2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Production Design & Sound

The Academy Awards are airing live on March 12, and for the first time, I have set out to break down every nominee in every category in order to assess, as accurately as I can, who and what has the best chance of winning. Today I will be discussing the nominees for Best Production Design and Best Sound!

All Quiet on the Western Front

Best Production Design & Best Sound

Nearly everything nominated for Best Production Design this year is a period piece, which requires a definite skill in bringing everything to life, something that the All Quiet team excels in. The sound gets progressively louder, and bolder, as the weight of the characters’ situation sets in — after all, this is war; it isn’t pretty nor calm, and the sound sets out to hammer that home in a brutal and merciless fashion; whether it’s artillery falling, comrades shouting, or auditory death and destruction, there’s no break from the carnage.

Avatar: The Way of Water

Best Production Design & Best Sound

An alien planet such as Pandora takes several villages to bring it from concept to screen, and the visual factor is paramount, beyond even the effects. In Avatar’s case, inspiration can be taken from our world, especially in the depictions of the new Na’vi cultures that will have major roles going forward in the future of this franchise. The auditory elements are also incredibly important, as this is an entirely fictional world — every sound we hear is engineered, especially considering that the world is built from the ground up from scratch.

Read my review of Avatar: The Way of Water here.

2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Makeup and Hairstyling

The Academy Awards are airing live on March 12, and for the first time, I have set out to break down every nominee in every category in order to assess, as accurately as I can, who and what has the best chance of winning. Today I will be discussing the nominees for Best Makeup and Hairstyling!

All Quiet on the Western Front

War takes a toll on a person, and All Quiet on the Western Front exemplifies that with both intense depictions of the battles themselves and the emotional and physical toll that comes with them. Aside from being a period piece — and, thus, obligated to accuracy when it comes to period styling — All Quiet commits to visualizing the descent of its central characters into very different versions of themselves as they endure more and more horrors of war. It’s terrifically effective, if a little terrifying in it of itself — it makes you wonder about how you yourself would be affected by a war like this, should you ever be so unlucky to fight in one.

The Batman

The Batman is my favorite nomination in this category — not in terms of overall quality (but I think it might crack that as well), but it’s largely because of the service it does for the superhero genre in terms of proving that technical prowess don’t need to be over-the-top to be excellent representations of their craft. In The Batman, Colin Farrell becomes the Penguin with flawless makeup and prosthetics that not only completely hide the actor’s identity, but make him fit in with the brutal, lived-in world of this Gotham City. Most of the other makeup and hairstyling is more under-the-radar, but if you want a better example of the great work that this team’s done, look up the deleted scene with Barry Keoghan’s Joker. Now that’s terrifying.

Read my review of The Batman here.

2023 Academy Awards Nomination Breakdown: Best Visual Effects

The Academy Awards are airing live on March 12, and for the first time, I have set out to break down every nominee in every category in order to assess, as accurately as I can, who and what has the best chance of winning. Today I will be discussing the nominees for Best Visual Effects!

All Quiet on the Western Front

Not since (ironically) 1917 has a film immersed me to the extent that it is nigh-impossible to tell what is a visual effect and what isn’t. Sure, it may be obvious that a tank rolling over numerous people through the trenches (among other war atrocities) is CGI, but it’s so well-assimilated into the world that All Quiet creates that it’s easy to believe the verity of everything you’re seeing…as awful as it is.

Avatar: The Way of Water

Avatar revolutionized digital filmmaking in 2009, and nothing less was expected from its blockbuster sequel. I wrote in my review that “it would be hearsay to claim that Avatar: The Way of Water is not incredibly beautiful to look at. Every frame is rendered meticulously, and because most of what we’re seeing on-screen is composed entirely of visual effects, it’s unequivocally awe-inspiring. I also had the opportunity to see it in 3D, a medium I’m not always the biggest fan of — in fact, I was worried about subjecting myself to it for the three and a half hours this movie runs — but it seemed effortless more than anything else, like the 3D is a natural part of the world that Cameron has created.”

Read my review of Avatar: The Way of Water here.

My Top Ten Movies of 2022 (so far)

I intended to do this at the mid-year point, but due to shifting schedules and the general chaos of life, it’s now an August event. Because of this, there are definitely some films on here that are more recent than the mid-year, but my hope is that it will be diverse enough from my end-of-year list that they will be able to function as separate lists. From the Space Age to the ’60s, Nic Cage to the Dark Knight, slasher homages to viking epics, and the emotionally heartfelt to the gripping drama of real life, this list has it all.

The Lenient Critic Podcast Episode 17: The Batman SPOILER Discussion

The Batman is the first superhero film of 2022, but it’s been a long time coming, so can it live up to expectations? Rowan assembles a team to give you the answer. Returning guests Alice Ginevra-Micheli and Heath Lynch are joined by Shane Conto, the Wasteland Reviewer, as they break down DC’s monster-sized, three-hour Batman experiment, discussing subtle themes, the cast, the bombastic score and much more. 

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast and give us a rating on Apple Podcasts!

The Lenient Critic Podcast Episode 16: Cyrano, The Batman, Fresh

Image courtesy of Hulu

Is Fresh as good as its title promises? Rowan thinks so, and so does our NEW GUEST this week, Ian Whittington (Behind the Sins, Captain’s Pod). Together, they discuss Fresh, Cyrano, and the coveted new superhero epic The Batman, which everybody (except one particular podcast guest) seems to absolutely love. Plus, their top five loosely-defined superhero solo movies, and what they’ve been watching lately. 

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast and give us a rating on Apple Podcasts!

“The Batman” Brings the Bat Back to the Basics (Review)

The Batman. Now there’s a powerful title if I’ve ever seen one. Just like its story, it brings the Caped Crusader back to his detective roots, with a clean slate that doesn’t have to live up to the standards of an already-established cinematic universe. Directed by the impeccable Matt Reeves, The Batman reinvents the DC film universe once again, bringing in an entirely new cast and managing to differentiate itself by telling a story completely its own.

Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) isn’t doing much for Gotham City, but his alter ego The Batman is, fighting crime by night and day alongside police officer Jim Gordon (Jeffrey Wright). A web of political conspiracy, reaching from the lowest depths to the highest offices of Gotham, comes to light when the Riddler (Paul Dano) begins to cause chaos by targeting government officials.

What separates The Batman from the rest is the fact that it doesn’t feel the need to be a straight action movie all through its nearly three-hour runtime. Batman stands still and untangles the mystery more than he beats up bad guys (though there’s plenty of that), but The Batman isn’t afraid of taking its time establishing tension and hinting at future twists, which is, honestly, why it’s three hours long. But that’s less of a problem and more of an attribute — I absolutely loved its commitment to setting the tone and making sure all of the puzzle pieces are put into place before the story really gets going.