Month: January 2016

  • Waldo Bookmark Academy Award Nominees 2016

    I looked at the list of nominees for Best Picture 2016 and realized that I've not seen a single one of them. I went back to 2012 via a link and realized that I've only seen TWO of the best pictures since that time (Gravity and Midnight in Paris), and I think only ONE of them in the theater - Gravity.

    Frankly, I liked Midnight in Paris better, even though I am a sci-fi fan. (I have it on DVD.)

    I'm not the most artsy film-watcher, although saintvi and I have been watching Wes Anderson films this week. There are some advantages to being unemployed.  That said, here's what I saw in 2015:

    Ant-Man

    Avengers - Age of Ultron

    Inside Out

    Jurassic World

    Minions

    Peanuts

    Shaun the Sheep

    Spectre

    Star Wars VII

    Were I to rank this limited viewing of 2015 motion pictures and give them the Waldo Bookmark Academy Award, here's how they'd rank:

    #9 Minions -  Cute film, love the little guys and super-loved the villainess, Scarlet Overkill (animation crush) ... but not really a cohesive story. Sorry guys.

    Scarlett Overkill

    #8  Jurassic World - Well done, stuff of summer blockbusters ... but really, it was mostly a well-done remake of the original. We'll come to that theme again. Favorite lines:

    Zach Mitchell (nephew): Your boyfriend is a badass! 

    (Aunt Claire hasn't yet come to terms that the insufferable man cycling with raptors is her "boyfriend." Her expression is priceless.)

    I laughed out loud at this next one.

    The setup is a conversation on why training raptors is allegedly a good idea

    Vic Hoskins: Drones can't search tunnels and caves. And they're hackable. The minute a real war breaks out all that fancy tech is gonna go dark!

    Owen Grady: Yeah, but that tech's not gonna eat them if they forget to feed it.

    Jurassic World

     #7 Avengers - Age of Ultron - I've really enjoyed the Marvel superhero stories. Even the weaker ones have been fun to watch. While I certainly enjoyed this one, it was about 20-30 minutes too long for me.  I didn't have any problem with the Black Widow / Hulk romance, nor the Hawkeye family but because they were included along with the main save-the-world storyline, all the storylines dragged. Also, as has been the case lately, some of the action scenes are just so long as to be monotonous. This was true at the end of Superman, and it is true at the end of Avengers - Age of Ultron and during a Hulk vs Ironman scene.

    Best Line:  Tony Stark  is wondering where Black Widow and Hulk are in the midst of battle:

    "You two had better not be playing 'hide the zucchini'."

    Really impressed with the sculpture at the end credits:

    Avengers Sculpture

    #6 Star Wars VII - I know that much of the world has gone Ga-Ga over this one, but I felt that this too, was both too long and a remake of the original Star Wars.  Excellent film - don't get me wrong, but there has to be some originality to the story to rise high on my award list.  What I really loved about this film were the two young principal actors:  Daisy Ridley and John Boyega.  They delivered top-shelf performances all the way through this film. Loved them both!

    Star Wars Episode 7

    #5 James Bond: Spectre - I think I've seen every James Bond film ever made at one point or another. I love that the Daniel Craig films have placed a lot more focus on the spy storyline with tech, girls, and evil villains as the side dishes vice the Bond-Girls, tech, and evil villain as the main draw with Bond along for the ride.

    Daniel Craig totally ROCKS the James Bond role, and does so with Spectre!  That said ... the storyline was good, but like so many other films, drew from the past to make the present. There were some excellent plot twists, but is it really so hard to make a NEW villain?

    Waiting for a ride

    #4 Peanuts - I had real concerns about how this movie would play out. Peanuts is such a gentle treasure that I wasn't sure how well it could be handled. Turns out, it was exceptionally well done. I think they hit just about every feature element and character you'll recall from the comic strip and wove it into a great film.

    Best line: The Little Red Haired girl tells Charlie Brown why she picked him as a pen pal:

    Little Red-Haired Girl: Oh, hi, Charlie Brown.
    Charlie Brown: You remembered my name?
    Little Red-Haired Girl: Of course I did.
    Charlie Brown: Before you leave, there’s something I really need to know. Why, out of all the kids in our class, would you want to be partners with me?
    Little Red-Haired Girl: That’s easy. It’s because I admire the type of person you are.
    Charlie Brown: An insecure, wishy-washy failure?
    Little Red-Haired Girl: That’s not who you are at all. You showed compassion for your sister at the talent show. Honesty at the assembly. And at the dance, you were brave yet funny. And what you did for me, doing the book report while I was away, was so sweet of you.
    [the bus arrives and honks it’s horn]

    I love you, Charlie Brown

    #3 Ant-Man - Finally! There is an original storyline, fun characters and great acting. This was my favorite super-hero movie of the year, hands-down. I particularly loved the father-daughter dynamics of the original Ant-man and his older daughter and the younger "new" Ant-man and his young daughter. They were themes that were well-integrated into to the story.

    Best Line: WAY TOO MANY TO COUNT!! Seriously - this film is one giggle and laugh after another. Here's just one. The setup is that Scott is just out of prison and one of his former (now free) cell mates (and hysterical comic-relief) comes to pick him up.

    Scott Lang: Hey, how's your girl, man?

    Luis: Ah, she left me.

    Scott Lang: Oh.

    Luis: And my mom died too. And my dad got deported.

    [Scott just stares in awkward silence]

    Luis: [Suddenly enthused] But I got the van!

    She's about to CRUSH him!

    #2 Shaun the Sheep.  I know, how could a claymation-styled show without words get so high on the list?  It's original, it's a great story, it has beautiful color, lots of visual puns (see below), and it evokes emotions.  A director who can do that with stop-motion photography get's my nod!

    Well done Mark Burton and Richard Starzak!

    Sheep in disguise, looking for their lost farmer

    #1 Inside Out. Yes, indeed. I give my Waldo Bookmark Academy Award for Best Picture (that I saw in 2015) to an animated film.

    This is not simply an animated film. Nor is this simply another of Pixar's outstanding original pictures. This is a remarkable insight into how our views on life change as we grow older and how all of our emotions are important elements of who we are.  The amazing thing is how well these themes are executed using an animated story that is accessible and entertaining to both children and adults.

    Inside Out nestles itself right next to Up! on being able to take serious themes of being human and making a wonderful story out of them.  I laugh and cry tears every time I watch this show.

    Well done Pete Doctor, Ronnie del Carmen, Pixar (and to Walt Disney studios for not getting in their way)!!

    You'll feel all the emotions!

     

     

  • Time on my hands

    Mod Melinda Pathtag

    One of the benefits of being unemployed is that you have time to do things you've been meaning to get around to doing.

    I was able to do the artwork for this pathtag in about a day, which delighted me!

    I'm sure the proof will be returned with something that looks more like this:

    mock VI

    But ... I'll work with it.

    Hey ... I've got time on my hands!!