This Had Oscar Buzz - 202 – Us

Episode Date: July 11, 2022

Few filmmaking ascents have been as exciting and heralded as Jordan Peele’s with the arrival of Get Out in 2017. After creating lasting cultural importance and winning the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, Peele’s follow-up was one of the most eagerly awaited films before it was even announced. And in early 2019, the follow-up would be … Continue reading "202 – Us"

Uh-oh, wrong house. No, the right house. I didn't get that! We want to talk to Marilyn Hacks. I'm from Canada. I'm from Canada water. There's a family in our driveway. It's probably the neighbors.

But I'll scare have a family. Hi, can I help you? Zora. Put your shoes on. If you want to get crazy, we can get crazy. What are you people? It's us. Hello, and welcome to the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast, the only podcast that looks like an old girlfriend of Jack Nicholson's.

Every week on This Had Oscar Buzz, we'll be talking about a different movie that once upon a time had Lofty Academy Award aspirations, but for some reason or another, it all went wrong. The Oscar hopes died, and we are here to perform the autopsy. I'm your host, Joe Reed. I'm here as always with my podcast. pyromaniac dog child. Chris File. Hello, Chris. Hello, Charlie. I should have seen that coming. It's such, even as like you remember that the voice was crazy, and then you watch it again, you're just not prepared for just how tactile that voice is. You really feel the pain of how much it must hurt to speak. with that, you know, particular throat.

But it's also terrifying. I was going to say, you feel that voice and the back of your neck. But that's what I think is so amazing about the performance. And we'll get into it, of course. But it's terrifying and sympathetic as at the same time, I feel like. Sure, absolutely. I'm more taken and constantly throw. thrown off guard in a way that I don't necessarily forget, but every time I rewatch this movie,

and I've seen it a few times now because I love this movie. Spoiler alert. The physicality that she has, I remember having one of those visceral responses the first time that I saw this movie and she's just like walking around as red, that I was so flabbergasted and terrified and, like, wigged out by it, that it made me, like, chuckle to myself while I'm squirming. What was your... What was your initial viewing experience for seeing us? Did you see it at a critic screening? Did you see it opening night? What did you do? I saw it a few days before it opened. My grandmother was my plus one, because she loves scary movies.

Nice. loved it. The audience response to it was great. I figured that people would probably be somewhat divided on this movie, but I thought I could kind of see and recall a lot of the threads that pull things together. But I got to say, the thing that really cemented this in my brain as a movie in recent years. years that I love so, so much, is re-watching it. It's an incredibly rewarding re-watch experience. And it's also, like, when I do re-watch it, it's like certain ideas that the movie has activate at the same, like, activated my brain at the same time every time. And, like, what I think the movie is, like, what the movie's targets are hit at exactly the same time.

I love this movie. You mentioned it being sort of divisive, or it was mere seconds ago, and I can't remember the word you used. But was that the sense with the reception of this movie? I remember it being pretty positively received, both by critics and audiences. I mean, broadly positively received, but you kind of, like, dig in granular, you talk to, like, sometimes I'm surprised by, I'm taken off guard when somebody, really doesn't like this movie. I think that I've talked to a lot of people who think that it's kind of dumb. There are not

a lot of people, but like, the people who really don't like this movie or think that it has major logic gaps feel very strongly that way. I mean, I can see that. I don't know if I, I don't know how

seriously I take major logic gaps criticisms of a movie like this, where it's like, yeah, like one of my favorite things about this movie. Right, it's science fiction. Right. That's the thing. And one of my favorite things watching it the second time that I actually, I wrote this down, was the first title card you get talks about how there are millions of miles of tunnels across the United States that are being unused. Some for this reason, some for that reason, some we have no idea. And then you get to the part later on where Adelaide and Red go into the tunnels to have their big sort of, like, fight and there's, and it's like this intricate maze of, of, you know, tiled hallways and rooms and labs and whatnot. And you're just like, oh, okay. It looks like a defunct high school or something. Right. And that title card is like, oh, okay, that title card is there. So people are

like, how is this possible? And even still, it still doesn't account for why this is all possible. It's still fully science fiction, you know, horror or whatever. Like, you're supposed to take a leap of faith with the film and but I just thought it was very funny that you're just like that's very funny that like that title card is there to sort of head off that stuff at the past I kind of don't think that's why it's there I mean I think that that title card really kind of sets the stage for what this allegory is going to be and what the what the fundamentals of what that statement is saying is like the things that this country is built on that you know are just things that exist, that

whether or no we, whether or not we know they exist or not, are a foundation that is just self-fueling. Well, it's interesting to talk about allegory, too, because I agree that there is obviously layers on layers of ways you can interpret this.

But I remember at the time, Jordan Peel, he wasn't like pressing hard against the idea of the film as an allegory, but he, you know, said several times, you know, talked about how this was a, that, you know, the black family at the center of this is there not to comment on race, but just to sort of exist as the protagonists of a horror movie. And the importance of that,

the importance of, you know, allowing black people to exist without having to sort of, you know, argue for their own existence within the theme of a movie. Um, so it's interesting to, because there clearly are layers of theme to this. And I think it's just like, and I, and I'm, it's interesting that it can be one of several things, because I think you can read race into this, you can read class, certainly into this. That was sort of the closest that I saw Jordan Peel get into it when he was talking about how, you know, there are, he talked about sort of growing up comfortably middle class and, you know, realizing that, Not realizing that sounds sort of like a dilettante, but just sort of just like this sense of, you know, we're all, we're all in this together and we're all on the same level. And it's just like, no, like there are, he's said, he has said some line about like, you know, you're wearing these like fancy sneakers or whatever, but like somebody made those. You know what I mean? Like somebody, there are, you know, people sort of tethered to the society that are consistently unseen. And which I think is where the hands across.

America metaphor comes in, too, where it's just like this big event, this big sort of showy event that was supposed to, you know, fight homelessness and hunger in the United States and whatnot. And, like, is that what that was doing? Or was that making a big show? It's about messaging. I mean, like, that's, this is ultimately what I think the movie is about, is about, like, American sometimes corporate messaging and how it's meant, especially for, like, I do actually think left-leaning people are the target of Jordan Peel's movies, and that, like, Get Out is about racism in America, but racism within, you know, left-leaning communities, right? Yes, yes, yes.

It's, I think that this movie is about that type of messaging where it's, what does it ultimately actually serve, and is it ultimately a, a tool to keep us all divided. And I mean, like, obviously, Jordan Peel, I think was smart to say this isn't explicitly a movie about racism, but, like, there are seeds planted throughout this movie that you can kind of, no pun intended, fall down the rabbit hole with in that it's, it is, I think he is reaching for something more broad here. And there's a lot of threads that he kind of populates that, like, if you want to take it

in a certain interpretive direction, you can follow a lot of different threads in this movie. And I think the ultimate comment there is that he's getting at a type of pervasiveness that permeates everything,

a type of divide that permeates everything. And that there's degrees to those things too. Like this is clearly a black family, a somewhat affluent black family. They have a summer house. Right. Like, They have a boat.

Well, they buy a boat, but the boat that he buys isn't necessarily a nice boat, you know? Sure, but, like, that's the middle of middle class, right? Like, you're not wealthy enough to buy a fancy boat, but you're, you know, have enough money to buy a boat. So that's something. Right. To take a, you know, to take a beach vacation, you know what I mean? Like, yes, there are all that, all that sort of stuff. The most sort of overtly political the movie gets is obviously the last.

line where Red sort of says, you know, when Adelaide says, who are you people? And she says, we're Americans. And so obviously, that's the one that sort of is meant to, I think, sink in and sort of get your mind going. Some people might roll their eyes at it because it is maybe the time that the movie plays its hand the most. And I ultimately think this was a movie. People were waiting to pick apart because, like, how do you live up to what Jordan Peel did with Get Out? And And, like, I just feel like it made so much of a show-me vibe to a lot of people that I think is unfair to this movie. But as overt as that line is, though, Chris. In the audience, several gasps coming out in that, like, it was clicking for the audience what Jordan Peel was doing in a way that I still find very exciting.

Well, and as overt as that line is, I think it still leaves a lot. of room for interpretation because you can take that as meaning, you know, any number of things. And it doesn't, it doesn't, you know, lay itself. It's, I'm, we were talking the other day off, off Mike, about how I had just seen the remake of the Stepford Wives, uh, the other day. And I had just rewatched it. Uh, because it's on Hulu right now. And, um, that is a movie that continuously just keeps stating its themes. You know what I mean? Like, there is no, there are no levels to that movie. It just sort of, like, lays it out in plain English. And there is value to that. I think that movie has its problems. We're not going to get into the Stepford-Wis remake.

But I think even with a moment like that line in us, there is a way to make clear that you are after something deeper while still giving your audience room to just sort of, like, I think that line really lets the audience sort of go off into, you know, their own directions. I mean, I think, I ultimately think that it shows exactly how smart Jordan Peel's taste level is because, like, yes, he's a populist filmmaker, I would argue. But that line, even if it feels like it's overplaying its hand, he does kind of back down from it and that it turns that line. into kind of an invitation for people to find the meaning where it is, but I don't think, it takes a while for the movie to get, maybe until the twist, actually, to get that explicit about what

the movie is about. Sure. And we'll get into, you know, the nope of it all later on, but I also, you talk about, you know, a movie that has a lot of show me expectation. I, I'm very excited for Nope while at the same time being like kind of dreading whatever the discourse around. It's going to be. I don't know what it's going to be. I don't know what flavor it's going to take. But I think I just feel like almost certainly it's coming. I mean, I'm being partly goofy when I say that

Mrs. Harris goes to Paris is my most anticipated movie of the summer because it really actually is Nope. Yeah. Nope. So, here's a question, and I guess we'll just get into it now. Did you watch the second trailer for No? Very spoiler.

I mean, maybe not, but it gives a lot of plot details more than we ever got for this movie that we're talking about. Did it make you more or less excited for the movie? Because I want to, I will admit it made me slightly less excited for the movie. Well, because it's like a three minute trailer that gives away at least if I really wish they hadn't done it. Something we're still not being told, I would believe it. But it does seem to give story arc in a way that is always disappointing in a trailer.

Yeah. Yeah. I really, really, I know why. I know you, these days, it's almost impossible to expect a major studio movie to only give you the teaser and to never follow it up with the full trailer. I think especially post-COVID, too, because original movies haven't done so well, I can understand the nerves that might be happening over Universal about it. And, like, I don't know. I mean, I do think that Jordan Peel, as a filmmaker, is enough of a brand now that, people would show up for anything in the way that they show up for Christopher Nolan, you know? Yeah, one would hope. He certainly has earned that, you know, faith and that benefit of the doubt. And that first teaser really was really spectacular. I don't want to, I don't want to, you know, overstate my reticence to the movie now after the second trailer. But I will, it just, it, it, it dampened me a little bit. It made it feel a little less, you know, fever pitch.

in terms of my anticipation for it. I mean, like, from the direction it seems to be going, I am excited for that, but I mean, obviously, I wish that they'd shown me less. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It does, though. I will say there are a couple moments in that full-length trailer where it asks, it raises some new questions as to where what directions the movie is going. Yeah, it answers too many of your initial questions, but then, like, you see a couple things. like, oh, what is that about? Like, where is that going to be going? Right. Like, the movie, even if it's not like a twisty movie, it seems to at least be trying

to muse on some interesting ideas and questions that, you know. Exactly. It does definitely communicate to me that both Stephen Young and Brandon Perea's characters are more than just being a flash in the teaser. You know what I mean? Like, I was watching it and I was just like, how much of Stephen Young are we really going to get. Like, I hope it's a lot, but I, and he's definitely... See, I still think it's not going to be that much. It looks to be a story of a brother and sister. Well, that's certainly the center of it, but I don't know. His character seemed to loom a little bit larger in that, and then you get kind of a lot of Brandon Perea, who I love because of the O.A, and he's so wonderful in the O.A.

And I was so happy to see him in that teaser, and you get a little bit more of him. He plays the the service tech, what is he, he comes over and he fixes something for them, right? He's the one where Kiki Palmer's like five stars, like whatever, you know what I mean at the end? Anyway, anyway, anyway. Very excited for Nope. But we should talk about, we should pivot back into us because what a movie. What a good movie. I'm glad we both love this movie.

Oh, yeah. I mean, obviously. I think it's one of those things where I think get it. out is still of the two of them, my favorite, but I think Us is maybe a little bit more interesting to dig into because it is so overtly, like, get out's obviously very creepy, but like, get out kind of, it's there for you, right? It's all right there for you. Whereas I think Us made me work a little bit more at it. And that's always a really interesting. prospect to sort of like dig back into it, which is why I'm glad I can do it for this.

I totally get what you're saying, too, and I think it was smart of Jordan Peel to make something. I mean, like, of course, it's a follow-up to this huge, like, cultural landmark movie that was so important. And partly, like, the thing you're describing, too, I think it goes into, we'll get out as a movie that was so very unpacked and, like, continue. used to be, like, as top of conversation, but people don't really unpack this movie that much and didn't really at the time. Like, I think a lot of people, especially the people who were frustrated by it, especially

frustrated by the way that the movie ends, even if they liked the movie overall, they weren't really led to unpack it. Yeah. I also think it's a really interesting, incredibly accomplished. like sophomore feature. Like you see such a progression in Jordan Peel as a filmmaker, as a storyteller. That's just like really makes me even more excited for Nope. Yeah.

I mean, he's just, he's an incredible talent. And he's an incredibly, his imagination is really fun. The way, you know, the directions he goes while still maintaining, consistent sort of like themes and vibes throughout his movies. They're really interesting concepts for ideas. It's beyond just how rich they are when you dig into them. They can still be like, you sit down and, you know, around a, you know, campfire or whatever, and you're like, I'm going to tell you a scary story.

And they can still boil down to that, which is pretty cool. And it shows you, I think you really get the feel for. what a fan of movies Jordan Peel is when you watch his stuff especially in this movie Yeah yeah and it's not just And it's a lot of times when you say that about a filmmaker You're mostly talking about references what they reference

Unafraid to Reference or not reference But in this case It's just sort of like the The zeal with which he creates These very kind of like cinematic horror Set pieces and scenes it's also that he comes right out and tells you what his reference points are for this movie you know you have that opening shot where you see the literal VHS copies of movies there yeah but and like you kind of roll your eyes and groan like oh god the goonies I guess we're gonna do another goonies riff type of thing and it's like the threads of the things that he's referencing are there but not in the obvious way yeah and the influences he has like the movies that have influenced him, like, it's things like Jaws, which, like, get referenced regularly, but it's

not, yeah, he's so much smarter than the average filmmaker that's like, I'm going to literally reference, like, the visual references and beats of Jaws. Right. And, like, I'm going to show you the sign on the beach. But, like, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not, you know, everybody's doing the obvious thing. And it's, like he is, it's very telling of his perspective as a storyteller because of like the grains that he's pulling from something like the shining and where he throws it in to this. Yeah, I think that's a good point. I think it's a very good point. All right, so let's get to the other side of the plot description and we can really dig into it this week. We are talking about the 2019 film, Us, written and directed by Jordan Peel, starring Lupita Nyango, Winston Duke,

Winston Duke's Thighs, Shahadi Wright-Joseph, Evan Alex, Elizabeth Moss, Tim Hydecker, Yaya Abdul Mateen, and Anna Diop. It premiered on March 8th, 2019 at the South by Southwest Film Festival. It opened wide a few weeks later, March 22nd, 2019. Chris, did you appreciate that I threw in that ode to Winston Duke's thighs, just for you? Sorry, I had to pick myself up off the floor. The mere mention fully makes me slide. out of my chair. It's so funny because I remember that being such a like

thing you tweeted about it a lot and it's one of those things where it's like do I only remember this as you know as much as I do because Chris talked about it so much and then you're watching the movie and it's like oh there is like that camera is just parked right there for like this. Trinfield knows what he's doing. Truly like that that scene was was was very intentional. Okay, Winston, okay we two seconds before we get into the plot description. On top of Winston Duke being so hot in this movie and so hot in that scene, that scene's also really funny, too, because it's like, he's playing obviously

corny dad, but, like, that scene is very funny in that he's playing, like, the way corny dad tries to, like, put on the moves and be sexy in a way that, like, while he is sexy in those, in that scene, he is very funny. Well, it's also, so here's the other thing that I thought while watching, and then I promise we'll do plot description. That's the scene where if you're just paying attention to her exclusively, if, like, let's say you're just listening to that scene, right? And there's, you're not watching it. She kind of lays it all out for you. Oh, yeah.

And, like, kind of spoils some of the things that I think are meant to be that are revealed later as like as surprises, right? As to who these people are and what's going on. And if you really listen to her in that scene, she's telling you. And obviously, once the twist is revealed at the end, you understand why she knows, you know, what's out there. But while she is telling all of this, and, like, in character, Winston Duke's character is, like, doesn't really believe her. So he's only really, like, hearing some of this. But us as a viewer, us shallow, horny bastard viewers there, are just incredibly distracted. by the fact that the camera is situated right between this man's legs, like,

up close as he's wearing very short shorts. Anyway, anyway. I think they're boxers. Well, but it's, I mean, like, that scene right there kind of fully illustrates. I feel like I'm just going to be throwing superlatives at Jordan Peel left and right, but I literally watch this movie this morning, and I love it. It illustrates how he understands a good twist. functions because, like, we as an audience, even if we're listening to what she's saying,

he's already laid this foundation of what we presume she means. So, like, we're not even questioning where she's coming from, even though, like, it's explicitly telling us what the twist is. Yeah. So good. Yeah. All right. All right.

Chris, I've got my stopwatch out. I am going to start it when I say go and you're going to give me 60 seconds worth of of plot description about us. Are you ready? Yeah. All right, and go. All right, we meet the Wilson family. They are a nuclear unit.

Mother, father, son, daughter. They are going to Santa Cruz, to their vacation house. We know that the mother Adelaide is nervous about the beach because we see that she's had some type of traumatic event inside the hall of mirrors when she was a child there. Anyway, they go and they meet their friends, a white couple that is not a nuclear unit. they had these mean twins. Anyway, they get back to the house, and in the evening, a doppelganger family shows up and holds them hostage, tries to separate them and kill them.

Anyway, they break away from that family, including killing the father of the doppelganger family, show up at their friend's house who've already been all killed by their doppelgangers. They killed the doppelgangers of the other family, and then they go back to the towns where the son is kidnapped and taken to the underground layer. and Adelaide kills her doppelganger named Red. They escape, and we discover in the final minutes of the movie that all along back in that traumatic event, Red and Adelaide switched.

So who we thought was Adelaide was actually the person, the doppelganger, and the doppelganger of Adelaide was the original Adelaide. Boom. Minute and nine seconds. Very good. You probably need 30 seconds at least to explain the twist of this movie. That's the thing. And so one of the things that I love about the twist of this movie is it's not

quite the twist that because you see this sometimes where it's just like the character who we're left with is really the bad guy you know what I mean like anything with twins anything with doubles

so the end of this movie you get that revelation right where it's just like you know she was she was the tether all along and it's like but she's it's not like

she's the person who's been with this family all along, right? She's the person who married, what's Winston Duke's non-tethered character? I know Abraham is his daughter. Gabe. She married Gabe. She gave birth to Jason and Zora. Like, she's the person who was with them. It's just that all along she's been this, you know, this tether who learned to exist as a regular human being. And so it's also something you have to think about after. Like, I think the ending frustrates people because the movie doesn't really give you the time to think about the implications of what that means and, like, the further, like,

recontextualization of everything you've seen, especially for that character's motivations. It's very intentional that, like, it's designed for something for you to think about as you're leaving the theater rather than, like, put all those pieces together while you're watching it. Because it changes fundamentally who she is and what she's actually fighting for. She's not just fighting to protect her family like we think she is the whole time and protect herself. She's fighting to hold onto this status that she has claimed for herself by switching into the other world.

And you can interpret that in terms of... you can interpret it in a whole bunch of different ways. But like... Well, and there's a line that really kind of hit me this time, and I can't remember what scene it happens in, whether it's when they're in the house or whether when they're in the tunnels, where Red says...

And it's really kind of like, it's not really lingered on too much, but Red essentially says, you could have taken me with you. You could have, you know, you could have taken me out of the tunnels with you. And, you know, the implication being, like, you know, we didn't have to swap.

There didn't have to be this zero-sum game where you win, so I lose. We could have both, you know, gone out. And the thematic implications of that, when you think about this as a story about, let's say, class, you know what I mean? This idea of, you know, we could lift people up along with us. Like, our success does not have to mean the failure of other people. We don't have to, our, you know, our prosperity doesn't have to come because we're standing on the backs of other people. And it's one of those things where from Adelaide's perspective, and again, she was a child, you know what I mean? So it's just like at some point, how much are you going to blame, you know, a child for essentially just sort of like fighting for whatever?

There's just a lot of implications in that, but then, but as a, from an adult perspective, you get this sense of, you know, because you made the choice that it was you or me, that it couldn't be you and me that had to be just one of us, that now has fermented this, you know, essentially uprising of, you know, clones and, and, and tethers. I don't know. I thought it was an interesting line. Oh, no, I think, I mean, like, very intentional and I think also intentional that it kind of moves past it, too, because I think he is really trying to not overplay his hand, especially, like, that line we're Americans does a lot of heavy lifting for this movie. Yeah. But it's also to not pin it down into one type of over. overly simplified moral like context. It's like kind of grappling with the whole

broadness of it but not trying to be didactic. Yeah. Especially because it's like there is kind of question there like the original tether, the underling, if you want to like reduce it down to the lower class version of Adelaide is the one who replaces herself

into the real world, the upper world. So it's like, the representation of that is like, should we not want people to advance their standing? Like, should, like, of course, of course we should want that. And it just creates a much more, like, complex thing. And, you know, maybe allows you to see yourself in Adelaide and question yourself. when she responds so violently towards the end.

Like, when she actually kills Red, it's so upsetting. And it goes beyond, I'm protecting myself. I'm protecting my family. And it's this, like, primal, like, red is basically already dead before she strangles her and, like, chokes her to death with, like, the handcuffs that she has, which, like, think about that as a literal image. Right, right.

Yeah. That it's like, it's, it, I felt it this time because Lupita, like, let's out this scream as she's doing it. And it's the most that we ever see Adelaide as she might have been as one of these tethered people who don't have language that, like, have these kind of primal sounds that come out of them. Yeah. in a way that felt intentional, like she was revealing her true self again before we know who her true self is. Well, and you even got the little flash of that in Elizabeth Moss and Tim Hydecker's house where Jason sees her kill the last of the twin girls, and that's the first time he sort

of gets the sense of like, what's, you know, what's up with mom kind of a thing. Right. you know, just sort of, you know, watching her. I'm wondering how we should structure this, whether we should talk about everything and leave Lupita for last, because I think Lupita is the bulk of the Oscar conversation about this, for sure. So maybe we should just sort of paint around, paint the negative space around her character a little bit. I want to talk about, first of all,

Elizabeth Moss in 2019, because this was the same year that her smell got released into theaters, such as it was, a very small release that did not. Okay. Did anybody besides us watch her smell? Because it really feels like we were doing a lot of the work. Maybe we should save that for a her smell episode. Maybe, that's true. But I would just feel like, I think Elizabeth Moss, with a very little bit here, does a lot with like her her character in this. I think she really sells the sort of odiousness of this other family in that scene on the beach really well talking about how she got a little work done and, you know, it's vodka o'clock and all this stuff

and how much she can't stand her husband. I think it's vodka o'clock. I mean, it's always vodka o'clock, right? And then back at the house, that moment where she's sort of crawling towards the camera and then also the stuff with like her tether looking in the mirror and sort of like trying on facial expressions essentially is I don't know I just think she does she does a lot with not a ton of screen time and I think she's really fantastic in this no I mean you know I agree I remember I feel like there might have been some type of critics group or something that put her in supporting actress but for this maybe not I don't know I that could

just be an internet thing. No, she's great. Jordan Peel knows exactly what he's doing in casting her in that role. I remember when, because before that teaser dropped on Christmas Day, mind you,

um, the casting announcements were Lupita and Elizabeth, like together as one, so it made it seem like Elizabeth Moss might be a larger role than she actually had. and it made people question what it was

and like a big deal that Elizabeth Moss was in Jordan Beal movie and her role is eventually it came out that it was a small role but well there's also a flash of her face in the trailer that I remember people being like oh she's the bad guy and um because you get the

you get the little bit of that scene of them on the beach but then as they're sort of like as trailers do sort of like move through things and you just get flashes of things and there was that one shot where people were like oh she's the bad guy. And I think people thought they had it figured out with that. But yeah, I think she's really good. Tim Heidecker's never been my kind of comedy. I know some people really love that

kind of anti-comedy thing that he became very, very, you know, known for with like Tim and Eric and all this other sort of stuff. Has never really been my thing at all. What was the one movie? It wasn't the comedian, but it was... The comedy? The comedy. Which I've never seen. I don't think I've seen a Rick Alverson movie. Wasn't the comedy? I don't know if it's going to be for me. I think it was. Anyway, it was one of his movies, and I remember watching that people really, really loved and people were really, really raving about.

And then I watched it and I was like, I hate this. So, not my thing, but I think he's also very good in this movie playing, you know. I mean, the objective is to play, like, the most objectionable person you meet on a vacation. And you're just like, bingo, nailed it. I hate this guy. Um, he also, though... Yeah, like, he just shows up and gives a believable... Like, the fact that these two actors are cast in those roles,

you kind of just need someone to sell exactly who these people are just by the fact that they show up as those actors. And this movie achieves that really, really well. But Tim Heideker is not really anything to talk about in this movie, I think. I will say, though... He shows up and you're like, ah, douche. That shot of him, his tether, where he reaches... out his hand to Elizabeth Moss

dying on the floor, and then pulls it back and sort of slicks back his hair, I think is a really funny touch by Jordan Peel, just to sort of, like, it communicates a lot while also being like this fucking asshole. Right, right, right. I don't know. I think that's great. Let's talk about

the Adelaide's family, though. I think those two kids do a really good job. So good. Yeah. Shahadi Wright-Josef rules. Yeah, she's really fantastic. Both as Zora and as her tether in this very like her tether

is got the scariest facial expressions where she's so enthused about this all and she's so sadistic yeah really really incredible I thought she was really fantastic and then and then the kid who plays Jason too

okay that was my one I know I said earlier that like logistical complaints about this movie don't really land with me and yet the thing where he's able to get his tether to walk backwards into the fire because he's walking backwards that made me be like, wait, how does this all work again?

The tethered people at least know that that is a thing, though, because it's ultimately a trap to kidnap Jason. Right. I suppose it's maybe overly convenient, but it at least explains a certain logic that the tethered people know that that is something that exists and they exploit it. But this is my question.

And again, this is not a deal breaker. I still, you know, I don't think this really affects my enjoyment of the movie. But watching that scene, I was like, is this a thing that all of the people can do? Can everybody control their tether? Does the tether always have to move the way their original moves? Or is this just like, why was in that moment, Jason able to do that with his tether? I don't understand the mechanics of that, is what I will just say. And it, coming at such a pivotal moment, I was like, well, that seems convenient.

But anyway, I get what your point is. Ultimately, it allows Red to abduct Jason. But I do appreciate that Jason as a character, whether it's his age or just, Jordan Peel intends it as a definitional thing for Jason, that he's kind of soft boy. He's a little skittish and scared. He has this mask the whole time. I love the mask is so good. It's such a good touch at the end that after he looks at his mom and realizes who she is,

even if he doesn't know for a fact, but like we get the sense he realizes, and then he puts on the mask, and then you can interpret that in any way you want to. But like, that is a loaded moment. Is that supposed to be a knockoff Chewbacca mask? Is that what we're meant to think? I mean, maybe? I was trying to figure that out. Like, what is this supposed to be?

Was this just, like, generic Bigfoot kind of thing? Or was this, like, somebody was selling cheap Star Wars knockoffs or something like that? I think it's a fair, I mean, like, regardless of what the mask itself is supposed to be, I think it's a really, you know, I hate, like, the obvious 80s nostalgia and stuff. Like, you know that, like, nothing makes me roll my eyes harder than, like, the stranger things of it all. Why does that bother you so much? take the most obvious things of like those cultures and like of like 80s culture and lean into it but like that type of plasticy mask is like such a specific like 70s and 80s toy that like doesn't feel obvious so I love that touch I'm never bothered by that I'm never bothered by by that kind of like kitsy throwback reference I am because it's always the same thing it's always the same reference points and it's always the same reference point it's always the same reference point reference points deployed in the same way. All right, I'll give you that.

And I think that, like, in this movie, Jordan Peel has a lot of those reference points, but he's more granular in what he's referencing and deploys it in a way that you might not even notice it if you're not paying attention. Sure, sure, sure. Sure, sure. Yes.

Did you notice the girl from Moonrise Kingdom in this movie? Because I see her in this cast list, and now I'm trying to figure out who she would have been. is she one of the twins or is she like in the she's not one of the twins she in the carnival she might be some like a person at the carnival somewhere i'm trying to think of like is there like a news reporter that we see or something like that maybe that's who it was like i i'm now i want to see the we see the like news footage when they're at the tyler's house after they've all been killed right that's my that's my one

like lurching moment with this movie it's like you like an info dump but like I do think it's slow it's the movie struggles to get into its third act is my one qualm with this movie well my other thing is and I get that you want to set up the

visual at the end where it's the hands across America you know they're everywhere they've done this everywhere but it's like that's the moment that the movie chooses to tell you what's going on in a big picture sense and I do think you do have to do that I just, it comes to kind of a halt.

Once you've seen the Tyler family get slaughtered that way, you understand that it's more than just the Wilson's, right? You understand that it's more than just the central family. You understand that it's, you know, that there's some kind of coordinated thing happening. So I don't know whether you necessarily need that news report, because then you also later on see the stuff on the boardwalk. Right. And so maybe.

Well, I think it's maybe trying to establish it as like something that's happening. globally and not, um, which like, I like because I do think some of the themes Jordan Peele is going after are not just like American problems, right? Right, right, right. Yeah. It's, it's definitional to America, but like, yeah, you know, there's power structures all over the world. Yeah. Um, Winston Duke, very good in this movie. He and Lubita together again after Black Panther, which was the year before this. And, yeah, he's quite good as both Gabe and also Abraham,

who is terrifying with that sort of, like, croaking scream. When he's, you know, on the boat and he's sort of like screaming into the wild, when you get the sense that he's waiting for, like, a response from, this has a very end of the invitation sense to it sometimes, where you sort of, you know, at the end of the invitation where all the red lanterns are everywhere, spoiler, but also you've had plenty of time to see the invitation. It's a great movie. Karen Kusama forever. Okay. But that was that sense to me, it was just like, you know, you can, there are a lot of moments where you hear sort of like screaming in the very, very, very far distance,

and you can tell them like other things are happening around. But yeah. Winston Duke, I put on my supporting actor ballot that year. Did you? Yeah. He's good in this. He's very good. He's just, A, it's a great comedic performance, but also it's, he balances out the movie so well, and I do think there is an element to, like you mentioned, his tethered character, Abraham, that he, Winston Duke is so smart in how this character represents a certain type of protective masculinity, you know, different types of fathers and, like, protectiveness and that it might come from the same place, and sometimes it's brutality, and sometimes, it's, you know, corny dad. Well, there's also, this movie gets a little bit of mileage out of this sense of that the dad assumes that he's going to be the person who's going to be in charge of protecting

his family. And very overtly, Adelaide is like, you are not in charge right now. I am now taking control. I am now calling these shots. I love the scene between the family when they're getting back in the car to go to the board balk after they're leaving the Tyler's family where they're all gauging how many people they've just yes yes to see who gets to drive them in control yes uh that was very funny also uh Gabe mentioning home alone is just very funny where he's just like I thought we could set

some booby traps like in home alone um he's like we're not putting micro machines down and the one kids like what are micro machines no the girl goes what's home alone yeah that's a great And that's a joke that, like, that's a well-built joke. That is, like, Jordan Peel, you know, being like, yeah, I'm a, you know, I'm a great comedian, too, remember, don't forget. Jordan Peel's story is really, really fascinating, obviously, and it's one of those things where it's like, you don't got to dig. You know the story is just like, you know, Key and Peel is this great sensation as a, as a sketch show on Comedy Central. I think for a long time, it took a while for them to sort of reach this mainstream appeal of like, oh, these guys are doing sketch. maybe better than anybody on television right now. Obviously, the Obama stuff really, really helped them go viral on a lot of occasions, the, you know, the anger translator, all that sort of stuff.

Jordan Peel does a phenomenal Obama is the other thing. For as much as Keegan got a ton of attention for the anger translator part of it, Jordan Peel's Obama is very, very funny. And I don't know, just like the two of them together, Kean Peel's a really, really fantastic show. And I should figure out where it's streaming, because that would be a great. great, like, show to watch. I would imagine Paramount Plus because it was a Comedy Central show. That's true. Although Paramount Plus doesn't always have all the shows that you think that they should. But that's a, that's a side thing. So he comes out with Get Out in 2017, directorial debut, completely outside of the genre that you think he's going to move into when he moves into making movies. That was a trailer that I remember, like, flipped people out because people are like what's going on here but immediately as soon as you saw that trailer you were like I need to see this movie I need to see what's going on with this

thing it was an incredible um an incredible sort of like you know moment for him where it's just like immediately you're like you know what filmmaker I'm really excited to see right now is Jordan peel because of that trailer it was really really phenomenal um and like one of the great career pivots and it's not like he's like left comedy behind He'll still, like, you know, show up in, you know, certain movies or whatever TV shows playing a comedic part. But, like, in terms of a career pivot into filmmaking in a very specific genre that he is now stuck with for three movies, really, really kind of incredible. And then he goes and wins the screenplay Oscar, nominated for Best Picture and wins Best Original Screenplay for his first movie.

Standing O, right? It was amazing. That was a category because it was. was, who else besides Get Out and Lady Bird? I remember that being like, I remember being like, as long as it's Jordan Peel or Greta Gerwig,

I will be happy. If it's Martin McDonough, I'm going to be pissed. Shape of water. Right. Which was never... The fifth one? Was the fifth one something

that felt like an active challenger? No, it was the big sick, which I also loved. I knew they weren't going to win, but I was like, I loved Kumail and Emily, and I thought, I was so happy that they were, they got nominated.

And they were, when I interviewed them, they talked about how they're like, we know Jordan from like forever. I saw when Jordan Peel was on Seth Myers, they talked about how they had been like 20 years, a 20 year long friendship or whatever with them. Like he was very sort of like in with a lot of these comedy guys. That was his, that was his sort of crowd. And so when I interviewed Emily and Camel, they're like, yeah, like, we're friends with Jordan from like forever.

It's amazing that we get to be on this award. circuit, sort of like paling around with him. So, yeah, it was a really interesting category. It felt very much up in the air who was going to win up until the moment that they read the winner, which... I felt strongly Get Out was going to win because I, as much as I probably didn't want to admit it, knew that for, like, Lady Bird, it was lucky to get the nominations that it got, and that the nominations were probably the prize for that movie.

I don't know. I don't know if I agree with that. I ultimately kind of do think that about that movie. And maybe it's some of like little women being kind of underwhelmingly received by, you know, establishment types. And, you know, the way that the Oscar voting goes down to, the narratives that surround, like, certain movies, too. It's like, they do spread wealth now.

And I figured it wouldn't be three billboards for screenplay because it was so solid that it was winning those two acting Oscars. Well, that I definitely agree with. I remember Best Picture that year was so competitive. And for, I think you can look back now and be like, well, obviously, Shape of Water. It had all of those craft nominations. And, you know, and Del Toro was winning Best Director and whatever. But a lot of people were predicting a split between director and picture that year. And Three Billboards had been the frontrunner for a lot of that up until McDonough doesn't get the best director nomination.

Everybody was kind of already pre-angry that Three Billboards was going to win Best Picture. I remember that being one of my favorite moments. I do love when Twitter discourse gets deflated and everybody gets to look a little bit silly. And that was one of my favorite moments where he doesn't get nominated. sudden it's probably not going to win. And I was just like, all right, now everybody can calm the fuck down about this movie and whatever. And Three Billboard's was probably never going to win, even if he got that nomination. It's shape of water. Even though it is a movie that opens with a mute woman masturbating, it is the closest thing to a play down the middle. But we see that now,

though. We see that in hindsight. And at the time, it still felt like it was, I thought, my interpretation of it was this really feels like a four-way race with like things that are more likely to win than others. But I thought, Shape of Water, Get Out, Lady Bird and Three Billboards all had a reasonable claim to Best Picture, pretty late into that season. And the thing about Three Billboards was, if it doesn't win Best Picture, you're right, it's definitely going to win for McDormand and Rockwell. So that's going to be fine. And so you looked at original screenplay, or at least I did, and was like, okay, this is going to be the one where one of these two movies gets its consolation prize, and the other one's going to probably win nothing. And that was the case. And I just thought it was going to be, I just thought it was a real toss-up between Get Out and Lady Bird with the outside chance that three billboards could just get, they could get greedy with that one and give it to that one anyway.

And again, thrilled for Jordan Peel and was super excited. and would have felt the same for Greta Gerwig. And that was the other thing. It was like there was still that like, uh, sort of landmark nature of both of their best director nominations. I was so, that was the other thing is you weren't super confident going into the nominations

that one or both of them was going to get shut out of best director. And I was really thrilled that they both got nominated. Yeah. Because there was definitely a world where that was not a sure thing. No, totally not And I mean maybe people had Overconfidence in Martin McDonough

Did McDonough not get DGA to I thought he did But give me half a second to look that up While you keep talking Because I thought Something like that And then people justify it's like Well

DGA is more popular It's like well Maybe it's also that Three Bull Awards isn't as strong As people think it is Hold on hold on hold on hold on hold on Hold on. Directors Guild of America Awards.

Because, like, it is true that the DGA is a little bit more mainstream taste, because, like, the DGA is also, like, commercial directors. And... DGA was Guillermo del Toro won. Gerwig, P.L. McDonough and Christopher Nolan were the other nominees. So, wait, what's the... Paul Thomas Anderson. Got nominated for the last year.

Right, because Phantom Thread came on strong in the end. Yes, yes, yes. Which was, again, like, film... Twitter really got everything it wanted there, and they really didn't have anything to complain about. And that was the thing that I found very funny. I was just like, oh, well, look, now we don't have anything to complain about for a moment. And, like, this will probably last half a day, but I'll enjoy that half a day for as long as it lasts. So, um, yeah. Right. Because then people tried to, some people tried to pivot to being like, well, the shape of water is so square. Shape of water is such a predictable winner. You know what that's about. It's about fish fucking. Like, that's the thing. People really. tried to paint that movie into, and I was, like, I definitely made the argument early in that season that, like, we're underestimating shape of water because it's the most reverent to classic Hollywood. And the fact that it manages to make a movie that's reverent of classic

Hollywood in the middle of the fresh Me Too era that manages to have a love story that is neither about a man nor the studio system. That I was like, this is, like, it was a love letter to studio filmmaking without being about the studio system. It was a love story without being about a man um so i was like this is perfect it was about a fish and it's about you know vibes and but even still try it's my least favorite of these three movies but like this best picture lineup just felt so fucking cool yes to have yes get out and ladybird there as well there is things that like on paper and like for what those movies are actually like showing you and offering you are very atypical to oscar movies and it's like i you always kind of want to

to root for those, especially when they're that good as those movies are. Yes. What a gift. And I do ultimately think that's part of why people leaned in so hard on hating three billboards because it felt like it was, you know, soiling that, you know. Right. Even with the three billboards, even if you, like, think that three billboards is the most vile and evil and terrible movie that's ever existed, which none of those things are true.

it's a really cool Oscar lineup all around like not just best picture but like there were some really that was the year that Denzel Washington got the surprise nomination for Roman J. Israel even stuff like down to like Leslie Manville getting the Phantom Thread nomination is pretty red the fact that Lori Metcalf all of a sudden was an Oscar nominee like that again she was such a she had been such a consistent performer

in the Critics Awards that year that you sort of take for granted the fact that, like, if you would, when we saw Lady Bird as a prospect, like, that was not an easy sell for an Oscar. This is a small movie about a girl and her mom. Like, the Oscars don't really go for that. And, like, I think sometimes people, and myself included, can sort of overlook the fact that, you know, there are really interesting nominations happening just because by the time they happen, it feels like, well, of course. You know what I mean? Well, of course that happened. I think...

Well, I mean, even the trajectory of Get Out, too, because it was February release, made so much money. People never stopped talking about it. Yeah. And as we were moving into the summer of that year, it really kind of started the percolating question of, like, is this going to be a movie that deserves the push and doesn't get it? And, like, weren't they, like, sending, like, people from Get Out to Tell Your Ride? basically for no reason. And, like, they made it very clear before, like, the fall festivals started

that they were going to give the movie a push, which was, like, I remember at the time feeling, like, a relief. Oh, there was, there was intentionality from even before the fall festivals. Like, because Get Out got released in February. Yeah. There were...

As did us. They were doing... They were doing... They were doing events in the spring. they were doing events to really, like, prime that system really early, to really, like, make sure that people started thinking about this movie as the kind of movie that could get Oscar nominations. And I remember that happening very early. Like, Universal did a very, very good job campaigning that movie. And, and obviously it really paid off. Almost to the point that I question, like, they push so hard to get it to be considered to be a movie or to be an Oscar movie. and to, like, not drop the ball and, like, really make the Academy early on to take note of it. I don't remember it being quite so early, but I almost question if, like, the end game was to get it to be an Oscar player, but not, like, I do think that could have been a Best Picture winner, but they didn't play to win that Oscar.

I don't know. I mean... in the campaign. Yeah, I hear you. I sometimes want to make sure at this that I frame things as, like, it's great to win the Oscar. It's great to be the Oscar winner. But like- It's not the end-all be-all. It's not the end-all-be-all.

Like being such a big time of the conversation. Yeah, Get Out is going to have a longer life as a movie than the shape of water is. And that's just. Well, and just the fact that Get Out was in that conversation all year and was, you know, it got the nominations it got. And it did end up getting a screenplay Oscar. Like, that's its legacy. Like, the fact that it did not win Best Picture does not, I think, affect that movie's legacy at all. I will, I just going back very quickly just to the, you know, how early that stuff started with Get Out.

I remember, and it might not have been Kyle Buchanan, but I think I had, I was DMing with Kyle, like, pretty early into that Oscar season. And he was like, they're really, like, because Kyle, like, knows shit and talks to people who, like, you know, make decisions and whatever. And he was just like, they are, they are, uh, they're moving on this one soon. They're moving on this one early and, and, uh, and good for universal. And I think with us, for as much as us ends up not getting nominated for anything, I think genre wise, us is an even harder sell than get out because it is much more of a monster movie. And, but like, Universal did campaign for, for, for, for, for leopis.

I think Lupita was sixth. I think, yes, I absolutely think she was six. We'll sort of, let's pivot to her now, but I think the one thing, while we're still on Universal for half a second, the one thing that tips me off to the fact that Universal was really pushing her was she got the Santa Barbara Film Festival Montecito Award, which, like, that happens when your studio has decided that you are going to be a contender this year. And so that's a pretty good. indicator. Let's talk about the performance first, and then we'll talk about what precursors she won.

My God. It's incredible. Like, couldn't be scarier just by being weird. Like, it's hard to just, like, do some weird shit and be this unsettling. Um, well, and it's, but I do, go for it. Go ahead. No, I was going to say, it's, it's, it's weird in an incredibly, uh, controlled is maybe the wrong word, but, like, she has control. She has incredible control of her instrument in this. Like, the Yale School of Drama Training really comes through in this. I was going to say, sometimes theater kid energy is not a bad thing. It's just like, this is what you've trained for, Lupita.

Like, this is the kind of thing. It's just, like, it's the choices. It's the fact that, as read, she makes these facial expressions that are, first of all, terrifying, but also, like, not cliched terrifying. They're just like, human faces don't really move like that. Like, human expressions don't really go like that. And it is the sense of this creature who has tried to approximate humanity by mimicking it, right? And, but also, just the unusualness of it is so terrifying. There were moments in this where I was like, that's CGI, right? Where, like, they, like, were fucking with their face or something. No, darling. That is

acting. That is acting. That is physicality. That is, yeah. Gosh, she's so good. Her chuckle, every time, makes my skin crawl. It's also very fun. That's the thing. Like, I talked about this with Winston Duke,

is the ability to be scary and funny and incredibly thematically thoughtful that runs through this performance. It's just a staggering performance. Like, having, this and Elizabeth Moss in her smell in the same year.

I'm just like, what else do you need? Yeah. However, I think when we talk about this performance, we talk so much about what Lupita is doing as red, that we overlook what she's doing as Adelaide. Which I do think it's one of those things

that, again, is more rewarding on rewatch, and you see the amount that as she's playing Adelaide, that she is tasked with conveying the amount of deception that kind of has to happen for the audience, but it has to hold up to scrutiny when you revisit the movie. And it really, really does. And on top of holding up to scrutiny, it's even more impressive the kind of, like, perched fear that she does.

It's like, we read it as the kind of, like, fear that's instilled by, like, this traumatic event that happened to her. We don't even know what it is, but it's actually a self-preservation fear. Yes. Like, almost this animalistic thing of, like, you know, when you hear the, like, creak in the back of your dark house, it's not because you're just afraid of what it might be, but, like, your body is. responding into a fight or flight type of thing. And that is, like, present at all times when she's Adelaide in a way that's really interesting to rewatch. That's the thing is, and also, once you know the twist, watching the way she reacts

to things is, um, it's just, it's a rich text, you know what I mean? Like, it's just you, the layers of it is just like, what are, what is she thinking? What is she, what is, you know, she devising? What is she, is their guilt there? Is there, you know, is there fury there? Is, you know, what is she devising? What kind of tactics? It's, yeah, it's really incredible.

The scene that I'm most happy is there is after the tethered daughter is flung into a tree. Yeah. And she goes and checks on her. Yeah. Or goes to see, like, I think the family thinks she's going to, like, make sure that She's killed and dead. Yeah. And it's this weird exchange of, like, knowing and, you know, seeing each other in a way that when you first watch it, you're like, what the fuck was that scene?

Yeah. And on rewatch, it still kind of feels like, what the fuck was that? But, like, there's a lot that you could either interpret or read into in a way that is, like, I like, I like that there's. like that there's a little bit of that intangibility there still in her performance. Well, and it's incredibly interesting because, again, talking about the twist that's not quite it's, again, it's not that she's been replaced by the villain at the end, right? This is not her daughter. The tethered Zora is not, she did not give birth to this girl, even though she is

originally a clone. This clone is not her daughter. Her daughter is the human Zora. And yet, because she knows the truth about all of this, and because she knows where she initially came from, there is a spiritual tether, like pun kind of intended, to this girl. And it's the same thing when she watches, I can never remember Pluto, Pluto is Jason's tether, back into the fire. And she's, you know, just saying like, no, no, no. Because, again, this is not her child, but this could have been. you know what I mean? This was

sort of her fate at one point and yeah yeah it's really really fantastic I also want to like really highlight how because this movie is so well made it does right by

Lupita's performance because you know when we've seen so many things and like we grew up during 90s like comedies where like you see so many like one performer playing multiple characters

and it can look so hokey to try to hide around it and this movie doesn't and it's cut together especially in that final fight scene so incredibly well that you buy both performances as existing in this same space and Lupita playing two entirely different extremes

I don't know why you got to drag multiplicity like this Chris I said, I don't know why you got to drag multiplicity like this. I think that was fully unnecessary. You know the movie that Jordan Peel referenced when he was on Seth Myers promoting us about the twin thing was Big Business. One of my favorite 80s comedies, Bet Midler and Lily Tomlin. Big Business knows that it's like corny. It's like knowingly being corny about it. Of course, yes.

Totally different lives. But there are plenty of movies where they've tried. an earnest attempt, and it looks like shit, and it, like, doesn't serve the performer. Agreed. Agreed. She was really fantastic. Again, this movie comes out in March. So there's a little bit of an implicit sense of this is going to be a tough sell.

This is going to be—and not only that, but the year before, Tony Collette and Hereditary got really, really great reviews. Again, A-24 really did make an effort to campaign her. to, you know, get her on people's radars, and there was just a fully, I would say, genre-based resistance to any kind of attention for her. Hereditary is also, as a movie, a harder sell, like? Yes, yes, agreed. Although I probably like it even a little bit better than us, and I like us a lot. But that didn't happen to a degree where it was like, oh, we.

kind of like we're wasting our breath, you know, yelling about Tony Colette because like it was just never going to happen. Never going to happen. And then it, yeah, no. And then 2019 comes around and Ari Aster's like back, back, back again, Florence Pew in Midsamar, who is also phenomenal and giving a great performance. And she is a person who is really getting, she's already done Lady Macbeth and had been sort of like this like, you know, up and coming indie star.

and Little Women hasn't happened yet. It's coming at the end of the year. But still, like, she's ascendant by this point. And yet that was another one. Mitzamar definitely probably helped the Little Women nomination. Well, at the very least, it showed her range. Sure. And, but, like, with the Ariaster thing, you were just like, well, if it didn't happen for hereditary.

And Tony Collette is a former nominee and is much more established and is giving a lot bigger performance. then, like, I think Florence is giving a much more restrained, obviously, as both of, both performances are doing what the story dictates. But anyway, um, so Midsomar happens and you, you're just like, oh, the Oscars just aren't going to go for this genre stuff. And so there was a lot of pessimism with the Lupita thing where it's just like, yeah, she's phenomenal. But like, the Oscar voters just like aren't going to go for something that genre, that heavily genre. And then we get into pre-cris. Cursor season, and the timing of this, I'm not entirely sure, but I'm pretty sure that New York Film Critic Circle, because they usually go pretty early in the precursor season anyway, they give her best actress, and this is sort of, we're heavy into our New York Film Critic Circle Awards as activist, as activist play era, where they are making active decisions to elevate performance that are not getting or would not maybe get attention. Creates an influence.

Right, exactly. And so, and there was a lot of directions they could have gone that year, right? Where you're going to look at, you know, one of the other big LA film critics and national film critics both gave their best actress to Mary Kay Place and Diane, which I think is a very similar impulse of like this tiny little movie, we really want to elevate it. There was also Elizabeth Moss and her smell that year was. a potential, Florence Pugh, like I said, in Midsamar. Give me half a second.

I want to look at who else would have been in 2019 for, oh, I don't have it in my notes. Anyway, so, Lupita getting the New York film critics one was like an eye-opener. It was just like, oh, is she, you know, in the conversation now? And then follows that up. She wins Boston Society of Film Critics, Best Actress, Chicago Society, which of like the second-tier critics' organizations are the two big ones. The big regional groups. Right.

And so, like, it kind of becomes the Critics Awards champ of that year with like Mary Kaye Place a close second, I would say. I think winning two of the big four, I think if you consider, I've always personally been like New York, L.A. National Society National Border Review are the four big. critics you can put scare quotes around critics for national border review whatever it's just like those four are the ones that have been around the longest and feel like the most those are the ones that are going to have more of an influence especially if like they're working in tandem like happened with drive my car last year not working in tandem but not working in tandem but right it really can elevate something it can create a narrative is what it can do and so mary k place winning two of those

But, like, Lupita winning New York, Boston, and Chicago, I think makes her, you know, whatever. In a spread-out year, she was the critics champ. National Board of Review went to Renee Zellweger for Judy in a very national board review kind of way. And then Lupita gets nominated for Critics' Choice, although they nominated seven people. So it's one of those things where it's like, I go back and forth. Critics choice matter less and less because of that. Well, I think if anything, they, like, weed out some of the other, like, If you miss Critics' Choice, you really missed, yeah.

Basically. But I'm of two minds, because part of me says, if you're a precursor, cast that net, cast that net wide, if, you know, elevate as many people as possible, give Oscar voters less and less. This is sort of the Mark Harris argument, right? Stop giving Oscar voters more of an excuse. to narrow their focus, right? I agree with that, however, don't play down the middle just in the same way that Oscar might.

I agree with that. This is the thing. Make the fucking cool choices, have some, have, like, your own taste and point of view. Don't vote for the thing that you feel like you're being told to vote for. That's the thing. That's the other half of my brain. Or, like, if it is something that's actively campaigned,

pick something fucking cool like Lepida Nyango in this movie. Right, that's the thing. Critics' Choice nominations are Zellweger, obvious. Charlies and bombshell, which, like, I love Charlies, but, like, no. Like, that's, that's boilerplate. Scarlet Johansson and Marriage Story,

which also I love, and I love that performance, and I think it's an incredibly worthy performance and deserved its nomination, but, like, you're not going off of the beaten path with that. Sersha and Little Women, same thing. Cynthia Arrivo and Harriet, by that point, I know that that's a smaller movie, and I know that, like,

basically she got the Oscar nomination because of being elevated by these other things. I also just don't think that's a great movie. I love Casey Lemons, but I don't think that's a great movie. And I love Cynthia Revo, but there's no way I nominate that for Best Actress. I know that's literally a police siren coming from me. I saw an argument. I forget who posited this, but like, does she get the nomination if there's not the singing sequence in the movie? No, but I mean, yes, I agree with that.

I don't think so. but also nobody talked about Harriet even then, much less now. You know what I mean? Like, that is not a movie that has, you know, made an impact. It's a movie that the industry liked more than anyone else, probably. She got, I mean, Cynthia Revo being a great crossover from Broadway, there was a lot of enthusiasm that this is somebody who can be a really exciting presence in movies because she's a great performer, but she's also a great singer.

And on that level, it's cool that she's already an Oscar nominee. She's already gotten over that high. At a career level, I like that. As a performance and as a movie, I could do without both of it. So, whatever. And then the sort of off consensus, so it's the five women who ultimately got Oscar nominated, also got critics' choice. And then it's Lupita and then Aquafina for the farewell. Thank you, Jesus Christ.

Yes. Who also wins the comedy globe. Who also wins the comedy globe. Right. And yet never seemed like a serious. best actress contender that year, despite those two things. Right? Right.

They were pushing harder for, maybe not pushing harder, but like the one that it was clear that they wanted was supporting actress. Yes. It honestly made less headway than lead actress did, and it probably helps that. Aquafina was already famous. Yes, yes. So anyway, that was Critics' choice. And then the big one for Lupita, the one where I finally was like, oh, maybe she is going to get this Oscar nomination.

She gets, she's a part of the SAG shortlist, the SAG nominations. So again, Zell Weger. Zellweger's winning all of these. Zellweger won everything. Zellweger, Charlize, Scarlethaw Hanson, Cynthia Arrivo. And then Lupita ends up being ultimately the outlier who doesn't get the Oscar nomination. So that was the, that year at SAG, little women was the now traditional. one of these movies didn't get screeners out early enough.

And, like, clearly, like, little women, I don't know. I think it's obvious that, like, the fact that, uh, Sertia, Florence Pugh, and then the ensemble, none of them made it. And so, I, I really kind of, I mean, maybe they, I mean, I actually think it's not so much screeners for SAG as it is those, like, SAG Q&A screenings that are really important. And maybe they didn't do it for. that movie because like they've made a lot of room and they've established a lot of people like Troy Cotser and Cota early on because they do a lot of movies that do a lot of screening specifically

for SAG. Sure. And I mean, maybe it's a combination of the both of them. But anyway, SAG tends to The thing was about like screeners getting out. Like I had my, you know, I hate talking about screeners. I had mine for little women in like November. Oh, see, little women was one of the last ones that I got. I don't think I ever got a physical screener. I only. got the digital. I think I had mine for Thanksgiving. Oh, interesting. The vagaries of who gets award screeners. But anyway, regardless of why Little Women, Little Women is not on Sags radar. So ultimately, Sersh gets the Oscar nomination. Of those five, Sersh is the only one I wouldn't put, I wouldn't sacrifice to have Lupita nominated. I do think.

And yet, I do think she was probably fifth. place in SAG? Oh, you think Searsia in the Oscar voting was probably in fifth place? Oh, in the Oscar voting? Yeah, I think at least for the nomination, she was fifth place. Yeah, I think that's probably true. So, Lupita doesn't get the Oscar nomination. It was Us's only real point of contendorship in the Oscar race that year.

A lot of people cried snub, and, you know, rightfully so, even though I still feel like that movie had such a genre hill to climb up. and um it did and I ultimately think I think if this movie was released in October I think she might have gotten the nomination yeah I mean there is there is something to be said for that was a movie that was probably going to take a long time

to convince people that this is something you should be taking seriously so maybe October doesn't give you enough time to do that I don't think it's a I don't know. And I also feel like if you release it in October with all these other... It might be easier to reduce as just a scary movie. Yes.

And also all these other Oscar contenders are opening around that time. And you're just like, oh, okay, something that I don't have to talk about in the context of Oscar, it's a horror movie. And so, yeah, I think something like, I think they needed... And again, they were following the Get Out blueprint of if we release it early in the year, we can make our case, right? We can argue our case. I hear all of that, but I do also wonder if she is still elevated to a certain point because she is already an Oscar winner.

That's true. Well, we've seen this before with a lot of other people, and I don't know why it doesn't know her, that, like, you win an Oscar, and it makes you a lot easier to be nominated again. But then again, there's a large number of people who, like, the Alicia Vakanders of the world, you will never be nominated again. Well, and also, Lupita Nyango is a very specific case where, and there's a lot of reasons for this, and we can, you know, talk about whatever, her post-Oscar career is very, very, very thin, and not in terms of quality necessarily, although the quality of roles we can talk about.

But, like, she went and did Broadway, God, why can I not remember the title of that play that I definitely saw? Eclipsed. She does, starting with Off-Broadway and then it got a move to Broadway, this play Eclipse that was written by Denai Guerrera. And she's phenomenal in it. She's very good. That was, if not exactly, post-Oskar, like within a couple years, post-Oskar. But her film roles, she had already, I believe, filmed nonstop, the Liam Neeson Airplane movie. That's actually quite fun. I think she'd already filmed that before she won the Oscar. because that releases, I'm pretty sure, in early 2014. So right around the time that she was campaigning for Oscar. But her next big roles are she's cast as a voice mocap performer in the Star Wars sequels. She is a voice in the Jungle Book, Queen of Cotway, which is a legitimate, you know, movie, a major role, Disney movie, played festivals, never really caught on.

not the lead um not the lead but like um prominent prominent the second most prominent character she's good in it too um david yellow on that movie she gets a role in black panther i would ultimately love to find out if there's a story behind the fact that she's in black panther her character is obviously still around but never shows up in any of the other marvel movies and i and and nobody's ever said whether she just didn't want to do them anymore i don't think at least i haven't read um She'll be in the sequel this year. She'll be in the sequel to Black Panther, but, like, Denai Guerrera, who is also in Black Panther. And even Winston Duke shows up, I believe, in Endgame, like, very briefly in, like, a big crowd shot or something like that.

But anyway, so Lupita's in Black Panther, but doesn't really, like, the ones who pop out of Black Panther are Chadwick Bowman, Michael B. Jordan. Even Angela Bassett, to extent, like, pops more than Lupita Nyango. Denai Guerrera ends up having a decently A Decent Spotlight in some of the other Avengers movies Anyway She's in a movie called Little Monsters that I definitely saw That I believe was direct to Hulu or Yeah, I think it did theaters too

It's a horror movie It's not a great movie It's like a zombie comic The poster is her and some zombies And like first half hour She's like not in the movie Yeah. Yeah, she's not the main character of that. So that's all she does between 12 years of slave and us. Like, that's it. And even since then, it's just the 355, which I still haven't seen. And I know it's supposed to be bad, but I definitely still want to see it. Yeah, I definitely want to watch that movie. And then Black Panther Wakanda Forever, which is coming later this year. So that's it. That's all of the movies she's done. And it's not like she's done a major television series.

You know what I mean? Like, she has just not worked a ton. Now, whether that's she as a black actress is not getting, you know, the roles that are, you know, appealing to her and that are, that would be offered to a supporting actress winner who is white, almost certainly that plays into it. I have to imagine there's a sense of choosiness that also plays into it because, you know, I don't know. I feel like there's a lot of things probably at work here. But for whatever reason... That being said, it still kind of allows her to surprise us in the way that, like, the performance in this movie is somewhat of a surprise because it's so... I mean, we probably don't have her pinned down to begin with with the type of actress that she is.

But, like, it still feels like so outside the realm of, like, what we thought she would be delivering that, like, You look at that film career of, like, the only roles, the only performances that you could possibly consider putting on an Oscar radar of any kind. Twelve years of slave, Queen of Cotway, us, that's kind of it. Like, little monsters too small to really exist. 355 is not, you know, is not the kind of movie that's ever, even beyond the genre snobbiness of us. It's just like 355 is not a consideration. Everything else is small stuff in genre, like really small stuff in genre movies. So if you look at it that way, she's super killing it in terms of like batting average, right?

Where it's just like 12 years of slave and us are both stellar performances. She wins the Oscar for one. She just misses a nomination for the other and wins a bunch of critics awards. So, like, Lupina Njango is kind of one of the most reliable. actresses in Hollywood in terms of like giving you a bang or performance when you would give her a modicum of a good role. And yet, I mean, I think it's also she's building a career that's allowing her to maintain that a level star that a lot of Oscar winners don't. There's no tarnish. There's not, there's not, yeah, there's no tarnish on it.

That's true. She doesn't have. She's not going out and fucking making a Tomb Raider movie that nobody wanted. Right. Right. Yes. That's the thing. Yes. The only thing on her IMDB for future movies is Black Panther Wakanda Forever, which should be coming in, I believe, it's November. So the future is both bright, but also wide open for Lupita Nyango. And, you know, I join the chorus of people being, like, throw good roles at this woman. Like, absolutely fall all over yourself to offer this woman a really, really. good role. And exciting

to see what the next great performance out of her is. It's just a matter of like just get it to her. You know, get those scripts on her on her agent's desk or whatever. So, yes. Anyway. Agreed.

What else about this actress here? I mentioned the Mary Kay plays at all. I would say because we were talking about, I know that they tried to push this for original screenplay for Jordan Peel too. And it's surprising it didn't get more it didn't get more traction

even though if I think about this movie I think of it more as a directorial achievement than necessarily a writing achievement just because you see that the trajectory of his skill as a director on the rise and that's like the number one reason I'm excited for Nope

aside from all the other reasons to be excited for it the thing that this should have gotten some traction for and I know I'm the one who gets more minutia into the below-the-line categories. Mark Abel's score in this movie fucking rips. Like, holy shit.

That did show up a decent number of time on like some of these regional awards, right? It's runner up for Austin Film Critics. It wins the Black Real Award for score. It's nominated

at broadcast film, at a critic's choice. Runner up in Chicago. one Columbus Film Critics Association for Best Score, which also gave... Thank you, I voted for it. What else? What else? What else? Something called the Fright Meter Awards that win its best score.

So, like, say that. What else? What else? Runner up at Greater Western New York Film Critics Association Awards, see if they would allow me emeritus status there because I am an alumni of that great region. Maybe I'd be able to push it over the time. stopped. So yeah, so the other thing I would just say

because I wanted to mention this when we were talking about Best Actress. Like, it's just such a granted, I love, love, love Sertia, Ronan's performance and little women, and I do think Scarlett Johanson is quite good in marriage story.

The one that I knock out is still Charlize. Yeah, yeah. We who love and we've been the people like constantly thumping the like Charlie's Theron drum for things like young adult and Tully. Pomshell is just like,

not a definitive Charlie's Theron performance. I don't really think she's doing much. It is fully the transformation, which itself is not that much. It's a reputation nomination, which I do like that she's gotten to the point where she gets reputation nominations.

Although maybe I should stop being like good for her. It's just like she's doing fine. know what I mean? Maybe she doesn't need it. Right, right, right. Right. She doesn't need that nomination. And so, yes. Like, I understand just on a performance level, everyone else being nominated. On a performance level, I don't understand Charlie's there and getting nominated for that performance. I agree. I absolutely do agree. Yes. My nominees that year, I went and looked up on the Blankies Wiki because I was, I gave forth my nominations for the acting awards on their podcast.

So Elizabeth Moss was my winner for her smell. Lupita was a nominee, Mary Kaye plays for Diane, Florence Pugh for Midsamar, and this was Alphrey Woodard in clemency. This was also justice. You talk about like critics' choice should be throwing their wide net to less expected things. Like, Alphrey Woodard in clemency, for Christ's sake, come on. I need to keep a better record of this because now I can't remember what my fifth was, because it was definitely Elizabeth Moss, Peter and Alfred Woodard

and I probably at the time put Florence Pugh for Midsamar and I don't know what I put as my fifth interesting I'm trying to think

of what other that was also the year of portrait of a lady on fire so I am quite possibly a Doha Nell

quite possibly yes um were you a Jesse Buckley Wild Rose person um yes but I did not

put her on my ballot yeah okay um anyway One thing I wanted to, and we really don't have a ton of time to talk about, but I didn't want to talk about because this will probably be our only chance to do it. This was Jason Blum-produced movie. Jason Blum and Jordan Peel had gotten together on both Get Out and us.

In this age of, I feel like we are in a post sort of like name brand producer era a little bit. We're kind of, even with like, Bruckheimer still doing stuff, like, you know, I don't know. I feel like we don't have a ton of name brand producers in a way. And like I really, even the thing about Blum and Blumhouse is even when it's not stuff I love, I'm still really impressed at the way he's able to build up a stable of filmmakers and also, you know, really elevate these genre movies in the way that he does. were like, obviously, the paranormal activity movies were a big, you know, success early on and that sort of phenomenon.

But, like, the Purge movies are Jason Blum, the, like, a lot of the, like, early Mike Flanagan movies, the later M. Night Shyamalan movies, the, you know, the Lee Wanel movies, like, even something like upgrade. Do you know what I mean? or Happy Death Day, which I didn't really like, but that got pretty popular. And that was pretty cool. Or, like, freaky, which is another thing that I don't like. But, like, I do like that these movies are able to sort of make an impact in a world where you could easily see stuff like that falling by the wayside.

But, like, something like Ma. I'm so super glad, you know what I mean? That, like, that movie exists in the world. world. I don't know. It's just interesting, and I think Jordan Peel is definitely like one of the superstars sort of Blumhouse guys. Right? Yeah. I mean, there's

still, see, Blum, Jason Blum's, like, production span has gotten so huge that there's also, like, a lot of bad stuff that Blumhouse puts out. Totally. Totally. And, like, stuff that people don't like, a lot of their Amazon output. But, no, yeah, like, you're right

to mention Jason Blum in the, like factor of superstar producer because it's not a thing anymore like we don't really even have Megan Ellison anymore right um even though Megan Ellison is still producing things and you'll see Megan Ellison show up in some credits but like yeah it's not talked about uh we're talking about this as like I think the black phone released this weekend which I am excited to see I feel like the variance on whether I will love or hate it is all over the map I could see myself follow on anywhere, but also the one upcoming for next year is Jason Blum produced Megan, the one with the creepy doll on the poster.

Oh, yeah. Right? Which is written by the writer. Future gay icon, Megan. From the writer of malignant and story by James Wan. And I am, again, the possibilities are endless as to how I will, respond to that. That's also Alison Williams People talk a lot lately about like, oh, well, this was just like

made for memes and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Which generally, I think is a dunderheaded, full stupid comment to make about something. And yet. Until I saw that Megan photo. Yep. Yep. Yeah. I agree. He's like, they knew what they were doing. I agree. Oh, I should also throw a shout out.

The Elizabeth Moss Invisible Man was Jason Blum. You like a lot more than I do. Love that movie slash performance. All right. Anyway, what else, before we get into the IMDB game, I'm going to go through my little notes. People that don't like this movie are wrong. I don't say that often.

Oh, the scene towards the end, where they're showing, they're flashing back to the night that, that Adelaide and Red made the switch in the tunnels, right? The scenes of the people, the tethered's in the tunnels acting out what's happening above at the carnival

is so unsettling and creepy and impressive and like, it's just like, it's really, it made a mark, I thought. I thought that was an incredible scene. what did you think of that scene? Oh, I love that scene. It's great. Thank you.

Like many of the scenes in this movie, I think it's great. All right, all right, all right, all right, fine. Anything else you want to say? No. Okay. Nope, in theaters next week. We are not sponsored by Universal Pictures, but I am needless to say, very excited. Very excited.

I got to figure out my viewing plan where I'm going to be, what I'm going to see, who I'm going to see it with. I'll probably see it alone because I see most things alone. I normally avoid crowds, even pre-COVID, but like I might actually try to see this with a crowd. Yeah, this might be an 84th Street movie for me. We'll see. We'll see how it goes. All right. Chris, there's a little thing we do called the IMDB game.

Would you like to explain those rules? Uh, sure. Every week we end our episodes with the IMDB game. Where we challenge each other with an actor. We're really going to wait and see how long you went with that. Yeah, I did not want to make this a two-hour episode because of me explaining it. Once upon a time. Yeah, okay.

What if I played the whole... game doing that. We're not doing that. No. Your years are 1994. If any of those titles are television, voice only performances, or non-acting credits, we mention that up front. After two wrong guesses, we get the remaining titles release years as a clue. If that's not enough, it just becomes a free-for-all of hints. That's the IMDB game. Sure is. Chris, would you like to give first or guess first. How about I guess first this week?

Okay. So what was the path that I took to this one? Let's see. Oh, okay. So one of Jordan Peel's earliest acting roles was in the great film. I can't stand by that. I don't even know if I saw this movie. Little Fockers.

Jordan Peel is in Little Fockers, this being... Great is not a word that anyone. should use to describe the motion picture little fuckers if they do um throw him in the hague i was being sarcastic i'm surprised you didn't catch that okay um so one of the stars of that film is Barbara somebody who we've recently talked about on this podcast one mr owen wilson who oh god this is going to be hard yeah a lot of movies out there for owen wilson And it's a question of how much, like, Wes Anderson is there. And none of them are voice the credits, so it's not his hotbox coach in a fantastic Mr. Fox.

One of my favorite, one of my favorite Owen Wilson performances. Who, I meant to bring this up when we were talking about him in the last episode. Hotbox is the thing you yell. Wackbat is the sport. I'm sorry. I was wrong. Good movie. Somebody recently I saw do an Owen Wilson impersonation, and I was fully gagged.

Was it Melissa Villasinior? Maybe. She does a good one on SNL. Oh, no, you know who it was. It was, oh, fuck. I just saw it, too. Shit. It was, like, good enough to call out, and it's drive me crazy.

I can't remember who it was. It was somebody who had worked with him on something, and they were, shit. Now, who am? I'm thinking of... All right, you make some guesses. Gary's, if you can think of it, please yell at us so that we can share it with Populus.

I'm going to guess Wedding Crashers. Wedding Crashers has shown up for other people before. Correct. Okay. Royal Tenenbaum's. Royal Tenenbaum's correct. I feel like Starsky and Hutch showed up for Ben Stiller, but it showed up for somebody,

but I'm going to keep that in my back pocket for now. the Wes Anderson thing is playing into my developing theory that known for has changed in that they've somehow worked the algorithm that only one entry in a franchise shows up and Wes Anderson is not a franchise but he's not not a franchise I have no wrong guesses there's got to be what about Marley and me it is not Marley and me

although I think that's a very good guess that's strike one it made a lot of money he's the top billed person and is probably in every production photo I'm tempted to pick

another West Sanderson and say I don't know about guessing bottle rocket but bottle rocket's the one I feel like I should guess I'm just going to say the life aquatic

No, not the life aquatic, two strikes. All right, you're missing years are 1996 and 2004. 96 is bottle rocket. Is 2004 starsky in ice? Yes, it is. Oh, my God. I was like, he's going to go three for three to start this off. I hate him so much.

That's so annoying, especially because, like, what makes Owen Wilson difficult is it could be anything. Also, the Owen Wilson impression that I was thinking of might not be the one that you're thinking of, but it was Tom Hiddleston. maybe Tom Hiddleston does it surprisingly good Owen Wilson but anyway um all right that's annoying yeah it is that's fun all right what do you know um so for you someone I was actually shocked that we have not done uh both weeks since I said we were resetting the table and we were divided about that I somehow have chosen people that we've never done um so for you since the movie us stars two people from the large ensemble of Black Panther. I chose someone else from the large ensemble of Black Panther.

Miss Angela Bassett. Have we never done? We've never done of Angel Bassett. One of my favorites. We've never done Angela Bassett. All movies. All movies. Okay.

Well, what's Love got to do with it? Her only Oscar nomination. You want to talk about annoying? It's not? It's not on her known for. Wow. Normally, they really hew to the Oscar nominees. I've also felt like it's been a big pandemic movie for people.

Like, I've seen a lot of people watching it during the pandemic, including it's featured in the premiere of the season's P Valley that they're watching it, you know, as like a comfort watch. That's funny. It's an odd choice for a comfort watch, because there's a lot of upsetting things that happen in that movie. I think it's just like a staple for people. Sure.

Like, it was a staple for me, just from VH1. Sure, yeah. And, like, I mean, it's one of the greatest screen performances of all time. She's so good. She's very good. All right. Waiting to exhale. No?

Really? You've been on a tear of almost getting perfect scores. I think you have earned one where... This is shocking, though. Your first two are not... Yeah, like the two... These are the two most iconic Angela Bassett. Yes.

Yes. Crazy. All right. Give me the years. So I'm going to give you your years. Your years are 1995, 1997, 2013, and 2018. 2018 is Black Panther. I can't believe you didn't guess that right out of the box. I was going to guess it right after waiting to exhale. I was obviously going to be a correct guess. So I had three guesses off the bed. I'm like, well, it's going to be what's love got to do with it waiting to exhale Black Panther? And then it's a matter of guessing the fourth. Okay. All right. So 95, 97. Is 97 how Stella got her groove back? It is not.

All right. Well, I guess Terry McMillan can go fuck herself, which honestly maybe Terry McMillan can go fuck herself. So maybe go be homophobic on Oprah a little bit more, Terry. Okay. What else do we got? 95, 97, and oh, 2013? Yes.

Angela Bassett, 95. 95. So 95 is the same. same year as waiting to exhale it is what else would she have been in if i remember correctly the same holiday season oh oh hmm holiday season is it like holiday themed is it like a family however it could be probably no more different of a movie oh it's strange days it is strange days The highly unavailable strange days. That's too bad because it's a great movie.

I really like that movie. I had some snags with it when I, like, got a hold of a very, very, very, very crummy library copy of this movie. Well, it's grungy. It's like there's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's nasty. It's definitely a movie of its time, but like, it should be more available so that people can, like, watch and discuss this movie because it is interesting to unpack. Yes. But, like, it's got to be just one of those things that it's fully music rights, why it's not available. Okay.

It's always the music rights, man. Great performances in that movie. Okay. 97, 2013. 97, 2013. What in 2013? Am I going to get an Angela Bassett out of? Is she a lead in both of these?

She is not. either. Either. Okay. All right. Is she like someone's mom in the 2013? Couldn't tell you because I haven't seen it, but I'm going to guess no. Both of these, I'm positive, are Angela Bassett bureaucrat roles.

Oh, contact. Contact is 97. The iconic Angela Bassett bureaucrat role. She almost walks to the edge of saying, that's the job oh is no 2013 isn't that's the job that's too bad um but all like in contact she almost literally says to jody foster that's the job um which is kind of amazing um i want to watch contact now all right 2013 is it like a disaster movie of some sort yes is she like is it is it like one of the olympus has fallen it is olympus has fallen all right there we go olympus has fallen

crazy two things aside from waiting to exhale and um what's love got to do with it that should be on angela bass it's known for one just her saying that's the job not the mission impossible movie where she says that's the job but just her saying that's the job is the other one the macbeth monologue that i tweed as off as possible where she like on the spot on the spot drop of a hat launches into a Macbeth monologue. Every movie. That was his lie. I dares do all that may become a man who dares do more is not. When you

durst do it, then you were a man. And to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man. No time, no place, than it here. And yet you would make both. They've made themselves and that their fitness now does unmake you. I have given suck and know how tender it is

to love the babe that milksme. would, while it was smiling in my face, have dashed my nipple from its boneless gums, have plucked my nipple from its boneless gums, and dashed its brains out, had I so sworn as you have to this. But if we should fail, we fail, but screw your courage to the sticking place, and will not fail. And then on and on and on. um one of my favorites for a fucking reason if we have an inch of maybe angela bassett will get an Oscar this year I will take a fucking mile um what is she in this year is she got did you have anything on the oh I didn't mean like this year but like if it happens like it should

for anything listen I'm gonna be so beyond what does she have coming up All right. Black Panther, Wakanda forever. Right. She's filming something... Oh, God. She's filming something where, like, Millie Bobby Brown

and Nick Robinson are the first two build, which does not give me a whole lot of... And who are playing a prince and a princess. Okay, that is not what's going to get Angela Bassett, her Oscar NAMI-Gh. That's fine, that's fine. Also in that movie, though, are Robin Wright and Shori Agadashlu,

so you know there's going to be some intense... We're going to watch this movie. Intense adult conversation. and Ray Winstone, like, all I want to do is watch those three and Angela Bassett just, like, talk at each other. That'll be fun. Can you imagine Shori Aga Dashlu and Ray Winstone just, like, debating each other on something? I want a movie where Angela Bassett and Shorahagdashlu are lovers. Well, obviously.

Strange Days 2. Okay. If that happened, Christina Tucker and I would set the Internet ablaze. We would lose our minds. All right. All right. We got to stop. We got almost two hours. We were like, another, this will be a quick one, probably a shorter one. We'll give our listeners a break, but... Sorry, listeners. All right, that is our episode. If you want more of this had Oscar Buzz, you can check out the Tumblr at this had oscarbuzz.com. You should also follow our Twitter account at had underscore Oscar underscore Buzz. Chris, where can the listeners find you and your stuff?

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