The Oscar for Best Makeup & Hairstyling is sometimes more of an award for most makeup and hairstyling. The nominees in the category this year don’t prove to be an exception to this trend, which is not to say there isn’t quality work in the makeup, hair, and prosthetic work in the three films. It is simply to say that these aspects of mise en scene are quite noticeable.
Continue reading 2019 Oscar Predictions – Best Makeup & Hairstyling
Editing can be a tricky category to judge when it comes to the Academy Awards. The Academy likes flashiness. It likes showmanship. But often the best editing constitutes a lack of flash and show.
The Best Editing Oscar winner often splits the difference in this regard: visible yet functional. Dynamic editing that doesn’t hinder the film itself. Films with challenging editing tasks, like war films and action films. Editing that is visible enough for the Academy at large to understand and, thus, vote on, yet subtle enough for the Editing branch to nominate in the first place.
Update 2/5: As award season continues, it appears as though the stock of A Star is Born is dropping and dropping. While I still think it has an outside shot at Best Picture, Roma has risen to take its place as the consensus front-runner. The Best Picture race is rather up in the air, given the split voting from the guilds, but Roma and Green Book are rising to the top of the heap, with upset potential from the likes of Blackkklansman and The Favourite.
Oscar season is in full swing, and the Best Picture race is heating up fast. Green Book is on the rise. A Star is Born might be on the decline. Can Roma sweep? Will Black Panther upset?
Or is it all ultimately too early to tell?
The 2019 Oscar race for Best Makeup & Hairstyling has been narrowed down to seven. Clips from these seven films will be screened to the makeup and hairstyling branch of the Academy, and three films will be nominated.
There is some convention to what types of films get nominations in this category. So let’s get into it.
Continue reading 2019 Oscar Nominations Predictions – Best Makeup & Hairstyling
The 2019 Oscar race for Best Picture seems surprisingly cut and dry. There are a handful of films that would be baffling to see not make the cut, and there are only a couple of films that have the campaign strength to move into the race.
If the race comes down to a final eight, then the films are already accounted for. The few films that could take up the rear and fill a ninth or tenth slot don’t necessarily have the consensus support needed to raise to the top of voters’ ballots.
All in all, there are only a few potential surprises in this year’s race. Might as well dig into them, anyway, right?
Continue reading 2019 Oscar Nominations Predictions – Best Picture
Adam McKay likes to show. And show. And show.
As he moves further from straight comedy and more toward a dark comedy examination of political America, McKay’s showy style becomes more apparent. In a way, it is more permissible to have a broad comedy film be brash and in-your-face. While such a style is not destined to fail in a more dramatic setting, it is harder to grapple with tone in that setting.
McKay’s The Big Short shows some signs of this tonal problem. Largely a depressing subject, the comedy flourishes in that retelling of the housing crisis don’t translate well. The non sequitur cutaways to celebrities are jarring and ineffective. What shines in that film are the performances, showing that the director understands the import of Continue reading Vice (2018) Movie Review
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