Cinema and Popcorn

Some people might say the guild awards don't always translate to excelence and that they are an awards vehicle for Americanized productions...! Well, that's kinda true, but they are useful precursor in what comes to Oscar predictions, specially Best Picture (and each's guild respective categories). The AMPAS is divided in multiple branches - each branch votes a certain (or more than one) specific category, but all branches' members vote for Best Picture! This means, overall guild awards support often translates to Best Picture love! Of course there are always a couple of critics' pushes that pops-up in the Oscars shortlist, but most spots in each category were previously "predicted" by the guilds. So, let's have a look at all the guilds nominations (I am not going to include SAG Awards here, since SAG was "explored" in the previous post): PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA (PGA) AWARDS Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Mot...

There's a certain kind of "unfairness" when we try to name the TOP 35 under 35... not only because you acted more by the age of 34 when compared with actors in their 20's, but it is also expected an actor keeps improving as long as he/she keeps working. So, besides the annual TOP 35 UNDER 35 (doing it soon) and TOP 100 ACTORS & ACTRESSES WORKING TODAY (in the works), I am starting with " The Best of Their Generation ", starting with the 2000's "kids" . Each post, I will pick 10 actors born in each decade, with the exception of the 2000's - they had little time to prove themselves, so I only selected 5 since it might be "tricky" to pick the right ones this soon in their careers! For my consideration: the awards recognition, distinguished performances and successful movies, and box-office numbers. Have a look (listed alphabetically): There are so many actors and actresses whose careers as child-actors don't translate to thei...

Last week was a busy week awards-wise. The Golden Globes took place and the SAG announced their nominees. With the boycott around the Golden Globes, SAG Award rise as the major Oscar precursor. In addition, a big couple of critics groups have announced their winners, but that's a matter for another post (since they are so many). But let's have a look. GOLDEN GLOBES The 79th Golden Globe Awards winners were announced on Sunday night via social media and not  in a nationally televised gala, like the years before - a "must" stop moment for movie stars and celebrities who get together to celebrate their movies and... well, get dr*nk! It marks the Hollywood FOREIGN Press Association 's fall from grace experienced over the past year since a piece of Los Angeles Times revealed that the organization included zero Black members and was involved in some suspect financial practices. Still, some studios celebrated the wins via social media (like 20th Century Studios, which b...

SAG Awards feel more relevant this year after Golden Globes being not cool anymore due to HFPA policies and some other drama (that's not this site's purpose to discuss). So, it kinda feels mandatory to predict the SAG awards this year, which is quite funny actually (first time I'm predicting these ones). We must have in mind SAG is a wide guild, with a lot of members, but it seems not every member is able to vote - it's a strange policy, I know - since voting panels are randomly selected. So, how to predict? I believe SAG's rise to top Oscar precursor award makes voters under some pressure to select the year's finest and make a statement at the same time: so that's why I am expecting the Oscar frontrunners The Power of the Dog and Belfast to make a strong show here and West Side Story too. Spielberg's latest has a huge advantage: it does feature a POC cast that delivers an incredible ensemble performance and SAG might want to elevate the POC stars of ...

Well, the HFPA reputation might be... well... they aren't even recognized by other associations at the moment. Still, I'm expecting Belfast to keep getting the love from all others that are not the critics or #FilmTwitter (yes, it is an easy-to-love movie).  Here are the predictions (because it is always fun to predict the Golden Globes):

GOLDEN GLOBES Best Motion Picture, Drama Belfast (Focus Features)  CODA (Apple)  Dune (Warner Bros.)  King Richard (Warner Bros.)  The Power of the Dog (Netflix) Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy ​Cyrano (MGM/United Artists Releasing) Don’t Look Up (Netflix)  Licorice Pizza (MGM/United Artists Releasing)  Tick, Tick … Boom! (Netflix)  West Side Story (20th Century Studios) Best Director, Motion Picture Kenneth Branagh ( Belfast )  Jane Campion ( The Power of the Dog ) Maggie Gyllenhaal ( The Lost Daughter ) Steven Spielberg ( West Side Story )  Denis Villeneuve ( Dune ) Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama Jessica Chastain ( The Eyes of Tammy Faye ) Olivia Colman ( The Lost Daughter )  Nicole Kidman ( Being the Ricardos ) Lady Gaga ( House of Gucci )  Kristen Stewart ( Spencer ) Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy Marion Cotillard ( Annette ) Alana Haim ( L...