You know that person that who always wins the Oscar Office pool? That New York refugee who dresses in black, smokes cloves, bemoans the loss of "the theater" and will only go see flix (I'm sorry "cinema") when Jim "I'm Not Really An American Director" Jarmusch is lensing. Ya know the Oscar equivalent of your office mate who makes "Big Dance" picks off of cutest mascot.

I am your edge this year!

I have actually seen the Animated and Live Action shorts! This may seem like a softball review because let's face it. these have already been nominated for Oscars. As we all know Oscar rarely makes a mistake in quality nominations, it's the winner that will be under constant scrutiny for the rest of his life. Each one of the films will sway a certain part of the academy and I have labeled these Quickies accordingly.

If you would like to check out the Shorts you can! Starting February 15th there is a special engagement at the Landmark in West LA and Laemmle's Playhouse Pasadena. There is a separate admission for each set.

I MET THE WALRUS; Canada Nominee: Josh Raskin. In 1969, fourteen year old Jerry Levitan snuck into John Lennon's Hotel Room to get an interview. Rather than calling security, Lennon gave the kid five minutes. This should be in the documentary short category. The soundtrack is a less than professional real dialogue with one of the great icons of the last generation. Drawn in an ink and paper format reminiscent of a boys doodling, the short is in constant swirls of imagery influenced by "Yellow Submarine," "Monty Python," and (I think) "School House Rock" It really captures Lennon at the height of his phil-optomism long before it was drawn down into reality of lawsuits and residuals. WALRUS gets the nostalgia or the “I used to be Cool” vote.

MADAME TUTLI-PUTLI Canada, Nomineee Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski. This computer animated piece is a noir surrealistic nightmare. A woman (with a ton of baggage) boards a train to god knows where and finds god knows what. I have to admit, I have no idea what actually happened in this movie.. but it RULED!  MADAME contains skin shivering animated sequences I have seen. By far, this could be the scariest movies I have seen in five years. Eli Roth could learn a thing or two from this flick. MADAME gets the stoner vote.

MY LOVE (MOYA LYUBOV) Russia Oscar Nominee: Alexander Petrov. Shot in an ever evolving pallete influenced by Monet , MY LOVE, tells the story of young Russian boy who falls for two women; the girl next door and the woman of mystery. Along the way he walks a fine line between Love and Lust, while searching for the purest for of love. Definitely the prettiest of the six films, I had a hard time getting engaged as it felt pretentious. MY LOVE gets the Artsy Vote.

PETER AND THE WOLF  UK Oscar Nominee Suzie Templeton & Hugh Welchman. This is a re-telling of the classic children's story with an eeevil edge. It’s too scary for the kids. AWESOME! This short takes "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" style of animation and really slicks it up.   Peter could have the creepiest on-screeen persona since the kid in "The Tin Drum." It’s s great new turn on a classic. PETER gets the Music Snob vote.

MEME LES PIGEONS VONT AU PARADIS (EVEN PIGEONS GO TO HEAVEN) France Nomines Samuel Tourneux & Simon An old miser is approached by a priest who claims to have a machine that is the E-Ticket to heaven. The cost-- his life savings of course! This is a well told nine minute joke with an unexpected punchline. The computer animation really made me wish that I could see this one in 3-D. It's short and tight filmmaking that never strays from the story. PIGEONS gets the "Cartoons should be Funny" vote.

So who is the big winner? My personal favorite was MADAME TUTLI-PUTLI however, the Academy is chock full of political outrage this year. I would say look for "I MET THE WALRUS" If the entire academy was voting. but only Animators vote on this. So, count on the the timeless story and slick animation of "Peter and the Wolf" to take home the prize.

Oscar Live Action Shorts piece is up now. Animated going sometime this week! Check Back!

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