More and more Oscars!

Well, I think I am on pretty good pace so far this week as far as my Oscar viewing goes (not to mention I have been able to stay on top of my DVR as well, but that's another post). This week I tried something new with my husband and some friends - we headed down to the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar to watch the Oscar-nominated Animated Shorts. As a bonus, we were also shown some "Highly Commended" shorts - I wish I would have known this in advance so I would not have inhaled my 'Once Upon a Time in Mexico' salad to the point of discomfort, but what can you do.
The first short shown was "Lavatory-Lovestory" - the second-longest short. Very, very sweet as love stories should be, and yes, it is set in a lavatory. It was drawn in black on a white background, with color used for effect. A great start to our short-viewing.
Next was "Oktapodi" - computer-animated story about two octopi in love. I would have to agree with this sentiment from Vanity Fair's Oscar Blog (linked to at the end of this post): "one long action sequence of the type that Pixar does much better." This is true. It looks cool, but at two minutes it is just too short - especially when Pixar has an entry this year.
This was followed by "La Maison en Petit Cubes" - again, very, very sweet. I loved the idea and concept of literal reminiscing and it was pretty - hand-painted. Again - I defer to Vanity Fair's opinion on this, the best chance against Pixar's offering.
The next short, "This Way Up," was very weird, but in a good way. I found it reminiscient of "Not Without My Handbag" a short done by the team that does "Wallace & Gromit." It follows the trials and tribulations of a father-son undertaker team trying to deal with getting a casket to a cemetery. Cute, and may be my husband's fave.
The last short shown in the Oscar-nominated section was "Presto," done by Pixar. I'm sure this is the most widely seen short in either category as it was shown before "Wall-E" in theaters. I loved it when I saw it in the theater and wanted to be a short-snob and like one of the other ones more, but I really do love this one! Cute bunny! Magic! Foils! It is really fun and I have read it compared to old Looney Tunes cartoons. I would agree.
After that they showed some more shorts, mainly ones that I didn't get ("Varmints," anyone?). Maybe they were only 'Highly Commended' because they failed to get a narrative across in a short time? I don't know. There was one that was really cute called "John and Karen." I would say that is the only one worth watching outside of the 5 nominated ones, plus it's only 3 minutes.

We had planned on seeing the Live Action Shorts at the same theater last night, but plans fell through. Instead, we rented "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." This is a Woody Allen film that is up for Best Supporting Actress - Penelope Cruz being the actress nominated. Confession - I have only seen two other Woody Allen movies and they weren't necessarily even his finest, so forgive me. First off, I liked the movie. It was narrated, so that really reminded me of "The Royal Tenenbaums." As in, the narration was spoken in such a manner that you felt like the story had already happened and was being recounted to you, rather than feeling like you're smack in the middle of an ever-unfolding plot. It is about two friends (Vicky and Cristina) who spend the summer in Barcelona and what and who they encounter there. Though the movie kind of peters out in a subtle way, upon further thought the ending is kind of shocking. The acting is stellar all around - the Golden Globes had it right nominating 3 of the 4 main actors. Penelope Cruz gives a great, spitfire performance as per usual, so it's no surprise she was nominated. I definitely recommend it.

This week we will probably rent "Frozen River" and we are definitely seeing "Frost/Nixon" on Friday. This will complete our Best Picture viewing. There has been talk of seeing another movie in the theaters on Saturday, but I don't know what yet. Also - I read that the shorts can be purchased on iTunes, so we may give the Live Action Shorts a go that way. It will probably cost as much as renting and much less than going out to see them, so that will be fun, I'm sure.

As promised, the link to Vanity Fair's take on the Animated Shorts:
Can Any Animated Short Take on Pixar?: Julian Sancton Vanity Fair#entry-more#entry-more#entry-more#entry-more#entry-more