Cinema and Popcorn

March 15, 2021 - The AMPAS announces its nominees for its annual Academy Awards AKA The Oscars. The nominees? Surprising! I was not expecting the AMPAS to embrace diversity this openly. And what a beautiful thing to do. From the love across the board for Minari , to the feminist Promising Young Woman , Asian actors, 2 Black actresses competing for Best Actress and 3 (!!!) Black actors competing in Best Supporting Actor... And a shocking Lakeith Stanfield nomination for Judas and the Black Messiah (so, who's the lead?). Mank is the most nominated movie of this year's edition, but I believe it won't be able to suprass Nomadland , The Trial of the Chicago 7 , Judas and the Black Messiah or Promising Young Woman . Most nominations doesn't always translate to "most wins"... you know... last year's The Irishman ! Sad for a Mads Mikkelsen ( Another Round ) snub in Best Actor in a Leading Role, since he would be a worthier nominee than Gary Oldman ( Mank ). ...

Final countdown to the 93rd Academy Awards nominations' announcement and I couldn't be more excited about it. I know it has been a way (too) long awards season, but it also allowed a big couple of contenders to have its own momentum. Right now, there are categories I feel there's no clear frontrunner (Best Supporting Actress), a lot of spots to fill (Best Supporting Actor) or too many great contenders with a fair shot at a nom (Best Director, Best Original Screenplay or Best Original Score, for example). The clear frontrunners seem to be Nomadland and The Trial of the Chicago 7 , with Minari , Judas and the Black Messiah and Sound of Metal getting some last minute extra buzz (and I love it!). So let's have a look at my predictions: BEST PICTURE Chloé Zhao's Nomadland has been sweeping the awards season - after a Golden Lion win at Venice, a People's Choice Award at TIFF and multiple critics prizes, the movie still managed to go beyond the "critics darling...

The last few months kept me busy both at work and trying to keep up with all the Oscar game news...! New category placements, some unexpected contenders emerging thanks to the critics' push or some delayed projects that won't be released in time for the Oscars 2021 game! Titles like Dune , The French Dispatch , Black Widow , West Side Story , In the Heights or No Time To Die are just some of the bigger titles that won't see the light of the day in order to compete for the major cinematic award. Addictionaly, some new titles took the lead after Venice Film Festival and TIFF ( Nomadland 's case), with some more being "revived" thanks to critics prizes - in the case of First Cow and Never Rarely Sometimes Always  - while others are getting a qualifying release and a major campaign as its studio's major push - Minari and Promising Young Woman. Other big buzzy titles like Judas and the Black Messiah and The United States Vs. Billie Holiday are waiting unti...

It might well be the biggest US film critics association and they're announcing their winners. Ready? BEST FILM: First Cow BEST DIRECTOR: Chloé Zhao , Nomadland BEST FIRST FILM: The 40-Year-Old Version BEST ACTOR: Delroy Lindo , Da 5 Bloods BEST ACTRESS: Sidney Flanigan , Never Rarely Sometimes Always BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Chadwick Boseman , Da 5 Bloods BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Maria Bakalova , Borat Subsequent Moviefilm BEST SCREENPLAY: Eliza Hittman , Never Rarely Sometimes Always BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM: Bacurau BEST NON-FICTION FILM: Time BEST ANIMATED FILM: Wolfwalkers BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Small Axe [all films] SPECIAL AWARD: Kino Lorber , for their creation of Kino Marquee , a virtual cinema distribution service that was designed to help support movie theaters, not destroy them. SPECIAL AWARD: Spike Lee for inspiring the New York community with his short film New York New York and for advocating for a better society through cinema

Boston Society of Film Critics kicks off the critics awards season. It's one of the major critics associations in USA and they often pick very interesting winners. And the big winners are: Nomadland and The Father , with Minari as a solid #3 favorite! Have a look: BEST PICTURE: Nomadland Runner up : First Cow BEST DIRECTOR: Chloé Zhao ( Nomadland ) Runner-up : Kelly Reichardt ( First Cow ) BEST NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM: La Llorona BEST ENSEMBLE CAST: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Runner-up : Minari BEST ACTOR:  Anthony Hopkins ( The Father ) Runner-up : Riz Amed ( Sound of Metal ) BEST ACTRESS: Sidney Flanigan  ( Never Rarely Sometimes Always ) Runner-up : Julia Garner ( The Assistant ) BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Paul Raci ( Sound of Metal ) Runner-up : Brian Dennehy ( Driveways ) BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Youn Yuh-jung ( Minari ) Runner-up : Amanda Seyfried ( Mank ) BEST SCREENPLAY: I’m Thinking of Ending Things , Charlie Kaufman Runner-up : First Cow , Kelly Reichardt and ...

Genre: Drama Directed by: Aaron Sorkin Written by: Aaron Sorkin Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Rylance, Jeremy Strong, Frank Langella, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Michael Keaton In theaters: September 25, 2020 (USA, limited); October 16, 2020 (Portugal) When I first watched Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7 , there was a huge hype surrounding the movie and I loved the movie. But I felt there was too much internet enthusiasm by the time, so I decided I would write my review after a second view after a couple of weeks. After almost 3 weeks between my first and last watch, I can write The Trial of the Chicago 7 is the best movie of the year, so far! It's a superb movie in terms of execution and an important movie in terms of its subject relevance. It's a movie that excels at making the audiences think. What's the truth? Is what we consider "the truth" what bigger entities made us believe to be "the truth...

 Ron Howard's Hillbilly Elegy 's reviews are out! And I think the internet is on fire. They are not catastrophic, but they aren't good either! It seems people praise Adams and, mostly Close, for their performances, but the movie itself lacks depht. The movie was considered a major Netflix's awards contender before its release and an awards vehicle for both Glenn Close and Amy Adams, but I doubt it will score more than a Best Supporting Actress (Close) and a Best Makeup & Hair nominations at the Academy Awards. Even Close, who was considered the frontrunner given how meaty her role is and how overdue for a win she is, might be at risk of not winning (or not being nominated at all). A note to Gabriel Basso, who seems to be received really fine reviews for his performance as the older J.D. Vance. No matter how polarizing the reviews are, the critics seem to agree he's good as the movie's leading man. And while I must wait until Hillbilly Elegy 's available ...