The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) had their annual awards ceremony was held this past Sunday, and Garth Davis’ Lion surprised by winning the feature film award. The film beat out awards season heavy-hitter La La Land, as well as the other fantastically shot films Arrival, Silence, and Moonlight.
In an awards season made boring by La La Land sweeping up wins wherever and whenever possible, this might be the first Continue reading Can Lion Win the Oscar for Best Cinematography?
The Directors Guild Awards (DGAs) are this Saturday, February 4. Ignoring television, as I do not watch it, there are three film categories that could act as precursors to the Academy Awards.
Surprisingly, Ava DuVernay did not receive a nomination in the documentary category for 13th. Without this competition, there is no feasible scenario where Continue reading What to Expect From the Directors Guild Awards 2017
Certain Academy Award categories are hard to predict simply because each use of the given film technique can be so different. Best Original Score is one of these categories in my mind. A sonic complement to a film can be so unique to the experience of a given film that it is hard to compare that score to scores of other films. It is a qualitative comparison that can be quite difficult in Oscar predicting.
Luckily, this year’s Academy Awards has a strong musical.
Continue reading Academy Awards Predictions 2017 – Best Original Score
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?
Continue reading Academy Awards Predictions 2017 – Best Cinematography
There is a lot of strong writing output from the Best Adapted Screenplay class of 2017. I don’t know how clear cut this category appears to everyone else, but I think there is only two directions it can go. One of these directions is a clearly lit path. The other one: harder to see come about.
Continue reading Academy Awards Predictions 2017 – Best Adapted Screenplay
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.
Continue reading Academy Awards Predictions 2017 – Best Picture
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
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.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Supporting Actress
The first notable aspect of Lion, the international homecoming story from Garth Davis, is the abrupt sound design. The vibrant score of piano and strings that accompany massive birds-eye-view shots of the countryside is immediately striking.
The mechanical dissonance of trains and people in a busy market are contrasted by immense silences, as when Saroo (Sunny Pawar) loses his brother Guddu (Abishek Bharate) in a train station. When the train pulls off with Saroo Continue reading Lion (2016) Movie Review
CineFiles Movie Reviews 