The Chaser Report - The Oscars Is Over

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

Fresh from watching The Oscars, Dom and Charles give their hot take on why the Academy Awards don't feel like they used to, and how they got started. Plus, the most awkward moment from any acceptance speech ever.---Listen AD FREE: https://thechaserreport.supercast.com/ Follow us on Instagram: @chaserwarSpam Dom's socials: @dom_knightSend Charles voicemails: @charlesfirthEmail us: [e-mail] CEO’s Super-yacht upgrade Fund: https://chaser.com.au/support/ Send complaints to: [e-mail] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chaser Report is recorded on Gatigal Land. Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is The Chaser Report. Hello and welcome to The Chaser Report with Dom and Charles. Oh, Charles, Oscar Frenzy. We're a little bit slow off the mark here, both because you've been in Adelaide with Wankanomics. And because I had so much excitement at watching the Oscars yesterday. I watched almost all of it that I could not record for hours. I was just sitting there so full of excitement about the state of the moving industry,

about the potential for everything that I just, I couldn't do it. Yes. No, look, I'm surprised to hear, because we're recording this on Tuesday morning, I'm surprised to hear that the Oscars have ended. Like, my understanding is the Oscars goes for days and days and days, doesn't it? Yes, it does. It must be a record short. Actually, I want to give, I want to give Conan and the team a lot of credit because it was only three and a half

Fazlant, which by the standards of contemporary movies, that's actually a short film. Or that was the duration of the films in the best short film. The features are, you know, P.T. Anderson wouldn't dream of making a movie that short. Now, I'm scared because I think I'm going to get, like, look, come across as a cretan in this episode. But I tried to watch both that Leo DiCaprio one, the one battle after another, and sinners. And frankly. The two key movies.

And I, look, let's just say, I haven't been able to fully schedule it into my diary so far. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I have, I like to think that I have prepared adequately for discussing both one battle after another and sinners. So I can handle the analysis. Okay, great. Because I've done the 2026 thing to do. I've watched the trailers.

Oh, right. Oh, gosh. So we'll get into that after a few ads, which are of equal brevity to the trailers, probably. So I've read a bit, Charles, about what the movies are. What I've done is I've seen, watch the trailers. trailers. I've watched the trailers and I've read the review in the New York Times, specifically for one battle after another and sinners. And I honestly know less now than I knew before I started that process about what they're about. Just to, yeah. And look, having, I've seen, I've watched

the first act of both of them, right? Have you? Yeah. And, and, and the first one, the first, like, the Leo de Capri one, the one battle after another, I'm sorry, I, I could not watch, like, because they're both resistance movies, right? Like, they're both, clearly done in the thing of like Trump's in power. I mean, they'll probably finance before Trump, but like everything's going to shit. Hollywood should just make a stand, right? Like, it's clearly that the policy. That's the voice they used in the meeting, I'm pretty sure.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure. And, but it's so stupid. Like, one of the plot things that happens in, and this doesn't give anything away, but in one battle after another is, you know, this, you know, black woman resistance fighter who I think he's in love with Leia DiCaprio at the time. She's probably, yeah, because they're quite young. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Is she on the right side of the 25-year-old for Leo, or is it a suspension of disbelief?

But she gets pregnant. She decides to abandon her child because the cause is too great. And you're just going, I don't know, this is so grinding. I want to watch When Harry Met Sally. Can't we have more of When Harry Met Sally? You know what, Charles, and I know you didn't watch the ceremony, but you've actually hit on something really important. The most powerful moment in the whole ceremony.

was when Harry met Sally. We'll come back to one battle and sinners in a moment because I'm not done with my one minute of analysis. But no, we'll jump to this because this was a moment of truth and a moment of reality in the ceremony, which was Billy Crystal paying tribute to his friend Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle Singer, Rainer, who were murdered by their kid in their house and found dead. And honestly, when I go through his CV, it's just insane what he managed to achieve.

And, I mean, spinal tap, standby. me, Princess Bride, when Harry met Sally, Misery, a few good men, the American president, which I enjoyed, and he made lots of movies, he acted in lots of movies as well. He was an activist for same-sex marriage, and they worked really hard to get that up and made that change. And his wife, Michelle, was very important to all the work that he did, and she was creatively involved as well. They had a beautiful collaboration.

And this was cut short by this total madness. Nick Reiner stabbed them to death, been charged. complete intrusion of reality into Hollywood. And you're just kind of going, why are we having the Oscars? I mean, great to celebrate their lives in the world that they knew. I know, but I don't know. It just felt like reality kept intruding into the Oscars this year, Charles. And I, in a sense, I didn't like it.

But in another sense, it's kind of where we are. We're in a horrible world at the moment. And a horrible place with people like Rob Reiner die for no reason. So maybe we should take a bit of a step back and talk about the long history of post-World War II Hollywood. Because I actually think that there's something really interesting going on in post-World War II Hollywood and compared to now, right? Which is, so a whole lot of Jewish people fled Germany during and after World War II and before even. And one of the things that they very notably did was come to absolutely dominate Hollywood.

And it was part of a sort of, it was almost a political project to go, let's add. actually try and instill the values of individual freedom and, you know, sort of liberal democratic values, essentially, so that something as terrible as the Holocaust, something as terrible as fascism can never happen again. That's really true. Was that a deliberate thing? Yes, it was absolutely. Lewis B. Mayer and MGM, all this stuff.

Yes, it was very much a, this is important. It is important that we make sure that we have a sort of a cultural defense. against such illiberal thought that, you know, led to Nazism and stuff like that. And, you know, there were lots of waves of cinema post-World War II. A lot of it was very white initially and, you know, culturally, fairly conservative and things of that. But it was always liberal, right? Like, it always, like, the story that was told over and over again was an individual doing right and succeeding. The hero's journey.

The fact of the individual over whatever the system is, the government. Yeah. And the triumph of a moral fabric. Like the idea that, you know, if an individual sticks to their guns and actually does what they believe is right, that is better than following a system that is bad. Right. So, and that was such an important message, you know, given, you know, when you went through the Nuremberg trials, a lot of people going, oh, well, I was just following orders. And, you know, there was a belief that, you know, if you actually instilling people the idea that you should, and just follow orders if things are bad, you know,

it was a really important thing to impart, right? Beautiful project, wonderful, you know. So just, just to recap on that, Charles. I just want to just, I've just been reading up on this while you've been talking. The extent to which this is the case, that Eastern European Jews found in Hollywood, via the Lower East Side where they came initially, is extraordinary. So Paramount, one of the founders was Adolf Zucker, a Jew from Hungary, William Fox.

Unfortunately first name, but yes. Yes, indeed. William Fox, a lot of them changed their surnames, obviously. Fox Film Corporation. Louis B. Mayor, Metro Golden Mayor, with Marcus Lowe as well, also from Austria. Warner Brothers, the three Warner Brothers were, three of them were born in Poland. They were Polish Jews. R.K.O. Radio Pictures.

David Sarnoff. And some of the minor pictures, too, with the three of them, the minus. So as well, Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, founded and run by Jews. Extraordinary. So just about all of the major studios, a whole lot of them. And at that time, anti-Semitism was rife in the US. So it wasn't as though they were in this wonderland of time. tolerance, actually, they kind of created it.

Yes, that's right. That's right. And they sort of, you know, succeeded for a while. Like, it became, you know, but the sort of time we were growing up in the 80s and 90s, you know, like, I mean, certainly my relationship with anti-Sermitism was very much theoretical. Like, it was sort of, like, you knew that it existed and you knew, but you sort of thought it was an absurd idea that anyone would actually hold such foreign, you know, And distant beliefs, right?

You didn't sort of, anyway, part of, you know, one of the waves of cinema that I think is probably the apex of that post-World War II Hollywood thing was in the 1970s when he had these movies like Al Pacino and Robert De Niro and all those things. Yeah, yeah. I remember Dog Day afternoon, but Sakaro, that was a, it was Sakaro the one where Al Pacino was the good cop in the New York Police Department. and the whole police department was corrupt and they had to get rid of him. You mean Serpico. Serpico. Sicario is a more recent movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But again, just noting, Italian migrants. Italian migrants. Yes. Also a massive contributor in that period. Yeah. And the whole moral framework of Serbico was really fascinating. It was like, you know, if you're stuck in a system that's completely corrupted, what would the hero do? Well, the answer in that movie was the hero, despite.

But that being a terrible decision individually, just fought and fought and fought and fought and could not be corrupted, right? And that's why he was the hero. Fast forward to today, right? You have, you know, movies like, have you seen Crime 101, which is the big... Oh, no, the new Chris Hemsworth one. Yeah, it's the new Chris Hemsworth one. Big blockbuster movie, Hallie Berry, Chris Hemsworth, a few other sort of big star names. Do I want to see it?

Is it more comprehensible than one battle after another? Well, I'm going to do a few spoilers. But, yeah, I would say it's definitely more comprehensive, far more watchable than any of the movies that were running in the Oscars. I mean, it's just, it's a, it's a schlock. It's a B movie. But I want escapism, Charles. It's a, yeah, it's really nice piece of escapism, but it's a fascinating movie. And without giving too many spoilers, essentially the moral framework of that movie is you've got three main characters who all have integrity.

One's a professional criminal with a code. One's an insurance broker who won't be corrupted. And the other ones, the uncorruptible cop. What? I find the insurance broker who won't be corrupted. Yeah. That's not, I mean, the cop and the thief who live by a code, we've said that before, but the heroic insurance broker.

Well, it's actually quite well drawn because it's Halliberry, right? Yeah. Was this movie written by an insurance broker, the kind of moonlighting of a side job? That's right. Well, it's actually, it's Hallie Berry. And what it is is she, you know, she sort of has been working her way up through this insurance firm for years. She's a fairly senior executive, right? And she believes that she'll make partner, right?

That it's not a boys club, you know, that if she just works hard enough and remains incorruptible to sort of thing. And her world, without giving too many spoils, crumbles around her as she realizes that having integrity in a world of insurance progress is not the way to get ahead, right? Anyway, so it's an interesting battle, right? But, like, and look, if you want to see the movie and you don't want any spoilers, maybe just, you know, forward a couple of minutes now, because I think I am going to just sort of go with the hot tape. I mean, I haven't been to a movie in a year that wasn't for kids, so the chances of me getting to it are limited.

Okay, well, here we go. So essentially the story is that they all, all the main characters with integrity realize that they are the suckers And that the way to actually get ahead is to become corruptible. And they all do the thing that they decided not to do. So the criminal who'd never harmed a person in any of his robberies kills a person. Oh, my goodness. The cop who is incorruptible hides some gems and gets away with them.

And the insurance broker feeds a whole lot of information. And they're the heroes of the story. Right. They're the heroes. They come to the realization that actually, if you're full, faced with the corrupt world and corrupt systems, what you should do, the smart thing to do is to be corrupt yourself, right? And what a fascinating turn Hollywood is.

And what I think it does is it actually makes you go, I wonder whether, like, is this Hollywood's lost its way, or is it that you cannot what? The problem with the resistance movies that were at the Oscar is they're so unwatchably. Is that where you were going with this? Teetis. Yeah, because they're sort of like, it's. It's such hard work. It's like, I'm not going to a movie to sort of deal with reality.

I'm going to a movie to escape reality. But it needs to, it needs to be believable within the reality we've got. And nowadays, it's sort of coming around to the idea that, well, if you can't beat them, you might as well join them, which is a complete abrogation of the post-World War II Hollywood ethos that actually the hero's journey is about having integrity. Oh, my goodness. That is, yeah, that's, um. That's a whole turnaround.

Charles, let's take a quick break and then get back to... Sorry, yeah. No, but no, that's... But look, I think that's really interesting. The Chaser Report. Less news. Less often. So the movie that had that structure that comes to mind that did well was K-pop Demon Hunters,

which was the film I saw most in the past... I watched about five times. Oh, it's great. Yeah, I've seen it three times. It's really good. And you don't even have daughters to excuse it. And, I mean, one of the most memorable moments at the Oscars. I know, but it's girl power.

That's good. I'm glad the boys are watching it, actually. Yeah, I know. It's very cross-gender. I would say anyone under the age of about 16. We got us still the Honmoon. You know how it is. But did you see they're in their speech when the team from Golden,

admittedly a big team got up for best song, one of the most obvious results, as was their best animation. In fact, almost all the results. Charles Hardy, the film critic, predicted them all correctly, pretty much every category. It was that that. that predictable. Yeah, right.

They just got cut off. Like, the band literally very loudly started playing when the second one, the second one, the second guy just got up and said, I'd like to, it's the most awkward thing you've ever seen. And they didn't do it to anyone else, just the Koreans. Thank you for Ian Eisendraith and Spring Asper's. And is there, what else? I'd like to think.

So, well done, Hollywood. Another dream smash. But Charles, what I was going to say, yeah, one battle after another, sinners. All I can gather is that there's lots of, lots of really cool dialogue. Like, they both won the screen play Oscars as well as one battle winning best picture. Michael B. Jordan winning best actor for sinners and lots of other awards as well. So really nitty dialogue that cuts up really well into a trailer. And then shit gets real and guns blaze. It seems, yeah, I mean, they may not be that similar other than the trailer. But the trailer's very, very similar. But I cannot

work out what the point of them is. Like, they've got guys with cool accents. They're both, Michael B. Jordan and Leonardo DiCaprio both having accent fun. And then all hell breaks loose and they shoot shit. And is this the only way America can express itself now is that to have a climax in a movie, and this is sort of a post-Tarantino thing, people talk smart and then they just shoot people? Like, is that what we've come to as a culture? Or at least where America's come to as a culture? Yeah, but I think doesn't that just explain why movies are far less relevant than they were

back when Rob Ryan made Harry Met Sally and a few good men This is what I want to come back to. This is what I want to come back to with your point about just wanting to watch when Harry met Sally. I mean,

even bridesmaids. Bridesmaids, I thought the cast came out and somehow they got a standing ovation for their 15th anniversary. Very strangely. But that's a good movie. Yeah, I mean, all those women were there

and just kind of going, well, they should host. They're really funny. But you just kind of going, where's that movie now? Where's the fun movie that everyone sees and enjoys that that's genuinely comedic. But isn't it, isn't the answer, it's on Netflix, but it's done with such bad studio

oversight where you've heard about the Netflix rule. Matt Damon talked about it recently. Oh, yes. Which is that every two or three minutes, you need a background character to restate the stakes. Actually, Coney did a sketch on this. It was very funny. He remade a scene from Casablanar, Casablanca, who's telling Kay Brown as the peer as Sam, where they just basically like, in this war, I think Sam goes, which is World War

2? Yes, Sam, yes, we're in World War II. That was the one with Hitler. It's really funny, but that's the point they're making. And Charles, the broader thing I wanted to say about the Oscars is it was really depressing because it was, you could tell that it was an argument for why the movies should exist and why

they're important in a medium where you know, everyone's watching the highlights on TikTok and on YouTube shorts. And YouTube's about to take over the Oscars in 2029, right? Then it's not going to be on broadcast TV anymore. That's the extent to which the medium has changed. And what even, I mean, is anyone even going to sit through this long form art form anymore? Is it the best short film or the best YouTube short Oscar, which presumably they'll introduce for that ceremony?

Is that all we're doing now is 30 seconds at a time? And the final scene, again, spoilers, that after the end of the Oscar, is Conan O'Brien has a sketch after the, before the credits roll, where he goes into an office and the head of the academy goes, well done, Conan, great job. We want to appoint you as host for life. And he goes, oh my gosh, host for life.

I'm so, gets put into a room with host for life on the door. And then the head of the academy goes, oh, I've just got to go and get your keys. And Conan's sitting there feeling really happy with himself. And then green gas starts seeping from a vent. Conan dies and is put into a freezer. And they change the sign on the door from Conan O'Brien, host for life to Mr. Beast host for life.

So it's a really funny, but it was a very dark joke. Yeah, that's a dark joke. It's just like, this thing doesn't even know, that doesn't even believe in itself anymore. Yeah, no, that's, God. Look, less sort of apocalyptic. Like, this isn't the end of history. I think, look, my strong opinion is that actually we've had 10 years of Marvel movies, which basically ruined the economics of the industry.

Oh, and it didn't Dave end in a whimper rather than a bang? Yeah, but it took out, you know, Robert Downey Jr. actually was talking about it just the other day, which is they took out all the best actors of a generation. Yes, true. And put them in face masks so you couldn't even see them act. And that was what happened for 11 years. And so movies got incredibly boring, right? Yeah, that is.

They really did. And what is wonderful about, like, a Schlock movie that's completely watchable, like, Crime 101, right? is seeing Crips Hemsworth on screen. He's a great actor. You want to watch him. Like, every time he's on screen, you're going. I loved him in that Ghostbusters. Did you see that Ghostbusters where he plays the dumb office assistant?

Yeah. Oh, it's in the female Ghostbusters, he's very funny. But movies, like, the reason why movies will persist is simply because it's like a good book, right? Like, once you sort of fall in love with the character, you want to be with them. several hours. You don't want to just... I do agree with that. I do agree with that. And the other thing is the Oscars, the dirty

secret of the Oscars is that they do tend to reward boring, worthy movies because everyone's... That's what they've always done. But look, the whole world stopped to watch K-pop Demon Hunters. And that should give us, that should give us a degree of hope.

And I think the truth is, the actual future of the Academy Awards is that it will become increasingly less, like it'll become decreasingly American, that actually we're going to exist in a culture. multipolar world, and there are dozens of good South Korean movies coming out every year now. Like that guy who did Parasite, I don't know whether he saw his latest one, but it's also brilliant.

I haven't. They're sort of like, you're actually going, no, no, the world is in a good place. It's just America that's going to shit. Yes. Bongjunhu, yes. So maybe if they learn to stop interrupting the South Koreans. Exactly. Maybe the Academy Awards will survive.

But, you know, maybe they're the Global Awards or whatever. Yeah. But Charles, I'll finish with the most important point about the Oscars. Yep. Five Australians nominated, none of them won. As I was saying, the Oscars is finished. Yeah, the Oscars is over. Well, this has been a very long episode of the Chase Report, which I think is fitting because the Oscars is very long.

Yes, it's too long. Well done. Well done. We're part of the Iconicless Network. Get you tomorrow.