Old, but still worth a read for those wondering what veteran scribes make of the ever-shrinking job market for film critics. Joe Morgenstern, Richard Schickel and Andrew Sarris weigh in for Variety‘s David Mermelstein.

There have been all sorts of Internet rumors about Where the Wild Things Are ever since its test screening last year allegedly reduced a handful of adolescents to pants-wetting crybabies. But The Playlist now has confirmed images of the movie’s beasties, straight from director Spike Jonze’s skateboard company. And yes, Jonze really has Wild Things sneakers. I guess he figured if Obama can have his own kicks, then surely he can make some too. Alas, I failed to ask Jonze about this at the recent LAFCA dinner, where he was present.

Yes, it does feature a canine nut chomp and a tumble into a dumpster with bags full of poop, but there’s enough misdirection to mask those expected moments, and Hotel for Dogs, opening today, is actually quite a nice, well-made, adolescent-pitched film — one that “aims up” a bit for 8- to 11-year-olds, and doesn’t suffer for its extra effort.

The ongoing legal dispute between Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox over distribution rights to this March’s Watchmen has, according to Variety, been settled. Warner Bros. retains the right to open the sprawling superhero film that it produced on March 6, as planned, while Fox will emerge with an upfront cash payment that sources peg between $5 million and $10 million, coverage of millions of dollars in legal fees incurred during the case and, more importantly, a gross participation in the film that scales between 5 and 8.5 percent, depending on Watchmen’s worldwide revenues. Fox also participates as a gross player in any sequels and spin-offs, sources said. Ca-ching! Not a bad payout for a film they never had any significant interest in producing.

Over on his new site Hitfix, ex-AICNer Drew McWeeny has an open letter from producer Lloyd Levin about the ongoing Watchmen legal imbroglio between Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox. It’s an interesting, reasoned, passionate (and obviously self-interested) offering, and he gets bonus points for use of the word “obviate.”

For those looking for some off-the-beaten-path selections well assayed, over on A Critical Moment, Brad Schreiber has up an interesting Top 10 films of 2008 list that includes the LAFCA-honored Waltz with Bashir, Mister Foe, the French treat The Girl Cut In Two, The Counterfeiters (last year’s winner for Best Foreign Language Film) and Paul Schrader’s Adam Resurrected. For more, click here.

John Travolta’s 16-year-old son Jett — the one named for the actor’s love of flying, and the one who may or may not have been autistic — has died in a most curious-sounding accident, reportedly after striking his head on a bathtub, possibly after a seizure. An all-around tragedy, to be certain, but the tabloids will have a month-long field day with this one, particularly if they can figure out a way to link to the mystery surrounding Jett’s diagnosis to this mishap — an easy series of dots to connect for the checkout lane set.

The Weinstein Company and Universal Pictures announced today that Quentin Tarantino’s Nazi-scalping, Brad Pitt-starring, World War II epic Inglourious Basterds — which, yes, taking an English-mangling cue from The Pursuit of Happyness, will actually be spelled like that — will open domestically on August 21, 2009. The announcement was made by Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of TWC and David Linde, co-chairman of Universal Pictures, who are partners in the production. The Weinstein Company and Universal are co-financing and co-presenting the film, with TWC handling domestic distribution and Universal handling international distribution. International release dates are still being sorted out.

The Village Voice/L.A. Weekly‘s 2008 film critics poll, based on your typical inverted-point scoring system, is here if you need it. The big winner: Wall▪E.

In addition to its feting of Clint Eastwood and assorted other celebrities, the 20th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival will honor 24-year-old Freida Pinto, of Slumdog Millionaire, with its Breakthrough Performance Award, it was announced today. Presented by Cartier, the festival’s awards gala will kick off the 2009 awards season on Tuesday, January 6, at the Palm Springs Convention Center, and will be hosted by Entertainment Tonight’s
Mary Hart. For more information on the festival, which runs January 6-19, click here.

So when does High School Musical 3 start printing its Blu-ray and DVD-revenue money? February 17, it’s been announced. So, you know, mark your calendars, parents of tweens.

Jennifer Aniston sat for three segments last night on The Late Show, most of which, little shock, was devoted to her private life — awkward if pleasant non-talk about holiday plans, tabloid/cultural scrutiny, current boyfriend John Mayer, and of course that recent nude photo shoot for GQ. The obviously planned capper to all this — Aniston giving David Letterman the very necktie she sports on the cover, sans clothing — was funny, but dragged on a bit too long, with Letterman swapping out ties and Aniston undercutting the pinch of the moment by repeatedly commenting on how “great” it was. For those wondering, Aniston did also briefly mention matriculating at Green Meadow Waldorf, the New York performing arts school made famous by Fame, though she said there weren’t legwarmer-clad impromptu dance-offs, alas.

Ryan Reynolds cut a nice comic figure in the original Van Wilder, elevating the movie despite the presence of Tara Reid. Then Kal Penn took the anarchic collegiate party-planning overseas in Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj, about Wilder’s protégé-turned-playa. Now there’s the announcement of the not-particularly-clamored-for completion of the trilogy, in the form of Van Wilder: Freshman Year, which hits DVD and Blu-ray on March 17 and promises to be “packed with panty raids, wild parties and shocking behavior,” according to the press release. For those wondering, the curiously-eyebrowed Jonathan Bennett (Mean Girls) takes over as “Van the Man,” Kristin Cavallari is the requisite eye candy, and Steve Talley, Kurt Fuller and Linden Ashby costar as Van’s partners in mayhem.

Oldish news by industry standards, I certainly realize, but Bob Yari has placed the releasing division of his Yari Film Group into Chapter 11 reorganization, per Variety and others, which can’t bode well for Brian Goodman’s What Doesn’t Kill You and Rod Lurie’s Nothing But the Truth, two solid, meat-and-potato-type dramas that were trying to use limited, boutique awards qualification runs in New York and Los Angeles to boost long-play theatrical commercial prospects. Also somewhat in peril, just from an available resources point-of-view, is Assassination of a High School President, starring Bruce Willis, which was/for now still is slated for a late February ’09 release.

Philip Seymour Hoffman appeared on The Daily Show last night, in support of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt, and the most interesting portion of his conversation with host Jon Stewart centered around the institutionalized sexism… err, gender-biased hierarchy of the Catholic church, which comprises the backdrop against which the film’s 1960s-set tale of possible sexual abuse unfolds. Hoffman said that was difficult to wrap his mind around, and so the scene where he subtly usurps the power of Meryl Streep’s headmistress nun by sitting in her chair freaked him out and gave him pause because, as he pointed out, “That’s not a nice thing to do — then she won’t like me!”

Following on the heels of his recent feting at the Hollywood Film Festival, the 20th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival will honor Clint Eastwood with its Career Achievement Award, it was announced yesterday. Presented by Cartier, the awards gala will kick off the 2009 awards season on Tuesday, January 6, at the Palm Springs Convention Center, and will be hosted by Entertainment Tonight’s Mary Hart. Said festival chairman Harold Matzner: “Clint Eastwood is a living legend who continually raises the bar of artistic expression with each new film, whether he is acting, directing, or producing. The Palm Springs International Film Festival is honored to present Eastwood with the Career Achievement Award for his extraordinary body of work.” For more information on the festival, which runs January 6-19, click here.

Jaman, a leading global community and online destination for high-definition and quality entertainment, today announced a new partnership with 60Frames to distribute original Internet programming worldwide. “In addition to growing our selection of feature films, one of Jaman’s goals is to increase our library of short-form entertainment,” said Gaurav Dhillon, founder and CEO of Jaman. “60Frames has been a leader in working with both known talent and emerging artists to create unique and highly entertaining original series for the web, and we’re thrilled to showcase their work.”

Some of 60Frames’ titles currently available on Jaman include: Who Cut the Cake?, a conversational comedy set inside the fictional Cooper/Johnson wedding, created by actor Scott Foley; Carpet Bros., a comedy about three brothers running their late father’s carpet business, created by Saturday Night Live writer Matt Piedmont and starring Tim Meadows and David Spade; Lonely Corn Muffin, a dark comedy chronicling the adventures of an ultra-conservative muffin, from South Park scribe Erica Rivinoja; and Tuned In with KCRW, Los Angeles DJ Nic Harcourt’s weekly music show, which showcases new work from favorite cutting-edge bands Dovotchka and Jolie Holland, as well as the legendary Johnny Cash, and others.

The new, revamped web site for Criterion is up and running, with a special orientation video from Jason Polan. One of the more notable innovations involves its online viewing component, which allows for $5, one-week viewing on certain titles, including Lord of the Flies, Sweetie, Fat Girl, Au Revoir Les Enfants, Il Posto and Solaris. It’s not money wasted, either; if viewers like what they see, they then get $5 off a DVD purchase of the same title. For more information on the online offerings, click here.

A Critical Moment’s Brad Schreiber offers up his take on the recently wrapped AFI Fest, including Waltz with Bashir (which I desperately need to work into the screening rotation), Norwegian import O’Horten, Paul Schrader’s Adam Resurrected and Nacho Vigalondo’s Sundance-minted Time Crimes, among others.