Cinema and Popcorn

CRITICS' CHOICE AWARDS The organization that tries too often to be an Oscar predictor rather than a critics group that really goes for their very favorites, but I must say I am quite pleased with their choices this year - I believe they show here the general consensus from critics. With Everything Everywhere All At Once winning here, beating some big favorites (and much more "made for Oscar taste" contenders) it takes the lead in the Oscar race. What a joy it is to see a small production with an early release going this far in the awards season! A note about a couple of speeches: Brendan Fraser 's acceptance speech earned him an instant Oscar nomination (moving, personal, inspiring!) and it generate even more goodwill towards him, which might lead to an actual Oscar win some months from now; and Cate Blanchett who had some negative words and made fun of prizes saying it is for competition purposes (and not for the recognition of quality)... is she too confortable t...

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...

To be honest, I had a lot of fun looking back to last decade and selecting the biggest movie stars... So... I did it again, this time for the 2000's! Of course I don't have the same level of insight because of my cinematic maturity at the time (I'm a 90's born after all), but considering what I watched and the notion I have about the older people talking about the 2000's movies, I think I was able to make a fair selection! It's not always about delivering the best performance in order to be considered one of the greatest actors of a decade - it also takes the ability to open a big production movie, to turn a small indie into a box-office hit or work with some of the most prestigious directors/auteurs these days. That's how I made this list: performances + prestige movies + box-office numbers! And we've got our 2000's decade's biggest female movie stars: