Oscars 2017 - Best Animated Feature

Wow, thanks for the kind words!

Plebeians ... LOL!

 

I thankfully got to see the animated shorts today. ("My Life as a Zucchini" still looks like it ain't gonna happen, dang it.) This article is pretty much what I would've written about them if I wasn't so busy watching Eurovision national selections ... except that my fave was “Pear Cider and Cigarettes”. (I didn't think the writing was weak at all.) I like all five of the nominees and will be happy for whichever one wins - which might be a first.

Conventional wisdom is that "Piper" has this locked, because Pixar, and because cute wittle birdie, but this is a category that's been known to defy conventional wisdom bigly. (I still can't believe "Logorama" won!)

 

To change the subject: What do you think of the UK Eurovision song? I really like it.

 

You're going to hate me for this, but I think it's DOA. The song is too mundane to get anyone's attention, and I don't think she's that great a vocalist. (She's fine, but not Dami-Im-exceptional.) I didn't hear anything at the UK NF that would've had much of a chance, TBH. They all sounded like songs that had been rejected by everybody else, so might as well send them to Eurovision. But I wish they'd chosen Holly, who at least was a much better Eurovision-style yell-singer than Lucie.

Italy, Belarus and Finland all have MUCH better songs already.

Is this off-topic enough for everybody? ;-)

 

I don't remember Holly's song, but I did think the right song won on the night. I agree about it being a poor selection all round though.

Did you know that Lucie was eliminated from X Factor in favor of Jedward? That was so controversial it was mentioned in parliament!

 

Which is why I think UK would do best if they stuck with a music jury or internal selection. Y'all's televoters are cray. They just need to find a music jury or an internal selector who won't look at Electro Velvet and say "hey that might work".

 

Hey! I resemble that remark!

Lol, I agree about Electro Velvet!

The one thing this song has got in its favor is that it's similar to Jade Ewen which was our best showing in years.

 

Hey! I resemble that remark!

Lol, I agree about Electro Velvet!

The one thing this song has got in its favor is that it's similar to Jade Ewen which was our best showing in years.

 

I'm a-making a Eurovision topic in the Non-Disney Entertainment section. I will reply there.

 

So the Oscars are Sunday. What does everyone think...

Will win?

Should win? (And let's limit that to the actual nominees).

Ready... set...

 

As I already said, Animated Short should: Pear Cider and Cigarettes, will: Piper

For Animated Feature, should: Moana. Will: Zootopia. Caveat: I didn't see "My Life as a Zucchini", and have no plans to drive to New York City this weekend to catch it. Although I will confess to putting it into Google Maps to see how long the drive was ...

 

Disney just won their first Oscar of the night for OJ: Made in America. As I mentioned earlier, I don't think it truly worked as a documentary intended for single-sitting theatrical consumption, but regardless of that I think it was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. Due to the unusual format, I'm surprised it won (and presumably sets the precedent for future documentaries), but I'm very glad that it did

 

Zootopia wins for best animated picture

When they were walking up to receive the award, Try Everything was played in the background. I'm still surprised that it wasn't nominated, since it was a really fun song that fit the film but also caught on in the mainstream (similar to the Trolls song), but I would guess that Disney wanted to focus all the attention on getting one of the Moana songs to win without any chance of splitting the vote (which got Princess and the Frog 2 song nominations but no wins back in 2009). I understand the politics of it, but it's a shame regardless

 

Aaaand "Piper" gets Best Animated Short. OK, on with my Monday ...

 

A post-script to all this. "Your Name.", which is now the highest grossing Anime film OF ALL TIME, got a wide(-ish) release this weekend in a dubbed version, and I just got back from seeing it.

It is SO MUCH BETTER than any of the movies that were nominated - indeed, than any movie I saw in 2016 - that I am just stunned. Funimation must REALLY be wondering what they gotta do to get an Oscar nom. (In fact, I think this conclusively proves that they can't.)

GO SEE "YOUR NAME." RIGHT FRIGGIN' NOW. It's playing pretty much everywhere.

 

Oh yeah ... another PS, since it appears I forgot to mention it at the time. My Life as a Zucchini gets a thumbs up from me. It's no "Your Name", but it is a quirky, feel-good stop motion thing. I found it a bit sugary, especially for a film that starts with a kid accidentally killing his mom.

 

I went to see Your Name last night based on @mawnck 's review, and I agree that it's definitely worth seeking out. There are lots of showings in my area, and interestingly most seem to be subtitled instead of dubbed, though it varied on the showtime. My theater had a relatively large crowd (considering it was animation with subtitles on a Monday night) and it definitely got good reactions

I agree that it was a major Oscar snub. I don't know if it could have beaten Zootopia for the win, due to the timeliness of that film in American culture, but it would have given it a run for its money. This film was distinctly Japanese in many ways, which wouldn't have connected as easily with the Americans who do the voting. It's part Freaky Friday, part 50 First Dates, part Armageddon, and it's good. Really, really good.

But what stood out to me wasn't the great plot or characters, but the art direction. Although it was entirely animated, the visuals really captured the essence of Japan. From the urban scenes, to the rural towns, to the countryside, everything seemed to ooze authenticity, without being a direct copy. I've spent a lot of time in Japan and it's a tough thing to describe, but the visuals captured it perfectly. It almost made me wonder why the film wasn't done in live action, but I think animation lets it be more metaphorical

Go see it. I wouldn't expect it to have a wide release for more than a week or two, but its worth going out of your way to check it out

 

I went to see it this weekend with my step-son. We both really enjoyed it. It's definitely worth it, but go see it soon because I agree with @FerretAfros that it won't be in the theatres for very long in the US.