Annie Awards Nominations 2017

Yesterday the LA branch of the International Animated Film Society (ASIFA – Hollywood) announced their nominations for the 44^th Annie Awards. So, here I am...ready to cover them once again. Let's not waste anymore time.

Let's start with best animated feature. No big surprises in this category. The one tiny surprise is that KungFu Panda 3 got in there. This nomination is probably just filling up the list. As to which film will win, there are three major contenders for this category. They are: Zootopia, Kubo, and Moana. Finding Dory has an outside shot of winning (it is, after all, Pixar – so you cannot count them out). If I had to pick one, it would be Zootopia.

Best Animated Feature – Independent – I honestly am not familiar with any of these movies, so my best prediction would have to be The Red Turtle (it's Studio Ghibli, so it's a safe bet).

Now, as for best music, this is the one of the few major upsets. Moana is NOT nominated in this category. I thought it would be a shoe-in for this category because it is an animated musical and musicals usually do very well in this category (such as Frozen). But, the movie that took its place was Batman: Return of the Caped Crusader. I honestly didn't even know it was eligible since it was a direct-to-dvd movie. As for what's going to win, it's up in the air since Moana was left out, but I think that Hans Zimmer has a good chance of winning for his work in The Little Prince.

As for directing, I predict the directing duo of Byron Howard and Rich Moore for Zootopia. My runner-up would be Travis Knight for Kubo. For best voice acting, this is another big surprise. Ellen DeGeneres was not nominated for Finding Dory. I think it will be Jason Bateman for Zootopia. And, now for the final category, writing. I predict Zootopia (no contest).

And, just to let you know, I've only seen three of the movies I was talking about today. Here are the movies and my opinion of them. Zootopia – Brilliant. Finding Dory – a great movie. The Little Prince – Decent. I hope to see more by the end of the season. Goodnight, and Bee Happy!

By Mr. Bee 
For the complete list of all the Annie nominees, please visit  
http://annieawards.org/nominees/ 
copyright 2016 Mr. Bee Studio International All rights belong to Mr. Bee and webmaster Wesley M. and if anybody breaks this copyright they will have to spend ten years as my personal slave, and thanks for your understanding.

The Governors Awards 2016

Now two years ago, I did a blog entitled “The Death of the Oscars”. And, in that, I was very unhappy with the Governors Awards because instead of live-streaming it, they blogged it. And then last year, they didn't do either. So what you might be wondering this year is what they did with it. The answer is, I don't know. I was out when the ceremony was going on, so I really don't know what they did with it this year. So, the only thing I can say is, congratulations to JACKIE CHAN, ANNE V. COATES, LYNN STALMASTER AND FREDERICK WISEMAN. And, I forgot to mention this in the beginning, but welcome to my awards season coverage. And, by the way, here are two movies that you may want to keep an eye out for this season; Birth of a Nation and La La Land. So, Goodnight, and Bee Happy!™

By Mr. Bee

 

 

 

copyright 2016 Mr. Bee Studio International All rights belong to Mr. Bee and webmaster Wesley M. and if anybody breaks this copyright they will have to spend ten years as my personal slave, and thanks for your understanding.

Frost/Nixon

Hello, we are one week before the election (or the apocalypse).  Last, we reviewed “W” about George W. Bush.    Now we will review Frost/Nixon which is about the interviews between Frost and Nixon in the '70s.  So, let's not waste anymore time.  

Background:

I have failed to do my research on this and my other homework assignments.  So, I guess you can impeach me.

Plot:

This movie centers around David Frost who was a british talk show host. It also focuses on Richard M Nixon former president of the United States. Now that we have the characters out of the way, let’s get to the actual plot. David Frost wants to get fame in America so he decides to see if he can interview former President Nixon.

Opinion:

The acting in this movie is phenomenal,Michael Sheen does an awesome job as David Frost. Frank Langella is Nixon as you do not see Frank Langella , you see Richard Nixon. There is one bizzarre thing that the did, it is shot in a documentary style which is not bad but they also had a bunch of the actors be talking heads as they are being interviewed for a documentary. This is where it would be better, if it were told in flash backs and the present day be them making a documentary about these events ( but nope they did not do that). The writing was really good and the music was good as well .

On one hand this is 10 times better than W , but given that wierd choice to have talking heads , I unfortunately had to take off several points. That is why I’m giving Frost / Nixon 3 out of 5 stars.

I won’t be posting another blog until after the election so I have some advice to all the voters and that is every one of you , think long and hard about who you are planning on voting for . Really consider if they are the right person for that office. Good Night and Pray for our Country -Bee Happy Everyone!  

By Mr Bee 

copyright 2016 Mr. Bee Studio International All rights belong to Mr. Bee and webmaster Wesley M. and if anybody breaks this copyright they will have to spend ten years as my personal slave, and thanks for your understanding.

images courtesy of  Comcast Corporation and Mango Bollywood respectively.

The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration

Here we are. We are at the 10th movie of The Land Before Time series. By this point, the Universal executives have totally lost their minds. There’s really not much else to say, so let’s find out if they actually put effort into this one (spoiler alert: no).

Background

This movie is directed by Charles Grosvenor and he has directed several other Land Before Times that we have already reviewed (and the next 3 movies that we are reviewing). And that’s about it. Nobody went to the effort to put up behind the scenes facts about this movie. Of course can you blame them? I would go back in time and stop this movie from being made (correction, I will go back in time and stop every single sequel of this series from being made).

Plot

All the longnecks are having this bizarre dream (and of course longnecks’ minds have to be connected in some way in order for this to make any bit of sense, which it does not). So anyway, Littlefoot and his grandparents have to go away from the Great Valley because apparently this dream is telling them something (even though this dream made absolutely no bit of sense, but who knows maybe it did in the writers’ minds..oh wait, I forgot they have no minds anymore). Anyways, Ducky, Petrie, Sarah, and Spike have to go and find him and, they meet up with several new characters (we may or may not see them again in future movies).

Opinion

As I was writing this and I was looking at the writers of this movie, it turns out that one of the writers was Judy Freudberg and that name probably means nothing to all of you, and it didn’t for me either. But as i was looking at her Imdb page, I found out something very interesting. She wrote a movie you may have heard of and it’s the first Land Before Time (I repeat the first Land Before Time) and several other Land Before Time movies as well. Now how can you go from writing a really good movie such as The Land Before Time, and then go on to several really crummy sequels to that movie? When I wrote the plot of this movie, I jokingly said “Oh wait, I forgot, the writers have no minds anymore!”, and, well, I must be right because going from a really good movie to several really bad sequels does not make any sense (Her mind must have been clouded by dollar bills). Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get into my opinion.  The character animation was passable.  What is not passable was the CGI backgrounds even by 2003 standards.  I already mentioned that the story is not good.  In this movie, they introduce (Spoiler alert) Littlefoot’s dad.  He is a poorly written character, almost to the point he is unlikeable.  His backstory made no bit of sense and doesn’t fit the continuity of the series.  Apparently, when Littlefoot’s mom was pregnant, he went off to find a suitable place to live.  When he got back, there was apparently an earthquake that totally changed the geography  and he couldn’t find his family.  Here’s are some problems; #1 he left his pregnant wife for god knows how long to find a place to live - not a smart move.  #2 The earthquake wouldn’t have changed things too much.  #3 When Littlefoot was born (and all the others), they were looking for the Great Valley in the first movie which was a legend that had probably been going around for years.  When he came back and the geography had changed, he should have assumed that his wife would do that.  In short, they made this character very unlikable.  This is the first time in nine movies that they mentioned that Littlefoot had a mom.  Another problem is in the story when they literally held up the sun.  #1 the sun is really, really hot (via a google search - 10,000 degrees at the surface which they’d have all been touching).  So, pretty much, if they held up the sun, they’d have been burned to a crisp.  On the scientifically-accurate meter, this movie ranks a 1.  With the voice acting, the biggest problem was that they weren’t even trying.  We have really talented actors in the cast, but they sounded like they just wanted a paycheck (James Garner and Keifer Sutherland for example).  And the songs are awful!     There is one song that is not awful but sang twice (the first time by the cast, the second time by Olivia Newton John).  The one by the characters just makes touch the sun with my ears.  The second time is just your very typical song about friends.  On a side-note, there’s a bonus feature on the DVD where Olivia Newton John talks about her recording the song.  Nowhere will you hear her mention the words “the land before time”.  Overall, this movie is BAD, but I have seen a lot worse.  So, overall, this movie barely escapes the golden garbage can. Which is why it gets one lonely star.  Goodnight, and Bee Happy!™ 

By Mr Bee 

 

copyright 2016 Mr. Bee Studio International All rights belong to Mr. Bee and webmaster Wesley M. and if anybody breaks this copyright they will have to spend ten years as my personal slave, and thanks for your understanding. 
images courtesy of Comcast Corporation of Fiction Foundry - Fandom  respectively.