25 February 2008

Post "The Big Night": Oscars 2008

I don't really have much to say about this year's Academy Awards; most of the ceremony went as was expected (e. g., Daniel Day-Lewis, Javier Bardem, Joel & Ethan Coen, Diablo Cody, even Tilda Swinton) and, the few times when it didn't (e. g., cinematography, visual effects), those nominees who probably should have won (e. g., Roger Deakins, the team from Transformers) don't really need golden statuettes to validate their works or their talents. The only comments I do want to make are words of congratulations to those nominees from tonight whose wins showed the Academy really getting it right - which is most definitely something to acknowledge - ahem, CrashRobertoBenigniChicagoCharlizeTheronHappyFeetJamieFoxxCrash, ahem - sorry, something in my craw. Anyway, back to the kudos: Congratulations are well due to Christopher Rouse (Editing), Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman (Animated Short), and Marion Cotillard (Actress in a Leading Role!), who looked beautiful and whose win made the night for me.

So close a Year in Film (2007); so open a Year in Film (2008). I'm excited! Are you?

15 February 2008

The SpyGlasses Full (2007)

Seeing as Valentine's Day has now ended and the Academy Awards' televised ceremony is now less than 10 days away, I think it's time clear for me to start announcing my little 'award' recipients. To begin, I'll start with some of the visual categories; and I shall add to this list every day preceding the Oscar telecast, for - after all - anything announced afterward, I feel, does run too close to looking either deferential or oppositive.

Best Costuming
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Juno
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
La Vie en Rose

Best Make-Up
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Le Scaphandre et le Papillon
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
La Vie en Rose

(16 February: Tonight two of the audial categories:)
Best Sound Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Ratatouille
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Transformers

Best Sound Mixing
The Bourne Ultimatum
Into the Wild
No Country for Old Men
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
La Vie en Rose


(17 February: Tonight Editing(!):)
Best Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Darjeeling Limited
Into the Wild
No Country
for Old Men
Le Scaphandre et le Papillon

(18 February: Tonight the shorts:)
Best Animated Film (Short)
Everything Will Be OK
I Met the Walrus
Madame Tutli-Putli
My Love
Peter & the Wolf

Best Live-Action Film (Short)
Hotel Chevalier


(19 February: Tonight tonight is all about the music:)
Best Original Score
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Alexandre Desplat, Lust, Caution
Eddie
Vedder, Into the Wild

Best Original Song
"To Be Surprised" by Sondre Lerche, Dan in Real Life
"That's How You Know" by Alan Menken, Enchanted
"Guaranteed" by Eddie Vedder, Into the Wild
"Rise" by Eddie Vedder, Into the Wild
"Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, Once

(20 February*: Tonight the writers:)
Best Screenplay (Original)
Diablo Cody,
Juno
John Carney, Once
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Don Hertzfeldt, Everything Will Be OK
Tamara Jenkins,
The Savages

Best Screenplay (Adapted)
Andrew Dominik, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Ronald Harwood,
Le Scaphandre et le Papillon
John Logan,
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Sean Penn, Into the Wild
James Vanderbilt, Zodiac


*An interesting note that I just myself recognized: No film has yet garnered more than a single 'award' from me. What a diverse year this has been. Perhaps the tally will change tomorrow?


(21 February: Tonight the rest of the visual categories:)
Best Art Direction
The Darjeeling Limited
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood


Best Cinematography
Robert D. Yeoman, The Darjeeling Limited, Hotel Chevalier
Slawomir Idziak, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Roger Deakins; The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, No Country for Old Men
Janusz Kaminski, Le Scaphandre et le Papillon**
Robert
Elswit, There Will Be Blood

Best Visual Effects
The Bourne Ultimatum
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
I Am Legend
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Transformers


**And Le Scaphandre et le Papillon becomes the first film this year to receive more than one recognition.

(22 February: Tonight the supporting players and the foreign-language film:)
Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck,
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
P
hillip Seymour Hoffman; The Savages, Charlie Wilson's War
Hal
Holbrook, Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Jennifer Garner, Juno
Evanna Lynch, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Samantha Morton, Control
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Best Foreign-Language Film (Feature-Length or Short)
Lust, Caution

Le Scaphandre et le Papillon
La Vie en Rose

(23 February: Tonight the lead actors and the director:)
Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Ryan Gosling, Lars and the Real Girl
Emile Hirsche, Into the Wild
James
MacAvoy, Atonement

Best Actress
Amy Adams, Enchanted
Julie Christie, Away from Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno

Best Director
Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Andrew Dominick, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Sean Penn, Into the Wild
Jason Reitman, Juno
Julian Schnabel, Le Scaphandre et le Papillon

(24 February: Tonight the feature-length films and my top ten of the year:)
Best Live-Action Film (Feature-Length)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Into the Wild
Juno
Le Scaphandre et le Papillon
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Best Animated Film (Feature-Length)
Persepolis
Ratatouille
The Simpsons Movie

2007's Top Ten:

  • The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
  • The Darjeeling Limited
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
  • Into the Wild
  • Juno
  • Michael Clayton
  • No Country for Old Men
  • The Savages
  • Le Scaphandre et le Papillon
  • Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
(Bold denotes winner; italics, a noteworthy second.)
Great work!

08 February 2008

Vanity Fair on Hitchcock


Vanity Fair just recently printed a photographic (and textual) retrospective on Mr. Hitchcock's work, a pictorial series of stills representing some of the director's best known films reimagined and reshot with actors from today's Hollywood by photographers Art Streiber, Julian Broad, and Norman Jean Roy. The printed photos, which collected embody a beautiful revisualization of the included films, feature actors like James MacAvoy and Emile Hirsche in scenes like the dining-car conversation from Strangers on a Train (see included) and attempt to recast the Hitchcock allure onto those some of today's most prominent filmmakers. The series is a thoroughly enjoyable endeavor and a glad recommendation: do check it out (here).

04 February 2008

Review: Cloverfield

Genre: Thriller (Apocalyptic)

Cloverfield is the latest attempt at an uncommonly popular subgenre of the thriller. Like past attempts (e. g., 28 Days Later, Godzilla), it follows the same basic structure of the subgenre, in which a contemporary, perhaps somewhat idealistic, reality is relatively early in the film shaken to its very core and practically thus upturned entirely by the sudden and fatalistic intrusion of an mal du force outsider into it. Whether that outside force be creature, illness, or even environment (e. g., Deep Impact), the resultant plot details are always the same: People freak, panic ensues, and tragedy generally befalls anyone - and everyone - involved. Yet Cloverfield, unlike its predecessors, attempts to go rogue on this apocalyptic quest, by ushering in a first-person, though largely narrated, camera as the sole vehicle for filming. Furthermore, it abandons the typically wide array of character types and cast members, in favor of a more concentrated and tidy four - five, at most. These two tweaks, as well as the utilization of (for the most part) realistic/credible dialogue, do to distinguish the film from its fellows; however, they are not enough to fully bring the subgenre out from B- - even C-movie hell. The novelty of the slight redesign diminishes completely as soon as the apocalyptic outsider arrives and, instead of expanding and becoming more complex, the characters too diminish, winnowing down dimensionality to its flattest and simplest, as the plot drags on. Thus, predictability quickly emerges, out of a plot also eschewing dynamism, and tone and balance are shaky at best, despite the obvious attempts at jokes to, if only for a moment, "keep it light, keep it gay, keep it fragrant." The argument of the film becomes halved, half focus on the 'carpe diem' motivation and the other half on the question-of-the-greater-good motivation, and the dichotomous ending does in no way resolve the two. Subtexts about a subconscious Zeitgeist of terror for potential impending doom(s, on various fronts and for various reasons) are premature at best, and the metaphor of the intrusive outsider does not congress well with any of the options (e. g., the demon inside oneself that is irrational anger and/or reticence, the pressing of a moral question, the general need for catharsis), with the slight exception of its auxiliary creatures (that attack people as individuals and whose bites force 'expression'). Finally, does no one get it that films in this subgenre are always less powerful (i. e., both less significant and less scary) when the impending doom, the intrusive threat, is completely revealed?? (Hello, M. Night Shyamalan!) All that said - and despite its intrinsically apocalyptic bend - Cloverfield falls short of utter catastrophe. Its special effects are some redemption and its quick, yet fixed, instants of focused photography are at times significant. Plus, the acting was certainly above the level usually found (though less frequently of late) in films of this subgenre (or genre general). Nevertheless the bottom line remains, in a word: prosaic.

Grade: C+/C

(After writing this review, I checked out Manohla Dargis' review of the film on the Times' website. I felt compelled by the insight of her words to post these few extractions here:

"For a brief, hopeful moment, I thought the filmmakers might be making a point about how the contemporary compulsion to record the world has dulled us to actual lived experience, including the suffering of others — you know, something about the simulacrum syndrome in the post-Godzilla age at the intersection of the camera eye with the narcissistic “I.” Certainly this straw-grasping seemed the most charitable way to explain characters whose lack of personality (“This is crazy, dude!”) is matched only by their incomprehensible stupidity. Smart as Tater Tots and just as differentiated, Rob and his ragtag crew behave like people who have never watched a monster movie or the genre-savvy “Scream” flicks or even an episode of “Lost” (Hello, Mr. Abrams!), much less experienced the real horrors of Sept. 11.

And, so, much like a character from a crummy movie, Rob hears from an estranged lover, Beth (Odette Yustman), who, after the attack, begs for help on her miraculously working cellphone. Against the odds and a crush of fleeing humanity, he tries to rescue her (unbelievably, ludicrously, the others tag along), which is meant to show what a good guy he is. But heroism without a fully realized hero proves as much a dead end as subjective camerawork that’s executed without a discernible subjectivity. Like too many big-studio productions, “Cloverfield” works as a showcase for impressively realistic-looking special effects, a realism that fails to extend to the scurrying humans whose fates are meant to invoke pity and fear but instead inspire yawns and contempt.

Rarely have I rooted for a monster with such enthusiasm."

Manohla, I completely understand.)

25 January 2008

"80 Years of Oscar" Poster


The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the group that yearly gives us the Oscars, has just released its celebratory poster for this year's awards. The poster's design features the poster art for most, if not all, of the Academy's 80 Best Picture award-winners, including a question-marked space for this year's recipient. The posters are arranged seriatim according to year and conform with a spiral design that, when viewed as a whole, mimics an Oscar statuette. Combined with a classy backdrop and a written list of the titles of all the featured Best Pictures, the imagery of the poster looks simply beautiful, which is why I just had to post about it. Enjoy, people. There are about 4 weeks until the awards' ceremony.

22 January 2008

Heath Ledger: Tragedy

I literally just saw the incredibly tragic news on television that Heath Ledger, acclaimed actor from films like Monster's Ball (2001) and the landmark Brokeback Mountain (2005), was found dead in his NYC apartment today by his housekeeper. The report said that he was discovered lying on his bed next to numerous medications this afternoon, soon before he was scheduled for a massage. Despite the circumstances, the death is assumed to be an accident. He was twenty-eight years-old.

I'm speechless.

Here is a link to the "Breaking News" article on CNN.com.

From the Times:
"At 3:31 p.m., according to the police, a masseuse arrived at the fourth-floor apartment of the building, at 421 Broome Street, between Crosby and Lafayette Streets in SoHo, for an appointment with Mr. Ledger. The masseuse was let in to the home by a housekeeper, who then knocked on the door of the bedroom Mr. Ledger was in. When no one answered, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger naked and unconscious on a bed, with sleeping pills — both prescription medication and nonprescription — on a night table. They moved his body to the floor and attempted to revive him, but he did not respond. They immediately called the authorities."

The Reaction to the Cloud

And the nominations have been announced.

Other than the blah support for Atonement that almost knocked me over, I was surprised by a few things:

  • the screenplay for Away from Her being nominated, because it definitely wasn't spectacular - but then the offerings for that category weren't spectacular in general this year
  • the screenplay for Ratatouille being nominated, because it also wasn't spectacular - but then they love their Pixar
  • the curve ball that was the nomination for Surf's Up as animated feature
  • the unexpected, yet still expected absence of Le Scaphandre et le Papillon from the Best Picture category, which to me only attests to the old-school, unadventurous mentality that plagues the awards
  • the unexpected show of double-love for Cate Blanchett, who, while always wonderful, did not strike me as outstanding in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, especially not more wonderful than, say, Amy Adams in Enchanted. (Huzzah for Laura Linney though!)
  • and the actually expected show of no-love for Sean Penn, who not only failed to get himself a Director nomination (and Emile Hirsche an Actor nomination), but also failed to have his marvellous Into the Wild nominated as Best Picture - how could they do that? Don't they love Sean Penn over at the Academy? I thought for sure they'd eat that shit up - ("shit" colloquially of course - I mean, I called the film "marvellous" sincerely, to which my personal nominations can attest [see right]).
Edits to come, pending the rest of the nominations, which were not televised....

And:
  • Wow, all three songs from Enchanted?! They were good, but they weren't that good. I sense nostalgia for the Menken of yore. (Meanwhile, the ignorance-fest for Into the Wild shuts out Eddie Vedder from this category completely.)
  • Nothing for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix! Boo! Really, it deserved at least one recognition somewhere...
  • ...meanwhile, ugh, Atonement gets into the cinematography category - that just bothers me
  • Interesting choices for musical score - I didn't find Michael Clayton or Ratatouille to be very exceptional and I have not seen - well, heard, I guess - The Kite Runner or 3:10 to Yuma
  • Across the Universe for costumes? - but then the costume nominees usually contain one that is way out there and of a film that wasn't great (e. g., Troy). (Huzzah for La Vie en Rose though!)
  • and hooray for the Animated Short nominees!
OK, now back to sleep.

--------------------------------

And, now that I've slept, some final thoughts:
  • About score: The Michael Clayton score is a big "what?" to me; I can appreciate minimalistic background but this just feels unspecial. I don't mind the Ratatouille score, but it is very typical. I wonder, could its being nominated be a recompensatory recognition of Michael Giacchino for his more unique work on The Incredibles? The 3:10 to Yuma score is actually thoroughly enjoyable and am for its having a nomination. And The Kite Runner sounds like a knock-off version of your wonderful score for The Constant Gardener, Mr. Iglesias.
  • About editing: I'm glad Le Scaphandre et le Papillon and Into the Wild got in there. Frankly any Into the Wild love is glad-making.
  • and about screenplay: ....

In the Shadow of the Oscars

So, the nominations for the 80th annual Academy Awards are due to become official tomorrow morning (though some sources may have had an insider's peek). For many, their announcement is yearly the cause of much anxiety and anticipation, since the reaction to them always seems to indicate that the films that the Academy chooses to either nominate or not nominate accordingly either gain or do not gain respect ad finitum in the Zeitgeist opinion of the general public - a phenomenon I like to call the clever misconceptions of the historical present (e. g., the existence of people who earnestly believe Crash was the best picture of its year). For me and, I suspect, for many others who enjoy taking a greater interest in the actual merits of film, the nominations of the Academy (and indeed their awards themselves) are nothing more than the opportunity to see how much the popular gurus "got right" (oftentimes according to our own personal observations) - well, that, or the opportunity to exercise our sports'-fan's-like competitive spirits with others like ourselves (but that's a whole different story).
For my own part, I just posted the final nominations for my own little awards (on the right) and, because I'm a dork who can't resist, I will be waking up early to watch the Academy's nominations' announcement to see "how well we've done." I know that my pushes for films like The Darjeeling Limited are far-fetched to any savvy "Oscar-tracker," but I stand by them all. (I mean, Mr. Anderson's work is not continually admitted to the Criterion Collection because it's bad.) And among the best of the others I stand boldly in the shadow of Oscar: Mr. Idziak's brilliant cinematographical work on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Ms. Garner's striking performance in Juno, and Ms. Lynch's captivatingly ephemeral portrayal in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; and, though I contend that the Oscars actually mean very little nowadays in terms of true achievements, fingers are nevertheless crossed in hopes that they recognize these worthy pieces.
Until the morning...

19 January 2008

Review: Le Scaphandre et le Papillon

Genre: Drama / Biopic

So I finally just saw Le Scaphandre et le Papillon today and, for the first time in a while, I discovered that the work had not been, to a disappointment's effect, extenuously overpraised in the media. Instead, I discovered that it was as many have already been saying, a wonderful and deeply beautiful description of one man's struggle to uncover and improve and express himself in the world; and, although that bit of plot detail may come off as more than a bit cliche and 'senti-metallic,' I assure anyone who may doubt me about it that, a former cynic myself, my similar doubts were quelled (and thoroughly quelled at that). From Mr. Kaminski's brilliant cinematography, that simply overwhelmed with its power, to Mr. Harwood's faithful adaptation, that glowed and radiated in its unembellished honesty, the film is clearly one of the best of the year.
To begin with, the film in its very first moment immediately breaks the divide of spectator from spectacle. Much of the entire film was shot in the first person, in a way that places the spectator within the visual confines of the struggling protagonist, and thus allies the two parties in that way. An extremely incisive and potent perspective, that alliance allowed the film to achieve true and unglamorized - ahem, Atonement - audience immersion, a phenomenon that roots strongly into the very foundational aims for the medium film - no, even (narrative) art in general - itself (i. e., the possibilities for consciousness' extension, metaphysical escapism, the persistence of memory, etc.).
These philosophical ripples were then supported by and symbiotically raised with an equally probing screenplay, that consciously investigated the limits of what it is to be 'human;' to have form, body; to think; to be thought of; and to create. Mr. Harwood delicately etched all this out from the original text marvellously, without any sensible or significant loss of strength; and additionally he found it within his capabilities and talent to cohabit these weighty discourses with the light and yet still emotionally and psychologically relevant portraits of the common tugs-of-war of the everyday and the people. In one rushing swift he touched on the quickly passionate anguish many feel when almost viscerally immersed in a televised sports' event and then cascaded smoothly into a solipsistic exploration of the larger-scheme, vital exasperation that can be extended from that rather quotidian origin. (When one is forced in on oneself, to rawly confront and really scrutinize oneself, in absence of all other things, all other beings, can what is commonly understood by the word "passion" truly be felt or achieved, or is that phenomenon solely and entirely an artificial, associative reaction to otherworldly things, a condition inspirable only by those things and those people absented outside of oneself?) And, for such tremendous tackle and ambition, he never once failed or faltered, but instead delivered and drove consistently rhythmically to as much of a conclusion as anyone can be said to have reached.
Intelligently, this philosophical questioning and journey was exactly and subtly mimicked by the quiet, evolving structure of Mr. Kaminski's cinematography. Much like the papillon's emergence from its scaphandre, the visuals of the film gradually reached beyond their starting point, to achieve a new frame, that of an abstracted self, an outsider, gazing within, gazing at the vessel from which it emerged. The transference from the initial first-person's perspective to a slowly more preponderate third-person's perspective illustrates this point most clearly; but Mr. Kaminksi marked all the story's archs in this way, extracting the proximal and the intense into the expansive and the resonant, and wove the film even tighter still by interlacing iconically significant, touchstone-like images at regular intervals throughout the film (e. g., the aquatic descent and the rigid, [old-world] full-body diving suit). Needless to say, the effects of all these aspects and designs were quite exquisite.
Together, the screenplay and the cinematography led the film's connoiter with concerns of the body, the mind, and the inexiguous delineation of the self as well as with the finesses and furies of human interrelations, especially intimate ones, but it was Mr. Schnabel's skilled direction that really gave all of it its flair. Drawing out spot-on performances from his cast, whom he superbly arranged in his spaces, and timing well the weight of each piece of his work, he quite elegantly oversaw his story from its at-first-instant beginnings to its majestic ends. He allowed the tragic to be tragic, the intimate to be intimate, and the funny to be funny and never let any one of them run away with the other two; and he made sure to extirpate any even meager sign of mill humor or pity or repulsion from his lush and sculpted filmscape.
Yet, for all its polished and clean and well conceived depths and surfaces, the film was not absolutely impeccable and, I feel, no matter what the condition or the origin of a work, unless perfect it can always be offered a little constructive criticism. In this case, I have three such comments. First: While I understand that, being based on a true and recent story, the film had little choice but to be allegiant to its source material, it also on the other hand could have taken some small, non-radical liberties without disavowing its source, in order to really crisp up and realize its source's at-least subtextual emotions. For example, I felt that in the first act, in which the protagonist learns of his "locked-in" condition, he could have more clearly been seen to go through the several stages of grief over personal loss that are to be expected in a situation like his. While confusion, displacement, despair, and acceptance are all there, the anger or frustration component I thought was lacking. If it had been more present, the audience's introduction into the body of the plot could have been more smooth and complete (though, without it, there is but a minor crease in the film's fabric [that may be arguably excused by references to the protagonist's character or personal nature]). Second and related to the first: While the borrowed music of the film was certainly strong and felt and very present, I thought the work as a whole could have used a more present, more solid original score. Mr. Constantin's and Mr. Cantelon's themes were a little too shy, too placid, too sedate for the film's fierce heart in my opinion. Third: While I understand the symbolic significance of the glacial imagery that figures throughout and at the closing of the film, I did not feel like it was a thoroughly sound analogy to make. Glaciers suggest coldness, frozenness, and 'in-fecundity' or 'in-arability' in addition to vastness, desolation, cohesion, etc.; and so they put me in mind of unsustainability, inaccess, and fruitlessness, which obviously stand in direct contrast to the tenets of the film. Perhaps fish in fractile, glass fishbowls would have been a better piece of imagery.
Nonetheless, despite these small constructive critiques, I did definitively admire the film and all the people involved in its creation. I strongly encourage anyone who have not yet seen it to soon do so, for in all its facets it was a tight, pointed, and affecting piece of work, with cinematography, a screenplay, and direction that stand out as some of the best of the year. And, them adeptly probing very profound, very current areas of philosophy, it sincerely was a tremendous work.

Grade: A-

17 January 2008

Animation Slip-Up? Or Just Snazzy Privy?

The consistently solid website AWN.com, which yearly features (in great layouts) all the nominees for both of the animated categories of the Academy Awards, is as of today featuring what appears to be this year's collective batch of animation nominees (reproduced below). (Yes, you read correctly: today.) For you readers who are puzzled by why the date matters, I'm sure any such puzzling will end when you read the following: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) has yet to officially release its list of nominees for any category; the official press release is scheduled for this upcoming Tuesday (Jan. 22). So, I must ask (and do so nevertheless in complete deference to the work of all the listed films on AWN.com, for none is undeserving of the honor of a nomination [and many are my personal picks]), do they at AWN.com know something that we don't know? Or are they, like many, just doing their best to predict the yet-to-be-announced, real lists of nominees? AMPAS? AWN.com? Anyone?

Best Animated Short
How to Hookup Your Home Theater
I Met the Walrus
Madame Tutli-Putli
The Pearce Sisters
Prokokiev's Peter & the Wolf

Best Animated Feature
Persepolis
Ratatouille
The Simpsons Movie