The Great Oscar Baiter

The rules surrounding the Academy Award for Best Original Song are rather complex and mercurial, with adjustments being made in response to any perceived problems. This is, for the most part, a good thing. Let us not forget that the rules did not originally specify that the song in question actually had to be original until one of the winners felt he’d been unjustly rewarded. But some of these fixes seem to be made in an effort to address something that’s not actually broken. And that’s more or less how I feel about the Academy’s decision to limit the number of songs from a single film which can be nominated to two, ostensibly done in response to Enchanted being thrice nominated in the category without receiving a single win. A fairly unnecessary change if you ask me, and a thoroughly avoidable one as well. Because while Enchanted may have had three nominated songs, only two of them were particularly Oscar worthy. So let us take a look at the sad tale of Enchanted’ s third, neglecte...

They say nothing is scarier than the unknown. I’m not sure if I’m inclined to agree with them on that- surely bears are scarier?- but I understand the sentiment. How could I not? I’m a senior in college, facing down the barrel of true adulthood. That’s pretty scary. And who knows what the future holds for us in The Great Oscar Baiter? And perhaps scariest of all- what the hell is Madame Tutli-Putli actually about? Frankly I don’t know. But I know that it’s scary as hell! (via TV Tropes) Directed by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, Madame Tutli-Putli is the final film released by the National Film Board of Canada we'll be covering in our Year in Shorts. (Considering the fact that tomorrow is the last day of our Year in Shorts, I'm confident I haven't made a mistake this time!) Released in 2007, this stop motion follows the titular Madame Tutli-Putli as she and all her worldly belongings take a train voyage to... somewhere. Already this short is starting off on the r...

One film I really like despite not really understanding it at all is Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There. A bizarre, fractured take on the music biopic, I’m Not There tells the story of Bob Dylan by analyzing six distinct points in his career, casting six distinct actors to play him and shooting in six distinct styles. Knowing far less about music than I do about movies (which regular readers of this blog will know is saying something), a lot of the movie’s subtleties and meanings are lost on me, and it’s just a film I sort of vibe with. And that’s perfectly fine! It’s just that I imagine a Bob Dylan fan would have a much more rewarding experience with it, much as a bigger Beatles fan than myself would probably take a lot more away from today’s short, I Met the Walrus. (via Wikipedia) For a multitude of reasons, Josh Raskin's I Met the Walrus is an odd duck of a film. It consists of an edited interview between producer Jerry Levitan and John Lennon, recorded in 1969 after the fourteen ye...

We here at The Great Oscar Baiter are great fans of dark comedies, but they’re awfully hard to pull off. Too often will a film purport itself to be a dark comedy without ever actually trying to be funny , instead merely settling for being clever. And while there’s certainly nothing wrong with being clever, it’s always a bit of a disappointment for me. Films like Dr. Strangelove and The Death of Stalin prove that a film can be dark and hilarious, and as such hold a special place for me. Will Even Pigeons Go to Heaven be funny enough to join their company? Let’s find out! (via Wikipedia) Even Pigeons Go to Heaven is yet another French short, this time directed by Samuel Torneux and released in 2007. It tells the story of Mr. Moulin, a French miser who is saved from a near death experience by a greedy priest. The priest, feigning concern for Moulin's immortal soul, tries to sell him his latest invention- a one-way ticket to heaven. Of course, Moulin didn't save himself a soc...