Wall-E, Bolt and Waltz With Bashir are among the 14 films that have been submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for possible nomination for Best Animated Feature Film a this year’s Academy Awards.

This year’s contenders strike a nearly even balance between output from domestic and foreign studios. The overseas hopefuls include Bashir, $9.99 from Australia, France’s Dragon Hunters, England’s The Tale of Despereaux and The Sky Crawlers and Sword Of the Stranger, both from Japan. In additino to WALL-E amd Bolt, Hollywood studios are represented by Delgo, Fly Me To The Moon, Igor, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!.

According to Academy rules, only three of the fourteen eligible films will be placed onto the voting ballot for the Academy Award.

If I had to guess as to which three films make the cut, I would go with the two most critically and commercially popular animated films this year, Kung Fu Panda, WALL-E, and something a little more arty, probably Waltz With Bashir. Of course, the Israeli-produced Waltz could also have a shot at a nomination for Best Foreign Language Feature. If nominated in both categories, could it win two Oscar statues, or would it lose votes in both categories from voters who may think that the film will win in the other category?

Just a few short months ago, it looked as if we might never see Thai action star Tony Jaa’s directorial debut Ong Bak 2 due to numerous behind-the-scenes dramas including Jaa’s own disappearance and reappearance. Thankfully, things seem to have settled down and the film looks like it is well on its way to its December 4 Thailand premier date.

To whet your appetite for the film, here’s the current trailer. All I can say about it is that it definitely seems to encompass what I’ve come to expect from a Jaa film- raw power, speed and precision and a touch of spirituality.

The Weinstein Company currently holds the North American distribution rights for Ong Bak 2, but there is no indication yet if the company will give the film a theatrical release or just dump it directly on to DVD.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released the names of all the films that have met the qualifications for consideration for Best Foreign Language Film at the upcoming Academy Awards.

A record 67 countries are eligible to be among the five final nominess that will be announced on Thursday, January 22. The Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 22, 2009.

The complete list is after the jump.
Continue Reading

Tony Jaa, the Thai martial arts master and actor who stunned audiences with his 2003 debut film Ong Bak, has been missing since June, placing the future of his nearly completed directorial debut, Ong Bak 2, in jeopardy.

The producers of the film, Sahamongkol Films, state that they have not had any contact with Jaa in almost three months and that the film, which he has already spent three years working on, is about 70% to 80% complete. Panna Rittikrai, Jaa’s longtime martial arts instructor and mentor who has also served as the action choreographer for the film, has been unable to locate him either.

However, conflicting reports have Jaa requesting time off to recover from the stress of the production, which has been plagued with difficulties. There are also conflicting news stories concerning the films finances. Some sources state that Jaa has been spending his own money to ensure the film’s completion, to the point where he is nearly broke. Other sources state that Sahamongkol Films has been shoveling nearly three times the film’s original budget into the production.

In the meantime, Sahamongkol Films has brought in Prachya Pinkaew, Jaa’s director on the original Ong Bak and for Tom-Yum-Goong (The Protector), to complete the film in time for its scheduled December 5 release. Ironically, Jaa and Pinkaew had a falling out in the early stages of pre-production of Ong Bak 2 over how much creative control Jaa would have. Pinkaew left the film to shoot the martial arts action flick Chocolate.

A promotion reel for the film screened at Cannes earlier this year. Although the Weinstein Company picked up North American distribution rights in March, 2006, they returned them in May 2007. Currently the film has no United States distribution.

Via Variety Asia and Kaiju Shakedown.

Martial arts movie fans who have caught Ong Bak or The Protector (or Tom Yum Goong as The Protector is known anywhere the Weinstein Company doesn’t change a movie’s title before distributing it) knows that Tony Jaa is perhaps more than human.

As a master of muay thai or Thai Boxing, Jaa has amazed audiences the world over with the speed, grace and sometimes fierce brutality of his martial arts prowess.

If you are not familiar with Jaa, check out the promotional reel below for his upcoming film Ong Bak 2*. In addition to starring and choreographing all the fight sequences, Jaa is making his directorial debut with this film. Even more impressive is seeing Jaa branching out as a martial artist in this film, utilizing various weapons and other styles of fighting.

This clip was screened at Cannes in an attempt to get distribution for the film. To date, unfortunately, no US distributor has picked up the film.

*Although it is being called a sequel, Ong Bak 2 appears to be a period piece as opposed to the original film’s modern setting, making it a prequel.

Additional Reading- Tony Jaa Talks The Protector

Via Twitch.

Not much is known about the early life of Genghis Khan, but that didn’t stop Russian director Sergei Bodrov from doing some historical extrapolation in his film Mongol.

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film this past year, Mongol tells the story of a young Genghis Khan and his rise in power whilst uniting the Mongol tribes into a single nation, stripping away many of the stereotypes and misconceptions accumulated on the historical figure over the years by Hollywood. (John Wayne in The Conqueror, anyone?)

The film opens in New York and Los Angeles today and will slowly roll out to other cities in the coming weeks.

You can read our review of the film here.

When I popped the DVD for director Peter Delpeut’s Diva Dolorsa into the player, I didn’t know much about the film or the Dutch filmmaker. A quick search online shows that not many others do either, with no Wikipedia entry and scant information on his Internet Movie Database entry. Seventy minutes later, I did know one thing and that was that I wanted to know more about him.

Delpeut’s specialty is taking “found footage” and re-editing it into a new cinematical experience. With Diva Dolorosa, Delpeut has taken footage from 14 silent Italian films and edits them together into a fascinating film that is neither fiction feature or strictly documentary. The result is more a tone poem that defines a particular genre of Italian silent cinema.

Through much research and then skillfull editing, Delpeut presents us with a montage of different actresses in similar situations, all performing variations on the same theme. We see them vamp, seduce and use their feminine wiles to get what they want. And we see that there is always a price to pay for such behavior. It seems only fitting that these operatic morality plays were acted out by some Italy’s leading opera divas of the day.

Given the original source materials’ age, the film is surprisingly crisp looking, with only a bit of scratches, speckling a wear showing. Granted, Delpeut probably only used the best of what was available, but the results are pleasing nevertheless.

With its wanton depictions of lust and greed, Diva Dolorosa makes an interesting companion to another recent release, the new collection of pre-Code films, Forbidden Hollywood: Volume 2.

Thanks to numerous transfers of studio libraries over the years, Warner Brothers is able to include two MGM pre-Codes- The Divorcee (1930) and A Free Soul (1931) – in the set along with their own- Three On A Match (1932), Female (1933) and Night Nurse (1931). All the films are good examples of what the period had to offer, and there’s something here to please virtually any fan of classic cinema. The Divorcee and A Free Soul feature a pair of performances from Norma Shearer that may surprise those only familiar with her later work. Clark Gable shows up twice – in A Free Soul and Night Nurse – playing gangsters who come to untimely, though deserved, ends. Joan Blondell provides strong supporting work in Three On A Match and Night Nurse. Three On A Match also sees some great work from Ann Dvorak as a society lady whose life spins out of control into a whirlpool of drugs, booze and child neglect before reaching a redemption of sorts. (Bogart also passes through Three On A Match in one of his many early Warners gangster roles.) Female stands out due to a good performance from Ruth Chatteron as the President of an automobile manufacturing company who views its business offices as her own personal carnal grazing grounds. Unfortunately, the movie also stands out for an ending that manages to negate the film’s initial feminist premise. Barbara Stanwyck stars as the titular Night Nurse who comes to discover that the two young children in her charge is being slowly starved to death. Ben Lyon turns in a breezy performance as a smooth but petty crook who does away with the menacing Clark Gable without Stanwyck’s character ever becoming the wiser, leaving one wondering why he never became a bigger star.

While the first volume of Forbidden Hollywood released last year contained three prime examples of racy, early Hollywood talkies before the Production Code came into effect and put a clamp on the sex and sinning, it was notably lacking in special features. Volume 2 more than makes up for that omission with commentary tracks on three of the five films in the set, plus a 68-minute documentary entitled Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin, and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood. The documentary gives a great primer on the pre-Code era, with an emphasis on the five films in the set. Film historians Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta contribute commentary tracks for The Divorcee and Night Nurse.

It may not have won the Foreign Language Film Academy Award it was nominated for, but Russian director Sergei Bodrov’s epic look at the early years of Genghis Khan, Mongul, will still be coming to theaters this June.

According to publicity materials- “Based on leading scholarly accounts and written by Bodrov and Arif Aliyev, Mongol delves into the dramatic and harrowing early years of the ruler who was born as Temudgin in 1162. As it follows Temudgin from his perilous childhood to the battle that sealed his destiny, the film paints a multidimensional portrait of the future conqueror, revealing him not as the evil brute of hoary stereotype, but as an inspiring, fearless and visionary leader. Mongol shows us the making of an extraordinary man, and the foundation on which so much of his greatness rested: his relationship with his wife, Borte, his lifelong love and most trusted advisor.”

Here are a batch of recently released photos from the film that hint at the film’s epic nature. Click to make bigger.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have released the short list of films being eligible to be nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award.

But the big surprise isn’t which films made the list, but which ones did not. Critic and audience favorites Persepolis, Exiled, The Orphanage and Four Months, Three Weeks And Two Days all failed to make the cut. All four films received decent distribution with Persepolis and Four Months earning both numerous film festival awards as well as places on several critics year end “Best of” lists.

The selected films were chosen from 63 qualifying films that were submitted to the Academy last year. Of the nine, five will be selected as the nominees for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award.

The shortlisted films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

• The Counterfeiters, Stefan Ruzowitzky, director, Austria
• The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, Cao Hamburger, director, Brazil
• Days of Darkness, Denys Arcand, director, Canada
• Beaufort, Joseph Cedar, director, Israel
• The Unknown Woman, Giuseppe Tornatore, director, Italy
• Mongol, Sergei Bodrov, director, Kazakhstan
• Katyn, Andrzej Wajda, director, Poland
• 12, Nikita Mikhalkov, director, Russia
• The Trap, Srdan Golubovic, director, Serbia

Today is the deadline for countries to submit their nominations to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for consideration for the Best Foreign Language Feature Film Oscar.

According to the Academy’s rules, “a foreign language film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States of America with a predominantly non-English dialogue track. Every country shall be invited to submit its best film to the Academy. Only one picture will be accepted from each country.” Of these nominations, five will be selected for by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award committee. These nominees will be announced on January 22, 2008.

Although the deadline for submission is today, some countries, most notably China and Thailand, have held off on making their announcements until the last minute. Here’s a list of those countries’ submissions that have been announced so far-

• Bangladesh – Swopnodonay (On The Wings Of Dreams)
• Belgium – Ben X
• Brazil – The Year My Parents Went On Vacation
• Czech Republic – I Served The King Of England
• Estonia – The Class
• Finland – A Man’s Job
• France – Persepolis
• Germany – The Edge Of Heaven
• Hong Kong – Exiled
• Hungary – Taxidermia
• India – Eklavya: The Royal Guard
• Ireland – Kings
• Israel – The Band’s Visit
• Italy – The Unknown
• Japan – I Just Didn’t Do It
• Korea – Secret Sunshine
• Macedonia – Shadows
• Mexico – Luz Silenciosa (Silent Light)
• Netherlands – Duska
• Norway – Gone With The Woman
• Philippines – Donsol
• Singapore – 881
• Spain – The Orphanage
• Sweden – You, The Living