Cinema and Popcorn

I know these categories come a bit late, but to be honest nothing has changed that much since I first drawed these charts. In fact, the awards race seems like the pundits consensus in these fields, with some titles eyeing a surprise ascension at this point of the race. Funny how so many Cannes-titles have managed to enter the awards race: Anatomy of a Fall ( Anatomie d'une chute ), The Zone of Interest , The Taste of Things ( La passion de Dodin Bouffant ), Asteroid City , May December , Perfect Days or, from a certain perspective, Killers of the Flower Moon . Also, the Summer titles Oppenheimer and Barbie also managed to live-up their critical and box-office successes and their studios are campaigning them successfully. I don't remember a season with so many early titles under the consideration for the top categories, recently. It amazes me and it defies the concept of "Oscar-baity release date" - it shows that if a film is good, then it will stand the test of Su...

THE HOLDOVERS A movie that took its time in order to take over to emotional heights. The first half might feel a bit dry overall, with nothing much quite happening and no big details about Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), Angus (Dominic Sessa) or Mary Lamb (Da'Vine Joy Randolph). Still, I started to feel the movie's beating heart right before the events that took place in the Christmas' Eve - that's when the relationship between Paul and Angus starts to develop with the complexity it requires, making for an exquisite character study of these two unloved solitary souls wandering the Barton's room during Holiday season. It features Paul Giamatti's best performance of his career (one he balances his comedy chops with an ability to generate empathy as a grinchy and lonely teacher who has never been happy) and an impressive acting debut from the young Dominic Sessa. As for Randolph... she gets an underwritten character the director only uses to give a glimpse of a grievi...

The awards season has begun with the first award bodies announcing their respective nominees/winners. New York Film Critics Awards are one of the most prestigious prizes of the season - and the oldest critics association's prize in the U.S. - and they often put some early contenders right in the front of the awards race or they can start some strong buzz around a specific (overlooked) film or individual achievement in film. This year, NYFCC just boosted the early predictions regarding a Killers of the Flower Moon & Oppenheimer triumph, while the NBR and AFI made very clear which films are "a thing" this season. Only Barbie , The Holdovers , Killers of the Flower Moon , Maestro , Oppenheimer , Past Lives and Poor Things have made both NBR Top 10 and AFI Motion Pictures of the Year lists, which makes a solid case for Oscar prospects for these. Here are the lists: NEW YORK FILM CRITICS WINNERS Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon gets a huge boost here as...

Genre: Drama; Comedy Director: Todd Haynes Writer: Samy Burch Starring: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton Todd Haynes has already presented the world some of the most exquisite pieces of cinema in recent history from cult films like Velvet Goldmine or I'm Not There to brilliant gems like Far From Heaven and Carol , but these great films might be difficult to appeal general audiences... With May December , Haynes not only offers one of the most disturbing narratives of his career but also the most acessible one. Led by a wonderful trio of performances, May December is the rare melodrama done right without falling into the soap opera realm. It's a movie full of metaphors and symbolisms: from Joe's (Charles Melton) character arc being linked to a butterfly's cycle to the cunning nature of Gracie (Julianne Moore) being represented by a fox she refuses to shoot somewhere in the film, while Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) is often mirroring Gracie and playing...