Tag Archives: 2017 Oscars

2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

Academy Awards Predictions 2017 – Best Cinematography

January 24, 2017 Alex Brannan

The fundamental element of a film. Cinematography. What is captured and how it is captured. It’s basic, but some films make you forget that it’s basic. Some films project imagery that seems impossible to capture on camera.

Camera work is a beautiful thing, and the five films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography in 2017 are all visually stunning. Obviously, only one can take home the award. But how obvious are the odds?

Best Cinematography

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

Academy Awards Predictions 2017 – Best Costume Design

January 24, 2017 Alex Brannan

With the more mise-en-scene driven categories, every nominee seems to be a horse apiece. Perhaps I simply do not have an eye for makeup or costuming, but judging films against each other in these categories gets difficult.

In the case of Best Costume Design at the 2017 Oscars, though, I think I know where I’m going…

Best Costume Design

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

Academy Awards Predictions 2017 – Best Director

January 24, 2017 Alex Brannan

Here’s what you hear every year about the Best Director Academy Awards category when it comes to Oscar pools: Best Director and Best Picture always go to the same film.

This is true to an extent, yes. Then again…2016, 2013, 2006…

So, on that note, will the clear favorite for Best Picture repeat with Best Director?

Best Director:

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

Academy Awards Predictions 2017 – Best Actress

January 24, 2017 Alex Brannan

Perhaps the hardest category to call this early out, Best Actress will be one of the most exciting awards of the night at the 2017 Oscars. From this reviewer’s perspective, it is a hearty three-horse race. However, a recent video from the folks at GoldDerby featured a debate over the category and who could win. They suspect the field is more wide open than even that.

Best Actress:

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

Academy Awards Predictions 2017 – Best Picture

January 24, 2017 Alex Brannan

The highest film honor in Hollywood, the Best Picture Oscar, has ostensibly already been handed out. With a record-breaking number of Golden Globe wins and a record-tying number of Academy nominations, La La Land is an unstoppable force to be reckoned with.

Will anything be able to take the feel-good musical of 2016 down? Well…anything’s possible.

Best Picture:

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2017 Academy Awards, 2017 Golden Globes, Award Ceremonies

What the 2017 Golden Globe Results Mean For The Oscars

January 8, 2017 Alex Brannan

With the 2017 Golden Globes in our immediate rearview, it is time to pick up the pieces. Let’s analyze the surprising aftermath of the Golden Globes to see how it will affect the Academy Awards in February.

Best Supporting Actor

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2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies, Short Films

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Live Action Short

January 5, 2017 Alex Brannan

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

The Rifle, The Jackal, The Wolf and The Boy (2016) Short Film Review

January 5, 2017 Alex Brannan

In a rural forest, the snap of a rifle shot breaks the quaint silence. Two brothers (Fidel Badran and Jad Badran) stand over their unseen prey, taking a beat before they go about covering their tracks so their father does not realize what they have done with his hunting rifle.

The Rifle, The Jackal, The Wolf and The Boy is the familiar feeling of childhood guilt ratcheted up to grim stakes. The narrative itself is almost absurdly simplistic, and the film chooses to rely instead on Continue reading The Rifle, The Jackal, The Wolf and The Boy (2016) Short Film Review →

2017 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Visual Effects

January 1, 2017 Alex Brannan

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

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.