Thank you (and please help me). What'd he say?
February 7, 2011 3:28 PM   Subscribe

Brad Bird accepts the prestigous Winsor McCay Award from the 2011 Annie Awards at an undisclosed location where he's directing the not-animated "Mission: Impossible IV". A Brad Bird career retrospective immediately preceded. (Double Link Single You Tube)
posted by oneswellfoop (28 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
The Iron Giant is so far and away his masterpiece, as great as all the rest of the work they showed, seeing it next to Iron Giant just cements it for me.
posted by Space Coyote at 3:41 PM on February 7, 2011 [3 favorites]


Mr. Bird is apparently responsible for the character of Krusty of Klown and his whirlwind of pills, resentment, ego and slopsickle course making and for that I will be forever grateful.

The Iron Giant is pretty amazing.
posted by The Whelk at 3:57 PM on February 7, 2011


I'm glad the recorded message ended the way it did; Mr. Bird seemed really, really wooden at the start of that performance.
posted by Fraxas at 4:15 PM on February 7, 2011


Tonight, we discover Tom Cruise's sense of humor.

Is the world a better place? Well, thanks to Mr. Bird, it is.

Like all awards shows, this one needs more Gervais.
posted by chavenet at 4:18 PM on February 7, 2011


As funny as the acceptance-speech scenario seemed like it should have been, was I the only one who found the whole gunpoint thing more than a little discomfiting?
posted by bicyclefish at 4:22 PM on February 7, 2011 [1 favorite]


"I am not a gun."
posted by chainlinkspiral at 4:22 PM on February 7, 2011 [4 favorites]


Tonight, we discover Tom Cruise's sense of humor.

I have Tom Cruise from Tropic Thunder on line 1 for you. (nsfw, swearing, hip thrusting)
posted by cavalier at 4:26 PM on February 7, 2011 [2 favorites]


"...Superman..."

Watch "Iron Giant" without crying. You can't.
posted by ColdChef at 6:32 PM on February 7, 2011 [5 favorites]


Nthing the awesome of Iron Giant.
posted by Artw at 6:37 PM on February 7, 2011


I think Bird has a great mind for cinema. Iron Giant is a demonstration of his sensibilities. I had mixed feelings when I heard about MI4. I was glad to hear he was working rather than sitting around Pixar twiddling his thumbs where the turnaround time is so long on each project. But I'm so royally sick of Tom Cruise and I want him to go away so bad...
posted by Trochanter at 7:06 PM on February 7, 2011 [1 favorite]


No matter what crappy movies Vin Deisel makes, he gets a free pass for life for providing the Iron Giant's voice.
posted by Scoo at 7:21 PM on February 7, 2011 [2 favorites]


Watch "Iron Giant" without crying. You can't.

I fear that the same may apply to "Mission: Impossible IV", but for a different reason.
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:25 PM on February 7, 2011 [3 favorites]


Sweet Jesus I love Brad Bird. Because he makes family films that do something other than repeat the same "be yourself" and "family is important" messages ad nauseam. The Incredibles was a daring and shockingly hard-nosed meditation about excellence v. mediocrity, and Ratatouille spoke about the joys of appreciating human genius. Eloquently. To kids.

I'm bummed that Bird didn't have a hand in the screenplay for M:I 4, but I'm still looking forward to it.
posted by eugenen at 7:33 PM on February 7, 2011


I would have no interest in MI4 with pretty much anybody else attached as director. Werner Herzog, maybe. Really looking forward to 1906, too. Bird's a genius.
posted by middleclasstool at 8:13 PM on February 7, 2011


Oh my god, Brad Bird was responsible for *batteries not included?? That ranked as one of my favorite watch-it-over-again films as a kid...
posted by disillusioned at 8:42 PM on February 7, 2011


I love the Iron Giant
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:58 PM on February 7, 2011


This post prompted me to re-watch The Iron Giant for the first time since, well, since I saw it in the theater originally.

It is even better than I remembered it being.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 9:04 PM on February 7, 2011


Ratatouille was Brad Bird's triumph, IMO (maybe 1906 tops it?).
After watching the extra features on the Incredibles and Ratatouille DVDs, he comes across as a perfectionist - and possibly awful person to work for. But the effort and attention to detail is what takes his movies from good to legendary.
posted by 00dimitri00 at 11:20 PM on February 7, 2011


Cruise can ruin anything. Even Simon Pegg couldn't rescue that kidnap bit.
posted by benzenedream at 1:20 AM on February 8, 2011


There's some interesting animation politics going on behind the scenes of the Annies that hasn't received much mainstream media attention. DreamWorks Animation won 15 of the 24 awards because Disney/Pixar are boycotting the Annies over "judging procedures". The process is so skewed that some have suggested the awards name be changed from the Annies to the Jeffies (for DW's CEO Jeffery Katzenberg).
posted by fairmettle at 1:22 AM on February 8, 2011


I get all teary-eyed just thinking about the ending of Iron Giant.
posted by brand-gnu at 6:15 AM on February 8, 2011


I don't know about the seedy underbelly of the Annie awards, but I'll take any excuse to profess my love for Mr. Bird. I was dismayed when I heard about MI:4 but I'm trying to be optimistic since he's just so good at knocking 'em out of the park. If this is the nudge he needs to give Hollywood to make 1906 a reality, more power to him. My only complaint about Brad Bird is that, for whatever reasons, he's not more prolific.

Also, Simon Pegg was a nice treat. Love that guy too.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 7:24 AM on February 8, 2011


I always want to conflate Brad Bird with Brandon Bird, because if they were the same person it would be AWESOME.
posted by FatherDagon at 8:02 AM on February 8, 2011 [1 favorite]


The Iron Giant is so far and away his masterpiece

Yeah, and stacked up against The Incredibles, that's a bold statement.
posted by Gelatin at 10:55 AM on February 8, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'd mention that I've met him and he was really nice, but all y'all have already heard that particular tale.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:23 PM on February 8, 2011


The Incredibles is one of my favorite movies, but I actually find it a little problematic. Heroes getting special privileges because of an accident of birth? Glorifying being born special? Syndrome was of course insane, but he wanted to ultimately equalize the playing field. He wanted to empower normal people with his technology, albeit getting people killed and getting rich in the process. Kind of effed up, but I love that movie so very, very much.
posted by zeek321 at 5:13 PM on February 8, 2011


Also Syndrome fought for everything he had and used his mind. He wasn't born special.
posted by zeek321 at 5:25 PM on February 8, 2011


Like Lex Luthor he blames everything bad in his life on those he see's as having it easier, and like Lex Luthor it's actually all his own fault for being a grabby muderous little shit.

Me, I like Lex Luthor, the character flaws that stop him profiting from his strengths are very identifiable, but he's still wrong about everything.
posted by Artw at 6:08 PM on February 8, 2011


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