Nolan in DGA big leagues

It's a good day to be "The Dark Knight."

After going five for five at the "People's Choice Awards" last night, which shows its already-abundant populist support, the director of the superhero uber-blockbuster just picked up a nod from his industry colleagues, who'd earlier this week chosen the movie as one of the year's top five.

Here are the choices from the Directors Guild of America:

Christopher Nolan, "The Dark Knight"

Danny Boyle, "Slumdog Millionaire"

Ron Howard, "Frost/Nixon"

David Fincher, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Gus Van Sant, "Milk"

Funny, this looks exactly like our list for top five Oscar contenders and their directors. Oh yeah, except we didn't include "Frost/Nixon" or Ron Howard. Instead, we're stubbornly (misguidedly?) sticking to our guns on "Doubt" and John Patrick Shanley. We're basing that purely on what we feel is the better film and the better directed film. Simple as that.

If we watched both films again, would we change our mind? We may have to give that a shot, because we're kind of starting to feel the heat here, or rather, the momentum that could take "Frost/Nixon" past "Doubt" to Feb. 22.

But let the record show that we've been on "The Dark Knight" bandwagon from Day 1, never wavering on that or the other three DGA-nominated movies. It's just that darn fifth slot that's confounding. (Our favorite for the Oscar remains Danny Boyle for his deft handling of the fresh, original, luminous "Slumdog").

Keep checking back if you have the patience (or stomach) to watch our own internal wrasslin' match.