"I Met the Walrus"
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 11, 2008 at 07:18 PM
I've been my usual sloppy and lazy self in attempting to catch the the Oscar-nominated live action and animated shorts. So far I've seen exactly one animated entry -- Josh Raskin's I Met the Walrus. It reminds me a bit of portions of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine, which may be deliberate because it's based on an actual tape-recorded chat with John Lennon during his 1969 bed-in for peace in a Toronto hotel. It played at Sundance and the Santa Barbara Film Festivals, and, for what it's worth, has HE's seal of approval to point to.
Last updated: October 3, 2007
Obviously I'm light in several categories.
Suggestions and disputations are welcome.
BEST PICTURE: Australia (20th Century Fox), The Argentine (Focus Features), Guerilla (Focus Features), Milk (Focus Features), Seven Pounds (Sony), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount/Warner Bros.), The Soloist (DreamWorks), Body of Lies (Warner Bros.), Revolutionary Road (Paramount Vantage/DreamWorks), The Changeling (Universal Pictures), Frost/Nixon (Universal), Doubt (Miramax), Blindness (Universal Pictures), Defiance (Paramount Vantage), The Duchess (Paramount Vantage), Valkyrie (MGM-UA), The Reader (Weinstein Co.)
BEST DIRECTOR: Fernando Meirelles (Blindness), David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon), Brian Singer (Valkyrie), Baz Luhrmann (Australia), Steven Soderbergh (The Argentine and Guerilla), Gus Van Sant (Milk), Gabriele Muccino (Seven Pounds), Joe Wright (The Soloist), Ridley Scott (Body of Lies), Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road), Clint Eastwood (Changeling), John Patrick Shanley (Doubt), Edward Zwick (Defiance), Saul Dibb (The Duchess), Stephen Daldry (The Reader)
BEST ACTOR: Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road), Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Ralph Fiennes (The Duchess), Hugh Jackman (Australia), Tom Cruise (Valkyrie), Harrison Ford (Crossing Over), Sean Penn (Milk), James Franco (Pineapple Express), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Synecdoche, New York), Heath Ledger (Dark Knight), Will Smith (Seven Pounds), Jamie Foxx (The Soloist)
BEST ACTRESS: Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road), Angelina Jolie (Changeling), Keira Knightley (The Duchess), Nicole Kidman (Australia)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Leiv Schreiber (Defiance), Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), John Malkovich (Changeling and Burn After Reading), Bill Nighy (Valkyrie), Robert Downey Jr. (The Soloist), Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic thunder), James Franco (The Pineapple Express), Alan Alda (Nothing But the Truth)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Meryl Streep (Doubt), Amy Adams (Doubt), Vera Farmiga (Nothing But the Truth)
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who (20th Century Fox)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Peter Straughan (How to Lose Friends and Alienate People)
SPECIAL EFFECTS: Iron Man, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Inside Elsewhere...
Michelle discovers a couple of comedy films thanks to the power of Netflix.
Adam joins the Elsewhere crew from the Windy City and hits the ground running this week.
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Comments
No one is a bigger fan of John Lennon than I am, but we can see from this short excerpt how childish his politics were.
Posted by: Larry![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at
February 12, 2008 01:42 AM
Weren't these the opening credits to The Kingdom? :)
Posted by: Unison![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at
February 12, 2008 07:19 AM
Very similar to The Kingdom's opening credits; same vibe.
Posted by: actionman![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at
February 12, 2008 07:25 AM
A theater near me always plays the nominated shorts (animated, documentary and fiction) about a week before the Oscars. I usually try to see them. But often they don't have the best of prints, for the animation it is sometimes a sorry DVD. (When I saw that animated short about the badger and the Nuke, it was so faded, it was difficult to see what was going on.) Why don't the studios take advantage of the label "Oscar nominated" and put these things before feature films?
Maybe "The Hottie and the Nottie" could have broken the $100 per screen if it were advertised as "feature with Oscar nominated short".
Posted by: PerfectTommy![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at
February 12, 2008 07:38 AM
"but we can see from this short excerpt how childish his politics were."
Thank God we didn't elect him president in '72.
Posted by: christian![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at
February 12, 2008 08:08 AM
is that it? is that all it takes to get a nomination?
if it's that easy, i think i'll do a remake of bambi vs. godzilla; but this time it will be rudy giuliani vs. the cloverfield monster.
call it a political allegory.
Posted by: Beaucoul![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at
February 12, 2008 08:54 AM
Great taste Jeff. I saw the film, loved it, voted for it, and hope others will to.
Posted by: chrissn![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at
February 12, 2008 11:20 AM
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