Oscar Aftermath: The Horror, The Horror

Note to the reader: In the future when I write about the Oscar Nominated Shorts and I spew venom about the ones I liked the least, those are the ones that you choose in your Oscar pool. I found the wins for "Paperman" and "Curfew" disappointing and safe, but was pleasantly surprised by the acknowledged dark horse "Inocente" beating out "Open Heart" and especially "Mondays at Racine" for the short documentary award. Add in Searching for Sugar Man as the doc feature winner and it's apparent the Academy was having a very arts/music focused year.

As for the show, I thought Seth McFarlane was a serviceable host. Jokes were hit and miss -- to be expected -- with the Sound of Music gag being the humor highlight. He seemed pretty at ease and delivered crass and class in equal measure, never going too far below the belt without also taking a shot at himself in the process. The musical milieu was a bit tedious, delivering some solid moments (Jennifer Hudson, Shirley Bassey, Adele) along with some stinkers (Catherine Zeta-Jones's distracting lip synching; The PBS-Fund-Drive-approved Les Mis chorus's decent arrangement, erratic singing, and atrocious mixing). Working in all of those numbers ate up a lot of time, however, and the last four or five categories felt incredibly rushed. The rest of the show was relatively forgettable.

Pickwise, the Academy really spread the wealth around this year. I'm scoring myself at 16 out of 25. Yes, I realize there were 24 categories. I'm giving myself two points for my cowardly split vote for Sound Editing resulting in a tie between my two picks, Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty.

"I got your Goldfinger right here."
"Fair 'nuff, m'lady."

So that's nine misses, three in the short films as discussed above. Should have stayed with my original Supporting Actor pick for Waltz, and I'm happy to see Tarantino and Ang Lee each pick up statue number two in what were essentially toss-up categories.

A little annoyed by Lawrence's win over Riva, but I should have figured it was coming. I don't hate her, and appreciate her candor, was just lukewarm on Silver Linings Playbook and immensely floored by Amour and Riva in comparison.

Not sure I like the Anna Karenina costume precedent, basically winning on the idea of "Hey let's throw 1950s Chanel gowns into 1870s Russia. That will look dashing!" Then to perhaps contradict myself, instead of Lincoln's historical accuracy in production design, I really preferred Karenina's inventive work, incorporating moveable sets that must have required exhausting choreography with the DP and lent a dizzying layer of spectacle to an otherwise tepid adaptation. Apart from that, things played out pretty much as I expected.

We'll return to regularly-scheduled programming now that the show's over, and I'm hopefully back in the flow of things. I encourage anyone to feel free to make comments and share your thoughts on the films I've covered, or submit a request if you have something you'd like to see reviewed. Stay tuned!

Red Carpet Rundown

Here's your final roundup with the Acting and Directing categories and my feelings on the Best Picture Nominees. In case you missed the previous portions, click through to see Part One, Part Two, plus rundowns of the Animated Shorts, Live Action Shorts, Documentary Shorts, and Documentary Features.

This year I managed to see 43 out of the 52 total features and shorts honored by the Academy, meaning I can attest to having seen 113 of the 122 nominees (Over 90%, bam!) To make things easier, here are the nine films I missed, with nary an expected winner in the bunch:

• Four of the Five Foreign Language Films (No, A Royal Affair, Kon-Tiki, War Witch)
• One of the Feature Docs (The Gatekeepers)
• One Animated Feature (The Pirates! Band of Misfits - actually, I did catch the last 30 minutes)
• One with an Original Song Nominee (Chasing Ice)
• One Costume nominee (Mirror, Mirror - It was on Netflix Instant, but...meh. Ok, this is a possible winner, and would be a posthumous win for designer Eiko Ishioka.)
• One Best Actress nominee (The Impossible. It was here and gone in an instant, which meant catching this wave was basically...what's the word? Ah yes. Impracticable.)

Onward:

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominees:

• Amy Adams - The Master
• Sally Field - Lincoln
• Anne Hathaway - Les Misérables
• Helen Hunt - The Sessions
• Jacki Weaver - Silver Linings Playbook

Mr. Weinstein draws a lot of water in Hollywood to get Silver Linings Playbook a clean sweep of top nominees, but Weaver is probably here only because of that. The rest of the ladies were memorable, though Hunt's role amounts to more of a lead. She definitely deserves kudos for a strong, revealing comeback, but it's a shame John Hawkes got snubbed, leaving her with the only nomination in a brave, expressive, forward-thinking film. Adams exudes a quiet power in The Master, and I hope she sinks her teeth into more roles like this as opposed to the banal trap of romantic comedies. What's that? She's playing Janis Joplin? Well, so much for quiet power.

...and then Mrs. Lincoln was all, "Eat a sandwich."

That said, depending on the ebb and flow of the voters' feelings on Lincoln, there is an outside chance that Sally Field could steal this. Like Mad Max gulaged into the wastelands outside outside. Oh, that kooky Mary Todd, she was the Jeff to Abe's Mutt. The Tattoo to his Roarke. The unhinged pea to his stoic carrot. In case you haven't heard, the Academy kinda likes her, and in any other year she would be a shoe-in. There are two problems this year, though: (1) Prostitutes always beat First Ladies; and (2) The Oscars are still trying to be "young and hip" despite so much evidence to the contrary. Anne Hathaway is a damn near holy lock to win for delivering perhaps the single most memorable scene of the year. If she tries to act surprised it had better be damned convincing, having just won an award attesting to her abilities in said profession.

Want/Will: Hathaway


Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominees:

• Alan Arkin - Argo
• Robert De Niro - Silver Linings Playbook
• Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
• Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln
• Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained

I’ve heard and read a lot of buttering up about De Niro, and he can make whatever films he damn well pleases, thank you very much, but to me he’s been sliding perilously close to self-parody for a while now. Placing a Silver Linings Playbook statue between the Jake LaMotta award and the Young Vito Corleone award would be an easy way to get the new one whacked. 

Arkin is a bit of an oddity here, as I felt he was outshone in virtually every scene by John Goodman. Tommy Lee Jones definitely put in some worthy work, however, heading up a simply spectacular supporting cast while spending "the whole thing looking like an unmade bed," to borrow the words of Wesley Morris. (Great critic, by the way. Worth a read.) 

Waltz steals the show in yet another ride along with QT, gobbling up nearly as much screen time as Jamie Foxx and what seems like double the dialogue. This is your prime annual example of the Academy misplacing a role. Hoffman, too, has enough heft in his to justify lead consideration -- he is, after all, The Master (cue Last Dragon theme) -- but his subtlety is buried by the Vesuvian deluge emitting from Joaquin Phoenix.

Want: Waltz

Will: Jones


Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Nominees:

• Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
• Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
• Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
• Quvenzhané Wallis - Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Naomi Watts - The Impossible

First thing's first, a performance by a six-year-old is not winning an Oscar, no matter how frizzy her hair is, no matter how deliciously precocious and cute --

-- OMG!! SO ADORBS GIVE IT TO HER NOW!

Wait. Pull yourself together, man. Breathe. Composure. Logic. It's not happening. Right then.

Until recently a lot of the buildup for this has pitted Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence as the frontrunners. I was a fan of Chastain’s single-minded turn as CIA Agent Maya Lastnameredacted in Zero Dark Thirty, though it might have been a more powerfully tragic character if history hadn't intervened (favorably or unfavorably, depending on how you look at it). On the other hand, Jennifer Lawrence’s Tiffany loops through wide, indiscriminate swings that really didn’t add up to “mental instability” as much as “uneven character development,” also known as "bitch be trippin'." Thankfully, momentum is building for Emmanuelle Riva. I will have more to say about her bare, painstaking transformation in Amour during the Best Picture discussion, but I'm taking Lawrence wins then Michael Haneke is right and there is no God. Yes, I understand that may be a self-defeating proclamation.

Want/Will: Riva. 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Nominees:

• Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
• Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
• Hugh Jackman - Les Misérables
• Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
• Denzel Washington - Flight

Denzel flexes his actor muscle once again in a tolerable movie about alcoholism that is more likely to make you quit flying commercial than quit drinking. Apparently not enough people were convinced by Ray Milland. (Now THAT made me put my beer down. Just for a minute, though.) Jackman is okay, but he's no Harry Baur. Cooper, I hate to say it, but he's pretty damn good. He almost made me like him for the first time, and that's saying a lot. (Ok, I'm being a bit hyperbolic, he was great in Wet Hot American Summer.)

I’ve said it before and I'll say it again, Phoenix’s Freddie Quell is a raw, oozing volcano of method acting, on par with Jake LaMotta, or Stanley Kowalski. Paul Thomas Anderson’s piece was visionary but enigmatic, and a pickup for Phoenix could salvage what otherwise seems destined for cinema’s acclaimed-but-quickly-forgotten bin. Phoenix, for his part, couldn’t care less. Or could he? No. No, he couldn’t.

Daniel Day-Lewis is probably just as uninterested in “acting as competition,” he is just much more well-mannered about it. When all is said and done, though, he will go down as the arbitrarily-bestowed "greatest film actor of his generation,” except he will have the hardware to back it up, though it could be argued that he was better as Bill the Butcher than Abe the Law Talkin' Guy. If/when he wins he will be the first male actor to win three times for a lead role. (The incomparable Katharine Hepburn is just laaafffing from up above, clutching at the ghosts of her four best actress trophies.)

Want: Joaquin Phoenix

Will: Daniel Day-Lewis 

Best Achievement in Directing

Nominees:

• Michael Haneke - Amour
• Ang Lee - Life of Pi
• David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook
• Steven Spielberg - Lincoln
• Behn Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild

A lot of controversy over the perceived snubs of Ben Affleck (Argo) and Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty), making the inclusion of Zeitlin a bit of an underdog surprise and Russell likely another piece of the Weinstein puzzle. Frankly, the wind could blow any which way on this, and we may be in for a relatively rare Best Director/Picture split. Haneke is my first choice, but may be having drinks with Joaquin Phoenix, expounding on the meaninglessness and vanity of it all. So I'm rooting for David, but expecting Goliath.

Want: Zeitlin
Will: Spielberg


Best Motion Picture of the Year
Nominees presented in reverse alphabetical order because it's more dramatic that way:

• Zero Dark Thirty

That people can't agree whether Bigelow's film endorses or abhors interrogative torture seems to say more about the people needing to justify their political positions than clarify the film stance, which I found intentionally ambivalent, trying instead to display the reality of the situation. It is much more relevant to view Zero Dark Thirty as a portrait of determined obsession, of a person and of a nation, shining a light on the collateral toll that has mounted along the way. It was also one of the most gripping thrillers of the year, all the more amazing since everyone on the planet already knew the outcome.

• Silver Linings Playbook

It should be clear by now that I was not exactly enamored with SLP. This feeling may have stemmed from seeing the plot described via the film's trailer and deciding (perhaps unfairly) that it was going to be an eye-rolling, cringeworthy shit sundae with a redemptive LET'S DANCE IT OUT! scene as the cherry on top. I will say that I was pleasantly pleased that it exceeded these base expectations, and it is an aboverage romcom, good for some laughs. It is nice to see Chris Tucker back, serving his supporting role with restrained nervous energy. The rest of the cast is solid, but I'm just not seeing the Awards circuit darling. Don't get me started on the multiple Spirit wins last night for a thinly-veiled studio film that pushes through the upper levels of the criteria.

It has problems, from weak and unbelievable plot points to its casual attitude toward mental illness. Mainly, though, the characters are just not very likable, which is a bit of a kiss of death for a feel-good love story, even one trying to be nutty and acerbic. I didn't really care whether or not Pat and Tiffany wind up together. (SPOILER: they totally complete each other!) It's a mess of a film made to look all too tidy. Given its subject matter, perhaps it's quite fitting that it's not all there.

• Lincoln

It has every lofty credential behind it, all the polish on the script, beautiful to ear and eye. The company is top shelf and perfectly cast, with Daniel Day-Lewis a resolute figurehead and Sally Field his complement, with Tommy Lee Jones and James Spader among others pitching in with the heavy lifting and comic relief. Why, then, should the Academy pass it up this year for the big prize? Ultimately, I just think Spielberg is a supremely manipulative (and, yes, talented) director, and transparently so. Granted, film is inherently a medium of manipulation, but even when I agree with the agenda, Spielberg tends to go overboard. With him, they are rarely subtle manipulations, they are powerful -- let's face it, it's propaganda masquerading as a dramatization of history.

• Life of Pi

http://www.film.com/movies/life-of-pi-infographic-richard-parker

One of the most visually striking films of the year, but also one of the most frustrating. Ang Lee's fable takes us for a journey with the promise of an utterly meaningful experience. But while Pi's journey on its face is remarkable, the aimless jumble of "religious-ish" thematic trappings and the distracting, tiresome flashback construction leave the overarching work wanting for a soul. The ending muddies things up even more with Pi's puzzling reinterpretation of events, which strips away the metaphor and undermines much of the symbolism and deeper meaning.

Anecdotally, it definitely didn't help that the theater where I was screening it had a short power outage with about five minutes left in the film, leaving me and a crowd over 30 minutes to sit, think, and sort out what we'd seen before being able to see the conclusion that would hopefully tie everything together. What we got after that wait was, simply, "which story do you prefer?" Me? I would watch the images for hours, but storywise, I'd prefer a different one, thanks.

• Les Misérables

I've said my piece on the live singing experiment and how Tom Hooper's film doesn't quite hold a candlestick to other adaptations. Certainly a memorable experience with Hathaway delivering a wreckage of emotion that would have been nice to be able to dole out to some of the other characters, but overall it's unlikely to surpass the book or the original stage musical for cultural influence.

• Django Unchained

Not likely to take home much hardware this year outside a possible pickup by Waltz, but delicious performances by he, DiCaprio, and Sam Jackson are worth the price of admission. Tarantino is a film nerd's director, stuffing homages, references, and flat-out imitations into his own weird, reinvented world, always delivering his brand of love-it-or-leave-it humor and violence. And man, the dude knows how to rile people up. Spike Lee famously said he would never see Django Unchained, denouncing its very premise as an exploitative revenge fantasy. He's right, it absolutely is, but it's damn fun to watch.

Leaving the race bit out of things for now, this film also fell into a year where gun ownership and acts of violence have been front-page mainstays. (How long until Seth McFarlane makes the crack about how tonight's Oscar is the one who didn't shoot his girlfriend? Low-hanging fruit and way too soon? Yep and yep.) Violence is a part of film culture because violence is part of real life. One of the great things about the medium is that it allows for boundaries to be pushed to the extreme, but contained in a world away from reality, so that we can observe but then safely retreat. Unfortunately the two crossed paths this year in the most tragic of ways. I sometimes wonder what the world be like if guns had never been invented. How dull would movies be without lines like, "Dishes are done, man," "Say 'hello' to my little friend," and "This is my BOOMSTICK!" Just thinking about it makes me sad. Keep doin' what you're doin', QT.

• Beasts of the Southern Wild

I absolutely adored this little gem, a mix of gritty family strife and magical realism, with a hint of twisted Gilliamness. The story flows through plucky little Hushpuppy, winding sometimes aimlessly through tribulations, floods and droughts, giving verve to the "water = life" metaphor and embodying the dogged spirit to preserve a unique way of life. Sometimes hurricanes hit, and sometimes you have to blow up the levee to save your way of life. Probably too small and meandering to be a serious contender, but it's a victory just being in the conversation. Lots of wonderful work by people not overthinking things, just working with passion for the project.

• Argo

It is extremely rare, especially in contemporary terms, for a film to win Best Picture without its director earning even a nomination, but Argo has been a film bucking the odds at every turn. Affleck deftly manages to handle a grave based-on-true-events story with humor, wagging a finger at the ridiculousness of Hollywood ego. Though it paints the Iranian people in very broad superficial terms, it never gets too overtly political, focusing instead on the ingenuity of the rescue mission. You can't help but get caught up in the warm fuzziness, though it goes a little overboard with the tried-and-true "We did it!" finale. Someone please mashup the end of Argo with Apollo 13, stat. Despite the clichés, it has public and critical acclaim in its pocket and Mr. Mo Mentum on its side.

• Amour

I could not take my eyes off of Haneke's meditation on marital commitment and aging. Perhaps it takes some practice getting used to his deliberate austerity, but after the dry terror of Funny Games and the queasy understated wickedness of Caché this almost felt like a picnic...a picnic of death! Emmanuelle Riva deserves the Oscar plus twenty more healthy years to enjoy the afterglow. Her exposed depiction of Anne Laurent, a lucid former piano teacher numbed by slow, brutal decay after a stroke is emotionally shattering, as grueling to witness as it must have been to accomplish. It takes its toll on her body, her mind, her marriage to her husband George (a brilliant Jean-Louis Trintignant), and ultimately the audience.

This is in large part due to Haneke's masterful, exacting direction. He has the ability to gradually lull the viewer (sometimes to sleep) with long takes and terse dialogue, yet the scene is always imbued with a lingering unease, and he finds the precise moment that you've let down your guard to startle you into a chair-clenching, heart-jumping shock. This is not cinema of spectacle by any means, but it delivers an unvarnished realism and packs a powerful emotional punch.

Through Haneke's oeuvre, he recurrently uses the names George and Anne for his main couple, regardless of the actors playing them, and they are typically a genial, educated, and active mid-upper-crust pair. This lends his characters an "anycouple" quality, so that when turmoil and disruptions inevitably befall them it flatly conveys, "This is life. It happens to everyone. It's not always pretty, and it doesn't end happily." It's a pervasively cynical attitude, but there is a tinge of hopefulness springing out of love and a commitment to help support one another through the ugliest moments of existence. Beautiful, soul-searching, gut-wrenching cinema at its finest.

Want: Amour
Will: Argo

Thanks for reading. Hope everyone enjoys the dogs and ponies tonight!

Oscar Homestretch, Part Two

Part one is here. Shorts and docs are over here, over there, under that, and up on top of this thing. The big awards should follow by Sunday afternoon. 

Best Achievement in Cinematography
Nominees:

• Anna Karenina - Seamus McGarvey
• Django Unchained - Robert Richardson
• Life of Pi - Claudio Miranda
• Lincoln - Janusz Kaminski
• Skyfall - Roger Deakins

I'm dreading one of those frustrating Lincoln-sweeps nights where its backlit/silhouette-heavy style wins. Please, no. Thanks.

Deakins delivered some wow moments in Skyfall, especially with the night scenes in Hong Kong - the high-rise cat and mouse calls to mind Enter the Dragon's classic mirrors maze -- and the finale's spectacular inferno, evoking reminiscences of Tarkovsky's crushing The Sacrifice.
However, Life of Pi quite literally made the sky fall into the sea and is the clear frontrunner. While I have some mixed feelings about the movie as a whole I am pretty unequivocal about Ang Lee's eye for composition and color and Miranda's utterly magnificent cinematography.

Want/Will: Life of Pi

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

Nominees:

• The Avengers
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• Life of Pi
• Prometheus
• Snow White and the Huntsman

Solid choices, all -- seriously, the effects are about the only reason to watch Snow White and the Huntsman.  Gollum was never more vivid and alive than in 3D HFR, but there were also some silly and under-rendered effects along the road, so we may have to wait another year to see if Smaug can step it up a notch for Peter Jackson and crew. Instead, going hand-in-hand with Life of Pi's jaw-dropping cinematography are the myriad maritime marvels and the sensational shipwreck scene. Mostly, though, this win will be for the mindfuck when I learned that there was never really a tiger in the boat. (Don't click here for visual representation of my reaction.)

Want/Will: Life of Pi

Best Achievement in Production Design

Nominees:

• Anna Karenina
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• Les Misérables
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln

This used to be called "Art Direction," but they've sucked the art out of it for some reason. Always a tough one to call. Recently the Academy has mixed things up, sometimes going with period-with-a-flair (The Aviator, The King's Speech) and sometimes favoring visuals with out-of-left-field imagination and color (Pan's Labyrinth, Alice in Wonderland, Avatar.) After a late viewing I'm placing my support behind Anna Karenina's gorgeous design. The choreography of navigating through the highly stylized, ingenious set experiments makes for dizzying, dazzling viewing, although the story loses steam and winds up dead on the tracks.

Want/Will: Anna Karenina

Achievement in Costume Design

Nominees:

• Anna Karenina
• Les Misérables
• Lincoln
• Mirror, Mirror
• Snow White and the Huntsman

Again, this is always an iffy proposition, prediction-wise. Maybe next year I should have a fashionista guest-blogger handicap the wardrobe department. While I don't have a favored horse in this furlong, I suppose I'll throw out an Exacta box with Les Mis and Anna K, though the latter's fashions seem a tad modern and out-of-place for the period.

Will: Les Misérables

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

Nominees:

• Hitchcock
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• Les Misérables

Paring it down to three makes this a little easier, and even if Anthony Hopkins' impression was spot-on, the makeup was not jowly enough for me. As a Hitch purist I couldn't help but take exception to this. I liked the movie, though, perhaps more than most.

In this batch I have no probs with the Hobs, per se, but the miserables looked pretty damn miserable.

Want: The Hobbit

Will: Les Misérables

Best Achievement in Editing

Nominees:

• Argo
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Zero Dark Thirty

Want: Zero Dark Thirty. Crisp, unflinching, and meticulous in tying together a story that spans a decade, then able to shift gears and play out the real-time nitty-gritty of the infamous Navy Seals raid on Bin Laden’s compound.

Will: Argo. I’m bracing myself to the idea that, without a head-and-shoulders favorite, Argo will lean on its Hollywood cred and continue to pick up awards. For me, it’s a little too straightforward and by-the-book, but the book is the book for a reason: the film succeeds in part because it is expertly paced.

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Nominees:

• Amour
• Django Unchained
• Flight
• Moonrise Kingdom
• Zero Dark Thirty

It's a bit provocative that the last quarter of Zero Dark Thirty had to basically change on the fly after UBL was caught and killed. (Oops, SPOILER!) Originally it was to end with the hunt still on. It makes me wonder if this award will be judged by the original intent or the finished product. Django could give Tarantino his second Original Screenplay win (Pulp Fiction), and this is often a category that celebrates the great, off-the-wall film that won't ever win the big one. Even so, Moonrise Kingdom, for all of its Wes-Andersonny Wes-Andersonness, is one of my favorite films of 2012, and I’m sad that this was its only nomination, so I’ll be doing a heavy dose of wishful thinking.

Want: Moonrise Kingdom

Will: Zero Dark Thirty -- but I never seem to pick this one right.

Best Writing: Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

Nominees:

• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook

I would love to see Beasts of the Southern Wild pick up an award here since its chances at bigger fish are probably going to slip off the hook. Like Django, it's a bit of a dark horse, but that might work in its favor. Here's one spot where I wouldn't mind Lincoln winning as long as it doesn't coincide with 11 other wins. For all of the movie's faults, Tony Kushner is talented as hell, and the Academy is notoriously political in doling out favor, so his conversational POTUS and the underlying equality themes might strike the right chord with voters.

Ultimately, I imagine that Argo will garner this prize, and I'll be a little bummed when this inevitably happens. Yeah, the truth is stranger than fiction, but even with its smart balance of humor and gravitas, its still a little cliché and hits too many generic beats.

Want: Beasts of the Southern Wild

Will: Argo

Well, only the big cheeses left to spread on the cracker. See you again before red carpet time.

Oscar Homestretch, Part One

Oscars are breathing down my neck, so it's nitty gritty time. I've already looked at the Animated Shorts, Live Action Shorts, Documentary Shorts, and Documentary Features that are nominated for this Sunday's show, now I'll get to the categories that most people actually had a chance to see. Mostly the Animated films and a few-odd other categories today, finishing up with the big awards by Sunday afternoon.

A quick list of all nominees here. And away we go...

Best Animated Feature
Nominees:

• Brave
• Frankenweenie
• ParaNorman
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits
• Wreck-It Ralph

I only caught the last half of Pirates!, and while I adore Aardman’s bravado and sense of humor, I count it out of the running this year. Like a 6-year old hopped up on Mr. T Cereal I took in all four of the rest in one stellar Saturday.

I hope Tim Burton makes a sunny musical one of these days just so he can reset expectations a bit and I can start to re-appreciate what he does, because it’s frankly getting a little stale. Apart from Martin Landau the voice acting in Frankenweenie falls flat, and despite the many homages to classic horror/monster flicks it never seems like any of the characters are in much danger. Cute, but frustrating.

That said, I have two clear personal favorites in this category: The first, not-surprisingly, is Wreck-It Ralph. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a child of the 80s and old-fashioned when it comes to video games. The first thing I did when I heard about the asteroid near-miss last week was fire up my little triangular ship and start blasting away. Anyway, this is a joy to behold. Fresh, funny, original, and visually stimulating. The King Candy/Ed Wynn character is gold(, Jerry! Gold!) and the attention to detail and non-stop references make it Turbo-tastic!

I must say, though, that I found it a little bizarre that they intentionally designed the four main characters to physically resemble their respective voice actors so closely, and their mannerisms are too acutely tied to personae that those actors have previously exhibited. I guess you could call it on-the-nose casting, but in doing so it risks losing a level of immersiveness; I couldn’t help picturing Kenneth from 30 Rock bouncing around with a hammer trying put the moves on Sue Sylvester.

My second favorite, to my happy surprise, is ParaNorman. Despite a pretty awful title this tickled my funny bone in just the right spot with its non-sequiturs and adult-tinged humor sprinkled throughout, and it brought things home with some really stunning visual sequences. The story revolves around a twisted little witch/zombie curse, allowing it to pickup and run with a broad batch of horror tropes stocked mostly with formulaic characters, but there is enough character arc in a few of them to allow for some growth to wiggle through. Plus, it delivers a strong underlying lesson for the kids. It’s not uncommon for animated films to celebrate “being different” -- come to think of it, ALL of this year's nominees touch on that theme to some extent. ParaNorman ratchets that up another level and reminds us “Hey, bullying is bad, m’kay?” The makers even caused a little extra controversy by having one particular character admit to being gay. It occurs flatly and without fanfare, and marks a first in an animated film (though I always had some questions about the various Prince Charmings, not to mention Peter Pan and the Lost Boys.) Compared to ghosts, zombies and witches, homosexuality is extraordinarily mundane.

Despite my preferences, word on the street is Brave may get the nod, but although the visual style is lush and pretty, it didn't really grab me as anything revolutionary. I like that the strong, independent princess has no need for a prince, making the focus more on the parent/child relationship, but I have some other issues: the story is too classic (read: unoriginal), and nobody seems to really care that bears have been extinct in Scotland for 1000 years before the story supposedly takes place. (Yes, I’m intentionally ignoring the witch/magic angle and only focusing on this one point of non-realism.)

Want to win: A lean to Wreck-It Ralph

Will win: Brave, and I will say, "Ugh, ParaNorman was waaaay better."

Best Foreign Language Film
Nominees: 

• Amour (Austria)
• War Witch (Canada)
• No (Chile)
• A Royal Affair (Denmark)
• Kon-Tiki (Norway)

Amour notching a straight-up Best Picture nod basically makes the Foreign pick a gimme this year, which is good because it's the only one I've yet had an opportunity to see. I'll have more to say when we get to the prime-time categories.

Want/Will Win: Amour

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

Nominees:

• Anna Karenina - Dario Marianelli
• Argo - Alexandre Desplat
• Life of Pi - Mychael Danna
• Lincoln - John Williams
• Skyfall - Thomas Newman

In my opinion, the best-scored film of the year was Moonrise Kindgom, but since it is relies heavily on Benjamin Britten, Alexandre Desplat's contribution was not considered enough to garner a nomination. He did some other pretty damn good work this year, though, working with Middle Eastern themes and instrumentation in scoring both Argo and the mournful Zero Dark Thirty. 

While you should never count out John Williams, who has his 39th(!) nomination in this category, or the perpetually-fecund Thomas Newman, their work this year owes too much to Aaron Copland and John Barry, respectively. I think Mychael Danna will add to his Golden Globe win with his Indian-flavored score, which nestles beautifully into the remarkable imagery of Life of Pi.

Want: Desplat

Will: Danna

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

Nominees:

• Chasing Ice, "Before My Time"
• Les Misérables, "Suddenly"
• Life of Pi, "Pi's Lullaby"
• Skyfall, "Skyfall"
• Ted, "Everybody Needs a Best Friend"

After only two nominees last year and an epic win for the Rhymenoceros, the Academy fleshed things out again and let in five from a broad range of films. Shoehorning a maudlin new song into Les Mis was probably a bad choice for a few reasons, but mostly because the song doesn't fit thematically with Valjean's character at that point in the film. "Before My Time" and "Pi's Lullaby" are both beautiful, wistful and much more heartfelt.

Bond themes are a memorable cultural boon (Think Goldfinger, A View to a Kill) but have never won an Oscar and have surprisingly only garnered 3 nominations: Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me ("Nobody Does it Better,") & For Your Eyes Only. In fact, the last Bond to win ANY Oscar was a Special/Visual Effects award for Thunderball way back in 1965! I think it's a pretty safe bet that trend gets bucked this year with Adele’s dark, sultry turn for one of the best Bond films in the 50-year history of the franchise. Ironically, while Seth McFarlane’s ribald Ted takes a jab at Octopussy’s theme, his own loungey, Randy Newman-lite opener will likely lose out to the very franchise he sent up.

Want/Will: "Skyfall"

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing

Nominees:

• Argo
• Les Misérables
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Skyfall

Want: Skyfall - While the Best Original Song is the best best to end Bond’s drought, there’s a good chance it will already have ended (perhaps twofold) before all the songs have been sung. An outside chance for Life of Pi, but it’s likely going to the action flick or the musical, so I’m hedging a bit.

Will: Les Mis - I was a bit disappointed in the mix, finding myself lost in the intelligibleness of a lot of the company scenes, but again, there’s a bustle in my hedgerow.

Best Achievement in Sound Editing:

Nominees:

• Argo
• Django Unchained
• Life of Pi
• Skyfall
• Zero Dark Thirty

Want/Will: Zero Dark Thirty, with another chance for Skyfall to get Bond off the schneid.

More picks to come in a day or so...

(Shortin' on) The Doc of the Day

We're capping the Oscar short categories with the Documentary Shorts. With five “shorts” each running in the 40-minute range, plus intermission, this made for a long afternoon screening, but well worth it. In my opinion this is a two-horse race, with a third having an outside shot and a pair lagging behind.

Bringing up the tail end is “Kings Point,” a look into the lives of a few New Yorkers now transplanted to a Florida “senior living” condominium. It paints a weird mix of emotions because each of the five main subjects has a different perspective about their situation, but there are some truisms that seem to touch all of them: they are nostalgic for their old lives and families, and here nobody is really a close friend, people merely have acquaintances. It is chock full of uncomfortable humor and an odd cattiness about the behavior of some of the subjects, almost as though they are playing out the same predictable drama that one typically associates with high school immaturity. Ultimately, a quirky yet wistful slice of life that somehow manages to be bereft of much emotional punch.

“Redemption” also gets in on the quirky act, pointing a lens at New Yorkers who, in a helpless job market, are forced make their daily living by “canning,” collecting bottles and cans and turning them for the 5-cent-per-container refund. This is not really a new story, but it’s moving to encounter the broad spectrum of personalities and life stories reduced to scrounging for nickels. A Japanese man who worked on computers in the WTC before 9/11 now sleeps outside near the redemption center and has no access to water to clean himself. Another older woman worked for Microsoft and now “cans” to supplement her meager pension. There are hundreds of different stories to be told, but while each person has his or her own eccentricity and a dogged determination to keep doing what needs to be done, and that lends a certain verve to the piece, the tenor is a relatively resigned one, and as a sum the footage becomes rather repetitive. This is a much more fatalistic piece than, say, Agnès Varda’s charming documentary, The Gleaner’s and I (2000), which gathers gold out of similar subject matter. If there is one thing “Redemption” lacks, sadly, it’s a sense of hope.

Not to fear, though, for there is hope to be found elsewhere in the category. “Inocente” tells of an eponymous homeless San Diego teenager trying to build a better life for herself through her expressive artistic talent. With the help of a program called ARTS (A Reason to Survive), she is given the opportunity to do public street art and eventually her own local gallery show. It’s a large task that is hindered by confessions of anxious self-doubt and tempered with the sad, intermittent narrative of her unfortunate upbringing. Her art allows for a meaningful emotional outlet, and it is a joy to see her wild creations come to life before our eyes. By coupling the still-prevalent plight of homelessness with the importance of access to the arts and arts education, “Inocente” manages to adroitly and colorfully tackle a dual social-issue platform, making it a possible dark horse in the group. It has a tough row to hoe, however, as the final two are the true emotional powerhouses of the bunch.

“Mondays at Racine” centers on the Racine Salon on Long Island, which opens its doors every Monday to supply free beauty services to women suffering from cancer and the effects of chemotherapy, as well as provide a therapeutic place of comfort and encouragement. Each woman featured has her own unique story, but they connect through commonalities, especially the stressful, bitter process of shaving off their remaining hair once chemo has started to claim it, or the even more frightening and life-altering decision of mastectomy. It makes the argument that these two actions of loss are the most upsetting moments of the condition, that the loss of either results in an erosion of female identity resulting in feeling “not whole” or “less of a woman.” The hardship takes it toll and carries over into their personal lives and relationships, as well, each in different ways but always in a extremely profound manner. You’d have to be a monster to not be moved by this short. 

That said, it’s not altogether perfect. Heavens forfend I should knock on the cancer doc, but there are some strange sidebar interviews that are meant to infuse a little humor and humanity into things, but they don’t always succeed. Also, I found it a bit out of sorts that the film highlights the two salon owners more than necessary from time to time, and in doing so it runs the risk of deviating from the heart of the story. This is a minor quibble, however, as I was still convinced by the end that this was going to take home the golden boy.

That is, until “Open Heart” came in and stole mine away. Thankfully, this is not the story of how Jane Seymour made a lot of money today with ugly jewelry designs. Instead, it follows eight Rwandan children transplanted to a newfangled, free-of-charge charity hospital in the Sudan for treatment on their rheumatic heart disease, an affliction that is still fatally rampant across Africa. Informed by the underlying reality of two nations wracked by strife, they are separated from their families with the very tangible possibility that they might not survive the trip, let alone the operation. Unfortunately, in true PSA fashion, this hospital is a bit of an experiment, the only one of its kind on the entire continent working under this model, making its efforts just “a drop in a bucket,” especially considering it must also compete with malaria, HIV/AIDS, starvation and civil war on the list of bad things going down. Money issues are inevitable, especially when Omar Al-Bashir (Sudanese President and wanted international war-criminal/embezzler) is in charge of the public funding.

“Open Heart” is a true heartstring-tugger if there ever was one, but far from being merely an emotional Sally Struthersization full of doe-eyed, sick kids, it shows flashes their personalities -- their bravery, their sanguine humor, as well as their insecurities -- and has some damn charming moments. That said, it doesn’t pull any punches: Hey, guess what? Here’s some open heart surgery in your face. You don’t like it? That’s what your heart looks like. Deal with it. Oh, and the chain-smoking Italian surgeon just said this adorable 5-year old girl has a a “shit heart,” and even after the surgery her heart is going to still be shit. How’s that for harsh truth?

To its benefit, "Open Heart” also has the strongest cinematographic style of the quintet, resulting in not just a raw storytelling experience, but also an evocatively beautiful visual one as well. In my book, this is the hands-down winner.

Only a little more than a week before the Oscars, and I’ve got most of my movie watching caught up. Will get my picks and predictions down within the week. Happy Valentine’s Day, Y’all!

...Shall Set You Free. Or Piss You Off.

Ladies and Gents, we've reached the non-fiction portion of the talent show. The Feature Documentary category is always a mixed bag of topics, and this year’s assemblage consists of very strong choices, so a lot of choosing a “favorite” will depend on personal preference. I've managed four out of five, and am here to give an overview of those four in pretty positive terms. I most likely won’t have access to The Gatekeepers, director Dror Moreh’s film about the Israeli security/counterterrorism agency Shin Bet, before its wider release in April, so naturally I expect it will win. It is getting solid critical reviews and appears to be the type of in-depth, political-insider documentary to which voters have responded the last few years, with descriptions hinting that its calls to mind The Fog of War, the 2003 Oscar winner from Errol Morris.

Five Broken Cameras (2011, dirs. Emad Burnat & Guy Davidi) 80

It has some stiff competition, however, as literally just on the other side of the fence is Five Broken Cameras, which paints the West Bank occupation from a Palestinian perspective. Through the eyes of first-person cameraman Emad Burnat, we witness the struggle of his family and his close-knit village of Bil’in to preserve their way of life and protect their land against encroaching Israeli settlers and soldiers. In terms of what is depicted on the screen, their protest tactics are almost entirely nonviolent from beginning to end -- there is an instance of brick throwing after a peaceful protester is shot and killed -- and within the film is framed the idea that the simple act of recording these events as they play out is a cripplingly effective form of nonviolent protest. 

People don’t want to be recorded when they know that their words and actions could come back to haunt them later, and this may be one of the most powerful developments of journalism over the last 100 years. Throughout the film, Emad's cameras are repeatedly broken, then repaired and/or replaced. In two instances they are shattered by live ammunition, perhaps saving his life in the process. Stubbornly turning the other cheek each time he is knocked down, Emad sees capturing this struggle as his way to contribute to the cause, documenting the actions and words of others, notably the behavior of the opposing forces, but mostly of his friends Adeeb and Bassem (aka Phil), who are much more outwardly gregarious and spirited in protest than Emad.

The films winds through with touching images and strong symbolism. Olive branches are often extended in the traditional gestures of peace (much like Flower Power tokens of the 1960s). Ironically, the olive trees that occupy the intermediate space between the Palestinian villages and Israeli settlements are continually used as points of contention and even political tools -- at one point they are all set ablaze by the Israelis in an exhibition of power. 

Emad’s family plays a strong role in delivering the emotional impact of the film, especially his relationship with his son Gibreel, who grows along with the growth of Bil’in’s protest movement. Emad makes the point that he doesn’t want to shield his son from any ugliness that might occur; he wants him to grow up being able seeing the truth of matters with his own eyes, good or bad. Gibreel looks on while a goat is slaughtered, and must cope with the various arrests, injuries, and tragic deaths of people with whom he has formed a close tribal bond. Five Broken Cameras hits home as a powerful reminder that there are good people on both sides of this endless turmoil just struggling to maintain a sense of humanity while the world repeatedly rains violence upon them.

How to Survive a Plague (2012, dir. David France) 74

Victims struggling in the face of political indifference is a fairly common theme running through two more of this year’s Documentary Feature nominees. First, in How to Survive a Plague, we are taken through a decade-long history of the activist groups ACT UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) and TAG (Treatment Action Group). These were/are grassroots movements that began in the late 1980s and sought to bring the HIV/AIDS epidemic to the forefront of national and political consciousness, hoping to speed up political foot-dragging, combat widespread misinformation by public figures and religious groups, and spur research and development by drug manufacturers, to ultimately provide access to credible information as well as legal, affordable, and effective treatment options. 

Along with crushingly effective statistics, the first-hand footage of organizational meetings, public protests, and interviews give us an intimate portrait of the brave people on the ground, many of whom were themselves stricken with the virus. Despite internal and external strife, through their dogged perseverance -- whether for their own lives, for the lives or memories of their loved ones, or for the survival to their community as a whole -- what was considered a horrible and inescapable fate is now managed as a survivable long-term disease state with a much more positive prognosis. A poignant look and a potent reminder of a turbulent recent era that is in danger of being taken for granted.

The Invisible War (2012, dir. Kirby Dick) 78
The theme of injustice carries through into The Invisible War, which brings to light the ongoing problem of sexual assault within the US Armed Forces. It is estimated that 20% of female active duty soldiers have been the victim of a sexual assault, a higher rate than occurs in the civilian populace and, as the filmmakers remind us, "they are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire." First-person interviews recount a handful of harrowing incidents, the descriptions of which are sure to be gut-wrenching in any circumstance. The extra oomph of the film comes first by following through by showing the myriad inescapable after effects of each of these women who are assaulted. (It should be noted, there are male victims, as well.) With victims, crippling depression and anxiety is the norm, and suicide attempts are is not an uncommon occurrence. One of the film's main subjects suffered a chronic nerve injury in her jaw, which the VA will not pay to repair because the injury did not occur in the line of duty.

This gets us to the main issue that the film roots out, which is what appears to be a terrifying indifference to the crimes and an overarching lack of justice. A majority of the perpetrators of these assaults are never punished. In fact in 2009-2010 only 7% of reported assaults resulted in a a serious criminal conviction. Of course, estimates state that perhaps as many as 85% of assaults do not even get reported, in some cases because the person to report the crime in the chain of command is a friend of the perpetrator or the rapist himself. This adds up to a violent, widespread systemic problem that arguably makes the Catholic church's priest scandal seem tame in comparison. This is brave, important filmmaking at its finest. While we are publicly moving forward with openly gay soliders and increased combat roles for women, we must question how far we've really come in the battle for equality when standing policies allow so much to be swept into the shadows.

Searching for Sugar Man (2012, dir. Malik Bendjelloul) 82

Take nothing away from the other four nominees, but in terms of viewership their subject matter can be a taxing and, frankly, depressing. The fifth nominee, on the other hand, has a much more populist vibe and uplifting tone. It concerns the story of Detroit recording artist Rodriguez (aka Sixto Rodriguez) whose pair of records, Cold Fact (1970) and Coming from Reality (1971), were released and quickly forgotten in the US. Unbeknownst to the artist, they gained a cult following throughout South Africa and became part of the soundtrack of the anti-Apartheid movement.

The fascinating part is that within South Africa, a notoriously isolated-and-censored nation, a mythology sprang up about this enigmatic folkhero, about whom there was literally zero biographical information available. Various legends sprang up about how he had committed suicide onstage, either by self-immolation or by shooting himself in the head after a bad show, and this only added to the fascination that people already had with his absolutely stunning, haunting music. In the film, a pair of South African music fanatics set out to find out the truth behind the legend.

With echoes of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Donovan, Nick Drake, and The Byrds, to name a few, I think it’s time you take a listen to the sounds:

I’ll Slip Away: 

Crucify Your Mind:   

Just, yeah.

If the music were middling, the film would merely be a curiosity, but he’s unique and his songs are strong enough to stick with you, and inspire a sense of confusion as to why he didn’t gain more traction in the States. If you’ve never heard them before, it really feels like unearthing a long lost treasure. 

While it is the least overtly political of the nominees, it still has some underlying messages within its historical context,  connecting Rodriguez’s background and lyrics about wandering the streets of Detroit during the late 1960s -- a ticking time-bomb of disenfranchisement and upheaval -- to the political unrest of South Africa’s isolationist government policies, censorship, and apartheid. When you listen his lyrics it’s no wonder that his message struck a chord with a growing movement of people hoping to rid itself of the abuses of an oppressive government.

The doc has some minor faults. Some interviews (purposefully) wind up as dead ends without much insight, leading to a host of unanswered questions. Frankly, there were a slew of paths to the story that they could have chosen to explore more deeply. Overall, however, the music, the journey for a true story, and the inspirational messages hold up to the make Searching for Sugar Man the most enlivening nominee of the year, and the likely frontrunner for the statuette.

Documentary shorts are around the corner. In the meantime, here are a few more tracks to fill yer soul: 

Youtube it: Sugar Man, Inner City Blues, Cause

Or do one better and Spotify the sucker: Rodriguez – Searching For Sugar Man

Short & Sweet Like a Candy-Coated Villechaize

I’ve done the Oscar nominated animated shorts, now let’s take a look at their live action counterparts. Youtube has no full clips for any of these, but I've linked to trailers for 4 of the 5 (some may have language that is NSFW) and while they mostly deserve merit these are basically listed in order from worst to first.

"Curfew" - A suicidal junkie agrees to babysit his estranged sister’s spawn for a night. Hijinks ensue. Lessons are learned. Of the five, only this one struck a bad chord with me. It has some tonal issues, as its angular self-loathing is usurped by a bit of redemption that is tacked on almost in defiance of its general mood. Precocious kids played for charm/laughs is too easy and has frankly gone a bit stale. And there’s a Breakfast Club dance, which is not as cool as it sounds.

"Buzkashi Boys" - A touching yet formulaic buddy/coming of age story from Afghanistan. A studious but eager blacksmith’s son befriends a rough and tumble street urchin. The boys escape their work for the day to watch Buzkashi, the national sport of Afghanistan, which is like rugby on horseback using a dead goat as a ball. Hijinks ensue. Lessons are learned. Ok, if you wanted to you could read into this the dangers of young boys treating star athletes as role models, while they should instead be focused on education and learning a trade. (So it’s like Hoop Dreams...but with goats.) In all seriousness, it paints a gritty portrait of the human effects of a country long stricken by conflict. Some beautiful scenery and perhaps the best cinematography of the lot -- the Buzkashi in the snowfall is strikingly poetic -- but it paces a tad slow and long.

"Asad" - This one is a much tighter story in comparison to "Buzkashi Boys," with a lighter touch, but an odd payoff. The title character is a Somali boy who is torn between possible riches and power of open-seas piracy and insurgent militancy, or living a meager, honest living as a fisherman. It gains extra points by using real Somali refugees as actors and still gets to the root of the matter of the nation's ills of violence, starvation, and impoverishment while retaining a sense of humor and hope to rise above the conflict. The tone reminded me a bit of "Na Wewe," one of my favorite nominees from 2 years ago.

"Henry" - As with #1 (below) this is wrapped in mystery from the beginning, but the horror steers in a different direction, one grounded in a very real human experience. (Ok, spoiler, it's about Alzheimer's disease. Bring a tissue.) It becomes a truly heartbreaking experience, with a bravura performance by Gérard Poirier . Wonderful use of music enriches the story immensely. My #2, but just as deserving of top honors.

(I don’t have a trailer clip for this one, but here is a little something else to watch in relation to it. A real life story about another man named Henry and the magical ability that music has to unlock our memories. Powerful stuff.)

"Death of a Shadow" - An unsettling, original steampunk/supernatural love story. A dead soldier wants desperately to return to his life and find out about a mysterious woman who helped him just before he was killed. He has a chance to return to the living world if he can pay off a 10,000 person debt to a creepy, James Carville-esque afterworld entity who deals in the captured shadows of the dying. A weird, arty concept that works. It gives you just enough clues to piece it together, but owns its mystery, leaving just a few dangling bits of unanswered intrigue. (Are they intentional plot holes? Distortions or new wrinkles of the "laws" of time-travel? Thought provoking, nonetheless.) The stellar production, expressionistic mood and imagery, and seamless use of CGI elevate this short to the top of the heap, in my opinion.

Animated Shorts, & I Don't Mean Enthusiastic Culottes

Finally getting into the groove for Oscar Season, here’s my rundown on the Animated Shorts Category. Of note: all 5 nominees are purely visual works, without a single word of intelligible dialogue.

Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare” - After its start as a short-form bumper during the "Tracey Ullman Show" sparked 23+ Seasons on the telly and one pretty great but snubbed movie, America's quintessential cartoon family has returned to its roots. Thanks to their taciturn toddler taking the reins in their first theatrically-run short, which appeared as a lead-in for Ice Ace: Continental Drift, they have finally nabbed an Oscar Nomination to toss in with their dump truck full of other awards. I chuckled out loud when Maggie’s face appeared in full starburst Disney-esque glory, and the short goes for the heartstrings in the vein of old-school theatrical shorts. It’s quick and cute, and contains lovely little splitquick sight gags, but there's not a whole lot that’s new to fans of the show. The Ayn Rand School for Tots debuted in the classic “A Streetcar Named Marge” episode, which delivered a much more hilarious spoof of The Great Escape and The Birds. 

Paperman - Frankly, this was my least favorite of the nominated quintet. A Disney produced, overly sentimental Brief Encounter story with a few chuckles, which has an Adrien Brody-esque schlub trying desperately to get the attention of a mute Princess Ariel by, well, throwing things at her. I couldn’t get past a conceit ripped straight from The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Brazil (spoiler!) and the unsettling thought that someone thought it would be tasteful to have a man repeatedly throwing airplanes at a New York skyscraper (paper airplanes, sure, but airplanes nonetheless). Maybe I’m being touchy or cynical, but it rubbed me the wrong way. The animation uses a clean black and white pencil quality with a few crayon-on-paper splashes of color (Schindler’s List, hmmm?), but it’s still very much idiosyncratically classic Diz.

(Edit: Unsurprisingly, Diz already shot down the youtube of the full short, so here's a pretty cool little behind the scenes with the making-of technology. I'm not denying these guys are doing interesting stuff, just didn't pay off with me in the end result.)

Head Over Heels - A touching metaphor for the turbulent distance grown between husband and wife, who occupy opposite sides of a house spinning through space; one lives on the ceiling and the other on the floor. (Or vice versa, depending on your perspective.) I felt like it grew past the great idea of its smart, dizzying defiance of physics and got a little off track and overly mawkish. The ending ties things together, but its through-line is rather unfocused.


Fresh Guacamole - A follow up to PES’s excellent "Western Spaghetti", this walks in the same footsteps but pays off better. It is light at only 2 minutes, something that would fit as a bumper in an episode of “Sesame Street” or “Pinwheel.” Outstanding and worth a watch, but not worth the time it would take to describe it when you can see for yourself here:

Adam and Dog - A gorgeous Genesis story following a wild mutt who meets man for the first time, establishing that the friendship between man and his “best friend” is one that is truly primal and has stood the test of time. The highlight here is the lush use of background land- and skyscapes, painted in overwhelming swaths of color that range from impressionism to expressionism. It’s a throwback to hand-drawn, hand-painted animation, and the small animated figures have instant personality, even from a distance, and frolic engulfed in the scenery of Eden. The contrast then makes the first couple’s exile from the garden all the more harsh and striking. I can look past the fact that Adam looked like a character straight from “For Better or for Worse,” this really shined on the big screen and gets my nod. Trailer only.

Review of the Live Action Shorts nominees coming soon!