Saturday, January 16, 2010

FB Awards: Editing, Animation, Visual Effects

I know I should be providing Golden Globe Predictions and updating my Oscar pages. Soon... soon... but for now more of my choices for best of the year at the 10th annual FB Awards. You can read this as my Oscar ballot if you must (though I don't do 5 nominees for animated feature -- there's too few of them released for that... and I almost decided to do 5 for visual effects because, honestly, SO many movies use visual effects. Why is that category so small every year?)


While we're on the subject of editing and visual effects, I don't think I can express to you how much I love the banshee taming sequence in Avatar's 'Hallelujah Mountains'. I love it so much that I go all blank and slack-jawed and filled with only wonder and that's not just when I'm watching it but whenever I've thought about it afterwards. Suddenly I wish I had a braid that could conquer wild animals, mythological or otherwise. I'd settle for being able to ride your every day horse hear on Earth. I've only tried it once and it scared the hell out of me. Maybe I should try hang gliding instead? You can pretend you're riding a dragon... or, er, hanging from one.

It's not just Avatar. There's more love expressed for (500) Days of Summer, Inglourious Basterds and District 9, too, among others.

11 comments:

Andrea said...

That was my favorite part of Avatar too. Just when I was getting mad at Cameron for having a not-so-remarkable story or setting (it's blue-cat Native Americans, for heavens' sake), I just completely loved the hair-connection between the Na'avi and the animals. Were they called banshees? What a terrible name.

Richter Scale said...

They're actually called Ikrans (banshees are the names the humans gave them), and the bond they do with their hair, that's called Tsaheylu (sorry, seen it twice, becoming a nerd for it). And, yes, when it comes to visual storytelling, there is no one like Cameron. As for Animation, this was a banner year for them, but I think you hit on the right three there Nat (even though I really liked The Princess and the Frog).

adam k. said...

Is Mary and Max even eligible for the oscar?

Anonymous said...

I swear all your nominees are perfect. Love, love, love the (500) Days of Summer mention.

It's really a pity about Mary and max. I'm Australian with an American pen friend, so I can REALLY understand it. But it was perfect. I have five nominees for this awesome year in animation. My rankings of the animation nominees (for me)....


01. Fantastic Mr. Fox
02. Coraline
03. Up
04. Mary and Max
05. The Princess and the Frog


Great, great nominees. But personally, I'm a little over Avatar.

Katey said...

I really want you to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It wouldn't displace any of the top three, but it's about as enjoyable a movie as there was this year.

Glenn said...

Adam, it definitely is eligible.

Wonderful set of nominees. Only one editing nomination aligns with mine (Avatar), we'd match up 3/3 in make up though.

adam k. said...

I could actually see Mary & Max nabbing the 5th spot then. You never know. I suppose Cloudy kinda has a claim on it, but I doubt it's too solid... Ponyo, A Christmas Carol, 9 and some others will be getting votes. I could see a surprise happening with this movie everyone seems to love so much.

Unknown said...

How do you choose between those 3 amazing animated films? All 3 would/could be winners if released in different years.
And come on, make an exception on your NYC rule for Mary & Max! It's not getting anywhere near Oscar so let it be a Film Bitch Nominee!!!

Travis said...

Hopefully the Editing nomination for "500 Days" carries over to Oscar, though that's probably just wishful thinking on my part.

Bill_the_Bear said...

I'm amazed that "Mary and Max didn't have a NYC release! It played 3 or 4 weeks here in Montréal. I'd definitely love to see it get an Oscar nomination.

Anonymous said...

Only three nominees for Best Animated Feature is a joke. And you obviously haven't seen The Princess and the Frog yet.