up, the fiction film Rocket Science, only made a tenth of what Spellbound grossed (yeah, that means it didn't break $1 million -- but it did win Blitz a directing award at Sundance). You can't hit the jackpot twice, right? Well, Blitz might know best, since he's returning to non-fiction for a documentary about the lottery. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film is expected to finish in time for a 2008 release, it's being produced by Peter Saraf (Little Miss Sunshine) and it currently has no title.

The doc apparently won't be much of an investigation into the industry, at least not in the scrutinizing vein of Michael Moore or Morgan Spurlock. As Saraf has said: "It's not the Fahrenheit 9/11 of lotteries," which is pretty disappointing considering I heard that lotto winners collect their money for a few years and then some guy with a bat comes to their house and convinces them they don't need anymore money. I'm sure that is just a rumor/urban legend, but I'd like a film to tell me for sure. The film will focus partially on the lives of winners, though, particularly on how those lives have changed or not changed since winning. Other people interviewed for the doc include obsessive players who have never won, and Saraf assures us that Blitz is far more interested in the people than in the industry. If you've seen Spellbound, you can kind of imagine what the lotto film will be like. But will he ever be able to find a subject as interesting as his little poster boy, Harry Altman?

I was a little hard on the International Press Academy last year, but they made some ridiculous decisions when handing out their Satellite Awards. Still, at least they came off as being different than every other year-end awards giver by picking winners like Joseph Cross and X-Men: The Last Stand (best comedic actor and best editing, respectively). Those are at least some interesting, unpredictable picks, right? This year, I feel the need to be harder on the organization, because it's gone totally predictable in honoring No Country for Old Men, Juno, Sicko, American Gangster, Ratatouille, Diablo Cody and Christopher Hampton, among others. The actors they honored -- Marion Cotillard, Viggo Mortensen, Ellen Page, Ryan Gosling, Tom Wilkinson/Casey Affleck (tied) and Amy Ryan -- aren't all the most obvious choices, but they aren't shocking, either. Couldn't they have at least gone with nominee Clive Owen or his nominated "comedy or musical" Shoot 'Em Up (!?!?!?), or something?

Not that the winners aren't deserving, but what good is yet another awards ceremony if it's not going to distinguish itself from the Golden Globes, which are the Satellite's unrecognized yet unmistakable "baby daddy". Yeah, the Hollywood Foreign Press will likely go with some other winners, but they won't seem that different. Again, I do salute the IPA for having a documentary category, though it wouldn't have hurt to give The King of Kong its one possible prestigious(?) award -- not that it was actually a better film than fellow nominee No End in Sight. Also, it's always enjoyable to see what the IPA picks for best DVDs (The Prestige for overall; Borat and Masters of Horror Season 1 (tied) for extras; Ratatouille for youth-oriented; Ken Burns' The War for documentary; The Graduate 40th Anniversary Edition for classic). For the rest of the nominees and winners, head over to Variety.

According to the International Documentary Association, the best doc of 2007 is one that the Oscar people don't even think is good enough to be on the list of potential nominees. It's A Walk to Beautiful (pictured), a Brazil-produced U.S.-produced story about five Ethiopian women in search of medical care, and it beat out Sicko, Crazy Love, Taxi to the Dark Side, and Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience to win the top prize at the IDA's awards ceremony Friday night.

In the category for short docs (under 40 minutes), the winner was A Son's Sacrifice, about a young American Muslim whose father operates a New York City slaughterhouse. There was also a new category, the Alan Ett Music Documentary Award, given to the film that best uses music. The winner was We Are Together (Thina Simunye), about the children at a South African orphanage who lift their spirits by singing.

Documentary filmmaking often encompasses news reporting, which leads to the Courage Under Fire award, given to reporters who put themselves in harm's way to get important stories. This year's recipient was CNN's Christiane Amanpour, whose The War Within was a special report on Islamic unrest in the U.K.

If Michael Moore was disappointed that his Sicko didn't win its category, he was probably comforted by being given the IDA's career achievement award. That prize had been previously announced, as had several others, including one for Spike Lee's Hurricane Katrina doc When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts. It won the Pare Lorentz Award, named for the pioneering documentarian and given to films that carry on his activist spirit.

So what's the deal with A Walk to Beautiful? It's played at about a dozen film festivals and will be broadcast on PBS next spring. The film's website indicates they'd love to get a theatrical distributor, too, but no one's bought it yet. The only review I can find is in this article, where it is highly praised.

UPDATE: Sorry, folks, I messed a couple things up. First, the film was U.S.-produced, not Brazil. Second, the film was not eligible for the Oscars because it had not yet been released theatrically. The director, Mary Olive Smith, tells us it will get its Oscar-qualifying run in New York in January, and will thus be eligible for the following year's Academy Awards.

What surprises were on Oscar's shortlist for Best Documentary? Which worthy contenders didn't make the cut? How is the documentary field changing in the face of new technologies? Does "Reality TV" really have an effect on documentary audiences? And is Michael Moore's long shadow finally moving on after years of looming over the field? Joining James this time on The Rocchi Review is journalist and performer Tamara Krinsky -- the Associate Editor of Documentary Magazine and the co-host of "That Indie Film Show" on Iklipz.com. You can download the entire podcast right here -- and we hope you enjoy; those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

IFP's 17th annual Gotham Awards were held Tuesday night in Brooklyn, honoring the best in independent film for 2007. With only six categories, the Gothams seem like a pretty reasonable alternative to the bloated spectacles of certain other award ceremonies I could name.

Sean Penn's Into the Wild (pictured) took Best Picture honors, beating out Great World of Sound, I'm Not There, Margot at the Wedding, and The Namesake. Michael Moore's healthcare exposé Sicko won Best Documentary, up against The Devil Came on Horseback, Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains, My Kid Could Paint That, and Taxi to the Dark Side.

Since this is the first awards event of the season, a victory here could be seen as a good sign for the Golden Globes and Oscars. Sicko was probably a shoo-in for an Oscar nod anyway, but Into the Wild definitely needed the boost, since the field of excellent films this year is especially crowded.

The Best Ensemble Cast category had some heavyweights -- Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, The Last Winter, Margot at the Wedding, The Savages, and Talk to Me -- and apparently the juries couldn't choose, because Before the Devil and Talk to Me shared the award.

Craig Zobel was named Breakthrough Director for his music-biz satire Great World of Sound, which had more nominations (three) than any other film. Juno's Ellen Page took the Breakthrough Actor award.

The sixth category is my personal favorite: Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You, honoring a flick that's been well-received at festivals but that hasn't gotten distribution yet. The winner was Frownland, Ronald Bronstein's dyspeptic do-it-yourself quasi-comedy about a neurotic, stammering mess of a man. I saw it at South By Southwest and loathed every frame of it; others have adored it. It's that kind of movie.

The Hollywood Reporter has more details on the ceremony itself, which also included tributes to Roger Ebert, director Mira Nair, actor Javier Bardem, production designer Mark Friedberg, IFC Center founder Jonathan Sehring, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The ceremony will be broadcast on NYC TV and The Documentary Channel on Dec. 4 and 8.