The 2017 Animated Contenders: "Birdboy: The Forgotten Children"

by Tim Brayton

For the finale of our five-part tour of some of the more obscure films competing for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, we turn to a film that premiered over two years ago, but has only just opened in the U.S. this very weekend: the Spanish psychological horror cartoon Birdboy: The Forgotten Chidlren. The film is based on the comic Psiconautas by Alberto Vázquez, who co-writes and co-directs with Pedro Rivero; it's the duo's second film based on these characters, following the 2011 short Birdman, which serves as the new feature's backstory (the short is available online).

The basic hook here couldn't be any more direct or nasty-minded. This is a silly talking animal film warped into a portrait of the world as bleak, hopeless hell. "Psychological horror," I called it, because I'd be hard pressed to name any better category, but that's not really enough to communicate the sheer, visceral nastiness of this film. It's a mere 76 minutes long, and even that's almost too long to spend with the film's altogether putrescent depiction of a world that has died, with the survivors still tottering around in the corpse of that world, forced to confront some truly cruel moments. Also, they're fuzzy critters.

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38 days til Oscar nominations. 1938 favorites?

by Nathaniel R

While I update some Oscar charts, let's talk 1938. The first decade of Oscar was tumultous with rule changes and size changes in the Best Picture category but it settled at ten pictures in 1936 and stayed there for most of its second decade until five became the norm in 1944 and stayed there for decades and decades. Here's what we got in '38... 

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Ashley Judd might have been Arwen... or Galadriel

by Nathaniel R

Ashley Judd in her blockbuster breakout "Double Jeopardy" in 1999I keep getting into trouble when I tweet out semantic arguments on the internet as if I'm missing the point of very serious topics. So let me assure you that I'm not missing the point. I am filled with rage when I read these stories about the toxic treatment of actresses in Hollywood but the only way I can cope (I live for actresses, duh) is to nerd out and take deep dives into thinking about their filmographies, or looking at Oscar stats, or other less fraught things to rage less. Lashing out in all directions with rage or feeding my rage by continually sharing it is just not my way and has never helped me cope with pain. So, in other words, I'll save my little semantics quibble until the end of the post. 

Anyway the reveals of what Harvey Weinstein was up to in his most powerful days keep getting worse. To stay within the confines of Weinsten adjacent imagery, let's just say it makes me want to watch an Inglorious Basterds ahistorical style rewrite in which some Ashley Judd gets the Brad Pitt role and her team of merciless female soldiers gives Weinstein what he deserved back then...

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Episode something or other.... [cue link theme]

• Racked Titanic's necklace almost bankrupted a whole company!
• My New Plaid Pants geeking out over Ms. Laura Dern who spoke to NYC at the Film Society of Lincoln Center recently
• Deadline an interview with the great production designer Santo Loquasto on Wonder Wheel 
• Out Ryan Murphy's Boys in the Band Broadway Revival has cast a bunch of its players already and it's basically all the famous gays: Charlie Carver, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells, Zachary Quinto some of whom at least have stage experience.
• The Muse talks to Glenn Close who has some interesting things to say about gossip, Harvey Weinstein, and being an older actor in Hollywood

• Indie Wire on the multi-pronged creative casting efforts for The Florida Project
• Vanity Fair interviews Joe Wright of Darkest Hour, Atonement, Pride & Prejudice fame
• Variety the Roseanne reunion sitcom will start airing March 27th. Wheeee
• Mubi on the Berlinale lineup or February 2018
• / Film If you only think of Disney/Fox merger in terms of superheroes, you'll probably be overjoyed
• Vox remembering what might be 2017's signature movie scene "No Man's Land" in Wonder Woman
• Broadway World the cast of Cats posing with adoptable felines. Awww
• Variety that young JRR Tolkien biopic starring Nicholas Hoult has wrapped. Biopics aren't always Oscar favorites anymore but we shall see. 
• Film School Rejects looked at new releases of old movies on dvd: Election, China Moon and more
• Deadline TV/film producer Martin Ransohoff has died. Among his credits The Sandpiper, The Cincinatti Kid, The Beverly Hilbillies and Jagged Edge

Star Wars Time Again
• The Verge thinks Rogue One is about net neutrality
• /Film 10 the greatest female characters in the Star Wars universe (wait, there are ten?)
• Vanity Fair the plea for LGBT characters in the Star Wars movies and why they've been ignored

Exit Video
James Corden's Crosswalk the Musical welcomes The Greatest Showman's Hugh Jackman and Zac Efron

Chicago Loves Lady Bird. AAFCA Loves Get Out

The Chicago Film Critics Association was established in 1988. Last year they broke big for the three arguable top dogs with Oscar so their tastes, shall we say, align. This year there were only two clear favorites were Lady Bird (4 prizes) and Call Me By Your Name (3 prizes) with a surprise Director win for Christopher Nolan and Dunkirk. 

Chicago's winners and the African American Film Critics Association prizes are after the jump...

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