Cinema and Popcorn

Just like Best Actress, the Best Actor race also feels like anyone's game considering all the viable (and quite baity) possibilities. From Best Picture competitive vehicles, to traditional biopics, to highly original narratives, it seems Best Actor race has it all this year, which makes predicting it even more tricky. Of course Best Picture players and biopics make for the most obvious choices, specially if they have a big distributor campaigning for it, but the AMPAS is getting edgier than ever and I could see some "surprise" nominees in the final nominees shortlist like Barry Keoghan ( Saltburn ) or Andrew Scott ( All of Us Strangers ). The first spot goes to the current Best Picture frontrunner's star - Cillian Murphy , for Christopher Nolan's  Oppenheimer - since his amazing turn (very internal, yet so potent!) in one of the most critically acclaimed movies of the year (and the highest-grossing biopic of all time from a director who's overdue for some Os...

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE One of the greatest working actresses these days, Cate Blanchett 's performance in Tár met some of the "best of her career" kind of reviews and it has already earned the Volpi Cup for Best Actress of Venice International Film Festival and a couple of other film festival prizes - some people are already talking about a possible Oscar win since the movie is also Focus Features' top priority this awards season, so an Academy Award nomination seems locked. Next in line, there's Michelle Yeoh , the star of Everything Everywhere All at Once , who delivers her best performance since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Yeoh is not the greatest actress in the world, but her character Evelyn is simply tailor-made for her acting talent, providing her some juicy scenes while it also pays homage to her career in wuxia films. It makes audiences feel a "it's her time" when we talk about Oscar nominations. Plus: Everything Everywh...

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...

The theatrical run of The Way Back was deeply affected due to the COVID-19 outbreak, which made theaters across the globe to close just a week after the release of the movie. It's now available digitally and I had the pleasure to watch: and what a pleasant surprise! It's Ben Affleck 's best work to date! Here he channels his superstar charisma and his own personal life's ghosts for the most effective performance of his career. I don't know how the coronavirus pandemic will affect the way movies will build Oscar buzz, but with some major cinematic events closed and many delayed releases and many people staying at home these days, I would say it can work as an advantage for The Way Back and Affleck. For me, he's the first real contender for the Best Actor Oscar race and, personally, my fingers are crossed for him! NOTE : a The Way Back review will be posted soon

I would call Best Actor the most competitive category in this year’s above the line Oscar races. So many worthy contenders that I must mention the ones I left out my top 10 simply because there aren’t enough spots for all of them: George McKay for 1917 ; Roman Griffin Davis for Jojo Rabbit ; Paul Thomas Hauser for Richard Jewell ; or Robert Pattinson for The Lighthouse . All worthy of a nomination or more widespread award recognition, but Best Actor is a bloodbath indeed.   Just like in my previous round of predictions, Adam Driver ( Marriage Story ) and Joaquin Phoenix ( Joker ) still are the clear frontrunners. The later delivers the showiest performance of the pack of Best Actor contenders – a man with psychiatric issues who turns into a criminal. It’s a descent to madness tale and Phoenix excels in a transformative performance! It might well be his first Oscar nod since his Oscar nomination for Best Actor for 2012's The Master - with amazing (snubed) performances i...

Funny that a movie no one was really talking about took home the top prize of Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2018 - Peter Farrely's Green Book . While the movie draws some initial comparisons to Driving Miss Daisy , it seems it goes a bit deeper. The story of a friendship between a white chauffeur and a black jazz music star, according to reviews the movie pays respect to both leads' social backgrounds without sacrifing its feel-good vibe. Yeah! A feel-good movie won TIFF (maybe the very first since Slumdog Millionaire ). And guess what? I added Green Book in my Oscar nominees predictions charts at the GoldDerby last Friday! Lucky me! And now, Green Book enters the race for the Academy Award for Best Picture: since 2008,only 1 of the TIFF winners (2011's Where Do We Go Now? ) was not Best Picture nominated, with Slumdog Millionaire (2008), The King's Speech (2010) and 12 Years a Slave (2012) taking home the Oscar for Best Picture at the end of t...