Here are the shortlists for more categories. I’ve boldfaced my choices. Frankly, “Maiden” was my favorite doc all year. But all others are top notch. The foreign language films had a good year, too. We all know about “Parasite.” Almodovar’s “Pain and Glory” is an artist at the top of his game. Everyone has to see “Les Miserables.” I put it off too long. It’s a gem. As for scores, my favorite score wasn’t shortlisted: “The Song of Names” by Howard Shore. See that movie. Get that CD. Real genius.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Fifteen films will advance in the Documentary Feature category for the 92nd Academy Awards®.  One hundred fifty-nine films were submitted in the category.  Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Advocate”
“American Factory”
“The Apollo”
“Apollo 11”
“Aquarela”
“The Biggest Little Farm”
“The Cave”
“The Edge of Democracy”
“For Sama”
“The Great Hack”
“Honeyland”
“Knock Down the House”
“Maiden”
“Midnight Family”
“One Child Nation”

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

Ten films will advance in the Documentary Short Subject category for the 92nd Academy Awards.  Ninety-six films qualified in the category.  Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“After Maria”
“Fire in Paradise”
“Ghosts of Sugar Land”
“In the Absence”
“Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)”
“Life Overtakes Me”
“The Nightcrawlers”
“St. Louis Superman”
“Stay Close”
“Walk Run Cha-Cha”

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

Ten Ten films will advance to the next round of voting in the International Feature Film category (formerly known as Foreign Language Film) for the 92nd Academy Awards.  Ninety-one films were eligible in the category.

Academy members from all branches were invited to participate in the preliminary round.  They must have viewed the submitted films theatrically and met a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category.  Their seven choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy’s International Feature Film Award Executive Committee, constitute the shortlist.

In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are invited to opt-in to participate and must view all 10 shortlisted films in order to cast a ballot.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Czech Republic, “The Painted Bird”
Estonia, “Truth and Justice”
France, “Les Misérables”
Hungary, “Those Who Remained”
North Macedonia, “Honeyland”
Poland, “Corpus Christi”
Russia, “Beanpole”
Senegal, “Atlantics”
South Korea, “Parasite”
Spain, “Pain and Glory”

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Ten films will advance in the Makeup and Hairstyling category for the 92nd Academy Awards.  All members of the Academy’s Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch will be invited to view seven-minute excerpts from each of the 10 shortlisted films on Saturday, January 4, 2020.  Members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar® consideration.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Bombshell”
“Dolemite Is My Name”
“Downton Abbey”
“Joker”
“Judy”
“Little Women”
“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”
“1917”
“Once upon a Time…in Hollywood”
“Rocketman”

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

Fifteen scores will advance in the Original Score category for the 92nd Academy Awards.  One hundred seventy scores were eligible in the category.  Members of the Music Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The scores, listed in alphabetical order by film title, are:

“Avengers: Endgame”
“Bombshell”
“The Farewell”
“Ford v Ferrari”
“Frozen II”
“Jojo Rabbit”
“Joker”
“The King”
“Little Women”
“Marriage Story”
“Motherless Brooklyn”
“1917”
“Pain and Glory”
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”
“Us”

ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Ten films will advance in the Animated Short Film category for the 92nd Academy Awards.  Ninety-two films qualified in the category.  Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Dcera (Daughter)”
“Hair Love”
“He Can’t Live without Cosmos”
“Hors Piste”
“Kitbull”
“Memorable”
“Mind My Mind”
“The Physics of Sorrow”
“Sister”
“Uncle Thomas: Accounting for the Days”

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

Ten films will advance in the Live Action Short Film category for the 92nd Academy Awards.  One hundred ninety-one films qualified in the category.  Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Brotherhood”
“The Christmas Gift”
“Little Hands”
“Miller & Son”
“Nefta Football Club”
“The Neighbors’ Window”
“Refugee”
“Saria”
“A Sister”
“Sometimes, I Think about Dying”

VISUAL EFFECTS

Ten films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 92nd Academy Awards.  The Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee determined the shortlist.  All members of the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the shortlisted films online or attend satellite bake-off screenings in January 2020.  Following the screenings, members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Alita: Battle Angel”
“Avengers: Endgame”
“Captain Marvel”
“Cats”
“Gemini Man”
“The Irishman”
“The Lion King”
“1917”
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”
“Terminator: Dark Fate”

Peter Maverick is back. Yes, his name is actually Maverick. Anyway, Tom Cruise returns 34 years after “Top Gun” solidified his stardom for “Top Gun: Maverick.” Paramount is counting on this one to be huge. Jerry Bruckheimer has produced the movie, but in a nice touch the credits read produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. Simpson was a larger than life producer who literally exploded in the 1980s.

Now Cruise will mentor Miles Teller, playing the son of his late pal Goose (Anthony Edwards). Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Manny Jacinto, Glen Powell and Jon Hamm are also in the cast. Plus, Val Kilmer returns as the Iceman after winning a long, tough battle with throat cancer. It will be interesting to see how the movie handles Kilmer’s speech issues.

The choice of director here is odd, although maybe “Maverick” just directs itself. Joseph Kosinski has only made 3 features ever including sending Tom to “Oblivion.” That movie made $89 million and was not considered a hit.

New trailer:

First trailer:

Destin Daniel Cretton’s “Just Mercy” is sort of the forgotten movie of the season. I put it on my top 10 list when I saw it in Toronto, and expected it to be the “Green Book” of 2019. But the film isn’t being released until Christmas Day. In New York, there’s been little publicity for it. All the awards groups have passed it over except for SAG, which nominated Jamie Foxx for Best Supporting Actor.

So where is everyone? Finally, Sunday night, a confusing and weird cocktail reception and Q&A was held at the Edition Hotel in Times Square. This thoughtful, wonderfully made movie was relegated to this odd spot at the center of Christmas chaos, where there was no food for the press but plenty at empty tables guarded for actors who weren’t there. If you tried to take a slider, someone from a company called Allied started screaming in horror.

But for the first time — at least in New York– the cast was all assembled. Jamie Foxx, Michael B. Jordan, Rob Morgan, Brie Larson, but no director. Cretton was said be “in L.A.” He’s been shooting a Marvel movie in Australia. But since Larson did the movie as a favor for him, I thought he’d come and press some flesh. Don’t press your luck.

The other person, and most important, in attendance was civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson. The movie is based on his book about rescuing Walter McMillan from Alabama’s death row. Jordan plays Stevenson in the movie, a young Harvard lawyer who skips the big bucks and heads south to defend black people who’ve been railroaded, or wrongly convicted of crimes, pro bono. Foxx is McMillan. (You’re made of stone if you don’t cry or tear up at his performance.) Rob Morgan is another prisoner on death row. The actors do sublime work, some of the very best of the year.

One performance that is jarring and should have been in the awards mix this season was Tim Blake Nelson as Ralph Meyers, the man who lied in his testimony and put McMillan on death row. When Stevenson/Jordan digs in, he discovers what Meyers did. Nelson is sensational. It’s hard to root for such a villain, but Nelson gives him dimensions you wouldn’t think existed.

Stevenson. Foxx, Jordan, Larson, and Morgan sat on a makeshift stage for a short but informative Q&A before they were whisked away. (I tried to talk to them, but was given intentional misdirection.)

The actors are passionate about the project, which Jordan got an executive producer credit. He said, “I’ve made Marvel movies, all kinds movies, but this is the one I am most proud of.”

There was a stumbling moment during the Q&A when the moderator, Charlamagne tha God, asked Oscar winner Larson what, as a white woman, she made of all this. This sort of stopped traffic as Larson had to sort through that for a minute. But her comeback was perfect: she’s open, she’s listening, and learning. “And I liked the question,” she added brightly, which was very gracious of her.

But Stevenson is the main takeaway here. He’s a huge force in civil liberties. Most of the guests didn’t know who he was, but he’s important enough that journalist and author Michael Eric Dyson came up from Washington, DC to see him and the movie.

Why is Stevenson a hero? Jordan said on stage: “I think because he’s selfless and he doesn’t fatigue. He’s so optimistic and so hopeful in the most dismal situation, I can’t even fathom. In the situations he was in, kept his calm and he kept his cool when he was bring strip searched, antagonized, racially profiled. He still kept his cool. In the scene, I wanted to react differently show rage and lash out. Those would have been my acting choices. But that’s not what Bryan Stevenson is or was.”

Stevenson summed it up: “I don’t believe we that our country will be judged by how we treat the powerful and the celebrated. We’re going to be judged by how we treat the poor and the incarcerated.”

Please, please see this film starting Christmas Day. Tell your friends, spread the word. I hope to have more on it in the next ten days.

So, who cares about “Charlie’s Angels”? Or the underperforming “Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”? Or the Sony Walkman, for that matter?

“Jumanji: The Next Level” had a $60.1 million weekend. Sony execs are doing cartwheels. They issued a $35 mil prognostication. Then it was upgraded to $50 mil. But $60 mil?

And it’s all about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. You can’t keep this guy down. Two years ago, his first “Jumanji” made $404 million in the US and almost a billion total around the world ($965 mil). He’s literally printing money! I’m sure “Jumanji 3” is already in the pipeline for 2021.

“Jumanji” has turned out to be a great concept. Back in 1995, with Robin Williams, the original film made $100 mil US and $262 mil worldwide. That wasn’t chump change then.

And The Rock? He’ll keep rocking next July in Disney’s “Jungle Cruise.” He has two more films in pre-production and a bunch coming after that including maybe a remake of Kurt Russell’s “Big Trouble in Little China.”

UPDATED ON DEC 18, 2019: I didn’t realize that “Charlie’s Angels” producer Leonard Goldberg, a force in Hollywood and TV, passed away recently at age 85. He had great successes. It’s too bad that the failure of the new movie coincided with his passing. Condolences to his family and friends. He will be sorely missed.

EARLIER The 2019 version of “Charlie’s Angels” has ended its run in theaters. The numbers come to 26 days, $17.6 million US. The international numbers were $38.2 million for a total of $55.8 million.  Official budget was $48 million. This doesn’t mean the even broke even. It lost almost everything.

There was of course the original TV series in the 70s. Then were two hit “Charlie’s Angels” movies before this one, in 2000 and 2003. Then there was a revival TV series in 2011, which died on arrival. No matter how you look at it, this was a franchise, and a valuable one. So now what?

This “Charlie’s Angels” had no life to it, no fun, no sexiness. That was what the show was all about, smart ladies balancing personal and professional lives. It was also a little tongue in cheek by the time it reached the 2003 movie.

Now Sony and executive producer Leonard Goldberg’s company, which still owns the title and is 85 years old, have to figure out a way to save the Charles Townsend Agency from going under. Obviously, they should wait a minute to let this carcass be buried or cremated. And then do a re-think.

The next “Charlie’s Angels” movie has to have Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Kate McKinnon, and Maya Rudolph. It also needs Jaclyn Smith, Cheryl Ladd, and Kate Jackson. It needs to tie back to what everyone loved about the original series. And it needs romance. Overtly old fashioned romance, updated. This version felt sterile. And it needs glamour. (Also, Lucy Liu.)

So for now, “Charlie’s Angels” will take a needed nap. And it’s best just to forget this ever happened. But for Sony, which also had a flop reviving “Men in Black,” maybe some new attitudes and possible team leaders on these things.