Cinema and Popcorn

The Academy Awards nominations were announced January 22, 2025 - with some films to stand-out in terms of number of nominations! Emilia Pérez is the most nominated film (13 nods), followed by The Brutalist and Wicked (10 nominations each). Some unexpected snubs include Denis Villeneuve ( Dune: Part II ) and Edward Berger ( Conclave ) for Best Director, Marianne Jean-Baptiste ( Hard Truths ) in Best Actress, Clarence Maclin ( Sing Sing ) in Best Supporting Actor or Challengers in Best Original Score, but there are some pleasant surprises like I'm Still Here ( Ainda Estou Aqui ) in Best Picture and A Complete Unknown in Best Director (James Mangold). Here's the full list: BEST PICTURE “Anora” “The Brutalist” “A Complete Unknown” “Conclave” “Dune: Part Two” “Emilia Pérez” “I’m Still Here” “Nickel Boys” “The Substance” “Wicked” BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist” Timothée Chalamet, “A Complete Unknown” Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing” Ralph Fiennes, “Conclave”...

 

WICKED While some odd cinematography choices and some caricature approach to supporting characters might prevent Wicked to achieve true cinematic greatness, there's no way to deny it has the heart in the right place and everything works thanks to that crucial detail. Sustained by a great Cynthia Erivo as the ostracized Elphaba and a splendid Ariana Grande (whose comedic timing and bright charisma earn her the title of "best in show") and fabulous musical numbers done flawlessly, Wicked is way more than just an eye-popping musical. "Defying Gravity" or the party dance scene will tear your heart apart, while "Popular" and Glinda's "toss toss" moments will put a smile on your face - in fact, Wicked is a complete cinematic experience that deftly balances the respect for the source stage material with the cinematic liberties - thanks to the assured directing vision of John M. Chu, who clearly loves the story he's telling on-screen. Nathan ...

EMILIA PEREZ An original musical narrative that worked for me, despite some low expectation due to some friends' response to the movie. While I undertand it might not be culturally aware of its own subject (something that I personally wasn't aware too until someone explained to me why), I consider Emilia Perez to be an engaging and well-executed narrative. Songs are not that impactful with the exception of "Mi Camino", but Clément Ducol's score is soaring and emotive, Paul Guilhaume's cinematography work is beautiful and the sound department excels. The ensemble cast delivers a strong ensemble work here, but the film belongs to Zoe Saldaña who's simply exceptional - commanding, intense and magnetic, she makes for a great leading lady. Adriana Paz truly shines in her few scenes and Gascón is very good as well, but it was Selena Gomez who impressed me the most (despite her Spanish not being up to the task, I was pleasantly surprised by the dramatic intensity...

The award season has started with the NBR and AFI naming their best movies of the year, two of the trifeca (NYFCC and LAFCA), the Golden Globe nominations and the Critics' Choice Awards nominations (the later being the one I consider the least relevant predict-wise, since it seems mostly based on the GoldDerby pundits predictions as an attempt to get a strong correlation with the final Oscar nominations) - so, it's time to publish my new Oscar nominations predictions for the 97th edition of the Academy Awards BEFORE the Golden Globes ceremony and the SAG Award and BAFTA Award nominees are announced! The big distributors have already selected their "champions", the ones they will campaign aiming for the cinematic gold, which is an important element to have in mind, since it's extremely unlikely for a film to pop at the Oscars without a proper "behind the scene" promotion games. And there's the "Oscar type", a concept that has been changing l...