Still working my way through the shorts, but few that I have seen have been good too.
Speaking of shorts...my annual post. This year I was only able to get out to see the animated and the live action in theaters. Luckily four of the documentaries are streaming, so I only missed one.
Animated: Both the animated and documentary categories were strong this year IMO. But as mentioned previously, the most brilliant of the animated, and in fact my favorite in all three categories this year, is "My Year of D
icks." Ever wonder what it's like to be a 15-year-old girl? Believe me, you don't
really want to know, but this short nails it. Plus, it's hilarious and fantastically animated.
My second favorite of the year, "An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It," would be a more-than deserving winner in any other year. It's stop-motion animation and cleverly breaks down the fourth wall with the audience - it's unique and fun. I think one of these two will win the Oscar, but I do have a bit of fear that "The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse" might sneak in there. This one is absolutely beautifully animated of the group but so full of empty platitudes that it was literally laughable to me. However, it is one of those shorts with huge producer (J.J. Abrams) and celebrity backing (I do give them an extra point for having Idris Elba as one of the voices), which get it some support. I've noticed
usually that the animated award doesn't seem to be affected by that, though, other than the year that stupid Kobe short won.
Another excellent short in this category is "Ice Merchants," which is a wordless and gorgeous story of a father and child who've experienced loss. Hard to describe - just be sure to see this one. You can skip the fifth entry, "The Flying Sailor." Everyone is the theatre seemed to be befuddled by this one. This one does, however, unlike "My Year of Dicks," actually feature an animated ****.
I'll start a new post for the other categories.