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How much does Gothamist love that segment of the Oscar telecast where they award the best live action and animated short films? It’s a perfect snack bowl refill time.
However, this year Salon’s editors want you to be prepared to weigh in with your opinions on these little-seen cinematic tidbits. They’ve amassed 5 clips from nominees in the two categories, (“Guard Dog” by Bill Plympton, “Gopher Broke” by Jeff Fowler and Tim Miller and “Ryan” by Chris Landreth in animation; “Little Terrorist” by Ashvin Kumar and “7:35 in the Morning” by Nacho Vigalondo in live action) and are making them available for one day on their site. Click, view and enjoy!
Could the next Wallace and Gromit be in this bunch? What’s your favorite from the group of links available? Have you seen any of the other short subject nominees at film festivals during the past year?
[Image via Salon.com. Thanks to Salon’s Kerry Lauerman!]
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I was fortunate enough to attend a screening of all the short, both animated and film, in NYC at the Lighthouse midtown. They were all very very very good.
Gopher Broke was easily the drop-dead funniest thing I've seen in a long time, but I'm not sure of the Acedemy will recognize it as it's purely comedic... but artistically it was fantastic!
The Little Terrorist was good - cute little story, but nothing that we haven't seen before (theme-wise). 7:35 In The Morning was ABSOLUTELY fantastic. Simple premise, brilliant execution, totally off-the-wall.
If there's any way you can see ALL these shorts, DEFINITELY do it - this is film at it's finest.
A little hypertext problem in there right now...
try going to http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2005/02/25/shorts/
...to see it.
For those of you without high-speed connections, Gopher Broke is going to be shown on CBS News Sunday Morning this coming Oscar Sunday (9am-10:30 EST). Check it out. It really is hillarious.
I think its going to be on sometime in the first half-hour of the show.
Is Gopher Broke the short shown before The Incredibles? The one about "bounding and bounding," with the sheep who gets sheared, but learns to accept it.
No. It's about a gopher who schemes to snare free fruit falling from trucks headed to a farmer's market, and gets more than he bargains for... Though I haven't seen the Incredibles so I'm not sure... But the short is produced by Blur Studios, a small independent, and I don't think they have major studio distribution.
what about the "Bouncin" short that was shown before "The Incredibles"? that was cool. would have liked to seen that nominated.
I also went to the screening at Academy Theatre last weekend. All the animated ones were pretty good. I actually found Gopher Broke to be the least interesting of the animated shorts. It was certainly funny in "look at these silly animals" kind of way, but I don't think it was as creative as Ryan or as funny as Guard Dog.
I hope Guard Dog wins because Bill Plimpton SHOULD get an Oscar. I think Gopher Broke WILL win because it connects most closely with people's preconceived notions of what cartoons are "supposed" to be (animals being funny). It's computer graphics too, which are the hot thing, so that helps it as well.
For live action, I agree that 7:35 In The Morning was AWESOME, and while I really really hope it wins, I think it might be a little too quirky or not serious enough. I have a feeling that Wasp or Little Terrorist will win instead. Unlike with the animated category, I only thought one of the live action shorts was really exceptional, whereas the others were nothing really special.
Over at Boing Boing they have a link to Canada's National Film Board where you can watch Ryan in its entirety and see a clip from Hardwood, also nominated for an Oscar.
http://www.boingboing.net/2005/02/25/05_oscars_and_animat.html
Ryan.
Because it is not only innovative but trascends the medium and is really moving.
G.