It wouldn't surprise me if the local art house theater has shown the Oscar nominated short films in the past, but this year was the first year that I actually had the opportunity to check them out! There are two categories of short films: animated and live action. I've clumped all of the animated short films into this post and will follow it up with a post containing the live action short films.
Because I've never had the chance to view the Oscar nominated short films prior to the actual awards ceremony, I've never really thought much about the criteria pertaining to these categories. But this year I took the time to look them up. As with most rules, there are a number of stipulations that these films must meet. Instead of trying to explain them myself, I'll just leave a link to them for those interested here.
Since the animated films tend to be much shorter than the live action shorts, they were shown along with four other animated shorts that had received consideration but fell shy of an official nomination. For anyone curious, those films were: Bus Story, Duet, Footprints, and Sweet Cocoon. A big thanks to The Grandin Theatre for making this films available for viewing! On to the actual nominees (listed alphabetically):
The Bigger Picture (2014), NR, 8 minutes - The story of two brothers and their conflicting opinions over whether or not to put their elderly mother into a home. Possibly the most uniquely made of the animated films thanks to its combination of painted and three dimensional model styles.
The Dam Keeper (2014), NR, 18 minutes - Presented in smudgy, sketchy style, The Dam Keeper takes place in a world full of animals in which a young pig inherits the responsibility of taking care of the dam at the edge of town that keeps the darkness out. His responsibilities cause him to be a bit of an outcast and he really has no friends. That is until the new kid at school who likes to draw strikes up a friendship with him.
Feast (2014), G, 6 minutes - Last year's pre-feature length film animated short from Pixar, Feast quickly, cutely, and emotionally shows how a puppy's eating habits change depending on what is going on in his owner's life. Feast has a well finished cell shaded look, the high quality that we've all come to expect from Pixar.
Me and My Moulton (2014), NR, 14 minutes - This short is done in a simple, hand drawn style and shows three young sisters and their observations on life, not only in their family, but within their apartment building, book-ended by their request for, and their receiving of a bicycle from their parents.
A Single Life (2014), NR, 3 minutes - A cute if not morbid story of a woman with a time-changing record player presented in a stop motion clay-mation style. As she moves the turntable's needle earlier in the song she gets younger and, conversely, she ages as the song progresses. Back and forth, back and forth, until...
Iron Man 3 (2013), PG-13, 130 minutes - Iron Man 3. Wow. There's quite a bit to say and I'm not really sure where to start (and that's after thinking about it all last night and this morning). There were things that I liked and things that I didn't. I'm not sure that I've worked it all out yet, but I do know this for sure: there will be a longer than usual spoiler section at the end of this post. Iron Man 3 starts off with a narration from Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) himself, thinking aloud, trying to figure out how to best tell the story of how he has gotten to this point in his life. He starts once, stops, then starts again, flashing back to a technology conference held over New Year's of 2000, settling on that as the point at which everything currently happening can be traced back to. That flashback sequence sets up some of the major players of Iron Man 3, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), and Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) as well as giving us a y
Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters - Collecting Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters (1987) #1-3. Green Arrow: Vol. 1 - Hunter's Moon - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #1-6. Green Arrow: Vol. 2 - Here There Be Dragons - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #7-12. Green Arrow: Vol. 3 - The Trial of Oliver Queen - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #13-20. Green Arrow: Vol. 4 - Blood of the Dragon - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #21-28. Green Arrow: Vol. 5 - The Black Arrow - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #29-38. Green Arrow: Vol. 6 - Last Action Hero - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #39-50. Green Arrow: Vol. 7 - Homecoming - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #51-62. Green Arrow: Vol. 8 - The Hunt for the Red Dragon - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #63-72. Green Arrow: Vol. 9 - Old Tricks - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #73-80, and Green Arrow: The Wonder Year (1993) #1-4. Shado: Song of the Dragon (1992) #1-4 - loose issues (not collected). Over the last couple of years, I have been
Mama (2013), PG-13, 100 minutes - Jessica Chastain is ruling the box office right now, starring in the two top grossing movies in theaters this past week. One is Zero Dark Thirty (for which she earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress), and the other is this little horror film based right here in Virginia (it had a $15 million budget and made over $32 million over its first week). Mama begins in tragedy just after the beginning of the financial collapse in 2008, a man named Jeffrey (Nikolaj Costar-Waldau) murders a co-worker and his estranged wife before taking his two daughters (three year old Victoria and one year old Lilly) and fleeing town. Driving too fast on snow covered roads, he loses control and they slide off the side of a mountain road and crash in the woods. The three of them survive the wreck and come across an abandoned cabin after fleeing the scene. Once he's started a fire, Jeffrey breaks down in another room. After regaining some composure, he comes
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