An interesting article today from The A.V. Club on the philosophies of some of Bill Murray’s most famous characters, including Herman Blume from Rushmore.

The asceticism of Scrooged and Rushmore
As practiced by certain sects of Hinduism, Jainists, and even Christians who reject the ideas of “prosperity theology” (and actually, you know, listen to Jesus), asceticism involves a conscious abstaining from worldly pleasures in favor of focusing on one’s spiritual life. While he doesn’t end up wandering the desert in sackcloth eating only what may fall into his bowl, Murray does arrive at these basic tenets of asceticism in two of his most popular roles: In Scrooged, Murray’s Frank Cross is dedicated to success no matter the cost to his basic humanity, until a night of being tormented by spirits—who are really just manifestations of his own conscience—opens his eyes to the simpler joys of “putting a little love in your heart” and helping your fellow man. In Rushmore, Murray’s Herman Blume is a self-made tycoon with his own multimillion-dollar business and the lifestyle to match, yet he’s crippled by ennui, and despairing over the alienation he feels toward his family. Pursuit of a truer definition of love eventually tears his world apart—and wrecks him both financially and physically—but by movie’s end, Blume has undergone a total spiritual reawakening, and seems to have found happiness at last in his total unburdening.

Read the full article at The A.V. Club.

In addition to the Golden Globe nomination, yesterday Fantastic Mr. Fox picked up two screenwriting awards from west coast critics associations. Wes and Noah won the Best Adapted Screenplay for the film and it was also named the runner-up for Best Animated Film from the San Diego Film Critics Society. Similarly, The San Francisco Film Critics Circle awarded Fantastic Mr. Fox their prize for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Update: Also recieved another Best Animated Film, this one from the Toronto Film Critics Association, a nomination in the same category from the Chicago Film Critics, and another Best Animated Film and Best Screenplay win from the Utah Film Critics Association. In addition, Best Family Film and Best Animated Film from the Las Vegas Film Critics Society and the latter from The Sattelite Awards.

And so Fantastic Mr. Fox’s award season begins. It was announced today that the film is nominated in three categories for Annie Awards (which you can read more about here), which as you might have guessed honor animated films. Mr. Fox receieved nominations for Best Animated Feature, Directing in a Feature Production, and Writing in a Feature Production. Congratulations Wes, Noah, et al.

The awards will be given out Saturday February 6, 2010 in Los Angeles.

Full list of nominees after the break.

Best Animated Feature

• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
• Coraline
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• The Princess and the Frog
• The Secret of Kells
• Up

Directing in a Feature Production

• Wes Anderson — Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Pete Docter — Up
• Christopher Miller, Phil Lord — Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
• Hayao Miyazaki — Ponyo
• Henry Selick — Coraline

Writing in a Feature Production

• Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach – Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy – Up
• Timothy Hyde Harris and David Bowers – Astro Boy
• Christopher Miller and Phil Lord – Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Animated Effects

• Scott Cegielski — Monsters vs. Aliens
• Alexander Feigin — 9
• Eric Froemling — Up
• Tom Kluyskens — Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
• James Mansfield — The Princess and the Frog

Character Animation in a Feature Production

• Andreas Deja — The Princess and the Frog
• Eric Goldberg — The Princess and the Frog
• Travis Knight — Coraline
• Daniel Nguyen — Up
• Bruce Smith — The Princess and the Frog

Character Design in a Feature Production

• Daniel Lopez Munoz — Up
• Shane Prigmore — Coraline
• Shannon Tindle — Coraline

Music in a Feature Production

• Bruno Coulais — Coraline
• Michael Giacchino –Up
• Joe Hisaishi — Ponyo
• John Powell — Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Production Design in a Feature Production

• Christopher Appelhans — Coraline
• Ian Gooding — The Princess and the Frog
• Tadahiro Uesugi — Coraline
• Christopher Vacher — 9

Storyboarding in a Feature Production

• Sharon Bridgeman — Astro Boy
• Chris Butler — Coraline
• Ronnie Del Carmen — Up
• Tom Owens — Monsters vs. Aliens
• Peter Sohn — Up

Voice Acting in a Feature Production

• Jen Cody – Voice of Charlotte – The Princess and the Frog
• Dawn French – Voice of Miss Forcible – Coraline
• Hugh Laurie – Voice of Dr. Cockroach Ph.D. – Monsters vs. Aliens
• John Leguizamo – Voice of Sid – Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaur
• Jennifer Lewis – Voice of Mama Odie – The Princess and the Frog

For more nominees including Television categories, and to see the jury breakdown which includes Tim Burton, head on over to the Annie’s official site.

via AwardsDaily

And for those who continue to see Mr. Fox over the holiday weekend for the first time (or second…or third) please stop by and leave us your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter.

 
via In Contention

Noah Baumbach is of course the co-writer of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and Fantastic Mr. Fox, and the director of the Wes produced The Squid and the Whale.

Greenburg is scheduled to be released on March 12, 2010 from Focus Features.

NPR Weekend Edition did a little piece on Wes Anderson’s influences in Fantastic Mr. Fox:

“Eric says he thinks that it’s based on my relationship with my older brother,” says Anderson. “He was always taller, and he’s very intelligent, and he was always better adjusted than I was. He’s also very well-mannered and just always had it together. Now he’s a doctor. … I was a kind of grouchier, less well-adjusted child, so I think that might’ve been an inspiration without me ever thinking of it.”

Jason Schwartzman is going to be the guest for the “Not My Job” segment on Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me (“the NPR news quiz”) this weekend. Here is Jason’s apperance.