Oscarwatch Podcast

The duo hitches up the wagon and heads west for greener pastures with a look back at the 1931 Best Picture winner, Cimarron. A movie very much of its time, the film straddles the line between progress and "the way things were" both in terms of story, and in how famed silent actor Richard Dix handles a speaking role. Hint: there is no line that cannot be belted out of the park for a homerun. But how have the values of Cimarron and its supporting characters fared in the last 80 years? Do listen in. Another hint: if you were mad at Three Billboards, have I got a movie for you! Thanks for listening. Write us in with your thoughts to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and be sure to follow us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, we're gonna steal some bikes.

In honor of the passing of legendary director Milos Forman, Amy and Steve are looking back at one of his most iconic films, the 1975 Best Picture winner, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Starring the one and only Jack Nicholson, the hosts debate if Jack ever actually acts; whether Louise Fletcher deserved that Best Lead Actress Oscar she so famously won; the positive side of ECT and how books and movies can be very different things. Plus, what is the deal with Chief, anyway? So grab your Juicy Fruit and be sure to demand your cigarettes. Thanks for listening in. Write us with your thoughts to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and be sure to find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week: the hell kind of name is Yancey, anyways?

We finish our stay in 2010 with our last ReConsideration, Darren Aronofsky's descent into madness: Black Swan, wherein Natalie Portman slowly goes insane trying to be perfect. What does Aronofsky think of art and artists? We think something rather untenable, but who better to look at obsession than the most obsessive director currently working? Of course, we talk Portman - she won Best Actress. Kunis, Cassel and another in our long list of difficult mothers, Barbara Hershey. The dancing is superb, the effects sublime and subtle and the horrors very, very intimate. And you thought the ballet was boring. Thanks for listening. Drop us a line at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and be sure to find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, we pay tribute to the late Milos Forman with a look back at Cuckoo's Nest.

We continue our descent into 2010 with a look at David Fincher's The Social Network, a movie that makes us go 'Oh yeah, all this stuff involving Zuckerberg totally makes sense!' Though a Fincher film, Amy and Steve talk at length about the film's writer, the legendary Aaron Sorkin and the good - and bad - that often comes with him. Is it so hard to write women, dammit?! Plus, Steve confesses that simple A to B storytelling is boring and that more films should play with time like this. And while the film is about our age, the themes of friendship and betrayal, of pride and jealousy have been around since stories first began. Did it deserve Best Picture? Well, you'll have to stick around and listen. Thanks for tuning in. Write us with your thoughts at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, our final stop in the 2010 train sees us soaring high in the sky, like a swan.

This week, we look at the harsh morality tale, In A Better World which went home with the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film over some considerable competition. Parents beware, there are children in danger in this one. A prescient film about the nature of violence in society in general and young men in particular, Amy and Steve discuss whole and half measures, and the pulling of punches. Can you have a film like this end on the note it does? Plus, why do non-Hollywood actors look so real? Thanks for listening. Drop us a line with your thoughts at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, for your reconsideration...another surprisingly prescient and relevant film, The Social Network.

We've got a friend! Original co-host Alex Riviello returns to discuss the ins and outs of 2010's Best Animated Film winner, Toy Story 3. Haven't we seen this one before? Doesn't it bear an awful resemblance to its predecessor? But as Steve notes, what can you expect from the guy who just copy and pasted Episode IV? Plus, we discuss the utter darkness in this supposed "kid's" movie, why Woody is actually a sociopath, the religious overtones of the storyline, debate exactly who is the God here (is it kids? is it toys) and why, when you think about it, the idea of Toy Story is utterly TERRIFYING. All that and more as we continue our stay in 2010. Thanks for listening. Be sure to drop us a line with your thoughts to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and be sure to follow us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, we tackle the 2010 Foreign Language winner In A Better World

Our first stop in 2010 takes us to the royal drama of a man searching for not only his voice, but the courage to take on the approaching storm. The King's Speech brought everyone's favorite Mr. Darcy his Oscar glory and who knew listening to him curse a blue streak could be so much fun? Amy and Steve discuss the ins and outs of this acting tour de force, the ins and outs of what a director does (it's more than just yelling 'cut!') and what, exactly, makes a film "Oscarbait". All this and more. Did the film deserve to win? Tune in to find out. Thank you for listening. Write us an email with your opinion to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, we continue our 2010 retrospective and would like to remind you that you got a friend in me...

A new segment where Amy and Steve look back at notable Foreign Language films that came up short at the Oscars. For the debut, we could think of none better than (recently en-goldened) Guillermo del Toro's dark fantasy drama, Pan's Labyrinth. Considered GdT's Spanish masterpiece, the film uses the 'young child escapes reality into a fantasy land' trope common to fairy tales and adds that del Toro darkness to the proceedings. Horrific violence, death and despair mix alongside the beautiful - and terrifying - creatures of fantasy. Amy and Steve debate the reality of the reality of the situation, figure out that maybe the bad guy is just a bit too much, find some striking parallels to recent BP winner, The Shape of Water and finally decide whether this should have won out over The Lives of Others. All this and a declaration that Blade II is the best Blade movie, this week on the podcast. Write us with your thoughts at oscarwatchpod@gmail.com, and find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Thanks for listening.

We would like to remind everyone that we are big, it's the podcasts that got small. Continuing our look at the year 1950, we set our sights on Billy Wilder's timeless time of obsession and faded glory, the one and only, Sunset Boulevard. A Hollywood film about Hollywood unlike any other. Amy and Steve discuss - at length - the beauty of the acting, from both Holden and Swanson, to how delicious the scripting can be (are there two better lines spoken in film history? We think not!) and just why this may endure better than its conqueror, All About Eve. Plus, that music, Eric von Stroheim and so much more. Join us. We're ready for our close-up. Thanks for listening. Write us an email at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and be sure to find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, Guillermo! But for what?

We add three more films to the roster here at OscarWatch: The Shape of Water, A Fantastic Woman and Coco. In this special, no muss, no fuss edition of the podcast, Amy and Steve recap the 90th Annual Academy Awards, a show that was long in time and had many things a long time coming. The big winner was del Toro, but there were so many things to be happy for; and even better, so few things to be mad about! So, be sure to Get Out and read it all in The Post, and don't forget to Call Me By Your Name (hint, it is I, Tonya) and this may seem like the Darkest Hour, but i assure you that the Shape of Water is not, in fact, a Phantom Thread. All that, montages, Kimmel, the best speeches, the most memorable moments. Hollywood knows how to party and there is no bigger or brighter hootenanny than the one, the only... The Oscars. Listen in, and we return to our regularly scheduled program soon.

The 90th annual Academy Awards are upon us and there has been no better year to just throw darts at a board! Seriously, this race is as wide open as we all can remember it, with no intimidating frontrunner and with every film garnering its share of awards - and complaints. Perhaps, given the fractured nature of ourselves and the side that art comes from, this is not a surprise. Still, Amy and Steve are here to help you navigate the pitfalls of the MAJOR categories (sorry, shorts! find a different home!) and we absolutely guarantee* that our predictions will make winners of you all for your own office Oscar pool. The Superbowl of Film begins, and we're here to lay down the odds! Join us! * - guarantee not guaranteed

In a more innocent time when people thought someone seeing every performance of a show was not only cute but endearing, there is All About Eve, the 1950 Best Picture winner and one of the most nominated films of all time. Hosts Amy and Steve break down the surprisingly deep look at 50s society and how even the theater, that bastion of progressiveness, can be used to uphold the status quo in terms of gender, sexuality and especially, feminine agency. For a movie that's all about the women, they are servants to a surprisingly male force. And how could we not talk the 280 character (or less) takedowns from the great George Sanders and of course, the one and only Bette Davis. Also, it was a hell of a year for films, and particularly aging starlets. Write us an email at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com if you like what you hear! We're back soon with out Oscar picks.

Happy Valentine's Day! What better way to celebrate than to discuss the film that is literally called 'love', 2012's Best Foreign Language winner, Amour. A tour de force of the everyday, Michael Haneke's unsentimental look at an aged couple and their struggles is nonetheless an emotional rollercoaster of that dogged specter that stalks us all: getting old. Amy and Steve discuss the impact of the rote and boring, an accurate look at how love REALLY looks, removed from the Hollywood shine. We talk acting, pigeons and how this movie does not get the technical credit it really, really deserves. Is amour, no? Thanks for listening. Write us your thoughts at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and be sure to find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, it's we're All About...someone.

Hey now! You're an all star! Yes! You! For listening to this, our review of the very first Best Animated Feature winner, Shrek (2001). The greatest fairy tale never told. We're used to these subversive retellings these days - indeed, when was the last time anyone rescued a princess and not the other way around? - but for the time, Dreamworks' hit was quite groundbreaking. And, as it turns out, surprisingly dark. There is some serious stuff happening underneath that, sadly, is never developed fully. What remains is a delightful buddy adventure with a moral that everyone can get behind. Plus, a lot of fart jokes. Join Amy and Steve as they discuss the whys and why nots of its big win. And then, we're making waffles! Drop us a line at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and be sure to find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, love is in the air. We hope.

Behold! We are creatures of surprise! Not only do we watch older, more acclaimed movies, but we occasionally also get out to the movies to see the best movies of tomorrow today...yesterday? As with many things, we lost the metaphor. Amy and Steve count down their Top 10 films of a surprisingly wonderful film year. Sure, 2017 wasn't the best for the world in general, but we always have the movies. The lists may not be the most 'critically acclaimed' but we have fun with all we've seen. So, from difficult moms (and another difficult mom...and still another difficult mom) to superheroes and everywhere in between, we count em down the best way we can. Sadly, we must also bid adieu to Matt, our longtime co-host, who is on to greener, far better paying pastures! He'll pop in from time to time to talk some B-movie gem. If you like our lists (or if you can't believe we forgot x, y and z) please drop us a line at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and be sure to find us on social media.

Bonjourno, principesa! You know what the problem with Holocaust movies is? They're all so serious! Just lighten up already, like this week's film, Life Is Beautiful, a film that got raked over the coals for doing just that - but won Gold anyways. The movie introduced us to the lovable charm of Robert Benigni and showed us the power of imagination to overcome the odds, no matter how dour and dark. Join Amy and Steve as they discuss the practicalities of imagination, Benigni's famous walk to the podium and why this may have been worthy of an even greater prize at that year's Academy Awards. Thanks for listening. Tune in next week for our tops of 2017!

Who says we just watch older films? That we aren't "with it"? The gang recaps the 75th annual Oprah's preside--err, Golden Globes which is guaranteed to not clear up this year's Oscar race AT ALL! Additionally, we tackle some of our Best of 2017 categories, from our favorite lines to the best trailers. It's fast and loose and a little different than our normal show! Tune in to get your somewhat well informed awards season prognostication. Also, we find out that Amy really, really, I mean really likes Sondheim musicals.

Pop quiz! Is Slumdog Millionaire, the Best Picture of 2008, truly worthy of the title? A. Yes B. No C. Huh? D. It is known. Our first film of the year is likely the only quasi-Bollywood film anyone in the West has seen! Amy and Steve tackle Danny Boyle's restless, fast-paced love story, discussing the pros and cons of the film's framing device, exactly which version of the characters is best (spoiler: the youngest kids!), the musical choices and scores and of course, just how this film would be received in 2018 by social media. All that and more for our first episode of the year! Thanks for listening. Drop us a line at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and be sure to find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, the awards season begins in earnest. We're looking at the Golden Globes and counting down our favorites of 2017!

Hee haw, hee haw! It's our final Christmas movie of the year, Frank Capra's beloved 1946 film, It's A Wonderful Life. A classic now, but maybe not so successful in its time. Amy and Steve look back at what makes this movie an enduring American story, the aw-shucks greatness of Jimmy Stewart, why anyone would ever think Donna Reed was just a 'plain' girl that no one would want to dance with; we wonder why Steve's mother really dislikes this film, and why we remember things about this movie a bit differently than they actually happen. It's a fun discussion on the emotional power and timelessness that only film can provide a society, and our final episode of the year. Like us? Dislike us? Send us an email at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and find us on social media. Happy holidays! Thanks for a wonderful year and take care.

We let our imaginations run wild with this week's entry into our Christmas canon, Ingmar Bergman's Fanny And Alexander! Our trio is divided at the start of this one; while everyone likes what's happening, at least one is unsure where it's all heading. We discuss the 'fun' in 'dysfunctional' family (or is it really that?), tackle the impressiveness of the acting - despite not speaking the language!, Shakespearean overtones and of course, it wouldn't be a Bergman film if we didn't talk about, or to, God himself. Matt proposes an interesting thesis topic regarding Bergman...for someone else to write! Yep! Nothing says holiday cheer like Swedish esoteric, quasi-supernatural coming of age drama! Send us your thoughts at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com, and find us on social media. Thanks for listening! Next week, our Christmas marathon wraps up with a little Capra-corn...