Films up for Best Animated Film in Oscar 2010

This year it going to be tough for the Best Animated Film category in Oscar. The Academy Award organizers announced on Wednesday that record 20 animated films have been submitted for Oscar 2010. The list of films include studio hits like “Up” and “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” as well as independent ventures “Mary and Max”.

The Oscar awards in the Best animated film category was began by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2002. In the age of computer animation the number of award-hopeful cartoon flicks has only steadily risen every year since then.

The Disney/Pixar smash hit “Up” is up for the 2010 best animated feature film. The film is about a boy and an old man who float off to South America in a house tied with helium balloons. “Up” earned $507 million at global box offices and is also famed to be the best reviewed animated film of the year.

We vote for “Up” as one of the toughest contenders of the best animated feature film of the forthcoming Oscars. But surely the film will face strong competition from the widely-liked “Coraline”, which earned a sum of $121 million in worldwide ticket sales. Among the other big contenders for this category there are hits like “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” and “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”. George Clooney movie, “Fantastic Mr. Fox”, comedy “Planet 51″ and Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” are also in the list of 20 films vying for the Oscar, but have not been able to pull broad audience.

Following are the list of a complete list of the 20 films, out of which only 5 films will receive nomination:
“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel”
“Astro Boy”
“Battle for Terra”
“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”
“Coraline”
“Disney’s A Christmas Carol”
“The Dolphin – Story of a Dreamer”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs”
“Mary and Max”
“The Missing Lynx”
“Monsters vs. Aliens”
“9″
“Planet 51″
“Ponyo”
“The Princess and the Frog”
“The Secret of Kells”
“Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure”
“A Town Called Panic”
“Up”

Angelina Jolie in Salt

The trailer of upcoming film “Salt” simply floored millions across the globe. A look at the very hot and sizzling Angelina Jolie stole the mind and hearts of all her fans.

The Oscar nominated actress is back and she looks as sexy as ever. Trailers of Angelina Jolie’s forthcoming film, “Salt” was posted on the internet this week. The mother of 6 looks as appealing as ever. Jolie and Brad Pitt parents three adopted children and three biological. Right before the filing of Salt began Jolie gave birth to twins.

Salt, which stars Jolie as Evelyn Salt, who is a CIA officer accused of being a Russian sleeper spy out to prove her innocence, is directed by Phillip Noyce. Fans are critics are still wondering how Jolie got back in shape in such a short period of time right after giving birth to twins.

Well, if you watch the trailer thoroghly your doubts will be cleared. In a particular scene, featuring Jolie in her underwear, her taut stomach is clearly displayed.

Intially the lead role for Salt was offered to Tom Cruise. But when the actor turned it down the role was rewritten for Jolie. The movie will hit the theaters on July 23rd, 2010.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie shared some private and cozy moments together. The Hollywood’s most desired couple was seen together spending some intimate time at the Italian restaurant for a romantic dinner date.

The Hollywood couple who raises 6 kids, 3 adopted and 3 of their own, seemed to be in need of some private moments. Leaving the little ones home with their nanny, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie went on a cozy Italian dinner date. The couple spent their Saturday night at Vincenti, which is a coveted Italian restaurant in L.A.’s Brentwood neighborhood.

A night before Pitt was spotted with his sons Maddox and Pax in New Orleans enjoying Green Day perform.

Dressed in black the “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” couple were on a night out in Tinseltown together. The couple were holding hands while they were spotted walking down together sharing a laugh.

In a recent interview Pitt was quoted as saying that he turns to architecture when he feels stressed out. “Architecture is like play to me. As a boy, you play with Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, Legos, and you get interested in how things are made, like cars and drills and all that. Years later you come back around to what interested you as a boy. Now, if I have something that I’m dealing with that’s causing me a lot of stress, my mind goes to architecture. I walk around the yard and start thinking about what I need to do to the house structurally. It’s similar to puzzles in that way, like a crossword puzzle or anything else I can put my mind into. It’s a relief for me”, the Oscar nominated star was quoted as saying.

Abigail Breslin

Abigail Breslin, the teenage actress will be playing the role of Helen Keller in her debut on Broadway next year. Breslin was nominated for n Oscar for her role in the movie comedy “Little Miss Sunshine”.

Breslin will be seen as Keller in the William Gibson play, “The Miracle Worker”. David Richenthal, the producer of the play, announced on Wednesday the production of would start on February 12 next year at the Circle in the Square Theater with the opening set for March 3. Alison Pill will be playing the role of Keller’s teacher Annie Sullivan. Pill was earlier seen in the movie “Milk” as well as a list of Broadway shows.

The story of “The Miracle Worker” is set in the South in the 1880s. It speaks about the real life story of Medal of Freedom winner Helen Keller. Keller was born as deaf and blind. But with the help of his remarkable supportive teacher, Annie Sullivan, she learnt to communicate with the world. The play was earlier produced on Broadway 50 years ago starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke.

Breslin, who is 13 years old now, appeared first on screen when she was 5. She appeared in M. Night Shyamalan’s 2002 film “Signs”. The teen star also received an Oscar nomination in the best supporting actress category for playing the title role in the comedy film “Little Miss Sunshine”. The various other popular films she worked in are “Raising Helen,” “No Reservations,” “Definitely Maybe,” “Nim’s Island,” “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl,” “My Sister’s Keeper” and the recent release, “Zombieland”.

Heath Ledger in his final film - 'Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus'

Heath Ledger’s final film, ‘Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus’, has been trailered and it has already started ruling the box office. Speculations are growing on whether it would be the late actor’s best film beating the box office records of “Dark Knight”, for which the actor won a posthumous Oscar.

After receiving huge applauds for playing the role of Joker in Dark Knight, it is expected that the final film of Ledger will do well in box office and will be loved by all his fans. Ledger fans have liked the trailer of his last film and have considered it to be amazing. The trailer of “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” puts light on the past life of Dr. Parnassus. Ledger plays the role of a mysterious man whose job is to save the doc from a deal with the devil. The film also stars Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell as alternate versions of Ledger within the doctor’s Imaginarium.

Directed by Terry Gilliam, the audience can expect to catch a lot of Heath Ledger in the film. Before the filming of Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus was over Ledger had an unexpected death. This uncanny incident brought in four other Hollywood stars to fill in his place. Gilliam promises to take his audience through various emotional spectrum like he did earlier through his films like Year and Loathing in Las Vegas and 12 Monkeys. It would be a journey from gloom to glee and darkness to light.

The Oscar winning actor had an accidental death due to overdose of prescribed drugs in 2008.

Elizabeth Taylor

The on-screen queen diva, Elizabeth Taylor, will undergo a heart surgery soon. The Hollywood beauty had let her fans know about her illness through her Tweets. Taylor had been asking her fans to pray for her early recovery through her Tweets.

Taylor Tweeted that surgery involved “repairing my leaky valve using a clip device, without open heart surgery, so that my heart will function better”.

The 70 year old dame had been undergoing a number of health problems in recent years. She had been regular in Twitter as she said she wanted her fans to “know before it gets in the papers”. She also Tweeted, “Any prayers you happen to have lying around I would dearly appreciate. I’ll let you know when it’s all over. Love you, Elizabeth”.

Earlier Taylor had a hip replacement in 1995. She underwent a brain surgery to remove a tumor two years later. The London born actress suffered from a brittle bone disease osteoporosis and has broken her back five times.

Elizabeth Taylor has won the prestigious Oscars twice for: Butterfield 8 and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

We pray for your fastest recovery Liz

Oscar

New rules have been declared, which will decide the winner in the best picture category at this year’s Oscars. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have declared that discriminatory voting will now be used to add up the final vote for the award in the best picture category.

Instead of casting their vote only on their favorite movie, the voters will now have rate films to rank nominees for the best picture category in order of preference from 1 to 10. In the rest of the categories, the performer who earns a maximum number of votes will be given the Oscar Award.

The new system that will be implemented from this year for tallying vote for best picture is the similar to that of preferential voting system, which the Academy follows in its nominating process. Since 1945, this is the first time when Academy has used such a voting system for the Best Picture category.

Instead of nominating 5 films in the Best Picture category, the new voting system will now allow 10 films to bag nomination in Oscar.

Tom Sherak, the president of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have said, “Instead of just marking an X to indicate which one picture they believe to be the best, members will indicate their second, third and further preferences as well”.

In support to his statement he also explained that this new voting system will “establish the best picture recipient with the strongest support of a majority of our electorate”.

The nomination for the 82nd Academy Awards will be announced on 2nd February at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Renee Zellweger

After the most successfully talked about return to the silver screen, the Oscar winning actress Renee Zellweger was in the house to premiere her upcoming movie “My One and Only”.

The “Down with Love” actress stunned all those were present as she dazzled down the red carpet outside the Paris Theatre in New York City. Zellweger flashed in a sexy black one-shoulder mini dress.

In a recent interview the actress was quoted talking about how she has been spending the summer recently. Zellweger said, “I’ve absolutely been living my life for myself this summer. I started to take a look around at my personal life and fill it up a bit with things that didn’t have anything to do with being an actor and having a public persona”.

It also seems like many other Hollywood celebrities, Miss Zellweger, has also been bitten by the restaurant bug. The actress mentioned, “I opened up a restaurant [in East Hampton], The Blue Parrot. A little taco joint with some really good margaritas”.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

The oomph woman, Angelina Jolie, is slim and trim. But the Changeling actress certainly enjoys her piece of  chocolate cake as much as the next girl. The Hollywood’s hot lady has been time and again tagged as underweight was caught in camera at the gooey gateau to commemorate director Simon West’s birthday yesterday, on the NYC set of her new movie Salt.

The 33 year old actress was flaunting  a sleek black wig and smoky eye-makeup along with a set of handcuffs dangling from her left wrist. Jolie was back to work after a break last week to join partner Brad Pitt in Cannes.

Joined by her partner, Brad Pitt, Jolie looked bedazing in her nude-coloured Versace gown. Not only did she look slimmer as she sashayed down the red carpet, she also looked ravishingly hot as she  accompanied Brad to a bash for his new flick, Inglourious Basterds.

The rumors of the couple splitting was ambushed by their public show of unity and affection. Earlier there were news of the  actress having been flown into a rage after she caught Brad rubbing the back of their nanny on the bed in the twins’ room.

Recently Angelina had been keeping really busy with her shoot for her upcoming film  spy thriller Salt in and around New York. The couple with ther 6 children – 3 biological and 3 adopted -  have rented a house in Long Island for their dwelling.

In the film Salt the Oscar nominated actress, who is also a mother of six and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, will play CIA officer Evelyn Salt. Jolie, in the film will be on a  mission to clear her name after being accused of being a Russian sleeper agent. There are several action-packed scenes including Ange dangling out of an apartment block window.

Brad Pitt

The Hollywood heartthrob, Brad Pitt was spotted  picking up a car from a parking garage on May 15th.  The Oscar nominated actor is spending time in New York City while his partner Angelina Jolie is busy shooting for her upcoming film. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’s actor looked as charming as ever.

Pitt was spotted sporting a grey button-up shirt with black trousers, black shoes, and a pair of aviator sunglasses as he was waiting for his car. Earlier Pitt was also spotted at daughter Shiloh’s school. He went to pick her up from her school, where the Hollywood’s leading actor has even been reading books to the class.

According to a report by a reliable source of the city, “[The parents in town] are off the charts excited and everyone is dolled up. The moms are trying to look a little bit more polished. Instead of schlepping in sweat pants and messy hair, now they wear designer jeans and high heels, which they never wear. Usually it’s Tod’s or Gucci loafers. Everyone is putting a little more effort. Let’s face it; he’s a handsome guy”.