Posts Tagged ‘Feature Film’
Oscar nominations announced..
Posted by Administrator | Filed under Animation, News
News from the Animation World Network website:
Nominations for the 81st Academy Awards were announced today (Thursday, January 22) by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis and Oscar winner Forest Whitaker.
BOLT, KUNG FU PANDA and WALL-E are the nominees for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
WALL-E also got nods for Original score, Original song (“Down to Earth”), Sound editing, Sound mixing and Original Screenplay. WALTZ WITH BASHIR got a Best Foreign Language nod. WALTZ WITH BASHIR is the first animated feature nominated for a foreign language Oscar, although 12 prior films have been submitted for consideration.
LA MAISON EN PETITS CUBES, LAVATORY LOVESTORY, OKTAPODI, PRESTO and THIS WAY UP received Best Animated Short nominations.
Wall-E is a sure to win Best Animated Feature, although my own opinion is it shouldn’t, for reasons published in a previous post (which has mysteriously gone missing!). I have to admit that I am surprised that The Tale of Despereaux didn’t get a look in – maybe it wasn’t eligible?
There’s a great line up of shorts in there too and again I am surprise that the recent Wallace and Gromit’s ‘A Matter of Loaf and Death’ didn’t make it in there (again maybe it wasn’t eligible?) – as its usually an Oscar favourite. Not that I think it should, it was mediocre piece using the same formula we have seen over and over (‘handbag’). This way Up by Smith & Foulkes (of the Nexus crowd) seems to be running as favourite in this category anyway. Its already notched up a fair amount of awards already on the circuit (including Sundance).
It’ll be interesting to see who walks away with them, with hopefully a few surprises.
New 9 trailer up…
Posted by Administrator | Filed under Animation, Feature Film, News, Video
It looks dark and interesting, but has it got the..err.. hmmm.. I’m not sure. Very keen to hear others thoughts. Click on the image to view the trailer.
IMDB extract:
9 takes place in a world parallel to our own, in which the very legacy of humanity is threatened. A group of sapient rag dolls, living a post-apocalyptic existence find one of their own, 9 (Elijah Wood), who displays leadership qualities that may help them to survive.
The conflicted, but resilient group includes 1 (Christopher Plummer), a domineering war veteran; 2 (Martin Landau), an aged inventor; 5 (John C. Reilly), a stalwart mechanic; 6 (Crispin Glover), a visionary and artist; and 7 (Jennifer Connelly), a brave warrior.
There are at least several malevolent creatures up against this group; namely, the cat-skulled creature from the short film, a split-headed flying being that resembles both a bat and a manta ray in wing shape, and an insectoid creature with jointed legs and a pod-like body.
Laika’s first – Coraline
Posted by Administrator | Filed under Animation
We are very curious as to how this is going to be received given the competition in the CG market already – does stop-frame still have a place? Very Burton/ Selick-esque. Text from IMDB – view trailer here:
Who knew that a guy who built his fortune selling overpriced shoes to kids who could never truly feel accepted unless they had them was also a big geek? Phil Knight, the king of the Nike empire, took over Will Vinton Studios, most known for the California Raisins, and turned it into Laika a few years back, employing his son Travis as one of the lead animators.
The film Laika’s most associated with is the Neil Gaiman adaptation Coraline, which Variety reports this morning will finally see an Oscar-qualifying release later this year, followed by a wide theatrical on February 6th, 2009. I’m really glad there’s finally going to be some promotion for this project because I’ve been trying to drum up hype about it seemingly on my own for well over a year now!
A young girl (Fanning) walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life – only much better. But when her adventure turns dangerous, and her counterfeit parents (including Other Mother [Hatcher]) try to keep her forever, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home – and save her family. Written by Megan.
