Tag Archives: short film

2023 Academy Awards Predictions — Final Ballot

The Golden Globes are passed. The guild awards have happened. The Indie Spirits are now spirited away. The Oscars are one week away. It’s time to talk Oscar ballots.

We’ve already covered each Oscar category with more words than you’ll see here. But some variables have changed since then. And as much as I am one to tinker with these sorts of things until the very last minute, it’s time to commit in digital ink the site’s final predictions. Hopefully nothing unforeseen happens in the next six days.

Best Picture

  • All Quiet on the Western Front – Malte Grunert
  • Avatar: The Way of Water – James Cameron, Jon Landau
  • The Banshees of Inisherin – Graham Broadbent, Peter Czerin, Martin McDonagh
  • Elvis – Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick, Schuyler Weiss
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once – Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang
  • The Fabelman – Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner
  • Tár – Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan, Scott Lambert
  • Top Gun: Maverick – Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison, Jerry Bruckheimer
  • Triangle of Sadness – Erik Hemmendorff, Philippe Bober
  • Women Talking – Jeremy Kleiner, Dede Gardner, Frances McDormand

Will Win: Continue reading 2023 Academy Awards Predictions — Final Ballot

2023 Oscar Nominated Live Action Short Film Reviews: Ivalu and Night Ride

It is round two of reviews for the Oscar-nominated Live Action Short Film category. In this edition, we look at Ivalu and Night Ride. Previously, we looked at The Red Suitcase and An Irish Goodbye.

Ivalu

“My sister…my blood.” Anders Walters’ Ivalu follows Pipaluk (Mila Heilmann Kreutzman), who wakes up one morning to find Continue reading 2023 Oscar Nominated Live Action Short Film Reviews: Ivalu and Night Ride

2019 Oscar Predictions – Best Documentary Short Subject

The short film categories are some of the hardest to predict. These films don’t receive traditional Oscar campaigns, which would act to suss out front-runners. In lieu of that, one must look at general trends, distributors, aesthetic qualities, and word of mouth.

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The Nominees:

Continue reading 2019 Oscar Predictions – Best Documentary Short Subject

2019 Oscar Shortlisted Short Film Reviews – Black Sheep, Marguerite, My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes

There are 30 short films which are shortlisted for Academy Awards across the three shorts categories—Best Live Action Short, Best Animated Short, and Best Documentary Short Subject. This will be cut in half come January 22nd. Before that happens, let’s take a look at a few of the shorts vying for nomination.

 

Black Sheep

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This documentary short, commissioned by The Guardian, tells the story of a man who, as a youth, Continue reading 2019 Oscar Shortlisted Short Film Reviews – Black Sheep, Marguerite, My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes

Watu Wote (All of Us) (2017) Short Film Review

Watu Wote from director Katja Benrath is one of five films nominated for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film

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Watu Wote is a beautifully-captured film. Shot mostly at night with low-light lighting schemes, the short nevertheless captures the streets of Kenya wonderfully.

Much of the action of the short, however, takes place inside Continue reading Watu Wote (All of Us) (2017) Short Film Review

DeKalb Elementary (2017) Short Film Review

DeKalb Elementary from director Reed Van Dyk is one of five films nominated for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film

The entirety of the short film DeKalb Elementary takes place inside of an administrative office of the eponymous elementary school. A man (Bo Mitchell) walks in and calmly proceeds to take out a semi-automatic rifle. Holding a woman (Tarra Riggs) hostage, he waits for the police to arrive.

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The calmness of the characters involved may at first appear anachronistic to the plot that is unfolding, but the short plays out in what feels like a realistic way. This is accomplished through Continue reading DeKalb Elementary (2017) Short Film Review

Lost Face (2017) Short Film Review

Lost Face from director Sean Meehan is one of 10 films short-listed for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short

Sean Meehan’s Lost Face is a short film adapted from the Jack London short story of the same name. It is the story of a group of fur traders who are captured and tortured by the Native Americans who were enslaved into building their trading post.

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What first we see in Meehan’s film is the visceral stabbing of Continue reading Lost Face (2017) Short Film Review

My Nephew Emmett (2017) Short Film Review

My Nephew Emmett from director Kevin Wilson Jr. is one of five films nominated for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film

My Nephew Emmett dramatizes the events leading up to the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, a 14 year old African American boy who was killed by two racist men for whistling at a white woman. It does this from an intriguing perspective, that being Till’s uncle Mose (L.B. Williams).

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Framed with sumptuous cinematography from Laura Valladao, My Nephew Emmett takes its limited perspective and creates Continue reading My Nephew Emmett (2017) Short Film Review

The Silent Child (2017) Short Film Review

The Silent Child from director Chris Overton is one of five films nominated for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film

Libby (Maisie Sly) is a young deaf girl. Her family largely ignores her, as much as her mother (Rachel Fielding) keeps saying that Libby gets on well with them. When speech therapist Joanne (Rachel Shenton) enters the home, Libby begins to come out of her shell, but Libby’s parents are not as keen on the speech education that Joanne is performing.

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Chris Overton’s film is elegantly shot, particularly in outdoor or montage sequences. Much of the film, however, is Continue reading The Silent Child (2017) Short Film Review

Great Choice (2017) Short Film Review (TIFF 2017)

The IMDb summary of Robin Comisar’s latest short film reads simply: “A woman gets stuck in a Red Lobster commercial.” At the the recent Toronto International Film Festival screening of the short, aired prior to the world premiere of Brian Taylor’s Mom and Dad, Comisar commented that Red Lobster is not too happy about his film.

Intriguing enough. What is Great Choice all about?

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Well, to speak a word is to divulge a spoiler, so I will be brief. Comisar’s seven minute film is a VHS-homage commercial about a shrimp deal at Red Lobster. Then, it is a Continue reading Great Choice (2017) Short Film Review (TIFF 2017)