Cinema and Popcorn

TRIANGLE OF SADNESS The attempt of being brilliant is Triangle of Sadness' major flaw. Ruben Östlund wrote a comedy composed by three acts: the first one feels overlong and it is totally forgetable; the second one is funny with a couple of hilarious moments; the third one is interesting (a bit overlong, but quite fine when compared with the first one) and provides a true social critique through the characters actions, but it wastes everything with its WIDE OPEN ending. The critique might feel a bit one note and a bit too obvious - Östlund gives you everything on a plate and the audience doesn't need to reflect about the social commentary because it always feels quite obvious. The cast delivers great acting, with the unknown Dolly De Leon delivering the best performance of the bunch when you reach the 3rd act, but you can find a lot of fun by watching Woody Harrelson, Zlatko Burić and (specially) Sunnyi Melles in the 2nd act. Triangle of Sadness is not bad, but it is a fail by...

We (re)start with the sound categories: Best Original Score, Best Original Song and Best Sound. These fields are often associated with bigger productions and (in Best Original Song, specially) animated features. So, there's no surprise to predict Top Gun: Maverick as the top contender in two categories: the box-office smash hit features the best sound work of the year so far, with exquisite editing and mixing of all the sounds in the action flick. Plus, it also features the super balad " Hold My Hand " by Lady Gaga , who seems to be determined to become a two-times Oscar winner. But there are also other big names here: John Williams is back scoring another Spielberg flick ( The Fabelmans ) and reviews praise his work (as always); Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connor (both fresh from their Oscar win for " No Time to Die " song) are back with two tunes for Pixar's Turning Red ; Taylor Swift wrote and sang " Carolina " for Where the Crawdads Sin...