23 Films / 11 Days— My TIFF 2013 Line-Up

This is so exciting. My first ever TIFF experience the way it should be. Though I have seen plenty movies at TIFF in the last decade, never more than 2-3 a year. This year however, planets seem to have lined up just perfectly for me to jump-in with both feet in.  The plan is to watch 23 Films at least (17 Confirmed + 4 Rush Tickets + 2 If I can get the tickets) in 11 Days!

TIFF is the only live-action festival that I have explored in-depth. Ottawa Animation Festival and Annecy are of course, all animation. Planning in advance to get choice screenings for Annecy seemed challenging until I entered the maze that is TIFF! Choose a package, the number of movies, limited booking windows, pick from 300 movies, schedule your 1st , 2nd , 3rd, 4th AND 5th choices, reserve ALL your tickets in a nail-biting 1 hour window while balancing what seem to be a million  considerations, virtual waiting rooms, long line-ups and the list goes on. Am not complaining, it is fun for me, but I doubt a casual movie goer can sign up for this time-consuming and quite a cerebral (if you REALLY want to have an optimised festival experience) exercise .

So after all the drama and planning, I have ended up with the following list. Have purposely avoided some sought -after premiers of big releases like The Fifth Estate or 12 Years A Slave in the favour of smaller films because you know the latter will have distribution lined-up if not already. Some smaller movies like Blue Is The Warmest Colour were just impossible to schedule, unfortunately! These are what I could slot-in AND get tickets for.

Day 1: Sep 5, 2013
1. The Big Chill - SE (6:00 pm, Princess of Wales Theatre)- A supposed classic I have not yet seen. What better way to see it than on its 30th Anniversary with a Q&A with cast and crew...including Glenn Close! :)
2. The Past - SP North American Premiere (9:30 pm, Visa Screening Room)- Last year's Oscar winning director of A Separation, Asghar Farhadi's newest. Starring Bernice Bejo, the best thing about The Artist.



Day 2: Sep 6, 2013
3. Faith Connections - TDOCS World Premiere (1:45 pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox)-  I planned for this because I mistook the director to be Ron Fricke of Samsara (2011) and Baraka... but this looks promising none-the-less.
OR
3. Tim's Vermeer - TDOCS World Premiere(1:30 pm, Scotiabank)- This is the one I originally wanted to see. Changed to Faith Connections because of the misunderstanding. Might move back to this if I can get tickets exchanged at the last minute. Looks extremely intriguing!
4. Horns - VAN World Premiere (6:00 pm, Bloor Hot Docs Cinema)- Looks like fun. Starring difficult-to-avoid Daniel Radcliffe, who has THREE movies at the festival!!


Day 3: Sep 7, 2013
5. The Railway Man - GALA World Premiere (11:00 am, Visa Screening Room)- "RUSH-ing" this!
One of the big movies could not resist watching. Don't want to miss the opportunity for a live Q&A with Nicole Kidman & Colin Firth !
6. Therese - SP World Premiere (3:30 pm, Princess of Wales Theatre)- A period, romantic thriller starring  the awesome Jessica Lange (also attending the screening)
7. The Double - SP World Premiere (8:00 pm, Winter Garden Theatre)- An Dostoevsky update, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska (cast & crew Q&A)


Day 4: Sep 8, 2013
8. Dallas Buyer's Club - SP World Premiere (11:00 am, Visa Screening Room)- "RUSH-ing" this!
Great buzz, promising trailer and an awesome cast (also attending), Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto and the director of C.R.A.Z.Y
9. Visitors - SP World Premiere (6:00 pm, Visa Screening Room)- MOST pumped about this. Steven Soderbergh will introduce Godfrey Reggio's latest! The man behind the ground-breaking Koyaanisqatsi Trilogy. Cherry on the cake... the sixty-six member  Toronto Symphony Orchestra will play the score by Philip Glass, LIVE!! Once in a lifetime experience.


Day 5: Sep 9, 2013
10. Devil's Knot- SP World Premiere (9:00 am, TIFF Bell Lightbox)- "RUSH-ing" this!
Never seen an Atom Egoyan film. This would be my first. Stars Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth.
OR
10. Philomena - SP North American Premiere (11:00am,  Visa Screening Room)- "RUSH-ing" this! Though I am slightly more curious about Devil's Knot, might go for this Judie Dench film directed by Stephen Frears (The Queen) just because it is in a larger theatre and hence a better chance of a successful RUSH ticket purchase :)
11. The Disappearance Of Eleanor Rigby: Him and Her - SP Work-In-Progress Premiere (2:00 pm, Visa Screening Room)- A love story from two point of views. Great cast of James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain and Viola Davis (all attending)!
12. August: Osage County - GALA World Premiere (6:30 pm, Roy Thomson Hall)- Fingers crossed for tickets for this! Red carpet with Meryl Streep & Juila Roberts. Enough said!


Day 6: Sep 10, 2013
13. Third Person- SP World Premiere  (3:00 pm, Ryerson)- Paul Haggis's (Crash), newest multi-narrative piece. Great ensemble cast of Liam Neeson, Adrian Brody, James Franco, Mila Kunis etc (all attending)
14. Tom At The Farm - SP North American Premiere (6:15pm,  Ryerson)- A French psychological thriller.
15. Stranger By The Lake - CWC North American Premiere (9:45 pm, Scotiabank)- Winner of best director (Un Certain Regard) at Cannes. Giving something from Contemporary World Cinema programme of TIFF a shot!


Day 7: Sep 11, 2013
16. Kill Your Darlings- GALA International Premiere  (2:30pm,  Visa Screening Room)-  Daniel Radcliffe plays a young Allen Ginsberg.
17. The Wind Rises - SP North American Premiere  (6:00pm,  Visa Screening Room)-  One of the highlights of the festival for me. Miyaziki's newest (yay!) and seemingly the last (sigh!). Just cannot wait!
18. Gravity - SP North American Premiere (9:00 pm, IMAX Scotiabank)- Fingers crossed for tickets for this! I was kicked to see this movie the day I heard about it. Alfonso Cuaron has yet to disappoint me. Did not want to see it at the festival as the wide release is just around the corner but since TIFF added an IMAX screening (the ONLY way to enjoy this movie), I am so so tempted!


Day 8: Sep 12, 2013
19. Attila Marcel- SP World Premiere  (12:15 pm, Bloor Hot Docs Cinema)- Yet another gifted animation director makes his live-action feature film debut. Fan of Sylvain Chomet's work (The Triplets of Belleville, The Illusionist and Tour Eiffel short from Paris Je t'aime) and am pretty excited to see this!


Day 9: Sep 13, 2013
20. Prisoners- SP World Premiere (2:30pm,  Visa Screening Room)- Definitely wanted to see this Hugh Jackman, Jake Gylenhall, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo  starer, however not at TIFF as wide release is just around the corner. Ending up watching this as this is the only thing available AND scheduled AND on my short list on this day!



Day 10: Sep 14, 2013
21. Beyond The Edge - TDOCS World Premiere (9:00 am, Scotiabank)-  A 3D documentary on the Norgay's expedition to Everest. Should be fascinating!
22. Can A Song Save Your Life?- SP World Premiere  (12:00 pm, Ryerson)- Writer/Director of the wonderful Once, starring Keira Knightly & Mark Ruffalo.
23. Labour Day - SP World Premiere (6:00pm, Ryerson)- "RUSH-ing" this!
Directed by Jason Reitman (Juno, Up In The Air) and starring Kate Winslet. A no-brainer!


Day 11: Sep 15, 2013
Ran out of tickets for the last day! Still, might watch some left-overs which I could not make to earlier in the festival because of scheduling conflicts and non-availability of tickets.

Possibilities:
24. Ida -SP World Premiere  (9:00 am, Bloor Hot Docs Cinema)-  A interesting black & white film.
25. Fading Gigolo- SP World Premiere  (12:45 pm, Scotiabank)-  John Turturro writes, stars and directs Woody Allen, Sharon Stone and Sofia Vergara!! Very high on my list but just could not manage to get tickets for the right screening! A strong possibility.
26.Under The Skin -  SP North American Premiere (3:00pm, Ryerson)- Scarlett Johansson stars as an alien seductress!
27.The World Of Goopi And Bagha - KIDS World Premiere (3:15pm, Scotiabank)-  Hurray for Indian animation!! Looks gorgeous! :)
28. Enough Said - SP World Premiere (9:00pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox)- Rom-com with Julia Lois-Dreyfus and the late James Gandolfini.

Hope to keep updating blog with reviews...hope!
What are you watching? Happy festival!

The Academy's Oscars 2013 Report Card... And Mine!

Another movie year wraps. Another bittersweet ending. Another report card... for Oscar and me.
How did I do? 
19 out of 24 for my "Will wins" and 15 out of 24 for my "Should wins". A high score on the latter was a distant dream, but 19 on the former... ain't my best. Could have been reduced if I did not take some silly risks like, Best Actress- Riva instead of the hot favourite, Lawrence.

How did the Academy do? 

I guess, since this is all so subjective, a different choice here and there among deserving equals is no big deal. But what gets fans all riled up (including myself)is when some work significantly below par than the competition gets awarded or when the significantly superior work gets snubbed. The idea of putting in the word 'significant' is to say that if most people can see this difference, why cannot a supposed expert body like the Academy. Many times the reasons for that happen to be things like... unfair bias, politics, hype, herd mentality...well , anything BUT merit! So keeping our minor differences aside like Christoph over Tommy Lee, I think this year the Academy goofed big-time in 3 categories:

1) Best Picture: Argo was good, unfortunately Life of Pi was great. There have been movies like Argo before and there will be again. However I really wonder if a movie like Life of Pi (a combination of its story, execution and artistry) exists or will again any time soon. To me this is what Best Picture represents. Something different, innovative and marks a special moment in the history of cinema. I can say without a doubt that LoP fits that bill over any Argo. Again, this is not to take away from the fact that Argo is good film on most counts... just not that special!

Secondly, though I wholeheartedly support the Best Director for Ang Lee, it seems a bit tainted in the light of the 'Affleck Snub'. Lee's deserving win would have been better served if it was in-spite of Affleck being nominated for director or if LoP won best picture too. That way, there would not be any room for doubt that the Academy knew what they were doing and REALLY wanted Lee to win.

2) Best Lead Actress: I gave up on my personal favourite performance of the year, Naomi Watts winning because of the almost non-existent buzz. Even though I have read many high profile industry veterans thinking similarly about her performance. However choosing to award Jeniffer Lawrence over the subtle and hard hitting performance of Emanuelle Riva is puzzling. Lawrence has her whole career in front of her, she is capable and will do much more deserving work in the future. Riva, in my opinion brought something else to that role, something nuanced and rare.

3) Best Animated Film: This is by far the worst mistake this year. If it were not a weak year for animated features,  Brave probably would not have even been nominated. After winning mostly all honours including those from the animation community (Annie), Disney's Wreck-it-Ralph was clearly the most deserving. Personally I preferred Frankenweenie, but I would be very happy with WiR too. Hell any of those nominated movies were better than Brave. This unconditional Pixar love is damaging not only to the general morale but to Pixar too. It reduces the value of their really great wins like Toy Story 3, or monumental Pixar snubs like Shrek winning over Monsters Inc. The tragedy is, since the conception of this category 12 years ago, Team Disney Animation— the inventors of American feature film animation,  have yet to win!! Yes, they have faltered but they have also had some great success like Lilo & Stitch and Tangled (not even nominated!) So, Wreck-it-Ralph, coming so close to ending this draught and tripping... that too over a flimsy thing like Brave... is very very sad. The silver lining here is the winning of Paperman in animated short category... a small but great respite for Disney Animation (first since 1969). Oh well, maybe Frozen will change things for them in the feature category next year!

The ceremony itself was good fun...Seth was not the best nor the worst. I love musicals but the idea of using that as a theme to shine light on ONLY a couple of not-so-awesome(relatively speaking) and not-so-long-ago musicals (Chicago, Dreamgirls) seems unnecessary and somewhat screwy. They could have been so much more creative with this theme using musicals from across the decades. A coincidence no doubt that the producers of the telecast are also the producers of two of the movies that were celebrated, Chicago and Hairspray! Aah...show business. Till the Tonys Oscars 2014!

My Oscar Predictions 2013

No matter how much I procrastinate on blogging, the Oscars never fail to bring out the blogger in me. For the first time in years, I have covered a good 90% of the nominated work. Seen all the best picture nominations ( yes, all) and most nominated performances (barring those from 'The Sessions' & 'The Master') and missed 'Moonrise Kingdom' for script. Predominantly have fallen short on these categories: documentaries (long and short), live action shorts and foreign films– predictions concerning these are purely based on 'consensus'. Hopefully will get around to seeing them over time, but not in time for more informed predictions. Winning predictions are in RED, while GREEN are the ones where I beg to differ from the 'consensus' / Academy though process. I have taken some risks with my RED votes too, like putting down the awesome Emmanuelle Riva instead of the current favourites, Jennifer Lawrence /Jessica Chastain. However my heart lies with the underdog, Naomi Watts who was totally W-O-W in The Impossible. 

 All in all there are 4 wins I am really passionate about this year– Anne Hathaway in Les Miz, Naomi Watts in The Impossible, Paperman for animated short and Life of Pi for everything else! Other than that, 2012 has turned out to be somewhat disappointing year at the movies for me– and I include animated ones here too! Oh well... here are my annual predictions anyways. Let the best geek win! Happy Oscars :)

'Sons of Ram' Theatrical Teaser

Presenting the first theatrical teaser for our film Sons of Ram, coming to cinemas 2 November 2012.
Catch a glimpse of this hand drawn animated film in stereoscopic 3D in cinemas this weekend with 'Krishna & Kansa' and  'Step Up 3D'!

HT Cafe: Sons of Ram v/s James Bond

Today's HT Cafe has a story about my little baby taking on the big bad Mr.Bond at the box office on Nov 2 later this year. Should be interesting to say the least. Fingers crossed!! :)

Read the story online here.

'Suppandi Suppandi' TV Special, Delivered!

New poster art for 'The Best of Suppandi Suppandi!-The Animated Series'

This past week was momentous at ACK Animation Studios. After nearly 2 years of tumultuous production, our newest TV series (now a TV special) 'The Best of Suppandi Suppandi!' wrapped production.

This was one of the first new projects that I took on as the Creative Head at ACK Animation Studios. The series is based on Tinkle Comics' beloved character Suppandi. An innocent goof which has been the source of much humor for Indian children and adults for the last 30 years or so!

Being a reader of Tinkle as a kid, this was fun, challenging and intimidating all at the same time. Suppandi is no Batman or Superman, but for Indians growing up in the 80s and 90s he comes arguably close. He was created in a different time where humor was different from what it is today. Specially when translating one page comic gags into 11min narratives for TV. To add to these challenges, the production studio which was originally contracted to do the production work unfortunately shut down! Yikes....not good! I was tasked with finding a new home for the series without going over-budget ...oh and all while I was writing/directing 'Sons of Ram', my first theatrical animated feature film.

So after all the delays, one can imagine the relief I feel on getting this done, and at the risk of sounding pompous might I add... didn't turn out too shabby either!!;)  And I have the wonderful team at ACK Animation Studios to thank for along with an excellent team of writers, actors, musicians and production studios for doing such a phenomenal job.  A special shout out to Santosh Palav and Suresh Sonawane in particular who helped take on some of the directing and production responsibilities towards the end of Suppandi as Sons of Ram started taking more and more of my time.
The show should air on Cartoon Network India soon and you can stay on top of all the news, art and exclusive content related to this show by following its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/suppandisuppandi

Till then, enjoy this little teaser that we created for Comic Con Delhi 2012

In Theaters: 'Brave' (Review)

A new original movie from Pixar in what seems like ages. Had high hopes and immense anticipation. Pixar's first period piece, female protaganist etc just added to my curiosity. Safe to say, I  really wanted to love this movie. Unfortunately Pixar has made it very difficult for me to do so.

Let me start by saying that this movie does not break any new ground, does not even come close to  portraying a female protagonist in a new way. Disney's Mulan is still miles ahead of this.
To me it seems Brave may have been an unfortunate victim of  confused film-making. Shoehorning multiple ideas and suggestions with complete disregard for what the film really needs to be. If true, it is probably saddest news for this 'director driven' studio. Not all movies can endure a behind-the-scenes game of 'Director's musical chair' and pull-off a Ratatouille I guess. Is this what the originator Brenda Chapman really envisioned?... we will probably never know for sure.

The movie just refuses to take itself seriously. Making light and comedy at the most inopportune times, poking fun at sincere moments and don't even get me started on the toilet humor. Looks like Pixar is using Brave to compensate for more than a decade of burp-free, fart-free, snort-free, nudity-free movies.
If one titled Disney's Mulan as 'Brave', I would get that... but renaming The Bear and the Bow to Brave seemed dumb even for the brightest marketing executive. Merida is hardly 'Brave" in the film and no amount of voice-overs at the beginning and ending over dramatic Scottish landscapes will convince me otherwise.

There are some very good moments in the film , like the opening picnic, Merida's archery challenge, her standing up to her mom etc which only shows glimpses of what the film could have been. But for the most part we end up with awkward comedy by a Bear Queen who's plight needed to come-off grave and dramatic to take this plot seriously. This is not Pixar's worst (Cars 2 still has that crown), but in my books it is definitely their most disappointing yet... simply because I had higher expectations.
So see it once, enjoy the beautiful production design, good voice work, interesting score, the lovely short La Luna that plays before it and  a few heart felt sequences showing the film's potential. After Brother Bear and now Brave, it's clear that Disney/Pixar love turning humans into bears to teach them life lessons. Hopefully they will get it right the third time around... and may I suggest a different animal  to help justify the comedy? A kangaroo perhaps?

'Animation Portfolio' page added

So much has happened since I have been MIA on the blog that I feel the need for a bit of recap before I move on to more current posts. In that spirit, I have added a couple of pages above, 'Animation Portfolio' and 'Photography Portfolio'. The former is now live, latter to follow soon.
Here is a promo for Sons of Ram, the current animated feature film that I am working on at ACK as writer/producer/director. Coming to theaters Sep 28th 2012

Blog Resurrection 2.0!!

Where Phoenix Doodle = Blog

Hell yes, its happening! Blog Resurrection 2.0 ...or is it 3.0? Who cares...those keeping  tabs have probably moved on anyways! Still, excited to give this a shot anyways, damned be Facebook. Rejigged the look, noticed a few dead links -will work my way slowly through them to fix them. Hopefully the blog will not be reduced to  a series of resurrection posts .

Watch this space...will be back in a couple  of  years  days! :)

Wanderings & Meanderings: Fine Art Photography by Kushal Ruia

Join up here:  http://artist.to/kushalruia/
For Fine Art Prints / Greeting Cards : http://kushalruia.imagekind.com

A selection of fine art photography from 2008

See The PIctures,Read The Story And If You Like, VOTE!

My first attempt at writing for a magazine. Last week I was at the peace march in Bombay in regards to the terror attacks on 26/11.
Took a few pics and have put together a photo essay.Check it out, and if u like it please VOTE a "Yes".
Thanks!

In Print!

Excited excited excited! I never thought i would end up being a published photographer when i bought my first DSLR camera a year ago! Could be beginner's luck, but here I am with my first ever picture to be printed in a photography magazine.

Am printed in Issue 19 of JPG Mag,under the theme of Faith.You can browse the entire issue online by clicking on the page showing my pic ("Holy Shiv",the hermit with the Shiva frames in the background).
My pic appears on page#35.

You will also find there the links to see all the dazzling pics printed in the issue along with how u can purchase a hard copy or subscribe to this awesome visual publication.

(All the pics look even more spectacular in print)

The picture by itself is....

Sneak Peak Featurette for "Coraline"

Teaser For Disney's "The Princess & The Frog"

This was a pleasant surprise! The movie is more than a year away, and they have a teaser out already! Needless to say...am totally excited about this return to hand drawn animation.Fingers crossed for its commercial success..as for the teaser..i love it!

"Kung Fu Panda" 2D Opening Sequence

Gotta love this! Even the end credits were so much fun!

'Kung Fu Panda' Exclusive Video: Opening Dream Sequence

Chasing Thunderstorms

Last Sunday,I went on a little adventure chasing a thunderstorm.I was hoping to catch a lightning, unfortunately, that did not happen.However i did end up with some sights that i had never before seen, and will probably never seen again.
A rainbow...and how!





Another panorama i shot.However does not stitch up too well...but does give a complete picture of the view in front of me!

A "Wall-E" Sneak Peak

Animator's Survival Kit Trailer

I guess this is trailer for the DVD version of Richard William's book maybe. I LOVE it!
I would get the DVD too, it was really interesting attending the class in school.
Now if only get the DVD signed like the book!:)

Pic Of The Day: "Clandestine Conclave"

My First Ever HDR Image

Been meaning to try out HDR (High Dynamic Range) for the longest time.At first i had no idea why what made an HDR image look so surreal. When i found out, it seemed like insane amount of work and time for just ONE picture.
Anyways...here i am..with my First HDR. It's kinda scary, it might be difficult going back to the normal single exposure photography!

Sunset Romance

Sunset Romance
Originally uploaded by the_anim8r

Taken last weekend from the Toronto Island.

UV: "Eggspression"

I just realized i have quite a few unposted clips of my animation from Urban Vermin...so here is one more...

The End Of An Era: RIP Ollie Johnston (1912-2008)

"The Jungle Book" was a landmark movie in many ways. It was the last movie that was in production under Walt, and was finished and released after his death.The future of Disney Animation rested on the success or failure of that movie.

It was also the pinnacle of Ollie Johnston's and Frank Thomas' work as character animators.They took Mowgli and Balloo where no animated character had gone before.
And one more thing...it was the first movie I remember seeing in the theaters as a child at the age of around 5-6.

You would understand when I say that the world has a little less magic today.

Very rarely am I so inspired by people whom i don't really know personally.Who are not my family & friends.There are very few exceptions, and Ollie Johnston was one of them.
To say he was a legend, is an understatement.It's like growing up in the times of Picasso /Da Vinchi or Michaelangelo...who's works and lives would give birth to an art-form that you spend your inspire you to pursue their arts to begin with.

So how does one express the feeling of passing away of such a master/pioneer.This isn't a new feeling for me because in the last decade we have witnessed the demise of some of the greatest minds and pioneers in the art of animation (arguably the last TRUE art form to be born).But the passing of Ollie is a lot worse.Why? Because he was the last one.We are done here. The dinosaurs are finally extinct.He was last of the legendary Nine Old Men.There are simply no more.

Don't get me wrong, there are geniuses out there..but everyone at the end of the are just students of the generation that Ollie represented.
Walt Disney along with his brilliant animators created the animation and elevated it to the art form that it is today.

Here is a 3 part "Disney Family Album" featuring Ollie Johnston.






Ollie's personal contributions are not limited to the work he did for the big screen. He with his equal partner in crime ,Frank Thomas (who expired a few years earlier), found ways to share their wealth of knowledge and wisdom through various formats.A must for any fan/admirer of the arts in general and animation in particular.

One of the best documentaries ever, something that inspires me every time I see it ( I see it at least 2-3 times a year), Frank & Ollie
The bible of animation.If there is only ONE book you ever need to understand animation , it would be this one. Aptly titled, The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation

Though I never had the opportunity to meet him or any of them personally, I feel honored to have lived in the same day and age as these masters.
Am very sad today , but I feel very thankful too because I JUST don't know what would I do without animation in my life. So,thanks Ollie for giving me my passion. You will be missed!

SNAP:"Through The Looking Glass"

Through The Looking Glass
Originally uploaded by the_anim8r

Taken this week from Skypod, the very top of the CN Tower

WDCC:"Malevolent Magistrate"

Frollo from makes his WDCC debut this year .Featured in his chair from the Festival of Fools as he sits and watches with condescension, the gypsy Esmeralda and the other festivities.This would have been a very challenging character to sculpt, with his bony face and wrinkled skin, but Patrick Romandy-Simmons , the sculptor has done commendable job!

l

Sarah @ One Night Live

Been lazy about putting these up...here are a few of them...

World On Fire


Fallen


Ice Cream

One Night Live Concert

Now that was a concert. I went primarily for my fav artist, Sarah McLachlan, but the presence of Bryan Adams, Jann Arden & Josh Groban did not hurt either.
Sarah sang TEN songs, including duets with Jann, Josh and Bryan!
Here r some pics i took:

My 2008 Oscars Predictions

Its Oscar time! Here are my predictions.
In some cases, what i think SHOULD win, probably wont, but i will mention it anyws. If it does, i would be happy to loose the point!:)

1.Performance by an actor in a leading role
Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood"

2.Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men"

3.Performance by an actress in a leading role
Julie Christie in "Away from Her"

4.Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett in "I'm Not There"

5.Best animated feature film of the year
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney): Brad Bird

6.Achievement in art direction
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"

7.Achievement in cinematography
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" : Roger Deakins

8.Achievement in costume design
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (Universal) Alexandra Byrne

9.Achievement in directing
WILL WIN:"No Country for Old Men" , Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
SHOULD WIN:"There Will Be Blood" , Paul Thomas Anderson

10.Best documentary feature
"No End in Sight" Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs

11.Best documentary short subject
"Sari's Mother" (Cinema Guild) A Daylight Factory Production: James Longley

12.Achievement in film editing
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Roderick Jaynes

13.Best foreign language film of the year
"The Counterfeiters" Austria

14.Achievement in makeup
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (Walt Disney): Ve Neill and Martin Samuel

15.Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
Cant decide between Atonement and Ratatouille...i would be happy with either.
But i think i will put my money on Atonement.Just because this will work as a consolation prize for the movie which wont really win anything else.

"Atonement" (Focus Features) Dario Marianelli

16.Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
It better be one of the 3 Alan menken/Stephen Schwrtz song. Which one? i dont think it matters but here it is:

SHOULD WIN:"Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
WIll WIN:"That's How You Know" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

17.Best motion picture of the year
Rataouille seriously deserved to be in this category this year. Its not the best unanimously best reviewed movie of the year for nothing.Specially if mediocre movies like Atonement and Juno can land a Best Pic Nomination.

So since Ratatouille or Sweeney Todd are not nominated...i think Blood was the best i saw...No Country lost my vote cause of the ending. But it has more "BUZZ"..so i think No country is more likely to win, but i am again put my money where my heart is...

"There Will Be Blood" A JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production: JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers

18.Best animated short film
"Madame Tutli-Putli" (National Film Board of Canada) A National Film Board of Canada Production Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski


19.Best live action short film
“At Night”

20.Achievement in sound editing
"Transformers" (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro): Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins

21.Achievement in sound mixing
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney): Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane

22.Achievement in visual effects
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (Walt Disney): John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier

23.Adapted screenplay
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

24.Original screenplay
WILL WIN:"Juno" (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production), Written by Diablo Cody
SHOULD WIN:"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Brad Bird; Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird

Another Year,Another Birthday!

Its my blog's 2nd, my niece's 7th, and mine....umm...30!! hehe

Thnx for visiting my blog for all these years:)

Will be back tomorrow with my Oscar predictions!:)

Buy-n-Large Corporation's "Wall-E"

WDCC: "Bewitching Beauty"

Esmeralda has the honor of the first Leading Lady to be a part of my WDCC collection!Also in my humble opinions the most gorgeous Disney heroines..and thankfully not a "Princess"!
Kent Melton has done an amazing job with her face.She was so difficult to keep on model in the movie too..but this is awesome!

The piece is very aptly titled "Bewitching Beauty"...tough to do it justice in pics!

Times Square

TimesSquare,NYC (Explore:#258)
Originally uploaded by the_anim8r

Shot this last week in NYC!

First Production Still From Disney's "The Princess And The Frog"

December 2009 cannot come fast enough!