'Up' Takes Best Feature, Director at Annie Awards

Up took top honors at the Annie Awards this weekend, although it did not win the most trophies. I don't think that will hurt its chances to win the animated Oscar.

Coraline and The Princess and the Frog both had three Annie wins to Up's two, while Fantastic Mr. Fox, in something of an upset, took the screenplay honors over Pixar's magical balloon expedition. The Annies pay tribute to the best in animation in film, TV programs and commercials, and home video, spreading the wealth among animators, directors, writers, and voice talent, so it's a longer awards show than you might imagine. Below is the list of winners, as reported by Variety.

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'Fantastic Mr. Fox' Blu-ray/DVD Art and Details

So happy I won't have to wait too long to pick up Fantastic Mr. Fox on Blu-ray. The stop-motion Wes Anderson flick, which we placed as the number five film of 2009, is headed to home video on March 23rd. Although I wish it had done better in theaters (only about $20 million in the US), I think its rightful home might be DVD and Blu-ray, the kind of movie you pop in when you know the kinds of laughs you need. Click the image to see the full Blu-ray cover art.

DVD Future has the list of essentials you'll find on the discs, which retails for $40 for Blu-ray, $30 for the DVD. Of course, you get more with the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack than the normal DVD - everything, in fact - so it costs more on that basis. We'll go over the combo pack first since that covers the whole deal:

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The Big Picture's Top Ten Films of 2009

What makes a great film? Or better yet, what makes one film greater than another? It's impossible to answer although we can all usually agree on a few things: The Godfather is better than Jane Austen's Mafia, Casablanca beats Gigli, and Toy Story is superior to Toys.

There's never one thing that we cling to (although, certainly, in the right or wrong hands, any one thing can shift 180 degrees), but a well-written, well-directed, well-acted film tends to stand out against the average, and there's more average every year in the movies than there is good or bad. But ranking them? That's a thankless task. This list may not be like yours. All I can tell you is that these are the films that resonated loudest with me, and some longer than others, a couple not even upon first viewing. Some of them add technical achievements to that appreciation, but that isn't mandatory unless the film itself can't exist without it. I will say that I didn't love 2009 at the movies as much as I did the previous two years, and I hope to see more of the documentaries and foreign language films that have not yet made it to our shores. Those are usually a staple of my top ten lists (30% last year), but none made the cut in 2009, I'm afraid.

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Dueling Top Ten Lists From 'Entertainment Weekly'

We'll unveil our end-of-they-year list pretty soon, Monday at the latest. The sticking point for me is not at the top of the list or even in the middle, but those numbers eight, nine, and ten, because I'm not sure they really belong. Honestly, I haven't worked it out past the silver medalist, so it could prove easier than I think.

Lisa Schwarzbaum and Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly had no trouble getting all the way down in the double digits, compiling their best of 2009 lists while only sharing three films between them. So is it a better year when there's less consensus, or does that mean there just aren't as many all-timers? Roger Ebert recently claimed this was the best year for movies since 1939, but I think that might be forcing it a little bit. Both critics loved The Hurt Locker, Up in the Air, and The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Otherwise, it's a crap shoot.

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Animation Rules 'Time' Magazine's Best Of List

Time film critic Richard Corliss has released his list of the best films of the year, and it's a family friendly top three. Corliss drops a triple threat of animation on yo ass: The Princess and the Frog, Up, and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

As In Contention points out, Princess and the Frog is certainly an original choice for the year's best movie. It doesn't seem to be knocking the critics dead, even though it's been well-received by and large. That it ranks above Up is quite an accomplishment, and that Fantastic Mr. Fox rounds out the top three says something about the state of animation, at least to Mr. Corliss. Only three of the most likely Best Picture nominees make his list, with The Hurt Locker and Up in the Air joining Up. Beyond that - and one other fairly mainstream choice - Corliss' list is pretty independent in spirit.

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