After watching hours upon hours of backlogged RedLetterMedia videos over the holiday, I am well aware of the fatigued nature by which Hollywood shoves pre-sold intellectual properties down our throats year in and year out so folks can cash in on an easy payday. With this in mind, it is nice to look at the refreshingly new and original ideas that Hollywood has put out in 2016. Let’s talk Best Original Screenplay nominations.

Best Original Screenplay

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Adapted Screenplay

January 1, 2017 Alex Brannan

Let’s talk about writing. More specifically, adapted screenplays. Now, I find it rather difficult to judge what film warrants an award for writing over another film. How do you objectively judge what film is better written than all the other films in a year? I guess in the case of an adapted screenplay, it is about the adequacy of translation, but even this is an unclear metric.

In the case of this year, I think there is a clear batch of films that could get a nomination. Who will emerge as the winner, on the other hand, is a different story.

Best Adapted Screenplay

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Supporting Actress

January 1, 2017 Alex Brannan

The 2017 race for Best Supporting Actress is possibly the most clear cut category in the bunch. The same five actresses have been nominated for both the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild awards. And these actresses will find themselves vying for the same Oscar statuette, unless something crazy happens.

Best Supporting Actress

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Supporting Actor

January 1, 2017 Alex Brannan

The Best Supporting Actor race is another open field, sort of. The five nominees I have selected are five great performances (more or less.), but there are other great supporting roles that deserve attention. While there is a clear frontrunner in the category, it is harder to choose among the other contenders.

Best Supporting Actor

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Director

January 1, 2017 Alex Brannan

I like how the 2017 Best Director Oscar race is shaping up. It is quite interesting in terms of which directors have been getting attention thus far. There are some surprises, I think, which leaves the Oscar race more open than it initially seemed to be.

Best Director

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Actress

January 1, 2017 Alex Brannan

The field for the 2017 Best Actress Oscar race is large. There is plenty of room for “snubs” and “upsets.” The intrigue of the race is going to be the two inevitable Golden Globe winners fighting for the top spot. The other three nominees could fall in a number of different ways.

Best Actress

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Actor

January 1, 2017 Alex Brannan

As is often the case, the Academy acting awards feel like they have already been handed out. The phrase “the Oscar is X-actor’s to lose” is standard, and I will likely use the same phrase down the line this year. In 2016, Best Actor was Leo DiCaprio’s to lose, and he won. In 2015, Best Actress was Julianne Moore’s to lose, and she won. Etcetera, etcetera.

In 2017, there is a clear favorite and a few other contenders.

Best Actor

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2017 Golden Globes, Award Ceremonies

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Picture

January 1, 2017 Alex Brannan

Best Motion Picture: the most coveted Academy prize. 2017 is shaping up to be a close race in the Best Picture category. For the sake of simplicity, let us assume for this conversation that the category will fill its maximum 10 nominations, even though it is more likely to be an eight or nine film field. The list below is ranked in the order of nomination likelihood.

Best Picture

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All Movie Reviews, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Love It, Short Films

Timecode (2016) Short Film Review

December 31, 2016 Alex Brannan

“Luna (Lali Ayguade) and Diego (Nicolas Ricchini) are the parking lot security guards. Diego does the night shift, and Luna works by day.” This is the IMDb description for Juanjo Gimenez Pena’s short film Timecode. It is terse and unassuming, seemingly mundane. Yet the CCTV cameras in the lot, when set to secret timecodes, tell a different story.

There is a heartening simplicity to Timecode. Marked by its levity and brevity, the short film follows Luna in her isolating Continue reading Timecode (2016) Short Film Review →

All Movie Reviews, Like It, Short Films

Graffiti (2016) Short Film Review

December 29, 2016 Alex Brannan

Seven years after an unknown “incident,” one man (Oriol Pia) lives in a world of isolation. Graffiti is quiet in this regard. Indeed, no words are spoken. The most we get out of Pia verbally is him howling in a call-response fashion with his dog.

Graffiti has a familiar feel to other post-apocalyptic stories, most overtly Continue reading Graffiti (2016) Short Film Review →

CineFiles Movie Reviews

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Original Screenplay

Best Original Screenplay

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Adapted Screenplay

Best Adapted Screenplay

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Supporting Actress

Best Supporting Actress

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Supporting Actor

Best Supporting Actor

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Director

Best Director

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Actress

Best Actress

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Actor

Best Actor

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Picture

Best Picture

Timecode (2016) Short Film Review

Graffiti (2016) Short Film Review

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