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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 3 months

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Here we are... Best Animated Feature noms...

My predictions were 4-out-of-5...

THE BOY AND THE HERON, NIMONA, ROBOT DREAMS, and SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE all got in...

The one I got wrong was TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM, which to be fair, I did say in my previous post that that one was the wild card out of my predictions. Despite the high praise and tons of nominations TMNT:MM got elsewhere, in addition to a single win, I guess those who were nominating it for the Oscar just didn't think the oozy gross-out turtle action-superhero movie cut it.

Instead, we have ELEMENTAL, so Disney Pictures gets at least one slot this year. The last time they were shut out entirely was for the features of 2011, the year they released the critical dud CARS 2 and the completely dumped WINNIE THE POOH. I was pretty sure that this year, they also wouldn't make it. ELEMENTAL's critical reception was fine at best, nowhere near the acclaim MUTANT MAYHEM got. WISH was both a critical and commercial dud, so that had no chance, only ELEMENTAL did... Maybe the Academy just didn't feel like pulling a 2018 and nominating two superhero action animated movies. Maybe they decided to have just one IP-based movie in the race, and opted for an original story. (As NIMONA and ROBOT DREAMS are based on pre-existing source material, BOY AND THE HERON references a novel that plays a part in its story.) Maybe something else about it wasn't all to their liking. Maybe Disney is just that powerful that they got themselves a slot.

I still think this is a strong line-up, and again, it speaks to how robust this year was for features both mainstream and independent.

And I will admit, even though I wasn't in love with the movie, ELEMENTAL getting into the race is very nice, I feel. Director Peter Sohn's first Pixar feature, THE GOOD DINOSAUR, was both a box office flop and didn't get a nominated for the Oscar (it shared the year with sister Pixar movie INSIDE OUT). It was also a film that he inherited after its original director got removed from it. ELEMENTAL was his personal project from the ground-up, and after a rough opening and all the press jeering that it was going to be this big flopperooni, it had excellent legs at the box office... and now... It has a Best Animated Feature nom. Talk about staying power! Maybe Pete Docter should think twice about that statement he made back in the summer, about trying to go back to Pixar's "roots" in trying to figure out what audiences supposedly want from this studio.

Anyways, Pixar usually gets a nom every year. For 2022's animated features, TURNING RED was in the running. 2021, LUCA. 2020, SOUL, which won for that year. Last time Pixar didn't get a nom at all was for 2016, their sole feature that year was FINDING DORY. Got good reviews and made beaucoup bucks, but it shared a year with Disney Animation's ZOOTOPIA and MOANA, two heavy hitters which ended up getting the noms. So, outside of FINDING DORY, MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, and CARS 2, Pixar usually never misses a nom whenever they release a single movie in a calendar year.

Most of Paramount's Oscar noms in animation were for DreamWorks movies they released circa 2006-2012, which are all now Universal movies since Comcast owns all of DreamWorks Animation outright. Funnily enough, the inaugural Best Animated Feature nominations included Paramount's JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS, which was up against eventual winner SHREK, and MONSTERS, INC. Paramount then began distributing DreamWorks movies in 2006, and scored nominations with KUNG FU PANDA, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, KUNG FU PANDA 2, and PUSS IN BOOTS. For a non-DreamWorks nom, there was RANGO, which won for Best Animated Feature of 2011... Ever since then? Only one movie, ANOMALISA. The films they released from 2015 to now just never made it: SHERLOCK GNOMES, WONDER PARK, SPONGEBOB 3, RUMBLE, etc. MUTANT MAYHEM really had a good shot at getting in... Maybe TRANSFORMERS: ONE surprises later this year, I don't know. Paramount's animation history post-80s is so weird...

Anyways, congrats to everyone. I'm personally rooting for either BOY AND THE HERON, or NIMONA.

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msclaritea · 3 months

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2024 Oscars Best Live Action Short Predictions

Many filmmakers who helm shorts and other independent films don’t like it when established auteurs and artists come into their space in the shorts categories.

That’s why big names like Wes Anderson (“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”), Pedro Almodóvar (“Strange Way of Life”), Alfonso Cuarón (“The Shepherd”) and David Oyelowo (“The After”) aren’t as guaranteed as many may think, but with three, there’s more in the mix than in previous years.

After getting passed over for “The Human Voice” (2020) with Tilda Swinton, Almodóvar returns with a pair of beloved leading men — Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal in his gay western. Referencing Westerns such as Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” as a source of inspiration, the auteur puts his signature imagery on display and, with the backing of Sony Pictures Classics, should be able to fit into the lineup.

Aren't Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke LUCKY, if not that popular? They're being submitted in the Short Films category for doing a RIP OFF of The Power of The Dog, for which A list actor, Benedict Cumberbatch was publicly castrated he did so. Hollywood hypocrisy, at its finest.

#Strange Way of Life Is A Rip Off Of The Power of The Dog #And NO #Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke are only popular to Hollywood because they need them to be #Oscars 2024 #SAG-AFTRA #Fucking Hypocrites

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mariacallous · 6 months

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(JTA) — Daniel Lombroso sees “Nina & Irena,” his documentary short film about his grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, as a coda to his 2020 documentary “White Noise,” in which he followed leaders in the “alt-right” movement.

For the four years during the making of “White Noise,” he was surrounded by neo-Nazis, who were on the cusp of a resurgence around the 2016 presidential race. “I never thought about my own connection to the material in any detail, and then I realized the reason I cared so much about this story before anyone else in the country was because of my grandparents,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “It was the stories that I grew up with that made me vigilant about extremism and curious and concerned.”

In “Nina & Irena,” which will be released through The New Yorker on the magazine’s digital channels on Wednesday, Lambroso’s Polish-born grandmother Nina Gottlieb — 90 during filming and 91 now — opens up after eight decades about her experiences during the Holocaust, when she lost about 25 members of her family, including her sister, Irena. Only she and her parents survived.

The New Yorker Studios film relates Gottlieb’s tale through on-camera interviews with Gottlieb that are interspersed with archival footage. Much of the film depicts simple moments of joy with her family, such as doing Zoom yoga with her grandson and her 90th birthday party surrounded by her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Gottlieb is fully independent, lives alone in Long Island and still has an active lifestyle.

“The film is about the richness of her life,” Lombroso said. “There’s a lot of what they call Holocaust fatigue that we all grew up watching a lot of Holocaust films and hearing from survivors and you expect certain things. You expect the train tracks and you expect Auschwitz and smoke and it was very important for me to not necessarily avoid the horrors — you have to understand the horrors — but also balance them with the comedy of her life. She’s so funny.”

The film has been a success on the festival circuit, including winning best short film at the Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride. The documentary festival DOC NYC included it among its “Short Lists” predictions for top contenders for Oscars and other awards.

Growing up in New Rochelle, New York, Lombroso knew that his grandmother was a Holocaust survivor, but she never spoke about her experiences during the war. She thought her stories were too horrible for her children and grandchildren when they were young. She always thought she would tell them later, but later never came. Lombroso realized that now was his chance to finally ask, before it was too late.

In the film, Gottlieb talks about her childhood in Kielce, Poland, and her relationship with her sister, spying on Irena and tattling to their mother. Even when discussing her sister’s disappearance, she has a matter-of-fact way of telling these stories, accepting what happened and not dwelling on the past.

Lombroso said her testimony helped him avoid the cliches of documentary filmmaking. Too often, he explained, “you’ve gotten your main subject to pour themselves out in front of the camera like it’s a therapy session. My grandmother doesn’t go there,” he said. “At first, I thought that would be a problem.” However, “with distance and going through screenings, I realized that’s what makes the film so different and special. Her message is one that you don’t hear much: Keep going in life. Don’t feel sorry for yourself. And if someone like her doesn’t feel sorry for herself [after] losing upwards of 20 family members, then I certainly can’t.”

Another surprising aspect of the documentary is Gottlieb’s compassion for her tormentors. Having been evacuated to Prague, she saw the liberated Czechs pour tar on German officers and burn them alive. She was horrified.

“One of the worst moments of the Holocaust for her was watching a German officer be burned alive by Czech bystanders. She says, ‘You don’t do that to other people. We’re all born little adorable children. What happens to us?” Lombroso said. “The person she has sympathy for is her perpetrator and I just find that so rare in this day and age.”

In order to get this level of honesty from his grandmother, Lombroso approached this project, his first personal film, like his previous work at The New Yorker, where he is a staff filmmaker, and before that at The Atlantic.

“I’m used to embedding myself with people who I disagree with. I always try to understand subjects in the same way. Even when I was dealing with Richard Spencer, who is a famous white nationalist, I was trying to understand the root of his ideology and how he became who he is today,” he said. “I wanted to understand how someone becomes that f–ked up. We went skiing together and I met his mother. That’s the kind of reporting I just love doing and I think people open up to me because I don’t feel judgmental towards them. I just want to understand.”

And despite his love for his grandmother, he tried to keep a certain creative distance. “My grandmother had no editorial control,” Lombroso said. “She saw the film for the first time a few days before it premiered, and I told her you cannot change anything. And sure, there’s a tenderness in the film that comes through because I love her and feel close to her, but it was important to me not to compromise my practice in any way with her story.”

The one time he did let her weigh in is when he showed her a synopsis of the film that mentioned survivor’s guilt. She was furious.

“She said, ‘I don’t feel guilty about anything,’” Lombroso said. “I think it’s important to see someone like her and that’s what makes her so inspiring.”

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shirkers2018dirsanditan · 1 year

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read this before i even finished typing that last post and literally……is pete hammond fucking mocking me or something 🤨

#he argues his points well #i don’t agree with all of them but according to his predictions all his picks make sense #as in if somehow eeaao loses best picture then it probably will win screenplay #but thats really mcdonagh’s award to lose #he is literally MOCKING MEEEEE #DONT SAY THIS

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denimbex1986 · 13 days

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'Tom Ripley is getting another chance on the awards circuit. The sinister con artist, created by author Patricia Highsmith in a series of novels, is played by Andrew Scott in the new limited series “Ripley” from Netflix. A quarter-century ago a variation of the same story was told in Anthony Minghella‘s film “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” but while that iteration received five Oscar nomination, it was snubbed for Best Picture, and star Matt Damon was left out of Best Actor. Can Scott make up for that with a nom for Best Movie/Limited Actor?

Damon’s portrayal of Tom Ripley had more warmth to it, a sense of longing (“I always thought it would be better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody”). He was a tragic monster who trapped himself in a web of lies and murder. Scott’s performance suggests someone more methodical and calculating. During some lengthy scenes without dialogue we see his mind at work, regarding dead bodies simply as logistical problems to be solved. His coldness is disturbing. His smile is unnerving as he tries to maintain composure under questioning. Scott’s version of Ripley is a man whose identity is buried so far beneath his deceptions that we can hardly find who the man is underneath. That makes him a frightening, fascinating villain.

TV critic Rodrigo Perez (The Playlist) calls Scott “superb” in “arguably his finest performance to date.” Nick Schager (Daily Beast) says that Scott “evokes his deceptive ruthlessness through his eyes—which slyly convey the machinations developing and spinning in his head—and his thin, unwelcoming smiles.” And Matt Schimkowitz (A.V. Club) adds, “Ripley attracts elite actors, and in Steven Zaillian’s masterful ‘Ripley’ Netflix series (out April 4), Andrew Scott may have surpassed them all.”

Scott, already an Emmy nominee in 2020 for a guest turn on the anthology series “Black Mirror” (and a shoulda-been nominee for playing Hot Priest on “Fleabag” and Moriarty on “Sherlock”), is on track for another nomination according to the combined predictions of Gold Derby users. He ranks third in our Movie/Limited Actor odds behind Jon Hamm (“Fargo”) and Tom Hollander (“Feud: Capote vs. the Swans”). But three of our Top 24 Users and two of our All-Star Top 24 say he’s actually the man to beat. And writer-director Zaillian previously guided another actor to a win in this category: Riz Ahmed in “The Night Of.” So don’t underestimate the wily con.'

#Emmys #Andrew Scott #Matt Damon #Ripley #Black Mirror #Hot Priest #Fleabag #Moriarty #Sherlock #Steven Zaillian #The Talented Mr Ripley #Patricia Highsmith #Anthony Minghella

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greensparty · 2 months

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Green's Party Guide to the 2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films

Anyone who knows me knows I am a longtime champion of the Short Film categories for Animation, Live Action and Documentary at the Academy Awards, mainly because I have made short films and I know how hard it can be to tell a story in a short amount of time. I am very excited to continue my annual tradition of showcasing the Oscar Nominated Short Films (read the 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 guides).

2024 movie poster

This year’s nominated short films are available from ShortsTV both in theaters and online. I’ve watched all of them and here are my thoughts and predictions:

Best Live Action Short Film:

This year's Live Action Short Film nominees is one of the strongest collection of nominees in years! The After (U.K.) was produced by Neon Films and distributed by Netflix. In this heavy drama, after a traumatic experience with his family Dayo (played by David Oyelowo) becomes a rideshare driver and one of his jobs helps him to confront the past. Oyelowo (who also produced this film) has been excellent in a number of films including Selma and The Butler, and this is truly a showcase for him! Red, White and Blue (U.S.) was produced by Samantha Bee. In this drama, a single mother (played by Brittany Snow, another notable actress) bring her young daughter with her as she crosses state lines to get an abortion. Without getting into spoilers, it goes from a sobering to even more sobering and has a lot to say about the need for reproductive rights in all states. Knight of Fortune (Denmark) is about a man who's at a morgue to say goodbye to his suddenly deceased wife and he forms an unlikely friendship with another widower. In a category filled with heavy dramas, this one is among the heaviest, but there's also a humanity to it in showing in a very fragile state how a total strange can lend a helping hand. Invincible (Canada) is based on a true story of the last 48 hours of a 14-year-old boy's life while he's in a juvenile center. While there are some powerful moments, it does feel like at times like it's a feature being squeezed into a short. Netflix's The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (U.S. / U.K.) is the most high-profile as it's from director Wes Anderson adapting from Roald Dahl and it was released on Netflix in September. Anderson had previously adapted Dahl's The Fantastic Mr. Fox and this time he's adapted a 37 min. film but with the same scale as a feature. The film explores a variety of stories narrated by Dahl (played by Ralph Fiennes), the main story being about Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch), who is able to predict the future and see through objects thanks to a book he stole. This one is easily the biggest budget, most star-studded and most visually impressive.

Will Win: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is the clear frontrunner. Wes Anderson has been Oscar-nominated in a number of other categories (Screenwriting both Original and Adapted, Animated Feature director, Directing, and producing Best Picture) and yet he has never won even though he is one of the most critically acclaimed and innovative directors working today. In some ways it is kind of unfair that an A-list director makes a short film on the scale of a feature when so many Live Action Shorts are low budget and trying to make something impressive in a short amount of time and don't have nearly the resources Anderson does to be able to get this cast, the production design and to adapt Dahl. On the other hand there's no rule that says Live Action Shorts are meant for newcomers and directors early in their career...so survival of the fittest. But something that needs to be said about this year's crop of nominees is that there's a lot of heavy drama, and this one is charming and lighter in contrast, which could steal the thunder.

Should Win: I'm going to have to say a tie. Henry Sugar is highly impressive, but Red, White and Blue stayed with me and had a twist that was devastating.

Best Animated Short Film:

This is also a great year for animated short nominees: Our Uniform (Iran) is about an Iranian girl unleashing her memories of school as she looks at her old uniform. The animation style and aesthetic is very unique. Letter to a Pig (Israel / France) is about a Holocaust survivor speaking to a classroom about how a pig saved his life and a student goes into a dream about it. This is very heavy and intense. But I do feel like animation purists are going to have an issue with the fact that is also used some live action footage interspersed with the animation. But either way, this is a very innovative approach to the subject matter. Pachyderme (France) looks at a young girl visiting her grandparents in the Summer countryside. A young female protagonist and/or a woman looking back at her younger self is a common theme in this year's nominees, but this one has some gothic and horror elements to it. Ninety-Five Senses (U.S.) is directed by Jared Hess (yes the director of Napoleon Dynamite is an Oscar-nominee) and his wife Jerusha Hess (writer with Jared on several films and Austenland). An old cowboy (played by actor/director Tim Blake Nelson) reflects on the body's five senses in his lifetime as he's about to run out of time. Let me just say I was not into Napoleon Dynamite at all, but what got my attention more than the directors was Tim Blake Nelson, an underrated actor who shines in everything he's in. I kind of liked how the animation changes within each sense Coy describes and also how it has a sense of nostalgia about the pre-digital era. WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko (U.S.) got my attention immediately as I am a lifelong Beatle / John Lennon fanatic. It was co-written by Sean Ono Lennon, who also co-produced with his mom Yoko Ono. Director Dave Mullins was previously nominated in this category for Pixar's 2017 short Lou. Set during a World War I front, a pigeon carries messages between two soldiers playing chess, unaware they are on opposite sides. There is no dialogue and the music score of Pixar veteran Thomas Newman enhances the powerful anti-war message of this colorful visual feat!

In addition to the official nominees, ShortsTV is including two additional films in the Best Animated Short Film program, both of which were on the short list but did not get nominated. Wild Summon (U.K.) is narrated by Marianne Faithfull and it was produced by Oscar-winner Adam McKay. It looks at the lifecycle of the wild salmon as it looks in human form. While it is a bit long, there is a strong environmental message to it. I'm Hip (U.S.) was directed by animation veteran John Musker, who was nominated for two Oscars for Animated Feature for The Princess and the Frog and Moana. This is about a hip cat who sings a song about how hip he is to the world around him...who don't agree.

Should Win: WAR IS OVER! is the best of this year's strong crop. With the state of the world what it is right now, an anti-war message anchored by a John and Yoko's "Happy Xmas" made a very strong statement. I'm a huge fan of Sean Lennon and it'd be awesome to see him accept!

Will Win: WAR IS OVER! Not only is there the name recognition of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, but the World War I setting completely driven by visuals and no dialogue will go a long way.

Best Documentary Short Film:

This is a great year for Short Docs: Nai Nai & Wài Pó (U.S. with Mandarin subtitles) was a festival hit acquired by Disney+. Director Sean Wang makes a touching and personal profile of his grandmothers who live together and dance, exercise and joke together. There is a sadness about mortality, but there's also a sense of humor to this that makes the subjects seem funnier than it would in another director's hands. The Barber of Little Rock (U.S.) is produced by Liz Garbus (a two-time Oscar nominee for Best Documentary Feature) and the New Yorker. In Little Rock, AR a local barber Arlo Washington has founded People Trust, a non-profit community bank fostering economic progress for underserved and underbanked residents. This doc looks at a number of people who have collaborated with People Trust (each of whom could easily be the subject of their own doc), but the through line is very much Arlo who is fighting the good fight to provide opportunities a lot of banks are not and to help the community as a whole. Island in Between (Taiwan) is produced by the New York Times. The doc's director S. Leo Chiang reflects on his own relationship with Taiwan, United States and China from the islands of Kinmen, just off of mainland China. The cinematography is breathtaking to say the least! The ABCs of Book Banning (U.S.) was produced by MTV Documentary Films. It was co-directed by Sheila Nevins (a big doc producer and executive who is just now directing) and was co-directed by Trish Adams (a previous Oscar nominee for Best Doc Feature for GasLand) and Nazenet Habtezghi (a producer on American Experience). This looks at the topical issue of banned books from school districts in recent years. Instead of just documenting the battles and the politicians who campaigned for book banning, this doc talks with children and in some cases the authors of some of the banned books. This is very thought-provoking and lends itself to a longer conversation after the film is over. The act of saying a book cannot be read in a school district raises bigger issues and concerns about intent and prejudice. By the end of the film, I truly wished we could force Desantis and his staff to watch this! The Last Repair Shop (U.S.) was produced by L.A. Times and distributed by Disney+ and it was co-directed by Kris Bowers and Ben Proudfoot, who are veterans in this category having been nominated A Concerto is a Conversation at the 2021 Oscars and Ben won for last year's The Queen of Basketball. Here Proudfoot and Bowers (an accomplished music composer for numerous films) look at Los Angeles, one of the few cities that offer to repair music instruments for the public school students at no cost. The doc looks at the repair shop, but more specifically the four craftspeople who specialize in these instruments as well as the students who play them. This is very much a doc that pulls at the heartstrings. But what I loved about this is that it is really an analogy about how music can be something that brings people of all walks of life together to make something beautiful.

Should Win: Some highly impressive docs in this category this year, but The ABC's of Book Banning made the strongest statement. But do not discount The Last Repair Shop, also about the need for art in our society.

Will Win: This could go any number of ways, but the fact that The Last Repair Shop is now on Disney+ and was broadcast on ABC-TV, definitely raises its profile significantly. The fact that it was a bigger budget doc with a sweet message is going to go a long way too!

This year's Oscar Nominated Short Films can be seen online from ShortsTV as well as select movie theaters including programs at Coolidge Corner Theatre and Landmark Kendall Square Cinema.

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natehoodreviews · 4 months

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Elemental ★★½

I remember the first time I saw the trailer for Pixar Animation Studios’ Elemental a few months ago. It was at a theater with a group of friends who, like myself, had grown up with the first wave of Pixar films in the late nineties and early two-thousands. We all had fond memories of the Little California Studio that Could—the company who beat the seemingly invincible Walt Disney Animation Studios at their own game over and over at the box office and the Oscars. While the Mouse floundered with bland, forgettable comedies, Pixar gained a reputation for movies unafraid to exercise the audience’s hearts and tear ducts. Once, the release of a new Pixar movie was an Event with a capital “E.” Then came their 2006 merger with Disney and something…changed. While still capable of the occasional film with the old Pixar magic—Inside Out (2015) and Coco (2017) come immediately to mind—the innovators who gave the world talking toys, soft-shoeing robots, and balloon houses became a conveyor belt of Good-Not-Great sequels, prequels, and direct-to-streaming releases. When the credits of the Elemental trailer flashed, my friends and I sat in bewildered silence, looked at each other, and laughed.

Perhaps we were unfair. By all accounts, Elemental wasn’t the Pixar-on-autopilot cash-grab the trailer seemed to suggest. Pitched way back in 2015 and largely based on director Peter Sohn’s memories of growing up in the States the child of Korean immigrants, the film is obviously a labor of love with the highest (and noblest) artistic intentions. It’s the story of two star-crossed lovers—one a lower-class fire element named Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis) and the other an upper-class water element named Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie)—living in Element City, a metropolitan wonderland peopled with anthropomorphic versions of the four classical elements of fire, water, earth, and air. After a painful meet-cute where Wade, a city inspector, almost puts Ember’s family’s shop out of business—long story—the two team up to solve a mystery threatening the entire fire element quarter of the city. Oh, and somewhere in there they fall madly in love. Elemental takes bold swings at such weighty topics as racism, the immigrant experience, class differences, and escaping parental expectations (the last being one of Pixar’s favorite themes as far back as Finding Nemo and The Incredibles in the early two-thousands). It also has the distinction of being one of the only Pixar romantic comedies since WALL-E (2008).

Unfortunately, Elemental isn’t particularly good. But it’s not bad, either, which is the problem. In today’s crowded animation marketplace, the most dangerous thing a film can be is mediocre: great films are remembered for their excellence, bad films for their notoriety. But mediocre films? Those are quickly forgotten. Frankly, I don’t see anyone remembering this film in a year or two any more than other Pixar missteps like The Good Dinosaur (2015) and Onward (2020). Too many of the story beats are cookie-cutter predictable, right down to Ember’s contrived falling out with her doting father to Ember’s even more contrived break-up with Wade at the start of the third act. Watching it, I couldn’t escape the impression that I was seeing something Frankensteined together from other, better Pixar movies.

Instead, Elemental is at its best when it steps back from the plot and lets the audience drink in the incredible world-building and art direction. Element City is one of the most dazzlingly realized locations in any Pixar film with exquisite, near obsessive detail poured into its every nook and cranny. Unlike many animated cities that feel like clones of real-world locations like New York City with a few strange buildings thrown into the background for flavor, everything about Element City feels constructed with a city planner’s eye for accommodating real-life creatures of fire, water, earth, and air. Consider, for example, the fire element quarter of the city where Ember lives. As the city was originally built with water elementals in mind, their neighborhood was reverse engineered between a series of drained canals. Since the city’s subway system is essentially a giant log flume ride, the sidewalks underneath their elevated lines are covered with drains to catch and dispose of spilled water so it doesn’t harm the fiery inhabitants. This is world-building of the highest degree, and I haven’t even mentioned the glass tower swimming pools of the water elementals, the tree-filled offices of the earth elementals, or the sky-high spherical sports stadiums of the air elementals.

Element City deserved a better story. The narrative’s need to shoehorn all its weighty themes like racism and classism around its uneven romance fails the latter at the expense of the former. It’s not that you can’t make a good romantic comedy that explores these ideas—this just isn’t one of them. I’ve heard that during production certain story ideas were nixed because the filmmakers wanted to save them for a potential sequel. Despite Elemental’s mediocrity, I hope it gets made, if only because I want to see this creative team take a crack at a better story worthy of Element City.

#Elemental #★★½ #unseensfilms #2023 #Film Reviews #Peter Sohn

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thereasonsimbroke · 9 months

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Sony's Project Q: A Controversial Handheld Frankenstein

In Ep. 575, Macio and I discuss Sony receiving negative feedback on Project Q, Netflix’s subscription growth, Sumerian Comics’ “American Psycho” sequel comic, and more!

Full Topics: 0:00:14 Introducing the Reasons I'm Broke podcast 0:00:59 PlayStation 5 Slim Rumors and Possible Price Drop 0:04:05 Xbox Series S and PlayStation 5 Slim Compete in Holiday Season 0:10:08 Frustration with the size and battery life of the device 0:13:09 Criticism of PS VR and lack of support for games 0:17:36 Emulators and ROMs as an alternative to paid services 0:22:21 Too many streaming services causing dissatisfaction among consumers 0:26:01 Predictions for the future of streaming services and consolidation 0:29:09 Promoting short-term subscriptions as an alternative to continuous billing 0:37:21 Comic-Con Embraces Independent Films, Anime, and Games 0:44:18 New Comic Announcement: American Psycho Sequel 0:50:27 Speculating the Reception of the American Psycho Comic 0:52:10 The Perception of DC Superheroes in Comics 0:52:22 Speculating on Superhero Battles: Superman vs. Godzilla? 0:56:02 Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Releasing in 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 1:01:22 Aquaman Sequel Delayed Again 1:10:25 Movie Plans and Challenges with Oppenheimer 1:14:12 Critiques and Potential Oscar Nominations for Oppenheimer 1:17:29 The Quest for TMNT Pizza Smelling Controllers

FOLLOW/SUPPORT MACIO: Discord Lounge (Macio On Discord) As always, we appreciate your constructive Feedback, Suggestions, and Questions. You can also leave us an audio question on SpeakPipe. Thank you for the continued love and support! Enjoy the show. Daniel Podcast Awards 2019 || Games & Hobbies (Winner) Podcast Awards 2017 - 2018, 2020 - 2022 || Games & Hobbies (Nominated) Official Site FOLLOW US: - Twitter | @ReasonsImBroke and @TRIBPod - Instagram - Pinterest - Tumblr - Discord Lounge - YouTube Channel SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts / iHeartRadio / TuneIn / Overcast SUPPORT THE POD: Getting $1's worth of entertainment and information each month? Support us on Patreon or visit our TeePublic storefront! SPREAD THE WORD: If you're enjoying the show, please head over to iTunes and leave us a rating and a review! Each one helps new Brokettes discover the podcast. Contribute to the Hero Initiative to offer assistance to comic creators facing difficulties. Show your support for the AFSP's efforts by donating to the Autumn Snyder Tribute Fund. CREDITS: Opening/Closing Jingles - Alex Scott Show Logo By - Opanaldiova

The latest episode of The Reasons I'm Broke Podcast!

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sablefilms · 1 year

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deadlinecom · 1 year

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myimaginarywonderland · 1 year

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This is late but I was complelty out of F1 until yesterday so here goes my WDC order prediction:

1. Verstappen (it seems pretty obvious)

2. Perez (also self explanatory)

3. Alonso (I think his expertise and possible Ferrari struggles will benefit him)

4. Charles (I mean,seems obvious. Again Charles could easily be P2 again but I just don't trust any change at Ferrari to have been truly mad)

5. Lance (This is my delusion coming in, let me be. I think the order between the Astons and Ferrari could go any way but I just think Lance might have another 2020)

6. Sainz (The same reason with George. I feel like he is likely to be someone who would let performance get into his head)

7. Lewis (I think Mercedes is shit and Lewis is the best shot they have at anything close to P5.)

8. George (I just think he will give into frustration which will affect his mentality and pace)

9. Valterri (better experienced)

10. Zhou (I truly think he will have a good season)

11. Esteban (Again could be either him or Pierre, I think both have a good shot)

12. Pierre (No idea if Pierre or Esteban will finish higher)

13. Alex Albon (That Williams looks promising and I believe in Alex)

14. Lando Norris (Great driver stuck at a bad team)

15. Nyck de Vries (He has better experience but I truly think people expect too much off him)

16. Yuki Tsunoda (I personally think Alpha Tauri just aren't that good)

17. Logan Sargeant (rookie, don't see him finishing that much higher)

18. Magnussen (I think he is truly good, I just don't believe in Haas)

19. Hulkenberg (sorry just not a good driver)

20. Oscar Piastri (I just don't at all believe in that McLaren)

#f1 #please hate me if you want #also please reblog with any changes you might have made!#always happy to see other opinions

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tilbageidanmark · 1 year

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Movies I watched this Week #112 (Year 3/Week 8):

2 directed by Canadian Sarah Polley:

🍿 Women Talking, her latest acclaimed story, about mass raping at an isolated Mennonite community, and the women who must decide if they stay in the remote community or leave.

I am looking for women-made movies (I've already seen 21 this year that were directed by women), and I’m sympathetic to the cause. I also hate religion and the patriarchy in equal measures. But this drama was a talky stage play, and except for the satisfying happy ending, left me unmoved. The score was by Hildur Guðnadóttir.

(PS. I don’t watch SNL anymore, but this film popped on their recent ‘Big Hollywood Quiz’ sketch).

🍿 Fortunately, while looking for other movies she did, I discovered Stories we tell, her 2012 documentary. It explores her own personal story, how she found out that she was born from an extramarital affair her outgoing mother had with another man. Deservedly, this film is now considered to be one of the 10 best Canadian films. For a while, I thought that the reenactments lasted a bit too long, not realizing that the whole movie was “reconstructed”, and played out by professional actors. The final sentence, after the credits, was the real bombshell. 9/10. (Photo Above).

So now I want to see the documentary ‘51 Birch Street‘, but I can’t find a copy!

🍿

"Maycomb was a tired old town – even in 1932 when I first knew it – that summer I was six years old."

Re-watching the fantastic To kill a mockingbird, a classic message movie about racism in a small town, as much as it is a story of a single dad's love of his children. (Photo above). Atticus Finch’s deep voice, Robert Duval’s debut as the blond, mute Boo Radley, and the little girl who played ‘Scout’ and who at 10 became the youngest to ever being nominated for the Oscars. 10/10.

🍿

2 with young Keira Knightley:

🍿 Atonement, a lush, very British upper-class period drama with the magnificent 12-year-old Saoirse Ronan, in her breakthrough role, and with Keira Knightley’s gorgeous green dress. 7/10.

🍿 First watch: Bend it like Beckham. Made by Gurinder Chadha, a female British-Indian director, and tells of a girl from an Sikh-Indian family who wants to play soccer. But otherwise predictable.

🍿

My first superhero movie ever! Superman Awakens, by brothers Stavros & Antonis Fylladitis. It’s a fan-made CGI short, done in game-changing Unreal Engine 5.

🍿

2 by British documenterian Lucy Walker:

🍿 How to change your mind, a new 4-part series with Michael Pollan, describing his insights into the psychedelic drugs LSD, Psilocybin, MDMA and mescaline as well as their uses in psychedelic therapy. Obviously, I loved it. Especially, the few interpretations of actual trips, f. ex. on Episode 1, starting at 12:00, with Albert Hofmann’s 4/19/43 bicycle trip. 7/10. 🍿 “...I never imagined I’d become a work of art”..

Her 2010 Waste Land started as a standard documentary about Brazilian artist Vik Muniz exploring the world’s largest landfill outside Rio, and the people who rummage through the trash to find any reusable material. But it ended as an incredibly moving tribute to some of the humble “Catadores” who live at the favelas of the very bottom of society. Especially later, as he creates large portraits of them made of the garbage they collected, and their reactions to seeing themselves becoming ‘objet d'art’. (The 2020 Tunisian film 'The Man Who Sold His Skin' dealt with similar themes.)

100% Tomato score - Best film of the week!

🍿

“...All you needed was some minding...”

Re-watching The quiet Girl, one of my most cherished film experiences from last year. (Photo Above). A tremendously restrained masterpiece, simple and moving. It’s about a sad and lonely 9-year-old girl with no voice who discovers kindness for the first time when she is send away to spend the summer with some distant relatives. Part of the recent Gaelic-language Irish film renaissance.

Catherine Clinch, the little girl is so beauteous, I can see her becoming the 2032 Revlon Girl. 10/10.

🍿

Suddenly, Last Summer, the third of Tennessee Williams’s talky plays adapted to the screen in the 50′s. Heavy hitters all around: Joseph Mankiewicz, Gore Vidal, Montgomery Clift as Dr. Cukrowicz ... An unconvincing melodrama about crazed old rich Katharine Hepburn who want to get Elizabeth Taylor, her niece, lobotomized and about her unseen dead son “Sebastian” who used the niece to “procure” Italian boys, because he was insanely homosexual. But with so much euphemism and cover ups, it was hard to figure out what was really happening. 3/10.

🍿

The new Anna Kendrick film Alice, darling started as a shallow girl’s flick, but turned into a terrific and ominous thriller. The directorial debut from Bill Nighy’s daughter tells of a woman who’s being emotionally abused by a manipulating boyfriend. It was slow to unfold, and the gaslighting, subtle coercion and power games hinted that tense violence will follow. Fortunately it ended a pure psychological play. 6/10.

🍿

The Japanese Tora-San teledrama is the world’s longest-running film series which starred a single actor. In 48 installments released between 1969 and 1995, it featured an archetype of bumbling, goofy and lovable traveling salesman, like Mr. Bean or Monsieur Hulot. He’s always looking for a woman to marry, but always ends up alone, and still optimistic. Tora-san, the Good Samaritan is the 7th in the low-brow series. Here he falls for Hanako, a feeble-minded young girl. My first, and probably the only, bite of this apple.

🍿

David Bowie X 3:

🍿 Moonage Daydream, the first “officially-authorized” biography from the Bowie estate. Uses many of the 5 millions video clips and photographs from his private collections, and as such it is textually rich, psychedelic and arbitrary. He was a visual chameleon and a style trailblazer, but he had to suffer from decades of inane questioning by clueless interviewers. Not cohesive, but the music was great. 5/10.

🍿 John Landis made some classic comedies (’Trading Places’, ‘Three Amigos’. ‘Coming to America’), but also lots of worthless schlock (which was the name of his first feature). Into the Night belong to the latter. It’s a horribly-directed, disjointed “Black Comedy” flop which has zero laughs in it. It’s notable only for having about 30 cameos by other film-makers, including Bowie. 2/10.

🍿 Bowie’s first film role was in the artsy 1969 short The Image. A young artist is haunted by the boy he just finished painting. Strictly for Bowie fans?

🍿

The best in the world, an interesting local documentary analyzing the claim that Copenhagen is one the world’s best “big” cities. Digs into historic reels showing the the growth and politics of the city and warns about market trends that can make it exclusive to the “haves”. 8/10.

🍿

2 by Petra Epperlein + 2 about Hitler:

🍿 For 50 years I was perversely abhorred by Hitler the figure. So the new documentary The Meaning of Hitler, based on the 1978 study by Sebastian Haffner, was of interest to me. What is fascinating about fascism? How did the Nazis manage to seduce the imagination of so many? Why is it coming back Post-2016? Barbarism is utterly human and Hitler’s presence is everywhere again. 7/10.

🍿 Karl Marx City is a personal dive into her own history: She returns to her previous hometown of Chemnitz in East Germany in order to discover why did her father hung himself years ago. In the process she documents the Stasi omnipotent power as an all-seeing, all-knowing surveilling tool. Unfortunately, she tells the story about herself in the third-person, which makes it incredulous.

🍿 “... Really, Michael. How much weed were you smoking on a daily bases?...”

Bill Plympton’s disastrous live action feature Hitler’s Folly was the truly worst film of the week. It’s hard to imagine what prompted the genial creator of ‘Your Face’ to come up with this inane, insane alternative history mockumentary that imagines World War 2 as Hitler's unfulfilled career as an animator. It’s a 1-gag joke-concept, like ‘Life of Brian’ or ‘Zelig’ but without any saving grace. Plympton’s Folley indeed. 1/10.

🍿

I started watching Kieślowski’s 1979 Camera Buff, but unfortunately I took a break after an hour, and when I returned later, the copy of the free streamer I was using disappeared. Ouch.

🍿

I didn't realize that Don Hertzfeldt is so young X 3:

🍿 Billy's Balloon, his minimalist 1998 short about a stick-figure toddler being molested by a red balloon. Inexplicable.

🍿 It's Such a Beautiful Day, Hertzfeldt first feature. Hallucinatory and experimental animation about the same figure-stick “Bill” who suffers for various real and existential ailments, and tries to figure out his life, stream-of-conscience style.

🍿 All this because I was re-watching his World of tomorrow once again. I’m sure that it is the spontaneous voice of 4-year-old Emily Prime which endears this movie to me.

🍿

2 more shorts:

🍿 Seven minutes in the Warsaw ghetto, a bleak, impressionistic Danish short about a boy who tries to retrieve a carrot he finds on the ground. Porcelain doll puppets with cracked faces and a dark vision with no comfortable explanation. Recommended.

🍿 Rocks just wanna rock out: An Object at Rest (2015), a philosophical animation by Seth Boyden.

🍿

Throw-back to the art project:

David Bowie Adora.

🍿

(My complete movie list is here)

#movies

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kingofthering · 1 year

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ONE POLL PER DAY UNTIL SAKHIR TESTING - [5/18].

February program - 2023 season predictions survey.

#2023februarypolls #f1 #f1 polls

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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 1 year

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Like Old Times... Animated Oscar Predictions

The last time I did these was in late 2020... And the time before that? In early 2018 for the films of 2017. In 2020, I had predicted that SOUL, WOLFWALKERS, THE CROODS: A NEW AGE, FARMAGEDDON: A SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE, and OVER THE MOON were going to be the nominees... I got 4 out of 5 right!

Let’s see how I do this time...

I’m thinking this is how things go down this year... It might be a little tricky for me to predict... Maybe not...

The Golden Globe animated movie nominations are now out, and those usually give one a decent idea of what the Oscar line-up could look like... The predictions I had before publishing this mostly came true with the GG line-up...

They have nominated...

INU-OH

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON

PINOCCHIO

PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH

TURNING RED

I got all of those except INU-OH, a GKIDS-released anime feature, a surprising inclusion given that the Globes don’t often nominate these kinds of features. Usually they go for the lowest-hanging fruit, the most mainstream even. Remember how they nominated Disney’s 99.9%-CG remake of THE LION KING for Best Animated Feature of 2019?

First off, yes, a definite lock is Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson’s PINOCCHIO. It’s a critical darling, a stop-motion film (usually a hit with these people), a passion project for del Toro. An Oscar-winning auteur no less, and let’s not sleep on Gustafson either, he is also very much the director of this picture. In fact, he was “animation director” on Wes Anderson’s FANTASTIC MR. FOX, Oscar nom for 2009. The campaign is already pushing it for several categories including Best Picture itself. Definite lock. Possibly the winner, too, first time since SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE, a non-Disney-released film taking home the Oscar.

With a Golden Globe nom, another definite lock is PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH. The belated Joel Crawford-directed sequel to DreamWorks’ SHREK spin-off, a picture boasting a unique art style and stylized CG, making the Shrek world go full SPIDER-VERSE. Early reactions are raving about it... Plus SHREK, SHREK 2, and the first PUSS IN BOOTS were all nominated in their respective years. Universal and DreamWorks are putting their all into this one, the first SHREK or SHREK-adjacent movie in 11 years... I think it’s definitely getting it...

Third... Because they’re Disney, they’re likely going to lock a slot... But just one this time. For TURNING RED, Domee Shi’s feature directorial debut for Pixar. Critically acclaimed and not a story about white characters or creatures for once. Also helps that Shi’s BAO, attached to 2018′s INCREDIBLES 2 in theaters, won for best animated short film of that year. I feel Disney’s other animated offerings this year underwhelmed in the critical and box office categories a little too much to be considered (box office does play a part in wins/noms, believe it or not), those films being Angus MacLane’s Pixar spin-off LIGHTYEAR and Don Hall’s Disney Animation sci-fi adventure STRANGE WORLD. Disney and Pixar are also pushing for a Best Picture nomination for TURNING RED. UP and TOY STORY 3 successfully got such a nom a decade ago. I doubt anything here, even PINOCCHIO, gets a Best Picture nom, though...

The fourth and fifth slots... I feel it could still be a toss-up between the following...

Cartoon Saloon is usually a shoe-in, as this year, they have Nora Twomey’s MY FATHER’S DRAGON, streaming on Netflix. I have yet to see it, but I hear it’s fantastic like their other productions. Twomey previously directed THE BREADWINNER, which was nominated for best animated film of 2017. The studio’s other films - Tomm Moore’s Irish triptych trilogy of THE SECRET OF KELLS, SONG OF THE SEA, and WOLFWALKERS - were nominated in their respective years. However, on Netflix, the film feels nonexistent much like Henry Selick’s divisive WENDELL & WILD was... That *could* cost it a slot... It feels like Netflix is giving all the love to PINOCCHIO. I feel they should be backing Pinoke, this, WENDELL & WILD, *and* THE SEA BEAST as well. Very solid year for them in terms of animation. APOLLO 10 1/2: A SPACE AGE CHILDHOOD is a strong contender, too, being a Richard Linklater picture, but it may not make it as well. I feel all the effort is being channeled into PINOCCHIO for both BAF and BP.

Now that it’s eligible once more, Dean Fleischer Camp’s MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON, based on Camp’s own short films about the titular talking seashell, could make it in. Though it had its world premiere over a year ago, it is in the running for this year’s Oscar and got the GG nom. Also a critical darling, an A24 release at that - their first animated feature, it has a great shot but also it feels like it could possibly miss. I say that with caveats, though.

Universal has another potential front-runner with THE BAD GUYS, Pierre Perifel’s DreamWorks adaptation of the Scholastic book series by Aaron Blabey. This could be a situation where one film (PUSS IN BOOTS 2) gets all the love and this gets the shaft, but given how well it performed critically and how it did fine at the box office, it might have a chance. I suspect the Oscar brigade might find it too slight and too silly to be taken seriously as a frontrunner, though. Then again, THE BOSS BABY and SHARK TALE from this same studio were nominated in their respective years, so who really knows. Plus, Universal isn’t really pushing too hard for it, nor their Illumination entry this year, MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU.

There could be some slight hope for something like INU-OH, because GKIDS often gets into the race, but it seems like that one’s existence is strangely muted. Despite all the all that went into BELLE last year, it didn’t get nominated. Another possible candidate that could somewhat sneak in would be ERNEST & CELESTINE 2: A TRIP TO GIBBERITIA, given that the first film was nominated for 2013.

So I’m thinking... It’s gonna be a race between.

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON

MY FATHER’S DRAGON

PINOCCHIO

PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH

TURNING RED

We shall see, come this winter...

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horuseyeweb · 1 year

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In their Group E opening on Wednesday, Spain brutally destroyed Costa Rica 7-0, kicking off their campaign to win a second World Cup. Luis Enrique's highly anticipated team shone at Doha's Al Thumama Stadium, controlling possession and using their opportunities brutally, avoiding the fate of heavyweights Argentina and group opponents Germany, who earlier fell 2-1 to Japan. Ferran Torres scored twice, and the Euro 2020 semi-finalists romped to victory with goals from Marco Asensio, Dani Olmo, Gavi, Carlos Soler, and Alvaro Morata, among others.

The 2010 World Cup champions have historically suffered as a result of their frivolity, but all three of the attackers Luis Enrique chose scored goals in the first half to justify his faith in them.

With Morata and Ansu Fati on the bench, the coach started Asensio as a false nine, with Olmo and Torres on either side of him.

Aymeric Laporte and Rodri Hernandez, a midfielder for Manchester City, were placed in center defense by the head coach, who had accurately predicted that his team would control the ball.

La Roja scored their first goal after just 11 minutes. Olmo, an RB Leipzig winger, received a pass from Gavi forward and made one exquisite touch to turn and another to elegantly put the ball past Keylor Navas.

After topping their group at the 2014 World Cup by defeating Italy, Uruguay, and England and drawing with England, Costa Rica was dismantled once more ten minutes later for the second goal.

Real Madrid striker Asensio smashed home Jordi Alba's low drilled cross past his old teammate Navas, who might have done more to block it.

Oscar Duarte fouled Alba, and Torres scored from the penalty spot to end a difficult night for Los Ticos, who were never in the game and couldn't produce a chance on goal.

Early in the second half, Barcelona attacker Torres took advantage of more shoddy defending to score his fourth goal past Navas.

In order to rest Pedri and Torres for Sunday's match against Germany, Luis Enrique was able to do so before the hour mark. He then gave young Barcelona left-back Alejandro Balde his professional debut.

When Spain scored its fifth goal, the 19-year-old raced up the field. Substitute Morata crossed the ball, and Gavi expertly drilled it home.

Gavi, the Kopa Trophy winner, passed Pele and Manuel Rosas to become the third-youngest World Cup goal scorer at the age of 18 years and 110 days.

Then, in a flawless opening game in Qatar, Soler and Morata joined the fun with goals in stoppage time to further humiliate Costa Rica and aid Spain in flexing their muscles.

#worldcup 2022 #world cup #spain football #spain 2022 #qatar2022 #costa rica

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