Cinema and Popcorn

Genre: Drama; Sci-fi; Adventure; Horror Director: Garreth Edwards Writer: David Koepp Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, Manuel García-Rulfo, Rupert Friend, Luna Blaise, David Iacono and Audrina Miranda Jurassic World: Rebirth doesn't invent the wheel nor add a new idea to the billion dollar franchise, but it does feel a "back to basics" and that's... quite positive, actually. It's a true popcorn movie: a simple narrative, some thrilling scenes, a charismatic cast and great visual effects - and that's exactly the description of the ideal Summer blockbuster movie. Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it some landmark movie in the franchise? Time will tell. Is it good? Yes! The new Jurassic World installment starts by presenting a new idea that will affect future movies (if writers don't find a way to ignore it): dinosaurs can't survive the Earth's atmosphere outside the equatorial zones and they are dying everywhere else. That ...

Genre: Romance; Comedy. Director: Greg Berlanti Writer: Rose Gilroy Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Ray Romano, Anna Garcia, Jim Rash and Woody Harrelson The rom-com genre isn't properly alive these days, specially during Summer season considering the amount of sci-fi/adventure, squels, animated and super-hero movies that usually get released at this time of the year, but Fly Me to the Moon cracks the blockbuster-busy schedule at movie theatres. But Fly Me to the Moon is movie with a big production budget that was meant to streaming service, but... is it any good? The answer is: yes, it is very good and I am glad Apple decided to give it a theatrical run! It's pure entertainment, elevated by an interesting premise and graced by a charismatic performance by Scarlett Johansson. The movie starts with the ups and downs (mostly the downs) of the Apollo 11 pre-mission in the aftermath of a series of unsuccessful previous atempts to reach the Moon - it's meant to...

The "supporting" categories are extremely co-related with the Best Picture race in the way "supporting players" tend to coattail with the movie's campaign for that category, but this year there are many buzzy acting turns that are buzzy on their own. Oscar trivia shows the most usual number of Best Supporting Actress nominees from a Best Picture contender is... 3! But sometimes they are only 2 (88th Oscars), sometimes they can even be 5 (89th Oscars)! So, with the end of the strikes on sight, we should start seeing the actors and actresses doing some press and attending some events and it will give us a better perspective about the campaign that are set to start. Still, a big question mark still is The Color Purple - will it be good? The trailer seems to put on a big show and the Broadway musical was pretty successful, but will it be a good cinematic adaptation? I feel people still have a lot of love for Spielberg's adaptation starring Whoopi Goldberg and I...

Genre: Comedy; Drama; Sci-fi. Director: Wes Anderson Writer: Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Jake Ryan, Steve Carell, Hong Chau, Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe, Tony Revolori, Jeff Goldblum & Margot Robbie I named Asteroid City one of my most antecipated films for 2023 and when I went to watch it, I must confess I was afraid I was too hyped. In the end, it was not the movie I was expecting - it was different, but in a good way. It took me a couple of days to think about the movie and understand the deep meaning of many of its elements. For those who expect a funny, light and stylish only film, they will find a movie that's also extremely melancholic, that deals with the heavy themes of grief, isolation, artistic frustration and the need for closure and to move on... all in p...

Last Four favorite movies with starred the great Christian Bale , so I picked his The Prestige co-star - Scarlett Johansson - to "star" the second post of this rubric. Just have a look: Marriage Story (2019) / Match Point (2005) / Her (2013) / Lost in Translation (2003) [ in no particular order of preference ]

A new rubric here at Cinema and Popcorn: "The Underrated" aims to analyse a movie, a performance or a directing/screenplay work that didn't get the award recognition it deserved by the time it was released. It will be composed by a small review and then an award analysis. The first object of analysis of this rubric: Vicky Cristina Barcelona , an ideal movie for sunny (almost Summer) days, I watched yesterday. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) Directed by Woody Allen The curious case of Vicky Cristina Barcelona ... When Woody Allen presented us the love triangle(s) of Vicky Cristina Barcelona , I must confess I thought it was one of the sexiest movies in year, but also one of the most Woody Allen-esque movies of his filmography in years! And yet, the movie failed to get the recognition I think it deserved by the time...   The idea of ensembling Javier Bardem, Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz and then fresh Rebecca Hall for a sunny Summer in the beautiful city o...

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:

I'm still having a look back at the past decade of movies, which means... more lists! 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 last decade's biggest female movie stars:

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...

Unlike Best Actor, the race for Best Actress is closed to 7 contenders who raised above all the others, but it looks like a very volatile category in terms of who’ll get the 4th and 5th spots. There are 3 actresses I would considered “locked” for a Best Actress nomination this year: Scarlett Johansson for Marriage Story ; Renée Zellweger for Judy ; and Charlize Theron for Bombshell . From these three, I would say Charlize Theron is certainly competing for a nomination, while Johansson and Zellweger are competing for a win if both manage to get nominated. Johansson has the most interesting narrative of all the Best Actress contenders: a former child actress who has become one of the biggest Hollywood stars with one of the greatest careers when compared to the actresses of her generation, but she has never received any Oscar recognition! In Marriage Story , she delivers one of the greatest performances of her career as an actress going through a divorce so she can have a life of her ...

Finally, Black Widow gets her own solo movie after 10 years of being a recurring supporting character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe! It has some Captain America: The Winter Soldier vibes, which is good, but having Cate Shortland ( Somersault , Lore or Berlin Syndrome ) in the directing chair and a trio of Scarlett Johansson , Florence Pugh and Rachel Weisz starring the movie... it's even better.