The song and score categories feel like foregone conclusions this year, with one film playing right to what the sound categories are looking for. The real question is what will fill the other four nominee slots.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Original Score
The Academy has narrowed down the Best Makeup & Hairstyling category to a shortlist of seven films: Deadpool; The Dressmaker; Hail, Caesar!; Florence Foster Jenkins; A Man Called Ove, Star Trek Beyond, and Suicide Squad. This makes our job a bit easier, buy by no means is there a definitive frontrunner here.
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The idea of a Best Film Editing award is strange. While editing is an arduous task that certainly deserves to be rewarded, the concept of judging a film’s editing is counter intuitive. The success of an edit is determined by the editor’s ability to hide the fact that cuts are occurring. A seamless experience is what marks a good editing job.
How do you judge a film by its editing, then? Part of it is a rhythm, a pulse in the cuts that contribute to the overall effect of a scene. In the case of a film like La La Land, it is an edit that has musicality and adds energy to a musical number. Another part of it is the editor’s ability to create that seamless experience.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Film Editing
There is a general formula to the Academy’s taste for costume design, and it generally involves period pieces. This year will be no different, although La La Land is not a period piece, per se, it merely feels like it is coming from a classical Hollywood time.
Let’s get into Best Costume Design nominations.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Costume Design
Where I find it difficult to compare the merits of screenwriting between films, I think judging the cinematics of a batch of films is somewhat easier. Quality cinematography strikes you in specific and noticeable ways, whereas a good script can sneak up on you. In 2016, we came across a number of visually striking movies. Let’s take a look at which ones will get Oscar nods.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Cinematography
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.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Original Screenplay
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.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Adapted Screenplay
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.
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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.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Director
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.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Actor
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