Friday, February 24, 2006

Five Checkmarks in 80 Minutes



Went to the Laemmle Fairfax Cinemas on Beverly Boulevard tonight for a showing of the 5 Animated Short Films nominated for an Academy Award.

It's really wonderful to be able to see all five together in one sitting -- many different "types" of animation were on display.

Badgered -- the most traditional of the nominees was a hand-drawn film about a badger just trying to sleep down in it's hole and two annoying black crows making a ruckus in a tree above ground. It's a cartoon, so one thing leads to another and you get nuclear annihilation.

The Moon and The Son: An Imagined Conversation -- combines hand-draw animation with real-life home movies to create a conversation the son (the animator) wishes he had with his late father (who was always angry and served two terms in prison).

The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello -- the animation here reminded me of Jules Verne (lots of gears and tracks). It's about an airship voyage to an island floating in the sky where a monster is found to cure a plague harming the folks back home -- but the ship captain warns never to bring a monster on-board an airship. But no one listens. Very trippy!

9 -- Rag dolls seek to hide a glowing object from a scissor monster. Pass the LSD.

One Man Band -- Computer animation from Pixar: two one man bands vie for the attention of a little child and seek the coin she had intended to throw into a fountain.

Which one do I think should win the Oscar and which one do I think will win the Oscar? You have to check back on March 4 for my Oscar predictions!

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