Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Keira Brennan The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Maestro" is an animated short film from 10 years ago. It's actually a Hungarian production by writer and director Géza M. Tóth. But don't worry, there is no spoken language in here, so you don't need to be able to understand Hungarian. Anyway, it's pretty short, roughly 4.5 minutes and shows us how a bird, apparently an opera singer, prepares for his great moment on stage. All in all, I was not too impressed by this film here, with the exception of two moments. The first would be when his voice slowly transforms from tough to listen to into wonderful to listen to. The second is the ending. I won't go anymore into detail here, but I have to say it caught me completely by surprise and made me laugh. All in all, I guess I agree with the Oscar nomination because the animation here is fine as well. I even would have preferred it was the winner over the Danish entry. It's also better than the "Ice Age" short film and maybe only slightly inferior to the Pixar entry that year. Still, easily my number one choice is "The Little Match Girl", which was such a wonderful experience and, almost 10 years later, still makes me sad that it did not win. Back to "Maestro", I recommend it and I hope we get a full feature movie from the director at some point, if he manages to make it work. I am not entirely sure if he has it inside him looking at how short this one here is and how strongly it relies on the final twist, but why not give it a go, Mr. Tóth?

Robert Reynolds This short was nominated for the Academy Award, Animated Short category. It's difficult to discuss a five minute cartoon without giving away details, so consider this your spoiler warning: The visuals in this are very good, with the character design particularly-the detail is fascinating. As is to be expected with a five minute short, there is a slender plot here and the timing is key to this working. It's a one-joke premise and the director builds to it magnificently, with the image of a pampered superstar carefully created in a surprisingly short space, with the ending coming as a surprise, at least to me.The trouble is, while most excellent shorts merit repeated viewings (there are animated shorts I've seen dozens of times and they always seem alive and fascinating however often I see them), each time I watch this one, it impresses me a little less than it did before. Knowing the payoff has a lot to do with this (though I've seen Balance at least a dozen times and even knowing the ending makes no difference, as I still get chills every time I watch).The only thing I can figure is that, if you're telling a joke (and that's what Maestro is, ultimately-a visual joke), knowing the ending often reduces the humor.This is on DVD-The 2006 Academy Award Short Films, released by Magnolia and this and the entire disc are well worth watching. Recommended.

TxMike This is one of the short films nominated in 2006 for an Academy Award, it is part of a collection on DVD. It is done is modern computerized animation and is very well made. Watch it if you ever have the chance.The tile of the DVD is "A Collection of 2006 Academy Award Nominated Short Films."SPOILERS - DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM SHORT YET.We see what appears to be a bird who is an opera singer, he is in his dressing room, warming up his vocal cords, while his robotic assistant helps dress him, tend to his makeup, and prepare him for the upcoming performance. It has all the trappings of a real opera singer getting ready. Only at the end do we realize that he is actually inside a clock, and the performance is the hourly chime "coo-coo" in the clock.

Polaris_DiB This short film has two things going for it, and makes the best of both: one, it uses it's clock motif to constantly change the angles, making every moment seem fresh and original while the cuckoo and his attachment make preparations, and two, the clockwork and timing itself rhymes with a constantly changing lighting set-up that gives a lot of life to the short even during times when the angle becomes awkward or something gets in the way.I think timing is the best thing about this film, in every respect. Where the "camera" is at any one point, what it reveals, what we see, and how the field widens as we get closer to the revelation at the end. Then the lighting at the end helps underline said revelation, resulting in the best audience reaction I've seen in years: a pause while the moment is understood, and then hysterical reaction. This short is incredibly creative, even if it really is just a gag with a single punchline.--PolarisDiB