The hot mess of the 'Don't Worry Darling' press tour and other stories...

• Vanity Fair Alfre Woodard takes the Proust Questionnaire
• LA Times on the incredible writing of Manuel Muñoz. If the name sounds familiar that's because you either have very good taste in writers (seriously his work is brilliant) or you've been reading TFE for awhile. Manuel has been on the Smackdown a couple of times and we've also discussed his Psycho-related novel "What You See in the Dark"
• Out After lots of rumors about Kat's diminished role on Euphoria in season 2 and offscreen disputes, actress Barbie Ferraira will not be returning for season 3

That crazy Don't Worry Darling press tour, some Oscar hopefuls in animated short, Elton John twice, Lt Uhura's ashes, and more after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Review: The 2022 Oscar Nominated Short Films

By: Christopher James

Yes, we agree that this should be known as the 2021 Oscars (film year). However, Shorts TV has a different stance on their naming convention.Anyone who has filled out an Oscar office pool knows that the shorts can make or break your chances at winning. Often, the short films nominated are little seen, unless they play before a Pixar film. Thanks to Shorts TV, the nominees for Documentary (Short Subject), Animated Short Film and Live Action Short Film play in theaters and are available for rental ahead of the Oscars. Watching the short film can not only help you win your Oscar pool, but it can also introduce you to new and exciting filmmakers.

This year’s nominees break some conventions, while also keeping to some of the tropes one expects. The live action short films, once again, are aggressively depressing. Meanwhile, the animated short films are decidedly not kid friendly (adhere to the warning label, most of the shorts are firmly R-rated). Still, the fifteen nominated films were on the whole enjoyable.

So what were the best shorts of the bunch? Which will win the Oscar? Read to find out...

Click to read more ...

Oscar Volley: Sobbing and Fuming at the "Best Animated Feature" nominees

Team Experience will be covering the various Oscar categories in the lead up to Oscar night. Here's Tim Brayton, Cláudio Alves, and Nathaniel R...

TIM BRAYTON: Hello Nathaniel and Cláudio! I'm thrilled to have the chance to discuss this year's slate of nominees for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars with you - animation is, I think it's fair to say, the most important form of filmmaking to me, and it's always fun to share it. Whether these exact five films represent animation at its peak, well, we'll just have to get into that as we go.

A quick recap for all of us and those of you reading, here are the five nominees: Encanto, a CGI feature produced by Walt Disney Animation; Raya and the Last Dragon, a CGI feature produced by Walt Disney Animation; Luca, a CGI feature produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by their corporate owners, the Walt Disney Company; The Mitchells vs the Machines, a CGI feature produced by Sony Animation, who sold it off to Netflix. And then literally on the other side of the world, Flee, a Danish documentary about politics and identity, largely consisting of interviews that were animated in a cartoony 2D style by Sun Creature Studio. So my point, obviously, is that this isn't exactly the most stylistically or industrially diverse set of nominees this category has ever produced...

Click to read more ...

Animated Short Finals - Pt 1: Bad Seeds, Robin Robin, and Us Again

by Nathaniel R

Oscars short film categories don't get much attention in this size queen world of ours out there but let's do our part to change that. While the preliminary "predictions" are up those were made before seeing any of the films. We'll revamp the predictions as soon as we're finished watching all 15 finalists. Let's dive in together on this first batch of three since they're all available to stream right now...

Click to read more ...

93rd Academy Awards: On the Best Animated Short nominees

by Nathaniel R

We'll be reviewing each of Oscar's categories before the ceremony. We've already explored the nominees in Best Animated Feature, Doc Shorts, Live Action Shorts, and Visual Effects.

For Best Animated Short it's a pity we can't honor Kapaemahu a beautifully evocative Hawaiian story of transgender spirits, with a spot near the top of this preference ranking but awards season can be cruel like that. Nevertheless you should stream it on Vimeo to see the one that got away. Otherwise, though, the voters chose fairly well. Here are thoughts on each nominee and where you can stream them...

Click to read more ...