Cinema and Popcorn

1. Scarlett Johansson Johansson is the biggest female star of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and she had a pivotal starring role in the highest-grossing movie in history - Avengers: Endgame - where she also delivers her most soulful turn as Natasha Romanoff AKA Black Widow. It's a very fine performance and she got critical praise for her work, but Endgame 's major contribution for her career was having her starring a $2 Billion grossing movie! Money and Johansson-the-star aside, it was also an amazing her for Johansson-the-actress! She starred in two Best Picture nominated films: Jojo Rabbit and Marriage Story . Her performance as Rosie in the later was considered the movie's highlight by many critics and she got an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, a BAFTA Award nod for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, two SAG Award nominations (Best Supporting Actress and Best Ensemble) and a Critics' Choice Award nom for Best Supporting Actress. As for h...

The Best Supporting Actress feels a little volatile this year: the only sure thing seems to be Laura Dern for Marriage Story , with all the other spots with no rock solid contenders besides Margot Robbie for Bombshell (maybe!). But why is Laura Dern such a solid contender? Well: first, Marriage Story is a Best Picture contender and it has the giant Netflix backing its award campaign... and since Best Supporting Actress (and Best Supporting Actor) are closely related with Best Picture, things sound good for her; second, she has the rave reviews, the Golden Globe win and the critics prizes, for a truly supporting review (not my favorite performance from her, but predicting it's not only about "me"); third and last, she's a member of the Board of Governors in the Actors Branch, which means she's part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (really, she's a Governor!). Plus, she's living a sweet moment in her career and there's a lot of good...

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...

The Gotham Awards might not be the most reliable Oscar precursor, since it only takes a different small committee of film critics (5 or 6 I guess) for each category, so its nominees choices don't come from a lot critics. But it is said it takes a wider committee to pick the winners (different from the nominees committee). Correct if I'm wrong, but it was what I understood. So, people pay a lot of attention to Gotham Awards, not because it is a big prestigious award, but because it is the very first award of the season. Personally, the nominees are fun and it is always a delight to see some non-buzzy but great performances and movies in the nominees shortlist, but they aren't that relevant when it comes to predicting the Oscars. The winners - it is a different story! Since the winners come from a wider board of people working in the industry, which shows their preferences, and the winners are announced a few days away of major critics awards announcements and the G...