Animated Reviews: Ride Your Wave and Weathering With You

Watched a decent pair of films this month, no big surprise that both were from Japan.

Created by Masaaki Yuasa and Science SARU, Ride Your Wave was a good movie, but it's one that I don't ever want to see again as it touches on some really emotional concepts: the death of a loved one and dealing with the resulting grief. Ride Your Wave was a sad movie about dealing with grief but it is told in a lighthearted and quirky fashion which helps ease the mood of the film and keeps it from being a depressing film. Basically, when one of the love interests dies, the main character starts seeing them in water every time they hear their favorite song. I won't spoil the rest of the story, but watch this film with a box of tissues handy. Ride Your Wave was a beautiful departure from Yuasa's earlier trippier films (like Kick-Heart and Night is Long, Walk On Girl) that showcases how he has the range to tackle more serious stories.

The second film was Weathering With You: the story of a pair of paranormal researchers who are looking for a girl that could (possibly) control the weather. Directed by Makoto Shinkai, of Your Name fame, 'Weathering' was a beautiful film with lots of richly defined characters. But cinematically, I still felt like I've seen it all before. Don't get me wrong, it was a decent film and well worth seeing in the theater with it's richly illustrated backgrounds and lush scenery. Maybe not one I'd buy on DVD and add to my collection, but it was a film I'd watch again, though admittedly for some odd reasons. Y'see, while the main story was interesting enough, I honestly found the subplot with Paranormal Research Keisuke Suga who was trying to rebuild his life (with assistance from his niece Natsumi) in order to be reunited with his daughter far more interesting that the main storyline. I guess that was just where my head was at when I watched it, but his story of dealing with grief while still striving to be a good father really resonated with me.

 All-in-all, both films were quite enjoyable and a good watch for a rainy Saturday afternoon or an evening in.

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*images from official movie presskits found on the GKIDS website

Animated Thoughts: The 47th Annie Awards

Well, the 47th Annie Awards ceremony has come and gone. Time for the yearly "random thoughts" I had during the broadcast:

• Opened by honoring Richard Williams. Nice. Very touching words from his daughters and colleague.
• I immediately put Shadowmachine's Kaiju Confidential on my list of animations to track down and watch.
• "Saving the polar bears" in... Antarctica... Um... whut?
• Please God, let Fox and the Pigeon win Best Student Film!
• YES!!!!! Congrats to Michelle Chua for such a beautiful film. One of my favorites from Ottawa the other year.
• Best Short Subject... Hrm. Haven't seen 'Uncle Thomas' yet. Was hoping that Acid Rain would win -- though I reserve the right to change my opinion once I see the others in that category.
• Hi Jerry! :)
• Oh please, Love, Death, and Robots (The Witness) is nominated for Best Production Design - TV/Media!!! Let an adult-themed animation win...
• Heh, the Clutch Cargo gag was pretty clever. Loved the mini history lesson.
• Love Death And Robots (Sonnie's Edge) wins again! This time in the category of Music TV Media. A great night for adult animation!
• Loved Charles Solomon's part on early CG animation honoring Dr. James Blinn with the Ub Iwerks award. Dr. Blinn sounded like a fascinating man. Wonder if there's a Ted talk or podcast out there with him.
• Oh please, let The Secret War win Best FX TV/Media... that would be just awesome!
• And another win for Love Death and Robots. This has got to be my favorite Annie Award ceremony ever!
• And the award for Editorial TV/Media goes to... Love Death and Robots (Alternate Histories)!
• Henry Selick wins the Winsor McCay award, and is well deserved. Would love to hang out with him at the OIAF picnic and listen to him tell stories about his career.
• Satoshi Kon posthumously awarded the Winsor McCay award. Very well deserved. A life and a career that ended far too soon.
• Y'know, as much as I like Patrick Warburton (we love you Brock Sampson), I'm really enjoying this new format where there are fewer monologues and they 'appear' to have given more time to the award recipients' speeches.
• Hrm... The Hospital by Amazon Studios... looks interesting. Time to take advantage of that Amazon Prime subscription.
• Love, Death & Robots missed out on the Best Storyboarding for T.V./Media award. Would have loved a full sweep but happy that they won at least four of the five categories they were nominated in.
• Kind of wished I'd watched I Lost My Body at Ottawa... honestly glad it won the award. Going to have to re-up my Netflix subscription and track it down.
• Lotta love for Netflix this year!

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners. See you next year! :)

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Animated Events: 2020 Academy Awards Nominees

oscars.org

This week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released the nominations for the 92nd Annual Academy Awards.

The following are the films nominated for Best Animated Feature and Best Animated Short Film. 

Best Animated Feature:

• How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World - Dean DeBlois, Bradford Lewis, and Bonnie Arnold
• I Lost My Body - Jeremy Clapin and Marc Du Pontavice
• Klaus - Sergio Pablos, Jinko Gotoh, and Marisa Roman
• Missing Link - Chris Butler, Arianne Sutner, and Travis Knight
• Toy Story 4 - Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen, and Jonas Rivera

Best Animated Short:

• Dcera (Daughter) - Daria Kascheeva
• Hair Love - Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver
• Kitbull - Rosana Sullivan and Kathryn Hendrickson
• Memorable - Bruno Collet and Jean-Francois le Corre
• Sister - Siqi Song

Additionally, the following two animated feature films had nominations in the category of Music (Original Song):

• 'I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away' from Toy Story 4; Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• 'Into The Unknown' from Frozen II; Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

As always, for those who would like to see these short films before the awards ceremony, they will be playing at the Detroit Institute of Arts' Detroit Film Theater in January and February.

The schedule from the DIA's website is as follows:

• Friday, January 31, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Saturday, February 1, 2020 - 2:00 PM
• Saturday, February 1, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Sunday, February 2, 2020 - 1:00 PM
• Sunday, February 2, 2020 - 6:00 PM
• Wednesday, February 5, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Friday, February 7, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Saturday, February 8, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Sunday, February 9, 2020 - 1:00 PM
• Wednesday, February 12, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Thursday, February 13, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Friday, February 14, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Saturday, February 15, 2020 - 7:00 PM
• Sunday, February 16, 2020 - 1:00 PM

The Academy Awards will be broadcast on Sunday, February 9, 2020.

Congratulations to all the nominees and to all the filmmakers who submitted their films for consideration.

* The Academy Awards and the Oscar are registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.