2024 Academy Awards Post-Game Show

All right, here we go, quiet! And the Oscar goes to... You like me, right? There's a mistake.

Moonlight, you guys want to best picture? Oh, my God. That's not anything to think of. The poverty, the only love that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings.

And the Oscar goes to... Jack-balanced his existence. It's between sweet. For more of the rings, the return of the king.

Have three boogers! Oscar Knight, welcome back to The Big Picture Podcast, where we take a look at the latest movie news I'm not going to do this for you again, because you already know who you're sitting with. It's our one and only... Editor-in-chief, rich trees of Film Buff Online.

And seated across the microphone from me is Film Buff Online contributing editor, and somebody who doesn't follow her script very well, but that's okay, because she's great at improvting. Natasha, but that's good. Oh, yeah, I'm good at improving? Yes, okay.

Yes, and? Give me any to go to the... What is it called, Second Study? Sure.

Groundlings... They would absolutely throw me out within the first 10 minutes. Oh, I don't think so. Yes, they would.

Okay. But there are many people who did not get thrown out of the Academy tonight. Yeah, what an incredible... Yes, welcome to our post Oscars hot takes show, where we kind of give our initial reactions to the Academy Awards, which actually, because we started an hour earlier, and it ended two or three minutes before it was supposed to actually end, we actually took a few moments to relax, clean up the place a little bit from the food and the beverages that we had all over the audience.

We're coming to you at regular time. Yeah, and now, yes, it's now our late night recording session that we do every year, because usually we start rolling on this, like right as the credits are rolling, because I won't hit publish on the Film Buff Online coverage, and then pretty much pivot and set up the mics really fast. And we're talking sometimes before. I mean, well, last year we certainly had something to talk about in terms of exciting and, well, maybe not exciting.

Everything everywhere at once, how yes? No, unexpected things. None of those two years ago. Was the slack two years ago now?

Yeah. Wow. Oh, man, time is flying. You know how I know?

Richardson. Oh, God. Is this your way of just getting me to watch this show? No, no, actually literally.

You've seen the photo that we took for our wonderful site, for our header, where I'm opening up the envelope and you're standing over my shoulder. Yep, we're going to use that again this year, because we didn't have time to do a new one. Oh, well, later on that day, I actually did a little talk video sitting at the windowsill, fanning myself, thinking about the dude coming to see me, as it was in preparation for the next season of Bridgerton season two at that time, that was supposed to be hitting within like a month, month and a half. Okay.

Well, that's how I know. Okay. Well, we are now a minute into this podcast, and we have already veered wildly off topic. Which is on par for us.

Yes, true. But anyways, the Academy Awards were tonight. They're pretty just out of here. We'll start with some of the, I don't want to say lesser awards, but some of the technical awards and stuff that we have some comments on, building all the way up to the big finish.

But of course, the big story is Godzilla. Godzilla. Yes. Yes.

Godzilla winning best visual effects. And I am so. Seven years in the making. Oh, gosh.

I mean, literally, oh, wait. No, I changed them a couple of months ago. Usually hanging above where Natasha sits for recording. I have pictures of two of the early Godzilla suit actors that I met at a convention years and years ago.

I think I've told this story. That's the convention where I came home, turned on the TV and saw that Princess Diane had been in the fatal car accident. Yes, you had. Oh, I think that was during the crown episode, actually.

Yeah, when we were talking about the crown, that's right. And so I'm just so happy for those guys, because if you kind of follow them along a little bit, like they were super stoked when they got the nomination, because they knew they were on the short list, but I don't think they thought they had a chance. It was very last minute. This movie snuck out in December, and it was only supposed to be in theaters for one week.

And it ended up staying in for almost two and a half months and getting a re-release in Black and White. And earning about $100 million around the world, which Toho was not expecting. They're like, we don't know how to market a Godzilla movie in the US. We'll throw it out for a week.

And the die-hard fans will come out, and that'll be it. They didn't realize they had a really great fucking movie. This goes beyond any Godzilla. I'm not the biggest Godzilla fan in the world.

I've seen this movie three times in the cinema, because it's just not only good of a story. I've only got to see it twice. But I'm anxious to get to see it again once it hits physical media. I mean, this movie like- I want this to my shelf.

It's very picky and chill. The movie snuck out. So much so that, you know, the critics group that I am in, the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, we didn't even have an advanced screening of it or anything. Our deadline for seeing a new movie, you know, for seeing something from this year is December 1st to be eligible for our voting.

And in the past, sometimes we've had to make exceptions for certain films, which is understandable for various reasons. And Godzilla minus went open on December 1st. And, you know, a couple of us went and saw it just in the theaters that weekend. And then, you know, by Sunday, we were in our chat and we were all like, we need to consider this movie.

It's really good. And not just from the visual effects point. I mean, it would have been great if, you know, Japan had nominated that for its best, you know, for the best international film category. Unfortunately, they didn't.

Although I think at the Japanese Film Awards earlier this weekend, it won Best Picture. So, you know, it's insane that, you know, that this movie had such like this journey. And I'm so happy for all of these guys. They seem like really stoked.

I adored that they all went up holding little Godzilla figures. Yeah, they all had little Godzilla toys that they were taking pictures with on the red carpeting, on the red carpet at the beginning of the show. And I was just like, that was one of those happy moments. I was just like, oh, yeah, just, it's this year's key moment.

You know, because I remember how he was like, so I was just like, oh my God, I won. And then he's running around and he's hugging Steven Spielberg. He's hugging Harrison Ford and everything. Oh, he is still doing the whole selfie thing.

And I absolutely adore it. And I hope he never stops. Yeah, it was just kind of like one of those moment of pure joy. Yeah.

So I was very psyched for them. Now, I guess I won't say, you know, how well we did in our personal ballots till the end as well, I guess. But there were some shutouts this year. Um, Killers of the Flower Moon had 10 nominations.

Maestro had seven and Zilch, not a single win for either movie. That really surprised me. Um, I mean, this was, I mean, Martin Scorsese's nomination for Killers of the Flower Moon was his was his 10th nomination as a, you know, for Best Director. Um, you know, passing, he previously been tied with Steven Spielberg for nine.

Um, and the only time he ever won in any of those. Departed. Yeah, the departed in 2006. I remember that.

So I don't know how many more films he has left in him. I have the feeling though that the next one's going to be a, um, you know, one of those career awards. Again, it's always, you know, it depends on what the hell he's up against, you know, in a future, in a future year. But I honestly don't think he's going to get a career award.

I think, um, his departed moment was his, uh, this year's Nolan moments of, yeah, you have slammed us with a such a, what am I looking for here? A, a, an incredible monumental, an epic, an iconic, not one movie. I mean, just their entire, you know, filmography, they have delivered, you know, not just hit after hit, but I mean hit of quality cinema, one right after the other. And it just kindly get, kind of get shut out every single year.

It was finally like, okay, we got to give you one. So you shut the fuck up. I don't think, I don't think his win for the departed was kind of a mercy award. No, no, I didn't clarify it, classify it, excuse me.

Oh god, no, the departed is highly worthy of that award. But it was his time. He finally got one and people could say, okay, now you've got one. You can stop hammering us with good movies all the time to try to get our attention.

And it certainly wasn't, um, Bradley Cooper's time either. Maestro. I don't think he's worthy of it. Maestro, seven nominations, including, um, yeah, Best Picture.

As I was watching Maestro, there was two awards that I thought Maestro maybe had a shot at, and it was a very slim maybe. Um, and it would have been Carrie Mulligan and cinematography. Those are the only two things that stuck out to me about that film. Everything else, it wasn't mediocre.

It was just kind of there. And I have a very strong opinion about this, but it is a strong opinion backed up by previous history of watching other actors do it. Actors and directors, and I, I know how hypocritical this is as I am a person who has acted and directed and written my own pieces and done all three. But when you do that, and even I can say that it splits your mindset.

And you cannot focus on one more than the other. I'm sorry, Braveheart may have taken home Best Picture and Best Director, but did it take home actor? No, you have to choose which one is more worthy of being seen. His acting here is fantastic, but you can tell he split and that's why Carrie Mulligan's wiped in the floor with him.

And it was the same one he did, um, a star is born. His directing was better than his acting. Why? Because he was copying Chris Kasofferson.

Ooh. Okay. And Lady Gaga is overpowering him because he's not creating his own work here. That's absolutely fair.

Um, honestly, looking back at the Best Picture nominees, if I was to put something else in there, like maybe Godzilla minus one, um, maybe a couple of other things, Maestro would be the one that I'd kick out of the category. I've been saying that since the beginning of the nominations. I saw this actually right before the nominations came out. And I think this was mentioned on, um, if it wasn't this podcast, it was somewhere else where we were talking and they're like, okay, well, if you had to kick someone out of Best Actor, um, and I think the person I wanted to slide in was Barry Keoken.

Yes. For Salburn because you can say what you want. I know that film is very mixed amongst everyone, but no one can disagree that Barry's performance is not Academy Award almost completely worthy. Um, I would have kicked out Bradley Cooper and Harvey.

Yeah, same here. Um, let's move on from the shutouts and take a look at a couple of things. I think the big race here was really just Oppenheimer versus poor things. Agreed.

Um, which everyone thought it was going to be Oppenheimer versus Barbie. Barbie doesn't need the Academy Awards. It doesn't. It made $1.2 billion of the box office.

It helps save cinemas. It brought so many people back to the theater, it created an entertaining, profound, poignant film with a message that is worthy for all people to watch. It is not something that needed this. It is the argument of Annie Hall versus Star Wars.

Star Wars did not need the Academy Awards because its legend will live on forever. Barbie's will too. And somewhere in the grape beyond my friend Bob is like grinding his teeth because that is always been for, you know, all the time that I knew him was his big gripe about the Academy Awards that Star Wars lost to Annie Hall. I look back and I go, Annie Hall did not age well, but in terms of greater cinema, you don't always need to give the one that's going to have the legend, the award.

I will say Annie Hall does have one of my all-time favorite Woody Allen movie jokes. I know what joke you're talking about and it did not age well because no one understands it now. I didn't understand it. I saw it and I didn't get it.

Okay, that's possible too. Sorry. That's okay. I would say though, if people who hadn't seen poor things, because poor things, you know, we've talked before about poor things kind of travels in the same thematic material as Barbie does.

It does. If people hadn't seen poor things and they were watching the Academy Awards hoping for Barbie or Oppenheimer because this is the end of the road for the Barbenheimer experience, tonight was. And if they were kind of watching that and they're seeing this poor things and they're like, oh, what's this about? Oh, these production designs they showed us look weird and oh, MSN won that.

Well, that's got to be it. You know, that's got to be worth checking out. If that takes a bunch of new people to see this absolutely freaky gonzo bonkers movie. I'm okay with that.

I am absolutely okay with that. If these people get like mugged by this movie, it's going to be an awesome idea. Well, it dropped on Hulu literally last night and I made certain to catch it before watching the Oscars today because it not only was I on the road with the sags and the golden globes and the bathtas and everything paying attention to how much it was winning, but it started to dawn on me that not only was this going to be important for tonight, it was going to be important, I think, for the future of cinema as a whole. The hell with Barbenheimer, this movie is not being understood by certain people.

I had someone today say that they had just got done watching it and they were, they agreed that Amazon was possibly worthy of an Academy Award for it, but everything about it led to a big budget porn film. That's ridiculous. And I blew, hold on, I blew them apart because I said, you're not understanding how much of a feminist film this is. This is possibly more feminist than even Barbie is.

It's reaching two different demographics. One is meant for everyone or those who are not highly intellectual, but still want to get the idea of what feminism means. And the other one is meant for to be studied in women's study classes and cinema classes and psychology classes and in anthropology classes. And that is how I would separate out these two films.

They are meant for two different demographics, but they are delivering a similar message. Oh, yeah. I mean, I would love to see more experiments, more chasing wild hairs that are up directors, butts, the way Yorgas Lanthamos just kind of lets his freak flag fly in terms of what he does. He's actually part of the postmodern Greek, it's literally called the Greek weird wave, which I love.

I'm going to need to look more into this then, because I mean, his last movie, The Favorite. It was incredible. Yeah, one Olivia Coleman and Oscar. The lobster, I think, is amazing.

I loved it. And I just caught up with the killing of the Sacred Deer, which was almost 10 years ago at this point. And it was so good. And also, that's the film that kind of jump-started, Barry Keelken.

So we could see from an early age that he was going to be something. But Yorgas Lanthamos' work is absurdist. It's out there. It's surreal.

And I think that plays very well for this movie. As I was watching it last night, it almost made me feel like it's influenced also by Terry Gilliam. That I can definitely see in terms of style and things like that. I don't think Gilliam, as much as I love Terry Gilliam.

And I could say, you know, Time Bandits, Brazil, and Baron Munchazen are his kind of like his trilogy about dreamers. You know, a dreamer as a boy, a dreamer as a middle-aged man, and a dreamer as an old man. Outside of that, I tend not to see a lot of connective thematic tissues in Gilliam's work. He likes to tell interesting stories.

He likes to tell weird offbeat stories. No, I'm just talking style. Yeah, but in terms of visual style, yes. It's very iconic.

It's very iconic, classic, even. And I'd like to see more of that in general. And I think, you know, to kind of digress here, filmmaking tools in terms of like digital things are allowing directors to pursue that if they want. People, and this goes back, this is going to set, this is going to yell at me for how I connect this.

We've talked about digital work in films before and how directors are like always trying to refine things to make it look realistic, whereas they don't often take that other tack of doing something that's stylistic, that maybe has a look that can't be achieved in reality. And that's the kind of thing that I always find myself gravitating to, whether it's Jorgas Lanthamos' work, whether it's The Witch House Keys with Speed Racer, whether it's Karen Corrin with Sky Captain of the World of Tomorrow. Or with me with Bos Lerman. Or Bos Lerman, yes.

I'm not a fan of Bos Lerman. But he has a particular visual style. I will grant you that. And I'd love to see more of that.

I don't want to see that become, I don't mean I don't want it to overrun everything, but I'd like to still see a few more directors at least kind of step up to the plate and indulge that weird bit of fantasy that they might have to. I think the reason why they don't indulge in it as often as they possibly should, or could, is one, there's a monetary aspect of trying to create that world, or practically, or visually. So that is often a deterrent, as well as it's not the bigger sell for audiences. Because it doesn't relate to them.

True. They like the grittiness, they like the darkness, they like the real, because it is something that they can relate to. I would say yes, in some instances, but also I think audiences look to the movies for escape. Wait, fantasy.

And if you give them some kind of fantasy, like, oh, say Lord of the Rings, which is like one of the biggest fantasy trilogies of all time. And that was, it looked real. It looked real, yes, but it was designed that way. But you could do something like that as well.

But I can't count that because it's not an original work. It's an adapted piece. So it's coming from something that has already been pre-existing for almost 50 years, whereas you're looking at something like Gilliam, or Yorgas Lanthimos, or some of the work that Bozlerman has done. And not only is it a very visual style, it's also an original piece that has not been adapted.

Much like the winner for the Best Animated Film? The Boy and the Heron. Nice. This is me showing us back onto the topic here after like six minutes.

Hey, you started it. I know, I did. It's my fault. I know.

That's why I was taking responsibility. But Boy and the Heron, very happy to see that win. I really liked Robot Dreams. It's coming out later this spring in general, with at least some of that folks.

But yeah, he last won for Spirit Away in 2006. And this is very likely his last film. I disagree on that. He's been saying that for 15 years.

I'm sorry. It does seem like every film is, well, this is it. I'm wrapping it up, hanging up my pencils, and then like two years later, oh, by the way, here's a new film. I've got something more to tell.

Yes. And I love that he has that drive and that work ethic. But honestly, if he wants to say, you know what, guys, I think I'm going to retire and enjoy my golden years. I would be like, bless you, sir.

Go with grace and enjoy. But if this is where he finds his joy. Yeah. I'm not going to stop him either.

I think that's the thing. I think he possibly gets burned out through the process of making it, that he's like, I got to stop. I can't do anymore. And then he finds that as most people who are retired do, they find themselves without a project.

They find themselves without a purpose. And bangs around the house for about three weeks. And then all of a sudden, he's got a new idea. And he's going, God, I'd have to tell this before someone else does.

If it's not going to be me, who is it going to be? And I'm fine with that if that's what keeps him coming back. The boy in the harem is a beautiful film. I'm so happy at one.

I know everybody seemed to be, I think, remember when we were having that phone call when we were talking about the odds? Yeah, I found the odds. Wasn't Spider-Man across the Spider-Verse, the odds on favorite here? Yeah, I think it was.

Yeah. So yeah, so I wish I got it through $20 down on this. But I'm not surprised that it was the odds on favorite as Into the Spider-Verse was the winner several years ago. Yeah, I was highly deserving.

I have a feeling that when the third movie comes out. Wham, oh, it's going to turn us back. Yeah, that's when it's going to get another win and kind of be the win for the whole trilogy of films. Robot Dreams, like I said, fantastic, wonderful, beautiful film.

It's coming out in the spring. So if you see it at a theater near you, go see it. It's delightful. I will probably run a review in a month or so on it.

Just to remind people that it's out there. OK, I want to talk both screenplays. As both of these categories, it was the only win for these movies. True.

Yeah, American Fiction won Best Adapted Screenplay, which, again, that was one of my favorite films of the year. And the holdovers were actually my two favorite films. I would not put American Fiction at number two for me. I wouldn't even put it at number one.

Now that I've added poor things to the list, I would say poor, I'm not counting Godzilla, because Godzilla wins. But I would probably say poor things, then the holdovers, and then American Fiction. But even if that's like your top four or five, that's and there's still a bunch of great films, you know, to fill out, you know, from that point down. It's been a hell of a good year for film.

Holdovers hurt, by the way, that the only win of the night went for Divine Joy Roundup, who that was. That was a beautiful speech. It was a beautiful speech, and it was a beautiful, beautiful performance. I've always stated that there, when it comes to the Oscars, you often find that there's two different types of performances for actors.

You're either looking at the subtle performance or you're looking at the loud performance. And you can have a subtle performance in a loud movie, in case in terms of killing Murphy. Well, I would say that rule applies to, I know we're kind of past the sound category as well, where Zone of Interest actually won Best Sound. And that's a very quiet movie.

I saw what you did there. Oh, thank you. No, come on. But that makes sound all the more important, because when you do hear it, it has to be poignant.

Yes, as opposed to, you know, I kind of looked at you and said, oh, they awarded for Best Sound, not most sound. Exactly. Yes. And we've tried that to like, oh, they voted for Best Editing, not most of it.

Oh, come on, if they were going on visual effects on terms of most editing, of most visual effects, that would regard to Guardians of Galaxy Volley. Oh, yeah. There's not a frame in that movie that doesn't have a thing, that doesn't have some kind of visual effect. And with the exception of maybe like the tag scene when he's sitting at home eating cereal with his dad.

Half the damn story is all visual effects with Rocket and his backstory. And as a testament to that, though, that's very touching and it's very moving. It's a beautiful story. It's the best part of the film.

It does so well on an emotional level. It forms the core of the movie that, you know, it's a great way to say, you know, if people say, oh, you know, it's just a bunch of CG characters or whatever. Sit down and actually watch this movie and open your heart to what this movie is telling you. And if you're not like a mess by the end of the movie, I wasn't a mess over the end of the movie, but I was a mess about that backstory.

Yeah, that's what I mean by the end of the movie. It's not like, oh my god, it killed me. Yeah. So yes, visual effects can be, you know, can be used as very good storytelling, I think.

But then again, just based on what small budget they had to work with. Yeah, we're back to console. Well, we're back to console. Yes.

But let's go back, I think, into the acting category. Yeah, we finished talking about Devan Joy Randall. It broke my heart, by the way, seeing Paul Giamatti crying for her win. Yeah, I was, he is one of the best, just this past awards season, just seeing his grace with his fellow actors doing interviews and stuff like that.

I've seen a couple of them interview segment things that I've been pretty privy to through press stuff. And it's just like, he is like the nicest son of a gun ever. He is the exact opposite of every irascible, irritated person he ever plays. Out of all of the people that, if you had to put me up against actors who are still alive and you say, who would you like to work with?

He'd easily be in the top 10. You better invite me to set that day. Because you know what a huge fan I am of his work. And especially his work here was wonderful.

But let's see, best actor in a supporting role. That was another one that people were like, you know, again, that was shoeing. That was, it was a lose. Over the award season.

Yeah, it definitely felt like, yeah, this is Robert Downey's still lose at the big day. And yeah, we could say that too. But you know, again, this is kind of like the living embodiment of Marvin Heimer because you have Ken versus, you know, versus Robert Downey Jr's character. So, you know, that was, you know, one that I could see a lot of people having an interest in.

And there's also been some interest in Mark Ruffalo as well for this, people saw him as a dark horse and stuff. Maybe, maybe he could do. I hate to say it is, I actually liked what De Niro was doing. I thought he was giving, here's the problem.

You were running into, I'm going to split up this category, subtle versus loud. You know, you're gonna love what I'm gonna do here. Sterling K Brown, subtle in a subtle movie. Robert Downey Jr, subtle in a loud movie.

Robert De Niro also subtle in a loud movie. Ryan Gosling, loud in a loud movie. Mark Ruffalo, loud in a subtle movie. Yeah, that kind of breaks down right now.

I'm not bad at that at all. That's a pretty good call. And usually they give it to, not always the loud movie, but usually the louder performance. I thought what Downey was doing here was the loud in the subtle, or sorry, what did I say?

Was it the loud in the subtle or is the subtle in the loud for him? No, it's subtle in a loud in a loud movie. Yes, and I knew it on July 21st when I walked out of the cinema for Barb and Hymer. That was the first one I saw, I saw Barbie second, you were there.

And I turned to you and I said, Robert Downey Jr has this in the back. Oh, yeah, I called it then. And tonight was the night I was able to action. You planted your flag real early on this one.

And I felt it. That's fine. Before we get to the big two acting awards and then director in picture, I want to comment on something here. Yes.

Okay. We started an hour early, I guess, ostensibly to keep this thing from going into like 2 a.m. Or you know, for running really long. And they still managed to start the show about five minutes late.

Because it was like two or three minutes after seven, we were still on the red carpet and they were trying to like shoe people in. And we ended at 10, 25 or so. Really, the credit seemed to stretch forever. So this without checking numbers, but it feels certainly like this had to have been one of the shorter Academy award ceremonies on the last 25 years.

And I have to wonder though, was it worth zipping through everything? Because they had they made mention of the special Oscars that they awarded earlier in the year, the lifetime achievement awards to Mel Brooks, the Herschel Humanitarian Award. And they're like, hey, if you want to see it quick scan this QR code, that's only going to be on screen for about four seconds. So I hope you can pull out your phone that quickly.

May I be blunt? Sure. Even in the last 25 years, they have never shown that on television. Yeah, they've kind of moved that off.

But part of me is like, hang on. I know you're talking about Mel Brooks. Yes. But it's nothing new.

They've never actually shown anything from the Governor's Awards, except for maybe a quick montage. And then they bring out the recipient of the Gene Herschel Humanitarian Award for an applause center stage. And then they're catered off. It is not a case that they have shown anything from the science awards.

They have not shown anything from this. No, I was believing I was getting to that too. So I am not, I don't care. I don't care.

Why? Because it's nothing new to me that they haven't shown exactly. Well, I'm like, look, I know where they chopped. I figured it out.

OK, where? They chopped by doing the Community Awards for the Acting. They were able to chop out actually showing clips, which it doesn't chop much, but it chops. And they don't do as many transitions between our host and certain presenters.

So that cut down on a little bit more time. There aren't as many antics where say our host is down in the audience. Welling around with some of the actors. Yeah, we don't have any taking selfies and ordering pizza.

And Chris Rocko and we decided to go up to Harlem to see if anybody had seen any of these Oscar so white movies, which is often great. Once they chopped all of that out, yeah, I think they lost some of the fun of it. But they also saved themselves a shit amount of time. It's true.

And I think that made it dry. I was expecting at the end of the award, sometimes we get like a song, we get a choir, like one year they would a choir come out and they sang somewhere over the rainbow as your clothes out. Or they'll have something goofy happening. The closest we got to any kind of sketchy kind of thing was the John Cena Street thing, which was hilarious.

That was the best joke of the night. As he comes out to present for best costuming, of course. But I must say Jimmy Kimmel, overall, not a good host tonight. There were a couple of good jokes that landed.

But overall, some felt like they were really in poor taste. As our poor things, co-star noted when there was a joke thrown about, that is all we're allowed to show with poor things. And she was not happy and she went, oh my God, to her husband. She mowed it.

Well, you know, in the Billy Crystal era, we had like those long big convoluted opening numbers because Billy wants to be a song and dance man. Oh, so did Hugh Jackman is a song and dance man. And one of the best openings ever was during the SAG strike, and the other SAG strike apologies, the writer's strike, when he had to host the Oscars. And everything was like a made of cardboard and it just felt like it was very much more on the fly.

But and it was more imaginative. Here it was, you know, we've got everyone back, but we're cooking out verys. One of the nicest things that happened was a credit to all the IOTC workers who were working backstage at the opening of the awards. And he brought them all out for a bow right at the beginning.

And then he went and shit all over Robert Downey Jr. for his his long past past of drugs. Yeah, but I think Downey Jr. Robert Downey Jr.

was okay with it. He was not okay with it. You don't think so? Okay.

You can't tell sometimes with Downey because he's gotten really good at playing Smarmy, just as his whole facade. And I think that is a way of him being able to build up a slight wall against shit like that, being thrown his way. He's there on one of the biggest nights of his life. He knows he's going to win that award.

And of course, our host is going to come and dig up long since past dirt. 20-year-old dirt. Yeah, okay. I see your point there.

That is bullshit. But in general, though, I want to get it back to the quickness of this ceremony. I'm thinking here, like I'm contrasting it in my mind too. There's the Screen Actors Guild that had their awards on Netflix live.

I'm fortunate I was not able to catch that. And the thing kind of moved along, you know, they didn't have to worry about commercials. You know, they just kind of like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And ended relatively quickly.

And I was kind of disappointed in a way because I was like, well, you're on streaming. You don't have to worry about commercials. You can let the show breathe a little bit and maybe have some fun with it. And I wish we had seen some of that here as well.

These are movies. We're supposed to be celebrating movies. And we didn't have anything like a God forbid we have like another Debbie Allen choreographed. You know, dance tribute to spy movies or something silly like that.

But some kind of like, here's a montage of, you know, why we love love in the movies or something like that. Or here's a montage about biopics because one of our big winners this year is going to be a biopic. What would have been nice is seeing people around the cinema talking about, you know, this was my favorite film of the year. Having people decked out in is a welcome back to the cinemas.

You know, I'm sorry, but the cinemas have not been the same since the pandemic. No, you're right. Because of Barb and Himer, we had people dressing up to go to the movies. It was an event.

You were taking your families. You were you were buying back to back tickets. You were it was incredible. So to have something that maybe paid a tribute, not only to those movies, but some of the other films of the year of saying, yeah, this is what I'm here to see.

I'm excited for this. Maybe girls in barbie shirts or decked out in pink with their friends. And you can see the joy of what it is to experience cinema on the big screen. Yeah, that would have been appreciative.

Exactly. That's, you know, that's where I'm at. You know, it's like, I would have liked to see more of, hey, these movies are great, but just movies in general are wonderful. Go see some movies, something that, you know, inspired yourself on your fucking sofa.

Yeah, she says while sitting on my sofa. Yeah, I know. All right. I'm kidding.

We have to get through actor and actress. Yes. So where do you want to start? Let's start with the easier one.

Again, it's killing us to lose. Yes. Yes. It was not, you know, based on the momentum he was getting through the entire award season.

This was, yeah, his to lose, which, you know, I loved Jeffrey Wright's performance. I walked out of when I- I've never seen a bad performance from that man. True. But this is even above his usual amazingness.

There's very subtle moments where he's just like looking with absolute disgust, and it's hilarious. Oh, yeah, absolutely. The opening section is- With his classroom. With his classroom.

He has the n-word written up on the, on the blackboard, chalkboard, as he's discussing a book that that word is a part of and a white student says to him. That word really offends me and just keeps berating him about, you know, about it. And he finally says, well, to be honest, I got over it. Yeah, and he sits in the tub later on.

And just the look of, I can't deal with this shit anymore. It's, it's that moment that basically, you know, is the film itself going, this is going to be our theme here that we're going to be dealing with, in addition to the whole family thing as well. Um, and it's wonderful. I think, um, you know, I've raved enough about Paul G.

Mottie here, both tonight and, uh, in previous- Yes. Previous podcast A. He's wonderful. Colin Domingo, not a lot of people saw Rustin.

It's available on Netflix. Check it out. It's really good. It's about the guy who basically organized the Civil Rights March on Washington, that culminated with, um, Martin Luther King, Jr.

giving his, I have a dream speech. And it's a fascinating story. It's not like a big biopic. It's not this whole guy's life.

It's like that summer or, you know, that space of like four, you know, four months or so. Um, and he just brings this incredible energy to his performance. And I'm glad that it was nominated. I just wish more people would see him.

I will admit, I have not even seen it, but I know very well of Colin's work. Um, I know a lot of people's shit on euphoria. Uh, for, you know, it's style for its portrayal of over sexualized teenagers. But there is a, there's a gritty realism that is underneath the surface.

And a couple of years ago during the pandemic, they released a special where it's Zendaya sitting in a diner on Christmas Eve with her sponsor, her sponsor from AA. And he's played by Coleman Domingo. And all they do for a whole hour is just sit and talk with each other about their, their histories, about their, um, the effects that the drugs have had on them on their lives. What you think it's like to go through this every single day and how you think you're nothing and how you're everything.

And I had you watch it. Yes, I think I see like three episodes of euphoria all together. And that's one of them. And it's amazing.

It's amazing bit of acting. And I knew from that episode that Coleman was going to be one to watch. He's done a film with Regina King, uh, this year alone, uh, he had two horses in the race between this and the color purple. Uh, I just, I knew.

Which is an incredibly different performance. Oh, yeah. Uh, yeah. So there are just some actors that you, you see them and you immediately know, hey, I got to pay attention to this.

Divine Joy Randall was one of them from Dolomite a couple of years ago. And honestly, Paul G. Mottie was like that when I first saw him in like one of his first feature films, private parts, the Howard Stern movie. I just remember sitting there going, who is this guy?

Where the hell is he come from? What an incredible intensity he has. And, um, you know, I've been along for the ride ever since. You know, I've been loving it.

Oh, here's a nice little holdovers, uh, passing that torch, Dominic Sessa. Yes, yes. He's a, you know, obviously he wasn't going to get nominated this year, but it's an incredible performance in that. And, um, the fact that he basically held his own against two other actors who were nominated this year for their work in that movie, one of whom won.

It's, you know, it's an incredible thing. And I'm looking very forward to seeing what, what he does next. And if you're not familiar with who we're speaking about, it is the student that Paul Giamatti spends most of this movie with, who has never acted before on screen ever. It turns out that the, the production was giving the school where they were filming, the students, the chance audition because they couldn't find the right actor for this role.

And this kid just came out of nowhere and swept the floor. And I cannot wait to see the long career that he has from here on out. True. Uh, that's, that's, again, something I'm excited to watch over the next several years.

Um, we got an issue. We do. Well, I know I thought we're just going to move right into director and, uh, best picture and wrap this up. Oh, we're missing one.

What? What did we forget? One of the biggest, uh, wamos of the night. Lily Gladstone versus Emma Stone.

Oh, yes. How could you say the easier one first? I'm sorry. Yeah.

You really apparently did not want to have this conversation. It's not a conversation I don't want to have. Um, because I think both performances are very incredible in their own ways. Um, I think maybe Emma Stone is a little bit showier of the two.

It is the louder performance. Yes. And so that gets the award this year. Um, I think that her journey through, uh, and by her, I mean, I'm Lily Gladstone.

Her journey through the award season this year has been amazing. It's inspirational. I'm excited that people were drawn to her work and inspired by her work and wanted to, you know, validate it and applaud it and give it accolades and laurels. That she didn't win, you know, at the Oscars.

It's a little disappointing. I mean, yeah, because you could say, well, Emma Stone does have an Oscar already. And, you know, Lily Gladstone. This is like, you know, she only has been in a small handful of films before this, including certain women by, um, uh, crumbs.

I just suddenly blanked on the director's name, but it's someone who's work I do enjoy. And, um, you know, just, you know, she will have more opportunities as long as she gets cast and stuff, she will have more opportunities to be back in that auditorium. They already showed during the Oscars as part of the commercial breaks, uh, a piece that she has coming up next, uh, for Hulu. So, um, is that the one that screened like a year ago?

There was a movie show. It wasn't a movie. It was a TV show. I believe that it's going to hold.

There was a bridge, I think it's called. Okay. Not based on the red hot chili pepper song. Let's not worry about that.

But no, there was a movie. She was in like a year. Here we go. Not this, uh, Sunday is, but last Sunday I said it premiered and they had been trying for a year solid to get some distribution for it.

And they kept taking it to festivals, kept talking to people and they just couldn't. And then it finally took her work here and killers of the flower moon and all the attention she got that kind of took that movie, that other little small, any movie and finally got it picked up for some distribution later this year. You know what, if that's how you do it's important. Yes.

It's getting, you know, not just her work out, but other people's work out, because, you know, that would have gone just kind of like, just into the ether after, you know, so many festivals readings, if they couldn't pick it up. So I'm, you know, that's a win. That's as far as I'm concerned. That's just a big win as getting the gold statuette for her and for people that she's worked with, because ultimately, you know, the Oscars, you know, everybody gets really good work after the Oscars, hopefully, unless you're, what's his face who wound up doing that sled dogs movie.

But I will say here, no one will ever forget the name Bella Baxter. I think Emma's, even though it is a loud performance, it is a transformative piece. It is, it evolves naturally through certain stages of life, which is why I said it needs to be studied in anthropology classes, as well as psychology classes. But I think it's such an incredible, incredible piece, and she has proven herself no longer the woman from Superman.

Honest, you look at La La Land. She's come a long way from EZA, which I think is a fun. I love EZA, but if you look at La La Land, and I think she's good in La La Land, I don't think she is the best. She received her nomination, her win then.

When I think about time, there may have been one or two others that may have been more deserving. Here, I feel like she has fully stood her own. She is fully fledged. She deserved to be on that stage with Jessica Lang and Sally Field, and all these great women that she has finally entered a new level of her career.

Yes, and it will be exciting to see, you know, where she goes. I mean, it would be exciting to see where everybody goes. Which leads us to Best Picture, Best Director, Christopher Nola, Nolan Oppenheimer. I think we saw a comment, and I think that's all we need to say on the map.

True, it was, this was the 800 pound gorilla in the room that, you know, you weren't gonna get past. And it's, I mean, it's an amazing feat of filmmaking. It was gonna bomb anyone else who tried. Oh, no, no, no.

Sorry, I know that was a horrible pun joke. You would usually call it something like that. Yeah, that's why I'm like, yeah, I even would have stopped myself. Yeah, sorry.

But, you know, the movie is like three hours. And for whatever reason, Barb and Hymer happened, people came out in droves to see it. They were excited to see it. It's something that's probably going to be unduplicatable.

But darn it, they're going to try. And we're probably going to see some, you know, look, I was alive when Star Wars came out and I lived through, you know, that whole first wave of like crappy Star Wars wannabe movies. That'll be on the stars, Star Crash. Oh yeah, even Moonraker, you know, the James Bond franchise was like, oh, science fiction, got some space shuttles.

And boy, was it dire. I'm hoping, you know, this probable new wave of, will this launch a new wave of biopics? Who knows? I'm hoping it will launch a new wave of films that are important with a good message.

That are blockbusters and entertaining. And they're also just built for their own demographic. Like you could go with your grandparents. Your grandparents will take you to see Barbie, but you have to take your grandparents as the Oppenheimer.

So everyone wins. At the end of the day, it brings a family together. So if they could do things like that, in terms of duplicating it, more power to them. Yes, yes.

And ultimately, you know, whether a best picture winner is, remember to 10, 15, 30, 50 years later as a classic or is kind of forgotten, or is looked back by movie historians and go, really? They chose that. It always is, the Oscars are always something that kind of generates conversation about movies, excitement about movies. And I mean, we've been going for 55 minutes just about.

It's all about movies. All about movies. And usually these, these post Oscar episodes run about 35 minutes. So I'm like, Usually they're not as split.

Usually we have one film that comes in and sweeps most of the awards. Oppenheimer only did seven out of 23. So of course it was going to go a little longer. Yeah, seven out of 13 nominations.

Yeah. And you know, seven out of 23 categories. That's, that's still a sweep and still leaving a lot of room for other people's other films to get, you know, some individual recognition. If you told me, you know, last year, you know, like in October of last year, hey, that new guy's own movie coming up is going to win an Academy Award.

And I'm sitting there going against, you know, what? I just saw Guardians of the Galaxy volume three. Are you crazy? I just saw creator.

Are you crazy? I just saw, you know, I wouldn't have believed it, but I'm so excited and happy. And that's what's great, great about these things too. So the surprise, the suspense and the love for film.

And of course, anytime the Oscars award movies that you like, the Oscars are great. Anytime they award movies that you didn't like, the Oscars are terrible. And then that's the way they will always be. But at the end of the day, it's all about the art.

And I think that just about wraps us up for this week. We will be back in two weeks because we're going to take a week off. Uh, we deserve it. Yes.

We will be back in two weeks. Hey, ring ring. Ghost bastards. What do you want?

So obviously, that's what we're going to be reviewing in two weeks. As you like it, you're going to tune in. Yes. Well, we're both Ghostbusters fans.

Bad anti-pods impersonations are a running joke between the passion. Hey, I don't do a bad mind-stepping up the phone. Minds terrible. But yeah, we every now and then when we call each other.

There's your voice cracks. That's true. Thanks. But every time we call each other, well, not every.

That's best. It's what do you want? Yeah. Every now and then, that's the answer I get when I call it.

And you love it. And sometimes I do it back to you too. So yes, in two weeks, we will be back with our review of Ghostbusters Frozen Empire. Just means that I'm going to have to sit down and rewatch all the Ghostbusters movies.

I will have to rewatch after life before. Yeah. Bring some tissues because that just that I've watched after life several times now. And it still just emotionally wrecks me.

It's so beautiful. It's so touching. It's such a love letter. And now that I've watched it since I lost a parent as well, and it just kind of hits harder for what is going on in the movie and what Jason Reichmann is doing in terms of Harold Ramis and ultimately his own father passing right after the movie came out.

But anyway, that's sad. No, we'll be back in two weeks with Ghostbusters. And you'll find that all right here on the Big Picture podcast.