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Buscemi2 wrote: ↑

February 14th, 2023, 11:35 pm

Fire of Love 5/10

I'm curious to discover this one, as last year I watched the documentary made by Werner Herzog on the Kraffts, "The Fire Within", and I found it quite stunning.

Disney+ has it in the US so it might be on French Disney+ as well.

It was released in theatres a few months back but I missed it. French regulation on media chronology means it won't be on a streaming platform before a few more months. But I'll keep an eye on it.

Chienfantome wrote: ↑

February 15th, 2023, 2:55 pm

Buscemi2 wrote: ↑

February 14th, 2023, 11:35 pm

Fire of Love 5/10

I'm curious to discover this one, as last year I watched the documentary made by Werner Herzog on the Kraffts, "The Fire Within", and I found it quite stunning.

I thought Fire Of Love was decent, but I agree that there isn't much insight into their personal lives outside of volcanology.

The Oscar nominated animated shorts this year managed to be worse than when COVID reduced the field and led to shorts that were glorified student films and tech demos getting nominated.

An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It 3/10

An unfunny attempt at a satirical version of The Matrix is essentially ruined by giving away the twist, and by extension the joke, way too early. For some reason, the director decided that we needed to see both visions of the film's world right away, creating for a distracting experience, all in an attempt to be "edgy".

The Flying Sailor 3/10

This short about the Halifax explosion and a man who survived it is nothing more than an excuse to show off style. Story is limited and it ends before it really starts.

Ice Merchants 4/10

Good animation cannot compensate for the flat storyline and the climate change theme felt tacked on. It should have picked between that and the father-son storyline instead of trying to do both in what is basically a student film where the director did more than he could possibly chew.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox & the Horse 6/10

The only good short in this compilation and the likely winner of the Oscar. This short actually is more focused on story than trying to emulate The Windshield Wiper and while it is derivative of Winnie the Pooh and The Gruffalo, it is the one short here that actually feels like a real movie and not someone's midterm project. The animation is nice, the voice acting works, and it's a pleasant way to spend a half-hour. Not great but it looks like a masterpiece compared to the rest of the field.

After a short intermission warning younger viewers over the content of the last short and giving the option for some to leave, the last short began.

My Year of Dicks 2/10

The worst of the nominees. The animation is terrible, the premise is like a bad American Pie knockoff, and the whole thing was based on some bored teenager in Houston's video diary from 1991. How this got nominated bewilders me. Also, this short encapsulates the general problem of the nominees: they are more interested in style and being faux-edgy instead of having a good story and quality animation. With the exception of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox & the Horse, they felt like things slapped together to pass a film school class instead something of actual quality made by capable filmmakers.

Hopefully, the live-action short nominees are better.

Unrelated to actual reviews, but apparently I found out it's sacrilege to say Puss in Boots: The Last Wish wasn't as good as the first. Is the glowing praise over this related to the "Shrek is love" meme or because they copied the Into the Spider-Verse look or something else completely that have led some people to think this some masterpiece of American cinema?

There are other less substantial reasons (the animation, the humor, the wide array of genres it covers), but people have really responded to how Puss in Boots handles themes like fear, death and ego.

But those themes are seemingly covered by every animated movie now. For example, Pixar can do fear, death, and ego in their sleep. And the animation looked awfully cheap at times, as if the production budget got slashed due to the millions spent developing the film. As for the humor and genres, the first one also did that.

It has to be related the "Shrek is love" meme, as well as vocal people in the animation community hating Pixar again. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, and Turning Red are all far superior but have gotten none of the attention Puss in Boots have gotten because those don't have the meme appeal.

The Oscar nominated live-action shorts were a slight improvement on the animated shorts.

Ivalu 5/10

A girl in Greenland searches for her missing sister with the help of a crow that embodies her spirit. Looks nice but not a lot happens.

Night Ride 8/10

While hoping to get home and away from the cold, a passenger inadvertently steals a tram and continues the route to the next step. Along the way, she develops a relationship with a fellow passenger. This reminded me a lot of Anders Thomas Jensen's works and does its message better than a lot of Oscar bait titles.

Le Pupille 4/10

Disney's entry into the race and considered by many the favorite is nothing more than an overly stylistic and confused short that ultimately has no point. The director could have made it a commentary on religious fundamentalism or the ignorance caused by fascism and fanaticism but it's more about trying to be arty than having a story.

The Red Suitcase 9/10

The best of the shorts but one that won't win. A teenage girl comes to Luxembourg from Iran to be part of an arranged marriage but soon realizes how much of a mistake this is and decides to start a new life on her own. The direction is solid and in less than twenty minutes, packs more tension than most features can in 90-120 minutes.

An Irish Goodbye 4/10

The worst of the five but probably the one that ends up winning the Oscar. Two brothers are reunited after the death of their mother and with the urging of the younger brother, decide to fulfill their mother's very long bucket list, having her urn in her place. A clear knock-off of Martin McDonagh's works, much of it feels like the filmmakers making fun of a guy with Down syndrome with the occasional rant about how evil the UK is compared to Ireland. The audience reception was dead silence for nearly the entire short.

All in all, yet another year where you know it's going to go the English language short as it's probably the only one the voters watched.

Prey 8/10

A surprisingly entertaining prequel to Predator that manages to be more than a simple cash grab. Instead of being loud and chaotic like many studio sci-fi films are, Prey manages to put emphasis on tension and atmosphere to emphasize its scares. Prey also features a protagonist that measures up to the original's Dutch, a young Comanche girl who uses her smarts and experience to go toe-to-toe against the vengeful alien. Director Dan Tractenberg also wisely goes against modern Hollywood convention by using pacing and brevity, with a final run time of under 90 minutes before credits, giving a tightly-paced and never boring movie.

Had this gotten a traditional theatrical release, it might have been a big hit comparable to Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It reinvigorates a once-dead franchise and makes it worth watching again.

Matriarch 3/10

I'm sorry, Six, but I didn't like this one. What begins as a horror-themed ripoff of the book Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine gradually just turns into another generic folk horror film that puts weird things ahead of actually being scary. The one positive I can say when compared to other folk horror films that I didn't like is that this one was mercifully short at 85 minutes. I don't think I could have gone much longer with this flat film where you don't care about anyone or anything in it.

That's alright, Boosch, I don't particularly like the film (nor its director) either - haha!

Hellraiser 2/10

Maybe this franchise should have been left alone. What begins as a remake of Hellraiser III (the Lament Configuration is found in a museum by a curious and struggling twenty-something) ends up become nothing more than a generic teen horror movie with a haunted house and lots of torture. None of Clive Barker's inventiveness or unique ideas appear in this update. Instead, we get cliches, a lame villain, and a final result that is 30 minutes too long. It also looks really cheap despite being from a major studio (Disney), with some of the worst location doubling I've ever seen in a film (what's supposed to be Massachusetts is very clearly Serbia), low quality CGI effects, and a very generic cast that you've largely never seen and will probably never see again.

Just stick to the original.

I gave four of the five Oscar nominated documentary a stream. The fifth one is not available to stream anywhere at the moment.

The Elephant Whisperers 5/10

The elephants are cute but there's not really much to fill out 40 minutes.

The Martha Mitchell Effect 5/10

The possible winner has the same issue as the nominated feature documentary Fire of Love: composed entirely of archive footage as the subject has long been dead and therefore, we don't really get much of a sense of the proceedings. It also doesn't help that Mitchell isn't a very likeable subject, coming off as a proto-Sarah Palin type at times. Martha might have been right but you don't really have much interest in her.

Stranger at the Gate 8/10

My pick if I have a ballot, unless the short I couldn't see was better. Focusing on an ex-Marine in Indiana who planned to bomb an Islamic center in 2009, only to change his mind after he met the members of the center and ultimately realizes that he was wrong to hate those he didn't understand. A story of understanding and tolerance, it's pretty much the anti-American Sniper and its message of love and respect makes this an extremely relevant short in our times.

Haulout 8/10

A nature documentary focusing on a man who studies walruses and the effects of climate change on the walrus. This one reminded me a lot of the film version of Never Cry Wolf and while slight, has some beautiful cinematography. It's also the shortest of the four that I watched so a good way to kill 25 minutes.

All in all, The New Yorker shorts get it right while the Netflix shorts are ultimately lacking.

Been a while since I posted any reviews, but by god Cocaine Bear is a triumph of marketing over quality. What could have been a hilarious and insane Lord and Miller film, instead ends up as a turgid comedy horror, where the only good parts involve the bear murdering people, with all the characters and dialogue in between turning out to be lifeless and unfunny.