Final Predictions for the 94th Academy Awards:

Best Picture:

Will win: The Power of the Dog

Could win: CODA

Should win: The Power of the Dog

Best Director:

Will win: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog

Should win: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog.

Best Actress:

Will win: Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Could win: Nicole Kidman, Being The Ricardos

Should win: Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter

Best Actor:

Will win: Will Smith, King Richard

Could win: Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog

Should win: Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog

Best Supporting Actress:

Will win: Ariana DeBose, Westside Story

Could win: Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog

Should win: Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog

Best Supporting Actor:

Will win: Troy Kotsur, CODA

Could win: Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog

Should win: Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Will win: The Power of the Dog

Could win: CODA

Should win: The Power of the Dog

Best Original Screenplay:

Will win: Belfast

Could win: Licorice Pizza

Should win: Licorice Pizza

Best Cinematography:

Will win: Dune

Could win: The Power of the Dog

Should win: Dune

Best Costume Design:

Will Win: Cruella

Could win: Dune

Should win: Dune

Best Film Editing:

Will win: Dune

Could win: The Power of the Dog

Should win: The Power of the Dog

Best Hair and Makeup:

Will win: The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Could win: Dune

Should win: Dune

Best Production Design:

Will win: Dune

Could win: Nightmare Alley

Should win: Dune

Best Score:

Will win: Dune

Could win: The Power of the Dog

Should win: Dune

Best Song:

Will win: No Time To Die

Could Win: Dos Oruguitas, Encanto

Should win: No Time To Die

Best Visual Effects:

Will win: Dune

Should win: Dune

Best Sound:

Will win: Dune

Should win: Dune

Best Animated Feature:

Will win: Encanto

Could win: The Mitchell’s vs the Machines

Should win: The Mitchell’s vs the Machines

Best Documentary Feature:

Will Win: Summer of Soul

Could Win: Flee

Should win: Summer of Soul

Best International Feature:

Will win: Drive My Car

Could win: The Worst Person In The World

Should win: Drive My Car.

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by mrsmith44 on March 27, 2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by mrsmith44 on March 27, 2022

https://jeremysmithmovieblog.com/2022/03/27/final-predictions-for-the-94th-academy-awards/

Film Review: Drive My Car (2021)

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s film Drive My Car is one of the most haunting films about grief, art imitating life and the mystery of human beings that I have ever seen. Based on the short story of the same name my one of the great authors Murakami, the slow burn plot follows the journey of a screenwriter/actor mourning the recent death of his wife who is directing a play of Uncle Vanya and through a growing bond with his young female driver simultaneously comes to terms with his wife’s death and uncovers mysteries she left behind. The film is very long, almost 3 hours, though never feels unnecessary, each scene building slowly towards a profound conclusion that brought me to tears. As an adaptation of a short story the film’s power is less in its visuals and more in its dialogue, slowly revealing itself like a novel. Ryusuke cleverly intertwines the lines from Uncle Vanya into the narrative as the main character rehearses the lines via a tape in the car. As the production of the play takes places the lines from the play seem to mirror the interior lives of characters in the film. Chekhov’s play is not for the faint heart and grapples with the mysteries and suffering of life as much as the film does. In reserved Japanese emotions we incrementally peel away layers of meaning to get a portrait of heartbreak, of love and of living on after the death of a loved one. Epic in its scope and study of human emotions the final destination will confront you with hard truths as it comforts you with wisdom. This is a long film full of mysteries to solve and hidden meanings to analyse. The film makes you work as a viewer, but if you submit yourself to its runtime and enigma the reward is profound. With Sonyas monologue from Uncle Vanya, one of the most profound and moving in all literate, as an epitaph to the film we come to terms with our suffering and sorrow: ‘And when our final hour comes, we shall meet it humbly, and there beyond the grave, we shall say we know suffering and tears, that our life was bitter. And God will pity us. And then dear, dear Uncle we shall enter on a bright and beautiful life. We shall rejoice and look back upon our grief here. A tender smile – and we shall rest’. One of the best films of the year 10/10

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by mrsmith44 on February 11, 2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by mrsmith44 on February 11, 2022

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94th Academy Awards Final Nomination Predictions

Final Predictions for the 94th Academy Awards:

Best Picture:

1. The Power of the Dog

2. Belfast

3. West Side Story

4. Dune

5. Licorice Pizza

6. King Richard

7. CODA

8. Tick, tick… Boom!

9. Drive My Car

10. Don’t Look Up

Alt: Nightmare Alley

.

Best Director:

1. Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog

2. Denis Villeneuve, Dune

3. Kenneth Branagh, Belfast

4. Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza

5. Steven Speilberg, West Side Story

Alt: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car

.

Best Actress

1. Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter

2. Nicole Kidman, Being The Ricardos

3. Kirsten Stewart, Spencer

4. Lady Gaga, House of Gucci

5. Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Alt: Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza

.

Best Actor:

1. Will Smith, King Richard

2. Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog

3. Andrew Garfield, tick, tick… BOOM!

4. Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth

5. Peter Dinklage, Cyrano

Alt: Javier Bardem, Being The Ricardos

.

Best Supporting Actress:

1. Ariana DeBose, West Side Story

2. Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog

3. Caitriona Balfe, Belfast

4. Ruth Negga, Passing

5. Cate Blanchett, Nightmare Alley

Alt: Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard

.

Best Supporting Actor:

1. Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog

2. Ciaran Hinds, Belfast

3. Troy Kotsur, CODA

4. Bradley Cooper, Licorice Pizza

5. Mike Faist, West Side Story

Alt: Jamie Dornan, Belfast

.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

1. The Power of the Dog

2. The Lost Daughter

3. CODA

4. Dune

5. Drive My Car

Alt: West Side Story

.

Best Original Screenplay:

1. Belfast

2. Licorice Pizza

3. King Richard

4. Being The Ricardos

5. Don’t Look Up

Alt: Parallel Mothers

.

Best Documentary:

1. Summer of Soul

2. Flee

3. Procession

4. Ascension

5. The Rescue

Alt: The First Wave

.

Best Foreign Language Film:

1. Drive My Car

2. Flee

3. The Worst Person In The World

4. A Hero

5. The Hand of God

Alt: Compartment No. 6

.

Best Animated Film:

1. The Mitchells vs the Machines

2. Encanto

3. Luca

4. Flee

5. Raya and the Last Dragon

Alt: Sing 2

.

Best Cinematography:

1. The Power of the Dog

2. Dune

3. The Tragedy of Macbeth

4. Belfast

5. West Side Story

Alt: Nightmare Alley

.

Best Costume Design:

1. Dune

2. Cruella

3. West Side Story

4. Nightmare Alley

5. Cyrano

Alt: House of Gucci

.

Best Film Editing:

1. Dune

2. The Power of the Dog

3. Belfast

4. Licorice Pizza

5. West Side Story

Alt: King Richard

.

Best Production Design:

1. Dune

2. Nightmare Alley

3. The French Dispatch

4. Nightmare Alley

5. The Tragedy of Macbeth

Alt: Belfast

.

Best Sound:

1. Dune

2. West Side Story

3. No Time To Die

4. The Power of the Dog

5. Tick, tick… Boom!

Alt: Spiderman: No Way Home

.

Best Hair And Makeup:

1. Dune

2. The Eyes of Tammy Faye

3. Cruella

4. House of Gucci

5. Cyrano

Alt: Nightmare Alley

.

Best Original Score:

1. Dune

2. The Power of the Dog

3. The French Dispatch

4. Parallel Mothers

5. No Time To Die

Alt: Don’t Look Up

.

Best Song:

1. No Time To Die, No Time To Die

2. Encanto, Dos Oruguitas

3. King Richard, Be Alive

4. Belfast, Down To Joy

5. Don’t Look Up, Just Look Up

Alt: Respect, I Am Signing My Way Home

.

Best Visual Effects:

1. Dune

2. Spiderman: No Way Home

3. Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

4. The Matrix Resurrections

5. No Time To Die

Alt: Godzilla vs. Kong

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by mrsmith44 on February 8, 2022  •  Permalink
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Posted by mrsmith44 on February 8, 2022

https://jeremysmithmovieblog.com/2022/02/08/94th-academy-awards-final-nomination-predictions/

Film Review: Don’t Look Up (2021)

Don’t Look Up has to be the most disappointing film of 2021. With some of the best actors in Hollywood, Adam McKay the director of Vice and the Big Short and an important and timely premise it promised to be the Dr. Strangelove of our time. I wanted to love this film. How did it end up so horribly wrong? In one of my all time fav films, the 1964 black comedy masterpiece Dr. Strangelove, Kubrick addressed one of the most dire issues of the time: mutually assured destruction through nuclear war between the US and Russia, through comedy. The film artfully reduced the two opposing superpowers into squabbling ego driven children, loaded with dark political satire, a comedy of errors that never lost sight of what was really at stake, with one of the best endings in film history. Hoping to be the Strangelove of our time McKay’s vision of our modern world faced with the impending annihilation from an asteroid which is a metaphor for our global inaction on climate change. Instead of biting political satire we get a insufferable movie long joke that gets less and less funny. Trivialising the dire climate change to the point of a cartoon with a totally ridiculous ending. The brilliant cast cannot save the film from its heavy handed metaphor, cynicism and tritness. It revels in its own ugliness and itself becomes part of the endless culture war it portrays. The people who need change their beliefs and behaviours won’t watch this film as it’s smugness and depiction of them will turn them off. And for the rest of us who actually care about the situation it leaves us with a hollow joke that isn’t funny or true. Cheap, crass, cynical and most depressing of all a great missed opportunity. 5/10

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by mrsmith44 on January 4, 2022  •  Permalink
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Film Review: The Lost Daughter (2021)

Maggie Gyllenhaal with her directorial debut has created a film in ‘The Lost Daughter’ that is so unsettling that it could be considered one of the best psychological horror films of 2021. The film centres on a middle aged woman on holiday in Greece who becomes fixated on young mother she encounters on the beach which slowly reveals her tortured past with motherhood. Olivia Colman once again proves she is one of the best actresses in Hollywood with a performance as nuanced, tragic and complex as her Oscar winning role in ‘The Favourite’. Perhaps the best part of the film is its meditations on motherhood itself. Unique among films about motherhood it shows a woman who buckles under the pressure of being a ‘good mother’ and how unattainable the ideal of motherhood can be. As a son I found myself being confronted with the notion that sometimes mothers can’t bare to be around their own children which reminded me of the film ‘We Need To Talk About Kevin’. Perhaps most mothers at some point fantasies about escaping the pressures of motherhood. The film also mediates on the cost of selfish acts and the idea that the grass isn’t always greener. The Lost Daughter shows us the unsettling grey truth of motherhood between the Maddona and Whore dichotomy of our culture. There is no such thing as a bad mother or good mother just degrees of women coping and struggling with an unrealistic ideal. The film builds through powerful flashbacks of Olivia Colman’s past to a tragic ending. A film not for easy viewing or easy answers. But if you brave the grey world of The Lost Daughter you will find a film with a powerful message and and even more powerful performance. Highly recommend it. 9/10

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by mrsmith44 on January 4, 2022  •  Permalink
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Movie Reviews 2021

Updated Top Films of 2021:

1. The Power of the Dog 10/10

2. Dune 10/10

3. Drive My Car 10/10

4. West Side Story 10/10

5. Belfast 9/10

6. Licorice Pizza 9/10

7. Flee 9/10

8. Nitram 9/10

9. The Tragedy of Macbeth 9/10

10. Procession 9/10

11. The Lost Daughter 9/10

12. The Mitchell’s Vs The Machines 9/10

13. The Green Knight 9/10

14. Ascension 8/10

15. CODA 8/10

16. Nightmare Alley 8/10

17. Tick, tick, BOOM! 8/10

18. Passing 8/10

19. King Richard 8/10

20. Luca 8/10

21. The French Dispatch 8/10

22. Spider-Man: No Way Home 8/10

23. In The Same Breath 8/10

24. Encanto 8/10

25. White Tiger 7/10

26. Pray Away 7/10

27. Val 7/10

28. Dance of the 41 7/10

29. Matrix Resurrections 7/10

30. Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 7/10

31. Fauci 7/10

32. The Eyes of Tammy Faye 7/10

33. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie 7/10

34. The Last Duel 7/10

35. Cruella 7/10

36. The Dig 7/10

37. I Care A Lot 7/10

38. No Time To Die 6/10

39. Eternals 6/10

40. Being The Ricardos 6/10

41. Hating Peter Thatchell 6/10

42. Coming 2 America 6/10

43. House of Gucci 5/10

44. Don’t Look Up 5/10

45. Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal and Greed 5/10

46. Jungle Cruise 5/10

47. 2067 4/10

48. Thunder Force 4/10

49. The Woman In The Widow 3/10

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by mrsmith44 on December 9, 2021  •  Permalink
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Posted by mrsmith44 on December 9, 2021

https://jeremysmithmovieblog.com/2021/12/09/movie-reviews-2021/

Film Review: Dune (2021)

Dune is one of the most epic sci fi films I’ve ever seen in a cinema. Reminded me of the first film of the original Star Wars or Lord of the Rings trilogy. Having been bereft of truly epic cinema since 2019 and even then drowning in endless mediocre marvel movies, it was goosebump/gasp inducing to see a film on such a monumental scale, so strange and original and so ambitious. The cinematography, production design, locations, cast, costumes, visual effects are unlike anything I’ve ever seen in this genre before. But what really stood out to me was the score and sound effects, which were so booming, unnerving and soaring it took my breath away. I don’t know how they created those sound effects, utterly haunting. Denis Villeneuve after Arrival, Blade Runner 2049 and now Dune has solidified his reputation as arguably one of the greatest sci fi directors of all time. The incorporation of the very ancient architecture and sets with almost insect like futuristic technology ships and armour fills you with a sense of what the very very distant future might look like. Of all the sci fi films in the cannon Dune is set the farthest in the future over a thousands years from our time today. The scope and scale of Dune is unparalleled in recent cinema. And against this unbelievably epic backdrop comes my obsession and favourite actor of my generation Timothee Chalamet. An actor so intelligent and perfectly beautiful that sometimes he scares me when I watch him, one of the last true movie stars of our time. His perfectly chiseled face and piercing gaze on the big screen is as monumental and awe inspiring as the huge spaceships, sandworms and armies on screen. Though I have not read Dune I am familiar with its story and I know it is wildely considered the greatest sci fi series ever written. Where David Lynch failed with his ugly incoherent 80’s adaptation Villeneuve has epically succeeded. It’s a work of art. Perhaps one shortcoming is that as the first film in a trilogy the film hasn’t fully set up what the ultimate goal of the series is to be. Maybe that adds to the mystery, to be continued. In any case I am hooked and eagerly anticipate the next instalments. Dune is the kind of film cinephiles wait years to see and requires it be seen on the largest screen possible. It’s finally here and I’m so thankful. 10/10

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by mrsmith44 on November 10, 2021  •  Permalink
Posted in Reviews (D)

Posted by mrsmith44 on November 10, 2021

https://jeremysmithmovieblog.com/2021/11/10/film-review-dune-2021/

Final Predictions for the 93rd Academy Awards:

Best Picture: Nomadland

Best Director: Chloe Zhao, Nomadland

Best Actress: Francess McDormand, Nomadland

Best Actor: Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Supporting Actress: Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari

Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah

Best Adapted Screenplay: Nomadland

Best Original Screenplay: Promising Young Woman

Best Documentary: Collective

Best Foreign Language Film: Another Round

Best Animated Film: Soul

Best Cinematography: Nomadland

Best Costume Design: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Film Editing: Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Production Design: Mank

Best Sound: Sound of Metal

Best Hair And Makeup: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Original Score: Soul

Best Song: Husavik, Eurovision

Best Visual Effects: Tenet

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by mrsmith44 on April 25, 2021  •  Permalink
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Posted by mrsmith44 on April 25, 2021

https://jeremysmithmovieblog.com/2021/04/25/final-predictions-for-the-93rd-academy-awards-2/

Final Predictions for the 93rd Academy Awards:

Best Picture:

1. Nomadland

2. Minari

3. Trial of the Chicago 7

4. Promising Young Woman

5. Mank

6. Judas and the Black Messiah

7. Sound of Metal

8. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

9. One Night In Miami

10. The Father

Alt: Soul

.

Best Director:

1. Chloe Zhao, Nomadland

2. David Fincher, Mank

3. Lee Issac Chung, Minari

4. Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman

5. Aaron Sorkin, Trial of the Chicago 7

Alt: Regina King, One Night In Miami

.

Best Actress:

1. Francess McDormand, Nomadland

2. Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

3. Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

4. Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of A Woman

5. Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday

Alt: Sophia Loren, The Life Ahead

.

Best Actor:

1. Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

2. Anthony Hopkins, The Father

3. Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal

4. Gary Oldman, Mank

5. Steven Yuen, Minari

Alt: Delroy Lindo, Da 5 Bloods

.

Best Supporting Actress:

1. Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari

2. Olivia Colman, The Father

3. Amanda Seyfried, Mank

4. Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Movie Film

5. Jodie Foster, The Mauritanian

Alt: Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy

.

Best Supporting Actor:

1. Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah

2. Paul Raci, Sound of Metal

3. Leslie Odom Jr, One Night In Miami

4. Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7

5. Alan Kim, Minari

Alt: Mark Rylance, The Trial of the Chicago 7

.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

1. Nomadland

2. One Night In Miami

3. The Father

4. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

5. The Mauritanian

Alt: News of the World

.

Best Original Screenplay:

1. Promising Young Woman

2. Trial of the Chicago 7

3. Minari

4. Mank

5. The Sound of Metal

Alt: Judas and the Black Messiah

.

Best Documentary:

1. Collective

2. Time

3. Crimp Camp

4. Welcome To Chechnya

5. My Octopus Teacher

Alt: Dick Johnson Is Dead

.

Best Foreign Language Film:

1. Another Round

2. Collective

3. Two Of Us

4. Quo Vadis Aida

5. La Lorona

Alt: A Sun

.

Best Animated Film:

1. Soul

2. Wolfwalkers

3. Onward

4. Over The Moon

5. Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

Alt: The Croods: A New Age

.

Best Cinematography:

1. Nomadland

2. Mank

3. News of the World

4. Judas and the Black Messiah

5. Minari

Alt: First Cow

.

Best Costume Design:

1. Mank

2. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

3. Emma

4. News of the World

5. Mulan

Alt: Ammonite

.

Best Film Editing:

1. Nomadland

2. Trial of the Chicago 7

3. Mank

4. The Sound of Metal

5. Minari

Alt: The Father

.

Best Production Design:

1. Mank

2. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

3. News of the World

4. Tenet

5. Emma

Alt: Mulan

.

Best Sound:

1. Sound of Metal

2. Mank

3. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

4. Soul

5. Tenet

Alt: Greyhound

.

Best Hair And Makeup:

1. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

2. Mank

3. Hillbilly Elegy

4. Emma

5. Pinoccio

Alt: Birds of Prey

.

Best Original Score:

1. Soul

2. Mank

3. News of the World

4. Midnight Sky

5. Minari

Alt: Tenet

.

Best Song:

1. Speak Now, One Night In Miami

2. Lo Si, Life Ahead

3. Hear My Voice, The Trial Of The Chicago 7

4. Fight For You, Judas and the Black Messiah

5. Husavik, Eurovision Song Contest

Alt: Turntables, All In: The Fight For Democracy

.

Best Visual Effects:

1. Tenet

2. Midnight Sky

3. Mank

4. The One And Only Ivan

5. Welcome to Chechnya

Alt: Mulan

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by mrsmith44 on March 15, 2021  •  Permalink
Posted in 93rd Academy Award Final Predictions

Posted by mrsmith44 on March 15, 2021

https://jeremysmithmovieblog.com/2021/03/15/final-predictions-for-the-93rd-academy-awards/

Golden Globes 2020 Predictions

Best Drama: Nomadland or Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Comedy or Musical: Borat: Subsequent Movie Film

Best Actress Drama: Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

Best Actor Drama: Anthony Hopkins, The Father

Best Actress Comedy or Musical: Maria Bakalova, Borat

Best Actor Comedy or Musical: Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat

Best Supporting Actress: Amanda Seyfried, Mank

Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas And The Black Messiah

Best Director: Chloe Zhao, Nomadland

Best Film Screenplay: Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Animated Film: Soul

Best Foreign Language Film: Minari

Best Score: Soul

Best Song: Speak Now, One Night In Miami

Golden Globes TV:

Best Drama: The Crown

Best Drama Actor: Jason Bateman, Ozark

Best Drama Actress: Emma Corrin, The Crown

Best Comedy Series: Schitt’s Creek

Best Comedy Actor: Eugene Levy, Schitt’s Creek

Best Comedy Actress: Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek

Best TV Movie: The Queens Gambit

Best TV Movie Actor: Hugh Grant, Undoing

Best TV Movie Actress: Anya Taylor Joy, The Queens Gambit

Best Supporting Actor: John Boyega, Small Axe

Best Supporting Actress: Gillian Anderson, The Crown

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by mrsmith44 on February 26, 2021  •  Permalink
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Posted by mrsmith44 on February 26, 2021

https://jeremysmithmovieblog.com/2021/02/26/golden-globes-2020-predictions/

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