Mid-December has arrived, and with that comes the inevitable flood of best-of lists. The Washington Area Film Critics’ Association has, for the previous five years of its existence, been in the habit of trying to get their own list out ahead of most of the other critics’ societies. We can’t really blame them. Considering the fact that none of the critics from the city’s biggest newspaper are members, not to mention the fact that the…

It must be hard out there for a Washington film critic. You’ve got big-city cinema dreams, but you’re stuck in a town where politics is usually the order of the day. The number of people who turn to you as the last word in quality filmmaking is probably frustratingly small considering the size of the media market you’re working in. So what are our humble D.C. area film critics to do? Well, as we’ve noted…

This Sunday, celebrity fashion will be mocked, pools of nominees will be pored over, and Chris Rock will be unleashed to lambaste an unsuspecting Hollywood. It’s time for the Oscars — that four-plus-hours long glitz fest that transfixes the entertainment world once a year. While it may seem half a world away from Washington, D.C., at least one local company, State of the Art, Inc., will be among the contenders vying for Academy recognition. State…