It's Shaping Out to be a Very Crowded 2018 Oscar Best Actress Race

The 2018 Oscars is still a few months away but the race for the Best Actress award has been one of the most competitive in recent memory.

I mean, how can a no-name actress possibly get a nomination this year when the perennial nominees, the heavyweights and today's current A-listers have released movies with amazing stories and great performances.

In this list alone, all these women have either won, or have been nominated before.

Emma Stone won the award earlier this year and she continues the buzz with a great role as tennis legend, Billie Jean King.

Judi Dench, who has won as Queen Elizabeth, and has been nominated as Queen Victoria, may finally win as Queen Victoria, this time around!

Frances McDormand already won for Fargo and may win again for a kick-ass performance as a mother whose daughter is murdered.

Annette Benning plays a Hollywood movie star who transplants herself to Liverpool.

And my bet, is Sally Hawkins, already a nominee herself, as the mute lover in The Shape of Water.

And Jessica Chastain, Saoirse Ronan, Michelle Williams, and even Margot Robbie are in the mix as well. And of course, the queen of them all, Meryl Streep, is coming out in a Steven Spielberg movie later this year.

Spielberg's movies are a perennial Oscar nominee so let's see if Meryl gets in the list.

Grabe, it's so freaking crowded I wonder how all the award-giving bodies are going to vote!

Movie Review: La La Lovin' La La Land!

I still remember very well that cute and funny scene in the movie Crazy Stupid Love where Emma Stone's character dares Ryan Gosling's character to take off his shirt - and her naughty reaction upon seeing his six-pack abs!

Well, there's so much more of that great chemistry between the two in the musical La La Land, which I think should be headed for Oscar gold. I think it's time again to give the Best Picture award to a musical. It's been more than a decade since Chicago won.

Anyhow, I was surprised by the almost sold out screening I went to tonight. I guess the local distributors made great timing by releasing it the day after it swept the Golden Globes - and I have learned now that Ryan is so famous pala here because of The Notebook (I haven't seen the movie yet). I know him more from his more serious work in Half Nelson, Lars and the Real Girl and Blue Valentine.

When I first heard of this movie's buzz a few month's ago, I thought it would be a bit of a hard sell here because it's a musical - and it plays a lot of jazz music - which is difficult to sell to most people. I would know, I've been inviting people to watch jazz shows and I never get a yes! But happily, even the young son of my friend enjoyed the movie!

This is a heartbreaking love story and the last two songs with the accompanying scenes could bring you to tears - so bring a tissue. I love the soundtrack especially the piano piece that Ryan keeps on playing throughout the movie.

And, like an ABS-CBN telenovela, this movie imparts a positive message which I'm sure will make you leave the theater smiling and more inspired.

Movie Review: Woody Allen's Irrational Man Philosophizes on Vigilante Killing

Woody Allen's Cafe Society opened the Cannes Film Festival yesterday, the same time that I watched his offering for last year, Irrational Man.

Interestingly, our new elected President would find a similar characteristic to the main character in this movie, played by Joaquin Phoenix, a severely depressed hotshot college philosophy professor.

Both of them have no qualms about killing somebody who is a blight on the society. This is basically the central question being posed by this movie - is it ok to get rid of a person who is making life miserable for people around him?

You'll find out what Woody thinks about this in the last scene of the movie but it's a theme he has already explored in his other better movies, Crimes and Misdemeanors and Match Point.

Everyone is in top form in this movie. I especially love how glowing Emma Stone is in her scenes. I enjoyed watching her move from being the flirtatious college student to becoming the moral conscience of the story.

Emma Stone Gets An A for Birdman!

I loved her in The Easy A, which should've gotten her an Oscar nomination (I wish!) but no surprise that she got her first Oscar nomination playing a druggie (one of the easiest ways to get a nomination).  Although, I would've voted for Naomi Watts in place of her, but that's just me  Anyway, I think the Academy nominated her for this one great scene where she lashes out at her Dad, played by Michael Keaton. 

The Movie Birdman Asks: Does Hollywood Really Make Art?

It's kinda unbelievable that someone who directed Amores Perros, Babel, Biutiful, and 21 Grams - all bleak, depressing, philosophical, graphically violent, introspective films about real people - can come out with a funny, over-the-top, sarcastic take on Hollywood celebrity, artistic pretentiousness and human salvation - all in the crazy world of Broadway theater.

For this alone, Alejandro González Iñárritu, should win the Oscar Best Director award, even the DGA. It just shows what range of films he can do if given the right material.

When I watched this movie, I was sure the audience behind me were people who watch theater or are working in theater. The jokes come in very quick and fast and it would take someone familiar with the stage to understand why the writers have poked fun at the big egos and crazy requests of so-called artists - and to laugh at just the right moments.

My favorite line in the movie was said by one of my favorite actresses, Naomi Watts, when the character of Zach Galifianakis asked her, "Why do you know Mike Sniper?"

"We share the same vagina."

There's actually more funny lines, they just come in very fast that you'd have to listen and watch the scene quickly to understand the joke.

Also, if you're an Edward Norton fan, you have to watch this movie! It's not hard not to get turned on by him, like literally! I think this is his best work in a long time - and that he can do a dark comedy - is no surprise.

This is a movie that a lot in Hollywood would understand as the script just name names as it is - George Clooney (his part on the script is funny but sad), Farrah Fawcett and Robert Downey Jr. It's also the best script yet from any movie I saw last year. The Grand Budapest Hotel would be a close second.

It is also fitting that Michael Keaton plays this role because in the real world, he has played a superhero! Good luck to his Oscar chances as the acting academy has voted for Eddie Redmayne instead.

I've always loved Emma Stone and she does a great supporting job here. Her Truth or Dare scene here is both flirtatious and sad.

This is one of those movies that leave the audiences to decide on the ending. Well, there is an ending as you will see in Emma Stone's face - the director will just leave it to your imagination to think what it is.

Smart and Sexy Emma Stone

I can't believe I don't have a blog article of Emma Stone.  I am currently watching her in Easy A and she's very good in it!  I think I enjoyed watching it more now than when I watched it in the theater.  She comes across as smart and sexy and honest and true!  Her star of course, continued to rise the year after, when she appeared in the Oscar-nominated movie, The Help.

Enjoying Easy A Again

After watching so much tennis today, I chanced upon Easy A on HBO and I admit I enjoyed watching it now compared to when I watched it in the cinema!  It is really funny and Emma Stone is just so good in it!  I kinda forgot about the subplot involving Lisa Kudrow and Thomas Haden Church but when I saw it again, I was impressed at how funny Lisa can act!  I kinda miss her.