... for best picture by the Los Angeles Film Critics:
"Wall-E" was voted Best Picture of the Year, it was announced today by Lael Loewenstein, President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA). The runner up was "The Dark Knight."
LAFCA's 34th annual achievement awards ceremony will be held Monday, January 12 at the InterContinental Los Angeles.
As it happens, I just saw Wall-E. (I never want to rush out and do things precipitously, like see a movie when it first comes out.) Good picture.
Whether this gives the little robot a big boost for a cluster of Oscars (c), I have no idea. But it's nice that an animated feature gets the nod from the L.A. Film Critics. It's way past time that a cartoon picked up a gold statue for "Best Picture."
They can't give the top Academy Award to a live-action picture every damn year, can they?
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17 comments:
"They can't give the top Academy Award to a live-action picture every damn year, can they?"
I agree. But do you really believe Wall-E is deserving of it this year? I thought it wasn't even in the top 3 of best animated films of the year. Let alone best film .. period.
Maybe I missed the last round of kool-aid, but Wall-E lost my interest after 20 or so minutes.
I agree. Not the best animated film this year.
Wall - E definitely has a great first act.
You either buy into the fat space ship passengers or you don't.
I did.
Although I understand how for many, it didn't work. And that there were other, better candidates.
But then, it's a subjective call, is it not?
For me, it wasnt the "fat humans," it was the story arc of the captain (or lack thereof), the weak-motived antagonist (autopilot), the goofy malfunctioning robots, and the plot point of going back to earth when only ONE plant had grown.
Actually, there's many more things that made Wall-e's 2nd and 3rd act not work if I think about it enough.
The problem with WALL-E is that the action and realization are taken away from the hero - a fundamental story mistake that one would not expect from Pixar.
http://tinyurl.com/666d79
KG
I just read your blog Kevin. Couldnt have said it better myself.
Well, maybe I could have, but hell, Im lazy.
Wall-e is a BRILLIANT film on every level, and along with The Dark Knight and Doubt one of the best films of the year. It created an entire, entirely beleivable world, with characters that myself and audiences world wide have responded to tremendously. The acting was subtle, and demanded the audience bring something to the table, and didn't spoon feed the usual crap animation does to the audience. Wall-e & Eve apparently are characters audiences identify with and care about a lot, and I count myself in on that. Wall-e is the simple constant that made everyone else in the film question the purpose of their existence, and changed the world of the film.
The look of the film is fantastic--so stylized and also so complete. The homage to older science fiction films is fun, and has a more consistant look/tone and more caricature and humour than any of the recent Star Wars movies.
The acting is so restrained and subtle, and breaths in a way few films are able to do (and not many, if any, animated ones have ever).
The technical achievement of creating such a complete world is staggering as well. The sets, compositions, textures, effects, and lighting come together with such complete richness it rarely calls attention to itself. Doing THAT with a computer is incredibly difficult.
But it's the strong story/structure and the clearly defined personalities of the characters people respond most to.
I've been in the feature animation business 30 years, and have not been moved by a film--live action or animated--as much as I was after seeing Wall-e. Since it's the best reviewed film of the year, and has made tons of dough, I guess I'm in the very large majority.
I have no idea who this geiger person is, but I seriously doubt he would know where to begin to make a film that even approaches the greatness of Wall-e.
>>>I have no idea who this geiger person is, but I seriously doubt he would know where to begin to make a film that even approaches the greatness of Wall-e.<<<
Calm down Mr. Lass, please take some fresh air.
>I have no idea who this geiger person is
Someone who posts under his actual name. :-)
Cheers,
KG
And obviously someone who doesn't know what he's talking about. Especially when it comes to story.
I stand by every observation I made in my blog regarding the weakness of WALL-E as a hero, and why.
Care to refute the points, or merely criticize the person anonymously?
KG
I also agree with you completely, Kevin. I stopped caring about Wall-E after the first act. In the remainder of the movie he was relegated to simply trying to find and impress Eve. The story revolved around the Captain, a character we had just met and I had no real interest in caring about. If the movie had focused more on Wall-E and Eve's relationship I probably would have cared more.
Exactly!
Kevin, you're points about the story structure, loss of focus, and how Wall-E morphs into almost a prop are all well taken.
I still enjoyed the film, even if it mutated into "2001" with a happy ending...
For what it's worth, I enjoyed it as well, and have watched it three times. :-)
There's a lot of value there... but also more that could have been accomplished. We should always aspire to more.
KG
>>I've been in the feature animation business 30 years, and have not been moved by a film--live action or animated--as much as I was after seeing Wall-e. Since it's the best reviewed film of the year, and has made tons of dough, I guess I'm in the very large majority.<<
Wow, pass some of that stuff my way!
Something tells me you are a student fresh out of school having had no time to drop the fanboy love.
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