Cinema and Popcorn

Well, it was a Golden Globes edition full of surprises. From the Missing Link win over the Disney giants Toy Story 4  and Frozen II to the win of 1917 over The Irishman , Marriage Story or Joker . Pleased to see the HFPA didn't go for Jennifer Lopez ( Hustlers ), but for Laura Dern ( Marriage Story ) instead - not that I don't like JLo's performance, but it would be too cliché! The Irishman was completely defeated and it went home empty handed. Even Marriage Story underperformed here! This edition made one thing clearer: Best Picture is anyone's race and Laura Dern & Brad Pitt seem to have an Oscar win waiting for them (they're having the biggest sweeps of the season between the Globes and the critics prizes). I just got a 43% prediction accuracy this Golden Globes, which is extremely low when compared to other ye ars, but I really didn't see 1917 winning Best Drama and Best Director coming. But 3 of my predicted spoilers made the win, so...! Well...

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...

As you know (or as “you should know” at least), Best Picture category is a special one: it’s all about the #1 votes of each member of the AMPAS! So, how does it affect the choosing of the nominees?  Well, people tend to go for movies they love rather for movies they “just” respect unless they recognize the movie they respect is undeniably good: and that’s why I have Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman in first place for a Best Picture nomination. It’s a movie some might not fall in love with, but it is a movie no one seems able to say “it’s bad” and it also benefits from the all-star names involved in the project: Martin Scorsese, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino or Joe Pesci… I know it is a Netflix movie, but I can’t picture a scenario where The Irishman is left out of Best Picture nominees shortlist.   The other movie I feel pretty confident about is Parasite – the international foreign language phenomenon, Bong Joon-ho’s latest movie is one of the most critically acclaimed movie i...

The American Film Institute (AFI) has just named their picks for the Best Motion Pictures of the Year - 2019. It's a major achievement for Netflix ( The Irishman and Marriage Story ), Sony ( Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood and Little Women ) and Warner Bros. ( Joker and Richard Jewell ) with each one scoring 2 mentions in the list. Pay special attention to Bong Joon-ho 's Parasite , which managed to get a Special Award out of the top 10 honoured movies. And the AFI's Motion Pictures of the Year are: 1917 (Universal) The Farewell (A24) The Irishman (Netflix) Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight) Joker (Warner Bros) Knives Out (Lionsgate) Little Women (Sony) Marriage Story (Netflix) Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (Sony) Richard Jewell (Warner Bros) Special Award Parasite (Neon)

The Satellite Awards are a kind of early Oscars, since they often recognize the early frontrunners with a big couple of uninspired and expected choices, but this year they surprised... with their snubs! Little Women , A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood or The Irishman missing Best Motion Picture, Drama, Best Director ( Martin Scorsese ), Best Actor, Drama ( Robert DeNiro ) or Best Supporting Actor ( Al Pacino ) - these are the snubs that shocked me the most coming from an awards organization that usually doesn't surprise me this much. No matter what, with 10 nominations, Ford v. Ferrari leads the Satellite Awards nominations, with 1917 , Marriage Story and Joker also making strong shows in key categories. I know Satellite Awards doesn't translate that well to Oscars, but it's really helpful in the technical categories and the snubs do have some meaning... Not the complete snubs (I wonder if Little Women or A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood were seen so they co...