Tag Archives: Mudbound

2018 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2018 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Cinematography

January 24, 2018 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

Best Cinematography is shaping up to be an exciting, if not predictable, category in 2018. A couple of bits of trivia. Roger Deakins, the front-runner, has been nominated for Oscars 14 times in the past and has never won. The man essentially invented the way movies are color graded today, so he kind of deserves the recognition.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the nomination for Rachel Morrison for Mudbound marks the first time in Academy history that a woman has been nominated for Best Cinematography. I remember at some point in my academic career I was given a statistic that the number of employed female DPs in Hollywood only make up about 3% of DPs (don’t quote me on this exact number). It is surprising how the world of cinematographers is still a boy’s club, and thus this nomination for Morrison is a pretty big deal.

So…should we talk winners and losers now?

The Nominees:

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2018 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2018 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Original Song

January 23, 2018 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

Sometimes, the nominees for Best Original Song come from unexpected places. This time around, not so much. The Marshall nod was a bit out of left field but certainly nothing unforeseeable.

The winner for Best Original Song, though, often comes from the most popular film of the bunch. This is to say, whichever film was most widely seen or whichever had the most widely-heard song or whichever has the highest Oscar stock. This, or the film is a popular musical, in which case it often wins by default.

This year, the nominees include a (somewhat) popular musical, a widely seen animated film, and a film with a relatively high Oscar stock. So…who wins?

The Nominees:

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2018 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2018 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Adapted Screenplay

January 23, 2018 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

As opposed to the Best Original Screenplay category, the Oscar race for Best Adapted Screenplay is fairly narrow. There are some interesting picks, but the winners and losers are clear cut. For the most part.

The Nominees:

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2018 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2018 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Supporting Actress

January 23, 2018 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

I don’t want to say Best Supporting Actress is already a two-horse race. But Best Supporting Actress is already a two-horse race.

The Nominees:

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2018 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2018 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Original Song Nominees

January 10, 2018 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

I’m no music critic. The Academy branch that determines the Best Original Song nominees probably don’t think about film the way I do. They could reach out and pull out a song from a film I’ve never heard of, because they’re only listening to the songs regardless of quality of movie.

Still, I’ve put it on myself to roll out predictions. You can’t expect them all to come from my mouth.

The Nominees:

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2018 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2018 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Adapted Screenplay Nominees

January 8, 2018 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

Unlike the Best Original Screenplay contenders, the 2018 Best Adapted Screenplay crop runs thin. There are five slots to fill, and the number of sure-things is only about three deep. This leaves a couple of contested spots that could seemingly be filled by any number of movies.

The Nominees:

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Lists

Top 50 Movies of 2017

December 27, 2017 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

It is exceedingly hard to rank entities that are discrete artistic creations, mainly due to my resistance to comparing such individual achievements. It is much easier to rank things that are the worst. (I’m not the biggest fan of worst lists for other reasons, but when there are over 30 films to choose from for such a list, it is something I have to discuss).

So, yeah, this list is ranked, but it is merely based on my personal feelings of these films right now. More importantly, this list exists as a living document on Letterboxd. This is simply because my area has yet to release certain high profile 2017 films such as The Post, and I have not had time during the busy holiday season to get around to seeing films such as The Shape of Water and Call Me by Your Name, etc. etc. Check there for updates.

50. Trainspotting 2

Some things get richer with age: whisky, wine…mostly alcohol. The original Trainspotting remains an electric, darkly comic ride through heroin addiction. T2: Trainspotting is Continue reading Top 50 Movies of 2017 →

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2018 Golden Globes

2018 Golden Globes Predictions – Best Supporting Actress

December 11, 2017 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

This year, the two supporting acting categories are steeped with talent. Thankfully, both categories also have a few clear favorites that will rise to the surface and make my job a little easier. In my mind, Best Supporting Actress is already in the books. Then again, apparent certainty can blind one to other variables, so maybe take a grain of salt or two on this one.

The Nominees – Best Supporting Actress

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2018 Golden Globes

2018 Golden Globes Predictions – Best Original Song

December 11, 2017 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

Three animated films, a showbiz musical, and an Americana period piece. Five songs. One Best Original Song category. Numbers, numbers. Yadda, yadda. Let’s talk about it.

The Nominees – Best Song

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

Mudbound (2017) Movie Review

November 22, 2017 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

On the eve of World War II, Laura (Carey Mulligan) is courted by engineer Henry McAllan (Jason Clarke) in the Mississippi Delta. Although Laura is more charmed by Henry’s brother Jamie (Garrett Hedlund), she marries Henry and they raise two children. Henry buys a farm (more precisely, he’s swindled and the family is relegated to a meager shack that is characterized most readily by the puddles of mud in the yard that never dry up). This farm employs the Jackson family, led by pensive Florence (Mary J. Blige) and Hap (Rob Morgan) Jackson.

When America is drawn into the war effort—Roosevelt’s infamy speech marks the act break—Ronsel Jackson (Jason Mitchell) and Jamie are called on to serve. When they return to the states, inevitably changed, they face Continue reading Mudbound (2017) Movie Review →