Tag Archives: 2017 Academy Awards

All Movie Reviews, Halloween Horror, Horror, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

The Houses October Built 2 (2017) Movie Review

October 2, 2017 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

Should I start off conversation on The Houses October Built 2 by addressing the logical miscalculations of its very first scene, the cold open which picks up where the first film left off. Last we saw of Brandy (Brandy Schaefer) she was buried alive in a shallow grave, screaming for her life. Now, we find her back in the trunk were she was before being buried in a coffin, being dropped off on the side of the road by the Blue Skeleton haunt crew.

So, did she fall unconscious again before the masked men took her out of the coffin? Are they magicians? Or was their an awkward moment where they unburied her and dragged her screaming back to the trunk? That would be a bit anti-climactic.

The Houses October Built 2 follows the same formula as the first film, in which the crew of haunted house thrill-seekers travel to Continue reading The Houses October Built 2 (2017) Movie Review →

2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies, Short Films

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Live Action Short

January 5, 2017 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

The short film categories were something I was not going to tackle pre-nomination, as it is impossible for me to see the films this early. However, in the case of the Live Action Short category, I have had the privilege of seeing four of the 10 films that have been shortlisted for nomination.

This by no means makes my predictions definitive. But I will do what I can to shed some light on the elusive subject.

Best Live Action Short

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Visual Effects

January 1, 2017 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

The visual effects category at the Academy Awards can be a tough category to call some years. Ex Machina winning last year was a big surprise to me, especially given Mad Max being in contention. The year before that you have Interstellar winning over Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, where either of those films could have taken the prize.

This year’s shortlist has a number of quality effects work on it. So…let’s get to it.

Best Visual Effects

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Animated Feature

January 1, 2017 Alex Brannan 1 Comment

2016 yielded a flat dichotomy of animated features. There was the good and there was the bad, which makes my job a lot easier here. Four out of five of the Best Animated Feature slots are no brainers. The fifth slot is where the interesting conversation lies.

Best Animated Feature

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Foreign Film

January 1, 2017 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

The shortlist for the Academy Awards Foreign Language Film category surprised me for one particular reason, and that was the omission of Paul Verhoeven’s Elle. Incidentally, it is also the only film in the running that I had the opportunity to see before writing this article. So….we’re just gonna do the best we can.

Best Foreign Language Film

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All Movie Reviews

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Documentary

January 1, 2017 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

I have always grappled with reviewing documentaries. The cinematic elements are often time more muted than in fiction films, although there are exceptions to this of course. Documentaries are defined by formula. It is nice, then, to see documentaries that go above and beyond the simple formula.

Here are my picks for the Best Documentary nominations.

Best Documentary

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions

January 1, 2017 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

On the morning of January 24, the 2017 Academy Award nominations will be announced. Now that 2017 is finally upon us and Oscar season is in full swing, it is as good a time as any to discuss the potential nominees in all 24 categories.

Yes, I do have no life.

Click the links below for predictions.

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Sound Editing/Sound Mixing

January 1, 2017 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

The sound design Academy Awards. Oft overlooked and conflated, the sound editing and mixing are pivotal aspects of a film. A good soundtrack mix is seamless and unnoticeable, which is why the Academy likes to reward films with many sound elements that must be mixed. A good sound edit may also involve many sound effects on the soundtrack, or it may be something more subtle.

Here are my picks for Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.

Best Sound Editing

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Original Song

January 1, 2017 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

Best Original Song: the Grammy award of Academy Awards. I always am fascinated by what the Academy does with this category. Films yield very different styles of song, so much so that it often feels inappropriate to compare them to each other in an awards category. But that is exactly what we are here to do.

Best Original Song

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Production Design

January 1, 2017 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

Production Design is essentially set design. It is the mise-en-scene vision of what will be filmed, whether it be on a sound stage or on location. This said, there were a lot of stellar production design schemes in film in 2016. There is a wide field to pick from, but I’m going to try.