Cinema and Popcorn

Last sunday, the Oscars took place in a ceremony with no big surprises, no big thrills and no huge iconic moments... but it got some all timers as winners: Cillian Murphy 's win for Oppenheimer still amazes me (such an internal and subtle performance getting the gold), The Zone of Interest in Best Sound (chilling and perfectly balanced work), Poor Things in Best Costume Design and Best Production Design and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar for Best Live Action Short Film (marking Wes Anderson 's first Oscar win of his career). On the other hand, I felt sad for Lily Gladstone not winning Best Actress for Killers of the Flower Moon (such a soulful devastating performance), but Emma Stone was also a very worthy winner for playing the charismatic Bella Baxter in Poor Things . In a night Oppenheimer won big (and its Summer "nemesis" Barbie only took Best Original Song, turning Billie Eilish  into the youngest double Oscar winner in history), there were few films tha...

It's that time of the year! Here are my predictions for the Academy Awards 2024 - the winners!

The nominations for the Academy Awards 2024 were announced last Tuesday (January 23th) and while Oppenheimer leads as the most nominated movie of the year, there were a few shocking misses and some welcome inclusions.  In fact, last Tuesday's announcement came with a couple of surprises: no Greta Gerwig in Best Director for Barbie (something I had always predicted, but the internet wasn't ready for ), Killers of the Flower Moon missing Best Adapted Screenplay, but The Zone of Interest gets nominated there; two international films in the Best Picture lineup ( Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest ); John Williams got nominated for his score for the latest installment of Indiana Jones (like... REALLY?); Napoleon gets nominated in 3 craft categories; Past Lives makes the Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, but somehow misses Best Actress for Greta Lee...; No Saltburn , no Asteroid City , no Fallen Leaves , The Iron Claw or John Wick: Chapter 4 ...!; May December ...

I know these categories come a bit late, but to be honest nothing has changed that much since I first drawed these charts. In fact, the awards race seems like the pundits consensus in these fields, with some titles eyeing a surprise ascension at this point of the race. Funny how so many Cannes-titles have managed to enter the awards race: Anatomy of a Fall ( Anatomie d'une chute ), The Zone of Interest , The Taste of Things ( La passion de Dodin Bouffant ), Asteroid City , May December , Perfect Days or, from a certain perspective, Killers of the Flower Moon . Also, the Summer titles Oppenheimer and Barbie also managed to live-up their critical and box-office successes and their studios are campaigning them successfully. I don't remember a season with so many early titles under the consideration for the top categories, recently. It amazes me and it defies the concept of "Oscar-baity release date" - it shows that if a film is good, then it will stand the test of Su...

THE HOLDOVERS A movie that took its time in order to take over to emotional heights. The first half might feel a bit dry overall, with nothing much quite happening and no big details about Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), Angus (Dominic Sessa) or Mary Lamb (Da'Vine Joy Randolph). Still, I started to feel the movie's beating heart right before the events that took place in the Christmas' Eve - that's when the relationship between Paul and Angus starts to develop with the complexity it requires, making for an exquisite character study of these two unloved solitary souls wandering the Barton's room during Holiday season. It features Paul Giamatti's best performance of his career (one he balances his comedy chops with an ability to generate empathy as a grinchy and lonely teacher who has never been happy) and an impressive acting debut from the young Dominic Sessa. As for Randolph... she gets an underwritten character the director only uses to give a glimpse of a grievi...

The awards season has begun with the first award bodies announcing their respective nominees/winners. New York Film Critics Awards are one of the most prestigious prizes of the season - and the oldest critics association's prize in the U.S. - and they often put some early contenders right in the front of the awards race or they can start some strong buzz around a specific (overlooked) film or individual achievement in film. This year, NYFCC just boosted the early predictions regarding a Killers of the Flower Moon & Oppenheimer triumph, while the NBR and AFI made very clear which films are "a thing" this season. Only Barbie , The Holdovers , Killers of the Flower Moon , Maestro , Oppenheimer , Past Lives and Poor Things have made both NBR Top 10 and AFI Motion Pictures of the Year lists, which makes a solid case for Oscar prospects for these. Here are the lists: NEW YORK FILM CRITICS WINNERS Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon gets a huge boost here as...

Genre: Drama; Comedy Director: Todd Haynes Writer: Samy Burch Starring: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton Todd Haynes has already presented the world some of the most exquisite pieces of cinema in recent history from cult films like Velvet Goldmine or I'm Not There to brilliant gems like Far From Heaven and Carol , but these great films might be difficult to appeal general audiences... With May December , Haynes not only offers one of the most disturbing narratives of his career but also the most acessible one. Led by a wonderful trio of performances, May December is the rare melodrama done right without falling into the soap opera realm. It's a movie full of metaphors and symbolisms: from Joe's (Charles Melton) character arc being linked to a butterfly's cycle to the cunning nature of Gracie (Julianne Moore) being represented by a fox she refuses to shoot somewhere in the film, while Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) is often mirroring Gracie and playing...

The  Best Supporting Actor race seems strangely predictable at this point, which makes me doubt my own predictions. It's seems like a category made for estabilished white actors who feel overdue for a (first) win, with the exception of maybe Robert De Niro ( Killers of the Flower Moon ). Robert Downey Jr. feels like the frontrunner to me thanks to Oppenheimer 's global success both critically and the fact he's a hugely popular actor going back to great movies now that his MCU duties are done. The performance sure is showy enough and the fact he plays a charismatic political shark gives him a hand full of "Oscar clips", perfect for campaigning purposes. Next, I think Downey Jr.'s MCU scene partner Mark Ruffalo has estabilished himself as one of the early frontrunners for his performance in the Golden Lion-winning Poor Things - it's said to be a high wire comedic performance and let's not forget Ruffalo has already been nominated three times in this cat...

Genre: Drama Director: Martin Scorsese Writer: Eric Roth & Martin Scorsese Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Robert DeNiro, Jesse Plemons, Brendan Fraser, Tantoo Cardinal and Cara Jade Myers Some might argue that Killers of the Flower Moon is too long and that might hurt the audiences' ability to appreciate its quality - they are not wrong, but I found Scorsese's latest a truly fascinating tale of greed and grief. The director works around the most interesting central subject he has ever handled since The Departed and I got completely engaged in the movie's narrative. Plus, Killers of the Flower Moon is exquisitely crafted and amazingly acted, making it an extremely satisfying cinematic experience at the movies. The movie starts by presenting the greatness of the Osage people and how they got insanely rich by accident and it shows how good their lives were back in the day. Then the white men arrive and things start getting as dirty as the oil the Osage...