The Big Picture - The 2025 Alternative Oscars, a.k.a. the 5th Annual Big Picks!

Episode Date: February 25, 2025

Sean and Amanda return for their fifth annual Alternative Oscar awards (a.k.a. the Big Picks), in which they award alternative nominees and winners for the major Oscar categories, as well as some of our own homemade categories. The snubbed, the beloved, and more are all represented here (44:00)! Before handing out the awards, they react to the past week’s big news in the film world, including a fascinating Timothée Chalamet SAG speech, and the news that the Broccoli family has ceded creative control of the James Bond franchise to Amazon (1:00). Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner Video Producer: Jack Sanders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Bill Simmons letting you know that we are covering the White Lotus on the Prestige TV podcast and the Ringer TV YouTube channel every Sunday night this season with Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson. Also on Wednesdays, Rob Mahoney and I will be sort of diving deep into theories and listener questions so you can watch that on the Ringer YouTube channel and also on the Spotify app. Subscribe to the Prestige podcast feed. Subscribe to the Ringer TV YouTube channel. And don't forget, you can also watch these podcasts

on Spotify. Wait, Lotus, let's go. This episode is brought to you by Missouri. Missouri does fine jewelry differently. They're all about buying for yourself, where you decide the occasion. Everything is handcrafted with quality, craftsmanship, and responsible sourcing in mind. So these are pieces you can feel good about in more ways than one. Plus, there are so many designs you can mix and match to create a stack for every look. Shop online at majore.com or in store today.

or in store today. I'm Sean Fennessy. I'm Amanda Dobbins. And this is the Big Picture Conversation Show about the Oscars, the real Oscars. That's right, the alternative Oscars are back, Amanda. Before we dole out some awards, we do have some news to catch up on after Wellness Week and an announcement to make. It is Oscars week, of course, so we'll be having predictions on the show later this week. We'll be coming to listeners live as quickly as we can after the telecast on Sunday night. We aren't going to be live afterwards, are we? We're not going to be live, live, but I'll be alive with you recording.

I wanted to clarify because... We will be live before the telecast. So, YouTube, Sunday afternoon, 2.30 p.m. Pacific, 5.30 p.m. East Coast. I don't know what that is for Mountain and Central, and I apologize to those regions of the country. It's 4.30 and 3.30. Absolutely. Because that's how it goes. That's how it goes.

Just count backwards. Uh, we're gonna hang out for an hour on video. We're going to talk about what predictions we made earlier in the week that we feel bad about. We're going to talk about the vibes over the weekend. We're going to talk about... This is a great time to invite me to your party. If you would like...

What do you mean? I know people listening who have parties on Friday and Saturday night, you know? Oh, I thought you were at the Oscar party. It's like, no, you're watching the Oscars with me. Or Sunday night. I know. But like, after we're done here... Oh, you want to go out afterwards? Listen, I'm available.

I was just saying before we started recording, we need a party. Okay. You were saying we need a birthday party for me, though. That was what you were saying. Not for me, not for you. Yeah. Clearly, clearly. I missed... 40 didn't happen, 40 and a half didn't happen, so we got to do 40 more. 40 and a half? I was going to have a 40 and a half birthday party because for my 40th birthday party, I was like eight months pregnant and just not in a partying kind of mood.

What happened there? How did that turn out? I don't know if you remember. Did something happen? I was pregnant. Okay. And then 40 and a half was like very close after the fires and it was just like not really a party atmosphere.

So now we're rebranding for 41 and I'm just going to have a blowout. So you want to be invited to parties on Friday and Saturday before the Academy Awards, which is a working weekend for both of us. Well, I'm just saying then I could talk about them. Right. And tell people things that you would also tell them on this pod? Well, I just, I'm saying that I could do it live.

OK. You know, the other thing is that... You don't like to go to parties. What are you talking about? It is true that it's not as fun. Like, there are like work parties, and then there are party parties, you know? And the work parties, you know, if you're not

one of the famous people, which I'm not, and I'm comfortable with that, then you're just kind of like... You want to be able to just do catamine at a party. You don't want to be responsible to your performance. I want to be able to like have a cocktail and then dance. You know? But no one dances. At the parties, at the work. Yeah, come on.

Oh, at the work parties. No. Imagine if I just started cutting a rug just in front of Steven Spielberg. Excuse me, sir. I know. Remember the night, like... it wasn't that long before the pandemic. But we didn't have kids. And those memories are gone. I'm sorry to tell you.

Do you remember this? We went out to dinner. Oh, Chris and I were just talking about this. We had a short stop. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then we all piled into your car when breaking all sorts of traffic and safety laws. And then you drove us to shortstop at some, for some reason you drove us through Hollywood bowl traffic. So you were like at your angriest

and then all of us were crammed in the back of the car. And then we did shortstop and like, will we ever be young and have fun again? Is how I feel. That was an incredibly fun night. That was so fun. And so I'm just saying, I'm willing to reenact that on Friday, Saturday

or Sunday night when I'm not working. Okay. The other thing here is I was thinking I would have like a cocktail during the live portion, but it is at 2 30 in the afternoon. Might be a better time to do it so then you can come down a little bit. Yeah, I'm, that's true. I'm probably not gonna have one after, but... Okay. I don't know. I like we're working, you know?

In a manner of speaking. Sure. Can I tell you something? Sure I really missed podcasting with you during wellness week There are so many times when I thought it would be so fun to make a show with Amanda That's like that was nicer than your normal segues of teeing up the other things. You're a real pro. Yeah. Thank you We'll be live on YouTube on Sunday But right now we need to talk about what happened last Sunday

Which was of course the the SAG Awards. There were a number of precursors that went down while we were gone. No, last Sunday was BAFTA. Well, yesterday's Sunday. Two Sundays ago was BAFTA. Two Sundays ago? Not yesterday, but the Sunday before that.

Right. Okay, yes. Okay. God, it's been a long week. Reset. Okay. Do you want to talk about SAG or BAFTA first? I think SAG. SAG is fresh in everyone's mind. SAG was a fascinating telecast with crazy results, I thought.

Not crazy, but highly unexpected. I mean, it was a bunch of famous people in a room and sometimes the sound worked and sometimes it didn't. It was. It was. This was a different sort of SAG in part because it was happening so late, so it won't have the same impact on the Oscar race that it usually does because all the award shows were impacted by the fires. Yes. So in terms of influencing voting, it doesn't have the same impact on the Oscar race that it usually does because all the award shows were impacted by the fires. Yes, so in terms of influencing voting,

it doesn't really mean anything. Someone DM'd us to be like, will Pope Francis' health affect Conclave? And the answer is no, because voting's closed. But that's also how I learned that Pope Francis was in ill health. That will come up again in this discussion. Yes, so it doesn't influence the votes, but I do think you can kind of, it's

reflective of where people are, you know, where the, where the tea leaves are moving. Yes. There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of members of SAC who are also Academy members, it's the largest voting, voting block in the Academy. Oscar voting closed February 18th. So this was, you know, roughly five days later. Let's just go to the results because they're really interesting. Yeah.

Best ensemble went to Conclave. Yeah. This was the final award of the night. This is not the most predictive award historically. Only 15 of the last 30 best ensemble winners have gone on to win best picture. But you know, it's not nothing. In a year where things keep shifting, and every time we decide, okay, it is Anorah.

No, just kidding, it's The Brutalist. Actually, Amelia Perez, look at all these nominations. No, actually it is Anorah. Wait, is it now, after a BAFTA win for Best Film, Enbrest, Best British Film, and now a Best Ensemble win for Conclave, Enbrest, best British film, and now a best ensemble win for Conclave. Is it Conclave? You don't have to say for sure, but how are you feeling? It's interesting, right? I still don't think so.

I don't think so either. Because the voting, the preferential ballot is slightly different. And so, in some ways, preferential ballot means that you get something more, you know, consensus-y, but in other ways, it means if there is a movie that is a favorite with a lot of people. And so I think Conclave is probably third or fourth on a lot of ballots, but I don't know if we're going to get to the third or fourth ballot in this season. It might require more game theory than ever because it feels as though there are four, maybe even five movies who everyone likes.

And there's not this like... So it's not just that the first and second place votes are really important, but the third and fourth place votes might be really important too. And so I'm not sure what that means for Conclave. Obviously a very fun movie, not a bad contender in any normal year. This movie would be running in sixth or seventh place. It's fascinating that it has a real puncher's chance.

Um, you know, you've got Enora with PGA, WGA and DGA precursors, and now you've got Conclave with Bafta and Sag, which is nothing to turn your nose up at. So I don't know if we were here on less than a week from now, and we said the best picture winner is Conclave, you probably couldn't be stunned, right? No, you wouldn't be stunned. I think you would be surprised. I do think that Conclave winning over a couple

of these ensembles makes some other movies less likely? So the other nominees were Enora, A Complete Unknown, Emilia Perez, and Wicked. I think three to four weeks ago, I would have predicted Emilia Perez to win in this category. You think it would have if not for the Carlos Sofia Gascon scandal. I'm just, I think that it was very possible and it has been, it was up until someone was literally erased from billboards, marketed as like this group of women and like transformational.

True ensemble. Yeah. And you smartly predicted that like Wicked also maybe had a spot there. I thought it was gonna win tonight or last night a spot there. I thought it was going to win tonight. Or last night. I really thought it was going to win. And then there is also A Complete Unknown had such strength really at these nominations.

And is like a very action type of movie as seen in another category that we will soon discuss. We shall. So, but I think the fact that Conclave triumphed over those movies makes me like a little less suspicious that we're gonna see a complete unknown or like a really a complete unknown surprise. Agree. I think that's- I could be wrong.

I think that's done, that surprise potential. The other thing to consider here is that it's clear that the SAG awards were not very high on the brutalist. Guy Pearce was not nominated, Adrian Brody did not win, and the ensemble was not nominated. So, if that's a movie that is still contending for best picture, we probably weren't going to learn too much about it based on the results of this guild. So, you know, there was one great data point that came out of this that Scott Feinberg, a Hollywood reporter, pointed out, which I think is very interesting relative to Conclave's chances. He noted last night,

almost every Best Picture Oscar surprise winner first won Best Ensemble SAG Award, including 1998's Shakespeare in Love, 2005's Crash, 2015's Spotlight, 2019's Parasite, and 2021's Coda. Now, these were all films that were really never the favorites and emerged late breaking in the season. Right. However, voting was different in those years,

and seeing the cast on stage together accepting the ensemble award could still affect Oscar voting. It's weird because it doesn't feel like Conclave is competing in too many other categories. You know, it's competing in adapted screenplay pretty hard. That's pretty much it. Also, obviously, Edward Burger was not nominated for director. That shows a kind of weakness in the race. Gotta say, before we get to the next important conversation,

just enjoying this season. The fact that it keeps changing, the fact that it's not predictable. I love the movie Oppenheimer, but I got really bored covering the Oppenheimer race. Yeah, we were scraping the bottom of the barrel. That was just dull. And even Everything Ever Overall at once, that was a pretty dull year in terms of coverage.

Like, this is cool. This is fun. That there are still three, four movies that could win. And I'm hoping for a surprise. I am too. Well, no, I'm not. I would like to win. Because you think, oh, you want to win the bet. Well, I want to win the bet. I'd like to be right. Okay. I feel like I'm letting go of that one this year. I don't really care.

I think... Because you can't be right this time. That's true. There's too much weirdness, there's too many movies that don't have a strong enough consensus. That's true. I mean, the other thing is that I like Anura so much. It was my favorite movie of the year. So for it to win would be really fun.

It would be a great and fascinating winner that I would love to talk about, and I'm obviously a big fan of that movie. I want to talk about it again with you in a little bit. But first, let's talk about the other huge award result at SAG, which was that Timothee Chalamet finally put a number on the board. Yeah. He had really not been winning any awards throughout the season,

despite running a very fun campaign that we've talked about over and over again, giving a great performance and a complete unknown as Bob Dylan. He won, triumphed over Adrienne Brody. Club Chalamet would like me to point out that this is one of the few award ceremonies that he attended without Kylie Jenner. And what do you think that was about? You know, maybe she was working, maybe she was elsewhere. I'm not really sure.

She is a billionaire on paper. It was elsewhere. I'm not really sure. I don't, she, she is a billionaire on paper. It was a Sunday at 8 p.m. Listen, I don't know. Maybe she has a shoot somewhere else, you know, international. It was like a billion dollars. Well, because she makes those little lip kits, you know. You're going to feminist war for Kylie Jenner?

I'm not. I'm actually, you know, was like gently trying to locate the Kylie curse toward to Club Chalamet. Do you know about Club Chalamet? I do know about Club Chalamet, yes. OK. I mean, that's just a fun internet thing. A controversial figure. Yes, exactly.

And Club Chalamet has been notably anti-Kylie. Doesn't even print her name. I see. But I mean, Kylie was at the BAFTAs, I think. And she was obviously at the Golden Globes for the second year running. So, you know. She did not join him.

He went with his mom. Yeah. And he went up and he gave a speech and he gave a very direct speech. He talked about the fact that he put a lot of time and effort into his work starring as Bob Dylan, a man he called an American hero. And then he said, I know this is not common.

I know you're not supposed to say this. Yeah. And that we work in a subjective business, but I want to be one of the greats. He said, I am striving for greatness and that I'm not just inspired by the greats in this room or Daniel Day-Lewis or Marlon Brando or Viola Davis. I'm inspired by Michael Jordan and Michael Phelps. And that's what I want. And he said, this doesn't represent that,

but it's more fuel as he picked up the award, more ammo to keep going. Now I've seen a mixed reaction to this speech. I will just say I loved it. Awesome. This is the opposite of what we're meant to expect from to this speech, I will just say I loved it. Awesome. I, this is the opposite of what we're meant to expect from actors and all performers who receive awards,

which is you acknowledge your other, your fellow nominees, you stay humble, you talk about your gratitude. Maybe if you're a person of faith, you talk about God, you talk about your parents, you mentioned your team a number of times. Kevin Huvane was thanked too many times last night. Many times. And all of that,ane was thanked too many times last night. Many times. And all of that, we've heard that many times before.

Timmy, Nick's fan for life, clearly a sports guy, sees his work in a different vein. He is competitive. He is inspired by the feeling of achieving something that is achievable if you work hard enough. And that you will be recognized in kind. I thought it was... This is going to be maybe an annoying talking point, but I'm going to share it with you even though we don't really know what we're talking about. I thought it was very Gen Z.

Or, you know, young, young, young, young, young millennial. Yeah, I was going to say Bobby's yelling at us. He's 29, so he's kind of right on... Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bobby. But it was more the like, and I'm not trying to. The screen was like, was on sleep

and then just angry Bobby popped up. That was really good, good job, Bob. I'm not trying to pick a fight with Gen Z or young millennials. No, it was very, very. Sometimes I'm gonna say what I need to say and I'm not afraid if it ruffles feathers. There's like, there is a general,

I think elder millennials and Gen X are kinda like, you know, I don't wanna step on toes. A sincerity even in the competitiveness of it. Like, this means something to me. I know you're not supposed to say it, but this is what I want. No, I agree with you. It's also just like... And this is crass, and I'm sorry, but like, amazing content.

Like, sometimes you want... Not sometimes, all of the time, you want people in these roles, especially the performers to perform, you know? Like this is one big show. Like give me something to talk about. And it was fantastic. And he is really good at that. Like he reads the moment, like he,

I mean, he's obviously a great actor and a great performer, but like my guy is dialed in. But also he didn't, he didn't... He hasn't won any awards to this point, or not any televised awards. And he didn't have a piece of paper in his hand. He didn't have a phone in his hand. And he went up there and he had a very coherent,

clear through line that he wanted to speak to. Thank his mom who worked for Actors Equity for 40 years. Great way to open a speech in front of SAG. And then he just went bang, bang, bang. I am, I want to be Tiger Woods. I want to be MJ. I want to be, I have an assassin's-like commitment to being great at what I do. I would again, personally, raise the specter of Wonka in the lineage of the work that he is doing

relative to that comment. I have some questions about that. Aside from that, he's using his powers for good. This is the only person in Hollywood under 30 who moves the needle. It's awesome that he would choose to say this at this time in front of those people, even though I'm sure it made some people in the audience a little like, what's this guy's problem? Why is he being such a dead-eyed, you know, Maximus and Gladiator warrior moment?

It wasn't dead-eyed. Also, he was wearing leather and a bolo tie. A leather suit, a bolo tie, and a lime green button-down. I mean, incredible. Really, really special stuff. I'm a huge fan. Adrienne Brody genuinely seemed surprised, confused, impressed, annoyed? All four?

Surprised, I think. And then really trying to like, steer the car of reaction back on the road, you know? Everyone else, like, because Timmy's reaction, and I hope he'll let me call him Timmy. It's said with love. His reaction was so good and he was like,

oh wait, what? Yes. That I have seen the replay of the five boxes a lot and everybody is kind of, you know, Dan O'Craig is just... Thrilled to be there. He looks amazing. He looks amazing.

His hair's long, he's got sunglasses on. Is he thrilled to be there? I don't really know, but he's just kind of there. He had no expectations. We'll get to him and his legacy and we get to a couple of other news items. Coleman Domingo is locked in,

knows exactly what to be doing. Yes, he knows he's not winning anything. And who was number five? Last night, number five, Coleman Domingo, Daniel Craig. I can't remember. I can't remember. Ray Fiennes. Ray Fiennes. Oh, Ray Fiennes. Ray Fiennes, you know. He's been there before.

Sure. But it was really Adrienne Bardi just being like, oh, the camera's on me and I gotta pull this together a little. Do you think this shifts the race? I don't know. I honestly, I don't know. It's late enough. I think this is the kind of thing where if voting were still open, people would be like, oh, we're doing that now. Mm-hmm. I do think it indicates that a lot of actors where if voting were still open, people would be like, oh, we're doing that now. I do think it indicates that a lot of actors

who are a very large voting block really like that performance. I do think that many people, myself included, also really love Adrian Brody. That is a more, I mean, in the way that that movie, despite being like a very American story about America, leans so heavily on European cinema, and I think speaks to international voters

in a way that, you know, do other people, not Americans, care that much about like, our next great son doing Bob Dylan and going electric. Like, I don't know if they do. I do. My three year old son does, you know, like we're here. They're talking about Bob Dylan, but yes they are. Nox.

But I, it's really split. Like I, it feels like it feels like a coin trick. We are doing our predictions in a couple of days. I don't know what my answer is yet a coin flip. Yeah. We are doing our predictions in a couple days. I don't know what my answer is yet on this one. I don't either. I was very happy to see that win, not just because I think he's very good in it. I think Brody is also extraordinary in that movie.

It's just, as you said, it was a moment. It was a very memorable moment. Chalamet is not some new kid on the block, though. This is his third individual SAG nomination. He's also been nominated, I think, twice for ensembles. He's been to that show many times. It was a bit of a, you know, stake in the ground. SAG best actor, 18 of the last 20

have gone on to win the Oscar. The last one who did not was Anthony Hopkins and the father because Chadwick Boseman won at SAG. So it's not common to win SAG and then lose the Academy Award. So we'll just have to wait and see. Best actress Demi Moore won. Yes.

Momentum was flowing in Mikey Madison's direction. She did win at BAFTA. You didn't think so? No, I didn't. I did not. Okay. Again, this is a little bit of like, you know, Demi Moore is a uniquely American institution,

starring in a, like a French, sort of international, I guess, movie, but like, that's our gal. So you're holding onto Demi, you think? Oh, like a thousand percent. I think it was Rebecca Ford from Vanity Fair noted that the entire room stood up for her. Stood for her, interesting.

And that was not the case for any of the nominees. Good speech, not quite as strong as the Globe speech. Um, it was a good speech. And is this where I float my, like, the speech writers are showing a little take for this Oscar season? I mean, she delivered it beautifully. And I don't think I mind a...

Like, I think it's good to be prepared, you know? And they are actors, and so you can learn your lines and, you know, but the spontaneity is not really being telegraphed in the same way that I thought the Golden Globe speech really did have, even if it was also prepared. So that would be my performance note. You're saying Shades of Brad Pitt circa 2019? Yes. yeah. Both for, well, like really, like across the board, I thought Zoe Saldana did a great job.

She won again in supporting actress and I think that that is concluded. And I also really do understand why that individual would wanna have nailed down what she wants to say in front of a microphone of people. Careful not to misstep right now. Yeah. And I think they're well written. Like part of the reason I'm like, okay, I can see the speech writing in effect is because they're tying together big themes

and lots of people. And it's, I, it's hard to be that polished and on message off the cuff. There's literally nothing wrong with it. I was just kind of like, oh, OK, like everyone really is. Everyone's, everyone's prepping. Yeah, hers was prepared for sure, because there was a lot of notes about when I got my SAG card and I didn't know what SAG was. And, you know, a lot of times it's playing for the room that you're in or the television production that you're in. Demi Moore also did that as well, like getting my card.

And she got several looks on the pre, like the, you know, interstitials about how she had started on soaps I just listened to her on WTF recently too she talked a lot about her experience on soaps back then so you know at this award show it's a lot of people who were like in the business yeah you know it's not a really it doesn't favor Anjanu as much yeah it's really more like are you a working actor? So anyway, Zoe won, Kieran Culkin won for supporting actor. That also feels done and dusted. That's completely done. I find that a little bit disappointing,

not because I dislike Kieran Culkin, because I do not, and I also do not really agree with the take that he is just doing what he did in succession. I feel that there is a significant difference in the performance. The one thing that I've been thinking about, and you know I love Guy Pearce in Brutalist, but set that aside for a minute.

I rewatched Anorah, and I think your abortion was very good in Anorah. Yeah. I have nothing negative to say about him, and he becomes the emotional fulcrum of the movie near the end of the movie. But Karen Karagoulian is like the, is the movie to me. The whole second act of the movie doesn't work

if he's not as funny and energetic, and he's like as funny and energetic. And he's like an absolute shot of adrenaline into the heart of the movie. And no recognition. Like we all just kind of decided it was Yura Borisov because he's got this critical moment near the end of the movie.

Well, and it's like creeping in throughout. And I think it was Joanna who pointed out, like there is, the movie is cut in a way that it is watching Gere Borosov. Like, the movie leads you to pick him. And he's wonderful. But it's a testimony to the way that the script is written and the way that the movie is made, not to the performance as much where Karagulian is like, he has a huge burden in the movie that he has to carry. He is a true supporting performance. Anyway, just citing that, because I...

I think all the performances in Enora are very good, because it's a wonderful film. I just wanted to give my guys some love. One thing on Mikey, she did get one of the coveted I'm Mikey Madison and I'm an actor intros, which is, you know, my favorite part of every site. I think she's here to stay. The best one, though, was Jessica Williams

with Harrison Ford just... Are you jealous of that moment? I was just completely charmed by all that. I was like, well, this is why Harrison Ford is Harrison Ford. Yeah, I particularly liked the Kristen Bell performing... Do you want to be an actor? Yeah, do you want to build a snowman from Frozen, but do you want to be an actor?

And showing the clips of the actors at very young ages? It was cute. And they had a lot of the actors in the room. But the camera knew they were coming and found them and showed them reacting to their weird things. Yeah, it was very charming. The Hacks bit was funny. Yeah, it was like, weirdly, Forgetting Star Marshall, one of my favorite movies of the 21st century. I thought that bit was not very good with Jason Segel. No. Unfortunately, I call back to that.

I'm skeptical of that movie, but I know it's very important to all the men. Don't bring that gender essentialist bullshit into this room when we're talking about forgetting Sarah Marshall. I love all of you. Okay. And it's nice that you found love. Okay. Aired on Netflix again? It was fine.

They had ads. How did you feel about the ads? I left or fast forwarded through them. Okay. The ASC awards, which are not televised on Netflix or anywhere else, I think are notable because Ed Lachman won for Maria. He'd never won this award before. This is the cinematographer's group. He'd been nominated five times. He is nominated at the Academy Awards. Many people have been citing Loll Crawley as the front runner from The Brutalist for this film,

but Jaron Blaschke also won the Critics' Choice and then Joe Mofrey won the Spirits on Saturday. Joe Mofrey not nominated at the Academy Awards, but still this category is kind of all over the place with the precursors. We'll see what happens. I thought that was worth sharing. Yeah, it'll also come up again in our predictions because we do use the guilds as a bellwether. a bellwether? A bellwether. That's right. A beacon. A guiding light. The Spirit Awards happened on Saturday, as we mentioned. On Saturday night, I think at least among the Oscar punditry, everybody was like, this is locked and loaded. Inora is taking this baby home because Inora won

Best Feature, Best Director, and Best lead performance coming off of a weekend in which at the BAFTAs it won best actress. Sean Baker gave a great speech about the essential nature of independent film and it being a safe haven for artists who want to control their work and what they have to say and the challenging nature of it right now. This is something we've talked about on the show many times. It's been a really tough decade for indie film. Baker has stuck to the indie model, so he's the perfect person to be giving that speech. He's been giving a lot of good speeches lately. Yeah. I'm not sold.

He's going to give another great one from outside your ADU while I rearrange it. You think so. You think director is locked in. I am hoping so. Both because it's my favorite movie of the year and I just, I really, I have visions. You know, I have a vision. I've got plans. I'm ready to go. Cool. Who will give you the key to that room is the interesting question here.

Her name is Alice. She will. She will betray me for you for sure. Jesse Eisenberg wins best screenplay at the Indie Spirits. Flow won International Feature. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Flow, I'm Still Here International Feature,

that could come in at the Oscars. I know what I think, but we'll save it for Wednesday. Okay, all right, we'll see. No Other Land wins Best Documentary. We'll see what that means. Two awards that they do give at The Spirits that we will also be giving here today on the show. Best First Feature went to Dee Dee, Sean Long.

He also won Best First Screenplay. The Spirits are fine. They're on YouTube, hosted by Adi Bryant, who I love. She's great. Not much more else to say about it. Okay. Any other thoughts? I didn't watch them.

Okay. Yeah, live. I mean, I watched some clips, but... Quickly, the BAFTAs mentioned best film, best British film went to Conclave, mentioned Mikey Madison, the three other predicted winners went in the acting categories last weekend, Brady Corbeil won best director. So we got a real showdown there. I actually don't know what the odds are. I'd like to see that.

Eisenberg also won best original screenplay here Yes, I do What's going on there? I something might be happening there and that's also like a very classic We like it but not enough for best picture So but we like you let's throw you a bone Yeah, but in this category cuz Kieran and screenplay would historically be what they call a very nice win package for a movie like A Real Pain, but it's not nominated at Best Picture. So how strong is it?

Not really that strong. Superman, the Christopher Reeve story won Best Documentary, not nominated at the Academy Awards. This is the first time in 14 years that the BAFTA winner was not even nominated for Best Documentary at the Oscars. Best Documentary this year? Not that great. I used my wellness week to watch all of the nominated documentaries.

We will have that discussion. Okay. News we missed. Moving away from award season. There probably were some things this morning that we've missed, so I'm sorry if I'm not getting into those things. We've been recording all morning. Matt Damon will play Odysseus in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey.

I'm actually getting this news now. What I did not miss was Googling the picture of Matt Damon's armor, which happened live on Jam Session last week. Okay. Yeah, just so period piece is what I learned. I listened to last week's Jam Session. Was it near the end? Well, that was probably because it was on 2X and you just you missed it. What are you talking about?

It was quick. With this bear trap in my head? You kidding me? No, I just Googled it. Nothing gets by me about? It was quick. With this bear trap in my head? You kidding me? No, I just Googled it. Nothing gets by me on Jam Session. Come on. There was some speculation. I think I might've speculated,

perhaps Tom Holland was playing Odysseus. Not the case. It's David, yeah. How old is Odysseus in the book? Well, I mean, he's older. He has a- Yeah, but in that time, could you live to 70? Well, like, what are we doing?

You know, like, do you want to be biologically accurate? How old are Scylla and Charybdis? That I don't know, because that could be- They're ancient. Hundreds of, you know. Yeah, it feels like they're ancient. Yeah. How old are humans again?

I was thinking about this the other day. How old are humans? The human race? Well, the Bible tells us. No, I meant the real one, because we got this set of like dinosaur eggs that you put in water and then they like quote unquote hatch a tiny plastic dinosaur. We've been going through that box, learning about all the different dinosaurs.

What's the dinosaur of choice in the household? Triceratops. Stegosaurus? He makes up his own names. Allosaurus? We have like a lot of Spinosaurus? Spinosaurus. Spinosaurus, yeah, I think we got two of those in the set.

But he's really, what he's really good at is- Raptor? We haven't gotten a raptor yet. It's just kind of what's in front of him. Do you think I can host a good pod that's just me saying dinosaur names? I would enjoy that. You could say it two Nox and then he would say them back

and that would be really funny. Well, that's just something we'll do together. Who can pronounce them better, Knox or Chris Ryan is definitely like a segment that we should do. Our announcing, pronouncing king. Um, I am excited about the Odyssey. I think we were developing CR's Odyssey report.

Someone pointed out that the name of it should be the auto CR, which is obviously perfect. It's horrendous for SEO, but all right. I'll keep that in mind. Uh, we got word that's like metadata or whatever. I don't know what that means. Okay. That's very severance. What you just said.

Um, Scorsese as in Martin, DiCaprio as in Leonardo, Blunt is in Emily, and Rock is in The. We're reportedly coming together for a Hawaii-set gangster movie. And there is ferocious bidding in Hollywood for this new film, which was described in the trades as, Goodfellas meets the Departed, which is just gobbledygook. But in Hawaii. Yeah. But in Hawaii. Yeah. Um, but in Hawaii. Is this movie real?

I don't know, but I'm trying to figure out how I can get a job as Martin Scorsese's Hawaii assistant. You know? That sounds hard. I don't know. You want to work that hard in Hawaii? Well, you got to figure. I hope that there are like breaks built in for rest and relaxation, given the age and stature of everyone involved.

I gotta get back to Hawaii. When we moved to LA and went to Hawaii three times in five years and I was like, I guess this is where I go on vacation every year and I haven't been in like nine years and I love it. That's one of the few things in life that they were like, this is the best place on earth. I went and it was.

And you were like, yes, yeah. No, it's amazing. I miss it too. I haven't been since. As always, don yes. Yeah. No, it's amazing. I miss it, too I haven't been since As always don't have children. Yeah, really don't This movie seems not real to me it seems like it if it's real I'm very excited a lot of people I really like the Rocks obviously on his Revenge tour and he's actually I'm good tour, which I support generally. I've been wanting him to make good movies for a very long time

Martin Scorsese has been attached to make good movies for a very long time. Martin Scorsese's been attached to like nine movies over the last three years. If any of them gets made, I'll be delighted and I'll look forward to them, but this one seems strange. But in some of the reporting, we did learn that Damien Chazelle's Evil Knievel biopic starring Leonardo DiCaprio is supposed to begin

filming this summer. What? What happened to the prison movie? I don't know. Leonardo DiCaprio is Evil Knievel in a Damien Chazelle movie? What's happening? I was waiting for you to announce, like, your sabbatical to go once again. Is this a real thing that is gonna happen?

Be like the clapboard guy on this movie. Yeah, you're all, hi, my voice is getting... I know, I know. I'm really excited about that. I hope that's really happening. I think everything that you just said should be true and that we should go to Hawaii. Leo is... Set visit, I'm available.

Usually I say no, I'm available for this one. All this shit is going on in the world and Leo is like, I'm on a mission. I make cool movies and that's the only thing I do. It's honestly fabulous. I have so much respect for him. Okay, this is probably the biggest news. And this was one when it happened.

I was like, why are me and Amanda not on a pod right now? Amazon announced last week that they have gained creative control from Barbara Broccoli and the Eon Productions Company of James Bond. Yes. So Amazon now, they had the right to distribute James Bond films when they acquired the MGM

in the MGM library. Correct. And now, but Barbara Broccoli and is it Michael Johnson? I can't recall her stepbrother's last name. Michael Wilson, excuse me. Yes, Wilson. They retained the creative control of the character. And so there has been this long period now since No Time to Die, nothing's in development.

No actors have been cast as an ex-bond. Nothing's happening. They refuse to let Amazon develop any related properties to the character. And then Amazon reportedly for a large sum of money Got the rights You've always been a much bigger bond fan than I have been over the years. What do you what do you what do you make of this news? Inevitable I guess I you know there

Every time that you have the conversation about who will be the new Bond, how will they start it again, there is also the question of like, should there be another one? Is it, is this character, is this way of making movies completely out of, like out of date and context? And what does it mean anymore to make one of these movies and to make it the way that they used to make them.

So I think Michael Wilson was retiring, so it was gonna be Barbara Broccoli going on her own and just kind of didn't have... He's in his 80s, I believe. She's in her 70s. And didn't have the energy anymore and none of the Broccoli children were ready to take it on, which that's obviously a succession spin-off that I'd like to watch. the broccoli children were ready to take it on,

which that's obviously a succession spinoff that I'd like to watch. Very interesting behind the scenes. Which broccoli child is like, I don't think so. I don't really want to work on Bond. Well, I wonder if that was the decision or whether it was- We don't trust these Nepo kids? Exactly, like you guys, because I mean, historically the broccolis and Barbara in particular

have been very, very protective. They make their movies the way they wanna make them. But she inherited that from her father, Cubby Broccoli. Cubby, right. So, you know, but the standards and inflexibility at times, so maybe she was not willing to be flexible enough to one of the next generation, you know? The alternative is interesting by ceding control

to one of the most powerful corporations in the known world. And I'll zag on this a little bit. Because obviously when the news came out, a lot of people were like, oh my God, Amazon's going to fuck this up. They're going to make nine spin-off series. They're going to ruin the brand, yada, yada, yada. Honestly, two out of every five Bond movies aren't any good.

Let's not pretend like this is 100 years of solitude or something, you know what I mean? It's like, it's Bond. Right. At least a third of the movies don't work at all. I mean, I agree with you. I think that the counter argument would be in the way that Star Wars fans have seen their,

you know, once hallowed, Yes. Three, six, nine, however many movies turned into 45 television shows starring Jude Law that I've never seen. And that increasingly you haven't seen either. True. And that there is a feeling that it would like dilute

the specialness of the experience. I hear that, I'm sure there will be like some weird, you know, money penny spinoff that will like make me depressed on behalf of all women and art. On the other hand, like sure, show me like an MI6 show, like show me, like I'd love to meet 005. Like, I don't really care anymore. Like, the, you're right that they weren't hallowed enough

that I, I'm not interested, like, in other parts of the world. The main issue is just that, you know, they used to be events in the sense of, like, a lot of money was spent and a lot of creative effort was put, even if it didn't always work out in terms of the execution. But you think of the other Amazon blockbusters that we have seen, they are uniquely bad and look uniquely bad.

And that's not exciting. You got to hope that they find a steward. Sure. A filmmaking, like a production group or a director or someone who feels very passionately. The Christopher Nolan conversation cropped up right away because he's always wanted to make one of these movies.

I find it hard to believe that they would give him total creative control. So, I mean, that becomes the problem. Like, do they find a steward who is like even close to, and I mean, that's not like the, you know, the Broccolis are not Martin Scorsese or anything else, but what is that person gonna be a steward of? Like, is it trying to make the best possible James Bond film

or trying to make something, like, you know, big and lavish and kind of silly and memorable? Or is it gonna be maximizing... XY, you know, the franchise potential over time with the content, you know, and then selling bow ties or whatever? Um... Yeah, I don't have as much of a problem with the kind of merchandising and expansion stuff,

because it's an inevitability, I think. I do think that one thing that Barbara Broccoli in particular brought was not just like a real tenacity and an unwillingness to bend other people's desires, but a particular kind of taste. It might not have always been my taste, but fighting for Daniel Craig, not keeping Pierce Brosnan in when she could have,

because I think the last movie that he made was really financially successful, pursuing someone like Sam Mendes, not my favorite director, but is a real director. And Skyfall was dynamite. Excellent movie. And being willing to evolve the character, being willing to take the chances

that they took on the final film, they did a good job. You know, I really don't like Spectre, and I think Quantum of Solace is flawed. But those other three movies I think are darn good. And you really gotta hope that somebody who's got that... I don't know, vision is the right word when you're a producer of IP, but it's something.

Like, I agree, but I just don't think a person with vision is gonna be Amazon's number one priority when... But it's something. Like I agree, but I just don't think a person with vision is gonna be Amazon's number one priority when, or like vision being the most important thing on the list of demands. So in that sense, it's a bummer. I mean, it is a bummer when it's corporations instead of people in charge of things.

Just broadly speaking in the swath of human history, but. This is the last domino. This is the swath of human history. But this is the last domino. This is the last one of these things. You know, the Lord of the Rings and Marvel, and all of these things that people obsessed over for years and years that maintain some level of independent ownership in terms of licensing. I guess you could make the case that Stephen King

still kind of runs the show on his stuff, but it's not really the same because he's already been adapted so many times. So we are just in the era of corporate parentage for all of your favorite characters. That's just what it's all about. Except for Mickey Mouse, who's now in the public domain. Oh, congratulations.

When will you make your Mickey Mouse movie? Knox does like Mickey. He somehow knows about Mickey. I think he learned about him. What does Mickey do? No idea. What's his deal? I mean, you would know better. I don't... I'm not sure I get it.

And what does Minnie do besides love Mickey? Yeah, that's it. I mean, the ears are pretty good, you know, and they did merchandise that very early. So that was smart. Walt, yay or nay? It's a nay. Walt was on a list of potential names.

Walt? Yeah. Would it be a list of potential names. Walt? Yeah. Would it be Walt Disney Baron? No. I think it would have been Walter and then Walt Baron. Walter? Yeah. But obviously we want another direction.

But... Walt! It's kind of cute, right? I'm trying to imagine that kid being called Walt. Well, he's not a Walt. He's a Cy. Yeah, it all worked out, but... Walt. Walt. But there was a discussion.

I love Cy. I'm very pro Cy. Thank you so much. We like it too. As soon as like, we spent a long time trying to be like, well, like, would we do Cyrus and Cy? No, I meant the child, not the name. The name is great too, but I was referring to how much I love your child. Yeah, he's great. He's great. I'm very pro. He is just really... He's got a real temper though.

That's a really interesting... Yeah, I think I'm drawn's great. He's great. I'm very proud. He is just really... He's got a real temper though. That's really interesting. Yeah, I think I'm drawn to that. I mean, he's so, so smiley and happy until you like... you've aired in some way and then he lets you know. He reminds me of some people I know, yeah. It's really... It's powerful. Yeah, he's great. I'm happy about him. Shall we do the alternative Oscars?

Yes! We have not changed the name. There will be no waltzing of the alternative Oscars. We're still calling it that. It's also called the big picks. It's the fifth time we've done it. You know, we were supposed to do it with Wesley Morris. We had a scheduling snafu.

Yeah, we messed up. So Wesley is not with us today. I'm sad because it's like, I see Wesley like twice a year, basically, at this point, once when he's in LA and once doing this episode. Well, I kind of like- I miss him, yeah.

Created this to get to spend two hours with him, especially during COVID, that was nice. That's okay, it'll be tennis season again soon and I can text him a lot. Yes. I've at least been in good touch with him, but he's not joining us today. Alternative Oscars, if you've never heard it before,

it is what it says on the label. These are films, performances, stuff related to movies from the year 2024 that were not recognized at the Academy Awards. Can someone from a film that is nominated in another category be recognized? Yes. But there will be no repeats of any performances or of any movies in those respective categories. We've also added, I believe, nine categories.

We've been sticking with these nine categories through the years, plus the seven big ones from the telecast. We also merged original screenplay and adapted screenplay into a single category, which I think maybe should be considered. Just putting that out there. Something I've been thinking. We, we can't get rid of the actual, like good awards, you know? And they're all good, except for with respect short films,

which I still have to watch. Okay. I watched them all over well this week. I was listen I started at a deficit because of you know uh people not named Walt and I am gonna catch up. Can I can you guess how many of the short films I liked I would say I liked? Two? One. Oh, God. I mean, this is always the thing. One. Just listen, it's important to learn about stuff by making a short film, and it's important to learn about new directories, but we have a better category for that. We got to move them. Different awards show.

Different awards show. I'm sorry. Okay. Let's do our award show. Okay. Who's the host of our award show? John Mulaney. Okay.

I would love that. Yeah. Who's producing our award show? Hmm. John Mulaney. Okay, I would love that. Who's producing our award show? Uh... Nick Kroll. Perfect. Great. Okay, there we go. Yeah. Now we can't afford any award or anything else. But then now it's just me and you talking for 90 minutes.

No one is in attendance. Yeah, like no one. It's just Jack Sanders and Bobby on a black screen. No event space. Absolutely nothing. Yeah. We are catered by whatever's in the fridge here at Spotify. Right, also our children don't get to go to school. That's right. For the next 25 years.

But, Malaney and Kroll got their feasts, so. Congratulations to them. The first category is best first feature. Now, we tend to, we do this collaboratively, collectively. Yes. I throw a bunch of names in, you throw a bunch of names in. We take some stuff out, we don't take some stuff out. I try to keep the categories with a couple of exceptions to five people, which is I think the right number of people, this critics choice situation where you get like seven

or eight nominees, I don't really believe in that. But honestly, I don't have self control and sometimes I add a bunch of people to certain categories. What do you think about the number of people? We've been mostly consistent, which I, as a fan of order and we need to know what the rules are, I like that, you know, when it's like, the thing that drives me insane is when that's like, sometimes it's seven, sometimes it's six, sometimes it's eight.

I don't like that. That's not okay. I think that we, we have one category where things went... Or two categories where things went a little crazy, but that's also... I think they're justifiable. I do. That's the point of both categories. Yes, good. I'm glad we're on the same page about that. Okay, first category, best first feature.

Yes. These are the first feature film directing jobs. Mm-hmm. The nominees are Deedee, directed by Sean Wong. The First Omen, directed by Arkasha Stevenson. Good One, directed by India Donaldson. How to Have Sex, directed by Molly Manning Walker, not CR. The Piano Lesson, directed by Malcolm Washington.

So a point of clarification. So the person in The First Omen is not actually named Damien Owen. Damien Owen, no. Damien Owen, that's right. Damien Owen only makes a late breaking appearance at the end of Damien Omen. Damien Omen, no. Damien Omen, that's right, yeah. Damien Omen only makes a late-breaking appearance at the end of The First Omen. But Damien Omen is a real person. A real character. His name is Damien.

Okay, so this is, this is, because you and Chris were like making a lot of jokes, and you told me I should see this movie, even though it's terrifying and has something to do with childbirth in a way that was like not gonna really be in my option set. Yes. His name is Damien Thorne. I know, but you just kept calling him Damien Omen, and I thought that was his real name.

We do that because that's what Bill Simmons calls him, and we don't know why he calls him that. No one else calls him that, but when he says it, he says it so authoritatively that it makes it seem as though that is his name. Oh, Bill so much. Yeah. It's a great fit. He's got a lot of great fits like that. All right. I don't know if Yeah. It's a great fit. He's got a lot of great fits like that. All right.

I don't know if you feel strongly about any of these. I... So I have not seen The First Omen because of the childbirth stuff. I'd like for you to watch it at some point, because it is pretty scary and intense, but... It's one of the... It's honest. It's just straight up one of the only horror movies

made by a woman where you feel it, but it's not annoying about it. You know what I mean? It's not like girl power. It's like what happens to women's bodies is fucking insane. And it manifests that in a very creative and intense and gripping way. I mean, I... you know, not to steal from the indie spirits, but I also really liked Didi. Yeah, I think it's my winner too. And it also like did become, you know, a sensation.

I don't know how widely it was seen, but everyone I know who saw it, a lot of people saw it out. And everyone loved it. It feels so... This might be... This might have been like Jerry rigged by Sean because he, you know, had a little bit of... He's been making movies since he was a kid, and he's had a little bit of a life before he made this movie,

but it just feels like the first movie of a person's career, where you're like, they're gonna go on to make really great movies. Like when you see like Duel or Sugarland Express, and you're with Spielberg, and you're like, oh, they get it. They have like a really strong point of view, know how to tell a story, know how to get you invested in characters. I really like him. He's really impressive.

And also, like, 27 or something, it's fucked up. That's good. We're on the same page with Dee Dee. Breakthrough performance. Now, this is one of the two categories where we're a little crazy. Right. But the point of this is just to talk about as many fun performances. I'm with you. Which is like something that the Oscars could really get on board with. A few of these are very obvious if you've been listening to the show

over the last year. Some of them, I think, are cool creative choices. Yeah. Do you want to read the nominees? Sure. Well, I don't... You'll have to help me with some pronunciations. Okay. Ryan Destiny, The Fire Inside, Willow Fitzgerald, Strange Darling. Juliet... Garry P. Garry P. Red Rooms. Fred Heckinger. Gladiator II, Thelma, Nickel Boys, and Craven the Hunter.

Did not know he was in Craven the Hunter. He is. John Earl Jelks, Exhibiting Forgiveness. David Johnson, Alien Romulus. Bridget Lundy Payne, I Saw the TV Glow. Clarence Macklin, Sing Sing. Erin Pierre, Rubble Ridge. Maisie Stella, My Old Ass. Now, I think Maisie Stella won this award at The Spirits

for her performance in My Old Ass. Okay. Some really good ones here. I just wanted to put a circle around John Earl Jelks from exhibiting forgiveness, which a lot of people haven't seen and we didn't talk about on the show at all. It's a movie starring Andre Holland. There was a Sundance in 2024.

That is a solid drama about an artist. It has a lot of tropey, Sundancey aspects of it, but John Earl Jelks plays his father in the movie, and he's terrific. And I couldn't remember him from anything and wanted people to check the movie out for his work. Heckinger, you know, he cooked. Very funny in Gladiator 2.

Just like a... We love when people just pop up in like 45 different movies. And it's like, oh, it's happening. And he's completely different in all four. And in Thelma, he's just like so sweet. When I realized halfway through Gladiator 2 that he was the kid from Thelma, I was like, holy cow. Yeah, we didn't give Thelma enough love on the show last year.

That's a really nice movie. Craven the Hunter, he's not particularly great in, but his character is very amusing, and the way that story is told is bad shit. He's not great or the... He's fine. He's just not good. He's fine.

He and Aaron Taylor Johnson are meant to be brothers, and then they become rivals. It's very silly. Sure. Nickel Boys, he's very good in as well. That's concerning for me, but brothers that become rivals. We need to not go that way. You know, I never had that.

That's true. That's true. But you had multiple siblings. I did. My sister and I could be rivalrous. Well, but it's also, it kind of like lessons that it kind of spreads out the pressures and the strife.

You know, it doesn't all have to be concentrated in one like deeply complicated relationship. Your boys are close in age, so they might be competitive with each other. You never know. Yeah. Depends on the vibe. I think to me it's between, I'll tell you what, I don't think, you didn't see Strange Darling, right? I did see Strange Darling.

You did see it? Yes. We didn't talk about it on the show. We did talk about it. Oh, we did, that's right. Yes. When we came back from the break in August. Yeah, I saw it, I liked it.

Do you think Willa Fitzgerald was really good? I did. Do you think she's competing with Aaron Pierre in Rebel Ridge? I was gonna say it's between Clarence Macklin and Aaron Pierre, so I think it's probably Aaron Pierre. Clarence Macklin's great too. He I think it's probably Aaron Pierre. Clarence Macklin's great too. He's so good and should be nominated at the Oscars and isn't,

which is just really dumb in my opinion. It is really annoying. I think, I mean, I think Julia Garrippi in Red Rooms is also remarkable. Willa Fitzgerald, even if you didn't like Strange Darling or felt like the premise was contrived or whatever, or you got the twist and didn't enjoy it because you got the twist. I still think she's great. She's so good in it. Um, tough one.

I would say Aaron Pierre, because I feel like Aaron Pierre now, that's a rare case where that movie, a lot of people saw that movie. And so now I think he has a chance to become like a fixture of American movies. He also was the voice of Simba, no, Mufasa, and Mufasa,

and Mufasa the Lion King. I have one other option for you, if you want, which is, no, no, no, I actually do think Aaron Pierre should probably be in Best Actor. So who would you take out of there though? Well, I don't wanna spoil it, so I'm just, can you? Okay, yeah, yeah, we'll hold that. In terms of- So you wanna give it

to Clarence Macklin or Will Fitzgerald. I would give it to Will Fitzgerald if you want to. And then we'll put Aaron Pierre right here. You can see in the document. I'm not even going to look. I don't want to. Oh, OK. I don't want to spoil for me. I want to see what you're thinking. I like Will Fitzgerald. I think it's a good pick.

I think it's a good way to recognize a movie that we're not going to be. So we won't be repeating ourselves. The next category is a good one. It's incredible. Best cameo. Yeah, so spoilers for the cinema of 2024. Good point. You know, and I don't wanna hear it, you know?

If you don't want someone, well, there's one in particular where I'm like, oh, people will be mad, but I don't know how many people are gonna see drive away dolls. If you don't want drive away dolls spoiled for you, it's one in particular where I'm like, oh, people will be mad, but I don't know how many people are gonna see drive away dolls. If you don't want drive away dolls spoiled for you, skip it. It's over a year old. Listen. That was a Valentine's Day movie last February.

And you spent Valentine's Day with me and my wife watching that movie. I know, that was nice. I don't think that was actually Valentine's Day. It was Valentine's Day, you were in our house alone since our call. No. It was, was it that week? I did offer to come babysit for you guys sometime.

Like once the kids are fed, I can sit in your house instead of my own. I couldn't do it, but listen, I'm available. You know how people are. I just, I don't want to be responsible for your fans. Spoilers, I just... I'm getting, we're done with that. More episodes this year that are long conversations about the movie.

Part of it is my fault, because I see movies too early, and then we sit down and have a conversation about them, and I'm like, I didn't take notes, I saw this movie three months ago. So I am making a mix. So we're going to see movies? Starting with Mickey 17, I'm going to see it a second time, the day before we record, and... I guess I will too.

...we'll have a long conversation about Mickey 17 on the pod. Okay. I mean, I am looking forward to that. Will you forward me the screening info? I'll be buying a ticket. Oh, okay. Like a civilian, because it opens on the 7th. And then we'll do it on the 10th. On the Wednesday, and then we'll do it on the...

Oh, we'll do it on the Monday? Yes. Oh, great. Wow. How luxurious. You like that? Yeah. Maybe we should be doing that more often. It's hard with big event movies.

Yeah, but as you know, I like doing that. Okay. Okay. Spoilers. Best candy. Keep it to yourself and be a grown up. You want me to read these? If you get spoiled. like doing that. Okay. Okay, spoilers. Best cameo. Keep it to yourself and be a grownup. You want me to read these? If you get spoiled. Sure, yeah.

Okay, Kid Cudi, Trap. It's a great addition by you. Thank you. Matt Damon, Drive Away Dolls. Fred Durst in sort of an extended cameo that becomes a real part in Y2K. Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel in Wicked. Jane Fonda in The Greatest Love Story Never Told.

Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls, the musical version. Jason Momoa in The Fall Guy and Wesley Snipes in Deadpool and Wolverine. There are obviously a number of contenders for Deadpool and Wolverine. I per... Wesley was my favorite. Mm-hmm. Could have been Channing Tatum. Once again, Jennifer Garner. And Jennifer Garner. Just absolutely being ignored.

She's got that, what's it called? Farmer's insurance money. Capital One money. Do you guys do the, the it called? Farmers insurance money? Capital One money? Do you guys do the pouches? What are the pouches? She has like a kids' food company. She makes like a lot of pouches. Oh, is that her company?

What's like the standard? Once upon a farm? Yeah, once upon a farm. You guys do those? Yeah, that's Jennifer Garner. Pretty good. Can't say I've tasted them, but they are inhaled by my child. Yeah, you have to keep them refrigerated,

which is... that's not where we are in our lives right now. You want to have preservatives in all your food that you give to your children. I mean, we're just doing, yeah, the regular, the applesauce. Yeah. Bobby points out that Fred Durst was also in I Saw the TV Globe. He was two for two on A24 projects this year. This is a tough one. Now, which one of these made you laugh the most? Because that's a big part of the cameo part, right?

Definitely Kid Cudi. Kid Cudi was hilarious. Just steals the... The openly flirting with Josh Hartnett. Really, really funny. Matt Damon kind of makes the movie in Drive Away Dolls, but he also wins Best Cameo every year. That's true.

One of his favorite things to do. Yeah. It can't be Lindsay Lohan, because it was sort of at her expense, and that makes me sad, even though she's doing fine now. She's doing very well. Yeah. She's making very popular Netflix original movies

I'll never watch. Yeah. Did you watch Irish Wish? I didn't. OK. Yeah. What do you think happened in that movie? Did she find love in Ireland?

Can't say. I hope so. Amy Adams did that once. What was that movie? Leap Year. Yeah, with Matthew Good. Matthew Good. Yeah, trust me.

I've seen all the Matthew Good movies. Yeah, you've seen that one. I'm sure you have. And your Lair. Momoa also really made me laugh. I liked this one a lot. This was very good. Very funny.

I just want to say that Jane Fonda gives Jennifer Lopez some very prescient and useful life advice in The Greatest Love Story Never Told. Like, Rosilla? It's, she's literally just like, so Jane Fonda is there because she's one of the Zodiac Council in the musical. I remember you telling me about this, yeah. I don't remember what the musical, this is the documentary.

This is me now then. This is the documentary. This is Me Now, Then... This is Me Now... The movie. Yes. This is Me Now, Then... The streaming movie on a global streaming platform. No, this is Me Now. This is Me Now, colon, this is Amazon, where you buy shit.

Exactly. Jennifer Lopez edition. And also watch James Bond movies. This is Me Now, Then, but now... Right. In the future tense but now... Right. ...in the future tense of today. Right. And so, Jane Fonda is on the Zodiac Council,

which is a very normal sentence. And so is... So is... By the way, so is Post Malone. He's the Leo, and he's incredible, and I almost put him on this list. The Leo! Yes!

We have had this conversation on this podcast before, but he is incredible in The Greatest Love Story I've Never Told, just respectfully hitting on Jennifer Lopez. You know what's really hard for me to accept? What? That he was extremely solid filling in for Kurt Cobain and Nirvana on the SNL 50 music special.

Like, honestly, he was pretty good. He's really good in this. So, but like, that's what made me understand Post Malone. But anyway, Jane Fonda is there doing her lines. And then, but she is also checking in with Jennifer Lopez about her romantic decisions. And it's like, and it's trying to be like, but we just want to be sure that you're okay. You know?

And she's like, and so people, the interest is about you and your heart. But also like, it's very quietly being like, you know, is your money tied up, you know, somewhere? And Jane Fonda turned out to be right. So. Are you making a bid for Jane Fonda right now to win? No, I just, like, I wanted to put some context to that.

I think most people in America would say that Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel. I absolutely refuse to do that. I'm not saying we should. I'm not saying that we should. This is our our alternative Academy Awards. They can do what they want. They have the original soundtrack.

They can listen to it all the time. OK, you seem very mad. I did not like that movie. And that was like a new song that they had written. I mean, they're very good. Yeah. I think it was a cover of Romstein's Du Hoste, as I recall. We are not giving it to Wicked.

I want to do Kid Cudi. Okay. I love that. I thought that was funny. It was really, really funny. Okay. That's what I'm choosing. Okay. No disrespect to Wesley's Knife, so I love, but... Okay. Best kid performance. I really, I got it in my bag for really funny. Okay. That's what I'm choosing. Okay. No disrespect to Wesley's Knife, it's what I love. But okay, best kid performance.

I really, I got it in my bag for this one. Yeah. I feel good about these picks. The bracket here is 17 years or younger. Okay. I believe there did used to be a juvenile Oscar category many years ago on the Academy Awards. I think they should bring this back.

The nominees this year, would you like to read them? Sure. Grace Delaney, We Live in Time. Ian Foreman, I Saw the TV Glow. Dan Howe, Speak No Evil. Isaac Wang, Dee Dee. Zoe Ziegler, Janet Planet. My movie phone voice is getting pretty good.

I totally agree. Thank you so much. You've been broadcasting professionally for almost 10 years. That is really horrifying when you put it like that. Um, Haven't Se seen We Live in Time. Can't see it. I'm very sorry. I'm just too emotionally raw.

I need you to see it. No, I won't. No, I need you to. I need you to. I know I ask you to see movies all the time, but I need you to see it. I need to have a long conversation with you about it. It just seems, like, very manipulative and upsetting. This show was made for this movie.

It's an intersection in a way that most movies are not intersections. All the times I ask you to watch a fucking comic book movie and you come on and you're like, I'll do it. I'll ask questions about Marvel lore, but you won't watch a movie. I'm not even saying you're gonna like it. You might hate it.

No, but it's like, listen, I'm still like, I try not to play this card too often, but I'm still sort of like in the weird postpartum emotional zone. Okay. I like there's... So you're now saying I'm bullying you into doing this. I can't. No, I just, I'm trying to protect myself. Okay.

And my heart's not ready. Okay, then in exchange, you have to go see Brave New World again by yourself. Which one is that? Okay, that was so bad. But I would take a really good nap, so... You can't do it. You have to have the clockwork orange machine on your eyes. I think Zoe Ziegler is amazing in Janet Planet. So this would be my choice.

A movie that I liked that we didn't spend a lot of time on on the show, Andy Baker's directorial debut. A movie about a mom and a young girl. She's like nine in this movie, eight or mom and a young girl. Is she like nine in this movie? Eight or nine, something like that. And she's extraordinary. So Zoe Ziegler will be our winner. No disrespect to Dan Hough, who seemingly, it looked like he

had his tongue cut out to perform in Speak No Evil. It's a tough beat for him. Don't think he actually had his tongue cut out in real life. Hope not. Uh, that would be not ideal. Best performance by a dog. Yeah. This is a very serious award show.

So here's the thing. So by a dog is really standing in to represent the whole animal community. This here it is. Yeah. Um, I'll read the nominees. Okay. The nominees are the night bitches from Night Bitch. These are the dogs that follow the Night Bitch in charge,

as portrayed by Amy Adams, the mother of a young child. Perhaps you're experiencing some night bitchery here on the show between the two of us. The next nominee is not a dog, but a cat. Frodo the cat from A Quiet Place Day One. This is the cat that trails Lupita and Yongo throughout the film. The next nominee is Dogpool. This is This is a dog in Deadpool and Wolverine. It's dressed up like Deadpool. Okay.

And then the fourth and final nominee, because we ran out of animals, is the rats from Nosferatu. 5,000 trained rats that ran through the streets of Germany, trailing an ancient demon that wanted to fuck and drain the blood of Lily Rose Depp in the movie Nosferatu. I was just like...

This is, you're getting paid for this. There is a Sundance drama waiting that is the story of the rat trainer starring Chris Ryan. And like, we will win and 5,000 train rats. And here's a little piece of, oh, no, it needs to go right here. I think they should win. I think they should win. Those rats were extraordinary. Their work touched me.

How much do you know about their training? Like, what is the extent of it? Not very much, but I suspect that Robert Eggers knows a lot. Yeah. He's in the weeds on that. They're not potty trained. No, well, that's part of the appeal. Right, yeah, but they can- That's the the weeds on that scene. They're not potty trained. No, well that's part of the appeal. Right, yeah, but they can-

That's the authentic nature of the performance. They go where they need to go? Yes, which is everywhere. Okay, you can give it to the rats. Congratulations to the rats. Nice job by you guys. The rats, everybody. Cheers.

Okay, the next category is best casting. Will you read the nominees, Amanda? Yes. All we imagine is light. Blink Twice, The Last Stop at Yuma County, Saturday Night, and Snack Shack. I kind of went ham on this category. I was like, I'm trying to get some titles in here that we're not gonna be able to recognize elsewhere.

You added Blink Twice, which I thought was smart. That is a very good cast in a movie that I don't love. Yeah. But you're excited every time someone else shows up. You did watch Saturday Night? I did. You hated it? I didn't hate it. OK.

Did you like it? I thought that the Chevy Chase guy was very good. OK. And I like some of the other people in the film. I have to be honest. Corey Michael Smith, the Chevy Chase guy's name. Yes. I thought a major role was miscast.

Just saying. Well, Gabriel LeBel is a great actor and way too young to be Lord Michaels. And that was, that stuck out a bit. But it's a good ensemble. It's funny, I watched it on a plane for a second time, about two thirds of it. I wasn't able to finish it because the flight ended. But I still like it. Like I don't...

You didn't dislike it. It really got dumped on. And I know that everybody has it out for right men and you ended, but I still like it. Like I don't- It doesn't dislike it. It really got dumped on and I know that everybody has it out for Reitman and you know, but I think it's entertaining. I think it's okay for it not to be a perfect movie. I don't know. No, it's fine for it to be a perfect movie. And you made the point that if you didn't know

that it was Reitman, that you would just kind of go along with it. Right. And I mostly went along with it. Like, I felt that some of the quote unquote flourishes and the like, were annoying, you know, and I was like, OK, yeah, I understand. You're trying to recreate minute by minute and you're doing all your like fake one-ers. Yeah.

It's just like, like, I don't care about all this. And you're like, not that good at filmmaking, respectfully. So. Yeah. But yeah, sure. Like I read the SNL book too. You know, I like that stuff. It's fun when there are famous people together in a room

or talented young people playing famous people. What do you think should win this category? You didn't see Last Stop at Yuma County, right? No, I didn't. And I still have not seen Snack Shack, which is. Oh, that's a good one. I know. Instead, I chose to watch here last night,

which we'll come back to. Fuck yeah. We will. So, you know, we could do Saturday night. We could do Snack Shack. You could do Last Stop. I'll let you decide. Thank you very much.

That's very generous of you. You're so welcome. Um, well, why don't we do Snack Shack? Okay. Since it is a smaller cast, but it does feature a great Gabriella Bell performance. In fact, I would say as much as the Fablemen's a star-making performance.

Also, Connor Sherry, who is really the lead of the movie. He's amazing in the movie. Nick Robinson's very good in this movie. David Costabile from Billions and Gillian Vigman from Stepbrothers is the person I think of, is the role that I think of for her, as Connorshary's parents. And then Mika Abdallah is the love interest,

and she's great too. Bunch of people I haven't seen before, a bunch of people here are like, who is that? What's their name? So to me, that should speak to the greatness of this performance. So Snack Shack for best casting. Glad to get Snack Shack a W on the board. Okay, best stunt action sequence.

Okay. You want to read them? No, I think it's your turn. Okay, it's my turn to read them. Adam versus Lazarus, the beekeeper. This is the crazy kiwi guy at the end with the wild hair. Oh, right. Okay.

No, not kiwi, South African, excuse me. Okay, yeah, I remember. Is it, all right, Adam, we're gonna fight. The high rise raid from Civil War. The Beaver Brawl from Hundreds of Beavers. The War Rig from Furiosa and Mad Max Saga. And the movie theater from Twisters. Did we forget anything here?

This is a funky category. I'm sure that we did. And there was also a little bit of like, are we going to reward like, you know, pure technical like filmmaking achievement or are we going to reward like the most fun that we had? Yeah. There's no John Wick 4 this year. Yeah. Which would be both.

Yeah. So it's really, I know where I go. You want to do the War Rig? No. I mean, that is obviously like the biggest, you know, what, it took them like eight years and you know. Yeah. You're going to see the movie theater.

Well I had the most fun with the movie theater. I don't expect us to do that one. I'm just saying. Okay. But I don't want to put my thumb on the scale of every category. And I was, you know, I was... I was critical at times of Furiosa, but that scene in particular is as excited in a movie theater

as I've been in a long time. I think that's fine. Okay. Will you allow me that selection? Or you want to do Lazarus because you like the South African guy? No, that wasn't my favorite sequence in the Beekeeper. The opening sequence is my favorite, but that's not really an action sequence. What was the opening sequence again?

That's when Felicia Rashad gets scammed. Oh yeah. Right. It was scary. And then the fake Hillary Clinton is running around later on. I liked that as well and whatever. She's kind of a Trump Clinton. Yeah, well.

She's like a business woman you know got into public office. And then whatever what's the PETA? Josh Hutchinson. What's the little boy? Josh Hutcherson. Josh Hutcherson that that's right. Come on, you got it. Only one hour left. Hang in there. Jack Sanders needs to eat lunch so bad. Sorry, Jack. Okay. All right. Yeah, it should be

the Warwick. You're right. Okay, thank you. The Warwick Furiosa. Okay, best ending, you can read the nominees. Okay. Challengers, do not expect too much from the end of the world. Here, juror number two, small things like these. You added juror number two. Yeah.

And that was it to this category. And then I was like, is this done for or am I expected to add more here? I couldn't figure out what message you were trying to this category. And then I was like, is this done for or am I expected to add more here? I couldn't figure out what message you were trying to send me. Well, I knew my vote. Okay. I'm willing to accept that if you want that to be the winner. Having seen here, you felt no.

I will say that the ending, obviously, is what brings it together. Like, I'm not gonna say that I wasn't moved by the last scene of here. I was in tears. Yeah, of course I was. But that's just, you can't have, That's gonna be me wheeling you out on the last pod ever. I know, but you can't have,

it's Tom Hanks being like the nice guy, being like, oh, of course I'm gonna cry. Like I'm programmed to cry. Like a lifetime of conditioning to cry. The rest of the movie. No, no, it's human nature. I think I texted you when like Benjamin Franklin rolled by, like the weird colonial house in one of the box things.

A lot of shit happened there. That's why it's called here. I don't know. I don't really feel. It was Benjamin Franklin's son. Oh, okay. Well, that movie did not work for me. So disappointing. Even though the ending was very beautiful, but there was just something like...

When are you going to get it together? Stilted about the... We've been doing this for so long. Whatever. I gave it a damn try. And I did think that the ending... But the ending is not commensurate with the rest of the experience. What's the number? It's like, we were counting on you.

We were all counting on you. That's how I feel about you letting me down on here. I think Juror number two is the right pick. Yes, of course it is. It's so good. Yeah, I love that ending. I did want to put Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World in honor of Adam Naiman, who also loved Juror number two. I'm sure he would appreciate that.

But Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, the ending of the movie is 45 minutes long. It's very, very funny. OK. Juror number two, congratulations. Congrats to Clint. I'm sure he's listening to this episode. Thank you for all you've done, Clint.

The Glenn Close Memorial It's Time Oscar. Got a case of the gigglies. I was just imagining Clint, like, and the podcast gets stuck on 2X and he's just like, what the hell is this? You think he has wired headphones or AirPods? I hope so. I hope so. Big, like, professional grade cans over his ears? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay. Glenn Close Memorial, it's time. Oscar Glenn Close still does not have an Academy Award. Sorry to her. It's a real shame. Don't think she's going to get one anytime soon. This was really nice because we were in the doc at the same time and I was like going to this to type in the name of this year's Glenn Close Memorial It's Time Oscar and you

had already written it. And I was like, wow, sometimes it's here and sometimes it's this moment that we have. So I'm so I'm pleased and proud and a little bit honored because I did get to, I think I helped push this over the hill, you know, to announce. Wait, I just take here out of your goddamn mouth for the future, okay? Because that movie is very special to me

and I won't have you blaspheming it anymore. You saw like alone on a Friday afternoon at which local multiplex? I think it was the Americana. OK. The AMC. All right. I sat in the second row, because all the seats were taken. I was the youngest man by about 30 years in the screening.

And we were all crying. Yeah. It was beautiful couples surrounding me, Angelinos alike, who admire the craft and vision. What movie did I text you from recently where there was someone just like openly sobbing at the end of the movie? The Craven the Hunter?

It'll come to me. Okay. The winner of the Glenn Close to Royal It's Time Oscar is... Michael Keaton. Yay. He performed in three films and directed one of those films in 2024. Yeah. Goodrich, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, and Knox Goes Away.

Which is he getting this award for? I think for Goodrich. I think so too, but it could be Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. It could be both. Why can't it be both? Like we're in charge. But Knox Goes Away you think should be abolished? I... You think it should go away?

I do. I was not my favorite of his performances or his efforts this year. Okay. Good Rich is great. People are really, are coming on the Good Rich train. It's very good. It's on Max. Yeah.

Watch it now. Quality film. Those are the nine goofball awards that we've created. Congratulations to Keaton. Where do you think he's partying tonight at the after party? Where do you think he's had an In-N-Out burger? I think he's like, he's like really into cycling, I think. Cycling?

Yeah. Isn't he a man in his 70s? Well, yeah, but I think he's in great shape. You know how I feel about cycling. How? Not a fan. OK. Don't like it.

So you know how I feel about people who wear spandex to do cycling as like a organized group and threaten other pedestrians, which is really negative. No one needs your Peloton. People using any type of cycle to get from point A to B is great. What about city bikes? I feel good about those. Okay, let's go to the seven core categories at our award show. The first is best screenplay. Yes. The nominees are Justin Kuritskes, Challengers,

Mike Lee, Hard Truths, Richard Linklater, and Glenn Powell, Hitman, Kelly O'Sullivan, Ghostlight, and Aaron Schimberg, A Different Man. Any of these movies could have been nominated for Academy Award. Yeah. They probably should have been.

Maybe all of them should have been. Tricky one, our guy Glenn. Yeah. Nice to Glenn. Yeah. Nice to see him here. His first alternative Oscar. I'd love for him to have a... Is it his first? Maybe it's not.

Surely he was nominated for a Top Gun Maverick in some capacity. Best dickhead? What was the category that he was nominated in? Supporting? Supporting actor. Could have been. Sure. Best ending?

He doesn't take that prize. I mean, he would share. But he... Well, he could share in it. I think that He doesn't take that prize. Well, he could share in it. I think that prize goes to Tom. Okay. Or to Chris McQuarrie. Okay. Tough one here.

I'm inclined to acknowledge Mike Lee at the end of his career. I mean, I am as well. Not saying he's dying or anything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know how many more movies he's gonna make. Dick Pope, his great cinematographer, passed away this year. Is this where you wanna do it, is. I don't know how many more movies he's gonna make. Dick Pope, his great cinematographer, passed away this year. Is this where you want to do it, is all I would say,

because we have more awards. Intriguing. You would like to give Justin Kiritschka some love for Challengers? I do love that movie, as do you. I do. And I think... An incredible romp. If Wesley were here today, he would say he does not.

He does not, yeah. So we have a little bit more freedom in the challengers. I'm just wondering whether Hartruss is going to get some other love. So I think that Aaron Schimberg should have been nominated for a different man as well. But I think Justin Korski's Mike Lee and Aaron Schimberg all should have been nominated for real Oscars. So. I agree. I agree. I would do Aaron Schimberg. Okay. As long as we make sure to acknowledge,

which we can. That movie had a great ending too. We didn't put it in best ending. It does. It's really, really funny. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Okay. Great. We'll do Aaron Schimberg for a different man, which is, I believe also streaming on Macs right now. And if people have not seen it, they should check that movie out. Wonderful. It's one of the secret performances. Best supporting actor.

Okay. I like this category quite a bit. You like the list of the secret performances. Best supporting actor. Okay. I like this category quite a bit. You like the list of people that we've, I think that's my turn. You're right. Okay. George McKay, the Beast, Clarence Macklin, Sing Sing, James McAvoy, Speak No Evil, Adam Pearson, A Different Man, and Jesse Plemons, Civil War.

Now this is tough. I think Clarence Macklin, agree with you should have been nominated for an Oscar, could have given him breakthrough performance, could have recognized that all the way across. Jesse Plemons in Civil War is a radioactive, powerful, naturally occurring element. Yes. That when you watch that movie, even if like you, you didn't believe that movie for a minute, you still were like, ah!

That one scene is completely... It's like, it is... And it's him. And if he were in the rest of the movie, you'd be like, oh, maybe I would. He is carrying it. Yeah. And he does this, you know? He's very funny in kinds of kindness as well.

I think he was the even best actor at Cannes. This year he did. Where he's just, there's something very deeply unsettling about whatever's going on in his mind. He did this as far back as Breaking Bad when he was playing Todd. And it's only one scene. Yeah.

But it's one of the only scenes that tells us what's really going on. And it's pretty clear what's really going on. Yes. Who occupies what side, et cetera, et cetera. And I don't want to take anything away from Clarence Macklin because that Sing Sing is his movie in so many ways. And I think he should win.

Supporting performance is an interesting category that is largely unexamined. And I think it would be more interesting if more frequently, there were more parts like this that were going into the awards race. Some of the great winners are like this. You know, Beatrice Strait in Network is the one I always talk about. Where she gets one scene. And otherwise she's just like,

oh, hey, how are you doing to her husband in the kitchen or whatever, and that's it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I just want to make a note about that. I think Adam Pearson's great and a different man. He's wonderful. George Mackay is doing some crazy shit in The Beast. Very weird, hard performance. Oh, right, George Mackay. I apologize for mispronouncing his name.

He's like very... Because I was on Harris Dickinson Instagram. We'll come back to it. Okay. But then I get a lot of George Mackay contact. Well, the chicken shop thing, you know. Did you go on chicken shop? He did.

Did they flirt? They did. Anyway. What's her deal? I don't really know. I think it's one of those, I think I'm too old for this situations. Okay.

I think she's an official ambassador at the Academy Awards. Oh, so she's like one of the hosts. That's how they young it up. They have Amelia Demoldenburg, I believe her name is. So she's gonna, they're gonna like cut to her and she'll be like. I think it's in the pre-show. So no offense to her, but don't watch her. Watch us on YouTube.

Yeah. Okay. On Sunday at 2.30 p.m. PST. I just wanted to say James McAvoy, as always, completely delightful. He cooks and the movie doesn't work at all without him. No. It's category fraud putting him in this category,

because the movie's kind of on his shoulders. I guess so, but like... But he's not a perspective character. I remember sitting there watching it, being like best sporting actor like James McAvoy. Really? Yeah. I mean, he sings eternal flames, so that is the way to my heart. He was great. Okay, Clarence Macklin's our winner, right?

Yes. Okay, we'll give it to Clarence Macklin. It's a solid win, Clarence Macklin's our winner, right? Yes. Okay, we'll give it to Clarence Macklin. It's a solid win for Clarence. McAvoy, better luck next year, buddy. Hope you do some great shit. Best supporting actress, another good category here. Joan Chen for Dee Dee. Jodie Comer for The Bike Riders.

I like the voice. Anjadu Ellis-Taylor for Nickel Boys. Carol Kane for Between the Temples. And Aubrey Plaza for Megalopolis. Yeah. That's one for your boy. I don't know. What do you think?

I mean, this one, we like to have fun here at the Alternative Academy Awards, AKA the big picks. But this should just go to Agenue Alice Taylor. Yeah, I think so too. Like, what are we doing? I don't know why she's not nominated. I don't either.

Too small a part? I guess, or... Didn't see that movie? I think enough people, yeah. The broader... I know it's a packed category or whatever, but it's just been Zoe Saldana all the way down. I don't know.

Okay, I'm down with Anjaneu Alice Taylor. Best actor. You ready to read these names? Oh, I'm down with Ange-Nuelis Taylor. Best Actor. You ready to read these names? Oh, I see what you're doing. This is just crazy. We were trying to pull, but I'll let you do it. Well, we've already awarded it. So, Best Actor.

Just an incredible list. Josh O'Connor, Challengers. Harris Dickinson, Baby Girl. Hugh Grant, Heretic. Josh Hartnett, Trap. And Aaron Pierre, Rebel Ridge. Now, who did Aaron Pierre replace? Nicholas Holt, Journal Number Two. So Journal Number Two's already walked...

Because this is a no cucks list. Oh. But I thought it was a men, Amanda wants to share a bed with list. Well, also that, you know? So it's like we're overlapping. Uh-huh. Josh O'Connor and Challengers, you like a guy like that?

I mean, the thing about that performance Yeah. Josh O'Connor in Challengers, you like a guy like that? I mean, the thing about that performance is that it's not the type of person that you're, you know, like get your shit together, why are you being like this, whatever, but there's something so magnetic about what he's doing. He looks like he really smells. Yeah, he does.

But like we've all been 25, you know? Yeah, sure. So... Not me, but everybody else. Uh, he's so good, even if it's like not really my type. Okay. But like also, you know, Aaron Pierre is like very solid in a way that is not normally my, you know, type. I mean, he's an objectively handsome man.

Yeah. I mean, like I said, undeniable. Uh, this is quite handsome man. Yeah, I mean, like I said, undeniable. So. This is quite a crew. Yeah. Been meaning to revisit a heretic. I liked the first half so much. Yeah, and then it kind of does what it has to do. Or doesn't, or kind of goes all over.

Hard knit? I mean, that's the most fun. It probably should be Josh O'Connor, but we can do challengers later. Oh. I mean, we don the most fun. It probably should be Josh O'Connor, but we can do challengers later. Oh. I mean, we don't have to, but... No, no. If we're, like, sharing the wealth.

No, I... I'm with you. We have already honored... Trap. That's why I was gonna say Aaron Pierre makes sense, because I don't think we have another place to honor Rebel Ridge. Unless you want to give that best picture. I don't think we have another place to honor Rebel Ridge. Rebel Ridge. Unless you want to give that best picture. I don't think I want to give that best picture.

Okay. So then my instinct would be Aaron Pierre. Okay. I'm good with that. And you cucked out Nicholas Holt, even though he gave great performances across the board this year. He's great in the order. He's great. He was in a third film that I can't recall at the moment.

Nosferatu? Nosferatu, of course. She's great in that too. Cucking Out. I... I don't know. It's gotta be... These five are really important. You're saying you would not share a bed with Nicole's home? So?

No cucks. Okay, Erin Pierre, Rebel Rich, congratulations to you. Congratulations to that streaming film. Best Actress. Yeah. You're reading? Okay, Erin Pierre, Rebel Rich, congratulations to you. Congratulations to that streaming film. Best Actress. Yeah. You're reading? No, I just did. It's your turn.

Okay. Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths. Nicole Kidman, Baby Girl. Vicky Crapes, The Dead Don't Hurt. Lupita Inyango, A Quiet Place Day One. And Lily Rose Depp, Nosferatu. Marianne Jean-Baptiste, without like a... This is the best actress winner for both of us IRL.

Like she should be nominated, she should be winning. Psychotic. I was just absolutely knocked over by this movie, which I saw later and I saw it like a week after the fires. So I think I was like in a pretty emotional place, but the, like the combination of like electric anger and despair is like, I've never, you've never seen anything like it. It instantly, instantly memorable, amazing movie.

Not like uplifting. No, it's a very hard movie to watch. It's a very hard movie to recommend to people at a time when some people are feeling really down. It's a very real movie. As with all Mike Lee movies, he kind of scratches at something about the nature of existence that feels very true and feels like you're sitting in front of someone.

Yeah. I don't know how he does that in movie after movie, but he's obviously got a working relationship with Mary and John Baptiste. They worked together on Secrets and Lies 30 years ago and I don't think they've worked together since. And Pansy, the character that she plays, and I'm talking about this because we haven't talked about the movie really on the pod, is unlike almost any character you'll encounter in a movie as a protagonist. She's a deeply unhappy person, deeply difficult person, but the movie does not provide answers or even psychologize

her specifically. It doesn't confront you with whatever her trauma might be and say, this is why things are this way. This is why, this is how, it doesn't say, oh, she has depression or she's bipolar or it doesn't tell you any of those things. It doesn't, it almost tells you don't think that way. Like empathy is understood in a different way, which is don't just assume that everybody who's difficult should be sent to hell immediately, which is tough stuff. It's like, it's hard for people to accept that, I think.

And even watching the character, there's, I think I mentioned this to you once before, but the scene in the furniture store. The sofa, yeah, yeah, yeah. Where like, we've all been there. We've all witnessed someone do that. We've all witnessed someone do that to a server at a restaurant where someone's just needlessly rude and aggressive

and pursuing conflict. And you're like, what the fuck is this person's problem? Right. And ultimately, it is her fault. I mean, it is her life. These are her decisions. But there's much more that goes into being alive, I think, than just, I'm happy today or I'm sad today.

Yeah. So just a very complex, deep, but also very simple, like 90-minute character study? Yes. Great movie. I mean, absolutely heartbreaking. Marianne Chynave-Fties, congratulations. Wish more people saw Hard Truths. I guess it will stream.

I hope so. Hulu. Though again, it's like fired this up. Yeah, for a lot of laughs. Yeah. I mean, I guess it's not funny funny. It's the type of uncomfortable where you might, as someone like me, might laugh out of discomfort,

you know, and like, oh my gosh, why is this happening? A couple of the scenes are like that. Yeah. Any scene that happens with the family is really- The son and the father, or even the extended family with her sister and her nieces, pretty bracing stuff. Yes. Anyhow, best director?

Uh, Mike Cheslik, hundreds of beavers, Robert Eggers, Nosferatu, Luca Guadagnino, challengers, Pascal Plant, Red Rooms, Helena Rain, baby girls, baby girl, baby girls. Yeah, I know. I'm very excited about that. Yeah. Will that be more Cougars getting dominated by young interns? No, it's just what's next for Harris Dickinson. I bet it is.

This is our second to last award of the night. I don't know who wins this. We already represented Nosferatu with those rats. Yeah. You know, Kerizkis sitting on challengers. This is why you shouldn't have given it to Keritschus, because you needed to give it to Luca here. I didn't give it to Keritschus.

Who did we give it to? We gave it to Aaron Schimberg. Oh, you're right. For different ends. So we haven't given challengers anything yet. Yeah. So, I mean, we can do it here. Wow.

Or... Or? We could do Helena Rain. Or? Or... You want to do Nosferatu? No. Okay.

No? I think he directed that movie beautifully. Okay. But if you choose Luca, can you really choose Challengers as best picture? No, that's why I was saying. Yeah. Helena Rain for Baby Girl. I'm with it.

And then, and then. Well, we'll see. Okay. Helena Rain for Baby Girl. Yeah. Best director. Great, I'm with it. Mike Cheslik, just want to give him some respect for making Hundreds of Beavers, which is insane.

It's a live action Looney Tunes movie. It's an almost two hour movie about a guy fighting hundreds of beavers. This is cinema to me. To me, this is cinema. Uh, okay. Best picture. Now, we didn't really sort out the true long list. I attempted to cut it down somewhat. Okay. I didn't get it all the way long list. I attempted to cut it down somewhat. Okay.

I didn't get it all the way down. To 10. To 10. Okay. Did I cut anything that you see that is intriguing? Like for example, I don't have Horizon part one on here for the same reason that I don't really like the wicked part one aspect of things.

So that's the only reason. Horizon part one rocks. I really hope I can see part two soon. Yeah. I hope, I hope Netflix picks up three and four because it doesn't seem like anybody else will. Okay. It's been rumored.

Um, and it performed magnificently on the Netflix streaming service. Did you hear about that? I did. Oh, we had friends at the premiere of part two. They said, home run. You did it, Kev. Kev meanwhile was sitting next to Cher at SNL 50. Kev watching Cher at SNL 50 music special?

First of all, Cher? If I could turn back time at 77 years old or whatever? All-timer. What the fuck, dude? Yeah. She looked amazing. Her voice sounded good. Yeah. Like, there are 32-year- old pop singers who sound like shit live

Shears in her mid 70s. Yes, she's Cher. I trust me. I get it and I'm a fan I've always been a fan, but I was blown away and there's a reaction shot of cost of the audience being like Blown away by her anyway, um Horizon not nominated By us Sorry, sorry ke nominated. By us. Sorry. Sorry, Kev. Good luck on part two. I listed 11 movies.

Okay. Well, we can have 11. It's our awards show. I'll list the 11. The Bike Riders, Challengers, Civil War, A Different Man, Evil Does Not Exist, a Hamaguchi film. Hard Truths. Here, Don't Say Shit. Hitman. Nosferatu. Rebel Ridge, it's actually 12.

Red Rooms and Sing Sing. Yeah. My thing about here is like, why were they all acting like that? Like, everyone but Tom Hanks. I've been with you for like six straight hours. But why? What do you mean? I mean, those are good actors.

Why are they acting in that manner? Yes. It's dramaturgy, Anna. What do you want me to tell you? Well, I didn't, it didn't work for me. So you're saying here wins? Um, let's see. We know I think it should go to challengers.

I would also consider... I, I, hard truth, but you know, we are trying to spread the love of films of love. So we already did Marianne Jean-Baptiste, we did Clarence Macklin for Sing Sing, The Rats for Nosferatu, Hitman did not get any awards, and we did like it very much. Did I like it more than I like challengers? I didn't. I didn't. I liked Hitman.

I liked Hitman a lot. I liked Rebel Ridge, but we've already honored Aaron Pierre. Rebel Ridge rocks. I liked a different man, but we've already honored Aaron Schimberg. I didn't like Civil War. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha.

Um, I say this like every other episode, but I will be proved right on that one. OK. I think that movie is going to be a big deal, long term. OK. I could be wrong, but I don't think so. OK. There are many things that are like a big deal, you know, that are still really stupid.

So... Could be true. Okay. Could be true. I won't be voting for it for best picture in the big picks in 2025. What if I just would not move off of Civil War and we just stood here for four hours? And I was like, this is the only place where this prize can go in my heart. Tell you what was not eligible for best ending?

Civil War. Uh, I thought it was funny. Okay. I thought it was a funny ending. Okay. Great job. It was like, what a joke this society is. We just murdered the president with a camera in our hands.

Okay. Um, if you haven't seen Civil War, that was a spoiler. Okay. I like the bike riders, but I don't think it needs to win here. It won number three on my top five list, so. Number, but would that have changed if you'd seen some other films? Yes. You hadn't seen Nickel Boys, The Brutalist, Hard Truths.

Hard Truths would definitely have been on there. Um, I'm trying to think what else. You wouldn't say that The Bike Riders was better than The Brutalist, right? No, of course not. But you know, when I'm making my list, I can do whatever I want. That's true. Yeah.

You will always have that right. I hadn't seen Baby Girl. Baby Girl's not on this list, but that's okay. We not, we- Didn't even realize that. Yeah. I think it should be Challengers. We loved Challengers.

It's Challengers, of course it's Challengers. My third favorite movie of the year. Yeah, my second favorite movie of the year. Behind the Brutalist? Yes, exactly, how did you know? Especially the second half. Challengers is great. I really like the dining room scene.

I don't think. And I spoiled it on the Academy Twitter account, so. Challengers, don't get the blowback. I can understand people saying they don't love it as much as we do. Yeah, that's fine. That this is bad stuff, don't get the blowback. I can understand people saying they don't love it as much as we do. Yeah, that's fine. This is bad stuff? Don't get it.

Well, they don't know how to have fun. Okay. You know? And we know how to have fun. Zendaya, Mike Feist, Josh O'Connor. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Karytskas, Luca.

Churros. Churros. Nike activewear. Whatever Zendaya is wearing in all those scenes. The skincare, what do you like? What's the- Augustinus Bader. Yeah.

Yeah. That's huge. Those watches that they're selling. Yeah. The fake TV program. The I Told You T-shirt. I told ya. Sold by the way.

Maybe I should have ordered that for Oscar night. It's too late now. In the event that you win, if you lose though, that could be very embarrassing. What? Wearing an I told you t-shirt. No, I would just be wearing it for challengers. I don't understand. Just to honor challengers because the Oscars didn't.

You know? Oh, a silent protest? Yes, exactly. I mean. It's not too late. For challengers to win an Oscar? I opened my challengers pop-up on Fairfax, so you could just swing by, pick up some of that Augustan spader. I would love for you to run a pop-up on Fairfax and just watch you interacting with the youth. What do you mean, golf-line? That's what I do.

I've been there since day one. Odd future. Check my resume. Okay, great. I'm not new to this. Yeah. Me and Tyler, way back. Okay. Way back. Pitchfork.com, my friend. Challenger is a very worthy winner.

Mm-hmm. What other films could have been nominated but weren't? Furiosa? Yeah. Trap? We loved it. The Beast? Yes.

Jury Number Two? Yes. Love Lies Bleeding? Good. I'm not going to do that game with you anymore. I just say movie titles, you say adjectives or affirmative or non-affirmative notes. I liked it. What really got snubbed here this year?

You mean from our... Yeah, you won't watch We Loan Time so we couldn't recognize that film. Right. You're very upset about here. And... I just think these takes are bullshit, but I got Bobby leaving notes in the comments about how poorly written the movie is. Settle down, Bob. Alright? Just respect cinema. That's all I ask. Uh... there he is.

I tried to respect the cinema. I tried really hard. I watched it at home. I was locked in. I did as well. I loved the format. I was sad that I didn't get to see it in a theater. And then about like 48 minutes in, I was like, what are these scenes?

It's like one pass of dialogue, and then we're just going. Yeah. Sorry. You guys are simpletons thinking too much about the text. I do agree with that. It was awesome ending. Very sad.

Very sad. Yeah, of course it is. We're all going to be there one day. I love a chair in an empty room. It reminded me of my first confession. That's how we did it at my church because they didn't have enough money for a real confessional booth.

Wow. I mean, that is a whole movie right there. In Bruce part two. I think we did a great job. OK. You know, we a great job. OK. You know, we represented most of our favorites. Should we add best kill? Because there's a kill in a violent nature,

where like a grappling hook goes inside of a girl, and then they like pull out her intestines at the edge of a cliff. I mean, I guess I wouldn't have a lot to contribute to that particular category. What if we just showed you those scenes for the first time and filmed you? OK. I mean, I guess I wouldn't have a lot to contribute to that particular category. What if we just showed you those scenes for the first time and filmed you? Okay, I mean, like that would be fine.

That's kind of a good bit. Yeah. Is that a good Amanda in the void? Where we run the scene right beside the reaction shot of her face? I think that would work. Did we just find our syllabus for Amanda? I don't know, but what if I'm just like,

huh, that seems bad, you know? That sounds good content. Sometimes when you and Chris, because I've listened to all of your horror movie recaps, even though I've never seen the movies and have no intention of them. But then sometimes they'll be talking about a movie I have seen and you guys are describing the kills and like... And we're like, oh my God, dude!

Well, but you know, there's a level of detail where I'm just like, did I just go to sleep? Like, you know, and I saw it, but I guess I'm looking for something different. Yeah, I know. You old bear trap right there. That's true, for anything that is not, you know, personal human interaction. That's right. If it is depraved on film, I can remember it. If it is emotional and connected to the real world.

That's why you liked here is because it's someone explaining to you how to have the emotions. Yeah, here's what you don't remember about your feelings. It's obviously 100% true, and I will not deny it. But you know what? At least I know it. At least I'm in touch. Congratulations to all the winners.

Yeah, they did great. To the losers, fuck off, you know? Like, I got really nothing for you tonight. Maybe next time, sorry, Juliette Garrippi. Maybe you'll be the breakthrough performer next time around, you know? Can you be eligible for breakthrough performance multiple times?

No. So she won't be the breakthrough performer next time around. What if she goes away for 30 years and then comes back? So it's a, well, that would be the comeback performance, which is also a category that we should introduce for next year, you know? Intriguing. Intriguing. Yeah. I'm interested in that. OK. So it's a, well, that would be the comeback performance, which is also a category that we should introduce for next year, you know?

Intriguing, intriguing. Yeah. I'm interested in that. Okay. That would be like Josh Harden would win that. Yes, although he was Lawrence in Oppenheimer. Right, yeah. So that was, you know, that's a big movie.

Yeah, that's true. And he like was a big part of, I mean, he wasn't a big part, but he was memorable. He had a big part in Rue de Guerre, the Guy Ritchie movie. Oh, of course, yeah. You saw that film? No, I don't think I saw that one. He drives a sports car.

He wears a sweater in The Bear, season three. Mm-hmm, yep, so he does. I don't think Trap was really a comeback. Okay, well, I think that that is what she could be eligible for in 30 years. You know who needs a comeback as Shannon Sossaman, his co-star in 40 Days and 40 Nights. Oh, yeah.

Where's she at? What's up with Shannon Sossaman? Shannon with a Y. You want me to get her on the phone? You're calling her? You want me to get her on the phone? You think that'd be a good end to this pod at this day of recording?

Cold calling Shannon Sossaman. Big fan. She's still working. She was in a film in 2023 called Backspot. Backspot you say? Yeah. And it's a fictional, it's like a scripted film about the world of competitive cheerleading. Evan Rachel Wood was apparently in this.

I don't know who Shannon Sossaman played because the Wikipedia page does not illuminate that for us. Okay. All right. Backspot. No, that's just, that's what I'm learning. I'll write a film for Shannon Sossaman. I wouldn't say it's been the most illustrious of decades.

It would appear she was born Shannon S-H-A-N-N-O-N and changed it to S-H-A-N-N-O-N, and changed it to S-H-A-N-N-Y-N. Okay. I wonder if that's because there already was a Shannon Sossaman in Sag. Or maybe she's just an unusual person who likes to change her name. Well, Shannon, thanks for all your work. Thanks to Jack Sanders. Yes. Thanks to our producer, Bobby Wagner, for everything he provided on this episode, which

is not interrupting us when I was talking about Gen Z. Thank you, Bob. Later this week, we're predicting the Academy Awards. We sure are. How are you feeling? Uh, stressed out. Who will win and who should win. That's how we do it.

Yes. Who do you think should win best picture? Don't say anything. Don't react. Don't talk. Looking forward to that episode. Should be a lot of fun. This concludes the sixth hour of recording here right now in the Big Picture in case you couldn't tell.

We'll see you on Wednesday? You said Wednesday. We got a book of time, but yes. Fuck. Wednesday, Bob? Should we just keep recording now? I mean, it's like getting to be performance art at this point. So hold on. Let's keep recording.

Hold on. I have a question about. I'm in a phone booth on the 70th floor of the World Trade Center at 6 PM. So I'm just ready to keep going. So 2.30 PM on Sunday. Are people submitting questions? Like, what's the, is there an interactive element? In the chat you can send questions. Okay. Bob will help us pick questions while we're talking. The YouTube chat? The YouTube chat. So you have to have a YouTube

account. I don't know how that works but is there some other people who are like fuck I have to join YouTube? Jack's nodding. Maybe. If you have a Google account you have a YouTube account. They're all part of the same. Oh yeah, that's right. Big alpha bet. But what if I had a different account from when I just had a YouTube account? What happened to that, Bobby?

Can you find that account and sync it up? I don't, it doesn't matter for you, you're gonna be on the episode. What if I? You're not gonna add questions in the chat when you're talking to me. I'm gonna be putting my Venmo name in the chat so that people can pay me to get their questionnaires.

Do not do that. Is it against some written policy that I don't know about? Okay, yeah, we'll be live on YouTube. But I'll tout that again later this week. That's just what I always wanted to do growing up was to be live on YouTube at 2.30 before the Oscars as a mother of two children.

But isn't it though? Is it, like honestly, is it not what you wanted? Um, I, live on YouTube? I don't know. You would like to be live on Truth Social? I think. How do you think Siskel would have handled a call-in episode? Because that's basically what's going on here. I mean, they were in that environment all the time.

They went on the radio all the time. They answered questions to promote their stuff. Yeah, that's true. We're just doing the same shit. And you know what we don't do is debase ourselves by going to red carpets and asking people questions. Yeah, that's true. I didn't want to be on the red carpet.

Yeah. So we're just doing our version of it. Okay. I get a little silly. Great. But honestly, just probably rippling with expertise. Rippling with expertise. What was the old tagline? Because that's the new one that needs to go there.

Rippling with expertise. Should I call Shoemaker and get that on the logo, the big picture? It went from see you at the movies to rippling with expertise. Okay, great job everybody. We had a very normal day of recording as usual. We will see you on Wednesday where we are predicting the Academy Awards. Bye! you