There are ten Best Picture Oscar nominees this year? Big deal, nobody cares about Best Picture... what's really important is the Best Animated Feature, everybody knows that. Who will win?

4.5 Starfish our of 5

Do you know the name of the world’s most visually stunning book?  It is illuminated, called The Book of Kells.  It was produced in the early 8^th century in Scotland.  The book of Kells went on a long and arduous journey, somehow made its way to Trinity College in Dublin, where it resides today.  The rest in Real history!

The Oscar-nominated animation “The Secret of Kells” is a story about a young orphaned boy Brendan, who lives in the Abby of Kells, under siege of the raiding Vikings.  Brendan’s only family is his strict uncle, the powerful Abbott Cellach of Kells.  Although the Abbott loves his nephew, he doesn’t have the right way.

“The Secret of Kells” is an “illuminating” tale about friendship, wisdom, overcoming fear, and discovering your own creativity.  It has splendid visual, haunting music, and amazing storyline built upon historical facts. 

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I heard a story once about Melvin Van Peebles going to see his SWEET SWEETBACK'S BAADASSSSS SONG on opening day with only one other person in the theater, a Black Panther. He went to a later showing and the house was full. That one Black Panther had come back and brought all this friends, who loved the film. I can see the same scenario playing out with this film, only replacing the Black Panther with an illegal immigrant.

Machete (Danny Trejo, HEAT) was a Federale when his wife and daughter were killed by drug kingpin Torrez (Steven Seagal, UNDER SIEGE). Left for dead, he managed to survive and make his way to the U.S. where he finds work as a day laborer. A businessman named Booth (Jeff Fahey, TV's LOST) makes him an offer of $150,000 to assassinate Senator McLaughlin (Robert DeNiro, HEAT), who is running on an extreme anti-illegal immigrant platform in Texas. What is unknown is that the politician is linked to a border vigilante group led by murderous cop Lt. Stillman (Don Johnson, TV's MIAMI VICE). But when dealing with corrupt men like these men nothing appears as it seems.

Special Guests:  Signe Baumane & Isaac Short

On this episode of the Forum, Joel and Alan prognosticate the future of cinema and how podcasts are this century's booming artform.  Then, independent animator and bunny-lover, Signe Baumane, presents her perspective on animation as art, art as animation, sex ed, the animated short vs. feature, how to finance your independent animation career, animation as a drug-habit, and how not to be a lonely rapist.  All are then joined by 6-year old Isaac Short as he works through his unhealthy obsession with early pioneers of animation.

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This reboot of the venerable sci-fi franchise doesn't try to remake the original classic like the Tim Burton film tried. It takes a page from CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and starts the story with the rebellion of the apes against man, only without the time paradox element. The last part of that statement is for fans of the series, who will find great joy in this new installment. Like the original this is a film based around characters and ideas.

The film is the story of two characters -- one human and one ape. Will Rodman (James Franco, 127 HOURS) is a scientist working on a gene therapy that could cure scores of brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's. It's a personal cause for him because his father Charles (John Lithgow, TV's 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN) is suffering from senility disease. As part of his work, Will tests on chimps. After a disaster at the lab, he smuggles an infant chimp home. The young ape quickly shows signs of increased intelligence as a result of the drug his mother was given. Charles names him Caesar (Andy Serkis, KING KONG).

New York’s Society of Illustrators has great shows focusing on great artists and genres – all of which I read about but never get around to seeing; dammit Joe, get thee ass to East 63^rd Street just off Lex and check the place out. (www.societyillustrators.org)

What finally lured me through the doors of the Society’s classy little townhouse: their March 10^th show of animated commercials and music videos. Can I say ‘cutting-edge,’ or has that cliché passed its sell-through date? I’ll say it anyway; the stuff screened had a very high “wow, that was amazing” quotient.

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Depression is an oppressive force. It filters all light through murky waters that the sufferer is drowning in. Lars von Trier finds a metaphor for it that seems so obvious and yet it comes off ingenious. A mysterious planet is headed for a collision course toward Earth. That's a big weight on your shoulders.

Justine (Kirsten Dunst, SPIDER-MAN) is getting married. But she's not really happy. Her new husband Michael (Alexander Skarsgard, TV's TRUE BLOOD) seems to know that she suffers from bouts of depression, but he doesn't understand the extents... or doesn't want to admit it. Her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg, ANTICHRIST) is putting on the lavish event for her, but tells her that she hates her sometimes for how she acts to ruin things. Claire has the added pressure of being constantly reminded how much the wedding is costing by her husband John (Kiefer Sutherland, TV's 24). When you meet Justine and Claire's divorced parents Gaby (Charlotte Rampling, SWIMMING POOL) and Dexter (John Hurt, THE ELEPHANT MAN) you might understand why Justine is depressed.

Continuing our series of the best games of '09, we're taking a look at the best underground titles of last year. What that means is we're recognizing the best games of '09 that had absolutely no fan following before it was released. Brand new IPs and low-budget projects are exacly what you'll find here. But let's be real, a game doesn't need a huge fan following or a huge budget to be excellent and that was proven over again with the very well produced games on this list. Hit the jump to see what we thought we're the best.

Slick Entertainment's Scrap Metal

The dynamic duo that make up Slick Entertainment, Kees Rijnen and Nick Waanders, gave a presentation on their journey to their first indie game launch.  Their first title built under Slick Entertainment is titled “Scrap Metal” and will be released tomorrow, March 10^th on XBOX Live Arcade.  The fast paced racing combat game was built completely on internal proprietary tools by only two people.

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David Sonnenschein, professional sound designer and author of “Sound Design: the Expressive Power of Music, Voice, and Sound Effects in Cinema” has invited me to co-host a free sound design webinar for animators (all filmmakers are welcome!) on March 17, 2011 at 9:00 am PST / noon EST.