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Once again ShortsHD has rounded up all the Oscar nominees for Best Animated Short, Live Action Short and Documentary Short to take them on the road in separate theatrical programs. It's a great way not only to figure out who might win in these Oscar pool tie-breakers, but it's a wonderful showcase for the kinds of films that don't get theatrical exposure outside of Oscar season. It's not only a worthwhile endeavor for Shorts HD and Magnolia Pictures to bring them to wider audiences, but some of the films are more engaging than their counterparts in the marquee feature races. Here's a rundown.
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
In the first quarter of Undefeated, Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin's transcendent documentary, Manassas High School football coach Bill Courtney paraphrases Heywood Hale Broun's famous quote, "sports do not build character. They reveal it." To Courtney, behavior on and off the field comes down to that rare and essential quality, something he tries mightily to instill in his poverty-stricken North Memphis charges. For those now recoiling at the thought of another inspirational, underdog sports documentary, lay your fears aside. While the film may chart an ostensibly predictable cou...
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The old adage has it that history repeats itself—the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. Apparently, the same holds true of historical dramas about the IRA. They were a virtual subgenre in the 1990s, but were all but killed off by 1996's epic and idiotic Michael Collins, which recast the birth of the Irish Republic as a contest between Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn and Alan Rickman over who gets to sleep with Julia Roberts—in other words, as an Irish Gone with the Wind.
But Collins was the soul of political sophistication compared to Shadow Dancer, an awkward melding of the espionage thriller with the political drama of ideas that was funded in large part with English tax dollars through the BFI and the BBC.
Right from its world premiere in September at the Venice Film Festival, the world's critics were gunning for Madonna's W.E., a uniquely different telling of the story of the famous affair of England's King Edward VIII and American socialite Wallis Simpson, the woman he loved and for whom he abdicated the throne. Opinions improved at the Toronto Film Festival, but following that screening Madonna went back into the editing room and tweaked. The result is an odd, very personal film that the pop star-turned-director has made with tender loving care, but the results of the final final film are mixed.
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Inspiring, real and heartwarming, Big Miracle is something of a miracle itself—a family film everyone in the family can love that doesn't talk down to its audience and makes more salient political points than Free Willy or Dolphin Tale. It's the true story of the attempted rescue in 1988 of three whales trapped beneath the ice in Barrow, Alaska, an effort that brought an international community—continually at odds with each other—temporarily together for the purpose of freeing these magnificent creatures. Box office may not be a huge splash, but word of mouth should be good for this whale of a tale that could drive decent business throughout February due to a dearth of good fare for kids and their restless parents.
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A down-on-his-luck London lawyer is sent to a remote village to wrap up a widow's estate. What he discovers is a town grappling with dark and supernatural secrets. A credible suspense story with a surprisingly bold ending, The Woman In Black is a solid step away from Harry Potter for star Daniel Radcliffe—while it, too, is British and fantastical, the tone is sinister, adult and bleak. While it won't likely do franchise numbers, Woman should play well enough to the grab-your-seatmate date-night crowds.
As soon as he arrives, everyone in the town seems to want Radcliffe's character on the next train out as soon as possible.
This movie will not find an audience. It's got likable stars, a reliable commercial genre and a decent supporting cast, but nobody will turn out to see it, even if it was a labor of love.
But then, you've heard it before: Life isn't fair.
It isn't fair that Rashida Jones doesn't get to be Jennifer Aniston, queen of the contemporary romantic comedy. Jones is attractive and likeable, and as an actress, she's got range in the same way Karen Allen used to be able to play it funny, sexy and serious all at the same time. And like Allen, whom Jones somewhat resembles, Jones has sharp but retractable edges, which as far as the demands of contemporary romcom go means she's overqualified for all the big parts.
