Cinema and Popcorn

A24's main awards push and 2020's Sundance Film Festival champion (it took home the Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic and the Audience Award) - Minari has its trailer released! And it looks even better than I was expecting...!

 A note to the reader: I really had a hard time trying to order the contenders! But Best Supporting Actor nominees predictions are here. First, let me say I will revise these predictions if Sacha Baron Cohen and/or Kingsley Ben-Adir are announced to be campaigned for Best Supporting Actor instead of Best Actor in a Leading Role. The men of The Trial of Chicago 7 and One Night in Miami seem to share equal screen-time, which means category placement can be a mess... but that's the fun of Oscar predictions! The number 1 contender is Chadwick Boseman (RIP) for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom . He plays Levee, the trumpeter of Ma Rainey's band who happens to be a very ambitious man and who also happens to develop an interest for Ma Rainey's girlfriend. It's a co-lead role on paper, but it has already gotten the "supporting" treatment on Broadway (Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play, nom) - so, it might be the right role for Boseman's talents and if the ...

Since I'm a gentleman, it was "ladies first!" matter, but now it's time to analyse the Best Actor in a Leading Role contenders. Right now, Sir Anthony Hopkins leads this race with his performance as Anthony in The Father , an aging man who refuses the assistance of his own daughter while he struggles with his own reality as dementia starts to mess with his mind, but it seems these little description is not rich enough to describe his layered character! The final result is one of the most acclaimed performances of Hopkins' long career - his work is described as "unforgettable", "astonishing" or "stunning" and it seems hard to have another performance able to match Hopkins' this year. Yet, I'm sensing Daniel Kaluuya might be some serious competition as Fred Hampton in the upcoming Judas and the Black Messiah . In case you've watched the movie's trailer, you can't deny how he fills the screen with charisma in what m...

AUDIENCE PRIZES PEOPLE'S CHOICE: Nomadland (dir. Chloé Zhao)  / First runner up: One Night in Miami (dir. Regina King); Second runner up: Beans (dir. Tracey Deer.) PEOPLE'S CHOICE, DOCUMENTARY: Inconvenient Indian  (dir. Michelle Latimer)  PEOPLE'S CHOICE, MIDNIGHT MADNESS: Shadow in the Cloud (dir.  Roseanne Liang)  WHY IS IT SUCH A BIG DEAL? Great news for Nomadland - it now takes the clear frontrunner position in the Best Picture race (and in the Oscar race overall). I think it is the first movie ever to win both Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion and TIFF's People Choice Award (but I've to do some research before really state that). Also good news for Regina King's One Night in Miami , which went from Venice's critical darling (out of competition) to one of the audiences favorites in Toronto. The People's Choice Award has a direct correlation with the Best Picture category at the Oscars, since 90% of its winners in the last 10 years have l...

The moment you look at Mads Mikkelsen, the general first impression is how much he looks like the stereotype of a movie villain, yet you'll change your mind about it when you watch The Hunt . The movie is hard to watch because of how harsh it deals with rumour and how it might poison a man's life! And that's exactly what happens to Mikkelsen's character, Lucas - he's a victim of a rumour that pursues him wherever he goes, all the time. The actor uses this tale about the social murder of a once respectable man as his most striking acting showcase ever! There's a key scene set in a church where you can see Mikkelsen open his character right in front of your eyes: his fear, his desperation, his anger, his sadness...! It's THE SCENE of The Hunt and delivers such a punch thanks to the actor's magic. Stripped away from the sex symbol in his 40's status, Mikkelsen creates one of the most empathetic characters you'll ever seen - he's flawed, he'...

 

  And so it begins for Nomadland ! One of the most well reviewed movies of this year (by far and so far)!!! Congratulations to all the team members involved!

  In case there were any doubts... she has just entered the Best Actress in big fashion! Vanessa Kirby for Pieces of a Woman

As a Portuguese movie lover, I'm so happy for this!!!

Now it's time for Best Supporting Actress! Just let me point how hard it is to predict these categories, when there are a lot of contenders emerging from Fall film festivals these days. So, let's start: First, the eternal nominee Glenn Close , for her role as a strong-minded and stubborn grandmother in Ron Howard's Hillbilly Elegy . Those who read the novel say it is a juicy role up to the level of Close's talents, so it feels like a natural contender. I'm truly convinced she has a seat waiting for her in the Best Supporting Actress nominees lineup, although I've a hunch Hillbilly Elegy will underperform both critically and awards-wise - Ron Howards can flirt with both cinematic brilliance and cinematic blandness, but the performances in his movies are mostly above average, so... And huess who's back competing against Glenn Close? Olivia Colman , who plays the daughter of a man with dementia and suffers with his loss of memory and insight. In case you missed...

 After a kinda weak Best Actress race last year, 2020's race looks insane to me! On the top of my predictions: Viola Davis for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom ! She's starring another adaptation of an August Wilson play (the last being Fences , which earned her an Oscar back in 2016/17), but this time she'll be playing not an wife in crisis but Ma Rainey, the Mother of Blues. While not much is known about the project, it will be directed by Broadway veteran George C. Wolfe and early word on the project say Davis delivers an amazing performance - the hype is here and the buzz is strong at such an early stage! Up next: former Oscar darling Kate Winslet , who plays Mary Anning, a real-life self-taught palaeontologist who falls in love with another woman in Ammonite - it's a Francis Lee directed movie (the man who brought us God's Own Country ) and considering how great he is with actors PLUS Winslet's talents, I'm expecting nothing less than brilliant (and the ...

I'm one of those who believes in Da 5 Bloods Oscar chances... so, as you can see, I'm predicting a Best Director nomination for Spike Lee - not only has the AMPAS unlocked some love for him and his work recently ( BlacKkKlansman ), but I'm sure the movie will have a heavy awards campaign from Netflix. Don't get me wrong: I do think Lee deserves the nomination, since Da 5 Bloods is fueled by the energy Lee instilates in the movie (and it is more ambitious filmmaking than his Oscar nominated work in BlacKkKlansman 's). David Fincher also directs another big Oscar contender coming from the "Netflix factory" - Mank , the story about the many struggles to get the classic Citizen Kane made and released. Not a lot of news about this project until today (it got an official instagram page it seems), but given the talent involved and the way Fincher was able to balance style/narrative/acting in both his previous Best Director nominated works ( The Curious Case o...