July 12, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal has joined the growing chorus of people calling for Disney to promote Wall-E as a Best Picture candidate at next year’s Academy Awards:
“WALL-E” isn’t just an animated feature; it’s a great motion picture by any measure, and has already been hailed as such — by critics who’ve called it a masterpiece (I’m one of them), by audiences who watch it in a state of enthrallment (which is one notch up from enchantment). In keeping with its singular distinction, Pixar’s latest gift to movie lovers should be a candidate for the most prestigious award, Best Picture, when Oscar time rolls around.
I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed, but you already knew that….
July 8, 2008 at 10:13 pm
TIME magazine asks a good question: Can WALL-E Win Best Picture? Needless to say, I’m rooting for it. But the article lays out the hurdles our little robotic hero will have to overcome:
- No animated movie has ever won Best Picture.
- Academy voters, especially actors, are biased against animated movies.
- Disney/Pixar may not want to spend the money promoting it for Best Picture, due to that bias.
WALL-E is far and away the most well-reviewed movie of the year so far, and it’s incredibly unlikely five other films will come along and get better overall critical reviews. WALL-E is also sure to be one of the highest-grossing movies of the year.
In other words, it has both critical and popular support.
But the Academy would much rather honor artsy-fartsy crap like No Country for Old Men, Crash, and Chicago — movies that appeal to Hollywood snobs much more than something like WALL-E ever will. And they wonder why the Oscars TV ratings are at an all-time low. The critics and people are voting now, and WALL-E deserves a chance at Best Picture.
June 29, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Best. Movie. Ever.
(end)
June 18, 2008 at 3:24 pm
With Wall-E about to hit theaters in a little more than a week, Casa McGee is in Pixar mode. I’m excited, the kids are excited … not sure about Mrs. McGee, but I think she’s excited about it, too. I’m definitely the big Pixar fan in the family, but the kids love the movies, too, of course.
Last night at dinner I made the kids give me their Top 5 Pixar movies, and then I shared mine:
1.) Monsters, Inc. — I’m not ashamed to admit this is my favorite movie of all-time. I love everything about it, and the storyline never fails to make me cry. Maybe it was just perfect timing — a story about a little girl and monsters that came out with a year or two of having a daughter. It was too perfect.
2.) Finding Nemo - And here’s the heartfelt father-son story. Okay, so I’m a sucker for anything involving kids and parents (or parent-figures like Sully from Monsters). Plus, Nemo is just a non-stop animation tour de force and the colors are a joy to watch. (I sound like Ebert, don’t I?)
3.) Cars - I actually didn’t like this one on first viewing. Well, I liked it but it wasn’t all that. On many repeated viewings, though, I’ve become a bigger fan. Wonderful characters (Mater is the best Pixar character ever) and funny cameos from people like Bob Costas. This one has aged well.
4.) Ratatouille - This is where I had trouble making my list. But I chose Ratatouille because I like the story a lot, and the kitchen animation is stunning. It’s the only time I’ve ever wanted to eat the food right off the screen.
5.) The Incredibles - By far the most violent of all Pixar movies, which is both good and bad. I chose it over Toy Story because I think it’s a very good action/adventure movie, and the animation is better than Toy Story. That said, there are some slow sections in The Incredibles. I still like it, but don’t need to see it again anytime soon.
So, now the big question is … where will WALL-E fit into this list after next week?
If you have any favorite Pixar movies, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
June 2, 2008 at 1:04 am
The McGee 4 went to the movies together on Saturday and saw Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and absolutely delightful movie that had plenty to offer both kids and adults.
I was particularly glad that the movie didn’t go way overboard with special effects and sci-fi/fantasy gimmicks. This would’ve been a completely different movie in the hands of someone like, oh … Steven Spielberg. Prince Caspian is almost like an anti-epic — a big, grand film that seemed like it really wants to be smaller.
Now, it’s worth nothing that I enjoyed the movie a lot even though I’ve never read any of the C.S. Lewis novels, nor have I seen The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, the first film in the series. Turns out that there were a couple dialog references and other things I missed by not knowing the books/movie better, but as a complete rookie to Chronicles, I still really enjoyed the story. I confess to feeling lost for about the first 10 minutes, but after that it was clear sailing.
The only negatives for me? 1.) The thick English accents that the kids and some of the Telmarine lords used was hard to understand at times, and 2.) Some of the movements of the Narnians was a bit clunky. I’m referring to the centaurs and minotaurs mainly. But that clunkiness was actually somewhat endearing — it was almost like they were trying to make sure things weren’t perfect.
Overall, on a scale of 1-10, I’ll give Prince Caspian an 8. My 6-year-old loved it, and was crying when it was over — she didn’t want it to end. My 10-year-old liked it, but thought a couple scenes were too scary. Still, good for the whole family.
February 23, 2008 at 4:12 pm
No, it’s not me doing the live blogging.
I have two friends who are very funny, who are Movie Geeks of the first degree, and even have a successful movie podcast. And they are the ones who are live blogging all of Oscar weekend. (Crazy, I’m tellin’ ya.)
If you’re a movie geek, too, you can read as they go along, and join the fun.
February 10, 2008 at 5:53 pm
… I’m going to spill the beans now, in early February, and tell you what you’re getting from me this year. You’re looking at it. Right there. Yep.
The Kingdom on DVD
I watched it Friday night on DirecTV PPV, and here it is almost 48 hours later and I still can’t stop talking about it. W.O.W. easily one of my favorite movies of all-time. (I’m not enough of a movie geek to have a Top 5 list that I can rattle off, or anything like that. Sorry.) It’s a great story line — fictional, yet clearly based in the reality of what’s going on in the world these days. Great action sequences, but nothing that I found to be too over-the-top. Just a terrific film.
So, if you usually get a Christmas present from me, this is what you can expect. Hope you like it!
