Got some pretty cool news over the weekend. I’m among the five finalists for the LA Press Club’s 2008 award for best online critic.

The LA Press Club doles out National Entertainment Journalism awards each year for print, television, radio, and online media. I submitted a selection of my “Behind the Screens” columns for consideration as best online criticism. And lo and behold, I made the final cut of five.

In case you’re wondering, my four competitors are:

-Jay Carr, the longtime Boston Globe film critic who now writes for TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES
-Tim Mohr, the film critic for PLAYBOY
-Luke Thompson, who does reviews for E! (Entertainment Network)
-Shawn Edwards, a TV personality who last year won for best TV critic.

Pretty impressive competition, huh? They all have bigger names and platforms than I do but, like they say with the Oscars, it’s truly just an honor to be nominated. Think of me as the Richard Jenkins of critics and you’ll have a good idea of my ultimate chances. But hey, I’ve always thought Richard Jenkins was pretty cool.

The Awards ceremony will be on March 26 in Los Angeles.

And if you’d like to review my submissions, here are the links:

THE DARK HUMOR OF THE DARK KNIGHT

HELLO DOLLY, HELLO WALL*E

AUSTRALIA: THE GREAT DOWN-YAWN-DER

IS MICHAEL CERA CHANNELING JIMMY STEWART?

OSCAR WINNER DISSES DANIEL DAY LEWIS