The State of the Linkage

My fellow bloggers and bloggees, I stand before you today to tell you the state of our links is strong, flourishing and starting with Up bagging another award:

Pixar's Up has been named film of the year at the Richard Attenborough Film Awards, presented annually by regional film critics across the UK ... James Cameron has won the filmmaker of the year prize for Avatar

Two animated films copping top awards isn't bad, I don't think ...

George Lucas is working on a new theatrical CGI feature, this one not tied to Star Wars:

The untitled computer-animated film is in preproduction at Lucas' Skywalker Ranch production facility in Marin County, north of San Francisco. Plot details are locked tighter than the plans for the Death Star, but one element known is that the script features fairies.

The project marks a rare foray outside the "Star Wars" universe for Lucas ... Kevin Munroe is directing the musical, which is expected to feature songs from a variety of sources. Munroe hails from the animated world and made his directorial debut in 2007 with the fourth Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, "TMNT." ...

Express Night Out examines the Commie cartoons of the workers paradise of East Germany (an image of which is seen above.)

First Run Features is releasing several DEFA titles on DVD, a worthwhile series that includes the new "Red Cartoons," an odd collection of 16 short animated films spanning 1974 through 1990.

That's only a fraction of DEFA's output, which exceeded 800 cartoons. But this selection represents the impressive range of techniques and styles, and showcases the animators' sophisticated drawings. Because socialist art demands realism, these works are strictly — albeit often fleetingly — narrative, but they are rarely experimental and never pursue the form for its own ends.

Oh my. Brad Bird appears to be having trouble with 1906, if various websites are to be believed.

Brad Bird’s plan to make his live-action debut is crumbling. The Oscar winning animation director responsible for films like The Incredibles and Ratatouille, planned to bring James Dalessandro’s book about the infamous 1906 San Francisco earthquake to life. Sadly, Warner Bros. isn’t convinced 1906 will be groundbreaking enough to justify its massive budget.

(Various spies and stoolies had told me there was trouble; of course I refused to believe it.)

ASIFA Archives has put up one of UPA's showier early efforts:

UPA's groundbreaking Man On The Land ... includes animation by Pat Matthews, Grim Natwick and Art Babbitt, but animation isn't the primary attraction here. It's the drop dead brilliant layouts by Director Bill Hurtz, Associate Director Art Heinemann and background artists Bob Dranko, Boris Gorelick and Paul Julian (among others). Just about every setup in this film is strong enough to be an illustration in a book. Check out the depth and lighting in these backgrounds ...

(So click through and look, already.)

The Hollywood Reporter explains why Avatar isn't quite the big deal many people think it is.

With everybody reporting how "Avatar" is The Biggest Movie of All Time based on grosses ($1.859 billion and counting), it's important to remember how rising ticket prices skew the returns.

Here's the Top 20 movies of all time ... by number of tickets sold:

1 "Gone With the Wind" (1939) 202,044,600

2 "Star Wars" (1977) 178,119,600

3 "The Sound of Music" (1965) 142,415,400

4 "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) 141,854,300

5 "The Ten Commandments" (1956) 131,000,000

6 "Titanic" (1997) 128,345,900 ...

(Snow White is just now at #10 ... in case you're wondering.)

Have yourself a glorious Friday and weekend. And remember to pace yourself.