The LEGO Movie was eligible, and by all indications the live-action section didn't seem to be a factor. Best guess anyone has is that it seemed too breezy compared to the other two CGI films that made the cut (versus the three non-CG films that year). If that was the case, then Zootopia's more serious tone and subtext…

Something Sam Adams mentioned on twitter: this is the first year any of them can remember that all the winners were decided on the first ballot. Makes things less interesting/volatile, maybe, but their choices are in line with the larger critical trends we've seen this year.

I'd be mildly surprised if it got nominated. The guild that decides the nominees tends to weight traditional animation forms more heavily over CG than critics/audiences do (check out the last six or seven years of nominees), so in addition to Kubo, we may see The Red Turtle, The Little Prince, Your Name and best…

I don't know what this says about me, but I always pick "Frank's Little Beauties" when introducing new people to the show. There's not a subplot or even joke that falls flat: just full-octane, I-can't-believe-I'm-seeing-this insanity (and a rare occasion where the guys do a good turn, transforming the little pageant…

While I bow to no one in my love of his adorable scruffy face - not even you, ma'am! - Reading Rainbow is still LeVar Burton's baby. He's still working with the team on their online services and school programs (I have a friend who used to work for them.)

That'll be the headline for the Taboo premier, probably.

Yet another movie where he covers up his face with a mask. He's like Superman carrying around kryptonite on purpose.

Surely some of them looked good on paper, though? Since Carlos he's worked with David O. Russel and Ridley Scott, and opposite Juliette Binoche and Emily Blunt, some big attempts at prestige pictures, and… er, then a few mortgage-payment movies, but still?

It's the only way for the Mayor of Gay Town to keep his title.

I Am Cuba
I Am Love
I Am Not Your Negro
I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang

Also, even though it's extratextual - the show's good vibes are pretty clear in the behind-the-scenes photos the cast is always posting. It looks like these people genuinely love hanging out with each other, and some of that comes through in their chemistry together.

That's too bad because he's the best thing about it (I kinda love him in it?) Otherwise… it's not my favorite, so…

We just finished watching, and said the same thing: this is pretty much Sense8 through and through, nothing really new to offer, same strengths and weaknesses. Not a criticism per se - oof, some of those lines are clunkers, even adjusting for "sincerity" - but they've gotten even better at editing montages into…

I didn't recognize them by appearance, but guessed it based on context (of course that's where Nomi and Amanita would go).

Hey, it came in No. 11 in the Village Voice film poll, so at least some critics are taking notice!

Agreed - I once told someone Syndromes and a Century was like David Lynch directing a script by Chekhov (in terms of the delicate humanism of the material), which sounds like it shouldn't work, but somehow does. There's a sensual concreteness to his dreams, like you feel like you step inside the frame and walk around,…

Cemetery of Splendor, which I thought was exceptional despite its less than enthusiastic review here. The dreamy sequence where the whole city seems to bathe in the glow of the hospital lights is a standout (and of course, the casual chat with ancient princesses), and the final sequence is a punch to the gut. I loved…

I should have gone with "Doctor, help me put out this fire!"

At some point, you just throw your hands up and say, this is my list goddammit!

I saw The Forbidden Room a year ago and I'm still listening to "The Final Derriere" regularly. Help?