Heath Ledger was found dead this afternoon in New York City, and police have said that drugs may have been a factor in the death of the "Brokeback Mountain" star.

"The Dark Knight," the latest film in the "Batman" franchise, in which Ledger stars as the Joker, is scheduled for release July 18. That film is in post-production, which means it is in the editing process and all scenes should have been shot by now.

This was already going to be one of the biggest movie releases of this year. The hype surrounding the film now is going to be that much bigger.

The nominations for the Oscars were announced early this morning without many surprises.

"No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood," which both received eight nominations each, will inspire great debate over the next month and probably duke it out for best picture.

Oscar nominations will be announced tomorrow morning and some form of ceremony will take place to celebrate the winners on Feb. 24.

That means you've got just over a month to do some homework.

Entertainment Weekly recently suggested a list of the 25 movies you should watch before Oscar Night.

Many people have seen quite a bit of Charles Foster Kane in "There Will Be Blood" - Paul Thomas Anderson's widely-praised story of a self-made oil tycoon.

After seeing the movie, I can't disagree. Surely Daniel Day Lewis, who is thrilling as the film's anti-hero, puts in the best acting performance of the year. You spend the first hour and a half of the movie rooting for his character to succeed, only to find yourself despising him more and more as the film draws to a close.

But it's not just Day Lewis' Golden Globe-winning performance that allows you to see what the hype surrounding this film is all about.

The latest film from the king of the zombie movie genre, George Romero, is scheduled for limited release in the U.S. on Feb. 15.

The movie, called "Diary of the Dead," is about a group of film students making a horror movie who encounter actual zombies. What luck! The trailer for the film just made it to YouTube recently.

Don't expect to watch the Golden Globe awards being announced on live television this year.

The ceremony, which was scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 13, was cancelled by NBC on Monday due to the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike. The big question is: Will the Oscars be next?

Several of my co-workers have pointed out the recently released "Dark Knight" trailer. For those of you that don't know, that would be the latest "Batman" movie starring Christian Bale as Batman and Heath Ledger as the Joker. The movie is due in theaters July 18.

Check out this MTV article that breaks down the trailer.

If you go to the movies this weekend and decide on "Atonement," keep your eyes peeled for the much-discussed 5.5-minute tracking shot near the middle of the movie where Robbie (played by James McAvoy) lands on France's Dunkirk beach.

A tracking shot is one that is done in a single take using one moving camera. What's the big deal with that? It's pretty tough if the camera operators have to dodge 1,000 extras plus a number of horses and vehicles - all while moving across a beach.

CNN ran an interesting Associated Press article on the film, which said the shot required a "sizable chunk" of the film's $30 million production budget.

I finally got around to seeing "I'm Not There," the Bob Dylan biopic, last night at the final showing of its run at the Flicks.

As a Dylan fan, I enjoyed it in spite of how disjointed it was (six different actors play various incarnations of Bob). But a film with a cameo from one of my favorite bands (My Morning Jacket), a performance by one of my favorite actors (Christian Bale) and about someone as influential as Dylan doesn't need to make too much sense to win me over. Also, I'm still cracking up at comedian David Cross' performance as Allen Ginsberg...

The best of the six actors in the film by far was Cate Blanchett. She pulled off playing a man with ease and grace. More impressively, however, was the fact that she did such a good job portraying as complicated a person as Dylan. Her Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress in this film was well deserved, and she should get the same nod come Oscar time.

Tired of all of those year-end top ten lists? Probably not. We can't seem to get enough lists.

I don't feel right naming my top ten movies of 2007 because a) I don't review movies for a living and b) I don't live in a market where movies are screened for critics. Living in Idaho, we sometimes go without even getting some of the larger releases.

However, as someone who buys his ink by the barrel and dumps his thoughts onto a company-endorsed blog, I wouldn't feel right not getting in on the year-end list action. So here are a few movies that affected me this year: