Oscar events 2009: Shorts Swanking and Oscar party

[LSPoorEeyorick]

They filled with a bunch of animated shorts that were not nominated. Some of them were good, but one was the most dreadful animated short I've ever seen. I don't think they actually had any filler in the live action, but both used some interstitial quotes (though I can't imagine that took up 20 minutes.)

I was amused to find that our theory still stands after five years: this year had some good work. Next year, probably not. It's always so much fun to watch these and then discuss them afterwards as a group!

[Ghoulish Delight]

15 of those minutes for each was trailers.

I'll post the results of the official LoT voting.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

What a fun day! It was awesome to see our estranged iSm again, as well as LSPE and Tom of course, plus Sohrshah and Lance, and mousepod too.

There were some great ones. As usual, the sappy ones appealed to me. One where a woman predicts how her friends will react to her death touched me since I tend to daydream about these things. An old man's reminiscence of his life and family hit me pretty strongly and I almost cried, even though I'd probably used up all my tears for the holocaust one earlier.

I swear, holocaust films are unfair. I avoid them when I can. This one had some weird, almost insensitive touches...though when Germans make a film about it, the view is a bit strange.

There were some fun short ones, and the one called Pig was an amusing, well-done example of the struggles regarding religious tolerance, though the "debate" between the daughter and son was a bit overdone, I thought. An African child dealing with the quirky kids in an Irish elementary school was fun and able to evoke his homeland in a simple, warm, yet realistic way.

Such interesting films...and such crosscultural reaches...a Japanese film with a French title, a Muslim family in a Danish hospital, a German film done in Switzerland, an African boy in an Irish school...if last year's theme was "Cancer", this year's is "It's a Small World After All."

Fantastic day, thanks H & T!

It took a lot of effort to remember the films after the HORRIBLE addition of the one LSPE referred to called Varmints, which was so soul-suckingly terrible that I almost simply stared at my lap until it was over (please end! please end!) and the idea that it wasn't nominated and therefore we didn't have to see it at all just drives me crazy. I only mention it so I can post this: DO NOT SEE THAT FILM. You may commit suicide.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Damn, left the official LoT ballot tally (prepared by the accounting offices of Goldman, Sachs, and Canters) at home.

Until I have that in hand, here's my summary of the nominees.

Live Action:

1. "On the Line" - Well put together for the most part, and it quickly created relatively compelling characters. But I had issues with it. First of all, it was nothing but tight closeups. I don't know why, but that bugged me. Secondly, while other's pointed out afterwards that there may have been more narrative closure than I first got out of it, I still thought the ending left things way too loose. I don't need shorts to end entirely unambiguously, but I felt like this one just gave up, less, "It could go anywhere from here," and more, "We can't decide what emotions these characters should have, so you sort it out." Meh.

2. "NewBoy" - great fun. Wonderful performances from children, which is always difficult. And it did a great job of handling serious, sensetive topics without being overbearing or heavy handed. Really a charming short piece.

3. "Toyland" - Depressing, of course. Morally muddled. Well presented. That's about all I have to say on it.

4. "Pig" - So wonderfully great. LOVE the message of misuse of "tolerance". This was my pick, both as my favorite of the bunch and as my Oscar prediction. I hope the voters have the balls to say, "forget theoretical fallout from people who might be insulted by this, it's a solid message and a solid short." New Boy was a close second for my vote.

5. "Manon on the Assphalt" - Yawn. Not unpleasantly bad, but I found it so uninciteful. A far too simplistic and literal play-by-play of the most obvious sorts of thoughts about mortality one might have.

Animated:

1. "Lavatory Love Story" - Cute I guess. But not particularly compelling.

2. "Oktapodi" - Good old fashion cartoony fun. At 2 minutes, there's not a lot more to say about it, but it was really enjoyable.

3. "Le Maison de Petits Cubes" - Oy. An interesting 30 second metaphor that dragged on for 10 minutes. It would have made a fantastic large format painting, but as an animated short it went nowhere. The entirety of the meaning was known from the start and the "story" as it were added nothing else to it.

4. "This Way Up" - My opinion on this one has changed several times, most of those changes happening during the run of the short. I liked the father-son interactions. The zany afterlife scene was great, and the freeze-frame ending was a good laugh. The slapstick stuff in between however left me flat. But overall I did enjoy it.

5. "Presto" - Easy winner. This short was such a leap in digital animation, in my eyes. They've finally managed to marry Pixar quality with the energy level of classic cartooning. With fantastic story telling and inventive sight gags. Just perfect. This was the unanimous LoT pick to win the Oscar.

[innerSpaceman]

I should mention, for those who didn't attend, that "Toyland" was the improably-titled Holocaust film.

The one element I liked about this one was that, like last years' "Tonto Woman," it seemed the most like a literary short story. But it was a shameful tearjerker with some really horrific messages that were highly insulting to humanity.

[Not Afraid]

We may end up seeing them this week. I'll put on the teflon for Toyland.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Oh hey, I pocketed the voting results this morning afterall. Yay.

Predictions:
With 4 votes out of 8 possible, "Pig" is the LoT prediction for best live action short, with "New Boy" and "Toyland" tying for second with 2 votes each.

And, as stated earlier, "Presto" was the unanimous pick in animated to take the Oscar.

LoT Favorites:In live action, with 4 votes, narrowly defeating the 2nd place pick by a single vote, "New Boy" is the LoT pick for favorite. "Pig" was in second, with "Manon on the Asphalt" picking up a lone vote.

And in a similar 4-3-1 split, "Presto" took home the Bacon in the animated category with "This Way Up" close behind and "Le Maison de Petits Cubes" in third.

[innerSpaceman]

91 Centimeters (not the real title) was the best of the Out-of-Competition entries, included to pad the running time.


Oh, and without a doubt, WORST nominated short goes to ... the envelope please....

VARMINTS.



Ugh. I want my 22 minutes back.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Fortunately, Varmints wasn't nominated. I may make it my mission to find every possible internet listing of it with a rating option and give it the lowest possible rating out of spite.

[Alex]

I see that Varmints was nominated for best animated short for a BAFTA. I presume that is why it would be included as filler. It lost to a Wallace & Gromit short.