This is her first home-run lead single since 2005, and the first time in eons her music doesn’t sound dated on arrival. It’s fresh, infectuous, original and effortlessly summery.

The visuals she has created around the music are breath-takingly on point. The Madame X persona is meta level Madonna: an alter ego who has several sub alter egos.…[Read more]

Completely off the top of my head.

Picture

Vertigo
Some Like It Hot
Pulp Fiction
Casablanca
Singin’ in the Rain
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Todo sobre mi madre
Taxi Driver
Rear Window
All About Eve

Director

Alfred Hitchcock, Vertigo
Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction
Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver
Billy Wilder, Sunset Bvd
Charles Chaplin, Modern T…[Read more]

Updated with Unicorn Store (which I’m assuming is technically eligible this year). Everything is listed in order of preference.

Picture

Us
Gloria Bell
Captain Marvel
Guava Island
Leaving Neverland
Isn’t It Romantic
Unicorn Store
Dumbo
The Dirt
Velvet Buzzsaw

Director

Jordan Peele, Us
Sebastian Lelio, Gloria Bell
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, C…[Read more]

Updated with Guava Island. Everything is listed in order of preference.

Picture

Us
Gloria Bell
Captain Marvel
Guava Island
Leaving Neverland
Isn’t It Romantic
Dumbo
The Dirt
Velvet Buzzsaw
Madonna and the Breakfast Club

Director

Jordan Peele, Us
Sebastian Lelio, Gloria Bell
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Captain Marvel
Hiro Murai, Guava I…[Read more]

I wanted to but didn’t. There’s no emotional intelligence behind the technical bravado. Since emotional intelligence is what makes Dumbo timeless, this is a disappointment and a failure.

It’s not just Ejiofor (whom I dearly love, for the record), this looks like a watered down version of the original as a whole; the characters don’t seem to possess nearly the same emotional punch. We shall see though.

Frontrunners

Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
John Lithgow, Fair and Balanced (unless he goes Lead)

Next in line

Christian Bale, Ford v. Ferrari (unless he goes Lead)
Al Pacino, The Irishman
Willem Dafoe, The Last Thing He Wanted
Matt Damon, Ford v. Ferrari (unless he goes Lead)
Joe Pesci,…[Read more]

Frontrunners

Annette Bening, The Report
Margot Robbie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Next in line

Nicole Kidman, Fair and Balanced
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Emma Thompson, Late Night

Strong possibilities

Jennifer Hudson, Cats
Nicole Kidman, The Goldfinch
Emma Watson, Little Women
Cate Blanchett, Where’d You Go Bernadette
Octavia Spencer, L…[Read more]

Trust me, that will not stop the studio from campaigning the other one (likely Damon) in Supporting if they think it’s a wise move.

I’m sure I’m forgetting plenty.

Frontrunners

Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
Adam Driver, The Report
Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Next in line

Robert De Niro, The Irishman
Christian Bale, Ford v. Ferrari
Daniel Kaluuya, Queen & Slim
Timothee Chalamet, The King
Taron Egerton, Rocketman

Strong possibilities

Will Smith, Gemini Man…[Read more]

Tom Hanks and Winston Duke are surely supporting.

I do have a feeling The Irishman might turn out to be a bloated rehash of Goodfellas and Casino. I don’t see how de-aging old white men for half the movie can keep that from happening. I sincerely hope I’m wrong – I love Scorsese when he’s on fire, but the last time that happened was The Wolf of Wall Street which was unlike anything he’d done before.

Vertigo is the ultimate San Francisco movie, but don’t miss Dark Passage, a criminally (pun intended) overlooked noir gem that beautifully portrays a darker, grittier side of the city and features Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart in their absolute prime – foxy, confident, enigmatic and just iconically noir-y.

The art deco building Bacall’s…[Read more]

1 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
2 Harriet
3 Booksmart
4 The Report
5 Little Women

Sidenote: I’m not anticipating The Irishman nearly as enthusiastically as I should. Scorsese is one of my favourite directors but I have a weird feeling this project could turn out to be a paint by numbers version of what he’s done a million times before.

Sidenote…[Read more]

I’ve been predicting Phoenix for the win for some time, and after this trailer I’m doing so with much less hesitation. The role, performance and movie seem to tick a lot of boxes, and Phoenix of course has a narrative unlike any other Best Actor contender that we know of, for now.

My April predicts.

Picture

The Irishman
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
The Last Thing He Wanted
Little Women
Us
The Goldfinch
Harriet
The Report
The Laundromat

(The Good Liar
Ford v. Ferrari
Fair and Balanced
Queen & Slim
1917
Gemini Man
Dolor Y Gloria
The Rhythm Section
Booksmart
The Woman in the…[Read more]

Pepsi I guess, but I don’t like either.

What is your biggest regret?

Updated with Isn’t It Romantic. Everything is listed in order of preference.

Picture

Us
Gloria Bell
Captain Marvel
Leaving Neverland
Isn’t It Romantic
Dumbo
The Dirt
Velvet Buzzsaw
Madonna and the Breakfast Club

Director

Jordan Peele, Us
Sebastian Lelio, Gloria Bell
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Captain Marvel
Dan Lee, Leaving Neverland
Todd…[Read more]