Two Tickets For... Our Oscars Analysis & Predictions: Best Animated Feature, Best Original Song & Best Visual Effects

Andrew: Hello readers! It's that time again where Sarah and I finally start breaking down the nominees for the 85th Academy Awards that will be held on Sunday, February 24th! Last year we did it in a pretty basic way and it seemed to go over pretty well, and we really don't want to over-do it this year, so we'll stick to a relatively similar format. 

A difference this year, though, will be the order in which we break down the different categories. Starting with this post, we will break down the Oscar nominees in the following categories on these days:

Monday, February 18th: Best Animated Feature, Best Original Song and Best Visual Effects

Tuesday, February 19th: Best Original & Adapted Screenplays, and Best Director

Wednesday, February 20th: Best Supporting Actor & Actress

Thursday, February 21st: Best Actor & Actress

Friday, February 22nd: Best Picture and full list of predictions

So Sarah, let's kick off our analysis and predictions for this year's Oscars, shall we?

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

The nominees for Best Animated Feature are:

- Brave (Pixar)

- Wreck-It Ralph (Disney Animations)

- Frankenweenie (Disney Animations)

- ParaNorman (Laika)

- The Pirates! Band of Misfits (Aardman Animations)

Our Preview of This Week's New Releases (for Friday, October 5th)

Andrew: Hello readers! It's time again for a preview of this week's new theatrical releases! This week we don't have a large number of wide releases with only Taken 2, the sequel to the 2008 surprise hit action film Taken, and Tim Burton's new animated movie, Frankenweenie, which is coming out in time for Halloween.

There are some limited release films coming out as well such as Butter, The Paperboy and V/H/S but none of those are hitting our neck of the woods. That said, another limited release film that is increasing to more screens this weekend in The Perks of Being a Wallflower and you can read our five-clapboard review of that right here.

So Sarah, with only a couple of films to talk about, let's get down to it and talk intimately about Taken 2. Directed by Olivier Megaton, who directed last year’s fun Zoe Saldana action flick Columbiana and the third entry in the Jason Statham Transporter series, Taken 2 sees the return of Liam Neeson to the role of ex-CIA operative Bryan Mills.

If anyone's been living under a rock the last few years, in the original film Mills' daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), is kidnapped while on vacation in Paris by an Albanian sex trade ring and Mills goes on a rampage through Paris to get here back. In a word, it's awesome.

Sarah, all I'm looking for with this sequel is that it's just a badass. I'm expecting a pretty similar story but if the action is on par with the original, I'll be a happy man. It's written by Luc Besson, the somewhat legendary French filmmaker/writer who wrote the first one, so hopefully it'll be good.

Tim Burton's Second Effort This Year Is Much Better Than His First: Andrew's Review of "Frankenweenie" (2012)

Directed By: Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands) 

Starring: Charlie Tahan, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short

Rating: PG for thematic elements, scary images and action

Run Time: 1 hour, 27 minutes

Synopsis: Victor Frankenstein (Tahan) is a smart but solitary kid who's best friend is his dog, Sparky. When Sparky dies in an accident, Victor is heart-broken until a demonstration by his science teacher inspires him to bring his dog back to life using electricity. What Victor didn't expect was for his classmates to copy him and bring their dead pets to life, too, with disastrous results.

REVIEW

Sarah: Last night, Andrew went and saw Tim Burton's latest stop-action animated movie Frankenweenie. I was out on a girl's night, so I didn't go to this one with him. GASP! But it's okay, he went with a friend who got to experience going to the movies with a Keck for the first time! Always a fun experience!

So, Andrew, I know you are a fan of Tim Burton. How did his latest animated movie stack up to his other movies?

Andrew: Frankenweenie is actually a great representation of Tim Burton's filmography. It has his fingerprints everywhere, from the use of black and white to Danny Elfman's score that was reminiscent of his Batman, Sleepy Hollow and Edward Scissorhands scores.

In fact, a movie I kept thinking about during this was Edward Scissorhands because of the neighborhood that Victor and his family lived in. It's a little suburban town called New Holland and it looked exactly like the neighborhood in the movie that shot Johnny Depp to stardom.

S: Now, this is the second stop-action monster movie of the late summer/fall and we both really like the last one! How did it measure up to ParaNorman?