This week’s NOW finds me talking to Stephen Dorff for the second time in almost nineteen years; as I explain in the piece, he and I previously met in the winter of 1992, when he was on the press tour for “The Power of One” and I was but a wee freelancer for the Toronto Star. Now, he’s the internationally known star of Sofia Coppola’s new film “Somewhere”, and I am somehow middle-aged and bald. I try not to take this personally.

Also, we received a wonderfully pissy letter about my “Film Socialisme” review, written by someone who clearly wasn’t going to let go of the insult he had in his head, no matter how incoherently it comes across on the page. Ten bucks says the guy didn’t even see the movie.

The first box-office weekend of 2011 looked exactly like the last weekend of 2010, as “Little Fockers” and “True Grit” held onto first and second place with $26.3 million and $24.5 million, respectively.

Having managed to avoid “Little Fockers”, I assume it’s one of those movies that families decide to see together during the holidays because it’s broad enough that the kids will sit through it, and innocuous enough that Nana won’t get cranky about the innuendo. Never mind that all the characters in the franchise are either horrible, or idiots, or horrible idiots; people like watching Robert De Niro humiliate Ben Stiller, and that’s all there is to it.

And I know that the new year requires predictions, but can we maybe keep ourselves from making statements like these in future news stories?

Hollywood is off to a slow start in 2011, with revenues down 28 percent from New Year’s weekend a year ago.

Seriously, the year is three days old, and there were no new releases to drive up consumer interest. How about we hold off on the doomsaying until the opening numbers for “Season of the Witch”?

And Pete Postlethwaite has died? That seems like a piss-poor way to start any year.

New Year’s Day tends to be pretty quiet around our house. Oh, sometimes there’s brunch — we’re not savages — but just as often there’s a long lie-in followed by an even longer movie. Kate and I started the tradition a few years back with “Lawrence of Arabia”; on this snowless day, I’m thinking “Doctor Zhivago” might be just the thing.

Torontonians who’d like to make “Lawrence” their first film of 2011 can do so in style; it’s screening this afternoon in 70mm at the Lightbox. I did my best to let people know about it over at the NOW site, but if you’re a regular here, you’ve heard all the arguments before — best movie ever, spectacular visuals that demand to be seen on a big screen, yadda yadda yadda.

It really is that good, you know. Go and see it. And even if you choose to do something else today, do have a happy new year. We’ve all earned it.

Important media announcement: I’ll be appearing on The FAN 590 this afternoon to join my brother Mike for our usual holiday-week ramble about sports, movies and sports movies. (Mainly the last thing.) The show starts at 1pm EST; you can listen online via the “Listen Live” widget at the top right corner of the home page, though I understand there are some restrictions outside of Canada at the moment. If the show goes up as a podcast, I’ll provide a link.

Over in the world of print, NOW’s New Year’s issue comes chock-full of lists of the things we want to see in the new year — here’s mine. And since the final theatrical releases of 2010 are opening at the Lightbox, let’s do the review roundup today instead of tomorrow:

“Enter the Void“: Less loathsome than his previous films but still pretty much the ne plus ultra of nihilistic titillation — and trust me, that’s a special kind of nihilism — Gaspar Noe’s trippy take on the Tibetan Book of the Dead offers some incredible visual gymnastics, though if that’s all you’re after, you can still catch “2001: A Space Odyssey” in Cinema 1 for another week.

“Film Socialisme“: Hey, did you know that Jean-Luc Godard has opinions about things? And that he’s prepared to hold forth on those opinions for an hour and a half without making a single coherent point? C’est vrai! Also, you can still catch “2001: A Space Odyssey” in Cinema 1 for another week.

Also settling in at the Lightbox today: David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia”, showing daily at 1 pm in mother-lovin’ 70mm. I’m fixing to go Tuesday or Wednesday; anyone want to join me?

Everything’s running a little behind this week — it’s only natural, given the way things tend to slump between Christmas and New Year’s — but if you’re looking for something to do in Toronto, why not check out the World’s Best Commercials at the Bloor?

This year’s selection is particularly strong, as I’ve explained in detail over at the NOW site … perhaps you’d like to check that out while you wait for the world to get back up to speed?

You’ll especially enjoy the Panda Cheese ads.

Come on, media! No one’s paying attention this week, you might as well amuse yourselves with a couple of outlandish puns built around the title of the holiday weekend’s box-office champ.

Oh, you know it — Universal’s “Little Fockers” proved just as much of a moneymaker as the two previous films in the “Meet the Parents” cycle, grossing $34 million between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day — with a five-day total of $48.3 million — to top the charts.

But as the AP points out, the real story is the fact that “True Grit” was very close behind it, with $25.6 million for the weekend and $36.8 million for the five-day span. It’s the biggest opening the Coens have ever enjoyed — which is either testament to the old-fashioned appeal of the Western, or proof that Jeff Bridges, after four decades in the business, can finally open a movie.

Either way, I’m good with that.

So there’s just one movie opening today, and it’s “Gulliver’s Travels”, which seems to be less an adaptation of the Jonathan Swift classic than an attempt to make a Jack Black version of “Bedtime Stories” … though the presence of Billy Connolly, Emily Blunt, Jason Segel, Chris O’Dowd and Catherine Tate does mean I’m duty-bound to see it at some point.

But not today. Today is for turkey (and thanks for that, Zane!) and dog walks and trading the odd present. Because, well, I think I’ve been pretty good. Robert Lantos may not agree, but he’s entitled to express his opinions at his own blog.

Happy holidays, everybody! Hope you get to spend the day exactly as you want to.