Cinema and Popcorn

1. Adam Driver 2019 looked promising for Adam Driver back in Sundance Film Festival, when The Report was released under heavy critical praise. Driver himself received glowing reviews for his performance and he was considered an early Oscar contender for his work, but then Amazon got the distribution rights of the movie and something just went wrong: the movie didn't do well at the box-office and the studio wasn't able to capitalize its early awards buzz, with only Annette Bening being able to get a Golden Globe nomination. Then, Driver met critical acclaim once again, this time during Venice Film Festival for his performance in Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story - in fact, they were the best reviews of his career and he won numerous critics associations' prizes for Best Actor, plus an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, Golden Globe, BAFTA, SAG and Critics' Choice Award nods (losing all the big awards to Phoenix). The year seemed bright for Driver thanks to t...

I would call Best Actor the most competitive category in this year’s above the line Oscar races. So many worthy contenders that I must mention the ones I left out my top 10 simply because there aren’t enough spots for all of them: George McKay for 1917 ; Roman Griffin Davis for Jojo Rabbit ; Paul Thomas Hauser for Richard Jewell ; or Robert Pattinson for The Lighthouse . All worthy of a nomination or more widespread award recognition, but Best Actor is a bloodbath indeed.   Just like in my previous round of predictions, Adam Driver ( Marriage Story ) and Joaquin Phoenix ( Joker ) still are the clear frontrunners. The later delivers the showiest performance of the pack of Best Actor contenders – a man with psychiatric issues who turns into a criminal. It’s a descent to madness tale and Phoenix excels in a transformative performance! It might well be his first Oscar nod since his Oscar nomination for Best Actor for 2012's The Master - with amazing (snubed) performances i...

The Gotham Awards might not be the most reliable Oscar precursor, since it only takes a different small committee of film critics (5 or 6 I guess) for each category, so its nominees choices don't come from a lot critics. But it is said it takes a wider committee to pick the winners (different from the nominees committee). Correct if I'm wrong, but it was what I understood. So, people pay a lot of attention to Gotham Awards, not because it is a big prestigious award, but because it is the very first award of the season. Personally, the nominees are fun and it is always a delight to see some non-buzzy but great performances and movies in the nominees shortlist, but they aren't that relevant when it comes to predicting the Oscars. The winners - it is a different story! Since the winners come from a wider board of people working in the industry, which shows their preferences, and the winners are announced a few days away of major critics awards announcements and the G...