I was thinking about Psycho. Horror or thriller?Oldboy and Parasite aren't supernatural but they catch you leaning the wrong way and scare the **** out of you.

My rule of thumb is thriller is "oh yea! Oh wow! Can s/he do it? She did it!

Vs horror " oh no! No no no stop! Stop stop don't do it!

Okay here's my attempt at as Oscar post based on what I saw at TIFF and throughout the year. I'll try to add in what I didn't see that is a contender as well. I'm going to try to keep the Likely & Possibly catagories at the limit for the cat (so usually 5 max) so anything below that will have to knock someone out from my list.

Best Picture
Likely
Marriage Story
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Jojo Rabbit
The Two Popes
Knives Out

I think these are probably locks. Marriage Story has the prestige picture vibe with two fantastic performances. Beautiful Day has Tom Hanks playing Mr. Rogers. Jojo won TIFF and has a nice simple message oscar voters will enjoy. The Two Popes is great, beautifully made, and is going to resonate with the older members of the academy, and I hope everyone else as well. Knives Out is a genre flick which doesn't always get the recognition it deserves when it comes to awards but it's just so well done and a blast to watch.

Possibly
Parasite
Ford v Ferrari
Just Mercy
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Parasite is the actual best picture of the year and seems to be getting enough buzz to follow the Roma model from last year. But it's a foreign film and Bong Joon-ho isn't as well known as Cuaron who had already won best director. I think it'll get nominated though. Ford v Ferrari has the American sensationalism storyline that will get Oscar votes as well as the all-star cast of Damon & Bale. Just Mercy is Oscar bait. Everything about it is competent to good but I don't think it's great. OUATIH has Tarantino and being about Hollywood going for it. Maybe too divisive though.

Haven't Seen but worth mentioning
Joker, Waves, Uncut Gems, The Farewell, Ad Astra, The Irishman, Little Women, Bombshell

Best Director
Likely
Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story)
Fernando Meirelles (The Two Popes)

Think these are the two frontrunners right now. I see these two films being nominated up-and-down the ballot which is usually necessary.

Possibly
Bong Joon-ho (Parasite)
Quentin Tarantino (OUATIH)
James Mangold (Ford v Ferrari)

Once again, Parasite is the true best picture. If it gets nominated for Best Picture Bong Joon-ho will probably get nominated here too. I think that applies to Tarantino as well. Mangold gets my 5th slot for now. The racing scenes gives him a chance to show off the direction and they're well done.

Outside looking in
Rian Johnson (Knives Out)
Taiki Waititi (Jojo Rabbit)
Destin Daniel Cretton (Just Mercy)
Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood)

I kind of flipped a coin between Mangold and Johnson. I'd rather it be Johnson but think Mangold is more likely. The rest just aren't quite strong enough for the directors to get nominated.

Haven't seen but worth mentioning
Todd Phillips (Joker), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Safdie Bros (Uncut Gems), James Gray (Ad Astra), Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Martin Scorsese (The Irishman)

Best Actor
Likely
Adam Driver (Marriage Story)
Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes)

Amazing performances in two of the best films of the year. Driver should be the favourite.

Possibly
Leonardo DiCaprio (OUATIH)
Matt Damon (Ford v Ferrari)
Michael B Jordan (Just Mercy)

Two guys with all of the pedigree in big movies this year. Michael B Jordan gets my 5th slot right now but I think the ones I haven't seen play a big role here.

Outside Looking In
Eddie Murphy (Dolemite is My Name)
Taron Egerton (Rocketman)

Murphy is really good and the movie is fun but I don't really see him making the cut here. Egerton gets mentioned because it worked for Rami Malek last year but I think the acting category is also a lot stronger this year.

Haven't seen but worth mentioning
Joaquin Phoenix (Joker), Brad Pitt (Ad Astra), Robert De Niro (The Irishman), Adam Sandler (Uncut Gems), Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory)

I think at least 2 of this list gets in. Without having seen it, it seems like Phoenix is a lock. I'm probably missing someone else that will become a contender too.

Best Actress
Likely
Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story)

She's great in the film but has said a lot of dumb things in interviews lately which might hurt her. I think in a group by herself based on what I've seen

Possibly
Lupita Nyong'o (Us)

This was a great performance but feels like it came out ages ago.

Haven't seen but worth mentioning
Renee Zellweger (Judy), Meryl Streep (The Laundromat), Awkwafina (The Farewell), Cynthia Erivo (Harriet), Saoirse Ronan (Little Women), Charlize Theron (Bombshell)

Kind of struggling to come up with options here. Heard great things about Zellweger in Judy but not about the movie.

Best Supporting Actor
Likely
Tom Hanks (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood)
Anthony Hopkins (The Two Popes)

Your leaders in the clubhouse. Two legends delivering fantastic performances. Would be shocked if either gets left out.

Possibly
Brad Pitt (OUATIH)
Jamie Foxx (Just Mercy)
Christian Bale (Ford v Ferrari)

All good performances by well known stars in films that will be in the conversation.

Haven't seen but worth mentioning
Al Pacino/Joe Pesci (The Irishman), Sterling K Brown (Waves), Shia LeBeouf (Honey Boy), Timothee Chalamet (Little Women)

Probably missing a few here but it's a strong top 5 for me right now so would need to be a special performance.

Best Supporting Actress
Likely
Laura Dern (Marriage Story)

She gets a couple of really showy scenes as Johansson's lawyer and is great in them.

Possibly
Margot Robbie (OUATIH)
Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit)
Ana de Armas (Knives Out)
Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit)

Robbie has OUATIH and Bombshell coming soon so she'll probably get nominated for one of them. I kind of doubt Johansson gets double nominated, and Marriage Story will be her campaign, but I'm struggling to come up with others. Maybe Thomasin McKenzie from Jojo Rabbit could sneak in if that movie gets tons of love. de Armas gets a lot to do in Knives Out so maybe if that gets some Best Picture love.

Haven't seen but worth mentioning
Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers), Nicole Kidman (Bombshell), Dern/Streep/Pugh/Watson (Little Women)

Probably missing something obvious here as well.

Not going to do a full write-up for screenplays right now. Haven't even taken the time to figure out if things are original/adapted for some of them. Put Marriage Story and The Two Popes into the proper categories as likely. OUATIH, Jojo Rabbit, and Parasite as possibly depending on if they get Best Picture noms. Think Just Mercy and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood were pretty weak scripts so hopefully they don't get picked.

I mean, Free Solo horrified the crap out of me, but it ain't a horror movie.

Triumph of the Will is a horror movie.

What kind of weirdo sees the immediate sequel to a movie they never watched?

Hustlers was decent. I'm a big fan of the director. Jennifer Lopez might actually be nominated for Best Supporting Actress....and nay, the apocalypse is upon us.

An Angel At My Table (1990 - Jane Campion)

Wonderful biopic about the life of Janet Frame, an author from New Zealand that I'd never heard of, but whose books I will now definitely be checking out. She's played here by three different actresses as a child, a teen, an adult. All three are great, and have a striking physical likeness so that it truly feels like we're watching the same person at different stages, but especially Kerry Fox as the adult Frame is terrific. With this, my two favorite first watches of this year are by Campion (after being blown away by The Portrait of a Lady earlier). Originally made for TV it's not as stylistically exciting as Portrait of a Lady, but still very beautifully shot and directed. Absolutely loved this movie.

The Reflecting Skin (1990 - Philip Ridley)

Coming-of-age tale mixed with gothic horror set in 1950s rural Idaho. I expected it to be somewhat dark, but nothing like this. The opening scene, in which three young boys inflate a frog by blowing air up its anus through a straw, and then use a slingshot to explode its guts onto an unsuspecting passerby's face, sets the tone. There are a lot of strange and disturbing things going on, seen/remembered through the viewpoint of an 8-year old boy, who misreads certain things and imagines others. It connects this boy's loss of innocence to America's/the world's through Viggo Mortensen's character, as the boy's older brother who comes home from the Pacific where he has taken part in blowing up "whole islands". Despite maybe too much going on and a short runtime at 90 minutes, it still drags a little here and there, and some of the acting is less-than-great, but that is mostly made up for with arresting Malick-inspired visuals and an unsettling, Lynchian tone. I liked it.

Oh, and Jennifer Lopez is 50 years old and still looks like THAT. Insane.

I really enjoyed Hustlers! I think J Lo did a fantastic job with both her acting and dancing. She really worked hard on that role. This movie is deserving of the hype it is receiving.

One Cut of the Dead

Cute chick on zombie violence: check.

Do you have any hobbies? PON!!!

Action!

The key: Might be in the bag!

It's me: Open the door!

Action!

Don't: Come near me!

An axe: Lucky me!

What the hell: Follow the Script!

Roll: The credits!

The greatest movie since: Flamenco Carmen!

One half hour: One camera: One cut!

Cute chick on zombie violence: check.

Do you have any hobbies? PON!!!

Action!

The key: Might be in the bag!

It's me: Open the door!

Action!

Don't: Come near me!

An axe: Lucky me!

What the hell: Follow the Script!

She gets: Lost in her roles!

It wouldn't be a crane shot: Without gym class!

Roll: The credits!

Roll: The credits!

Impossible to really write this one up without spoilers. This is the most fun I've had watching a movie in years, and I can't imagine having more fun at a movie for a long time. Half the audience had seen it at Fantastic Fest last year, and had to come back for this showing.

If you like zombie movies: check it out.

If you don't like zombie movies: Stop whatever you are doing, find where it's playing (Tokyo), fly there and check it out.

Especially since part 1 was great. Can you say epic fail?

Is it as good as Zombeavers?

Incomparably better with 1/10 the budget, 1/10 the production values and 10 times the script.

call me old fashioned but knowing that's on youtube means i'll take a pass on that action - need some gratuitously casual tits flopping about for a movie of that sorts

To be fair, I find most movies pale in comparison to Zombeavers.

Weird one:

The Lehman Trilogy - exceptionally good play that apparently transfers extremely well to the screen. It's showing at random times in random cities, for example it's on in a couple of place in the San Francisco area today:

http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk...lehman-trilogy

5* recommendation.

Movie buffs! Please help me remember the name of a film. Made in the last 20 years. Basic story is this: An American scientist is visiting Europe to give a prestigious lecture and receive an award. Once on the continent, he and his wife get separated. Some how, his memory becomes impaired. His so-called wife pretends to not know him at all. Bottom line is that she is a thief and working with some sort of cartel. The protagonist eventually puts it all together and the wife is killed in an explosion at the end. Sorry...I don't recall any other details.

Unknown

well, I'm sure someone knows

Heh, I knew somebody was gonna make that joke!

I saw this in the cinema. They do an excellent job of using different camera angles and close-ups to make it feel cinematic. It’s the story of the founding and development of Lehman Bros rather than the crash. All three actors, particularly Simon Russell-Beale, who plays everything from an old man to a Southern belle, are great. Be warned though that it’s over three and a half hours due to inclusion of the two intervals.

Those I know who saw it in the cinema raved too. Simon Russell Beale is always incredible, presume he could have a Philip Seymour Hoffmanesque career and a couple of Oscars if he wanted but loves the theatre or wants to stay in London.

Ghostbox Cowboy (2018 - John Maringouin)

Wow. Completely bonkers mockumentary of sorts starring indie actor/director David Zellner (Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter), about an american entrepreneur who moves to China to sell his 'invention' the Ghostr, a device that supposedly lets you talk to dead relatives. Of course, this adventure doesn't exactly go as planned. While it seems largely overlooked right now, I'd be very surprised if this doesn't get some kind of cult following. It's smart, really funny, and beautiful in its own odd, hallucinatory way. Loved it. Maringouin previously did the pretty good documentary Big River Man, which some may have seen.

Ad Astra, Loved it)

https://www.google.com/search?client...+astra+trailer

A Masterpiece. Brad Pitt deserve an Oscar for this and for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I really loved that. Max Ritcher is perfect.