Colman Domingo, Taiki Waititi, and Idris Elba give starpower to the Best Animated Short Oscar race

by Nathaniel R

Colman Domingo in "New Moon" based on one of his plays

This year's Best Animated Short Oscar finalists come from about a dozen countries and feature a pleasing variety of animation strategies. The shorts feature talking animals, naturally, as well as plenty of heightened surreal adventures. All of this is to be expected in this always intriguing category (provided you are able to find the films!).  Less expected: this year the race has more than a little star power via voice casts. We'll review all the films here as we screen them.

Read on for brief run downs of the finalists and if and where you can watch the films right now (if you can). Links go to official sites if we could find them...

Click to read more ...

Oscar Night's Top Five Presenters

by Camila Henriques

One of the challenges of a hostless Oscar ceremony is having a presenter list capable of holding the show together. For film fanatics even that isn't enough. We crave the legendary movie stars as presenters (fewer and fewer each year) and moments like Julie Andrews following Lady Gaga’s tribute to “The Sound of Music” back in 2015 or Olivia de Havilland introducing the Family Album back in 2003. Those two still give us chills. Unfortunately, the Academy Awards this year were lacking in the legendary star department. Nevertheless, the show had truly memorable bits, and a couple of future host possibilities that the Board of Governors should take note of. With that in mind, here’s a top 5 presenters/duos list for the 92nd Oscars:

Honorable mentions: Steve Martin and Chris Rock reminding us that hey, there’s still former hosts the Academy could call, Salma Hayek holding the best Oscar in the house (Oscar Isaac, that is), and Diane Keaton and Keanu Reeves giving us Something’s Gotta Give nostalgia...

Click to read more ...

In Defense of "Jojo Rabbit"

Please welcome guest contributor Rita Maricone-Dorsch...

Last night, I sat down to revisit Jojo Rabbit, this time with my son, who is equal parts World War II aficionado, Marvel fanboy, and already-pretty-woke tween. Taika Watiti's self-labeled 'anti-hate satire' seemed custom made for his sensibilities. But why do you like this movie so much, he asked me. 

I've been wrestling with this question since the film's release, and since my own impression of it differed so drastically from most reviews, including the positive takes. I didn't see a too-tame provocation that poked easy fun at Nazis. I didn't see a project intended to humanize bigoted white men. I'm not sure it's even best described as an anti-hate satire. To me, Jojo Rabbit was a sweet little allegory about a dangerously underrepresented and urgent subject: the emotional education of boys...

Click to read more ...

Linkgame

• IndieWire Avengers Endgame, which is still in wide release (985 theaters) at this writing will be "rereleased" on Friday. LOL. That just means it's adding more theaters again and this time it will have a deleted scene. It's fitting that the special poster for it is Thanos' fist since they're still trying to pummel Avatar's #1 status. 
• Variety on Wes Studi's landmark Honorary Oscar

After the jump news on Bond 25, The Irishman, a new take on Flash Gordon, animation awards, and a movie you probably forgot all about (I did!) finally getting released years after people wrote it off...

Click to read more ...

Netflix in June: Blue Jasmine Ragnarok, and Baby Sebastian Stan!

Time to play Streaming Roulette. Each month, to survey new streaming titles on Netflix and other services, we freeze frame the films at random places with the scroll bar and whatever comes up first, that's what we share -- no cheating!  Which of these films will you be streaming this month for the first time or as a rewatch? Which would you like to see covered at TFE? Please do tell us in the comments. 

Ready? Let's go...

-OPEN THE DOOR, BITCH!

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008)
Oh I hearted this movie at the time. I fell so hard for Ari Graynor and I'm always pissed her career didn't truly explode. She shoulda been a leading lady in major comedies immediately. She's still around of course but where is the big career this hilarious turn foretold? (Pssst. She's not Nick or Norah but she's what I remember about the movie. Is she Infinite?)   

His mother was kind enough to send this back to us.

The Covenant (2006)
Howcuuuuuuute it's baby Sebastian Stan! I had completely forgotten this movie existed...

Click to read more ...