Oscar 2010: Early Predictions – Best Animated Feature

Best Animated Feature

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Phil Lord and Chris Miller
As a scientist tries to solve world hunger, it starts raining food.

Coraline, Henry Selick
A young girl discovers a new world featuring an idealized version of her dysfunctional family life — and some spooky little secrets as well.

Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson
Farmers band together to get rid of Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) and his family (Meryl Streep is the Missus).

Ponyo, Hayao Miyazaki
A five-year-old boy and a goldfish princess develop a close bond.

Up, Pete Docter
A man in his late 70s takes his house and a young stowaway to the South American jungle.

In case there are 16 or more animated features being considered for the 2010 Academy [...]

DISTRICT 9 Tops Box Office

Neill Blomkamp’s sci-fi actioner District 9 flew past its competition to the top spot at the North American box office this weekend with $37 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Pulling strong reviews, the Peter Jackson-produced film scored a solid average of $12,135 per theater at 3,049 locations. District 9 is set in a world where unwelcomed aliens are living as refugees in slump-like conditions on Earth.

The Time Traveler’s Wife, the weekend’s second wide release, made it to second place with a gross of $19.2 million. Playing at 2,988 locations, Robert Schwentke’s romance follows the relationship between a woman (Rachel McAdams) and a man (Eric Bana) who [...]

Asian Film Awards 2009

2009 Asian Film Awards
2009 Asian Film Award nominations: Jan. 21, 2009
2009 Asian Film Award winners: March 23, 2009
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

In Kyoshi Kurosawa’s best Asian Film Award winner Tokyo Sonata, a middle-class worker (Teruyuki Kagawa) loses his job (it’s outsourced to China), but can’t get himself to tell his family about his predicament. Slowly, however, both his ruse and the family itself begin to disintegrate.
 

Best Film
Forever Enthralled, China
The Good, the Bad, the Weird, South Korea
Ponyo on the Cliff, Japan
The Rainbow Troops, Indonesia
Red Cliff, China
* Tokyo Sonata, The Netherlands / Japan / Hong Kong
Best Director
FENG Xiao-gang, If You Are the One, China
KIM Jee-woon, The Good, the Bad, the Weird, South Korea
* KOREEDA Hirokazu, Still Walking, Japan
Brillante MENDOZA, Service, [...]