Mary and Max

CHICAGO – The most-surprising nominee on Oscar nomination morning 2010 had to be that a little film that almost no one in the audience had heard of much less seen would compete with the big-budget players for Best Animated Feature. Like an off-off-off-Broadway play getting nominated alongside multi-million dollar projects, there was something called “The Secret of Kells” sitting alongside “Coraline,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “The Princess and the Frog,” and “Up.” Now the little-movie-that-could is out on DVD and Blu-ray for you to try and figure out why.

CHICAGO – When Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Ortiz were working on Bob Glaudini’s dramatic play “Jack Goes Boating,” they mentioned the cinematic potential of the project to each other on multiple occasions. Through a series of events, “Boating” would become Hoffman’s directorial debut, opening in Chicago this Friday, September 24th, 2010.

CHICAGO – A disturbingly small number of people were given the chance to see Adam Elliot’s brilliant and moving “Mary and Max,” one of the most notable releases in arguably the best year in the history of modern animation. While “Coraline,” “Up,” “The Princess and the Frog,” and even “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” made headlines, a beautiful little film about an unusual friendship went under the radar. Don’t miss it.

CHICAGO – The second week of The 45th Chicago Film Festival kicks off tonight (or tomorrow depending on how you look at the fest that runs from the 8th to the 22nd) and the upcoming weekend features just as much and arguably more interesting films unspooling at the AMC River East than the first.