keyleedaud (REAL ESTATE)

I don't take any awards seriously in that I don't take anybody's word that something is the "best" in any given category. However, I do take awards seriously as a marketing tool. In the animated feature category, I'm happy to see that The Illusionist received a nomination. Of the three nominees (the other two being Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon ), it is the film most likely to benefit from the nomination in that it is the only one of the three that is still in theatrical release. This should give it a bump at the box office. It will also boost the eventual DVD sales. The other two films have already made most of their money. Their theatrical runs are over and their DVD sales peaked before last Christmas. While the nominations may goose their DVD sales a bit, the overall impact on their profits will be minimal. The nomination of The Illusionist is also good for drawn animation. Anyone trying to finance a drawn feature will use this nominati...

Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist , based on a script by Jacques Tati, opens on Jan. 21 at the Cumberland theatre in Yorkville, at 159 Cumberland Street. Go see it.

I saw Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. I found it so remarkable that I returned to see it again the following night. The review below is an attempt to convey my feelings about the film without revealing too much of the story, as it has yet to be released in North America. There are many aspects of this film that I will eventually discuss in great detail, but that will have to wait until other people have the chance to see it. The film is scheduled to open in New York and Los Angeles on Christmas Day and I assume it will get a wider release early next year. Sylvain Chomet's subject is human eccentricity. That was plain in his earlier work, The Old Lady and the Pigeons and The Triplettes of Belleville , though he hadn't found a way to combine his eccentrics with a workable story. The Illusionist , based on a script by the late French comedian and filmmaker Jacques Tati, is Chomet's best film yet, one that combines hi...