The 2023 Academy Award Nominations...

Congratulations to all of the movies, filmmakers and thespians who received an Oscar nomination this morning by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences! The winners will be revealed during the 95th Academy Awards that will be televised March 12 on ABC TV.

As shown below, Everything Everywhere All at Once (which I saw at the theater last April and immensely enjoyed) leads the Best Picture pack with 11 nominations. Top Gun: Maverick—which I saw multiple times at the theater last year—is up for 6 trophies; it unfortunately isn't up for Best Cinematography but is amazingly up for Best Adapted Screenplay!

Most-Nominated Movies for the 95th Academy Awards:

Everything Everywhere All at Once - 11 nominations
All Quiet on the Western Front - 9 nominations
The Banshees of Inisherin - 9 nominations
Elvis - 8 nominations
The Fabelmans - 7 nominations
Tár - 6 nominations
Top Gun: Maverick - 6 nominations
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - 5 nominations

I didn't watch the Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde, but I do know that Ana de Armas is a very talented actress who was great in 2017's Blade Runner 2049 and 2019's Knives Out. Congrats to her for her Best Actress nomination!

Click here to see all of the nominees for this year's Academy Awards.

One actor who I hoped would get nominated was John Boyega for his role as a down-on-his-luck Marine veteran in last August's Breaking. I gave this dramatic crime thriller an enthusiastic review last summer, and I was hoping that the Academy would give this movie the kudos it deserves... Next time, Boyega.

And up for Best Visual Effects for 2022 is Top Gun: Maverick, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Batman (which should've also been nominated for Best Original Score), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Avatar: The Way of Water. Yes, James Cameron's sequel to the 2009 sci-fi epic will go home with the trophy.

Can't wait to watch the Oscars on March 12!

Movie Review - BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER...

Earlier today, I watched the latest Marvel flick Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at AMC theaters.

Once again directed by Ryan Coogler, Wakanda Forever was just as action-packed as the Oscar-nominated 2018 film Black Panther...but far more emotional as it acknowledged the unfortunate real-life passing of Chadwick Boseman two years ago by dealing with the untimely off-screen death of King T'Challa early on in the movie.

Like the first Black Panther, Wakanda once again had a stellar cast in Letitia Wright (Shuri), Lupita Nyong'o (Nakia), Danai Gurira (Okoye), Winston Duke (M'Baku), Martin Freeman (Everett Ross) and Angela Bassett (Queen Ramonda). Joining this stellar group was Tenoch Huerta as Namor, the Feathered Serpent God, and Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, a.k.a. the future Ironheart.

Despite the pre-release marketing for Wakanda Forever, I think it should've been common knowledge that Shuri—King T'Challa's sister—would become the next Black Panther. Which she did! However, I was hoping that Nakia would follow in her late boyfriend's steps instead, but that was not the case.

(I might also be a bit biased against Shuri due to Letitia Wright's pandemic-related controversy last year.)

Wakanda Forever did a great job humanizing Namor, the king of the underwater nation of Talokan, and rationalizing his motives for why he would seek war with the "surface world"...and Wakanda in particular. (If an alloy like Vibranium—which can't be discerned by metal detectors—existed in real life, that would have huge repercussions.) It will be interesting to see him appear in future Marvel flicks, as Black Panther will return.

Wakanda Forever also paved the way for Ironheart to be featured in her upcoming Disney+ series, which debuts online in late 2023.

So all-in-all, Wakanda Forever is the latest high-quality installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

And to top things off, the mid-credits scene in this movie showed how T'Challa will make his comeback in the future! The downside is, the story's timeline would need to jump ahead at least 15 years to make his return feasible... We can wait.

Movie Review - SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME...

So as of today, I've watched Spider-Man: No Way Home three times at the multiplex! How can I not...considering the fact that this film, along with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, are clearly the best Marvel movies of 2021. And ever!

No Way Home is an action-packed, very-nostalgic and extremely-emotional climax to Tom Holland's first Spidey trilogy (yes, there will be a second trio of movies with Holland returning as the Webslinger).

It was a blast to see Alfred Molina return as Doc Ock, Jamie Foxx as Electro, Thomas Haden Church as Sandman, Rhys Ifans as the Lizard, and of course, Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin.

But even more of a blast was seeing Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield causing the audience at each screening I attended to cheer loudly when the two Webslingers appeared on screen for the first time! And that moment in the film's climax where they and Holland's Spider-Man swing together on the Statue of Liberty as they prepare to battle Electro, Sandman and the Lizard? Wow!

There are so many other things that I want to praise about No Way Home, but they would turn this into a very long review.

Benedict Cumberbatch once again exuded coolness and wittiness as Dr. Strange, J.K. Simmons was just as awesome as J. Jonah Jameson in this film as he was in Sam Raimi's Spidey trilogy, Marisa Tomei's Aunt May was at the center of No Way Home's most gut-wrenching moment (in a good way) and composer Michael Giacchino did an excellent job combining his rousing score with motifs from Danny Elfman's music for the Raimi films, and a James Horner theme from Marc Webb's first Amazing Spider-Man movie.

And not to be left out of this gushing review are the three main stars themselves: Holland as Peter Parker and his high-flying alter ego, Zendaya as Michelle Jones "MJ" Watson and Jacob Batalon as Parker's best friend Ned Leeds (who does turn villainous in the comic books; he became the apprentice to Dr. Strange's arch-nemesis Baron Mordo...played by Chiwetel Ejiofor in Dr. Strange and its upcoming sequel, Multiverse of Madness).

If ever there was a movie that would follow in Black Panther's footsteps and become the next comic book flick to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, No Way Home is it!

We'll see if Disney and Marvel Studios successfully get Tom Holland to follow in the footsteps of the late, great Chadwick Boseman in regards to Academy Award acclaim. Happy Holidays!

Marvel's BLACK PANTHER...

Check out this awesome poster and the newest theatrical trailer for Marvel's Black Panther...out in theaters on February 16 of next year and once again featuring Chadwick Boseman as the armored catsuit-wearing superhero/King of Wakanda who kicked much ass in last year's Captain America: Civil War. I'd show screenshots of all of the amazing cast members who appear in this flick (such as Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong'o, Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis and Michael B. Jordan), but the Black Panther suit is so badass that I had to show the best shots of it (plus the one worn by Erik Killmonger, the villain played by Michael B. Jordan) from the preview. Happy Monday!

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