The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)
You wouldn't know it to look outside here in New York City where it's been a wintry wonderland (or horror show depending on your point of view) but we're supposedly due for an early spring. Which is to say that the groundhogs trotted out for this occassion each year are reportedly not seeing their shadows this morning.
Only Peter Pan has a more complicated relationship with his shadow. (Free Association so I went with it.) I love Peter Pan. This year I think I'm totally going to give animated films their due. They've gotten short shrift here at The Film Experience. A few moments with Pixar starting tomorrow.
The Pixar BlogToy Story 3 gets a huge billboard in LA. Basket of Kisses John Barry, oft-Oscared composer passed away at 77. RIP. True story: When I first became obsessed with the movies in the mid 80s, Out of Africa was one of the first LP film scores I ever bought. The Telegraph Should you revisit beloved Disney films from childhood? Retrospectives have Tim Robey wondering. I've been contemplating revisiting the Disney oeuvre myself. Your Movie Buddy plays an Oscar nominee name game. Love the finale. The House Next Door 'The Conversations' takes on Coen Bros True Grit What's the hashtag for this? Oh yes, #longreads Cinema Blend offers up a Sundance Sales Guide. I've been waiting for someone to compile this rather than report solely on them as they happen. Thank you! Kenneth in the (212) lusts after Henry Cavill, our new Superman. Agreed that Cavill (of The Tudors fame) is a fine specimen but Brandon Routh was so perfect in Superman Returns. And his recent cameo in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was so funny that I longed ridiculously for him to take back up the cape. Boy Culture I've been so consumed with awards season I keep missing other stuff. Like Geri from The Facts of Life coming out of the closet. She can't even walk straight!
It's Bertie's World. You're Just Living In It. PlaybillThe King's Speech was conceived as a play and may head to the stage. Gawker The Best Picture nominees in Legos. Figures that TKS is the most boring one (but I love the one for 127 Hours.)
"why should i waste my time listening to you?" "BECAUSE I HAVE A VOICE"
Finally, Tom Shone, a critic I personally love, has an unfortunate affection for The King's Speech. But his piece about the Oscar race upheaval and the falsity of projected versions of Oscar as either old fuddy duddies or young hepcats is fun.
The academy haven't lost their taste for Oscar bait. They just haven't been let near a healthy enough specimen. They're like drunks who've managed to stay dry for several years not because they have lost their taste for alcohol but because nobody has offered them a drink.
Though I warn you: this may be a depressing read if you've been convincing yourself that the Academy has changed due to the last few winners.
Screen capture from the 20th minute and 10th second of How To Train Your Dragon (or thereabouts. I'm not so sure this VLC time counter works properly grrrr)
"How many does a Gronkol have?"
It's less than 19 hours until Oscar nominations!!! Which animated feature do you think will place alongside How To Train Your Dragon and Toy Story 3? It seems like a coin toss doesn't it between Tangled (the commerce and corporate tradition votes), The Illusionist (the art and international votes) and Despicable Me (the scrappy upstarts, comedy votes)? Well, a coin toss if you have a... uh... three sided coin.
Screen capture: 20th minute and 10th second of Toy Story 3 (with the dialogue immediately preceding this image).
It's nice. See! The door has a rainbow on it.
Tee hee. Love the basic causal evidence cited (rainbows -- duh!) and the line delivery is also rich. Don't you love Wallace Shawn as "Rex"? Def' one of the best Toy Story characters. And isn't it fun that the screaming monkey is first introduced so innocuously while Bonnie pours love at him?
Speaking of Bonnie, our first glimpse of Sunnyside is also her introduction.
Is this BONNIE!?
She is beyond adorable. Plus she plays well with toys. They do a lot of improv. (Tangent: Why is shyness so endearing in kids and pets and so annoying in adults?) How can anything/anyone be so cute rendered in pixels?
It's 2 days and 15 hours or so until Oscar nominations! Late tomorrow we'll do final predictions but until then, the FiLM BiTCH Awards continue wherein I share my own ballot of "best of the year".
Rapunzel lays down the law
If you read the top ten list, you already know my Animated Feature finalists (though I cheated a bit on the grounds of: if Oscar can keep changing the number of nominees, I can adjust as I see fit, too!). Each one of my nominees Toy Story 3, How To Train Your Dragon, The Illusionist and Tangled has at least one other nomination to show for it in another category, too (you can see a tally of nominations thus far at the bottom of the sound categories).
Visual Effects You know what's funny? My single favorite visual effect of the year is the Winklevii in The Social Network but just as you can't really nominate a film for costume design just because it has one good dress, I didn't end up nominating it in that category
I generally applaud the use of visual effects as a supporting mechanism rather than as the goddamn raison d'etre of a film's existence. And it also just missed because as I was drawing up my charts I suddenly started giggling about how indulgent it all seemed. Why cast twins when you can spend millions playing with your technological toys?! Maybe this is why True Grit just barely misses my makeup nomination, too. Did they really need to go to that much work to make Barry Pepper hideous when he's a strong enough actor to sell dastardly and dangerous without any false grody teeth? I'm just thinking aloud here. Join in the debate at any time.
Dakota self applies in The RunawaysHere are my Visual Effects and Makeup nominees. [You'll have to scroll down a bit to get past the wall of Black Swan posters in the unfinished categories.]
If you're wondering why Tim Burton'sEyesore in Wonderland is nowhere to be found it's because I think it's overworked in virtually every department. I don't mean to impugn the significant talents of all involved -- and you should skip this paragraph if you're tired of me bagging on it (I'm tired of me, too) but the film will not go away -- but it just doesn't work. It's probably a simple matter of direction but when makeup artists know that Johnny Depp will oversell the "mad" part of "mad hatter", for example, do they than have to work so hard that even an actor playing it straight would look crazy in their designs? Wouldn't something lower key have provided helpful balance, even whilst remaining within the basic register of INSANITY.
And when you choose to make Anne Hathaway of all people unattractive, and it's not part of the character concept that she be so, I just can't go with you to the places they're going. White wig, white gown and...black lipstick? I'm dying here.
Anyway... I prefer makeup just like I prefer my visual f/x, supporting the narrative brilliantly whilst only drawing attention to themselves if they're the main show and should.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 9:18AM 
You wouldn't know it to look outside here in New York City where it's been a wintry wonderland (or horror show depending on your point of view) but we're supposedly due for an early spring. Which is to say that the groundhogs trotted out for this occassion each year are reportedly not seeing their shadows this morning.
