For his follow up to Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle announced today, he will make 127 Hours, the story of a hiker who spent five days trapped under a boulder until he amputated his own arm to escape. That pitch may not be the sort of thing people generally think of when looking for thrilling real life stories to brought to life on the big screen, but if Hollywood is now open to the great moments of tedium or mundanity of human experience, we thought we'd take a look around and find what other gems are sitting out there today, just ready for their close ups.

TSARFACE: When a new President appoints special advisers to co-ordinate different departments of the federal government, one brave Senator says enough is enough and dares to introduce an amendment that would give Congress oversight over the villainous practice.

DUDE, I DO THIS EVERY NIGHT: One man drives drunk for years without incident, until at last, he is pulled over.

HANDS DOWN: In a time of influenza, a former public health commissioner dares to speak the truth about people who dont cover their mouths when they sneeze.

BLOGAGGEDON!: A showbiz blogger calls other showbiz's bloggers' Oscar predictions a bunch of hooey. Recriminations ensue, at other blogs and in the comments section.

SEXJACKED: Seeking only to provide for his family, an Australian cabbie finds his quiet evening is turned into a nightmare when a couple makes him get out of hs taxi so they can have sex in it.

And this is all just one day's news! As art has taught us through the ages, real life truly is the stuff of great art, when properly packaged.

• As earning seasons reporting continued, NewsCorp came out on the winning side of the ledger, with profits up 11 percent in the past quarter with the picture for broadcast turning around. "The best results we've seen in seven quarters," is how Rupert Murdoch described the broadcast numbers. The company's dark cloud in the cheer: MySpace, which is failing to meet the deliverables in its deal with Google. "With MySpace, we are in a state of transition," was how NewsCorp's CEO described the once mighty social networking site's search for a new raison d'etre. And you know how those states of transition go online...[Variety]

• Taking those numbers with others from this earnings season, The Wrap is ready to call it a "media rebound." [The Wrap]

• Just when he seemed to be getting a head of steam on a good post-Oscar win bout of paralysis and indecision, one of Hollywood's finest traditions, director Danny Boyle has cut the party short by announcing his next film. And what could be a more obvious story to tell than 127 Hours, the true tale of a hiker trapped under a boulder who eventually cuts his arm off to escape? [Variety]

• The troubled pre-season of The Tourist may now have a A list team attached. Johnny Depp is in talks to star opposite Angelina Jolie in the film. Earlier star Sam Worthington and director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck both removed themselves from the project over "creative differences." [Variety]

• Continuing the Jackson watch, the movie has thus far brought in $125 million internationally. [The Wrap
]

• Disney has settled the lawsuit brought against it by the makers of the Luxo Jr. lamp that has become the Pixar trademark. Rather than celebrating the celebrity brought to it by its high profile association, the Swedish company that manufactures Luxo sued for trademark infringement after Pixar included copies of the lamp in special editions of the Up dvd's, saying Pixar's unauthorized use of their product would "cause devastating damage to Luxo and dilute the goodwill which Luxo has built up." [Hollywood Reporter]

After they were sent on a whirlwind tour of Disneyland and Universal Studios on Oscar weekend, the real-life Mumbai slum kids, who, really, are the movie (sorry Dev and Freida), faced the prospect of returning to their homes, situated near open sewers or consisting of one rotten mattress shared by the whole family. But now Danny Boyle, the film's director, along with one of the producers, has announced that the kids and their families will be moved into apartments worth about £20,000 (that's seven hundred billion American dollars). Then the government said "fuck it, let's give 'em houses" because they're national heroes and, careful, white people are looking—some say it's a political maneuver done in a lead-up to elections, but whatever. The kids will also have trusts set up in their names and be provided with guaranteed rickshaw transportation (seriously) between home and school. The hope being, of course, that they'll get a proper education.

So, yeah, good. I guess. It reminds us of those poor kids in The Kite Runner—that film about hope and dreams and Afghanistan and kites. They were plucked from obscurity in Kabul, then threatened with death after the film was released, partly because one of their characters was raped in the film. Then Paramount swooped in and saved the day, ferrying the children to a new life in Dubai, estranging them from their parents. There was a small outcry—they rarely get very loud when they're about poor brown Muslims—and people demanded that since Paramount had exploited them in pursuit of really authenticity, they owed it to the children to support them in whatever way they required. That was two years ago, though, and now we don't really hear anything about those lost people.

And now it looks as though the Slumdog kids are getting the same worried, hand-wringing treatment. An NGO worth about £500,000 is being set up by the producers and distributors of the film to help all the children of Mumbai's disastrous slums. And I guess there really isn't any other answer here, other than that in the end, Danny Boyle and the rest will go home, and will have to hang up their hopes for these kids on some out-of-the-way hook. So they can keep on with their lives. Because what else can you do. As my boss said, at least Boyle and company didn't blind the kids before putting them to work. No, they left them young and cute and opened a strange side door to a new, tenuous future.

Image of Rubina Ali from AP

Instead, Fox Searchlight's critical/commercial darling hoarded seven more trophies, including that for Best Picture and honors for director Danny Boyle, screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle and composer A.R. Rahman. All continue to be favored for Oscar night, as does Kate Winslet, who won Best Actress for The Reader. Mickey Rourke broke further away from Sean Penn, winning for The Wrestler and continuing his Sort-Of-Humble Comeback Tour '08-'09 by thanking director Darren Aronofsky for casting him despite "fucking up my career for 15 years."

The evening continued (mostly) predictably elsewhere as well: Benjamin Button went 3-for-11, winning only for production design, make-up and visual effects. Heath Ledger, Penelope Cruz and WALL-E each topped their respective categories, while In Bruges's unlikely awards-season resurgence continued with a Best Original Screenplay prize for Martin McDonagh. He'll again face off against Milk's Dustin Lance Black — without the European home-field advantage — at the Oscars. Enjoy that rare competitive category; the rest, as they say, is written.

• Unstoppable 'Slumdog' wins at BAFTA Awards [LAT]

The man behind Slumdog Millionaire won Best Director at the weekend ceremony, which didn't even have Sean Young to drunkenly mix up the proceedings. Instead, it was all class and dignity, as per Boyle's usual, thanking the defunct Warner Independent for offloading his Indian fantasia to Fox Searchlight and intoning humbly to up-and-comers: "If I can get here, so can you. Dream kind, and dream hard." That was little consolation to David Fincher, whose polished and practiced Rimjob Address remained sequestered in his tux for the next to last time; he and fellow nominees Ron Howard and Gus Van Sant will, in all likelihood, watch Boyle pick up a directing Oscar three weeks from now.

In slightly less foregone conclusions, Ari Folman won the Best Foreign-Language Film prize for his animated doc Waltz With Bashir, while Paul Feig (The Office) and Dan Attias (The Wire received the respective awards for TV comedy and drama directing. Jay Roach won the TV movie prize for Recount.

But... sigh. Boyle. Again. Comments and suggestions for enlivening Oscar-night viewing are welcome below; we're stumped for now.

• Danny Boyle nabs DGA feature award [Variety]

Boyle and his film won five awards Thursday night at the annual Broadcast Film Critics Association honors, including Best Picture, Director, Writer, Composer, and "Young Actor/Actress" Dev Patel. Sean Penn claimed Best Actor for Milk while Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway shared Best Actress for Doubt and Rachel Getting Married, respectively; Heath Ledger's Best Supporting Actor prize was perhaps overshadowed by the only remotely surprising honor of the evening, Kate Winslet's Supporting Actress kudos for The Reader. WALL-E, Man On Wire, Waltz With Bashir, etc etc., you know how these things go. Here's the complete list; only another month-and-a-half of this to go.

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor: Sean Penn, Milk
Best Actress: Meryl Streep, Doubt & Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married (tie)
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Best Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader
Best Writer: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Foreign Language Film: Waltz With Bashir
Best Animated Film: WALL-E
Best Documentary: Man On Wire
Best Acting Ensemble: Milk
Best Young Actor/Actress: Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Composer: A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Song: "The Wrestler," by Bruce Springsteen (The Wrestler)
Best Action Film: The Dark Knight
Best Comedy Movie: Tropic Thunder

• 'Slumdog' is the Critics' Choice [LAT]

We think this falls into the "content is king" model evinced recently by Alan Horn, Barry Meyer and the higher-ups at Time Warner — as in, "This content is kind of terrible... Do we really have to release this?" At least that's the impression Horn apparently left with LAT BFF Patrick Goldstein:

Horn was honest about his assessment of the film. "I think it's a well-made picture, but while it's funny in spots, it's very English," he said. "I don't think it's broadly commercial. It feels like a film that deserves a spirited release, but not a wide one. Joel has an 800-screen deal, which we'll honor, but we might not be willing to spend the marketing money he wants us to."

Horn shrugged. "I guess I'm in a shocking state of equanimity," he said. "The filmmakers have every right to do what they think is best in support of their movies. But we have the right to do what's best for Warner Bros. Sometimes the pursuit of those interests results in a disagreement. For now, we're preparing to release the film in October, but I don't see it starting out on 800 screens. If Joel is thinking there is someone out there willing to spend twice as much money as we're willing to, I'm sure he will pursue that."

Director Danny Boyle's Indian adventure Slumdog Millionaire is apparently also on the block after a $5 million acquisition last year by Warner Independent, but Horn insists Warners isn't backing up the dump truck just yet: "I'd like for us to find a way to release movies like Slumdog Millionaire, but we keep coming back to the same question — can we really do it justice?" Translation: "Throw this negative in Joel's moving truck on your way off the lot, will you?" Sure, Alan — anything for you, babe.

• Warners' films: Movie overboard! [LAT]