As always, I’ll be polling you folks to determine my next Reviews By Request column. To vote, see the poll at the end of the review.

Like many people, my introduction to George Barry’s Death Bed: The Bed That Eats came through the stand-up comedy of Patton Oswalt. In this routine, Oswalt complains about the difficult process of bringing a big-screen project to fruition- writing a script, selling it to a studio, enduring the clueless questions and comments from studio functionaries, and so on. In Oswalt’s mind, Death Bed is forever mocking him- a movie that, despite its lame-brained premise and Z-grade production values, actually got made. Oswalt’s Death Bed bit- like nearly everything he’s done- is hilarious, but it’s also the best advertising Barry could’ve hoped for, turning a long-buried exploitation movie into something of a cult favorite.

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Yesterday we looked at five documentaries I deemed “must-sees” based on their descriptions in the Sundance guide, their trailers (if available) and my own whims and biases. As I mentioned, I will not actually be attending the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, but why should that minor detail prevent me from having an opinion? With any luck I’ll get to see these movies sooner or later anyway, either at other festivals, in regular theatrical release or on DVD. With that in mind, let’s move on to the narrative features:

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The Sundance Institute has announced the lineup of films slated for its U.S. Dramatic Competition, Documentary Competition and World Cinema (both Dramatic and Documentary) Competitions. Says Sundance Director Geoffrey Gilmore, “This year's films are not narrowly defined. Instead we have a blurring of genres, a crossing of boundaries: geographic, generational, socio-economic and the like. The result is both an exhilarating and emotive Festival in which traditional mythologies are suspended, discoveries are made, and creative storytelling is embraced.” Well, I didn’t expect him to say “We’ve got a bunch of derivative crap this year.” Nonetheless, I have scoured the list and found a few intriguing entries:

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Proud Alvin and the Chipmunks star David Cross has gotten Demoted. In the comedy to be director by American Pie 2 autuer J.B. Rogers, former Alias star Michael Vartan "will play Rodney McAdams, a hotshot Treadline Tires sales associate who delights in tormenting his less-than-cool colleague, Ken (Cross)," sez the Hollywood Reporter. "But when their boss suddenly dies, Ken is promoted and assigns Rodney to a secretarial job as payback, giving the male chauvinist a taste of his own medicine." No word yet on whether Patton Oswalt turned down the part first.

Sacha Baron Cohen, who already has that Sherlock Holmes comedy on his plate along with something called Dinner for Schmucks, has sold a pitch for Accidentes to Fox Atomic.

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Over the past week, Dr. Uwe Boll has gotten quite a bit of attention on the 'net, including a number of pieces right here on Screengrab. It seems all of this attention started with a little petition...

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Have you been keeping up with the David Cross flame wars? In case they haven’t edged the primary season off the front page of your local rag, the Observer helpfully brings everyone up to speed, while giving Cross yet another chance to make his case. This is the situation, in brief: David Cross has a supporting role in Alvin and the Chipmunks. Inasmuch as said film is widely perceived as a shoddy piece of kiddie fodder attached to a Christmas merchandising campaign, former fans of the actor-comedian perceived Cross’s appearance in it as a betrayal of his indie cred. (Apparently everyone missed last year’s Curious George, in which Cross essayed a similar role as a beloved cartoon character’s nemesis.)

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