Oscar 2017 - Directing

I was thinking to leave this entry for later, but at this time I still didn't see enough to write about smth else, so let's get this one done. Especially considering that the "Anatomy of a Scene" series saves me of commenting too much besides the actual nominees :).

Denis Villeneuve gets a first nod for "Arrival". I only can say that the guy deserves recognition as one of the best active directors, but ... for other movies like "Prisoners" or especially "Incendies". "Arrival".. not that much ...

Mel Gibson is back :) ... as I was saying in an entry not long ago. And I'll continue repeating myself since "Hacksaw Ridge" confirmed my opinion of setting him #1 in my own "top directors". Therefore, I would be subjective to comment more, so...

Damien Chazelle is I guess one of the youngest ever to be nominated here, and he gets it for "La La Land". Despite the obvious appreciation enjoyed by this movie, I'll stick to the opinion that the direction is not that good. Indeed, you can appreciate the way the contrast between the first and second part is built, probably the most obvious quality at a wider look. Which somehow results in the worse part - the first half being so positive that it gets horribly annoying...

Kenneth Lonergan comes here with a nice surprise in "Manchester by the Sea", a story of a guy who, against his will, is given parenthood for a nephew after his brother dies. What you can say about a movie that's supported by life issues and still manages to offer you what you expect froma a movie = getting your mind away from your life issues, it's just that is really well written and directed. Enough said.

Barry Jenkins is another new name getting a nod here for "Moonlight". I would say it's somewhere between the rest. The directing is good, the three parts of the movie having each some slightly different personality. Still it's not the best around.

Verdict: Damien Chazelle will probably get it for "La La Land", but my option would be Mel for "Hacksaw Ridge".

Oscar 2017 - Film Editing

This year we start the editing section with "Arrival". What I can say is that "Sicario", which was edited by the same Joe Walker and directed also by Denis Villeneuve seemed to have a better cut than what's seen here. But we don't have "Sicario" among the nominations, just "Arrival"...

The editing of "Hacksaw Ridge" is probably besides the directing the strongest asset of this movie. I won't deny that's probably more permissive given the context to get maximum out of a scene cut for a war movie, but even so you have to know how to. And here it's almost perfect.

"Hell or High Water" it's just for filling the section. The movie is good, but for the editing the chase sequence below is probably the only standing out with anything.

And we're getting to "La La Land" where you have some interesting glimpses along the movie with transitions between slow and fast scenes, colored or more gray-ish, but the "coup-de-grace" comes in the end. The dream sequence in flashback, which I wasn't able to find anywhere available online, shows the impact that editing can have in a movie.

"Moonlight" is somewhere at the level of "Arrival". We're moving through three different periods in the life of a person who are not edited very differently, although this split could've been more interestingly speculated. Scene by scene though the work is nice, but not really at the level of some of the above.

Verdict: I think "La La Land" will get this.

Oscar 2017 - Production Design

Early flight next morning => quick entry now. Production Design aka Art Direction including Set Decoration, brings this year the following...

"Arrival" where we have as focus the inside of the alien ship. Apparently effectively built. Not that it doesn't fit with the movie... but the movie is sort of dry and so it's also this part => let's move to next one...

"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" was released last year as a sort of sequel to the Harry Potter universe, which unfortunately for me always had the status of an unpolished salad, where the author built each new episode not knowing exactly what's next (but something should've to keep the cash flow alive). And that's obvious also in this one. Well... I've watched this to have a complete view for this entry, so let's stick to production design, where things are very simple to summarize: I didn't see anything noticeable on top of what I've seen already in the previous HP episode. Next...

"Hail, Caesar!" is the latest movie of the Coens, maybe not as good as others, but for what we're discussing now deserves some attention. 1) It's a low budget movie. 2) We have such a variation in the set decoration part that it doesn't let you notice the 1) part. The action is set in the '50s in Hollywood prin anii '50 and walks us through an entire series of movie sets which include stuff ranging from Roman Empire decorations up to siren lakes and some extra bonuses = a Russian submarine. This was nice...

"La La Land" has a context for production design somehow similar with the one above, but which doesn't offer such a various range on what you'll see. It still keept the same colored tone, which is also quite in line with the general look of the movie, stuff that apparently was quite appreciated. For me it's a bit overrated. After all it's the most .."common" entry here, but well...

I liked "Passengers" both for the looks and as a movie. We have two passengers on a gigantic ship set on autopilot for 120 years, who are woken up before time. A surprise came from a couple nuances, which were more mature than I was expecting after checking some bashing reviews. On the topic, what we have here is obviously the ship, or more precisely the interiors, which are by far among the most eye-catchy I've seen in a SciFi context. On top of this it also creates somehow a sort of feeling that's similar with the "Dawn of the Dead" mall, where the ship = the apparently safe space providing everything & zombies = ever-growing malfunctions. I'm afraid though that this will suffer of the eternal problem: how much brings the decoration vs. the effects? ...

Verdict: "La La Land" will probably win, but my vote goes to "Hail, Caesar!".

Oscar 2017 - Sound Mixing

As usual, I should maybe start with the difference between "sound mixing" and "sound editing". Well, I won't. 1 - I explained this in too many of the year before already. 2 - I didn't have time to watch all what's need to cover both sections, so I'll just stick to mixing this time. Which is about the way the final track of a movie's sound is composed/arranged/worked by putting together everything that gets there - voices, effects, score, etc. So, let's start...

In "Arrival" we have an interesting mix. Besides the camera work, I think it's the second major element of the movie that keeps up the gloomy mood. Interesting fact: the two Canadians (if I'm not wrong...) who worked on this mix, Bernard Strobl si Claude La Haye, have also "The Red Violin" in their CV, which I think has one of the best sound mixes I've ever heard... However, that didn't even get a nomination, so...

"Hacksaw Ridge" has Kevin O'Connell behind, one of the most nominated people on this planet (21 times) who didn't get an Oscar yet (no, DiCaprio did not have this record). I actually know about this guy because, along Greg Russell who we have below, is the author of the highest impact sound mix I've heard in a movie, which is "The Rock". Maybe it's also a matter of taste, but I didn't hear anything better in 20 years. Leaving this aside, what we have here sounds good, but I wouldn't say it shines. At some points the score seems too thin, at some points it seems to cover too much what's besides it... In any case this is most probably one of the 2 most possible winners here. A more detailed analysis comes from Soundworks Collection:

"La La Land" might seem to gain from being a musical, which happened before (ex., "Les Miserables"). Still, I have to admit that the sound mix is almost flawless, and that considering I hate the genre. Despite the fact that you have indeed a lot of singing, the transitions are made in such a way that the result is not annoying, not even for people like me.

"Rogue One" has a good mix, but I won't say it gets on par with the rest. So, let's not stay too long here...

... and neither on "13 Hours" where we have Greg Russell I was mentioning above. It's an action movie sound mixing on a war movie based on real facts. What you hear sounds good, but a bit too artificial for the depicted context...

Verdict: I say that this year "La La Land" will win.

Oscar 2017 - VFX

I decided to start again (it becomes sort of "traditional") with the VFX nominations (not that I would really have a choice, it's the only section where I've seen all movies...). So... the effects in "Deepwater Horizon", the story of the disaster happened in 2010 on a drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, are focused mostly on the fire during that event. Without too many comments, I find this entry a bit as an outsider here...

"Doctor Strange" has effects that reminded me of "Inception". However, a bit too colored for my taste...

"The Jungle Book" brings probably the best on-screen rendering since "Planet of the Apes" for CGI animals. Actually, pretty much everything seen there is CGI, and considering both the volume of effects in this movie and also that the result is a really nice piece of work makes this a favorite in this category. Leaving aside the topic of the current entry for one second, I did not expect to like the movie. It was a nice surprise. I have no idea how much of it was mere nostalgia but it's also a very catchy version for Kipling's stories. A different ending from the classic animation, surprisingly less mature I would say, but overall more happy :)

I wrote about "Kubo and the Two Strings" last year. Regarding the VFX it's probably the most complex animation I've ever seen. Maybe Aardman's stuff gets close, but I don't think they've reached this level yet. I have an objective preference here.

Finally, we have "Rogue One". We could get a surprise here, but I can't say that I've seen something very impressive. Although as a movie was better, the VFX was pretty much on par with "The Force Awakens". Maybe I'm subjective, but well...

Verdict: "The Jungle Book" will probably win, but my vote goes to "Kubo".