18 February 2018

What a waste of space

Oscar-nominated animated shorts

Balancing the live-action and documentary shorts, which I found to be the best since the nominees were first shown together in theaters, this program is the meh-est I've ever seen.
Crit
  • Dear Basketball--Seriously? An undistinguished love letter from Kobe Bryant to his sport, with undistinguished animation, gets an Oscar nomination? This is the meh-est of the meh.
  • Negative Space--If I had to choose, this might be my choice: a melancholy meditation on a psychic legacy passed from father to son. With a punchline you see coming from a mile away.
  • Lou--Playground bully redeemed. This isn't how Disney and Pixar became Disney and Pixar.
  • Garden Party--Amphibian exploitation of the aftermath of a gangland hit. One of the more interesting and visually arresting of the group.
  • Revolting Rhymes, part one--Half of a film based on Roald Dahl's twisted Red Riding Hood and Snow White mashup, it ends just as things are promising to get interesting. 
As always, some unnominated shorts are added to fill out the program--more than usual, as the cumulative running time of the nominees is just 54 minutes. I don't have my notes with me, and none was memorable, so never mind.

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