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!

WDCC: "Tangled Up Romance"

With this piece Roger and Anita make their WDCC debut.The piece by the Kent Melton captures their first meeting orchestrated by Pongo.Leading to a splash in the pond and a marriage!
This is my 3rd piece from 101 Dalmations, and after 2 amazing Cruella (1,2)pieces, am excited to have the other cast members represented in such a cool piece!

"Urban Vermin" Opening Credits

Swarovski Tree

Swarovski Tree
Originally uploaded by the_anim8r

"Urban Vermin" Debut Tomorrow

Urban Vermin makes its debut on YTV tomorrow .
I did not work on tomorrow's episode (i started ep.03 onwards). Click on the logo above to see a clip!:-)

In Theatres:"Sweeney Todd"(Review)

Burton's most satisfying film since i can remember.An adaption that actually works independently from the source material and has its own distinctive personality.
Visually,i got what i wanted.Very Burton-esque indeed.Depp very closely resembles the animated Victor he played in Burton's"Corpse Bride".Every frame is a beautiful painting.

What i find amazing is, using the
same characters,story, music, lyrics as the original Broadway show,Burton creates a mood and feel that is far more darker, edgier and more apt. And i think the credit for that also goes to the actors and their execution of the songs.Though the singing voices arnt as impressive as their Broadway counterparts, but it does not take away from the film.I guess actors singing is better then singers acting.

He has also done a great job of truncating and eliminating some songs, but i do wish he would have manged to keep "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" and "Kiss Me" in!
Specially since the former shows up in the score many a times anyways.
Its surely one of my favorite movies of the year!

"Lost" In 8 Mins!?

To really get the most out of this amazing show,this is not an ideal approach,infact far from it!And a BIG "NO" in the books of any LOST-y!
BUT, here is a 8 MIN recap of the LOST so far...it does a fairly ok job..however, hopefully it will make people wanna see seasons 1,2 and 3 on DVD to really understand the whos, whats and whys of the show.(Before S4 starts in a month).
Enjoy!

70 Years-Still The Fairest Of Them All

On the 70th Anniversary of "The One That Started It All".

"Lost" Returns!

The coolest, best-est, smartest,awesome-est show ever on TV returns for the much anticipated 4th season on Jan31!
If u have NEVER seen "Lost" (u looser:-p), DO NOT watch this trailer, rent/buy the first 3 seasons and watch them first!Trust me, u wont regret it!

Autumn,Meet Winter

Autumn,Meet Winter (Explored:459 on Dec 8, 2007)
Originally uploaded by the_anim8r

"Sweeney Todd" Opening Credits

Love opening credits! Love Burton!Cant wait for the movie!

WDCC: "Devilish Diva"

2007's Villains Series Release. Ursula from "The Little Mermaid".This is my first piece from the amazing animator/sculptor Ruben Procopio. I must say, seeing this piece in person is so much better than pictures.He has a very bold style of sculpting.The piece almost seems monolithic with awesome feel of mass, weight and fat.
The moment itself is gr8, and comes with very detailed vanity with a real mirror.

The Empire State Building Celebrates A Decade Of "The Lion King On Broadway"

In celebration of the ten-year milestone, one New York City landmark will honor another! This weekend, the Empire State Building will be illuminated in honor of THE LION KING. This marks the first time that the famous tower has saluted a Broadway show. Over the next 12 months, many other exciting events will take place in New York City to celebrate THE LION KING's second triumphant decade on Broadway.

Ten years ago, THE LION KING roared onto Broadway and changed the theatre world forever. The landmark musical has been seen by 45 million guests in 63 cities across 11 countries and has received over 70 awards. The Broadway cast recording has sold over a million copies in North America. The show continues to be one of Broadway's most popular productions, thrilling audiences eight times a week in the heart of Times Square.

In Theatres:"Bee Movie"(Review)

Barry the bee, suddenly decides to sue the human race for stealing their honey.Why?? Just cause he CAN! Not cause the bees are dying, or unemployed or suffering in any way. Maybe it would help if had a strong motive for doing so, other than the fact he had nothing better to do!?
And yes..in this movie Bees CAN sue humans! I know its cartoon and all, but i could believe a rat wanting to be chef, but i could not buy into this bee suing humans business.
Jerry Seinfeld(Barry the bee) and Rene Renée Zellweger's(human florist)character don't really have too much of a chemistry either.A very under developed relationship.And how many animated movies have John Goodman and Patrick Warburton been in, in the last decade? Anyone counting?Can we shake things up a bit?!?
The whole movie just seems to be a platform from which Jerry Seinfeld can keep doing his comedy routine at 3244 words per minute.
The animation is ok.The designs are far more appealing than resent Dreamworks movies.
Though again i don't get the reason why Dreamwork's animated worlds have to be SO humanized.
Why do bees need hairdos?glasses?ties?cars and stairs to move around (though they do kinda try and justify this last issue, but didn't work for me)?
Remy(Pixar's Rataouille) never wore sewer boots,Nemo(Pixar's Finding Nemo) & his dad used the EAC ocean currents to transport and NOT an EAC Walkway belt or escalator!!
I just wish Dreamworks would respect the integrity of the world they try to create to make it more believable.
The movie wasn't bad, but just ok.Yet another forgettable animated movie!I laughed a few times.Thats about it.The plot is pretty thin and silly and extremely in-consequential.

"Where You're The Fairest Of Them All":Dream Portrait Series by Annie Leibovitz

I just learned about this series, and was blown away buy the production quality and the mood of the pics!Some really good casting too!
This is the latest edition to the other 5 pics from Disney Dream Portrait Series by acclaimed photographer,Annie Leibovitz!
It casts a gorgeous Rachel Weisz as "Snow White".