News & Events

February 18, 2013
Indiewire

Oscars: The Playlist Guide To The Live-Action, Animated & Documentary Short Nominees

By Oliver Lyttelton

We don't know about you, but until the last few years, whenever it came time to make our picks for Oscar pools/wagers, there's always one section of the awards that so often comes down to luck -- the short films. In the years since shorts stopped playing widely before features, it became harder and harder for the layman to actually watch nominees, and even harder to predict what would actually win.

But these days, things are better. Many of the films make their way online in advance of Oscar night, or are shown at special screenings around the world. But if you haven't managed to catch the films in time for next Sunday's awards, no fear, because we have. So, whether you're an Academy member wondering what to put on your ballot, or someone looking for the edge in your annual office Oscar pool, check our our verdicts on the films, and their chances of winning, below. And if you have seen the films concerned, let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

Read more

February 15, 2013
Los Angeles Times

Tim Burton reflects on ‘Frankenweenie’ box office, plots his next step

By Gina McIntyre

It was only Wednesday, but sitting at a small table in the restaurant at the Chateau Marmont, Tim Burton looked a little defeated by the week, and not simply because of the sling supporting his arm. A fall in London in December fractured his shoulder — a nasty injury that he said will likely limit his range of motion for about a year — but it was a recent bout of Hollywood glad-handing that had the filmmaker most excited to return to his home in England.

Two days earlier, Burton had attended the Oscar nominees luncheon – his most recent film, “Frankenweenie,” is up for the Academy Award in the animated feature category. That evening, he’d appeared at the American Cinematheque for a screening of the movie, a black-and-white love letter to Universal horror films and his Burbank youth, along with an earlier stop-motion project, 2005’s “Corpse Bride.”

Those kinds of public appearances aren’t easy for the filmmaker: “I’m not a very social person, I’m quite sort of reserved,” he said, awkwardly attempting to stir his green tea.

Read More

February 7, 2013
Art Observed

Gateshead – Jim Shaw: “The Rinse Cycle” at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art through February 17, 2013

By K. Hill

The Baltic Centre in Gateshead is currently holding the first-ever retrospective of works by American Jim Shaw outside the United States. Including over one hundred works in a variety of media, from video and sculpture to paintings and installations, the show explores Shaw’s ongoing examination of American life, and his unique set of aesthetic signifiers at play throughout his career.

Jim Shaw is a Los Angeles based artist who has worked alongside other California Institute of the Arts graduates, including Tony Oursler, John Miller, and Mike Kelley. Strongly influenced by his environment, Shaw has said that, “there are always autobiographical aspects to my art, even if it is completely abstract.”  Refusing to to be confined by a singular style, he creates series revolving around complicated, work-intensive narratives that he occasionally revisits and embellishes. This exhibition includes works revolved around the following series by Shaw: My Mirage, Dream Drawings/Objects, Oism, Faces and Men in Pain, and Left Behind.

Read More

February 7, 2013
Individual.com

Art review: Retrospective shows Llyn Foulkes' sharp eccentricity

By Christopher Knight

Llyn Foulkes is a crank. That's a good thing, because we need cranks.

I might not want to sit next to one on the subway or listen to one give a floor-speech in Congress. But popular culture and institutional art have a way of smoothing out or even debasing life's often painful rawness. Works of art offer contemplative distance, which can make zealous eccentricity especially riveting.

Take "The Corporate Kiss" (2001), a bracing bit of strangeness that is on view in the sprawling, 50-year retrospective exhibition of Foulkes' art newly opened at the UCLA Hammer Museum. In it, Mickey Mouse stands on a man's shoulder and plants a big cheerful smooch on his cheek. The man, beleaguered and despondent, barely responds.

His careworn face expels an open-mouthed sigh, downcast eyes staring from beneath a furrowed brow. A bleak, empty brown desert unfurls behind the pair, beneath a limpid blue sky.

Read More