It’s time once again to give you the chance to catch up with all the Oscar Nominated Shorts from this past year, both live action and animated. Cincinnati World Cinema is, for the twelfth year, bringing you this eclectic and entertaining compilation of all the nominees. Unlike other showings in the country, CWC also has the good sense to mix them up in two separate programs containing some of the live action, some of the animateds, and some of the bonus shorts. That makes for an all-around more enjoyable viewing experience.
It must be considered an act of serendipity when all the right people get together to make a thoroughly enjoyable movie. Such a case is Quartet. Based on a play by Oscar winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood, Quartet is set in a retirement home for musicians, located in what must be one of the loveliest spots in the English countryside. Most of the musicians are classical, many of them opera singers, and there are a couple of aged vaudevillians in there as well. It’s getting close to the annual fund raising gala which helps fund the facility. The name attraction has had to step down due to ill health, which puts a crimp in their style. But the arrival of a new resident, a grand Diva with worldwide fame, may be their hope for a record-breaking fundraiser, which is dedicated to Opera composer Giuseppe Verdi.
It’s fun to see a film that is a carefully constructed cat-and-mouse game, particularly when the ensuing events play havoc with the plans of either the cat or the mouse or both. Hitchcock was a master of the genre, and other directors have fared well with this premise.
Tonight is the one time of year when cinephiles all around the globe are glued to the tube. The 85th annual Academy Awards are being handed out, and every year, the producers of the show promise it will be better. Every year, the audience hopes it will be better. And maybe one of these days, it will be better. Will tonight be that night? We won’t know until it’s over. In the never-ending search for the perfect host, the academy is hoping that Seth McFarlane, creator of TV’s Family Guy, and writer / director of last year’s surprise hit movie Ted, will step up to the plate and hit a home run.
Well, I guess everything comes to an end. I think we’re beginning to see the end of the constant parade of shoot-em-up cop movies that captured our hearts and minds in the 1980s and are still being made today. For now.
