Cinema and Popcorn

2022 seems to be a banner year for movies that highlight the great cinematic contributions of POC artists and female directors. From the actual Oscar frontrunner Everything Everywhere All at Once to a rich lineup of international films getting major award recognition this awards season, it seems to me the AMPAS has plenty of options to give visibility to auteurs that were once hidden in the shadows and to give voice to messages that were once keep silent. But 2022 is also the year of huge popcorn and white-led-or-directed big budget productions with plenty of money to campaign themselves... in the end, it all comes up to choices. I know the Academy voters can be "pretty basic" when it comes to its nominees selection, but they can also have quite inspiring choices - do you remember last year, when both Drive My Car and The Worst Person in the World got screenplay nods?; The Power of the Dog was the most nominated movie last year, with Jane Campion taking Best Director home?...

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER The second installment can't quite match the high bars estabilished by its predecessor. The narrative is not as engaging and the absence of the charismatic Chadwick Boseman (RIP) is deeply felt by the audience. The movie explores the geopolitic position of Wakanda after the "discovery" of vibranium while it also deals with the surge of a new (underwater) kingdom that threats to disrupt the fragile balance of the Wakanda kingdom. Nonetheless, Wakanda Forever feels like the best movie Ryan Coogler could ever directed after the tragic death of its lead actor Boseman - it works as a cinematic vehicle that explores grief and how people experience it differently. The production design and costume design works are incredible and so are the visual effects and cinematography, but the movie's major highlight is Angela Bassett who totally sells this installment thanks to her performance as Queen Ramonda. It's a powerhouse performance as the gr...

In the previous posts, it was all about the sound categories. Today it's all about the "visual" categories: editing, cinematography, production design, costume design, makeup & hair and visual effects. Epic productions fare well in these races (usually), but there's no way to deny a spot to smaller or even international productions with widespread critical acclaim. Big players in these fields usually translate to Best Picture love (like Dune , most recently, for example), but this year feels a bit overcrowded with big quality productions - Avatar: The Way of Water , Black Panther: Wakanda Forever , Babylon , Elvis ,  Top Gun: Maverick , The Fabelmans and The Batman . Still, I feel Netflix's All Quiet On the Western Front might have a nice show here: war movies tend to do good in these categories and since Netflix lost its biggest Oscar horses due to less enthusiastic buzz-killing (non-enthusiastic) critical receptions for Bardo , White Noise and Blonde , I ...