Cinema and Popcorn

Awards season is ready to start and distributors are already lining their contenders. After the indie Winter & Spring and a lackluster Summer seasonl, it seems there aren't many contenders that had their releases outside of a film festival this year. Sure Thanksgiving and Christmas season always have a word to say concerning the Oscar potential of more commercial cinematic ventures, but I consider the biggest players have already screened in Cannes, Venice, Telluride and TIFF.  To understand the Oscar game, we have to have some points in mind: #1 - it kinda plays like a presidential election in the way your party (AKA distributor) needs to champion the movie and land a FYC campaign; #2 - Best Picture nominees are chosen through a preferential balloting system, which means the love towards a movie plays a big part in the game while not liking the movie does not (you can't "unvote" a movie or block the AMPAS members of picking it);  #3 - the first critics' award

THELMA It might well be one of my favorite films of the year! While the premise might sound a little silly it's a beautiful lullaby to the old ones who refuse to be diminished by a society that sees them as a liability. It's about a quest of an old lady to prove herself and her loved ones she's still useful as she tries to have a "Tom Cruise comeback" in her own life as she goes after the money she lost when she was victim of a burglary. June Squibb's charm iluminates the screen and she's so natural, so funny, so heart-warming and so great in this one that she proves there's no age limit to be a great leading lady! It's a comedic masterclass performance as she perfectly balances funny with inner fragility.  Richard Roundtree makes for an outstanding scene-partner to Squibb and Parker Posey pulls some great laughs as Thelma's neurotic daughter Gail. Thelma avoids cheap laughs by always being grounded to the serious and noble subjects it depicts

TWISTERS It's not original... I mean, we have seen this film before... but Twisters puts a lot of effort in character development and in the search of the movie's heart, which it ultimately finds in Daisy Edgar-Jones. Glen Powell steals the scene with his movie star charisma for sure, but the movie belongs to the female lead: she can do both the acting and exude the leading lady quality in a way that reminds me of a young Julia Roberts here. I liked the approach Lee Isaac Chung had with the material, pulling sensibility from a script full of clichè blockbuster lines and scenes. The visual effects are outstanding. An entertaining entry for the disaster movie catalogue that never amazes me, but it's good enough to never be bad no matter what. Not a force of nature but a windy cinematic moment. RATING: 5,5/10 TRAP It really traps the audience in almost 2 hours of a manhunt that feels sterile thanks to an unsensitive approach that doesn't allow you to feel sympathy for its

Genre: Horror/Mystery Director: Oz Perkins Writer: Oz Perkins Starring: Maika Monroe, Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt and Nicolas Cage Longlegs was a pleasant time at the movies. A solid crime-investigation film that surprises with a somewhat sloppy supernatural element that goes full force during the 3rd act, it might be defined as some kind of Silence of the Lambs meets Hereditary , but Longlegs distinguishes itself thanks to Oz Perkins' direction: always tense, with a dark atmosphere of constant danger, even if the writing can't quite match the boldness of the execution. It's a very good cinematic ride, but it disappoints in its conclusion when its orchestration promised a grand finale. The movie's first scene is a great one, maybe one of the most creepy first scenes in recent years, and what unfolds after that makes you wonder about its connection with the narrative. The first act is brilliantly written, with Maika Monroe delivering an impressive performance as Agen

Genre: Romance; Comedy. Director: Greg Berlanti Writer: Rose Gilroy Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Ray Romano, Anna Garcia, Jim Rash and Woody Harrelson The rom-com genre isn't properly alive these days, specially during Summer season considering the amount of sci-fi/adventure, squels, animated and super-hero movies that usually get released at this time of the year, but Fly Me to the Moon cracks the blockbuster-busy schedule at movie theatres. But Fly Me to the Moon is movie with a big production budget that was meant to streaming service, but... is it any good? The answer is: yes, it is very good and I am glad Apple decided to give it a theatrical run! It's pure entertainment, elevated by an interesting premise and graced by a charismatic performance by Scarlett Johansson. The movie starts with the ups and downs (mostly the downs) of the Apollo 11 pre-mission in the aftermath of a series of unsuccessful previous atempts to reach the Moon - it's meant to

FANCY DANCE Director Erica Tremblay crafts a very sensitive drama about family, sense of community, cultural identity and social through the lens of the individual lives of her two leads. It's an indie drama with heart and soul that achieves greatness thanks to Isabel Deroy-Olson and (specially) Lily Gladstone's performances. Cinematically good considering the character development and the sensibility the director displayed by approaching some very delicate moments and key scenes, which shows an eye for both narrative storytelling and creating empathy with the audience. It's also as socially relevant as it is heartbreaking, which is why Fancy Dance is such a special cinematic little gem. RATING: 8,5 / 10 LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL It was simply not my cup of tea! David Dastmalchian shines in the title role of a TV host with some dark secrets (which is both fascinating and deserving for him to finally step as a leading man in a major movie) and the movie's concept is int