Cinema and Popcorn

Genre: Comedy; Drama Director: Damien Chazelle Writers: Damien Chazelle Starring: Diego Calva, Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, Flea, Olivia Wilde, Li Jun Li, Max Minghella &  Tobey Maguire It took me a while to understand my own opinion about Damien Chazelle's Babylon and I still can't figure out if I like it more than I hate it. To be clear: Babylon is able to reach brilliance sometimes, but it also can go low, very low. An exciting first act with a chaotic energy and a beautiful last act full of heart and nostalgia aren't really matched by what goes in between. It's a mess, but it is a visually stunning mess with what might well be the richest score I've ever heard since La La Land - Justin Hurwitz did it again! Babylon is composed by four parts: a 30 min prologue that gives you a boost of energy right before the title card pops on-screen and then three acts: the discovery and rise to stardom of Nellie LaRoy & Manny's entrance i...

To be honest, I had a lot of fun looking back to past decades and selecting the biggest movie stars... So... I did it again, this time for the 90's! Of course I don't have the same level of insight because of my cinematic maturity at the time (I was a newborn back then), but considering what I watched and the passion my dad talks about movies of that time, I think I was able to make a fair selection! It's not always about delivering the best performance in order to be considered one of the greatest actors of a decade - it also takes the ability to open a big production movie, to turn a small indie into a box-office hit or work with some of the most prestigious directors/auteurs these days. That's how I made this list: performances + prestige movies + box-office numbers! And we've got our 90's decade's biggest male movie stars:

To be honest, I had a lot of fun looking back to last decade and selecting the biggest movie stars... So... I did it again, this time for the 2000's! Of course I don't have the same level of insight because of my cinematic maturity at the time (I'm a 90's born after all), but considering what I watched and the notion I have about the older people talking about the 2000's movies, I think I was able to make a fair selection! It's not always about delivering the best performance in order to be considered one of the greatest actors of a decade - it also takes the ability to open a big production movie, to turn a small indie into a box-office hit or work with some of the most prestigious directors/auteurs these days. That's how I made this list: performances + prestige movies + box-office numbers! And we've got our 2000's decade's biggest male movie stars:

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...

Best Supporting Actor is not anyone's game. At this point of the race (after the Golden Globes wins, the guilds noms and the BAFTA noms), it's clear Brad Pitt is the front runner for his charming performance in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - not only he's as magnetic as he always is, but his award buzz for the performance itself is elevated by the movie's crazy Best Picture buzz and it is expected to get recognition all over the board coming Oscar nominations morning. The other reason why Pitt seems such a lock for a nomination (and a win, since he has been sweeping almost every award) it's because Joe Pesci and Al Pacino are splitting votes for their performances in The Irishman , for sure. Pesci is more restrained as a mob boss, yet he's an haunting presence in the movie and he was singled out by critics as the MVP, winning a hand full of critics prizes. As for Pacino, not many critics considered him The Irishman 's MVP, but h...

Well, it was a Golden Globes edition full of surprises. From the Missing Link win over the Disney giants Toy Story 4  and Frozen II to the win of 1917 over The Irishman , Marriage Story or Joker . Pleased to see the HFPA didn't go for Jennifer Lopez ( Hustlers ), but for Laura Dern ( Marriage Story ) instead - not that I don't like JLo's performance, but it would be too cliché! The Irishman was completely defeated and it went home empty handed. Even Marriage Story underperformed here! This edition made one thing clearer: Best Picture is anyone's race and Laura Dern & Brad Pitt seem to have an Oscar win waiting for them (they're having the biggest sweeps of the season between the Globes and the critics prizes). I just got a 43% prediction accuracy this Golden Globes, which is extremely low when compared to other ye ars, but I really didn't see 1917 winning Best Drama and Best Director coming. But 3 of my predicted spoilers made the win, so...! Well...