News Update: Marvel's Ant-Man, Harry Potter, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and You've Got Mail at 15!

• I'm a big fan of Marvel superhero franchises and I even enjoy the TV series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  But I have to say I have no interest in its upcoming Ant-Man which is joining the overcrowded field of blockbusters releasing in 2015 (Star Wars! Avengers! Batman!) even though they've cast the very likable Paul Rudd (I Love You Man, This is 40) in the lead.  The film will be directed by Edgar Wright, who has been attached to the project for many years now and is due to release on July 31, 2015!

• Speaking of July 31st, it's the birthday of a very famous literary bespectacled wizard who had a great run at the press and the big screen and now Harry's heading to the stage.  J.K. Rowling isn't done surprising us as yet.  She's co-producing and bringing forth a new play based on Harry Potter's life before he became a wizard and lived with the Dursleys.  The play will debut on the West End in 2015.  Please keep surprising us like this forever Ms Rowling!

(Photo: Joseph Gordon-Levitt Facebook)

• What can't Joseph Gordon-Levitt do? The actor-writer-director is also turning producer for the big screen yet again (He also produced Looper last year) with author Neil Gaiman's Sandman.  He'll also be voicing the character of Jiro Horikoshi in the English language release of Hayao Miyazaki's last feature as director, The Wind Rises.  (PS- The resemblance is uncanny!)
• And finally, just for fun, let's revisit the trailer of You've Got Mail which celebrated its 15th anniversary two weeks ago.  Remember dial-up? Or typewriters! Or *sob* bookstores!  Contrasted with 2013's Her in which a character now falls in love with the OS on his phone, the story of two people falling in love over e-mails sounds so old-fashioned, doesn't it?

The 41st Annie Awards nominations are announced!

The nominations for the 41st Annie Awards are in! And Walt Disney Animation and Pixar are battling it out with 10 nominations each with Frozen and Monsters University respectively.  DreamWorks' The Croods and the surprise (not really!) hit of the year, Despicable Me 2 each have nine nominations. But don't count out the grand master and the dark horse amongst the race, Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises, which is being distributed by Walt Disney Studios in the US.  The 41st Annie Awards will be announced on February 1st.

Best Animated Feature

• A Letter to Momo - 
GKIDS
• Despicable Me 2 - 
Universal Pictures
• Ernest & Celestine
 - GKIDS
• Frozen - 
Walt Disney Animation Studios
• Monsters University - 
Pixar Animation Studios
• The Croods
 - DreamWorks Animation
• The Wind Rises
 - The Walt Disney Studios

Best Animated Short Subject

• Despicable Me 2 - Puppy
 - Universal Pictures
• Get A Horse!
 - Walt Disney Animation Studios
• Gloria Victoria
 - National Film Board of Canada
• My Mom is an Airplane
 - Acme Filmworks
• The Numberlys - 
Moonbot Studios

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES

Outstanding Achievement, Animated Effects in an Animated Production

• Alen Lai, David Quirus, Diego Garzon Sanchez, Ilan Gabai - Epic
 - Blue Sky Studios
• David Jones - Dragons: Defenders of Berk
 - DreamWorks Animation
• Joshua Jenny, Jason Johnston, Matthew Wong, Eric Froemling, Enrique Vila - Monsters University
 - Pixar Animation Studios
• Jeff Budsberg, Andre Le Blanc, Louis Flores, Jason Mayer - The Croods - 
DreamWorks Animation
• Greg Gladstone, Nikita Pavlov, Allen Ruilova, Matt Titus, Can Yuksel - Turbo
 - DreamWorks Animation

Outstanding Achievement, Animated Effects in a Live Action Production

• Jonathan Paquin, Brian Goodwin, Gray Horsfield, Mathieu Chardonnet, Adrien Toupet - Man Of Steel - 
Weta Digital
• Ben O’Brien, Karin Cooper, Lee Uren, Chris Root - Star Trek: Into Darkness - Industrial Light & Magic
• Dan Pearson, Jay Cooper, Jeff Grebe, Amelia Chenoweth - Star Trek: Into Darkness - 
Industrial Light & Magic
• Michael Balog, Ryan Hopkins, Patrick Conran, Florian Witzel - Pacific Rim
 - Industrial Light & Magic

Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Feature Production

• Thom Roberts - Epic
 - Blue Sky Studios
• Jonathan Del Val – Despicable Me 2
 - Universal Pictures
• Jakob Jensen - The Croods - 
DreamWorks Animation
• John Chun Chiu Lee - Monsters University
 - Pixar Animation Studios
• Kitaro Kosaka – The Wind Rises - 
The Walt Disney Studios
• Tony Smeed - Frozen
 - Walt Disney Animation Studios
• Patrick Imbert - Ernest & Celestine
 - GKIDS

Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Live Action Production

• Jeff Capogreco, Jedrzej Wojtowicz, Kevin Estey, Alessandro Bonora, Gino Acevedo - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Gollum
 - Weta Digital
• Dave Clayton, Simeon Duncombe, Jung Min Chan, Matthew Cioffi, Guillame Francois - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Goblin King
 - Weta Digital
• Hal Hickel, Chris Lentz, Derrick Carlin, Steve Rawlins, Kyle Winkelman - Pacific Rim
 - Industrial Light & Magic

Outstanding Achievement, Character Design in an Animated Feature Production

• Carter Goodrich, Takao Noguchi, Shane Prigmore - The Croods
 - DreamWorks Animation
• Sylvain Deboissy, Shannon Tindle - Turbo - DreamWorks Animation
• Craig Kellman – Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 - 
Sony Pictures Animation
• Chris Sasaki - Monsters University - 
Pixar Animation Studios
• Christophe Lourdelet - A Monster in Paris
 - Shout! Factory 

• Eric Guillon – Despicable Me 2 - 
Universal Pictures
• Bill Schwab - Frozen
 - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Outstanding Achievement, Directing in an Animated Feature Production

• Chris Sanders, Kirk DeMicco - The Croods
 - DreamWorks Animation
• David Soren - Turbo - 
DreamWorks Animation
• Chris Wedge - Epic
 - Blue Sky Studios
• Benjamin Renner, Vincent Patar, Stéphane Aubier - Ernest & Celestine
 - GKIDS
• Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee - Frozen
 - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Outstanding Achievement, Music in an Animated Feature Production

• Alan Silvestri - The Croods - 
DreamWorks Animation
• Henry Jackman - Turbo
 - DreamWorks Animation
• Mark Mothersbaugh – Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2
 - Sony Pictures Animation
• Heitor Pereira, Pharrell Williams – Despicable Me 2
 - Universal Pictures
• Danny Elfman - Epic - Blue Sky Studios
• Randy Newman - Monsters University
 - Pixar Animation Studios
• Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, Christophe Beck - Frozen
 - Walt Disney Animation Studios 

• Dominic Lewis - Free Birds - 
Reel FX

Outstanding Achievement, Production Design in an Animated Feature Production

• Christophe Lautrette, Paul Duncan, Dominique R. Louis - The Croods
 - DreamWorks Animation
• Yarrow Cheney, Eric Guillon – Despicable Me 2
 - Universal Pictures
• Michael Knapp, Greg Couch, William Joyce - Epic
 - Blue Sky Studios
• Zaza, Zyk - Ernest & Celestine - GKIDS
• Ricky Nierva, Robert Kondo, Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi - Monsters University
 - Pixar Animation Studios
• Michael Giaimo, Lisa Keene, David Womersley - Frozen
 - Walt Disney Animation Studios 


Outstanding Achievement, Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production

• Steven MacLeod - The Croods
 - DreamWorks Animation
• Eric Favela – Despicable Me 2 - 
Universal Pictures
• Dean Kelly - Monsters University
 - Pixar Animation Studios
• Jason Hand - Planes
- Disneytoon Studios
• John Ripa - Frozen
 - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Outstanding Achievement, Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production

• Paul Giamatti as the voice of Chet - Turbo
 - DreamWorks Animation
• Terry Crews as the voice of Earl – Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2
 - Sony Pictures Animation
• Kristen Wiig as the voice of Lucy – Despicable Me 2
 - Universal Pictures
• Steve Carell as the voice of Gru – Despicable Me 2
 - Universal Pictures
• Pierre Coffin as the voice of Minions - Despicable Me 2
 - Universal Pictures
• Billy Crystal as the voice of Mike – Monsters University – Pixar Animation Studios
• Josh Gad as the voice of Olaf - Frozen
 - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Outstanding Achievement, Writing in an Animated Feature Production

• Daniel Pennac - Ernest & Celestine
 - GKIDS
• Daniel Gerson, Robert L. Baird, Dan Scanlon - Monsters University - 
Pixar Animation Studios
• Miyazaki Hayao – The Wind Rises
- The Walt Disney Studios
• Jennifer Lee - Frozen
 - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Outstanding Achievement, Editorial in an Animated Feature Production

• Darren Holmes - The Croods
 - DreamWorks Animation
• James Ryan - Turbo
 - DreamWorks Animation
• Fabienne Alvarez-Giro - Ernest & Celestine - 
GKIDS
• Greg Snyder, Gregory Amundson, Steve Bloom - Monsters University
 - Pixar Animation Studios
• Jeff Draheim - Frozen - 
Walt Disney Animation Studios

JURIED AWARDS

Winsor McCay Award — Katsuhiro Otomo, Steven Spielberg & Phil Tippett

June Foray Award — Alice Davis

Certificate of Merit — “I Know That Voice” (Documentary)

Hayao Miyazaki Officially Announces His Retirement

I was holding out on talking about this until it was made official and now it definitely feels official.  There is actual video footage. *sad sigh*  On Friday, famed Japanese animator and director, Hayao Miyazaki (one of the greatest storytellers in animation, in my opinion) announced his retirement from feature films.

Previously he had scaled back his duties at Studio Ghibli but had to take over the responsibility of certain films once their release dates grew nearer.  He said at packed press conference of nearly 600 journalists in Tokyo that "this time I am quite serious." At 73, Miyazaki feels his limitations and plans to continue drawing, but also devote his time to other ventures such as the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo (one of the items on my bucket list).

The Wind Rises, his 11th feature film, has been making the rounds this year at the film festivals in Venice and Toronto.  His previous films, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), Princess Mononoke (1997) have become instant classics and many a time broke the box-office at home in Japan.  2001's Spirited Away is his most recognizable film in the West which won the Best Animated Feature Oscar and the Golden Bear in Berlin. 

Miyazaki's films have always conveyed a sense of wonder and adventure that lay outside our doorstep if only we could open our eyes and see them.  While we lament about lead female characters in animated films today, his films have featured strong, intelligent female characters since the 1980s.  Miyazaki also wrote the screenplay on one of the more underrated films in the Studio Ghibli filmography, Whisper of the Heart (1995), a personal favorite of mine.

So all we have to say for now is sayonara, Miyazaki-san and good luck on your much deserved retirement. Thank you for the stories, we are truly transformed by your vast imagination.