Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Original Screenplay 2015

The Contenders:

Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Spotlight (winner)
Straight Outta Compton

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Animated Feature 2015

The Contenders:

Anomalisa
Boy and the World
Inside Out (winner)
Shaun the Sheep Movie
When Marnie Was There

Life of Riley

Film: Inside Out
Format: Sycamore Theater.

Being a frequent customer of one of our local mechanics has dividends. With six oil changes, you get two free movie tickets. With that in mind, I took Kid #2 to see Inside Out last night since Kid #1 is currently in Vermont for a couple more weeks. It’s hard to beat free movie tickets, and since the other choices at the small local theater were the fairly panned Minions and the thoroughly panned Terminator: Genysis, going to see the latest Pixar film was an easy choice.

Like pretty much everyone else on the planet, my expectations are up when I watch a Pixar movie. Inside Out is Pixar’s 15th feature-length film and the 13th one I’ve seen; of those 13, I genuinely like 10 and think the other three are at least worth watching. Inside Out falls into that first 10. The real question is where. Pixar at its best produces the best animated movies of anyone. Mid-tier Pixar is still generally a step above most other animation studios. What that means is that mid-tier Pixar tends to be better than other family-oriented animated films, but still feel like a disappointment because of those high expectations. Inside Out based on that, is somewhat disappointing. This is a clever and narratively complex movie, but there are parts that simply don’t work for me.