In Contention

Tag: Best Short Film

  • 2/5 Oscarweb Round-up

    New Boy• Patrick Goldstein, in a well-reasoned piece that even I — a dedicated Boss fan — can’t disagree with, says Bruce Springsteen “had to stoop to conquer” Sunday night. [The Big Picture]

    • Jeffrey Wells bizarrely reviews Best Live Action Short nominee “New Boy.”  Beware careless spoilers. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Michael Cieply, reports on the on-going discussion of how to handle the Best Original Song performances, from a cost stand-point, of course. [The Carpetbagger]

    • David Carr, meanwhile, in addressing the Christian Bale situation, takes another swipe at “The Dark Knight.”  But he should really watch the film again and understand that the ending isn’t “unsatisfying,” but merely poorly integrated into the whole. [The Carpetbagger]

    • Speaking of Bale, Tom O’Neil wonders if the actor threw away his Oscar hopes for “Public Enemies” by shooting off at the mouth. [Gold Derby]

    • Dave Karger previews Saturday’s WGA awards.  “Milk” and “Slumdog” have it in the bag, right?  Anyone expecting an upset? [Entertainment Weekly]

    • Three weeks in the life of an Oscar ballot. [Little Gold Men]

    • David Fincher: “‘Benjamin Button’ was a semi-confection that became resonant.” [The Guardian]

    • Treading waters we were swimming through back when the film was set for a 2008 bow, Brad Brevet wonders if Stephen Frears’ “Chéri” is an Oscar contender.  Considering it’s Miramax’s best bet, then yeah, it probably is a contender. [Rope of Silicon]

  • Digging into the Oscar nominated shorts

    La Maison en petits cubesThis year Magnolia Pictures and Shorts International are partnering up once again to distribute the 10 Oscar nominated short films, both animated and live action.  The package is set to release this Friday, Feb. 6 in select cities and you can also download the films via iTunes.  Check out Shorts International’s official site for the films here.

    I always like seeing what the world’s filmmakers have cooked up in these categories, so I took an hour or so earlier in the week to have a look at the films in contention.  I have to say, it’s a more impressive collective than we’ve seen in recent years — especially on the live action side of things, where interestingly enough, all the entrants hail from overseas.  I’ll start there.

    Best Short Film (Live Action)
    “Auf der Strecke (On the Line)”
    “Grisen (The Pig)”
    “Manon sur le bitume (Manon on the Asphalt)”
    “New Boy”
    “Spielzeugland (Toyland)”

    The German film “Auf der Strecke (On the Line),” from director Reto Caffi, has racked up an impressive tally of festival awards.  But for me it brings up the rear.  It’s a somewhat derivative study of love and guilt, and there’s a nice enough twist mid-way through to really drive the point home, but the film drags on a bit and, despite a captivating final image, didn’t have the impact it might have.  I can’t say it’s not a competent piece of narrative filmmaking, however.

    (more…)

  • Pixar’s ‘Presto’