Tues Top Ten: Toy Story

I'm in a toon'ful mood. What can I say? After some time with Disney's dogs, how about Pixar's toys?

2011 is the 25th anniversary of Pixar Animation Studios (they opened their doors in February 1986!) so I wanted to look back a bit at their marvelous output. I enlisted some other people from around the web to chime in too, so we'll have the results of an informal poll later on. But to start, let's look at the ten best moments from their first full length feature, TOY STORY (1995). Do these choices line up with yours?

TOP TEN MOMENTS IN TOY STORY (1995)

Hey Etch, Draw!

10. I almost went with Mr Potato Head's "Hey look I'm Picasso" bit but Woody's showdown with Etch-a-Sketch is the best visual gag during the movie's extended opening scene. It's a perfect illustration (nyuck nyuck) of Pixar multiple joke approach. It's three gags in one: visual, verbal, cinematic.

09 INSIDE BUZZ'S VISOR.
Pixar's always been adept at endearing you to their stable of characters. But one of the most confident things about Toy Story -- remarkably confident given that it was their first feature -- is that both Buzz and Woody are pitched as hero and villain at some point. Woody is selfish and bossy (especially in the first half) and they don't really soften that and your first moment "inside" Buzz's persona, a great point of view shot, is from inside his bubble where he's breathing like he's Darth Vader. It's a fun reference but it also sets up the possibility that he's the antagonist that Woody's protagonist believes him to be.

08 YOU'RE A TOY.
Buzz Lightyear seeing himself on TV. A shock to his senses (of self.)

Buzz is greater than Woody and here's why. Woody is a dog; he's desperate for Andy's love and affection 100% of the time, content to follow. Buzz is a cat; he enjoys Andy but his sense of self worth comes from his actual sense of self.

07 "MRS NESBITT"

Poor Buzz. He's never been able to roll with improv like the other toys. My other favorite part of this scene is the headless dolls "Marie Antoinette and her sister"

06 CODE RED
The opening birthday party reconaissance mission. The monkeys and the green aliens have since replaced them as this franchises' favorite multiple character gag, but The Bucket of Soldiers are so endearing in their complete lack of humor. They have some weird old school pull, don't they? The're not brightly colored or showy of personality or funny looking. The mission is everything!

05  Sid performing 'double bypass head surgery.' Buzz's indignant response is so hilariously straight-faced.

I don't believe that man has ever been to medical school.

04 "WILL ANDY PICK ME?"

Sometimes Woody's three film flipflopping between "favorite toy" confidence and disabling insecurity annoys, but this scene, is so beautifully lit (the magic hour) and it makes so much of such a tiny thing (who will Andy take to dinner at the Pizza Palace?) that it sends you right back to any childhood or adolescent (or vulnerable adult) moment where some minor thing was THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERED, LIFE OR DEATH. But it's really the use of the Magic 8 Ball that sends the scene to movie perfection. "Don't Count On It."

Goddamn it that Magic 8 Ball is a bitch.

03 The repeated shot of "ANDY" written on Woody and Buzz's shoes. In permanent ink!  Aren't you jealous of every boy named Andy who can watch these movies and pretend it's literally their toys that the movie is about?

02 SID'S COMEUPPANCE

We toys see everything...

...SO PLAY NICE.

The follow up shot of him terrified of his sister's doll is the perfect capper. "Don't you wanna play with Sally?"

01 "THE CLAW"
Subsequent Toy Story's have regurgitated the joke too often, dulling its neon bright genius, but I still had to give this absurdly clever Pizza Planet flourish the top spot. Everything about the sequence works wondrously starting with Buzz Lightyear's entrance, which is the best kind of pop culture comedy. It plays off universally understood genre tropes -- in this case sci-fi -- rather than referencing one specific property and therefore dating itself.

I come in peace.

And then it soars ever higher. "The claw!!!!" Pixar's process must allow for a lot of brainstorming because you rarely feel they haven't explored every comic possibility of a scene or a character or an environment.

One of the unsurpassable joys of moviegoing (and live theater) is the communal rush you can feel when a piece of art is connecting with everyone in the room. I saw Toy Story on opening night at a huge packed theater in Utah with my brother. Had the theater been empty I'm sure we would have laughed heartily. But would the mad euphoria have set in? We were giggling so hard, we couldn't stop; the laughs were ricocheting back and forth like they were made of rubber. (It wasn't until I saw the film a second time that I remembered anything about the next couple of scenes.)  It's not only one of my single favorite moviegoing memories, it's one of my single favorite memories of my brother.

Do you remember the first time you saw Toy Story?

Animation at the Oscars, an Infographic

There's so much information to parse out here about Oscar's history with the hand or computer drawn division of their industry. This was created by Border Stylo. Isn't it neat?

I wish the information was more complete (i.e nominations by film, too) but it's pretty cool as is. It's not surprising but definitely interesting that 66% of the nominations gathered by the animation genre are in the aural categories (Song, Score and the Sound categories)

For the record, to add to this chart the most nominated animated films are the following.

Belle. She has few equals in the canon.

6 nominations
BEAUTY & THE BEAST (1991) including Best Picture
(I think it's worth noting that even if you subtracted one of these nominations -- given that films can no longer get 3 song nominations by the rules, you'd still have to add it back in if there were animated feature prizes to be won in the 90s. Beauty & The Beast is still the champ, Oscar wise. It's the one that changed the way Oscar thought of Animated Features... with a little help from it's lead in The Little Mermaid of course.)
WALL•E (2008)
5 nominations
ALADDIN (1992)
RATATOUILLE (2007)
UP (2009) including Best Picture
TOY STORY 3 (2010) including Best Picture
4 nominations
THE LION KING (1994)
MONSTERS, INC (2001)
FINDING NEMO (2003)
THE INCREDIBLES (2004)

What'cha think about that?

The Short Films: Part I

Michael C here from Serious Film popping in to give everybody an edge in their Oscar pools. For most of us the shorts categories represent a vague, uncharted area on our Oscar ballots where the blind guesses required balance out the relatively easy calls in the bigger categories. Just pick whichever doc short seems to have the most Nazis and leave the rest up to chance.

But now that Magnolia Pictures and Shorts International have begun releasing all the nominated shorts in theaters and for purchase online there is no longer any excuse to stay in the dark. Not only do you get to enjoy some of the year's most inventive work, but you get the added suspense of following categories that have not been analyzed to death and had the novelty drained out of them by every precursor from the Golden Globes down to the Sheboygan Film Critics Society.

Let's pour over this year's short film contenders and their chances of victory. Up first: Animation. The nominees are...

DAY & NIGHT – USA, 6 Minutes, Dir: Teddy Newton
This entry from Pixar was released in front of Toy Story 3 meaning it was probably seen by more people than the other fourteen nominated short films put together times ten. In case you missed it, Day & Night is the simple tale of an encounter between night and day portrayed here as two feuding anthropomorphic characters.

Style: Traditional and Computer Combination

For It: Day & Night has all the polish you would expect from a Pixar production, and its use of computer animation inside traditional 2D animation is an original concept nicely realized. More than anything the film is just plain fun; its six minutes zip by. The simplicity of its concept combined with the wit of its execution recall such classic Chuck Jones shorts as Duck Amuck and The Dot and The Line.

Against It: Pixar isn’t the powerhouse in the short category that is at feature length – it hasn’t won since 2001’s For the Birds despite five nominations. Going against Pixar can't help but make all the other nominees look like scrappy underdogs by comparison. Day & Night might also look a little frivolous compared to the more overtly artsy competition.

THE GRUFFALO – UK, Germany, 27 minutes, Dir. Jakob Schuh, Max Lang
This adaptation of a hugely popular children’s book was a hit when it aired on BBC Christmas 2009. The Gruffalo is the story of a little brown mouse that fearlessly (or foolishly) sets out into a dangerous forest in pursuit of a hazelnut tree. As the mouse encounters predators he invents a fearsome creature to scare them off with surprising results (if you're, say, ten or younger).

Style: Computer Animated simulation of Stop Motion

For It: The Gruffalo is at its most charming when it’s quietest, depicting the constant threats for those occupying the low end of the food chain. The moment when the mouse casually leads a line of bugs out of harm's way is a high point. If voters are easily wowed by big names The Gruffalo boasts an impressive cast of vocal talent including Tom Wilkinson, John Hurt, and Helena Bonham Carter. At nearly half an hour this is the most substantial entry.

Against It: This simple fable is stretched awfully thin over 27 minutes. The Gruffalo doesn’t transcend its children’s story origins. Adults used to modern animated films throwing in jokes for them will likely get bored with Gruffalo's predictable, repetitive story.

MADAGASCAR, A JOURNEY DIARY - 15 minutes, Dir: Bastien Dubois
Exactly what its title suggests. Madagascar has no story to speak of, instead opting for a collage of visual styles from simulated watercolor to a sketchy pencil to give the feeling of a journey through the African country. The centerpiece of the film is a burial ritual that involves retrieving the dead for a parade through the world of the living.

Style: Computer Animation

For It: When it comes to visuals none of the competition can touch Madagascar. Its 3D scrapbook style is a constant delight. Despite being a moods piece the film has a rollicking energy that keeps the film rolling along with lively music and a flurry of striking images. You can feel the passion of the filmmaking in every frame.

Against It: If voters want something more accessible they’ll go for Pixar or The Gruffalo otherwise I’m not seeing a drawback to this one. A beautiful piece of work. 

LET'S POLLUTE – USA, 6 Minutes, Dir Geefwee Boedoe
Let’s Pollute is a spoof of 1950’s educational films that instructs the viewer how they can be a better polluter in the grand American tradition.

Style: Traditional 2D animation

For It: Voters can pick Let’s Pollute if they want to pat themselves on the back for choosing something with an environmental message. The mimicking of simplistic Hanna-Barbera style animation is spot on.

Against It: The weakest of the entries Let’s Pollute is glib and preachy, lacking the the satiric bite of the average Onion article. Not that it's awful, but after you get past the premise Let’s Pollute doesn’t add anything insightful or constructive so much as hammer the one gag over and over. Its pro-environmental stance is the only explanation I can think of for this being nominated over other such vastly superior shortlisted films as the moving mother and son story Urs, or the raucously funny The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger. 

THE LOST THING - Australia, UK, 15 minutes, Dir: Shaun Tan, Andrew Ruhemann
A young man in a dystopian Gilliam-esque society adopts a strange creature and attempts to find a home for it after discovering it abandoned on the beach.

Style: Computer Animation

For It: This is going to garner some votes from those who value originality and from those voters impressed with the level of care that went into the memorable look of The Lost Thing. The moody, nicely detailed art direction recalls Shane Acker’s nominated short 9 from 2005.

Against It: A solid effort, but it’s hard to picture this winning. It lacks the “Wow” factor of Madagascar or the wit of Day & Night. If the story had been brought up to the level of the visuals this would be a winner, but as it stands The Lost Thing is an interesting but unmoving experience. I didn't exactly fall in love with the creature which is sort of a giant squid that lives inside a huge mechanical honey pot. 

Marking Your Oscar Pool: If kids were voting I’d say bet the house on The Gruffalo, but since we are dealing with adults I’d recommend placing your chips on the stunning visuals and vibrant culture of Madagascar. My personal vote would go to Day & Night by a hair. I’m a sucker for anything that keeps alive the zany Warner Bros. spirit and Day & Night feels like a new classic in the making. It would go toe-to-toe with Geri’s Game as my choice for Pixar’s finest short yet.

Links Episode 14,000,000,000

Film "How classicaly trained are this year's acting nominees?" Cool topic, don't you think?
Austin Translation. Cuteness. Pixar was laying down new cement and they let their employees leave a permanent personalized mark.
The Wrap explains Oscar's weighted ballot again. It's much less complicated than people think. And voting a movie #10 doesn't hurt it.
Awards Daily is disgusted by a recent comment by an Academy member who is not voting for Melissa Leo.
Scott Feinberg makes a passionate defense of Melissa Leo, who he considers a friend. Honestly she sounds very cool from the personal anecdotes therein. I've met her only once so I have no stories.
Amiresque a dozen movies to look forward to in 2011. God, I still haven't even though of this.

Bring Mad Men Back sign an online petition. AMC is still jerking fans around. Why on earth are they letting their best show gather dust. This kind of thing can really turn viewers against a network and less committed viewers away from a show. I'm feeling the anger.
Cinema Blend Rosamund Pike is in talks for a Clash of the Titans sequel. Ugh. I want some meaty roles from her.
A Socialite's Life apparently Jude Law and Sienna Miller have broken up... AGAIN. Those crazy kids. Maybe they should star in a remake of Same Time Next Year because obvs they're fond of repetition.
Carpetbagger a disobedient anecdote on the scoring of The Social Network

Finally, you know that AMC is still doing that Best Picture Showcase/Marathon thingy they do each year, right? Even with 10 nominees, they're tackling it. Will you?  Have you ever gone before? I'd try it one year except for that I'm always burnt out on the Best Pictures by the time Oscar night arrives having obsessed over them for five months.

Like, WHOA. The Queeniest of Queens

WHOA! a.k.a. Weekly History of Oscar / Awardage
New series? Maybe. Why do I need gimmicky acronyms? I know not.

Jan 9th the first flight of the Avro Lancaster (no relation to Burt) took place in World War II in 1941. This famous plane, the most successful of British bombers, later had a starring role in The Dam Busters (1955) with Richard Todd in the cockpit. The film was Oscar nominated for Best Visual Effects and supposedly inspired the Death Star climax of Star Wars (see video comparison below). Peter Jackson was prepping a remake in 2009 but obvs The Hobbit (2012) has taken over his life.

Jan 10th Youth sensation Sal Mineo, the youngest two-time Oscar nominated male actor (honored for Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Exodus (1960) by the time he was 22), was born on this day in in 1939. You can see his Rebel screen test with James Dean and Natalie Wood above (such amazing trio chemistry). Love that movie.

After the jump, the first Oscars, Cate Blanchett and Pixar...

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