Steve Buscemi

CHICAGO – Just before the Oscar nominations for 2009 were to be announced, a few pundits went out on a limb and predicted that not only would Oren Moverman’s “The Messenger” be nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Woody Harrelson) and Best Original Screenplay but that it would also find its way into several more categories, including even Best Picture.

CHICAGO – There is no Blu-ray justice. The great “Escape From New York” sits unavailable in HD, along with dozens of other great movies of its era, but the vastly inferior sequel “Escape From L.A.” lands on the format this week. “L.A.” isn’t a horrible film, but it works mostly because of the goodwill created by love for the original, which makes that film’s unavailability on the format all the more bewildering.

CHICAGO – Ben Foster has stolen scenes in works as diverse as “Six Feet Under,” “Freaks and Geeks,” “3:10 to Yuma,” and “Alpha Dog,” but he truly shines in the spotlight of the lead role in “The Messenger,” giving the best performance of his career to date.

CHICAGO – NBC sent over the first two episodes of the fourth season of the Emmy-winning “30 Rock” and, believe it or not, the show may actually be better than when it left the air last spring. Tonight’s premiere is good but next week’s episode is even better with some of the strongest comedy writing of the year to date and amazing work by the standard cast and one of their most talented regular guest stars, Will Arnett.

CHICAGO – The new movie trailer and poster for the upcoming comedy “Youth in Revolt” with Michael Cera have been released and appear below for your indulgence.

CHICAGO – Happy Chicago Pride Day from HollywoodChicago.com! Attached are two videos featuring HollywoodChicago.com staff writer Patrick McDonald with overviews on four gay-themed films: “Parting Glances” (1986), “Cruising” (1980), “Desert Hearts” (1985) and “Stonewall” (1995).

CHICAGO – Chicago’s John Cusack will play a mad scientist’s hunchbacked lab assistant in the animated feature film “Igor” from The Weinstein Company.