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!

Raving About Philomena!

With all the brouhaha on my FB wall regarding that supposed slur against the Pope by this presidential candidate, I thought it wise to talk about this movie I watched a few days ago about how beautiful the Catholic faith really is, if we just take the hypocrisy, the condescension and that intolerant attitude that some Catholics have.

The movie is entitled Philomena and I don't think it was ever shown here in Manila. It got 4 Oscar nominations last year including Best Picture, Best Actress (Judi Dench, OMG, she's just amazing here!) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Steve Coogan who was also the actor here).

I will not tell na lang the plot kasi I don't want to give anything away. Basta just bring tissue paper with you, lalo na if you have kids na, and pay close attention to the dialogue. This is really one of the best scripts I've seen in recent times where the views of an atheist and a very resilient Catholic are included in daily conversation. The tit for tat is delicious!

Any true Catholic will see how beautiful Philomena's character reacted to all the abuse the Catholic church gave to her. There's a must-see confrontation scene towards the end that would make you really understand what the Catholic faith is all about.

I guess one reason why this movie could not be shown here is because of, again, the CBCP. The nuns here are portrayed as callous, monstrous even, but it's easy to judge now because we are in 2015, but the events happened in 1950s Ireland and the social situation then was so different from what we have today. Still, there was no excuse for the abuse.

Because of this movie, I also understood why there was almost no opposition to gay marriage when they voted in Catholic Ireland.

Marami kasing Pharisees and hypocrites sa Catholic church so ayun, they totally lost their credibility sa mga Irish. Who are they naman kasi to judge that gay people will go to hell when the things the Catholic Church has done to Irish children (sex abuse of children, slave treatment of unwed mothers) were even more the works of the devil!

Atheists will love how Steve Coogan does his role here and I'm also proud of how Judi Dench's Philomena parries him word by word, and mostly through her actions.

A true Catholic doesn't have to appear prayerful or go to church everyday. See how Philomena's resilience and struggle with her beliefs led to her redemption. It's a beautiful film about forgiveness and being more kind to oneself.

I easily cry in movies and with this one, sa gitna pa lang, when one major revelation was given, ayun iyak na, tapos another bombshell towards the ending, iyak pa some more.

This is a movie which should be perfect for Mother's Day as well.