ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Robert Reynolds This short was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short. There will be spoilers ahead: As the short opens, it's clear that technology has taken over even the job of the Grim Reaper, who gets an alert by radio to collect a client. A con man/priest eavesdrops in order to beat Death to the spot. He runs dead and his motorcycle off the road and comes to the home of the client, who is a miserly type with a red sock filled with notes and coins.The priest/con man convinces the old man he needs something to guarantee he'll go to heaven by building a contraption to "take" him to heaven. The old man hands over the red sock of money and then there's a knock on the door.The ending is hilarious and I won't spoil that here. The title of the short is actually a rather sly joke which becomes apparent once you see the short. This one is on a DVD collection of nominated shorts and is worth tracking down and watching. Most recommended.

evening1 The idea of this animated short, nominated for an Academy Award in 2007, intrigued me.As a New York City resident, I am a frequent observer of pigeons. I'm also a dedicated Francophile so I like anything set in France. And the protagonist is a grizzled older man with a clutterbug bent. As someone who works with older people in their homes, I found this an appealing combination.The super-short short is indeed charming, though it has nothing to do with the urban birds. The notion of a dispatcher for death was quite clever, though the central focus -- a charlatan priest trying to make a buck off mortality - seemed less fresh an idea.Nevertheless, I enjoyed the huckster's resonant French, and it sure was interesting to encounter a French Grim Reaper, whose parting words to le vieux were classic.The film faltered in its final frames, when it resorted to a weak and clichéd attempt at humor when the old man locked himself into the bathosphere. Still, it appears this director has lots of talent. I'll be interested to see where he goes from here.

drystyx This story tries to work as a "black comedy" cartoon short, but it is too long for the feeble joke it tells.An old greedy man is saved by a character who looks like a religious figure, who tries to help him save his soul. The old greedy man is shown some contraption for getting to Heaven. To say more would be to ruin what was probably intended as a "Monty Python" surprise ending, but in fact is just not that unpredictable, and not a bit amusing.A third character enters in the climax, the Grim Reaper, on a motorcycle. There isn't anything funny about a grim reaper on a motorcycle, and it doesn't either make sense, nor make a contrast. It looks more like the writer is just advertising motorcycle sales for himself or someone close. Way too obvious.Monty Python could pull this off, but this was a feeble effort, and a total failure.

dbborroughs This is the story of a priest trying to save the soul of a miserly gentleman by giving him a glimpse of the next life.From a technical aspect this is great film. The detail is wonderful, look at all of the nick knacks in the small cottage, the dreaminess of heaven, and watch how the car races down the road and around the corners with everything jangling about. Its a joy to see. The characters are wonderfully amusing and expressive and I can only imagine what say The Triplets of Belleville would have looked like in this style of animation. The problem is that the characters aren't given much to do. Its basically a long build up to an okay joke.I went searching for the film when it was nominated for an Oscar this morning. Its an amusing story that is good but not great. I can see how in the right frame of mind this is very funny. But it amused me more than it made me smile. I doubt that its going to stick in my memory.