Oscar Shorts - starting this weekend

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Don't know if anyone else is going to see these, but if you want to avoid spoilers, you'll want to skip my post.

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

The Lady and The Reaper bleh. Scooby Doo schtick? Really? That's what they're nominating now? No thanks.

I wouldn't call this a down year, per se. There haven't been any that left me thinking, "WTF did I just watch?!" as in previous bad years.

I agree with GD on his post except for this part. After Lady and the Reaper ended, I said, out loud, what the f was that? Cartoony chase antics against a backdrop of the right to die issue? I'm not sure if the silly gags weren't very good or if it was just the disturbing concept clouding my enjoyment. I almost felt I was mistaken in what this was really about and felt oddly vindicated when she killed herself, as in, "see, I KNEW this was a f'd up story." Maaaaybe it could have worked if it didn't have endless staircases, swooning nurses, etc - a bit further from Bugs Bunny might have helped.

Anyway - I loved Instead of Abracadabra. The mom and dad were great characters, and the magician himself was a perfect balance of ridiculous and ultimately believable. But then, I'm a sucker for geek stories, especially when they end up winners. When he really did bring the "gothic darkness" it warmed my heart.

Sleeping Beauty was great. Even if the CG textures weren't visually up to Pixar quality (at least in the bedroom), the camera angles and story beats were spot on, which is the important part. The storybook animation was gorgeous and smart.

The Door was yes, horribly depressing, but it made me realize I hadn't seen anything on Chernobyl in forever and never had it been humanized like this. I'm sure Russia is full of film/books/theater about this but it's not often talked about here. I kind of appreciated this quick look into what happened there - and I do mean quick, you're not going to catch me watching a full length cancer pic anytime soon.

French Toast kept me somewhat interested but fell extremely flat by the end. Wallace and Grommit is always fun, their formula works very well, though I wish it were a little more laugh-out-loud funny.

Bummer about New Tenants. Started out great. You could almost taste the cigarette smoke. As soon as the husband sat down and started talking about his wife, I knew it was over. The looks on the other guys' faces were almost saying "we were doing a great scene, what are you busting in for?"