Cinema and Popcorn

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS If Best Actress is the year's bloodbath, Best Supporting Actress is a much softer battlefield. Solid contenders, but there's no sense of "anyone can make it". Before Colman placement in the leading category, the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress was hers to take... Now, it is anyone's game. From the respected Regina King ( If Beale Street Could Talk ) to breakthrough performer Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie ( Leave No Trace ), this field offers diversity and actresses at the various states of their careers. A note about Nicole Kidman , who is said to deliver an Oscar-worthy performance in Boy Erased - I believe she is more likely to get the Oscar nomination in the Best Actress category for Destroyer , given the kind of rave reviews she got and how transformative her performance is, but if AMPAS members consider they don't have room for her when they can recognize Kidman in Supporting Actress, her presence in this category...

BEST ACTRESS I would name this year's Best Actress race as the most competitive one I can remember. Best Actress Oscar race AKA Best Actress Bloodbath is fueled by out-of-this-world acting turns: Lady Gaga ( A Star Is Born ), Glenn Close ( The Wife ), Viola Davis ( Widows ), Julia Roberts ( Ben is Back ), Carey Mulligan ( Wildlife ), Melissa McCarthy ( Can You Ever Forgive Me? ), Thomasin McKenzie ( Leave No Trace ), Nicole Kidman ( Destroyer ), Emily Blunt ( Mary Poppins Returns AND A Quiet Place ), Yalitza Aparicio ( Roma ), Elsie Fisher ( Eight Grade ), Natalie Portman ( Vox Lux ), Kiki Layne ( If Beale Street Could Talk ), Amandla Stenberg ( The Hate U Give ) and Olivia Colman  ( The Favourite ). Enough? It was extremely difficult to pick 10 so I could write my predictions... I still think any of these contender can pop-up during award season or even nab a surprise Oscar nomination given the level of acclaim of their performances combined with the movies' r...

Genre: Drama; Biography Directed by: Damien Chazelle Written by: Joseh Singer (based on the book by James R. Hansen ) Starring: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Ciarán Hinds, Patrick Fugit and Corey Stoll In Theaters: October 12, 2018 (USA) Forget the American flag controversy: First Man is much more than the space mission, it is a tale of grief and a tale of a dreaming and it is worth every penny you pay for the ticket!   Some people who watched the movie mentioned they "felt nothing", complained about "not interesting enough" or "there's no real thrill in it, we all know Armstrong made it to the moon" - but First Man must be seen as a character study rather than a thriller. It spends a lot of time exploring the years of the Gemini program and you only start having a glance about the Apollo missions when the movie almost enters the last act. Personally, there were times I forgot it was about Neil Armstron...

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR While Best Actor race and (specially) Best Actress bloodbath seem to be extremely competitive this year, Best Supporting Actor is a softer topic. A category that is often connected to the Best Picture category, 3 out of my 5 predicted nominees are part of my Best Picture top contenders ( Green Book , A Star Is Born and Black Panther ) while the other 2 are from a critical darling with no substantial Best Picture buzz YET ( Can You Ever Forgive Me? ) and a movie that remains to be seen ( Vice ). And while most Oscar predictions folks seem to be predicting Timothée Chalamet as a top Best Supporting Actor contender, I still not buy it, specially after the tepid critical and audience receptions the movie received - Chalamet is said to be great, but still... And since Lucas Hedges has entered the race for another addiction drama ( Ben is Back , which is said to be better than  Beautiful Boy ), then Chalamet got direct competition! Here are my prediction...

CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL PRATT , born June 21, 1979 in Virginia Minnesota, U.S. dropped out of community college halfway through the first semester and worked as a discount ticket salesman and daytime stripper. Then, he ended up homeless in Maui, Hawaii, working the minimal hours to afford food and supplies. Then, he became a waiter and then... he became Chris Pratt, the actor! Just like I mentioned in a previous poster, let's celebrate 10 years of MCU and the massive worldwide success of Avengers: Infinity War by having a look at its main cast members careers and major acting achievements. Here's a small study on Chris Pratt's fresh career in 5 movies / moments: PARKS AND RECREATION (2009-2015, TV series) I don't have TV series under consideration here at Cinema and Popcorn, but there's no way to deny the impact of Parks and Recreation TV series in Pratt's career. Set for a guest role, Andy Dwyer, Pratt's talent and "likeability"...