OSCAR
RACE 2008
commentary
by Nathaniel R
Approximately
days until Hollywood's High Holy Night
Animated, Documentary and Shorts Categories
winners in GOLD
Documentary Feature
Interesting trivia note: One of the nominees here, Ellen Kuras, contributed to one of your all time favorite films (I feel it's safe to assume). She was the cinematographer of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The 49 year old has been working on Betrayal, her directorial debut, for over 20 years.
My prediction: Man on Wire merely because it has seemed magnetized for awards. It's had a great run this season. And with Waltz With Bashir out of the way...
My preference: I haven't seen them all yet but my favorite (thus far) is Trouble The Water which is one of the best films of any sort from 2008. The Betrayal
Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath Encounters at the End of the World
Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
The Garden
Scott Hamilton Kennedy Man on Wire
James Marsh and Simon Chin
Trouble the Water
Tia Lessin and Carl Deal96 min (USA)
Official SiteThe journey of a Laotian family and the aftermath of the US secret bombings in Laos during the Vietnam War
99 min (USA)
Official Site
Acclaimed auteur Werner Herzog investigates the beauty and strangeness of Antarctica80 minutes (USA)
Official Site
The story of a 14 acre community garden in LA (the largest in the US) and its very existence threatened 94 minutes (UK/USA)The story of Phillip Petit's walk between the World Trade Center towers in the 70s.
93 minutes (USA)
Official Site
The story of a married couple from the Ninth ward (underwater) and their complex journey that followed Hurricane Katrina
Documentary Short
Prediction: The Conscience of Nhem En, AMPAS clearly likes Okazaki's work and the subject sounds like a riveting one.
Alternate: The Final Inch![]()
The Conscience of Nhem En
Steven Okazaki
(4th nomination in documentary categories!) The Final Inch
Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
Smile Pinki
Megan Mylan The Witness From the Balcony of Room 306
34 min
(English)Nhem En was a teen photographer in 1975 who photographed prisoners before their execution by the Khmer Rouge
39 min
(Hindi)A young girl with a cleft lip suffers social ostracism. A simple surgery could help her
32 min
(English)The Reverend Samuel "Billy" Kyles recalls the last moments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's life and his assassination
Animated
Feature |
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Will Will & Should Win: WALL•E (which should have also been nominated for Best Picture damn them) |
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Kung
Fu Panda Dreamworks / Paramount |
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also eligible this year but they didn't win nominations... Delgo (CGI, US) Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (CGI, US) Dragon Hunters (CGI, France) Fly Me to the Moon (CGI, US) Igor (CGI, US) Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (CGI, US) $9.99 (Stop Motion, Australia) The Sky Crawlers (Traditional, Japan) Sword of the Stranger (Traditional, Japan) The Tale of the Despereaux (CGI, US) and Waltz With Bashir (Flash, Israel) |
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Animated
Short |
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| Pixar's short is the most well known but well known doesn't always count in the categoreis where you have to see the nominees to vote Prediction:
La Maison en Petits Cubes |
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La
Maison en Petits Cubes (House of Small Cubes) Kunio Kato |
Lavatory
-Lovestory Konstantin Bronzit |
Oktapodi Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand |
Presto Doug Sweetland |
This
Way Up Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes |
12
min (Japan) |
10
min (Russia) traditional animation a lonely lavatory attendant finds a secret admirer in one of the stalls |
3
min (France) CG two octopi try to escape a cook in a Greek village |
5
min (USA) CG a magician's assistant gets slapsticky revenge in this hilarious short from Pixar |
8
min (UK) CG father and son morticians have a rough day when a boulder destroys their hearse on the way to a burial |
Live
Action Short |
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| Prediction:
Toyland
It has the most Oscar friendly topic (The Holocaust). But contrary
to popular believe, the Holocaust as topic does not guarantee a
win in any category. It just helps.
So consider this merely a safe guess. |
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| Auf
der Strecke (On the Line) (w/d) Reto Caffi |
Manon
on the Asphalt (w/d) Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont |
New
Boy (p) Tamara Angie (w/d) Steph Green |
The
Pig (p) Tivi Magnusson (d) Dorte Høgh |
Spielzeugland
(Toyland) (p/w/d) Jochen Alexander Freydank |
30
minutes A security guard suffers from a guilty conscience while pursuing the store clerk he loves |
15
minutes (France) a woman in a bicycle accident, has an out of body experience where she sees her friends as they learn of her accident |
11
minutes (Ireland) An African boy, who has left his violent homeland, has trouble in an Irish school. (Adapted from a short story by Roddy Doyle). |
23
minutes (Denmark) A patient is angry about the removal of a painting of a pig in his hospital room. A muslim patient had requested its removal |
13
minutes (Germany) 1942 Germany a story about lies and guilt. A young boy thinks his Jewish neighbors are going to Toyland |
OSCAR
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