Cinema and Popcorn

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...

Genre: Drama Directed by: Martin Scorsese Written by: Steve Zaillian Starring: Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Al Pacino, Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Stephen Graham and Anna Paquin In theaters: November 1, 2019 (USA limited) The long-awaited Martin Scorsese's passion project, The Irishman has finally seen the light of the day this year and let me say it is a "hell of an epic". We've already known Scorsese as an American master in the craft of filmmaking, specially in the mob drama genre ( Mean Streets , Goodfellas , Casino , Gangs of New York and The Departed ), but he excels in The Irishman! But let me be clear: The Irishman is not a movie for everyone. It's slow, the first act slowly builds the next two and there's nothing really going one besides characters development and their backgrounds... but then Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) enters the scene and everything changes!   The Irishman  starts with Frank Sheeran's (Robert DeNiro) initiation i...

The National Board of Review has just announced their picks for 2019... and Martin Scorsese's The Irishman was named the Best Film of 2019! It's a major win for the mob epic, a movie that was absent from the early awards list since it doesn't qualify as an independent production (Gotham Awards and Independent Spirit Awards are just for indies) - but it has just started the awards season with a big stan!  Are Renee Zellweger ( Judy ) and Brad Pitt ( Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood ) going to sweep all the awards? Both are considered to be the clear frontrunners in their respective categories, but NBR Awards aren't a trustful predictor of the Oscar wins (or even the nods in some years). Let's have a look at the Best Actress category: from the 9 NBR winners since 2010 (Zelweger is excluded of course), 4 missed a Best Actress nom, 3 got nominations and 2 won the Oscar. If go back to the 2000's, every NBR Best Actress winner landed an Oscar nomination, with...