Cinema and Popcorn

We are days away from the big Oscars night and it's time to publish my final winner predictions for each category. My picks were based not only in the movies' performance during the precursor awards and, specially, the guild awards and BAFTA, but also based on the general conception around the movie since every voter votes for every category, which means that each winner is the result of a consensus of all branches. So, have a look: So, as you can see I expect a big night for Everything Everywhere All At Once for not only taking home Best Picture but also for being the movie with most wins ( 5 total ), followed by Elvis ( 4 wins ) and then All Quiet On the Western Front and Top Gun: Maverick ( 2 wins each). So, no sweeps here... I believe the Academy voters will continue with the "spread the wealth" thinking they've adopted these recent years - in fact, I believe they will be kind with EEAAO in the above the line categories and then manage to give an Oscar he...

AFTERSUN It is a character study. More than a movie, it is a memory put on celluloid and it feels deeply personal. In fact, Aftersun is not a movie to watch, it is a movie to inhabit, because it plays in its own form, in its own voice, without any worries about what audiences might think. It is also beautiful thanks to a beautifully crafted cinematography work by Gregory Oke that assures you always feel you are scoping a very private moment from one (or both) leading characters here. As for the acting, Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio are both tremendous! Mescal proves he is one of the best actors of his generation here - his is an amazing sensibility and self-awareness that allow him to be this emotionally naked and raw on-screen. He embodies the tragedy and the inner sadness and chaos of Calum and deliver it in cinematic magic form! As for Frankie Corio, she delivers one of the best child-performances you'll ever see in years - she is able to match Mescal in what I would call "...

Golden Globes night is almost there and it comes with a lot of expectations surrounding its winners choices. If the nominees shortlists were, in fact, a kind of a letdown considering how the HFPA didn't quite embrace diversity as I was expecting it to do considering how it should try to prove the world it is a different (and more diverse) organization now.  So, a few notes about some categories: I do believe Best Motion Picture - Drama will be between The Fabelmans and Elvis , but the later seems to have a more passionate fanbase and it is a box-office hit biopic (but we have the box-office titans Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick also contending and the trifeca winning Tár also in the run, so it feels like anyone's game); Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama can go in many different ways, but the HFPA usually go for either fresh new female actresses or titanic acting veterans, which makes me believe it will be a Ana de Armas vs. Cate Blanchett ... but I exp...

2022 seems to be a banner year for movies that highlight the great cinematic contributions of POC artists and female directors. From the actual Oscar frontrunner Everything Everywhere All at Once to a rich lineup of international films getting major award recognition this awards season, it seems to me the AMPAS has plenty of options to give visibility to auteurs that were once hidden in the shadows and to give voice to messages that were once keep silent. But 2022 is also the year of huge popcorn and white-led-or-directed big budget productions with plenty of money to campaign themselves... in the end, it all comes up to choices. I know the Academy voters can be "pretty basic" when it comes to its nominees selection, but they can also have quite inspiring choices - do you remember last year, when both Drive My Car and The Worst Person in the World got screenplay nods?; The Power of the Dog was the most nominated movie last year, with Jane Campion taking Best Director home?...

Well... this is it! Golden Globes are coming and here are my predictions for the motion picture categories (except Best Animated Feature). Have a look:

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE The most open Oscar races of the year seem to be the supporting acting ones. The category placement of Michelle Williams as a lead for The Fabelmans opened a huge gap in the Best Supporting Actress predictions and... God!... How exciting it really is! Sarah Polley's Women Talking has been collecting rave reviews since the day it first hit fall film festival circuit, with both Claire Foy and Jessie Buckley receiving some of the best reviews of their careers and the movie's MVPs status. Since Foy got THAT ATROCIOUS SNUB for First Man (2018) despite being in a career's sweet spot thanks to the acclaim (and popularity and awards love) of The Crown TV series, then an Academy Award nomination would not only be a recognition for her performance, but also an apology from the AMPAS. As for Jessie Buckley, she can benefit from some career hit: an impressive breakthrough performance in Beast (2017), followed by an Oscar worthy (but snubed) turn ...

BEST DIRECTOR Steven Spielberg is back in the Oscar race for the second year in a row... and now he's eyeing his 9th Academy Award nomination for Best Director! A 2 time winner already, Spielberg has met critical acclaim once again thanks to The Fabelmans , which is a tale of his own childhood and pursue of cinematic dreams - and considering it won the People's Choice Award at TIFF, The Fabelmans is both a critics darling and a crowd-pleaser! The Academy loves when directors put their own memories on the big screen (Cuarón won Best Director for Roma and Branagh won Best Original Screenplay for Belfast , recently) and Spielberg's career has been asking for a 3rd Best Director win lately! Then, there's Sarah Polley with one of the most acclaimed movies of the Fall film festival circuit: Women Talking . Critics highlight her sensivity while handling the heavy dramatic material about a group of women who deals with sexual assault by the community's men (it's far...