Cinema and Popcorn

Well, my first Best Foreign Picture predictions of the year... And there are a lot of interesting contenders! Just have a look: Well, well, well...! So we have Sweden , Chile , France , Portugal and Cambodia ... It seems very diverse! But let's remind that Portugal is the only "Western country" that never received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Picture (33 submissions, none of them got nominated), so I wish Portugal good luck with Saint George ! Now, the other contenders: #6: Foxtrot , Israel - The AMPAS loves Israel's submissions, but it is one of the countries with most nominations without a win (10 nominations). It is a war movie around a familiar drama and a young soldier's experiences during military service. A good one and AMPAS seems to love Israeli cinema. #7: On Body and Soul , Hungary - Lovely. Weird. Hungary's Oscar contender is not every moviegoer cup of tea, but it works somehow. The movie is considered an ...

Well, National Board of Review has just announced its winners of the 2017 edition. And guess what? "Surprise, suprise!", Steven Spielberg 's The Post got the top prize and Greta Gerwig took home Best Director for her directorial debut Lady Bird . Highlights for Timothée Chalamet who won Breakthrough Performance for Call Me By Your Name and Wonder Woman for having its director and leading star ( Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot ) taking home the Spotlight Award. And I would not ignore having Loving Vincent (an animated feature) between the TOP 10 Independent Films and Angelina Jolie 's First They Killed My Father getting a Freedom of Expression prize (which can be relevant when it comes voting for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture). Here's the complete list of winners: BEST FILM The Post BEST DIRECTOR Greta Gerwig , Lady Bird BEST DIRECTORIAL DEBUT Jordan Peele , Get Out BEST CAST ENSEMBLE Get Out BEST ACTOR ...

I don't consider there are big changes when it comes to Best Director top contenders, but there are emerging players like Sean Baker ( The Florida Project ), Greta Gerwig ( Lady Bird ) or Martin McDonagh ( Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ) and some names are out of the race like Woody Allen ( Wonder Wheel ) and Richard Linklater ( Last Flag Flying ). So, here are my top contenders who compose my predicted Best Director nominees shortlist: Just like you can see, according my predictions, Best Director will be almost all about new blood (or let's just say "first time nominees"): Christopher Nolan for Dunkirk , Guillermo del Toro for Shape of Water , Joe Wright for Darkest Hour and Sean Baker for The Florida Project . Only Steven Spielberg ( The Post ) has scored an Oscar nomination for directing before and in such a strict category, he is likely to be nominated in order to represent the Hollywood Masters' Class. But who...

Genre: Drama Directed by: Dee Rees Written by: Dee Rees &  Virgil Williams Starring: Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Jason Clarke, Mary J. Blidge, Rob Morgan and Jonathan Banks In Theaters: November 17, 2017  (limited) On Streaming: November 17, 2017 - Netflix Runtime: 134 minutes When I started watching Mudbound , I was expecting a solid southern drama, but when credits rolled I was truly devastated inside. Not many movies make me cry, but Dee Ree's did it! It's not an independent drama: it is an independent cinematic giant that ressonates in your heart.   Dee Rees' Pariah used silence as part of its narrative and it was effective while it worked as a factor of "intimacy" at the same time. In Mudbound , silence is replaced by the actor's voices narrating their characters inner thoughts - and it feels intimate in a totally different way when compared to Pariah...  but it works! Flashbacks and narration open the door...

The Independent Spirit Awards 2018 nominations were announced! As you can check below, Call Me By Your Name and Get Out l ead the nominations, with Mudbound being completely snubed in the competitive categories but it will be honoured with the Robert Altman prize. Just have a look: BEST FEATURE Call Me By Your Name Get Out The Florida Project Lady Bird The Rider BEST FIRST FEATURE Columbus Ingrid Goes West Menashe Oh Lucy Patty Cake$ JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD A Ghost Story Dayveon Life and Nothing Most Beautiful Island Transfiguration BEST DIRECTOR Sean Baker , The Florida Project Jonas Carpignano , A Ciambra Luca Gudagnino , Call Me By Your Name Jordan Peele , Get Out Benny Safdie & Joshua Safdie , Good Time Chloé Zhao , The Rider BEST FEMALE LEAD Salma Hayek , Beatriz at Dinner Francis McDormand , Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Margot Robbie , I, Tonya Saiorse Ronin , Lady Bird Shinobu Terajima , Oh Lucy Regina Williams ...

Genre: Drama, Mystery & Suspense Directed by: Kenneth Branagh Written by: Michael Green Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Willem Dafoe, Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Michelle Pfeiffer, Josh Gad, Daisy Ridley, Tom Bateman and Olivia Colman In Theaters: November 10, 2017   Expectations were a bit low before I started eating popcorn, since first reactions were a bit mixed about Kenneth Branagh's take on Murder On The Orient Express , but I had no big reasons to complain that much. In fact, since the very first scenes you realise you aren't going to have problems with the acting, the objetive direction or the lack of beauty, because the movie's problems live on its screenplay.   The script isn't funny. The script isn't dramatic. The script isn't able to build momentum. It's like having the best guitar player in the world and someone just got the tabs wrong for him to play.   In fact, what saves Murder On The Orient Express from d...

And after predicting Best Original Screenplay (such a competitive category this year!!!), it's time to predict Best Adapted Screenplay, a much weaker race when compared to Best Original Screenplay in my sincere opinion. And when I say "weaker" I don't mean the contenders aren't that strong... it's just there aren't MANY STRONG ones! So, here I present you my predictions: So, we have 2 Oscar favorites ( Call Me By Your Name and Mudbound ), 1 unexpected critical hit from the directorial debut of a respected screenwriter ( Molly's Game ), 1 big Oscar hope ( Todd Haynes ' Wonderstruck ) and 1 praised movie from a well-respected director ( Sofia Coppola 's The Beguiled ): it doesn't sound that weak, I know! But let's have a look at my other contender and then you'll see how these top 5 stand out from the crowd: #6: The Disaster Artist , Scott Neustadter & Michael Weber - The AMPAS loves movies about mo...

I know it is my 1st round of Best Original Screenplay Academy Awards 2018 predictions, but it is included during my 2nd GENERAL round of Oscar predictions. And let me say something: Best Original Screenplay might well be the most interesting race this season, because of the variety and quality of the contenders. Extremely competitive and hard to predict (since the AMPAS loves to surprise us in this category when contenders are this diverse and interesting). So, let's not waste time....! Here are my top 5 contenders: I know... there are quite interesting contenders this year, right? Don't call me a mad man, but I really believe in The Big Sick 's Oscar hopes! Seriously, it's one of the best movies of the year so far, it's so feel-good without being stupid or losing its heart and I bet most Oscar folks aren't paying attention to this contender ( and it got a Gotham Independent Film Award nomination for Best Screenplay , which can mean ...

"Not quite my tempo"

YEAH!!! In case you haven't realised it, I'm a huge Marvel Cinematic Universe fan... not a geek, but a huge fan! With Thor: Ragnarok release last week, it took me thinking about writing a post about MCU movies - then I realised there were 17 films from Phase One to the current state of Phase Three. But you know what? Nevermind! I'll rank them all! So, if you're looking for a short Oscar break... Have fun with my list and always feel free to share your opinion. I have to say I was really divided between Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) for the #10 spot.... but I had to chose one! Here we go: #10  - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) QUICK REVIEW : It remains faithful to the winning formula of its first installment, but the Vol. 2 of Guardians of the Galaxy didn't have the same noisy impact simply because it didn't have the "surprise" factor. No matter what, it is an extremely e...