Cinema and Popcorn

1. SOUL It's not perfect, but it does have a soul! Disney's Soul is a mature and reflexive animated feature that deals with the "true meaning of life", always backed by a wonderful score, great voice work and beautiful visual effects. Soul is a delight for eyes, ears, mind and heart! 2. MINARI Tender, heartfelt and sweet, Minari' s biggest achievement is its ability to connect with the audience by portraying moments that easily might recall each viewer's own personal memories. It's a child's tale, the tale of a marriage on the rocks and a man's personal journey in search of the American dream while he tries to carry his family on his shoulders. Award worthy ensemble acting, a sensitive directing touch and some of the most emotional last acts of the year. 3. VITALINA VARELA It's a movie of great beauty and a lot of detail. Leonardo Simões' cinematography work is breathtaking, making Vitalina Varela almost "painting looking". Pedr...

No, I was not expecting  Nomadland  to win Best Motion Picture - Drama! My money was on  The Trial of the Chicago 7 , but Nomadland keeps its impressive awards run! But the night's big winner was Andra Day - who pulled an utterly unexpected win for her amazing performnace in The United States vs. Billie Holiday . The movie is a weak one itself, but Day ignites the screen with true star power and a graceful tribute to Billie Holiday's persona. Another win no one really saw it coming was Jodie Foster 's for her performance in The Mauritanian . Both Day and Foster - holding shaky #4 and #5 places in Oscar predictions (in Foster's case, she wasn't even being predicted by most predictions folks) before the Globes - seem to have secured a safe place in the Oscar predictions' shortlists for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. A note to Rosamund Pike 's late enthusiasm for her performance in I Care a Lot : she's a delight to watch as an evil woman, but w...

The non-visual craft categories are out! And I'm still predicting a music-themed study about being alive like Soul to do very well in this field. A note to The United States vs. Billie Holiday , which is scored by Kris Bowers (the talented composer responsible for the amazing When They See Us TV series' score) - if the movie keeps a qualifying release, I believe it can pop-up somewhere here. Plus, I'm expecting Andra Day to sing some original new song in the end credits or something... something beautiful and Oscar-worthy. Just to remind you Minari 's composer ( Mosseri ) is a star on the rise and he's the author of The Last Man in San Francisco 's (2019) beautiful (underrated) original score - and maybe he'll enter the Oscar talk since Minari is going to be campaigned as A24's champion!  In the Best Original Song category, you might ask why I've Mulan 's "Loyal Brave True" so low in my predictions, but the fact is AMPAS didn't f...