Tuesday, January 28, 2020 at 1:00PM by Nathaniel R
With just 12 days till Oscar most of the big ticket races are feeling quite locked up apart from arguably Best Documentary Feature and Best Animated Feature. The latter is particularly volatile...
Wednesday, December 18, 2019 at 2:10PM by Nathaniel R
When Missing Link suffered an ignoble fate at the box office this past spring we worried a bit about its Oscar chances. Not too much mind you, since it's still a welcome visual respite from the all sequels / all CGI world of the major studios. So naturally we've been delighted to share our interview with the director and to see the movie blossom again during precursor season with nominations and citations left and right as it aims for a Best Animated Feature nomination (as well it should).
To celebrate, A CONTEST! Laika has gifted us with some copies of "The Art of Missing Link" and we're passing them out to those lucky souls among you who win. To enter email us with the following...
Enter by tomorrow morning - actually do it now. Winners will be announced very soon.
Friday, December 6, 2019 at 9:00AM by Nathaniel R
Oops. So much was happening this week we completely neglected the Annie nominations. The ceremony will be held on January 25th. There's no clear frontrunner this year with Missing Link and Frozen 2 tied for the most nominations. Their nearest competitors are not far behind. In other words Klaus, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World , I Lost My Body, and Toy Story 4 were also clearly well liked enough to win big. That's 6 features and when it comes time for the Oscar nominations there can be only 5. We can't discount the possibility that another non-American film besides I Lost My Body might prove a darkhouse spoiler with the Academy's animation branch which has proven open to international films (for nominations if not wins) and isn't always keen on blockbuster sequels. We should also keep a close eye on Japan's International Feature Oscar submission Weathering With You which got some love here at the Annies, too.
The complete list of nominations and a few comments after the jump...
Wednesday, November 27, 2019 at 8:00AM by Nathaniel R
Chris Butler (Paranorman, Missing Link)
When I met the talented Chris Butler earlier this year for the release of his second film Missing Link (2019), I was buzzing while he was crashing. I was thrilled that he’d just proved his Oscar nominated horror-tinged comedy ParaNorman (2012) was no fluke with his sophomore effort, a hilarious adventure comedy which wore its Victorian literature and adventure film influences all over its fussy colorful sleeves. He was suffering from a cold and ready for a much needed vacation after wrapping his second feature and hitting the publicity grind immediately thereafter.
As writer and director, he plays two very different roles on each film, one a solitary pleasure, but in the other surrounded by hundreds of people daily. He jokingly feared that he’d become misanthropic. “I need some space! ‘Chrisanthropic’ -- that’s what they call me!”
I flashed back to that interview recently given that year end awards and “best of” lists are upon us. If there’s any justice, Missing Link is being rediscovered right now on FYC screeners and Butler will be surrounded by hundreds of people again on red carpets. Here’s hoping that well-earned vacation was rejuvenating!
[The following interview has been condensed for clarity]
NATHANIEL: Audiences rarely think of animated films in terms of directors but studios… but your films originate with you.
CHRIS: Our process is probably different from the biggest studios. You know, I originally went to Laika to work for six months and that was 13 years ago! So yeah, clearly there was an opportunity there that was worth pursuing. What it was was absolute creative freedom...
Wednesday, October 16, 2019 at 3:42PM by Nathaniel R
Frozen 2 is clearly hoping to be the first animated franchise to win the Animated Feature category twice.
The Oscar race is officially on for Best Animated Feature. 32 films are planning to compete, which is easily a record as there are usually closer to 22 or so, so we'll definitely have 5 nominees again this year. But the question is which. We've divvied the 32 films up into types to make this easier to process...
