Cinema and Popcorn

CRITICS' CHOICE AWARDS The organization that tries too often to be an Oscar predictor rather than a critics group that really goes for their very favorites, but I must say I am quite pleased with their choices this year - I believe they show here the general consensus from critics. With Everything Everywhere All At Once winning here, beating some big favorites (and much more "made for Oscar taste" contenders) it takes the lead in the Oscar race. What a joy it is to see a small production with an early release going this far in the awards season! A note about a couple of speeches: Brendan Fraser 's acceptance speech earned him an instant Oscar nomination (moving, personal, inspiring!) and it generate even more goodwill towards him, which might lead to an actual Oscar win some months from now; and Cate Blanchett who had some negative words and made fun of prizes saying it is for competition purposes (and not for the recognition of quality)... is she too confortable t...

The first precursor awards have hit the Oscar race and there are as many good surprises as some shocking/unexpected picks, like every year. On this post we will just present the awards noms/wins, only with a brief analisys about each one of them. Have a look: NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE (NYFCC) The NYFCC Awards are the oldest critics prize and maybe the most prestigious one in the US and worldwide, so winning here can give a big Oscar boost to any contender. Although the NYFCC Award are quite inconsistent in terms of translation to the Oscar nominations morning, winning here puts everyone on the map. So, it was quite surprising seeing Rajamouli winning Best Director here for RRR - but it started a "trend" at critics prizes for sure. I think Keke Palmer's win is quite an inspiring and out-of-the-box pick, but I don't think it will translate to real Oscar chances, unlike all the other acting winners here. TÁR also got a big boost - it sure is a tailor-made movie for ...

Boston Society of Film Critics kicks off the critics awards season. It's one of the major critics associations in USA and they often pick very interesting winners. And the big winners are: Nomadland and The Father , with Minari as a solid #3 favorite! Have a look: BEST PICTURE: Nomadland Runner up : First Cow BEST DIRECTOR: Chloé Zhao ( Nomadland ) Runner-up : Kelly Reichardt ( First Cow ) BEST NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM: La Llorona BEST ENSEMBLE CAST: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Runner-up : Minari BEST ACTOR:  Anthony Hopkins ( The Father ) Runner-up : Riz Amed ( Sound of Metal ) BEST ACTRESS: Sidney Flanigan  ( Never Rarely Sometimes Always ) Runner-up : Julia Garner ( The Assistant ) BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Paul Raci ( Sound of Metal ) Runner-up : Brian Dennehy ( Driveways ) BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Youn Yuh-jung ( Minari ) Runner-up : Amanda Seyfried ( Mank ) BEST SCREENPLAY: I’m Thinking of Ending Things , Charlie Kaufman Runner-up : First Cow , Kelly Reichardt and ...

The frontrunners are showing! Critics picks do say a lot about which movie is taking the lead of the awards race, since their picks are the early ones - which will influence the major industry awards' choices! Right now, it seems The Irishman is losing some heat, while Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is getting a boost and Parasite is taking the lead in the Best Picture race (besides being the obvious frontrunner for Best Foreign Language Film prizes). Little Women , a movie that was overlooked by a big couple of early awards organizations, is starting to show here and there and it even managed to win Boston - but it seems Best Supporting Actress ( Florence Pugh ), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design and Best Score are its best bets. Marriage Story is also getting some love and while it misses some Best Picture prizes it seems to be getting stronger in Best Actor ( Adam Driver ), Best Actress ( Scarlett Johansson ), Best Supporting Actress ( Laura Dern ) and Best Origi...