The Hunt for Gollum

With a tight budget of less than $5,000 and the help of numerous volunteers, a team of LotR fans under the banner of Independent Online Cinema brought to life the first of what looks like to be a series of prequels based on the Lord of the Rings franchise.
The Hunt for Gollum dramatises Aragorn and Gandalf's search for Gollum, which takes place before the events in Peter Jackson's trilogy. It is surprisingly well done! Kudos to the team of fans that brought it to life. You can watch the full film on youtube.

Mary and Max

Directed by proudly gay australian director Adam Elliot, this unconventional claymation movie is a treat and heading straight for an Oscar! It chronicles the friendship of Mary, an excitable and curious australian girl, and Max, a middle-aged american living with Asperger syndrome. Narrated in Barry Humphries mellow tones, and spiralling through 20 years in shades of grays and browns (with the odd touch of red) we see how this long-distance friendship evolves as week by week, month by month, Max and Mary wait for each other's letters.

There is a lot to enjoy in this movie and it's a safe bet that it will tickle your funny bone and stir your emotions in equal measure. The soundrtack features two wonderful tracks by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra although it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the whole film is beautifully themed. The use of Puccini's "Humming Chorus" from "Madama Butterfly" was well placed and achieved almost the same impact, though in a different context, as when Peter Jackson used it in the defining scene of Heavenly Creatures back in 1994.

Well worth a viewing if you can find it.

9/10