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.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Original Song
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.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Production Design
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
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
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
Best Motion Picture: the most coveted Academy prize. 2017 is shaping up to be a close race in the Best Picture category. For the sake of simplicity, let us assume for this conversation that the category will fill its maximum 10 nominations, even though it is more likely to be an eight or nine film field. The list below is ranked in the order of nomination likelihood.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Picture
Zsofi (Gasparfalvi Dorka) is a new student at school, and her experience is less than comfortable. The hall monitors hover over class authoritatively. The teacher barely stops to introduce Zsofi. And the teacher of Zsofi’s favorite subject, choir class, pulls her aside and tells her to mime the words instead of sing them.
Mindenki is a film about the simple cruelty of childhood, coming mainly in the form of a choir teacher. Rarely does cinema capture Continue reading Mindenki (Sing) (2016) Short Film Review
Moonlight begins with a beautiful steadicam shot that literally revolves around a denied drug deal. One of the dealers involved, Juan (Mahershala Ali), gets cut off by a child being chased by bullies. Chiron, or “Little” (Alex Hibbert), finds comfort in Juan as a father figure that he does not have elsewhere in his life.
Little, quiet though he is, shows a conflicted desire to fit into the Continue reading Moonlight (2016) Movie Review
The first weekend of September 2016 has brought us two major disappointments (The Disappointments Room and When the Bough Breaks) and one movie with some early Oscar buzz. Clint Eastwood’s biopic Sully is earning attention, particularly for Tom Hanks’ usual strong performance. With Summer behind us and the mediocre lot of September ahead, I feel the need to look a few months down the line at some movies that promise to be some of the best of the year.
Oscar-nominated movies can come around at any time during the calendar year. We will more than likely see Continue reading 2017 Oscar Movie Season Preview
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