OSCAR 2011 PREDICTIONS: Animated Feature

Everyone is still salting their wounds over last year's tumultuous and difficult year for animated films. Between "Gnomeo and Juliet", "Mars Needs Moms", and "Cars 2", the animated group that's always been scrambling for Academy success took a beating in 2011. This year has a steady course of correction to that problem, with "Arrietty", "The Lorax", "The Pirates: Band of Misfits", "Brave", "ParaNorman", "Wreck-It Ralph", and "Rise of the Guardians" all vying for something more than simple entertainment. It's a lot more interesting to talk about the possibilities those film hold than to talk about the competition this year.

It's not going to go any other way than in favor of "Rango", as it well should. The film has the benefits of being cinematically unorthodox, massively entertaining, and the first animated film made by Industrial Light and Magic. It's a solid bet for either substance or craft, and there's no other film I feel deserves to win. I haven't had the pleasure or the enthusiasm to see three of the films on the list, so the only other one I can vouch for is "Kung Fu Panda 2". It's far from the most original film in the world, and indeed works off of the same template from the previous film. Doesn't change the fact that it's an effective formula that offers up plenty memorable action set-pieces.

OSCAR 2011 PREDICTIONS: Original Score

The Academy bias going on this year is simply overwhelming. I wouldn't believe you if you handed me the list of nominees, unassociated with the Oscars, and told me the choices were made by more than just one person. There's simply no diversity going on here anymore. It's to be expected that they would hand two nominations to John Williams for work that honestly isn't that emotion drumming. And of course they're going to hand nods to "The Artist" and "Hugo". It's perfunctory at this point to hand as many nominations to the films at the head of the race. I'm just glad that something as low key as "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" managed to actually make it in.

But I was honestly surprised not to see Alexandre Desplat not here for his expansively emotional work on "Deathly Hallows: Part 2". The film grabbed a couple of nominations this year, or at least enough for the Academy to consider it a sufficient sendoff. Score seemed like an automatic in, or I at least expected Desplat to get in for something. Maybe "Ides of March", since that had quite a prolific anthem to it. One wishes some edge made its way into proceedings with "Hanna" or "Dragon Tattoo", but not so. The voting bodies aren't ones for things that stretch the boundaries of music. They're more interested in dutiful towing of the line.

AWARDS 2011: "Artist" & "Tintin" Share PGA Glory

I can't say I'm truly excited for this awards season, or at least not yet. I don't have a single thing against "The Artist", but I don't feel nearly as much enthusiasm as I have in previous years. I suppose "The King's Speech" effectively snuffed that out when it pulled a dreaded sweep of the Guild and Academy Awards. Still, it's nice to see that I'm not in complete hatred of the film that's leading surge for the 2011-2012 awards season. It's less nice to see "The Adventures of Tintin" take the Animated honors away from films that are actually animated, such as the anyways superior "Rango". Nothing much enthusiastic, but what can you expect of a year like 2011?

Producer of the Year in Theatrical Motion Pictures: "The Artist"

Producer of the Year in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures: "The Adventures of Tintin"

Producer of the Year in Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures: "Beats, Rhymes, and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest"

Box Office Update: "Impossible" End to the Year

At this point, I'm just sick of the negativity surrounding the analysis of the box office. Not the box office itself, as it's doing pretty damn well. I can see the top ten of this weekend doing well in the coming month, and an obvious surge for "The Artist" is coming when the nominations eventually do come. It's wise of the Weinstein Company to hold that back just long enough for it to really bring audiences in later on. For now, the box office gold is being spread pretty evenly, since there's nothing to really hog the spotlight. I don't think that'll change in December of this year either, but it's still an honest earnings.

"Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" overtook "Sherlock Holmes" as far as total box office goes, with it likely heading to finish at or above $200 million. That seals the deal for a fifth film, after all the work this franchise has done. "Alvin and the Chipmunks" continues to do well, as we knew it would, and the same almost goes for "War Horse". I have an equal interest in seeing either of them in theaters, or ever for that matter. And in spite of some perceived-to-be-poor opening numbers for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", it bounced back properly to bring its total up to $60 million, on its way to +$100 million. I'd consider that a success for a franchise starter based on a Swedish novel. And the rest is the rest, but it's still an more than modest improvement on last weekend.

Weekend Report: Into the Bright Night

This weekend is where all the cards are put on the table as far as the 2011 endgame is concerned. The box office remains the barest of battle grounds as far as the awards season is concerned, with the holiday vacation usually being when most head out to the Oscar players of the season. Either that, or they head out to whatever commercial plays are strongest in the market. Alas, this year is proving about as disappointing as the last. We know that this can be quite a successful frame, if marketed right. The only film that seems to have the advantage, presently anyway, is "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol". It's working off of the desperation for the basic need of fun entertainment, and it is proving quite fruitful. Well played Brad Bird.

So where is the disadvantage? So far, and it's painfully unlikely as well, but "The Adventures of Tintin". People just aren't going for the commercial Spielberg play, even though it has proven to be decent fun. It's got a tough time ahead of it this weekend. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" has things better off, preying on the lovers of the book franchise, and Fincher's own marketed gatherers. "We Bought a Zoo" chose to open on Friday, so no word quite yet on how that will do, but I'd definitely imagine it would be quite the crowd-pleasing heart-warmer. Action whatever "The Darkest Hour" doesn't seem to have any market in the glut of the weekend, and is bound to lose out to "War Horse", which may or may not come sweeping people off their feet with dunder-headed tear-jerking. And that's the long and short of this weekend.

Film Review: "The Adventures of Tintin"

Let it be known, that the Spielbergian adventure flick has not gone out of style. Three years after he stained his career image permanently with "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", Spielberg puts out two films this year. One of them is the Oscar play, as much expected and maligned by myself. But to be perfectly honest, it's always been his more commercial plays that caught my attention, which is an ironic reversal of how things usually work. It's when he's not searching for meaning, and rather searching for thrills, that he strikes his strongest films, and also his weakest, but they are anything but banal. How is he the exception to the rule? An experience in cinema that is both his gift and his bane.

"The Adventures of Tintin" isn't an explosive return to greatness for Steven Spielberg, but it is a rollicking ride of a film. Based on the Herge comic series, the first film in Spielberg and Peter Jackson's co-operative film trilogy spends no immense amount of time establishing the Tintin character. From the first minute after the uppity animated opening, he's shown as eager, ambitious, and pretty much your zero qualms protagonist. Does he need to be a lot more? No, but we would damn sure like him to be. If Herge never gave him ample dimension, writers Steve Moffat, Edgar Wright, and Joe Cornish could have taken a bit of license with this one. But it's never really distracting, so there's that.

For Your Anticipation: Why Do You Ask?

It's a touch of irony that Spielberg's strongest film this year is the commercial play, but also well in keeping with the times. "The Adventures of Tintin" is a far cry from Spielberg's opposing film "War Horse", as well as an hour shorter. It's big. It's adventurous. And it's using the emotion diluting efforts of motion capture, which still don't quite work. All the same, I don't think I ever said that this was going to be anything other than fun, which it still seems to be.

Films to See in 2011: December

Apologies that this edition is late, as is pretty much everything else having to do with this site. You can expect that trend to continue at least for the next week, after which things will get back to normal. More than that, with the critics awards popping up everywhere and the year's end looming as a deadline to be met, you'll see a grand flood of news coming pretty soon. Concerning this month, two of my most anticipated films are already out, be it in very limited releases. "Sleeping Beauty", which I'll get more into later on, is just a small piece of this month which seems ever so promising. I've already effused about my excitement surrounding "Shame". It still looks fantastic, despite a share of reviewers thinking differently.

We get a considerable chunk of new releases this week, with Warner Bros. bound to pull in hefty audiences with "New Years Eve". A cast that star-studded isn't assembled for accolades. Meanwhile the Jonah Hill vehicle "The Sitter" looks to grab its more "mature" comedic audiences, especially given the more than amusing trailer that hit a few weeks back. Personally, I'm much more excited that "We Need to Talk About Kevin" is finally hitting for audiences this week. Out of mild curiosity, "W.E." is also heading out this weekend. So that's... something.

And then the rest of the month finds itself with too many blockbusters than it knows what to do with. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked"... yeah, I've got nothing. Don't do that to your children. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" looks to nail the same crowd as the first film, and if it doesn't look at all fantastic, it should be a generally interesting ride. "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" is still very much up in the air, but I'd like to think that Cruise and Brad Bird have something good here. And of course there's "The Adventures of Tintin", "War Horse", "The Darkest Hour", and "We Bought a Zoo", but who really cares? My interest strains for three particular films this month, and you can find them after the jump.

Carpet-Bagging: Animated Feature Submissions to 18

The Oscars continue their slow gallop to relevance within conversation, though we're still widely confused about what could and will happen in the races this year. But at least we can start making finite guesses about one particular race, that being the Best Animated Feature category. The list of submitted titles has been announced, and the two pics whose mere presence is worth talking about are "The Adventures of Tintin" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked". Having not seen anything from the latter, and still assuming they're doing what they've always done, I'm kind of surprised, but I won't get too much into it. No way in hell it makes the shortlist. And I'm also curious about "The Smurfs", but that's under the same area as "Alvin".

"Tintin", on the other hand, almost has a guaranteed spot in the nominations. There's been a great deal of positive word after the film's UK opening this past weekend. I'd consider it amongst the frontrunners of this year, as there's even severe doubt that "Cars 2" will even be nominated. If I were to lay my guesses on the nominations here, assuming there's five, I'd say the other four slots would be filled by "Chico and Rita", "A Cat in Paris", "Kung Fu Panda 2", and "Rango" tied for the lead. But that's just a far off guess. Happy to hear any other theories. Comment away!

"The Adventures of Tintin"

"Alois Nebel"
"Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked"
"Arthur Christmas"
"Cars 2"
"A Cat in Paris"

"The Adventures of Tintin" Trailer

In the wake for its London premiere, "The Adventures of Tintin" has come out as the oddest little delight. Sure, it's easy to undercut its merits with things like its Spielbergian heritage and the reprehension to motion capture, but it's always looked like decent fun. And reviews have certainly helped form that persona, and what was once a skeptical effort is now gaining a great deal of clamor and appreciation. There's a likelihood that this probably will be the best Spielberg film this year, much to the fall of "War Horse".

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of The Unicorn" Trailer

I guess it was silly to get my hopes up for this one based on that teaser. Yes, there were a few overtly evident lines, but it looked pretty exciting. This more entire look is still pretty, but it's drowned out by the murky and all too self-important dialogue. I guess this one is playing to the kiddie crowd first and foremost, and that leaves me dissatisfied. So it was fun while it lasted, but The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn is now largely dismissive. 

"The Adventures of Tintin" Teaser

Apparently there are a lot of people who are extremely excited for The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn. The title is enough to make me question that, even if it is from one of the books the film is based on. Furthermore, I'm not at all a fan of motion-capture. I think it's a costly method of animation that fails at conveying further emotion. A $50 million animated film renders more success than a $150 million motion capture flick. That being said, it might well suit this particular film, and the trailer is enough to get me somewhat excited. It's only a teaser, so what more can we expect?

First Look: Adventures of Tintin

At this point, I can't help but beg such filmmakers as Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis to just stop making animated films 100% from motion capture. Not only does it drain the characters of any emotion whatsoever, but it costs more than to make a simple Pixar/Dreamworks style animated feature. All this money is going towards a film that will likely feel too strange for audiences to truly embrace. I must admit, I was kind of looking forward to seeing what Stephen Spielberg and Peter Jackson would bring to The Adventures of Tintin, but I'd much rather see a couple of live actors do their best with the work than a few puppets made out of moist CG-clay. It pains me to see once great directors brought down to such a demeaning form of filmmaking. Anyway, here's your first look at Stephen Spielberg 2011 animated adventure, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn. Yes. That seriously is the title of this film.