Academy Awards 2019 - Predictions

Tonight it's Oscar night. And here are my predictions for the 2019 Academy Awards. I'm feeling Lucky this year!!!

Best Motion Picture of the Year: "Roma"
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Rami Malek, "Bohemian Rhapsody"
Best Performance by and Actress in a Leading Role: Glenn Close, "The Wife"
Best Performance by and Actor in a Supporting Role: Mahershala Ali, "Green Book"
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Regina King, "If Beale Street Could Talk"
Best Achievement in Directing: Alfonso Cuarón, "Roma"
Best Original Screenplay: Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, "The Favourite"
Best Adapted Screenplay: Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowirz, Kevin Wilmott and Spike Lee, "BlacKkKlansman"
Best Achievement in Cinematography: Alfonso Cuarón, "Roma"
Best Achievement in Editing: Barry Alexander Brown, "BlacKkKlansman"

Best Achievement in Production Design: Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart, "Black Panther"
Best Achievement in Costume Design: Ruth E. Carter, "Black Panther"
best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling: Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia Dehaney, "Vice"
Best Achievement in Music Written for a Motion Picture (Original Score): Terence Blanchard, "BlacKkKlansman"
Best Achievement in Music Written for a Motion Picture (Original Song): Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt, "A Star is Born" (Shallow)
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing: Tom Ozanich, Dean A. Supancic, Jason Ruder and Steven Morrow, "A Star is Born"
Best Achievement in Sound Editing: Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou, "First Man"

Best Achievement in Visual Effects: Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russel Earl and Daniel Sudick, "Avengers: Infinity War"
Best Documentary Feature: "Free Solo"
Best Documentary Short Subject: "End Game"
Best Animated Feature Film: "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse"
Best Animated Short Film: "Bao" Best Live-Action Short Film: "Marguerite" Best Foreign Language Film of the Year: "Roma"

10s Movie Review - BlacKkKlansman

Director: Spike Lee
Genre: Comedy/ Drama
Runtime: 135 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Topher Grace, Alec Baldwin, Laura Harrier, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Robert John Burke, Brian Tarantina, Arthur J. Nascarella, Ken Garito, Frederick Weller, Michael Buscemi, Damaris Lewis, Ato Blankson-Wood, Corey Hawkins, Dared Wright, Faron Salisbury, Ryan Eggold, Jasper Pääkkönen

Description: Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), an African American police officer from Colorado Springs, CO, successfully manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan branch with the help of a Jewish surrogate (Adam Driver) who eventually becomes its leader. Based on actual events.

Review: Director Spike Lee starts with a raging Alec Baldwin, trying to film a promo video for the Ku Klux Klan. We also see clips from “Gone with the Wind”, a classic with a doubting reputation because it romanticized the slave period. The opening scene is funny, but also has a worrying undertone. And that’s also the tone for “BlacKkKlansman”. Lee tells the bizarre yet true story about racism in the 70s, which shows the painful and entertaining political and social situation and brings it back to modern day America.
“BlacKkKlansman” is a typical Spike Lee movie: angry, funny, colorful, painful and topical. It’s funny to see Alec Baldwin being cast as a KKK member, he is known for his Trump imitation. And lines like ‘America First’, ‘take back our country’ and ‘to achieve its greatness again’ are used very often in this film.
This starting point is perfect for a director like Spike Lee. At the end of the 70s, tha black cop Ron Stallworth manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan branch in Colorado Springs. he pretented to support the KKK and was in close contact over the phone with the klan, even with the ‘Imperial Wizard’ David Duke himself. When he has to meet th members, he sends his white, Jewish colleague Flip Zimmerman.
The movie is based on Stallworth’s book, that he wrote many years after the fact because of secrecy.
The most impressive scene is also the one with the least nuance. Lee jumps masterfully between two meetings that happen at the same time: a ceremony where members of the KKK are cheering during the showing of the classic film “Birth of a Nation” and a meeting of a black student group where an elderly man tells about how his childhood friend was killed by the KKK.
“BlacKkKlansman” is a fantastic film, with a parallel between the past and present. It’s powerful and very wonderfully done, how Lee manages to wrap the heavy message into an entertaining cover. John David Washington is really the man to watch and Adam Driver is amazing as Flip Zimmerman.

Rating: 5/ 5

Movies to Look Forward to - August 2018

July was surprising unspectacular movie wise. But a lot to look forward to in August!

August 2nd – Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett, Alec Baldwin, Wes Bentley
Description: Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team, along with some familiar allies, race against time after a mission gone wrong.

August 2nd – The Darkest Minds
Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Starring: Bradley Whitford, Mandy Moore, Gwendoline Christie, Amandla Stenberg, Wallace Langham, Harris Dickinson, Golden Brooks, Wade Williams
Description: Imprisoned by an adult world that now fears everyone under 18, a group of teens form a resistance group to fight back and reclaim control of their future.

August 9th – The Meg
Director: John Turteltaub
Starring: Jason Statham, Ruby Rose, Cliff Curtis, Rainn Wilson
Description: After escaping an attack by what he claims was a 70-foot shark, Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) must confront his fears to save those trapped in a sunken submersible.

August 9th – Under the Silver Lake
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough, Topher Grace, Sydney Sweeney, Jimmi Simpson
Description: A man (Andrew Garfield) becomes obsessed with the strange circumstances of a billionaire mogul's murder and the kidnapping of a girl.

August 9th – Whitney
Director: Kevin MacDonald
Starring: Whitney Houston, Bobby Kristina Brown, Bobbi Brown, Cissy Houston, Clive Davis
Description: An in-depth look at the life and music of Whitney Houston

August 23rd – Book Club
Director: Bill Holderman
Starring: Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Mary Steenburgen, Andy Garcia, Craig T. Nelson, Don Johnson, Alicia Silverstone, Richard Dreyfuss, Ed Begley Jr., Wallace Shawn
Description: Four lifelong friends have their lives forever changed after reading 50 Shades of Grey in their monthly book club.

August 23rd – The Happytime Murders
Director: Brian Henson
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Elizabeth Banks, Maya Rudolph, Joel McHale
Description: When the puppet cast of an '80s children's TV show begins to get murdered one by one, a disgraced LAPD detective-turned-private eye puppet takes on the case.

August 30th – BlackKklansman
Director: Spike Lee
Starring: Adam Driver, Topher Grace, Alec Baldwin, John David Washington
Description: Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), an African-American police officer from Colorado, successfully managed to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan and became the head of the local chapter.