Cinema and Popcorn

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...

It might well be the biggest US film critics association and they're announcing their winners. Ready? BEST FILM: First Cow BEST DIRECTOR: Chloé Zhao , Nomadland BEST FIRST FILM: The 40-Year-Old Version BEST ACTOR: Delroy Lindo , Da 5 Bloods BEST ACTRESS: Sidney Flanigan , Never Rarely Sometimes Always BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Chadwick Boseman , Da 5 Bloods BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Maria Bakalova , Borat Subsequent Moviefilm BEST SCREENPLAY: Eliza Hittman , Never Rarely Sometimes Always BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM: Bacurau BEST NON-FICTION FILM: Time BEST ANIMATED FILM: Wolfwalkers BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Small Axe [all films] SPECIAL AWARD: Kino Lorber , for their creation of Kino Marquee , a virtual cinema distribution service that was designed to help support movie theaters, not destroy them. SPECIAL AWARD: Spike Lee for inspiring the New York community with his short film New York New York and for advocating for a better society through cinema

The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC)  was announcing its winners of 2019 and I was posting the winners just as they announce them. And... The Irishman takes the top prize home, plus a win for Joe Pesci 's supporting turn. It's also good news for Lupita Nyong'o ( Us ) and Antonio Banderas ( Pain and Glory ) who needed some visibility at this point of the race due to their respective films being early releases. The bias around award the horror genre might hurt Lupita's chances, while a foreign language performance doesn't do well in Best Actor usually - the NYFCC wins will give them an Oscar boost! Also, I'm happy for having Portrait of a Lady on Fire being recognized for its cinematography - since 2006, only 2 NYFCC Best Cinematography winners missed an Academy Award for Best Cinematography nomination! Have a look: BEST FILM:   The Irishman BEST DIRECTOR:  Benny and Josh Safdie,  Uncut Gems BEST SCREENPLAY:  Quentin Tarantino,  Once Upon a ...