Kermode & Mayo’s Take - Oscars Schmoscars 2026

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

In this Oscarsspecial episode of Kermode & Mayo’s Take, Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode break down the biggest moments from the 2026 Academy Awards. Mark shares his reactions to the ceremony, from Avatar: Fire and Ash winning Visual Effects to the triumph of Sentimental Value.   Simon and Mark unpack the night’s major wins — including One Battle After Another sweeping six awards and Paul Thomas Anderson’s backstage reflections on politics, culture, and “bringing common sense and decency back into fashion.” They also explore the fierce race between One Battle After Another and Sinners, Michael B. Jordan’s emotional Best Actor win, and Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s groundbreaking Cinematography victory.  Hear extended backstage moments from Paul Thomas Anderson, Michael B. Jordan, and Jessie Buckley as they reflect on the significance of their awards, artistic responsibility, and historymaking achievements. The duo also discuss Amy Madigan’s longawaited Supporting Actress win, Norway’s triumph with Sentimental Value, and the powerful documentary Mr Nobody Against Putin.  Plus: the rise of KPop Demon Hunters, Guillermo del Toro’s three craft wins for Frankenstein, a rare Oscars tie, Conan O’Brien’s sharp hosting, emotional tributes to Rob Reiner, Catherine O’Hara, Diane Keaton and Robert Redford — and the films that left emptyhanded.  The video version of this episode is available on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/kermodeandmayo  You can contact the show by emailing [e-mail] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo  Please take our survey and help shape the future of our show: https://www.kermodeandmayo.com/survey    🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code [Take] at checkout. Download Saily app or go to to https://saily.com/Take ⛵   A Sony Music Entertainment production.      Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts    To advertise on this show contact: [e-mail]    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Mooby, the global film company that champions great cinema. From iconic directors to emerging otters, there's always something new to discover. Yes, and coming to Mooby in the UK, this February, we have the brilliant sentimental value by Yoakim Trier. We reviewed this when it came out. He's the guy who directed the worst person in the world. Film did really well at Cam, won the Grand Prix, a bunch of European awards, and he's now nominated for nine Academy Awards and eight BAFTAs. I think it's fantastic. I think it's really moving, really exciting, really funny, but also insightful.

And I think Yorkshire is one of the finest directors working today. It's definitely one of the best films around at the moment. To stream the best of cinema, you can try Mooby free for 30 days at mooby.com slash Kermode and Mayo. That's MUBI.com slash Kermudamayo for a whole month of great cinema for free. That's nice base, don't you think, on that little clip? It's a little, it's a graphic. I think the team have upped their game all around, haven't they?

So welcome. This is our Oscars Schmoskers special. I'm still in showbiz, North London. Mark is actually in Hollywood at the Plaza Grand Continental. And later when this video is on Patreon, you'll be able to see his incredible suite, which really, really does look palatial. How did you swing this upgrade?

Yeah, okay, so just to be absolutely clear, I am in the Trave Lodge Covent Garden. The Traveloge Drury Lane, as it happens, up on the... Yeah, yeah, very, very showbiz. Because this is what happens, because when the Oscars happened, there's some people jet. In fact, you and I, in a past incarnation, we actually did jet over to Los Angeles

to stay in Peter Bowes Palace of Earthly Delights and cover the Oscars from there. But now, of course, as we've discovered, the very best view of the Oscars, he's from the ninth floor of the travel lodge on Drury Lane. So yeah, that's where I am now broadcasting glamorous, from the glamorous travel lodge using the in-house Wi-Fi that it comes and goes a little bit.

But yeah, so that's where I am. No glamour at all for me. All right. Okay. So we'll get into the detail in a bit, but just you're the guy who stayed up and watched it all. What did you think of the show? Well, generally, I thought that most of the awards fell the way that we thought they were going to.

They were one or two surprises and we'll come to them. So one or two pleasant surprises, that's good. The show itself, I mean, it started, UK time, started at 11 o'clock, finished somewhere between 2.30 and 3 o'clock. I have to say it felt like a long show. I mean, this may be to do with age. This may be to do with the fact that it's just, you know, you want things to move on because you would actually like to get a couple of hours sleep before. before talking about it the next morning. I suppose always the big question is whether or not you think the host did, you know,

a bang-up job. And there is always a there is always a thing with awards ceremonies, which is, you know, have you relaxed into the fact that the host is going to be funny and the host has got all the right gags, the host has got the, and it was Conan O'Brien, who obviously has done it before and a, you know, a talented broadcaster. I thought that there was so many jokes that just landed like wet, Now, this may be to do with watching it on the television. I know whether in the room it was kind of different, but there was an awful lot, actually throughout the evening,

there was an awful lot of kind of very contrived gags that just didn't land. And at one point, well, you know, at one point Billy Crystal came on and then whenever Billy Crystal comes on, you think, oh yeah, I remember that Billy Crystal was exactly how you host an Oscar. I mean, it wasn't terrible. It started off the beginning of it. There was a sort of extended gag about weapons. in which Conan O'Brien is at the makeup table and he's had his makeup done and he looks like Amy Madigan and then he runs through a series of scenes from the major contenders.

And kind of one of those, it must have seemed very, very funny on paper. Practically, it's just a bit like, yeah, okay, fine, let's just get on with it. And the other thing that is that's always strange with those things is that there are quite a lot of elaborately set up gags that take quite a lot of time. And then when they get to the winners' speeches, we just get cut off, you know, because the orchestra start playing and play them off almost immediately. So it was it. It's not the best hosting I've seen,

and it certainly isn't the funniest. And I certainly got the impression that it wasn't just me who thought that a lot of the gags weren't landing. But, you know, it's interesting. Because in its clipped up version, which I was picking up with, you know, from 5 o'clock, he was, you know, he was funny.

And I mean, I'm a big fan anyway. But, you know, the joke about no British actors, because at least we arrest our period files, you know, all of that seemed to land, seemed to land very well at the thought. I'm sure there were, if you watch it in the clipped up form, individual zingers. I have to tell you that in real time,

didn't feel like that. Okay, so we'll go through the big moments, the big talking points in just a moment. Hey Simon, how was your trip to Copenhagen with the family? Well, it was very nice, thank you very much. Great. How come you never call when you're away? I'm not wasting good holiday money, calling you. Charming. Why don't you get an e-sim? It'll provide an internet connection wherever you

travel and save you money on roaming fees. Well, it sounds ideal, but did you have one in mind per chance? Well, it's funny you should ask. Yes, I do. It's called Saly, and it's an e-Sim service app brought to you by the creators of NordVPN. Oh yeah, we like them, don't we? We do. It's dead easy. All you have to do is download the app in your device and buy an an e-sim plan. Then follow the instructions on the app to install the e-sim and it'll be activated instantly on arrival. It'll significantly reduce and even eliminate roaming fees

in over 200 destinations, no more queuing at a dodgy airport kiosk. And chat support is available 24-7 if you ever need help. Well, that all sounds great. I don't suppose you've got an offer code to share whilst you're feeling generous. Well, as it happens, I do. You can get an exclusive 15% discount on Saly e-Sim data plans. Just download the Saly app and use the code Take, T-A-K-E at checkout. Still not calling you. Okay, so just to be clear, so this podcast has landed, which is why you're listening to it,

the in-vision, the glory of our InVision version will be on Patreon just a little bit later. Okay, so let's go through some of the big moments from last night. Best picture, that kind of Yes. Yeah. Do you want to lead me through? Or do you want me to lead you through? Okay, so

one battle after another is the movie as we thought that would dominate the night. Got six Oscars, Best Picture, director for Paul Thomas Anderson, supporting actor, Sean Penn, adapted screenplay editing and the first ever casting Oscar.

Paul Thomas Anderson used his speech to apologize to his kids for their housekeeping mess that we've left in this world. He was asked backstage about how Wombat laughter reflects where we are or where we're going in society. I thought we were supposed to be partying. I think that our film obviously

has a certain amount of parallels to what's happening in the news every day. so it obviously reflects what's happening in the world in terms of where it's going, I don't know but I know that the end of our movie is our hero, Willow, heading off to continue to fight against evil forces and I think like I said in my speech

bring at least common sense and decency back into fashion. Well, what did you think of what Paul Thomas Anderson said and how it was all received not. Well, obviously he's been receiving awards around the world and doing very, very good acceptance speeches every time. They've been kind of, you know, humble and interesting. And, you know, and he said good things, but he said them lightly. And I think that message about, you know,

apologising for the mess that this generation have made of the world, but saying that the future lies with the next generation was actually really moving. I mean, he does genuinely seem to be, to be thrilled at how well one battle after another is done. And for those of us who are Paul Thomas Anderson fans, we know this is a very, very long wait, lots and lots of Oscar nominations. And then, you know,

and then it takes this long from actually to finally win. I thought it was great. I mean, the fact that he won adapted screenplay and director and then the film won Best Picture, that was the full sweep. Also, of course, Sean Penn won best supporting actor. Sean Penn wasn't in the room, and it was funny because Kieran Culkin said

either because he couldn't be here or because he didn't want to be. Yeah. And that is that third Oscar, I think? Sean Penn's third Oscar or I have absolutely, I have absolutely no idea whether or not that Sean Penn's third Oscar. It's 8 o'clock in the morning and I've had two and a half hours sleep. I can tell you that it was Paul Thomas Anderson's first, second, you know, that was, and after all this time,

it was really lovely to finally see that happen. we did say in all the stuff that we talked about beforehand, it was pretty much a dead lock when it was going to win Best Picture. As you know, obviously Sinners had the most nominations. Actually, Sinitz had a very, very good night, particularly with Michael B. Jordan winning for Best Actor, which we'll talk about in a minute. But one battle after another did exactly what everyone thought it was going to do.

And I think it's great. And I'm just really pleased for Paul Thomas Anson. Personally, I think it would have been lovely if Johnny Greenwood had won for best score not because I don't think that Liberty Gorison's score for Sinners isn't brilliant it is. It's just a shame that those two scores were out in the same year.

Johnny Greenwood wasn't at the Oscars. He wasn't in America because I think everybody kind of thought it was a dead lock in the beforehand. I mean, it's worth saying, I mean you could go back and listen to a conversation with Bull Thomas Anderson when the movie came out. This is this, and also Sinners, is not

what you would have traditionally said was Oscar Bate. You know, this is So this movie is out there. It starts with, you know, radical left act of terror, I suppose, whatever you want to call it. You know, this is awkward in many. I mean, it's also hilarious and thrilling and wonderful. But this is a Paul Thomas Anderson movie with no compromise. Yes.

And it is brilliant that that's the thing he is won for. Because there is, there's the, you know, there's the Martin Scorsese. factor, which is that Martin Scorsese doesn't win, doesn't win, doesn't win, and then finally wins for The Departed, which although The Departed is a good film, is not Marnesquessi's best film. It's kind of the point at which the Oscars think we really should have given him this Oscar before, so here it is. In the case of Paul Thomas Anderson, I think you could make a legitimate argument that one battle after another is his best film. I mean, I still personally have a, you know, great fondness for Punch Strong Love and Phantom Thread, but I think

you could easily argue that one battle after another is his biggest, his most ambitious, his best film, certainly the film in which the most financial risk was taken. And so I think it's great that he won for this. I think it was the right win. And I think, hooray, because I've been a huge fan of his work for ages. And as you were saying in that conversation that you had with him, when you were talking about the film, when you describe it, you wouldn't say, absolutely no, that is not Oscar Bait. It's not driving Miss Daisy.

It's not crash, not that one. It's not a film that, to use that phrase, you know, the film that wins best picture. is the film that's on the side of the angels. I mean, in fact, you could easily have imagined the world in which Hamnet would have been a more likely best picture winner, because that's a much more traditional best picture winner than something like one battle after another. So you've mentioned Michael B, Jordan and Sinners.

Yeah. Four Oscars, Best Actor at Michael B. Jordan, best original screenplay, original score and cinematography. And Michael Jordan becomes the sixth Black Best Actor winner. He gave tribute to past, winners. I stand here, he said, because of the people who came before me. Cinematographer Autumn Dureld Alcapur became the first female and first black winner of the category.

Ryan Coogler, screenwriter, becomes only the second black winner of Best Original Screenplay. Michael was asked backstage what the award meant to him and others coming up. It feels timely. You know, I feel like, like I said before, I'm here because of the people that came before me, you know, Sydney and Denzel and, you know, Halle Berry and Forrest and, you know, all those actors who grace the stage and not looking for awards and not looking for acknowledgement. They're artists. They want to do the work, you know, and that's something I've always focused on was trying to do the work. My father always told me, don't expect anything to be handed to you, you know, do the work, you know, and everything else is going to figure itself out. And, um, you know, there is a selfishness in understanding that in your craft, in your industry, this is a pinnacle. And this is what, you know, our industry standard is what we put value on in a big way that competitiveness.

You do want that, you know, but at the same time, there's a, you know, what's for you is for you. And you can't take anybody blessings away from anybody else. So I'm just like walking my path, man, and just trying to be locked in. So I would encourage other actors and other, you know, artists, no matter what they're, you know, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're. medium is to try to keep that in mind and be honest and truthful and just, you know, do, do, you know, dream big, man. They were good words and everyone will be cheering, I think, because Sinners was such a sort of a glorious film.

It was. And also, I mean, so the interesting thing about Michael B. Jordan winning best actor, to two things. Firstly, the award was presented by Adrian Brody, because this is the way that Oscar things work. Now, you remember last year, Adrian Brody. did the longest, most rambling, most incredibly insufferable acceptance speech. There was the whole thing about taking out the gum and blah, blah, blah, blah. So the gag this time is that he comes on to present Best Actor,

and he makes a joke about the fact that his speech before, you know, chewing gum, and they start, as he's rambling, they start, the orchestra starts to play and they start to sink the microne down. So there's a gag at the beginning accepting the fact that Adrian Brody did the most boring Oscar acceptance speech anyone has ever seen. Then, of course, the way in which all the bookies had fallen for pretty much throughout the major awards season was that this was Timothy Shalameh's

Oscar. And in fact, as far as the Oscar odds were concerned, it wasn't until very close to the ceremony that Michael B. Jordan tipped into the lead. When I was on the train up from Cornwall yesterday coming up to London, I sent you and Simon Paul the message saying, I'm looking at it.

the odds and actually it looks like Michael B. Jordan has nudged into the lead and of course actually the way that it is, if you are interested in this stuff, the way in which the odds checkers tend to be increasingly accurate is really interesting. It was still

something of a surprise when it actually happened because the certainty of Timothy Chalamay being the winner had been, he'd been book his favourite for such a long time. They cut very, very quickly to Michael B. Jordan, I think Timothy Shalame looked like he smiled and I think that that was, you know, because it was such a

popular win. Michael B. Jordan was such a popular win. Now, exactly how the tipping went from Timothy Shalemate to Michael B. Jordan is anybody's guess because there's stuff about when the voting closes and, you know, there were several jokes about Timothy Shalame and ballet and opera and, because obviously he. That was funny. That was funny. Yeah, there was.

So there was a lot of that going on. Honestly, I don't think there was anybody in the room who thought it was the wrong choice. It was a really, really popular win. And it was great as well because one battle after another and sinners going head to head. And as you said, neither of them look like what you consider to be Oscar bait. The fact that they both came away with really significant awards is terrific. They, you know, I think they both came out of it as very, very successful. And, you know, so, yeah, that was.

It was the one surprise of the evening in inverted commas, although it had been predicted, as I said, in the very last run-up, he had taken a note. As I said, I did text you in advance and I'm just checking this and this is actually what it looks like now. But even I, when it actually happened, went, oh, okay, great. I wonder if he wanted it too much. Timothy Shalloway. Yeah, I just, I saw a comment this morning that the more voters saw of Timothy, that sounds very harsh, The more voters, as in, you know, the Oscar voters, sort of Timothy Schallamay, the less they wanted him to win it. Well, look, firstly, let's establish once again, as we always do, all awards are nonsense and all awards are capricious and all awards are quoted for by people making decisions for which are multifarious and may not make any sense at all.

So one cannot take them too seriously. I don't know whether anything that Timothy Shalamay did counted against him. And also, because in the case of Michael B. Jordan, it might just be that Michael B. Jordan was the person they liked better. You know, it might be they thought his performance was better than Timothy Shalamese. Again, it's like apples and oranges. You never really can compare these things. I don't know. I thought he conducted himself fine.

I mean, the thing about the ballet and the opera thing, it had blown up so much. there were jokes about it in, you know, actually. It's the kind of thing that nobody's going to forget. If you strike a ridiculous attack on opera and ballet, then they're going to come and get you. In fact, I saw a ballet company who were offering discounted tickets. If you use the code, Shalamee, the book, you got like 50% off your tickets.

So he's going to regret that for a long long. He is. Although it's hard to imagine that the opera and ballet, wedge was the thing that shifted the Oscar. It's a very gentle community. So let's talk about Jesse Buckley. As we've said for weeks and weeks and weeks of weeks, the most obvious winner winning best actress for Hamlet, the first Irish winner in this category.

She dedicated her award to quotes the beautiful chaos of her mother's heart. And here's a little bit from an Irish radio interview just talking about how special the whole day was. it feels like some kind of crazy alchemy that all of these things are colliding on a day like today my daughter got her first tooth this week I woke up with her lying on my chest

snuggling me and I feel like what a gift to get to you know explore motherhood through this incredible mother that Anius is and was and then to become one myself and then to receive this recognition of the incredible role mother's play in our world on this day is something I will never, ever forget.

So, you know, by popular acclaim, a brilliant actor who can, you know, if she's in anything, you're going to go, oh, okay, I'm going to make sure I watch it. It was a great performance and everyone would have just assumed that she was going to win, but it's still great to hear her speak. it is I did an on stage with her a couple of months ago now and she was talking about the role to make very enthusiastically

I've interviewed her on stage a few times and she's a great interview and her performance in Hamner is terrific and as we all said it had been a favourite for quite a long time at the end of the Q&A I said you know questions from the audience and the first question was somebody put their hand up

and said have you written your Oscar speech but the thing is there is always that weird thing about you think Oh, are we jinxing things now? Because it's so obvious that this is going to win that maybe... But no, she did. She won. It was a very, very popular win.

As you said, she did that thing about the beautiful chaos of Mother's Art, which I thought was really lovely. She did seem genuinely overwhelmed, which is quite nice because it's always quite good to see people, you know, being absolutely properly thrilled. And it is right that that is the thing that Hamlet won for. Because I do think that she is the... the strongest part of that film.

I mean, I have reservations about the film itself, although, as we were saying before, and as you had noted before, Hamlet is a much more obvious Oscar contender film than Sinners or one battle. I'm not sure weapons is an obvious Oscar winner, either. And I didn't, I mean, it's a great performance. I didn't have Aunt Gladys down that was as a winner.

But Amy Madigan, I won Best Supporting Actress for, Weapons, 40 years after a last nomination, which is a record gap. No one's had to wait longer. And the first time in years, a sole nominee from their film wins in this category. And it's a, it's a terrifying, in a way, old fashioned baddie without redemption, stealing the lives of children, you know, sucking out their life source. And she is a hideous monster. Well, that was great because it happened very, very early on, as I said, the way that the, the thing started was there was this extended Conan O'Brien sketch with Conan O'Brien effectively

dressed as that character running through the different films. And then Conan O'Brien came on stage and then he did some stuff. And then there was a weird thing about him, you know, what would happen if he won an award and then him getting crowned king or pope and then a mountain set and then ending up with a song which didn't work. And the whole thing was really kind of like, oh yeah, of course this is what Oscars is like, isn't it? Just some incredibly contrived gag

and then it doesn't work. And then Amy Madigan won and it was like, wow, this is great. And she got on stage and it was really fabulous and she had an absolutely

sort of brilliant laugh and as she was, I mean, that was actually one of the highlights of the evening for me because I think weapons is one of the best films of the year.

I thought it was really, really remarkable. I've thought about it so much since we've had so much correspondence. about it, people interpreting what it's about, what, you know, what the film means, what's going on in it, and her performance is terrific. So that was definitely one of the highlights was her

winning. And that category was always going to be the hardest category to call. Best Supporting actress was the one that everyone said, it's all over the shop. If you were looking at it in terms of the odds, there was absolutely no certainty at all. So I think you were genuinely in a situation there in which all the nominees might have thought it might have been them. And that's actually quite exciting because that doesn't happen very often in Oscar awards. Does that mean that it's been a good Oscars year for horror? If sinners get four, Frankenstein got three, weapons gets one, that's pretty good. Yeah, there's been a lot of discussion about this.

There's a kind of old canard, which is that Oscars don't go to horror films. And when they do, they go to horror films that don't look. like horror films. So famously, Silence of the Lambs winning best picture. And there's a, oh, is that the first time a horror film was one best picture? Well, it's not a horror film. It's a psychological thriller. So I said there used to be a column in the back of Fangoria magazine called It's Not a Horror Film, which was specifically to do with repositioning horror films as something else. Exorcist, of course, back in 19, was nominated 73, but the Oscars were in 74, got 10 nominations of which it only ended up winning two. And there's a, there's a, there's a

lot that can be said about what happened with that. But it is, it's not, I mean, I saw a couple of people talking about, you know, why it was horror now being taken seriously. And they said, people said a few foolish things like, well, horror movies now are deep and horror movies are now intelligent. And, you know, now we've got elevated horror. And it was just like, oh, shut up. Horror movies have always been all of those things. Really, that's, let's not have that discussion. It is interesting that in the case of sinners, in the case of Frankenstein, those movies are,

they are gothic and they have horror elements and certainly as somebody who is a horror fan, like they, because it kind of bothers me when people pretend that horror films aren't horror films, but they are, they are definitely films that are leaning into a slightly different genre of horror.

The thing with weapons is that weapons is a horror film. It is a, full-on horror film and it was just great to see Amy Madigan win there. But I don't know, it is definitely the case that over the years horror has not been well served by the, by the Oscars. And it is also the case that there have been Oscar contenders before that have been horror films that have been very deep. It just bothered me because there was a couple of comments I saw online about, yeah, you know, now we're in an age of elevated horror and now they can all win Oscars. You know, I'm sorry, the Exorcist was nominated for 10 Oscars. I'm sorry, the Exorcist was nominated for 10

Oscars in 1973. I don't think elevated horror is more intelligent than that. On the documentary, for the best documentary, Mr. Nobody Against Putin, Mr. Putin. David Borenstein, when he, is it Borenstein or Borenz of mine? Borenstein, I think, I think.

Yeah. Mr. Nobody against Mr. Putin. It was the light, he had in his very political speech, obviously, because it's a very political film. But he had a phrase, countless acts of complicity. Yeah. Which must have hit home. Yeah.

Well, let me, because as you look at what's happening in America, you know, the stuff that he was saying was a, was a big warning. Yeah. Well, let me tell you exactly what he said, because this was interesting. There's always the question about how much politics there is ever going to be in an award ceremony and how much is appropriate. Okay. So there was a lot of kind of underlying politics going on throughout the ceremony. not people sort of making declarative statements, but there was stuff going on. In the case of the Best Documentary category, that was presented by Jimmy Kimmel.

Now, obviously Jimmy Kimmel has become something of a thorn in Mango Mussolini's side, as have a number of late-night talk show hosts against whom he spends an inordinate amount of his time railing. So Kimmel came on to present Best Documentary, and he said, you know, there are documentaries in which people risk their lives to lay bare their own. the truth. And there are also documentaries in people, which people walk around the White House trying on shoes, which was the first point, because this is a reference to the Melania dog. He also said, as you know, there are some countries where leaders don't support free speech, that I'm not at liberty to say which. Let's just say North Korea and CBS. So that was kind of

the set up for the documentary feature. And if this is going to happen anywhere, it's going to happen in documentary, because although it was Javier Bardem, who went presenting the thing, said, you know, most war and free Palestine. So then, Misnobi against Putin wins. And as you quite rightly said, the speech was very pointed. What he said was this.

He said, the film is about how you lose your country. You lose it through countless small little acts of complicity. When we act complicit, when a government murders people on the streets of our major cities, when we don't say anything, when oligarchs take over the media

and control how we can produce it and consume it. Now, what's interesting about that speech is, obviously the documentary is about Russia. It's about Putin. And every single thing that he says in that could be referring to Putin. The reason it's a smart speech is that we all hear what it's also referring to, which, as I said, you know, Jimmy Kimmel had kind of flagged up beforehand. And it is absolutely the case that at the moment,

America is in the middle of a crisis. It's in the middle of a war. and it is being run by a president who is trying to clamp down on the media and control the media in a way that no other president has done. It is impossible to imagine a precursor to what's happening at the moment. So, of course, people are going to make reference to it. But I actually thought that particular speech was, as you said, very, very pointed because you can't hear somebody saying that without hearing exactly what it is they're saying.

Yes. Because complicity is a word that's been used a lot recently. And when he, I mean, it was just impeccable. It was an amazing speech. I think people will remember that because obviously it's not the most glamorous. It's not the most glitzy. But in terms of a speak made clearly about his film, but also clearly to the audience, I thought was quite exceptional. Also on films from abroad, Norway winning its first ever international feature,

York and Trieste's sentimental value. So it did, it did win something. It did. And it on just something. I mean, that is a big, that is a big win.

And that was a very, very strong category. And again, it was a, it was a very popular win. It was lovely to see because, I mean, sentimental value is a brilliant film.

I think it's, I think it's a really, really great movie. And it's great that that happened. And of course, in his acceptance speech, Yer Kim Treer cited James Baldwin, all adults,

all adults are a for all children and rest not politicians who don't take this into account. Once again, what you're seeing there is an example of somebody making, actually, I think, a point that lands quite well because of the way in which it's framed. It's a thoughtful way of saying something. It doesn't sound like anyone's been a hectoring or anything. It is just a really thoughtful thing to say because it relates to the film, but it also relates to the wider political situation. K-pop Demon Hunters wins best. Yes.

Win's animated feature and original song. Golden becomes the first K-pop song to win an Oscar. Co-director Maggie Kang dedicating the award to Korea and Koreans everywhere. And I think, did I get the stretch? She also made an apology that it had taken so long to have a movie featuring people that look like them. Yeah, and it was kind of moving because, Obviously, the funny thing with K-pop Demon Hunters is that it is literally like inhaling bubble gum. I mean, we reviewed it on the show.

It is, in these, there's earworm songs. They're like absolute weapons grade memorable tunes that you can't get out of your head. But it was also really interesting to see that acceptance speech going, no, there's this other thing going on, which is it's to do with representation and it's to do with recognition. And honestly, I hadn't really thought about that element of it. Because when I saw K-pop Demon Hunters, it was like I had stuck my head in the candy floss machine and everything was purple and everything was pink and everything was going to rattle around in my head for the whole of the rest of the day. So yeah, no, that was good. And of course, K-pop Demon Hunters

and sinners both had musical numbers performed at the Oscars, just those two biggies. And they were both really good, both really well-done musical numbers, I thought. on the craft side we mentioned a Frankenstein which got three for production design costume and makeup avatar fire and as visual effects formula one for f1 for sound yeah and a rare tie in the light and short only the seventh in oscar history and i think the guy i can't remember who was presenting it but said no no this is this is for real you know it's not this isn't a mistake it's genuine tie well the interesting thing was it was it was presented by coroner Janini and um And when he said, you know, it's a tie, and we all know that there have been very few before, I didn't have the figure to hand. But then he made the joke about, so that means that this short film award is going to last twice as long as all the other awards, which is that that is the sort of standard joke is that the short film awards actually tend to last longer because the short field people end up making very, very long speeches.

But there were two. So I think it's the first time that I've been watching the Oscars that there was a tie. No, there was the actress. But then that was way, way back. Anyway, yes, so yes, it was remarkable. And, Cronan, it was funny. And when he opened the envelope, I think he was genuinely surprised, as we all were, because we all think when people open envelopes at Oscars things,

you all think back to Warren Beatty and, you know, and the whole La La Land debacle. But yet, no, it was a tie in that category. So from a studio point of view, a massive night for Warner Brothers, 11 total wins, first best picture since Argo in 2013. And this as that sense that everything is about to change and, you know, the major merger happening and who knows what's going to be happening in the future. But, you know, they're going out on a high. Well, so I've said that I didn't think Conan O'Brien's stuff landed particularly well.

One of the recurrent jokes that Conan O'Brien was making was about, streaming services and about the way in which, you know, all this this stuff is happening. So he said, for example, oh, yeah, it said Sarandos is here tonight. It's the first time he's been in a theatre. That was good. Yeah, that was good. That was a good job. That was a good job.

Pretending to laugh heartily. Pretending to yuck it up. And then he went, yeah, he said, that he did the thing about, oh, wow, this is all these people sitting in the same room, having a good time. And that, there was also sort of running theme that he did a joke about next year. The Oscars are going to be on YouTube. He said because he was not going to make any difference and then they cut to an advert. And then it came back to him.

And then he went, yeah, anyway, as I was saying, it's not going to make a difference and then they cut to an advert. So there were, there were points during his stuff that were the recurrent points that were to do with the way in which all this stuff is changing, the way in which streaming services are taking up. So that was a subject in the room. whether or not we are at some kind of terminal tipping point remains to be seen. But I think that when you have movies like, I'm sorry to keep, I feel like I'm repeating myself, but like one battle after another, like sinners, like sentimental value, doing as well as they did, it does make you think that, I mean, you and I both said this. One battle after another was a film to see in the cinema, wasn't it?

It was a film you needed to see it on the big screen. and enjoy it as a full cinematic experience. And I think the same is true of sinners. And I think that there was a celebration of being in theatres, definitely. The tributes are always interesting. We had Billy Crystal. I mean, I am always absolutely in awe of Billy Crystal. I mean, he came on the show a while back.

and to talk, you know, he had a serious role to talk about it. I love talking to him about, he must have been, he must have been nervous. He must have been tense because he and Rob Reiner was such close friends, but he gave a heartfelt tribute, which I thought was amazing. Rachel McCadams remembered Christina, Catherine Ahera and Diane Keaton, and then Barbara Streisand, I didn't see any of this. What happened with her Robert Redford tribute? Okay, so, well, just to repeat what you've just said about Billy Crystal,

and Rob Reiner and Michelle Singer-Riner tribute was incredibly moving, and he ended up saying, you know, what fun we had storming the castle and got a standing ovation. And again, let us remember that the passing of Rob Reiner is significant as well because Mango Mussolini made such a disgusting comment about it. An absolutely disgraceful comment that no person in a position of authority should ever be able to make and then carry on holding up their head in public.

I mean, an obscene, an obscene comment. So it was lovely to see the whole audience, you know, embracing the enormous talent of Rob Reiner and everyone saying what a great guy he was, what a solid, decent, to use that word again that Paul Thomas Anderson used, the decency. You know, I always think of the, you know,

the famous political heckle, Have you no dis-have you no shame? And anyway, so that was great. And then, yes, as you said, I mean, Diane Keaton stuff is always going to, because, you know, I grew up watching dying Keaton films. Then we get to Barbara Streisand talking about Robert Redford. And she does this sort of long, well, it's Barbara Streisand.

She can talk for as long as she wants. This thing about the fact that Robert Redford, you always referred to her as Babs, okay? And she said, I'm not a babbs. Look at me. Do I look like a babbs? Which is funny because, of course, if you're Barbara Streisand fan, we refer to her as Babs. I didn't, you know. So she talks about that.

And then she talked about Redford having real decency and backbone. And she talked about Sundance. And she talked about the fact that when they were first talking about the way we were, he was talking about the role. and the moral character or lack of it of the person he was playing. You and I had the privilege of interviewing Robert Redford on stage. I mean, he was a mensch. I'd interviewed him a couple of times before talking about his films as a director.

I mean, he was a really, really decent person. And then at the end, as she's standing on stage, she starts singing the way we were. Now, there are very few people who could get away with doing this. honestly Barbara Streisand is one of them and it was this really strange thing because it was a very very very moving when she was talking about him and she said that um that they had been they had sent messages to each other and the last messages that they had sent to each other was he had said you know I love you babs and she had said yeah I love you too and she said and I signed I signed the letter babes and then she starts singing you know the way we were and it was like I don't know wow. Yes. And so, so yeah, once again, I think the thing to take away from this is that sense that

these artists being celebrated are being celebrated for being decent people, for having some form of moral clarity. And I know it's very easy to, you know, to mock and sneer when we're talking about, you know, and stars and Hollywood and all that kind of thing. But it is kind of remarkable that at the moment in America, you could legitimately look at the people in that room and go, they have more moral authority than some of the monsters who are currently in power. And I, yeah, that kind of struck me a little bit,

particularly because I tend to be kind of quite cynical about that sort of thing. but I did think there was a kind of parade of decent people. Yeah. Just mentioning before we close, there are always films that get left out. There are always actors that just, you know, as you mentioned, Timothy Shalame, always appear to have not won again.

But film... He's young, he's five years old. You know, he'll win when he gets into double figures. Borgonia trained dreams. It was just an accident, the secret agent. I mean, it's, there are always losers, but they're all much acclaimed films which will live on for a long time. And probably doesn't, I don't know, do you take anything away from that? Who's the most offended do you think out of all of those?

Well, look, of those ones that you've mentioned, for example, I mean, it was just an accident. I had tagged a while ago as being, you know, being a, I thought, a big awards contender. Yes. In the case of train dreams, I think it was always the feeling that it was, it was the fact that it was in the running was the celebration because it's a, it's a small movie. And it's a, it's very well made small movie. As I said,

but I reviewed it kind of reminded you of the sort of films Terrence Malick made before Malik went completely off the boil. I think as far as the shallomite thing is concerned, and I'm not saying this entirely flippantly. He's got plenty of time. ahead of him to, you know, and when he does win an Oscar, which he almost certainly will do at some point, people would go, do you remember when he didn't quite win for Marty Supreme for the ping pong thing? I mean, the other, just the other few things that we should mention, there was

the bridesmaid's reunion, and that was kind of nice, you know, it was nice to see them altogether because, you know, I absolutely love bridesmaid. There was, again, to the Conan O'Brien thing, Whereas a lot of the jokes did fall flat. A thing about let's create a new Leonardo DiCaprio meme, which was just that didn't work at all. The most, okay, see whether you, I don't know whether, did you watch the Conan O'Brien monologue? Have you seen it?

I've seen everything all clipped up. So I've seen the Ted Sarandos. I've seen the, you know, the English actors. Okay. So there was one joke he made. I couldn't figure out whether it landed or not. And it was this. He said, you know, here we are.

it that has a small penis, yeah, there has a small penis theatre. Let's see him put his name in front of that. And that, I thought that was good. That was a good joke. And it was a good joke because, because again, it is kind of that indication of, you know, the best things are the things when everyone knows what you're saying, but you may not necessarily be saying it. And then there was another diversion about going over to the announcer and making a joke about

Basil Rathbone that didn't work at all. So I thought as far as the presentation was concerned, there was a lot of, there was a lot of stuff that didn't hit, although there was some that did. I did think Billy Crystal was just great. And as he said, when he walked on stage,

and you and I've had this discussion before, Billy Crystal hosting the Oscars was something else, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Very few people, very few people have been that good. And those song and dance numbers that he did were just, It's not pre-recorded. They were absolutely live and part of the show. The horse. Okay. Well, I think you're probably going to have, I think you're being chucked out of your Hollywood Plaza, a Grand Continental suite sometime soon.

Simon, I'm going to a day of screenings. A day of screenings. I'm literally going from here to a day of screenings. My first one is at 10 o'clock, and I can't remember the title of it, but it's at Universal. Yeah, I'm literally, I'm going from here to the very first screening. Here we go. What am I seeing first? First thing I'm seeing this morning is, oh yeah, midwinter, midwinter bread. Is it midwinter bread or midwinter bread?

Anyway, he's got the word midwinter in it. Yeah, I'm going there first. My favourite part of this conversation in the last 30 seconds has been the total surprise appearance of Basil Rathbone. Who thought? Mr. Basil, you can't leave Mr. Basil there? Correct. Good. Basil brush, Basil Rathbone, a fine place. This is the only Oscar conversation, which features Basil Brush and Basil Rathbone.

Takes will be along in their normal place. There'll be a cinematic version of this on Patreon. Thank you very much, indeed, for listening. And Mark, thank you for staying awake. You're welcome. Getting ready for a game means being ready for anything. Like packing a spare stick. I like to be prepared.

That's why I remember 988, Canada's Suicide Crisis Hubline. It's good to know, just in case. Anyone can call or text for free confidential support from a train responder anytime. 988 Suicide Crisis Hubline is funded by the government in Canada.