10 Live Action Shorts Advance in 2013 Oscar® Race
BEVERLY HILLS, CA —The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 10 live action short films will advance in the voting process for the 86th Academy Awards®. One hundred twenty pictures had originally qualified in the category.
The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:
“Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me),” Esteban Crespo, director (Producciones Africanauan)
“Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything),” Xavier Legrand, director, and Alexandre Gavras, producer (KG Productions)
“Dva (Two),” Mickey Nedimovic, director, and Henner Besuch, director of photography (Filoufilm Dani Barsch)
“Helium,” Anders Walter, director, and Kim Magnusson, producer (M & M Productions)
“Kush,” Shubhashish Bhutiani, director (Red Carpet Moving Pictures)
“Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?),” Selma Vilhunen, director, and Kirsikka Saari, screenwriter (Tuffi Films)
“Record/Play,” Jesse Atlas, director, and Thom Fennessey, executive producer (Collaboration Factory)
“Throat Song,” Miranda de Pencier, director (Northwood Productions)
“Tiger Boy,” Gabriele Mainetti, director (Goon Films)
“The Voorman Problem,” Mark Gill, director, and Baldwin Li, producer (Honlodge Productions)
The Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Reviewing Committee viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting at screenings held in Los Angeles.
Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select three to five nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist. Branch screenings will be held in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in December.
The 86th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 16, 2014, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2013 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Review: "Monsters University" a Satisfying Second Helping
Monsters University (2013)
Running time: 104 minutes (1 hour, 44 minutes)
MPAA – G
DIRECTORS: Dan Scanlon
WRITERS: Robert Baird, Daniel Gerson, and Dan Scanlon; from a story by Robert Baird, Daniel Gerson, and Dan Scanlon
PRODUCER: Kori Rae
EDITORS: Greg Snyder
COMPOSER: Randy Newman
ANIMATION/FANTASY/COMEDY/FAMILY
Starring: (voices) Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Helen Mirren, Peter Sohn, Joel Murray, Sean Hayes, Dave Foley, Charlie Day, Alfred Molina, Tyler Labine, Nathan Fillion, Aubrey Plaza, Julia Sweeney, Bonnie Hunt, and John Ratzenberger
Monsters University is a 2013 computer-animated comedy and fantasy film from Pixar Animation Studios. Theatrically presented in 3D, Monsters University is Pixar’s fourteenth full-length feature film, and it is also the first prequel to one of the studio’s films. Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, it is a prequel to the 2001 animated film, Monsters, Inc.
Monsters University focuses on the stars of the original film, Mike and Sulley. The movie looks at the early days of their relationship during their time in college, telling the story of how they went from rivals to friends. Although it is not quite as good as the original, Monsters University is a warm and fuzzy and sweet and sentimental film that offers a return of one of the great comedy duos of animated films, Mike (ostensibly this movie’s lead character) and Sulley.
Monsters University introduces Michael “Mike” Wazowski (Billy Crystal), a young monster who dreams of being a “scarer,” a monster who enters the human world at night to scare children. He enrolls at Monsters University, believing that is the best place to learn to be a great scarer. Mike meets a large, blue furry monster named James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (John Goodman), a privileged student from a family of renowned scarers. The two immediately dislike each other.
Sulley joins the school’s premiere fraternity, Roar Omega Roar (ROR). Mike has to settle for Oozma Kappa (OK), a fraternity of geeks and outcasts. An incident between Mike and Sulley puts the two on the fast track to trouble. Mike decides that the Scare Games, a competition between Monsters University’s select fraternities and sororities, can save his and Sulley’s college careers. First, the two rivals will have to learn to trust each other and their new Oozma Kappa friends.
Pixar is known for animated films that offer superb character drama, but Monsters University is simply a comedy with endearing characters. I call Monsters University Pixar’s DreamWorks Animation movie. Like many DreamWorks animated features, Monsters University is a broad comedy with several clever set pieces and sequences in which the heroes must deal with seemingly impossible-to-overcome obstacles. Also like DreamWorks animation, Monsters University lacks the emotional resonance of Pixar’s best films, although this movie’s director and writers try. Similar to Pixar’s Brave, Monsters University also has a weak first half-hour.
The two best things about Monsters University are the delightful supporting characters that are members of Oozma Kappa and the Scare Games. I found those supporting players to be endearing, and the film gives just enough of them to make you feel that you didn’t get enough. The Scare Games are exciting and have a great ending, which a subsequent plot twist kinda ruins.
When Monsters Inc. first appeared in 2001, it was novel, maybe even groundbreaking in a way. All Monsters University can be is a welcome return of old friends, and that’s good enough.
7 of 10
B+
Saturday, November 23, 2013
The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.
Review: "The Monster Squad" Still a Treat
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 122 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux
The Monster Squad (1987)
Running time: 82 minutes (1 hour, 22 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13
DIRECTOR: Fred Dekker
WRITERS: Shane Black and Fred Dekker
PRODUCER: Jonathan A. Zimbert
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Bradford May
EDITOR: James Mitchell
COMPOSER: Bruce Broughton
HORROR/COMEDY
Starring: Andre Gower, Robby Kiger, Stephen Macht, Tom Noonan, Brent Chalem, Ryan Lambert, Ashley Bank, Michael Faustino, Mary Ellen Trainor, Duncan Regehr, Leonardo Cimino, Lisa Fuller, Jonathan Gries, Jason Hervey, Carl Thibault, Michael Reid MacKay, Stan Shaw, and Jack Gwillim
The subject of this review is The Monster Squad, a 1987 comic horror film directed by Fred Dekker and written by Shane Black and Dekker. In the movie, re-imagined versions of classic movie monsters invade a small town in a bid to control the world, but they face a bad of savvy kids determined to stop them.
The 1987 cult-favorite flick, the comic horror film, The Monster Squad, has recently found new life 20 years after being largely overlooked upon its initial theatrical release. While it remains basically a horror flick for children (appropriate even in these politically correct times), the film is, at time, genuinely scary. The villains of The Monster Squad are also an homage to the monsters of classic Universal Studios black and white monster movies.
Dracula, the Wolfman, Frankenstein, the Mummy, and Gill Man descend upon a small town in search of a diabolically powerful amulet that could give Dracula (Duncan Regehr) dominion over the world. The only thing that could stop the amulet’s power is an incantation in a diary belonging to Dracula’s arch-nemesis, Van Helsing (Jack Gwillim). However, the book has fallen into the hands of 12-year-old Sean Crenshaw (Andre Gower).
Sean and the rest of his young friends idolize classic monster movies, and call themselves The Monster Squad. With the help of his gang of monster-obsessed misfits, Sean tries to stop Dracula’s nefarious plans. Can the Monster Squad: Sean, Patrick (Robby Kiger), Fat Kid/Horace (Brent Chalem), Rudy (Ryan Lambert), Eugene (Michael Faustino), and Sean’s little sister, Phoebe (Ashley Bank), save the day? With Sean’s dad, policeman Del Crenshaw (Stephen Macht) and Scary German Guy (Michael Cimino) helping, they just might, and it’s worth watching this movie to find out.
Co-writers Shane Black and Fred Dekker, who also directs this film, seem to take the view that one can place children (in this case pre-teens and early teens) in a horror scenario – one as scary as the horror movies they might watch. Although a juvenile cast means that Black and Dekker wouldn’t make a bloody, slasher film, to make a horror flick, they would still have to present their youthful characters in situations in which they face actual peril or severe bodily harm or even death. After all, a scary movie for kids is still a scary movie.
The Monster Squad isn’t even a great horror film, or even a very good movie. For one thing, the narrative occasionally takes great leaps, leaving out crucial scenes. Perhaps, the producers forced cuts to reduce the film’s runtime, and the loss of scenes occasionally caused lapses in logic within the narrative. Still, while it may not be a great movie, it’s a memorable B-movie. The Monster Squad is just fun to watch, warts and all.
6 of 10
B
Monday, September 03, 2007
Updated: Saturday, November 23, 2013
The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.
Friday, November 22, 2013
Pixar to Be Honored by International 3D Society
Pixar Animation Studios to Receive Sir Charles Wheatstone Award from International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society January 28th, 2014
HOLLYWOOD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society will present Pixar Animation Studios with the 2014 Sir Charles Wheatstone Award for creative excellence, it was announced in Hollywood. The award will be presented at the Society's 5th Annual Creative Arts Awards at a black tie ceremony held at Warner Bros. Studios on January 28th, 2014.
“The Society’s core mission is to educate the global creative community and recognize outstanding creative achievement by our industry’s leaders,” said Tom Cosgrove, CEO of 3net Studios and Co-Chairman of the Society. “John Lasseter and the Pixar team are at the very pinnacle of brilliant storytelling and flawless technical achievement, and most worthy of our highest honor,” he added.
“What an amazing honor to be recognized with this year's Wheatstone Award,” said John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. “In our films, story is the most important ingredient and 3D is an incredible tool to help tell those stories; it builds emotion, lands a joke and expands a world. 3D truly helps us make our films great, and to receive this award from the International 3D Society is awesome in every dimension of the word.”
The Society’s Creative Arts Awards annually bestow its gold Lumiere™ statuette to 3D movies, television programs, 4K technology and other content as selected by the Society’s voting membership.
“This year’s ‘Monsters University’ is but the most recent example of Pixar’s spectacular work,” said Society Awards Chairman Buzz Hays, Founder and CEO of the True Image Company. “Pixar has been our most honored studio, having received 4 previous Lumiere™ awards. The Sir Charles Wheatstone Award is our opportunity to recognize Mr. Lasseter and the entire Pixar organization for their entire body of work and their support of 3D storytelling.”
“Sir Charles Wheatstone is credited by history as the inventor of modern-day 3D. Although he lived and worked in the 19th century, his legacy of educating professionals about 3D remains an important function of the Society today,” said Society President Jim Chabin. “In honoring Pixar Animation Studios, we have an opportunity to shine the spotlight on the incredible contributions this creative team has made to filmmaking, and to storytelling, in 3D,” he added.
Pixar’s ‘Brave’ was honored by the Society as 2012’s “Best Animated 3D Feature.” Other honors include “Best 3D Short Film” awards for ‘Partly Cloudy’ (2010), ‘Day and Night’ (2011) and ‘La Luna’ (2012).
About The International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society:
The International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society is a community of content creators and professionals whose mission is to develop the arts and technologies of 3D, advanced imaging and its innovators. With over 60 companies and 800 professional members in 20 countries, the Society is open to individuals and organizations active in moving 3D and advanced imaging to an exciting new era of creative achievement and consumer support. For more information please visit: www.International3DSociety.com.
HOLLYWOOD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society will present Pixar Animation Studios with the 2014 Sir Charles Wheatstone Award for creative excellence, it was announced in Hollywood. The award will be presented at the Society's 5th Annual Creative Arts Awards at a black tie ceremony held at Warner Bros. Studios on January 28th, 2014.
“The Society’s core mission is to educate the global creative community and recognize outstanding creative achievement by our industry’s leaders,” said Tom Cosgrove, CEO of 3net Studios and Co-Chairman of the Society. “John Lasseter and the Pixar team are at the very pinnacle of brilliant storytelling and flawless technical achievement, and most worthy of our highest honor,” he added.
“What an amazing honor to be recognized with this year's Wheatstone Award,” said John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. “In our films, story is the most important ingredient and 3D is an incredible tool to help tell those stories; it builds emotion, lands a joke and expands a world. 3D truly helps us make our films great, and to receive this award from the International 3D Society is awesome in every dimension of the word.”
The Society’s Creative Arts Awards annually bestow its gold Lumiere™ statuette to 3D movies, television programs, 4K technology and other content as selected by the Society’s voting membership.
“This year’s ‘Monsters University’ is but the most recent example of Pixar’s spectacular work,” said Society Awards Chairman Buzz Hays, Founder and CEO of the True Image Company. “Pixar has been our most honored studio, having received 4 previous Lumiere™ awards. The Sir Charles Wheatstone Award is our opportunity to recognize Mr. Lasseter and the entire Pixar organization for their entire body of work and their support of 3D storytelling.”
“Sir Charles Wheatstone is credited by history as the inventor of modern-day 3D. Although he lived and worked in the 19th century, his legacy of educating professionals about 3D remains an important function of the Society today,” said Society President Jim Chabin. “In honoring Pixar Animation Studios, we have an opportunity to shine the spotlight on the incredible contributions this creative team has made to filmmaking, and to storytelling, in 3D,” he added.
Pixar’s ‘Brave’ was honored by the Society as 2012’s “Best Animated 3D Feature.” Other honors include “Best 3D Short Film” awards for ‘Partly Cloudy’ (2010), ‘Day and Night’ (2011) and ‘La Luna’ (2012).
About The International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society:
The International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society is a community of content creators and professionals whose mission is to develop the arts and technologies of 3D, advanced imaging and its innovators. With over 60 companies and 800 professional members in 20 countries, the Society is open to individuals and organizations active in moving 3D and advanced imaging to an exciting new era of creative achievement and consumer support. For more information please visit: www.International3DSociety.com.
Review: "Death of a President" Riveting, Troubling
Death of a President (2006)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK
Running time: 97 minutes (1 hour, 37 minutes)
MPAA – R for brief violent images
DIRECTOR: Gabriel Range
WRITERS: Simon Finch and Gabriel Range
PRODUCERS: Simon Finch, Gabriel Range, and Ed Guiney
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Graham Smith
EDITOR: Brand Thumim
COMPOSER: Richard Harvey
DRAMA/MYSTERY/THRILLER
Starring: Hend Ayoub, Brian Bolland, Becky Ann Baker, Robert Mangiardi, Jay Patterson, Jay Whittaker, M. Neko Parham, Chavez Ravine, and Malik Bader
In his mock documentary (also known as a “mockumentary”), Death of a President, director Gabriel Range presents a scenario in which U.S. President George W. Bush is assassinated in October of 2007. Death of the President pretends to be an investigative documentary that examines the key players and events surrounding the killing of President Bush, several years after the as-yet-unsolved murder occurred.
Death of a President follows the events leading up to the assassination and its aftermath, and the film also features a bevy of talking heads, which includes the people around the president, murder suspects, and their families. In his hypothetical film, Range focuses on the fallout that follows Bush’s murder – specifically the media’s reaction, the rush to convict a Muslim as the assassin, and the machinations of newly installed President Cheney to grab more presidential powers.
Since its appearance at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, Death of a President has been highly controversial, and the producers had a difficult time finding a company to distribute the film to U.S. theatres. Ultimately, Newmarket Films, which handled Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, distributed the film in the U.S.
I like this movie, although I did find the scenes in which President Bush was shot and the ones occurring at the hospital where he later died to be in poor taste. Like him or not, he is (as of this writing) a sitting U.S. President, and to portray his death in so brutal and perhaps cavalier fashion is to traffic in mean-spiritedness and carelessness.
On the other hand, what takes place before the assassination and after is riveting stuff. In the scenes leading up to the shooting, director Gabriel Range creates a riveting thriller that quietly races to its damnable turning point. After Bush’s death, Range and his co-writer Simon Finch display a knowledge of the American mass media, of law enforcement (in particularly the FBI) and how they work and react to big events that is surprising considering they are not Americans. Their spin on how Vice-President Dick Cheney would react if he became President after an assassination is dead-on (and maybe a little obvious considering Cheney’s actions as Vice-President). Who doesn’t think Cheney would move to consolidate more power for himself with a Congress and a country reeling from shock, reluctant to challenge him, and desperate for leadership in such a time of crisis.
Range apparently specializes in these kinds of dramatizations of probable future events, such as his TV film, The Day Britain Stopped (which I’ve never seen). He’s so-so at presenting interviews with the fictional talking heads involved in the events of Death of a President. Some of the interviewees don’t come across as authentic, so the film sometimes feels phony. Still, Range has created an engaging, unforgettable “what if,” and he smartly realizes what is most frightening about a U.S. president being assassinated. Such an event could very well mean the definite beginning of the certain end of this grand experiment called the United States of America.
7 of 10
B+
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
NOTES:
2007 BAFTA TV Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Visual Effects”
2007 International Emmy Awards: 1 win: “TV Movie/Mini-Series” (UK)
Updated: Sunday, November 10, 2013
The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Review: "The Manchurian Candidate" Eternally Fantastic, Chilling
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) – B&W
Running time: 126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
DIRECTOR: John Frankenheimer
WRITER: George Axelrod (based upon the novel by Richard Condon)
PRODUCERS: George Axelrod and John Frankenheimer
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Lionel Lindon (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Ferris Webster
COMPOSER: David Amram
Academy Award nominee
DRAMA/THRILLER with elements of war
Starring: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury, Henry Silva, James Gregory, Leslie Parrish, John McGiver, and Khigh Dhiegh
The subject of this movie review is The Manchurian Candidate, a 1962 suspense thriller and drama film from producer-director John Frankenheimer and producer-writer George Axelrod. The movie is based on the book, The Manchurian Candidate, a political thriller from author Richard Condon that was first published in 1959. The movie focuses on a former Korean War prisoner of war (POW) who believes that Communists brainwashed a fellow prisoner into becoming a political assassin.
Some film critics and a larger movie audience rediscovered The Manchurian Candidate in the late 1980’s and early 90’s, and since then, so much about the film’s themes and both its political and social relevance have been beaten into the ground. As far as its quality as a film goes, it is a fine example of the beauty of black and white film and a excellent example of how film can deal with issues of memory and identity in so many novel and inventive ways. I do want to make it clear that I recommend this film because of its wonderful cast and because it is a fantastic suspense thriller that has an intriguing mystery story.
Major Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra) comes to believe that Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey), a member of his former platoon during the Korean Conflict who won the Congressional Medal of Honor, has been brainwashed by enemies of the United States. Shaw is the stepson of the red-baiting, media-manipulator, Senator John Iselin (James Gregory), and the son of the too-ambitious-for-husband Mrs. Iselin (Angela Landsbury). Because of the political confusion around Shaw, Bennett is unable to figure out exactly who the operators are, but he has ideas that he must play across a chessboard of shifting landscapes to discover who controls Shaw.
Directed by John Frankenheimer from a screenplay by George Axelrod, The Manchurian Candidate may, in certain political climates, seem quite relevant, but the power of its images will always remain strong. From the opening scene of Shaw rousting his men out of a Korean brothel to the taunt cat and mouse games of psychological manipulation, the film is a haunting dream in which everything is what it seems and is even more than we might imagine.
I’ve always been fascinated by the scenes of the American soldiers being brainwashed and observed by a cabal of communists. In one sense, the soldiers realize that they are in a large room where military type personnel are observing them, but another part of their minds registers that they are all guests at a flower club social. In fact, while the white soldiers believe that the club members are mostly old white ladies, the lone black soldier sees the same club’s membership as haughty, well-dressed black women.
For most of the film, the only character that the audience can rely on is Shaw; we know he’s been brainwashed, and later we discover that the communists trained him to be an assassin. The identities and motives of the other characters shift and are blurry. Sinatra’s Bennett goes from a haunted veteran with memory problems in one half of the film to spy smasher in the next, but it’s a fine performance. He makes us trust Bennett because we eventually have to lean on him, as he becomes the only stable element in the film.
The Manchurian Candidate is blessed with fine performances. Although Shaw is a bit stiff throughout, he sells the film’s early brainwashing scenes, and he again becomes a strong presence at the end of the film. Angela Landsbury gives one of the great supporting performances ever, and she does it in a quiet, subtle manner. Her character might seem bold and obvious, but when I think about, I realize what a crafty snake she was and how she hid her serpentine ways. In fact, there is a scene where Shaw first meets his future wife (Leslie Parrish) in which something happens that is virtually a metaphor for what Mrs. Iselin is and what her goals are.
Frankenheimer created what many consider to be a masterpiece, and it is indeed very good, as well as being visually, a gorgeous film. I’ve always loved the dreamlike quality of black and white films. Without the aid of color, a good director, like Frankenheimer, had to be accurate and quite efficient in shooting his film. It was important that what was on the screen be able to move the story forward without the benefit of color as an identifying element.
When I think of how The Manchurian Candidate’s relevance resonates with audiences even to the present day, I also think of how this wonderful fantasy reveals so much about the mystery behind the face of a person. I think of how people are often less than what I think they are, and how often they are more than what they seem. The Manchurian Candidate is like a strange dream told in color, but we are only able to see it in black and white. It reveals a truism about life: reality is everything it seems, more or less.
9 of 10
A+
NOTES:
1963 Academy Awards, USA: 2 nominations: “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Angela Lansbury) and “Best Film Editing” (Ferris Webster)
1963 Golden Globes, USA: 1 win: “Best Supporting Actress” (Angela Lansbury); 1 nomination: “Best Motion Picture Director” (John Frankenheimer)
1963 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Film from any Source” (USA)
1994 National Film Preservation Board, USA: National Film Registry
Updated: Sunday, November 10, 2013
The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.
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