From IADT Nashville:

What makes a good animated movie? While beautiful art is certainly important, it takes an engaging story and memorable characters to help an animated film truly stand out. Here’s IADT Nashville's list of the 10 best animated films since 2000. What do you think? Did we leave anyone out?

10. Monsters, Inc (2001)
No animation studio has more consistently produced great movies this decade like Pixar. In their first film of the new millennium, Pixar uses computer animation to create an alternate world where the monsters are scared of children. With jokes and sight gags packed into almost every frame, the team at Pixar makes the monster world seem almost more fun than our own.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaLhEVzlndg

9. Shrek (2001)
DreamWorks Animation used Shrek to poke fun at traditional fairy tales in a way no animated movie had up to that point. Pinocchio, the three little pigs and Prince Charming are all fair game for the big green ogre and his talking donkey sidekick. “Shrek” went on to win the first-ever Academy Award for an Animated Feature, and has spawned two sequels (with another on the way) that have made almost $2.2 billion to date.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxqQPrUomTc

8. Persepolis (2007)
This French film follows a young girl’s struggles through the social culture in Iran. “Persepolis” is based on the graphic novel of the same name and uses flat black-and-white animation to communicate its message more poignantly than a traditionally acted movie could. Its PG-13 rating and serious themes go against the traditional notion that animated films should just be for children. It made many critics’ Top 10 lists in 2007.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PXHeKuBzPY

From the ever dependable BoingBoing comes details of Brain Water, a exquisite Mayazaki-esque short 3D animation from Johann Poo, by way of Jason Li. I like its illustration of the power of playful communication.

Incidentally - in light of recent revelations about Vimeo's terms of service, Lumiera's Raffaella Traniello brings news of Vimeo's answer to her in their forums that they are working on a new copyright end user license and the option for creative commons licenses to be applied to videos uploaded.

The opposite of Ultimate Improv's NYC Grand Central Station freeze, with a wink to T-Mobile's Liverpool Street Station antics. To promote a Flemish reality TV show.

From The Onion.

Peter Finch in Network tells it how it is, remixed by videobeats/pixm.

From Glasgow-based Phase IV, behind the long gestating Simulation feature, comes an interview with Mark Gorzynski, Silhouette Technician behind Eon Production's Quantum of Solace, who speaks about his work, his family and silhouilmaking.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO3hg_tEVgk 600x400]

French-based video sharing site Dailymotion is continuing its short-run free streams of independent British films with the Online World Premiere of the new feature One Day Removals, directed by Scottish filmmaker Mark Stirton. The 88-minute film will be available online from 12pm GMT on Friday 30th January, until midnight on Monday 2nd February.

{dmotion}x86rbx{/dmotion}

[the ALLVideos embed link doesn't seem to be working, so best view it on Daily Motion (def worth a look)]

As one of the Daily Motion commenters, stepgib says:

"I was expecting an amateur movie with dodgy acting and mismatched scenes, yet I intended to be positive about it to support Scottish talent. But after watching it, I can honestly say that it was a joy to watch.

It was incredibly funny watching these two unlucky guys attempting to get themselves out of a mess but making it worse along the way. There was not one point in the movie I thought to myself "Yeah, right. THAT'S gonna happen", even though the situations themselves were a freak of nature.

Similar to the 'video essay' Iran a Nation of Bloggers by Kate Tremills at the Vancouver Film School,  comes this effective new short animation/essay, Wake Up, Freak Out – then Get a Grip, from Leo Murray and the Royal College of Art about the planetary tipping point. From his website :

It’s much, much later than you think

This really isn’t about polar bears any more. At this very moment, the fate of civilization itself hangs in the balance.

I am not a scientist, I’m an animator. Nor do I have a background in science. I am not qualified to make judgements about the veracity of the data-sets and methodologies behind the peer-reviewed science that has informed the content of this film. But I am sufficiently well educated to be able to understand the abstracts, conclusions and executive summaries of this work, and to be able to draw my own conclusions about its implications for human welfare and prosperity.

What I have attempted to do here is to make the reasoning behind this work accessible to ordinary members of the public who, like me, lack scientific training; to unpack the ‘black boxes’ of scientific ‘facts’ so that we may examine their contents unobscured by jargon and mathematics.