The Oscar Noms Mailbag: Is ‘Sinners’ vs. ‘One Battle After Another’ a Race? Plus: Best Picture Power Rankings.

Summary

The Big Picture – Oscar Noms Mailbag: Is ‘Sinners’ vs. ‘One Battle After Another’ a Race?

Date: January 28, 2026
Hosts: Sean Fennessey, Amanda Dobbins
Producer/Guest: Jack Sanders

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Episode Overview

Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins dive into their annual Oscar nominations mailbag, tackling listener questions about snubs, surprises, campaign strategies, and the overall state of the 2026 awards race. With the nominations fresh in the air, they assess category trends, studio strategies, power rankings, and whether ‘Sinners’ could truly overtake ‘One Battle After Another’ as the frontrunner for Best Picture. Alongside Oscar discussion, the team checks in on box office news, upcoming releases, and offer lively banter about Oscar party etiquette, memorable acceptance speeches, and their favorite performances of the year.

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Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. Oscar Nomination Reactions & Context ([12:45–16:00])

• General sentiment: It’s a strong, diverse year for Oscar nominees with “some goofy things” but mostly good films being recognized.
• Notable topic: Concern that a handful of films dominate nominations, leading to fewer unique movies recognized in other categories.
• Quote:
  • “This was a pretty good crop of Oscar nominations this year. Some goofy things, like you said, but mostly good films being recognized.” – Sean (12:52)

2. Box Office Update & Upcoming Releases ([03:13–12:46])

• Box office is down due to winter storms; Chris Pratt’s ‘Mercy’ dethrones ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash.’
• ‘Bone Temple’ drops sharply, raising doubts about a third installment—Netflix may step in to co-finance.
• Upcoming releases: 'Send Help' (Rachel McAdams), Jason Statham’s 'Shelter,' Charli XCX’s 'The Moment,' Brett Ratner’s 'Melania,' and a self-financed Markiplier horror adaptation 'Iron Lung.’

3. Oscar Campaigns, Schedulers, and Snubs ([16:08–29:12])

• Deep dive into the exclusion of ‘No Other Choice’ (Park Chan-wook) and ‘Testament of Ann Lee.’

• Multiple listener questions on why these acclaimed films missed out.

• Theories:

  • Park Chan-wook’s WGA issues and possible industry blowback.
  • Neon’s complicated awards strategy—too many competing titles (“Ironman streak of the Palme d’Or”).
  • Release date scheduling: certain films released too late for full campaigns.
  • Market/cultural factors—challenging content, underdog status, and mixed critical response.

• Notable quote:

  • “It's a stumper...hardcore cinephile criticism...not all critics, but the more hardcore critic seems to be a little bit disinterested in it. And so it falls into this kind of nether space that I can't remember a lot of movies being in.” – Sean (19:38)

Key timestamped takeaways:

• [16:40] Full analysis of ‘No Other Choice’ snub.
• [23:58] ‘Testament of Ann Lee’ – picked up by Searchlight too late for proper Oscar push; Amanda Seyfried’s performance likely to be seen as a future “how did they miss this?” moment.

4. Best Picture Power Rankings & Major Race Analysis ([35:36–45:33])

• Central question: Does ‘Sinners’ have a legitimate shot to win Best Picture over ‘One Battle After Another’?
  • Sean: “Yes. Preferential ballot and 16 nominations make it wide open.” (35:43)
  • Amanda: “No—but it wouldn't be a shock if it won; trends still favor 'One Battle.'” (36:46)
  • Both discuss the historical precedent for late surges, campaign momentum, and the impact of high nomination counts.
• They also discuss the role of studio (both movies are Warner Bros), international appeal, and the possible “cancelling out” effect opening a path for ‘Hamnet’ or another third contender.

Standout commentary:

• “Sixteen nominations...just a profound number...It’s preferential ballot. And with preferential ballot, anything can happen when it comes to two movies that are both really well liked.” – Sean (36:06)
• “[Recent Best Picture winners] decided pretty early...in the end, those movies were dominant.” – Amanda (37:07)

5. Acting Races – Leo vs. Timothée Chalamet ([45:44–54:45])

• Listener asks why Leonardo DiCaprio isn’t the Best Actor frontrunner.
• Hosts’ consensus: It’s partly timing (Leo already won), partly the narrative (“It’s Timothée’s time”), and the Academy’s appetite for something “modern.”
• Notable, lighthearted tangent: Beeper and pager nostalgia; what tech Leo might use (46:43).

6. Oscar Parties & Viewing Etiquette ([54:46–61:15])

• Practical and humorous primer for hosting an Oscar party:
  • “Don’t talk” rule (Amanda: “the only person I have ever let talk to me during the Oscars is Sean” [55:12])
  • Ideal group size: 12
  • Oscar ballots, themed food, playlists, and drinks—essential.
  • Real talk: serious Oscar watchers may never truly enjoy group watch parties.

7. Category Bloating & Awards Schema ([62:19–72:31])

• Should acting categories expand to 10, matching Best Picture?
  • Amanda: Advocates for adding breakthrough and ensemble/one-scene awards (66:44)
  • Sean: Defends 10-wide Best Picture as achieving its mission; less certain about bulking up other categories.
• They brainstorm alternative prize ideas (“one scene award,” a more public Lifetime Achievement race, etc.).

8. Underrated Performances & Snubs of the Year ([73:30–76:56])

• Both pick unsung favorite performances:
  • Sean: Elizabeth Olsen (‘The Assessment’); Josh O’Connor (‘Wake Up Dead Man’).
  • Amanda: Ralph Fiennes (‘28 Years Later’); Jennifer Lawrence (‘Die My Love’).
  • Recognize: Great work is sometimes lost due to scheduling/campaign failures.

9. Best Needle Drop in Film ([80:33–83:27])

• Matt proposes a Best Needle Drop Oscar. Sean and Amanda shout out their favorites:
  • “Dirty Work” (Steely Dan) – ‘One Battle After Another’
  • “American Girl” and “Soldier Boy” – used in Sinners and One Battle After Another
  • “Beware of Darkness” – ‘Weapons’
• Neither thinks the Academy will ever honor this category, but love the internet-y idea.

10. Sequels, Festivals, and the Oscar Pipeline ([83:47–98:35])

• Listeners ask:
  • Is there an anti-sequel bias? Will ‘Dune Messiah’ get Return of the King love, or be shut out like ‘Wicked 2’?
  • Are fall festivals losing steam as Oscar pipelines?
• Hosts: The pipeline is more complex than before—Cannes and Venice often set the conversation earlier, while “event” movies sometimes thrive without festivals. 'Dune Messiah' not a locked-in frontrunner (85:34, 87:28, 95:16).

11. Memorable Oscar Speeches ([99:26–103:17])

• Favorite acceptance speeches:

  • Bong Joon Ho for ‘Parasite’ (shouting out Scorsese and Tarantino)

  • Marion Cotillard (“there are angels in this city tonight”)

  • Matt Damon & Ben Affleck for ‘Good Will Hunting’

  • Jack Lemmon doggedly celebrating his ‘Save the Tiger’ win while acknowledging Oscar discourse

  • “When a filmmaker is part of a lineage...that was just a special moment.” — Sean (100:35)

12. Best Picture Power Rankings Reset ([103:30–110:56])

• Hosts run through their revised Best Picture rankings (post-noms):

  1. One Battle After Another
  2. Sinners
  3. Hamnet
  4. Sentimental Value
  5. Marty Supreme
  6. Frankenstein
  7. The Secret Agent
  8. Train Dreams
  9. Begonia
  10. F1
  • “Let’s freeze this moment in time. If on March 15, Sinners wins...you’ll say, ‘I was wrong.’” – Sean (105:08)
  • “That’s the ultimate paradox—you’ll never be cool, but you can sometimes be right.” – Sean re Amanda’s Oscar predictions (105:41)

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Notable Quotes & Banter

• “Sean and I do not vote for the Oscars. So you can send your opinions to us, but not your complaints.” – Amanda (13:32)
• “One thing that you’ll hear pundits say: Kate Hudson worked it this year...She’s evidently a good time. She’s fun and people like her...” – Sean (29:26)
• “In my entire life, the only person I’ve ever allowed to talk to me during the Oscars is Sean Fennessey. That’s the closest I’ll come to saying ‘I love you’ to Sean Fennessey.” – Amanda (55:12)
• Discussing Oscar party etiquette: “You have to know what time the Oscars start—absolutely essential” – Amanda (57:36)
• On the state of the race: “A little bored a month ago, and now, my engines have been refired.” – Sean (44:49)
• On Eddington: “It’s in many ways the most accurate movie of the last year, but provoking… I never expected it to be nominated.” – Amanda (88:48)

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Timestamps of Essential Segments

• Oscar noms initial breakdown: [12:46–16:00]
• ‘No Other Choice’ and ‘Testament of Ann Lee’ debate: [16:08–29:12]
• One Battle vs. Sinners Best Picture showdown: [35:36–45:33]
• Best Actor (Leo vs. Timothée) race: [45:44–54:45]
• Oscar Party Hosting Tips: [54:46–61:15]
• Should Acting Categories Expand to 10?: [62:19–72:31]
• Best Needle Drop discussion: [80:33–83:27]
• Favorite Oscar speeches: [99:26–103:17]
• Best Picture Power Rankings: [103:30–110:56]

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Tone & Style

The episode is fast-moving, witty, and conversational—combining the hosts’ deep cinephile expertise with their characteristic irreverence (metatextual jokes about Oscar punditry, plenty of gentle ribbing, and meta-interrogation of the awards cycle). They freely blend deep industry analysis, pointed listener questions, and pop culture references (“no one cares about the Globes anymore…”), putting themselves both inside and outside the traditional Oscar conversation.

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TL;DR

Sean and Amanda tackle Oscar snubs, the logic of nominations (or the lack thereof), the Sinners vs. One Battle Best Picture battle, category expansion, and their annual power rankings reset. The episode is a cinephile’s delight, offering generous banter, practical Oscar party guidance, and a steady reminder: “We don’t know… but we have some ideas.”

Transcript

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[Sean Fennessey]

Hey everyone, it's me, Sean Fennesee. A quick programming note before we get into today's episode. The Big Picture is now available on Netflix, so you might be asking yourself what is changing for you. If you listen or watch on Spotify, nothing is changing. You can still get us there right now if you listen on Apple or Pocketcast or any other listening app, nothing is changing. If you typically watch the show on YouTube, new episodes are no longer available there. If you want to see us on your TVs on Netflix, you can fire it up. You can even save the show and get reminders from Netflix when a new episode goes live. If you're meeting us for the first time, welcome to the Big Picture. We're a conversation show about movies, Hollywood award season, the box office, stardom, the state of the industry and a lot more. We talk about new releases, we make lists, we play little games that I create and I interview the biggest filmmakers in the world. It's A very normal show made by normal people, I assure you. That being said, this show is only being licensed by Netflix. They do not own us, nor do they pay us, nor will they influence what we discuss or how we discuss it. If the Gray man dropped tomorrow on the service, we'd discuss it in much the same way we discussed it in 2022, which was not very nicely. If Train Dreams drop tomorrow, we'd do the same, which was with admiration and sincerity. That is our promise to you. See you at the movies. Now onto the show. I'm Sean Fennesee.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'm Amanda Dobbins.

[Sean Fennessey]

And this is the Big Picture, a conversation show about the tremors of the 2026 Academy Award nominations. On today's show, we will be digging into the mailbag to answer your questions about the Oscar nominations and reset our best picture power rankings. We didn't do it immediately after the Golden Globes. Do you have any regrets about that?

[Amanda Dobbins]

After the Golden Globes, but before the nominations? No, I don't, because then we did our predictions, so it's like we were on the record with what we thought was going to happen.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, well, we've made some mistakes, but we did some things well. We'll look back at that later in this episode. But first, let's talk about the box office really quick. Weird weekend at the box office. There was storms across America.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessey]

400 movie theaters were closed over the weekend, so numbers were down a bit. They're usually a little depressed in January. Mercy, the new Chris Pratt sitting in a chair chatting with AI Movie, which just sounds incredibly cinematic that neither of us have seen yet. Nor Jack Sanders. Have you seen that film yet?

[Jack Sanders]

I have not.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay. All three of us have not seen it. Maybe we will see it soon. Number one, dethroned Avatar, Fire and Ash, which had sat atop the box office for five consecutive weekends. Any thoughts?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I am. I'm looking forward. Am I looking forward to seeing Mercy? I don't know. I will see it.

[Sean Fennessey]

How many details will you.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I know we really. That's. Well, there's a question about that, and we can just. We can open up the Google cows live on the podcast. That's what people tune in for. Yeah, people do. This is not what's on people's minds this weekend. For. For a number of reasons, it's not.

[Sean Fennessey]

And the only reason that I brought it up here with us this morning is because the bone Temple, the 28 years later follow up, fell precipitously over the weekend, down 70% from the previous weekend, which was originally an underperformance. And now the movie is sitting at $21 million domestically after two weeks, which is pretty bad. And now has me strongly questioning whether or not the third film will even happen. We speculated about that when we talked about the movie on the show. This movie's good reviews, seems very warmly received by those who have had a chance to see it. Most people have not gone to see it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Did they film 28 years later and the Bone Temple sequentially or they.

[Sean Fennessey]

Definitely sequentially, but I don't know how.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Back to back they were.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think they were fairly close together in terms of production. You know, all that iodine staining for refined. You probably need to keep that control. Yes. Keep that thing built, you know, don't want to deconstruct that temple.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right. So then to add on the third, there's not a huge financial incentive. Yeah, it's a shame. These are really good, but come on, they have to. I mean, Danny Boyle is rumored to return.

[Sean Fennessey]

You're returning for the third film. Yes. He is now putting the finishing touches on Ink, his forthcoming biopic of Rupert Murdoch.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right. Also starring Jack o', Connell, right?

[Sean Fennessey]

That's right.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I don't want to spoil things for people, but spoiler alert for the coda of the Bone Temple. Cillian Murphy, Oscar winner. Cillian Murphy's also supposed to be in the third one. Like surely that would be a bit more of a draw. I don't know.

[Sean Fennessey]

I saw speculated that because this is a Sony title and because these films do ultimately go to Netflix, that there is a world where maybe Netflix could come in and co finance the third film and make it a Netflix exclusive, which would at least allow them to complete the trilogy. My understanding is, is that there is at least a treatment and maybe even a full screenplay for the third film from Alex Garland. So there's material to work with. So I hope this happens. I mean, not that my life will be incomplete if they won't finish the 28 years later quintology, I'll be okay. But it does feel like they left us hanging at the end of Bone Temple. So you do want to see what happens next?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, I mean they just. They set up once again Cillian Murphy, Oscar winner. Just make the movie and maybe people will come also. Just Duran Duran going so hard in my house now.

[Sean Fennessey]

I would not expect Duran Duran to come back.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I know, but that, but I.

[Sean Fennessey]

That was a Dr. Kelson thing.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I appreciated that gift that they gave us.

[Sean Fennessey]

It was wonderful. This coming weekend, a lot of movies an inordinate number of movies are coming out. I'll be watching a lot of movies because virtual Sundance starts this week. Some of our friends are there right now braving the cold. We are not. We have no regrets about that. The last year, Park City, but in the movie theater and in theory, on Friday on this show, we'll talk about some of these movies. A bunch of stuff, some of which feels like it's dumped and some of which feels like it's been strategically placed here to kind of win at a quiet time. So we've already seen Sam Raimi Send help, starring Rachel McAdams. We will talk about it on Friday. Jason Statham has a new action movie. You know, every January, he's got a new one. This one is Shelter from the new Black Bear Productions distribution arm. I don't know what the premise of this movie is.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I was about to ask, and I was trying to Google it. Okay, Shelter movie premise. Here we go. On a remote coastal island, a reclusive man rescues a young girl from a deadly storm, drawing them both into danger.

[Sean Fennessey]

Wow. Bone temple vibes there.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No. Yes, that this does seem right. Okay. Shelter 2026. Rotten Tomatoes. Sorry, there's the AI results. No, that is correct. Okay.

[Sean Fennessey]

So it's literally about a shelter because sometimes you get a. You get a single word Statham title like that, and you're like, well, is he actually transporting anything? Like, what is he? What does it mean to be the transporter? What does it mean to be the bee? Does he literally keep bees, or are the bees that he keeps a kind of metaphor for the information state?

[Amanda Dobbins]

The cast would suggest that it's not just the two of them survival style on the island.

[Sean Fennessey]

Got it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And also, he's wearing a parka and carrying a very large assault weapon.

[Sean Fennessey]

On the poster, you don't say. So, Jason Statham with an assault weapon.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Really large.

[Sean Fennessey]

What relationship does this film have to the island and the Michael Bay 2006 vehicle starring Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You know, this Google result is not telling me that you do the research live.

[Sean Fennessey]

Interesting. I'll see Shelter.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'll watch it at home.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay. Also, Charli XCX's the Moment, which we have seen, which premiered at Sundance last week, which is a lot of fun. We'll talk about that as well. Melania, did you get your AMC prime ticket for the new Brett Ratner documentary about our first lady?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I did not.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I will not be. I've seen some ads, I guess, for this.

[Sean Fennessey]

Sure.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Though I would say serve to you.

[Sean Fennessey]

Naturally, based on your algorithm?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No. More like, have I not seen, like, posters for Melania ad in the world?

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, but that's because we live in a fascist state.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Exactly. Which we certainly do. And we have evidence of every single day on the Internet. Those ads are not making as much news in my home as really old ads for SpongeBob SquarePants. Yesterday, my son was like, mama, can you tell me about spongebob? And I found that I could not.

[Sean Fennessey]

Wow. So that's huge. That's just huge.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I don't know what to say. So I see the ads and I'm not taking action on them.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay, understood. Melania also not getting any action, apparently, from movie theater licensors because it doesn't seem like that movie's gonna go as wide as they had originally hoped it would. I guess it's been financed by Amazon and they're trying to book it in theaters. And it looks like it's gonna be more of a limited release than a wide release. Can't say I'm upset about that one interesting movie that is coming out that I don't really know anything about, but the story of it fascinates me. So there's a YouTuber, a well known YouTuber named Mark Fishback. He goes by Markiplier. I know about him because when my little sister Grace was first discovering YouTube some 15 years ago, she was really into Markiplier's YouTube videos. Now he has since become a content person. He had a. Has a podcast with Spotify. Like, he's made a lot of stuff. He self financed an adaptation of a video game called Iron Long, not a game I've played before. But he is getting this film distributed, like, on 2,000 screens. And I just think that's cool. I just think that's good for movies when people come along who are able to do something like that.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

So that's also being released. And then I did watch People We Meet on Vacation.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessey]

Which is on Netflix right now.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessey]

And I know that you podcasted about it on Jam Session.

[Amanda Dobbins]

We. We didn't really.

[Sean Fennessey]

You spoke of it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

We spoke of it. I podcasted at Juliet about it briefly, because I saw the film and Juliet had read the book many years ago. And then I just asked her to explain to me what the hell's going on.

[Sean Fennessey]

I have some strong thoughts.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Sure, go ahead.

[Sean Fennessey]

That run in both directions. I kind of want to save it for Friday where, like, Friday will be.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's movie season. There's a lot of new stuff.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I also have a Lot of thoughts. Some of my thoughts are just about the source material.

[Sean Fennessey]

And, and I had some concerns about the way the film is being framed versus what it actually is.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, it's, it's really, it's the title. You know. What, what do you hear when you hear people we meet on vacation?

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, but it's, you know, it's a wry play on that idea.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I understand that, but I thought I was just going to see people having sex on vacation, various places, I got to tell you.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, you could really cut some corners there by just going straight to pornhub. That's kind of what they do. That's kind of their thing. People meeting on vacation, having sex.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Not at the production level that I am looking for. Which is also another note that I have about people we meet on vacation from time to time. Like, I see.

[Sean Fennessey]

I felt like it was, well, we can save it for Friday. But I was like, this is way better than what we usually get for sure.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But it was like they went to New Orleans and then everywhere else they went was like, also New Orleans dressed as other places.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, they went to some other homes. Yeah, they were. Visited some homes, but they were in New Orleans.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That was. And the, the Airbnb or not the Airbnb. No, no, no, the Italian, the Tuscan villa.

[Sean Fennessey]

Oh, the villa, yeah, yeah, Italy in.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Paris, I don't think. But it, it was an excellent. I'd like to go on vacation there.

[Sean Fennessey]

Anyway, we're spoiling Friday's riveting conversation. The reason that I even gave a second thought to this movie is Emily Bader. And we will get into that same. Okay, so it has now been almost five days, four days since the Oscar noms, since we burst into this office at 7:30 in the morning and just started screaming about everything. And I think the general consensus aligns with ours, which was this was a pretty good crop of Oscar nominations this year. Some goofy things, like you said, but mostly good films being recognized. Some interesting balance, maybe some of that teetering towards too many, too few films getting too many nominations. But we'll get into that as we get into the mailbag. Any, any off the rip observations that you want to note before we answer people's questions here?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Sean and I do not vote for the Oscars. So you can send your opinions to us, but not your complaints.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yes, right.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You know, I just, I felt like I was fielding a lot of, well, what about this? Yes. And you know, I didn't make these choices.

[Sean Fennessey]

You know, my cousin Ian, who is a cinephile, but when we were growing up, I would not have thought of him as a cinephile, but he's now in a stage where he's clearly seeing a lot of movies, and he's going to film festivals and stuff. And he hit me up and he was like, it was just an accident, bro. What the hell? And I'm like, this is kind of interesting that in our movie culture, in some ways, I think this is a good thing. In some ways, it's a bad thing. But, like, winning the Palme d' or and then being an acclaimed film throughout the season, getting snubbed in a field of 10 is drawing the interest of people who are not really in the business, who are not really in the film or television media. There is, like, a higher level of awareness of the game itself. And obviously shows like ours are contributing to that.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Sean Fennessey]

But hopefully that just means people are seeing those movies. You know, like, for somebody who doesn't have to go see an Iranian film made in secret about, you know, the control of the fascist operation in that country, that's a good thing. You know, that's a really interesting that, like, a film like that can be more widely distributed. So even when we mock, or even when I mock a place like Neon for just buying up every movie, you mock them.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I. I just think they're distributing film.

[Sean Fennessey]

They are just distributing film.

[Amanda Dobbins]

The playbook is evident at this point. Yeah, but that's fine.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think it's like, I tell you how this is very ungenerous. I'm making things worse for myself in this comment. But it occurs to me, like, there's a thing in sports where there are some guys who have, like, ironman streaks, where they play every game. And, you know, Cal Ripken Jr. Famously, the Baltimore Orioles infield, AC Green, the Lakers forward for years, like, even when he was injured, he would check into a game for, like, one minute and then check out even if he couldn't play because he wanted to keep that Ironman streak going of consecutive games played. Neon definitely is like, doing that a little bit with the Palme d' or and the international feature film, where they're just like, we're not letting go of this no matter what happens. But the upside is they distribute all these movies in America, which is fantastic.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And they're also. I think they're not letting go of that strategy because it gets them both Oscars. And also, it is their financial strategy right now.

[Sean Fennessey]

It is. It's debatable how effective that is.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I don't know how much money they're making, but it's not like there's not. It's their lane that they've carved out, so they're doubling down on it. And it does mean that more Americans see more international films.

[Sean Fennessey]

Let's circle back specifically on this as soon as we get into the first question because I have some thoughts related to that box office question. But Jack, what is our first question question?

[Jack Sanders]

Well, our first question is a combination of a lot of different things. By far and away, the most common email we received was, bro, what the hell happened? With no Other Choice in the Testament of An Lee. And we had a couple of hypotheses come in. Orin was asking, are Park Chan Wook's film simply too transgressive? Is it because he didn't win the Palme d'?

[Sean Fennessey]

Or?

[Jack Sanders]

Does the Academy just simply not like his films? And later, Kenneth wrote in, do you think the later in the year wide releases of the Testament of Anley and no Other Choice hurt their Oscar chances?

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay, let's talk about no Other Choice in Park Chan Wook first. Yeah, so it is getting a little weird now. It is a little bit strange that one of the most celebrated filmmakers on the planet for roughly this last 25 years has not been recognized by the Academy. It's particularly strange because we just saw in 2019 Bong Joon Hobby, his South Korean compatriot, get recognized for a film with a similar tone and conceit and with a similar, similar level of mastery. Right. So you could say, well, it's not that the Academy doesn't care for South Korean cinema or Asian cinema, or they don't care for satires about capitalism or, you know, Begonia was nominated, it was nominated. So that's not really at issue. Now Park Chan Wook was expelled from the WGA last year for what was made to seem like rule breaking actions during the production of his HBO series that came out last year. Now he disputed those claims and said that the bylaws were confused and that he didn't do anything wrong. NOR Did Don McKellar, who is his writing partner, who also has a writing credit on no Other Choice. It's possible that there was a little bit of blowback around that. I have heard from people in the WTA who have said that feel that this was a harsh penalty for something that is a little bit confusing because it was about working during the strike.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Sean Fennessey]

So that's one factor, I guess, that's possible. Two could be the neon thing, which is that they just had a lot of titles that were going.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Sean Fennessey]

And to, you know, Oren's point, maybe not winning the Palme d', or, not getting that higher level of acclaim could have been a factor, although it was just an accident. Also didn't get nominated for Best Picture.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right. And within International Feature, Seurat getting in over no Other Choice, Seurat also is like a Neon film and also a Cannes title and was a surprise. And we saw inklings of this in the shortlists where Seurat was nominated in a bunch of or was shortlisted in a number of below the line categories, as well as International Feature. And no Other Choice was, like, missing a lot of places. And I think we were confused by that. And sometimes it's just sort of a momentum thing where after those shortlists, everyone did seem to be like, I mean, we even put Seurat on our Best Picture power rankings.

[Sean Fennessey]

That was on our last one.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So. So that is just about timing and a lot of, hey, look over here. And maybe you should check out this movie. And I guess I don't know whether you can say that Seurat, like, took the place of no Other Choice, but I think I don't. I predicted it the other way. I think, and you're right, that I think Neon had, like, a certain number of slots and no Other Choice just didn't get it.

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, one of the reasons why it's surprising to me is there's something that happened with no Other Choice where what I'll describe as the kind of like, hardcore cinephile criticism of which our buddy Adam Naiman is a member. He was pretty cold on no Other Choice and has been a fan of Park Chan Wook's movies in the past. But I think he and some other critics that I've been reading felt it was a little iterative or a little bit too cute in terms of how it went about the work. It's very flashy and very formally inventive and showy, and that. That might have turned some people off. I loved it. It was one of my five favorite movies of the year. We've talked about it on the show already. But when that happens, usually when a film breaks with that crowd, the opposite tends to happen. Where the Academy tends to get on board with a film, like one film Too Late as they might see it, right? You know, where it's like, it's kind of safer than Normies now. And we're seeing that in a way because the movie's doing really well at the box office. Like, it's probably gonna end up making like $10 million in America, which is very good and is frankly, a lot more money than any of these other Neon movies that are being nominated for Academy Awards. I think Sentimental Values topped out at like, four and a half million. It was just an accident. It's made about 2 million. So it's connecting with audiences, it's connecting with us. And some people I know, not all critics, but like I said, the sort of. Like, the more hardcore critic seems to be a little bit disinterested in it. And so it falls into this kind of nether space that I can't remember a lot of movies being in, where it's like, it's obviously kind of formally brilliant. Park's been making movies for decades. He's never been recognized. His country, I think, is being increasingly recognized in time as a real hub of creativity. In fact, Begonia is adapted from a South Korean film. So it's a. It's just. It's a. It is a stumper. Like, the reason that so many people are asking is a good question. That being said, we have known that this was going to happen. I think that it was not going to get in the Best Picture for, like, months. Like, we never even considered it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, so let's talk about release dates and let's talk about Testament of Anley, because I do think that there is something there, but I don't know which is the cause and which is the effect where. I agree. We've known for a few months that it, like, it was not really hitting. You know, it's another one that premiered at Venice and was received well. And I was one of the best things I saw there. But, like, didn't really get the festival bump that I guess. I mean, Frankenstein didn't either. Frankenstein was saved by the New York Film Festival, I suppose, but we knew. And so as a result, Neon dated it way later than its other films. And so Sentimental Value got the October November push. I think Sentimental Value was November, but they were prime awards season and rollouts. And it was just an accident. Was even earlier that had a more.

[Sean Fennessey]

Limited release, but those were the two that they really put their arms around.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, exactly. And you know, Seurat is still not available.

[Sean Fennessey]

It was February 6th, apparently, is when.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It'S really going out there. After the shortlist and after everyone was like, oh, okay, Seurat, this is something that we need to pay attention to.

[Sean Fennessey]

Which, for the record, is not that unusual. That is something that has happened a lot historically, and I think it's smart for them. So I guess February 6th, Seurat will be available in New York and LA. And then the 13th, going more wide. We will talk about Seurat on this show. Hopefully people will get a chance to see it. It's a really interesting movie and kind of like very something interesting to chew on. There's a lot in it to take apart, but it does feel like the point you're making is right. Which is like no Other Choice got sandwiched between those three other movies.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And purposefully. So you kind of, when you're looking at. You can look at those dates to kind of assess Neon strategy, I think, and see that Neon thinks, okay, this is probably we'll do it for an awards qualifying run.

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, I think they saw it as a commercial play. That's why it's a Christmas movie. Yeah. They saw no Other choice as a movie that can make some money as opposed to get some awards consideration. And, like, it pretty much worked.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Sean Fennessey]

So I think they're probably ultimately happy. Even though the no Other Choice team is really bummed out about this. Ann Lee is a different kettle of fish. So, yeah, Ann Lee, which has been in the works for some time, but was only acquired by Searchlight after the festivals and a little late after the festivals, too.

[Amanda Dobbins]

A while after the festivals, it was like, who is gonna. Is someone gonna pick this up? We hope someone's gonna pick this up. This is really deserving. I hope other people are gonna be able to see it.

[Sean Fennessey]

It just was a little too late, you know, And Searchlight picked it up and I'm glad that they did. And it opened more widely this weekend and it did not perform very well at the box office. I think in part because of the weather, in part because it didn't get any Oscar nominations, in part because, as you mentioned when you first saw it and people walked out, it's like, it's a weird movie, you know, it's a different kind of movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's cool, but weird.

[Sean Fennessey]

But so that film, which as we both said, has this insanely great Amanda Seyfried performance that I think is probably gonna end up going down as one of those, like, historical. How did we not recognize her for kind of things, Assuming enough people see the movie to have an opinion. But if that movie had gotten picked up in August, but pre festival and they started that campaign and they made it a November movie, like sentimental value and they let it slow burn through the season. More and more people see it. More and more people will watch it on the portals. More and more people will go to screenings that are Hosted by amazing actresses telling Amanda Seyfried how great she is. I think it would have had a different fate, or at least she might.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Have had a different fate. I don't know. I do think part of what we like about the movie is how strange it is and how unlike anything else I've ever seen. And I mean that in a positive way. But you. I understand why it did not make it into Best Picture. It is sort of. It's not unlike the Brutalist. It is not wearing the clothes of, you know, great prestige, like Great Man Cinema. It's just. It's about some weird people who, like, shake around a lot while forming a cult of personality.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, I mean, I think the musical aspect of it is a little bit off putting for some people. I think Ann Lee's kind of fortitude in the face of a lot of terrible things that happened to her and then this hard philosophical pivot that she makes as a character is gonna be bracing for audiences. And then the movie ends in this kind of fascinatingly quiet, contemplative way that I wouldn't say is satisfying, per se. You know, it makes you think. But there's no uplift. But there's also no, like. Well, that was the point of that, you know, like with the Brutalist, which of course is like the kind of companion movie. People had a lot of issues second half, yourself included.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, I had issue. Well, that's true, I guess I had issues with the one plot twist and then the coda.

[Sean Fennessey]

Right. Yeah, but it. The first half is like.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's dynamite.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's very classic.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

You know, it's very. It's very like man comes to great land to conquer and learn about the space and then finds out the reality of what it's like to be here. And Lee, as you said, is just a little bit more divergent from that traditional structure.

[Amanda Dobbins]

The other what if here is that if they actually could have coordinated and Lee and the housemates and those press cycles a little more, which. They did their best. They did their best. Amanda Seyfried was really out there working and I watched a lot of great content. And, you know, that movie has also been a slow burn. And it's made a tremendous amount of money, but not like immediately on opening weekend, all at once. I mean, it was successful.

[Sean Fennessey]

It is exactly like anyone but you in 23 into 24, where it came out, it did pretty good business in its first weekend. And it has just held on and people are going back and going back. Obviously, I'm sure a strong Female contingent of audience there. And that movie's made $250 million worldwide in a month. That's amazing. And it does kind of confirm. I think Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Cypher can share credit for that. But it's also just the material. And that material could not be more different from Ann Lee.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Sean Fennessey]

Like, there's not a lot of crossover there.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But if, you know, in prior years, we've seen this before, if you had bumped Housemaid up or you'd bumped Housemaid and Anne Lee up a month. And so the success of Housemaid is a little more established before voting. It's a very classic. We'll nominate her for Ann Lee to really reward her for the, like the trashy thing that we would never nominate. And it, you know, again, I do think timing and release dates are just. It was just a little bit too late. And Searchlight, you know, was just Purchased it too late. Started it too late.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. I mean, Damian here also asked around the testament of Ann Lee Shutout. Not just. And there's a lot of Kate Hudson questions. We can kind of talk about Kate Hudson and why that. Why she got nominated there. But Daniel Blumberg, who just won last year for his work in the Brutalist, who I think very quickly has established himself as a very powerful composer in Hollywood and helped write some of these songs and kind of restructure these old hymns to seem like more modern film score. I've been listening to that score a bit recently. It is a major achievement and it is very unique. And to me, it's not as off putting as the actual content of the film. So that's another place where they didn't campaign it that well.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, listen, we know what we think of this score. The score.

[Sean Fennessey]

I know Branch.

[Amanda Dobbins]

They're just really, really, really on notice.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, they. They need to.

[Sean Fennessey]

Have they contacted you since you made that process?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, I haven't heard from them. I think that they're ashamed.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And as Jim and Janet score. Jim and Jim and Janet score need to have a meeting with themselves.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Reevaluate their priorities. Let modern music into their lives.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yep.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And then. Then maybe next year for everyone.

[Sean Fennessey]

Sounds good. Kate Hudson.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

So two things about this.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessey]

I said on Thursday, you love this movie. Yeah, I like it. That's cool. I actually preferred Hugh Jackman in the movie. As I said on the episode, I thought he was the best part of the film. I heard some people say they felt he was miscast, which I don't understand. It's like you need a song and dance. Man, who's got gravitas? There's only one in Hollywood. He's the one. He's the guy.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You have like a Hugh Jackman weakness. You love Hugh Jackman.

[Sean Fennessey]

I do, I do. I think he's extremely versatile. And that being said, I've never seen the greatest Showman. Never seen it. Should we do a greatest Showman pod? You think people would enjoy that?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'd like a watch along.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, yeah, sure. Well, it would be a first time watch for me, but.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, who says that a watch along can't be a first time watch?

[Sean Fennessey]

I guess you're right.

[Amanda Dobbins]

We make the rules.

[Sean Fennessey]

Avatar was the first time watch for Chris.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Taylor Swift once said, we can leave the Christmas lights up till January. This is our house.

[Sean Fennessey]

When did you say we make the rules?

[Amanda Dobbins]

In the song. What song is that, Jack?

[Jack Sanders]

No idea.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Come on, help me out.

[Sean Fennessey]

Thank you, Jack, for not knowing.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Lover. I think. I think that's Lover.

[Sean Fennessey]

Lover.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Cool.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's about Joe Allen, star of Hamnet.

[Sean Fennessey]

I see Kate Hudson. Let's talk about this quickly. So one thing that you'll. If you listen to a lot of punditry about the Academy Awards, you'll hear a lot of people say Kate Hudson worked it this year. That she pulled every string that every friend that she has. She's obviously very well liked in the community of Hollywood. She's part of a legacy family. Her mother is Goldie Hawn.

[Amanda Dobbins]

She has a big party in Aspen every New Year's.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yes, I'm sure I learned that from you.

[Amanda Dobbins]

They play the bongos.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yes. She's evidently a good time. She's fun and people like her and she's been very successful over the years and she is also capable of great work. If you've seen Almost Famous, you know, she's super talented but she, for whatever reason has not spent as much time making quote, unquote prestige movies. Songsong Blue is not really prestigious, but it is quite serious and in fact more serious than you would think if you just watched the trailer. And she has to deal with a character who has had an amputation and who has to sing and dance and struggles with addiction. And it kind of like tic tac.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Toes and wears ugly sweaters.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yes. There's some Midwest camp aspect to it in terms of the accent. So the character that she's nominated for is doing a lot and does feel like a little bit more of a traditional nomination. I tend to favor the relationships angle, especially in this category. You know, the Andrea Riseborough nomination famously was born of this kind of like. Oh, yeah, you know, handshakes and baby.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Kissing and Gwyneth Paltrow and Edward Norton posting on social media before that was quote unquote, outlawed. Yes. No, I agree with you, but I do think it's a little bit of both. I think that there are a lot of people. It does just have that really famous glossy person, you know, dressing themselves in ugly clothing and doing something sad. And then everyone's like, oh, bravo. You know, this. This is acting. This is. This is why we show up. And I think many of those same people are also friends or want to be friends with Kate Hudson or they like fabletics. I don't know. She's very well liked.

[Sean Fennessey]

Sure.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You know, what would that be like in the world? I don't know.

[Sean Fennessey]

You think it's fun.

[Amanda Dobbins]

She also likes Aspen, which I'm just on the right. I'm not interested.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Can't make me care. It's just.

[Sean Fennessey]

Just full of weird opinions.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's cold. You don't like being cold. You like mountains, but you don't like being.

[Sean Fennessey]

I like to ski. I love mountains. Huge mountains.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, I know, but like. But you cry every time you go back to New York now and you're like, I can't do it anymore. I'm broken.

[Sean Fennessey]

But I think adventure cold is different from trudging to work at 9:00am Cold.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

And I have a different relationship to adventure cold.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I do. I don't like gear, you know?

[Sean Fennessey]

Gear.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, but you do.

[Sean Fennessey]

You like apreski?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, not. I mean, not really.

[Sean Fennessey]

I mean, we're done here.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I like a drink, but, you know.

[Sean Fennessey]

What about just a warm mug of cocoa by the fireplace?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I. I'm working.

[Sean Fennessey]

Bear skin rug.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I like coffee, but like, otherwise I'm working on my relationship with drinks.

[Sean Fennessey]

You know, just think of just snuggling up.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Jack, no. What do you think?

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's not my vibe.

[Jack Sanders]

I don't really have anything to add.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Here, if I'm being honest. Like, you know how Zach's always making like a toddy around the holidays and I'm like, I don't need a toddy. I just want my Negroni and I just want to go home. I know that's. Everyone else loves a toddy, but not me.

[Sean Fennessey]

A toddy is delightful.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Is there anything else around and Lee, or no other choice, Jack, that you feel like we should talk through? Because it. You're right. That it is. We heard from a lot of people about this.

[Jack Sanders]

I don't know if there was anything specifically I'm looking through the doc now, but it was just a lot. It was just a lot of people being like, what the hell? I don't understand this. And I was surprised that that was the most popular email. Like, well, I found that to be.

[Amanda Dobbins]

The most popular listeners. People who will send an email to us in 2026 are devoted.

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, this is like.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And they're cinephile.

[Sean Fennessey]

This is an award season podcast. But it's a cinephile podcast too, right? It's like, it's. If you really care about movies and you go see 100 movies a year, you no other choice is definitely going to be one of the best movies you see this year.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Like, Park Jeon Wook is like mainstream cinephile. Like, there was a distinction to leave joke on last season of industry, which I thought was very funny, like Shout Out, Mickey and Conrad. But you know, there is.

[Sean Fennessey]

He's made movies in America. He's made American TV series.

[Amanda Dobbins]

People who know. No.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yes, Yes. I think he fits that Venn diagram for film lovers. He's not quite Paul Thomas Anderson, but he's not Lav Diaz. You know what I mean? Like, he's not, you know, a slow cinema artist who's barely known outside of festival circle. So you're right about that. Okay, let's. Let's go to the next question, which is really the biggest question of this entire race.

[Jack Sanders]

I forgot to mention before I ask it briefly, is that people started following your request, Sean, of leaving their age with their email.

[Sean Fennessey]

Oh, cool.

[Jack Sanders]

But it was like probably 18% of emails and the only people were doing it were my age or younger, so that's honestly wonderful.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, I appreciate that. And thank you to the 20 somethings for sharing their age. I wonder if it's the 30 somethings and 40 somethings and 50 somethings are not sharing their age because they're ashamed of themselves for listening to this podcast. Thank you to the 20s. Okay, what's the big question everybody was asking?

[Jack Sanders]

Do you think Sinners now has a legitimate shot at winning Best Picture over one battle after another?

[Sean Fennessey]

My answer is yes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessey]

And I've been wondering about what your answer to this question is since I saw this question in the document. So we've both been steadfast that we feel that this would be one battle after another all the way through. In the aftermath of the Golden Globes, when Hamnet won Best Drama over Sinners, we had a conversation and I was pushing the idea maybe this is a moment to kind of pierce the armor that one battle has had throughout this season, maybe just in an effort to keep ourselves entertained through what we thought could have been very boring. But I think it's hard to say, and you may disagree. Sixteen nominations, just a profound number of nominations, by far the most in the history of this awards for Sinners means that there's just overwhelming support for it throughout the entire body. And it's preferential ballot. And with preferential ballot, anything can happen when it comes to two movies that are both really well liked, like these two. So my answer is yes. What is your answer?

[Amanda Dobbins]

My answer is no. For. For a few reasons. Every. Everything that you said is true. And I think I would be shocked but not surprised if it did win, if that makes sense. And also, like, excited. It would be great if Sinners, when I think we're choosing between two worthy films here, even if one battle after another was our number one, Sinners ranks very high.

[Jack Sanders]

Yep.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Like, I mean, like, this is a good thing. So. But you look at the last several years, everything everywhere, all at once. Oppenheimer and Anora, you know, decided pretty early and we've second guessed ourselves. And I think people try to make the race interesting, but in the end, those movies were dominant.

[Sean Fennessey]

And Anora's track, though, was somewhat similar.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Because I think that you and I both were pretty confident about a Nora, as confident as you could be about a Sean Baker movie, because nothing really rose to the surface that we thought was going to be able to get past it. And some sort of the weird It's Sean Baker's time narrative kind of took off, which was fascinating. I love him as a filmmaker, but he's an unusual version of person. But that was more about the field that year. And then the Brutalist won at the Golden Globes that year. And we did move the Brutalist ahead of Anora for like one month.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Sean Fennessey]

In our rankings. But all along it was. It was Anora, But I think that that was a similar feeling that I was having where I was like, is something shifting here or is this just a smokescreen?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Which I think is legitimate. And I. And we did feel that way, and I understand feeling that way about Sinners now, but, you know, then not only did Anora win Best Picture and did Shawn Baker win Best Director, and he won screenplay, and then he won editing, which we didn't expect. And Mikey Madison won Best Actress, which we didn't expect. So it was a romp these in. In the past few years at least. And the Academy is changing quickly enough that you really can only use the last few years as like a really predictive sample size.

[Sean Fennessey]

I have a thought about that. But keep going.

[Amanda Dobbins]

In the last few years, once we've decided on a movie, you know, and a little bit to our chagrin as award season podcasters, it, it kind of has been decided. So I, I do think there are those aspects of it. It's One battle had 13 nominations. So it's like that's, that, that's a lot.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's now the third most all time.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. So it's, it's not like there's not a huge amount of support for one battle after another. I do think that the, the Paul Thomas Anderson it's time narrative is very strong. And, and you think about where I, we do think he's going to win best Director.

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, I think we should talk about it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay. I think, I think Coogler could.

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, I think that that's kind of baked into a lot of this conversation. Now. There's part of this. Being such an extended season means there is time for everything to change. So from a national perspective, the second biggest moment of awards season is last Friday. And the headline out of that award season was sinners 16. It was not one battle. 13. Most people don't know how many nominations one battle has, but 16 was the first thing you saw if you visited CNN.com or the New York Times or wherever you get your news. And you're kind of a general consumer. Now. Obviously the people who vote on the Oscars are going to have more information about that. But I think when you see a number like that, even if you are a voter in the academy, it makes you sit back and think like, well, what is it that I'm voting for? Am I voting for a movie that made me feel something? Am I voting for the movie that I like the most? Or am I voting for the movie that feels like the biggest accomplishment? Now, Sinners, one of the reasons why it has so many nominations is one, it overperformed in the acting categories. One Mi Misaku and Delroy Lindo getting in was really interesting. And one little wrinkle to that is that those are both UK born actors who might be recognized at bafta. So you might see another big Sinner's BAFTA number coming soon. Now, historically black American performers are not recognized at bafta, but this could be a little bit of a wrinkle. So there's that. And then secondarily you've got a film about music with score and song recognized. You've got a period film. So costume and production design are being Recognized. Plus, you've got the entire legacy team of Black Panther, some of whom are Oscar winners. Ruth Carter, an Oscar winner for Black Panther. Hannah Beechler, an Oscar winner for Black Panther. So these are people who are like, they're the new Colleen Atwoods, you know, like, they're the new, like, the class of people who are always recognized for their work, are always nominated for their work. Coogler has kind of brought this whole group of people. Autumn Derald Arkhipa was not the cinematographer on the last Ryan Coogler movie, but she is now, like, a part of that class, and she's a strong favorite to win in that category in cinematography. So when you start looking at the board and you're like, oh, well, maybe it'll just be Coogler in screenplay, or maybe it'll be seven wins for Sinners. Like, there's a world where that exact math that you were describing with Sean, totally. It could move for this film too.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's totally possible. It could also be that we're there on March 15th and Sinners hits in every single below the line category, and we have that Mad Max Fury Road moment, 100%. And then as. As you get into the deeper categories, the voters have thought, okay, well, I've acknowledged, you know, the cinematography, I've acknowledged the production design. I've acknowledged the score. I've acknowledged the screenplay. And, you know, now I'll do other things could be wrong.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think, like, both things are totally in play. And that. That's kind of what's fascinating to me about this, because I just would not have said this. Now. One of the things that I think is working.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I don't even think we said that.

[Sean Fennessey]

We thought Sinners could win. We did. We did not.

[Amanda Dobbins]

We talked about it.

[Sean Fennessey]

Multiple people texted me on Thursday that were just like, are you changing your mind about this at all? And. And I'm sure that there's recency bias to this level of information, and just people being like, are you sure, buddy? Tends to always have an effect on me. But, yeah, CF1, I would. I know I would still favor one battle after another, but I do think that the Sinners case is strong. I do think that it would be another interesting example of, like, Coogler going ahead of PTA does remind me a little bit of Bong Joon Ho going ahead of Quentin Tarantino, you know, where it's like, you know, the Apprentice becomes the master kind of thing. The other thing that we didn't talk about at all, which is really interesting, I think Matt Bellany got into this a little bit on the town.

[Amanda Dobbins]

There were Warner Brothers. I was gonna ask you.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

What if they weren't funded by the same studio? Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

So what does that mean for the campaigns? What does that mean for how one film is favored over the other? I mean, and one battle after another is the smaller film in terms of box office and the number of people that went to go see it. But it is historically more in line, I would say, with Academy fare, a dramatic film about historical violence. I guess, for lack of a better term, Sinners has that vampire aspect. But Sinners being a bigger box office sensation, it would be a way for Hollywood to rubber stamps what it means to take a chance on original material and make success. On the other hand, the film didn't travel as well, and black films don't always play as well overseas. Sometimes depends on the film. At least that's the, you know, the phrasing that you hear from executives about why they're not marketed as well overseas. So you've got. There's just a lot of noise in this very particular race. And we're not even talking about Hamnet because it underperformed a little bit on Thursday. But I'm not totally ruling it out because you could definitely see a like, one battle Sinners ethic kind of canceling each other out.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Sean Fennessey]

And then a movie with all this.

[Amanda Dobbins]

All the Spielbergs of the world. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

I mean, what do you think about that?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I. I don't. I, I don't look forward to that podcast. We have to just start recording. I don't. I think we'll say some things that will get us in trouble. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's not impossible. It's not impossible. It's not impossible.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's not where I would put my money. But this is not a betting podcast.

[Sean Fennessey]

So preferential voting will be really interesting this year. Hamnet is still not as widely seen as those other two movies. I'm sure most people in the Academy have had a chance to check it out because it's been so touted. But it's doing well overseas and it still just didn't do that well in the United States. I don't know what impact that would have on the Academy Awards. It's interesting. We have something to discuss.

[Amanda Dobbins]

We do.

[Sean Fennessey]

A little bit bored a month ago and now I've had my, My, My engines have been refired.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Where does sentimental value sit in terms of preferential ballots? And can't other things canceling each other out?

[Jack Sanders]

Good question.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Suddenly I said, I think.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think I Said on Thursday that it got eight nominations. Eight nominations. But I was wrong. It got nine nominations. Sentimental value, which is more than Hamnet and is the same number as Frankenstein.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

And people love that movie. Yeah, I love that movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You do? I respect that movie.

[Sean Fennessey]

Your husband loves that movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Everyone I know.

[Sean Fennessey]

You know, I think. I don't think it has any chance to win Best Picture. But where does it sit on the preferential ballot? I don't know. It could be four, it could be seven. It really depends. Again, release the votes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Agree.

[Sean Fennessey]

Release the votes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Release them over the course of the broadcast.

[Sean Fennessey]

Just do that. Yeah. Who says no, besides everyone who's nominated and or votes? We say yes. Okay, what's the next question, Jack?

[Jack Sanders]

Next question comes from Andrew. He says, help me understand why it's not Leo for Best Actor. He just does not understand personally. Leo cleared Timmy for him performance wise. But is there any reason other than the time of release states that Leo isn't been taking that seriously?

[Sean Fennessey]

Did Andrew leave his age?

[Jack Sanders]

I don't believe so, but I'll go check.

[Sean Fennessey]

Was it from leonardodicapriomail.com or.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Do you think Leo uses Gmail? I think he's old school.

[Sean Fennessey]

You think he's ack.com?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, he's AOL.

[Sean Fennessey]

AOL?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Don't you think?

[Sean Fennessey]

Does AOL still exist?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I know, but people still have the addresses.

[Sean Fennessey]

They do. I guess it does, yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Earthlink.

[Sean Fennessey]

Does Leo email?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I mean, I know how much time Leo spends on a phone in general.

[Sean Fennessey]

You know, carrier pigeon or pony express. How do you think he gets messages out there?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I mean, I don't know whether he's using like a. A smart phone, you know, like, what's Leo Googling?

[Sean Fennessey]

You think he's got what, a flip phone?

[Amanda Dobbins]

It could be BlackBerry. Listen, like, you saw the end of one battle after another.

[Sean Fennessey]

You know, the most underrated part of the one battle after another promotional campaign was an interview magazine. PTA and Leo interviewed each other for the film. And in that discussion, which I think came out before the movie was released, they talked about beepers and whether beepers were for drug dealers or not. And I would encourage people to go out and look into that content because it was very relatable. As a kid who had a beeper at 14 years old on Long island.

[Amanda Dobbins]

In the 90s, you had a beeper.

[Sean Fennessey]

Certainly everybody I knew had a beeper.

[Amanda Dobbins]

My dad had a beeper and I knew the numbers. So whenever I needed him, I could beep him. But I didn't get one.

[Sean Fennessey]

I mean, my dad had a beeper because he was a cop, so he needed a beeper. Beeper. What an amazing moment in technology.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Jack, do you know what a beeper is?

[Jack Sanders]

No idea.

[Sean Fennessey]

Are you serious? Yeah, I have no idea. What? Oh, you.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No idea. Okay, so. Well, this is great. Let's try to explain what a beeper was. So it was a little.

[Sean Fennessey]

A little rectangular device.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Square digital device that had a small, narrow screen on the top of it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Sean Fennessey]

And you could.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And it was an. Attached to a phone number. So in some ways it was like pre. Phone. And you would call the phone number, and then the beeper would just display the number that called.

[Sean Fennessey]

It was like a. Hey, I'm trying to get your attention.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jack Sanders]

Sounds really cool.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And they had a. They were almost always attached to your belt.

[Sean Fennessey]

But these were. These were designed to be used by doctors, by firefighters, by people who needed to be contacted in a moment of emergency. And, you know, police officers all had them for a stretch. They became like something you might even find on a TV show. You'd watch, you know, a cop or something, and they would have one right next to their holster. This was for seven years, maybe in history. Like, 91 through 99.

[Jack Sanders]

Is a beeper a pager?

[Sean Fennessey]

A pager, yeah.

[Jack Sanders]

Okay. That. That I'm vaguely familiar with.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessey]

I just don't. You don't know about the phraseology beeper. That is correct. Because when it went off, I mean.

[Amanda Dobbins]

We'Re basically working our way back to it. Like, we've. Like, people are trying to brick their cell phones and make them unusable for anything other than, like, call me right back. Which is. So let's, you know, let's bring them back.

[Sean Fennessey]

I. I had one.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Why did I need one at 14? Why didn't I need to be beeped? Who. Who was beeping me? I don't really understand. Also, if you press star911, that indicated it was an emergency, so get in touch with me immediately. Which kind of obviates the idea of even being beeped in the first place. Like, you got beeped. Like, was it not an emergency? Why did you contact me anyway? Yeah, just some campaign lore. Check out that interview.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right, Leo. Beepers. That's how we got there.

[Sean Fennessey]

Why isn't it Leo, I've given my spiel on this. I think it's weird. I think it's weird that it's not him. Cause it's not about who's more worthy. They're both great. Both those movies are great. Their performances are Amazing. We love both of them. It's actually not an interesting thing to debate. Like, well, this was a more textured performance. Or he really embodied this. Or he made me laugh here and he didn't. That's not what it is.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Just campaign wise. I mean, some of it, I guess the Leo performance is more comedic and the Chalamet performance is more classical. Like, actor putting it all, like, going for it. This is, you know, he gives a speech where he's like, I have a purpose, you know, and so I. Maybe it's just like the roles themselves, the Chalamet, the Marty Roll reads as a little more like traditional Oscar. And certainly the campaign has gone with it. I mean, Leo has definitely been out there. He was on this podcast. He was also on Travis Kelsey's podcast, like, so he's been doing his version. He did actors on actors. Yeah, that was great. He talked about DVD players, but hell yeah. I mean, he's not campaigning on the level that Timothy is. You know, Leo's not a born poster, so that could be part of it. Just in terms of, like, attention and comedy. I usually agree that that doesn't really.

[Sean Fennessey]

What he's doing is unorthodox.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I agree. And Timmy has had to roll it back, I guess.

[Sean Fennessey]

You know, it's a really interesting thing that has happened. I don't know if it's completely without precedent. There have been young winners before, but it's unusual for someone who is, for lack of a better phrase, very modern getting recognized in this way. So we had a question later on about the best Oscar speeches of all time that we'll get to shortly.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

And I went back and I watched one of them from 2010, and I was looking at who was nominated in one of the categories, and there was a standing ovation moment and the composition of the crowd. And it felt, and I don't mean this pejoratively, it felt old. It felt like a bunch of 50 somethings, 60 somethings. It felt like. And you might be able to look back at it and say, this is kind of the last gasp of a certain time for this award show, for the way that we understand movies, for the place that the Academy Awards holds, which is like, not a place to rec at that time. It was not a place to recognize massive hits. It was a place to recognize great art from people who were overlooked in their 20s, 30s and 40s and given them prizes in their 50s and 60s. And this is a bit of a sea change. Mikey Madison is not as much of a sea change because Younger actresses do win more historically, but I mean, when's the last time? I mean, I guess Eddie Redmayne was very young when he won and Rami Malek was very young when he won. So it's not like there are never young guys. And those guys were born both fairly, but they were not well known, they were not stars. Like Chalamet is a star and he's probably going to win at 30 years old. So over Leo, who's the star of his generation.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's right.

[Sean Fennessey]

And I haven't really been able to figure it out. Probably three or four times on the show over the last six months, I've been like, why is Leo not winning?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Do you think anything of it has to do with the fact that the critics associations and all of the early chatter, I mean, we all kind of take for granted that Leo is very good in it. And instead I've been talking so much about Benicio Del Toro and a lot of people are Sean Penn and Chase Infinity and Teyana Taylor, who, you know, won at the Golden Globes. And so just some of the acting attention has been dispersed or like focused elsewhere in that movie possibly.

[Sean Fennessey]

I'm getting the impression maybe that even though the performances are some of the best things about it, that One Battle isn't necessarily being seen as a performance movie. It does have four nominations for its performances, but Chase Infinity missed. And we have kind of come to this conclusion that it feels like Stellan Skarsgrd is gonna win in Supporting now. So maybe Teyana Taylor has a chance to win. But what that movie's being recognized for is kind of its cultural import, PTA's vision, some real creativity in terms of the execution, cinematography of the film. And so it's just not the first thing that comes to mind. I think the way that you explain Marty is really is on point, which is like he's in the middle of the movie and it's a movie about a striver meeting his moment. And then the other thing too is that Marty just came out later and people love it and it's a hit. It's like a real old fashioned. He put it on his shoulders and carried it. He's going to carry it to like $180 million, which is awesome. And I think there is a little bit of like maybe One Battle didn't peak too early in the grand scheme of things, but it might have peaked too early for this particular category. I don't know. I'm kind of talking through every potentiality here.

[Amanda Dobbins]

We don't know is the answer. It's not what you would pick.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. Would you say we don't know to every single question that's being asked here?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No. I felt like I had pretty strong opinions about the Best Picture odds. Everything else, I don't know.

[Sean Fennessey]

Got it. Jack, any thoughts about that race?

[Jack Sanders]

I think also part of it is just the quote unquote, it's time factor. If Leo doesn't have an Oscar for the Revenant, it's hard for me to imagine they're not giving it to him here. And also PTA not having an Oscar. It's like you said, the attention's elsewhere, so.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. But if the thing. It's a fun sliding doors. If Leo doesn't get an Oscar for the Revenant, he does get one for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. And Brad Pitt doesn't. Cause he's giving a more interesting performance than Brad Pitt in that movie. But Brad Pitt got it because it was his time and he's a little bit older than Leo anyway, so, you know, we could play that game all day. Maybe one day we will. It's true. Oscar, sliding doors.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Sure.

[Sean Fennessey]

You're down.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I love it.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay, what's the next question?

[Jack Sanders]

Next question comes for Christian, who is asking about how to throw an Oscars party. He writes, I've thrown Oscar parties before, but wanted to ask the professionals, what's the best viewing party, how it should go, Drinks, food, Oscar bets, how many people should I invite? Even the right sound system for it. I want advice from the professionals.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, so here's the thing.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, we are professional people who watch the Oscars.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So here's the thing is that we watch this for work. So it's not a party. And in fact, the rule, the reason that we'll never host an Oscar watching party is that we have very particular conditions which are don't talk at all. Like, honestly, like, don't talk. The only person I know in my entire life who's ever allowed to talk to me during the Oscars is Sean Pennesy. And that is like the closest I will ever come to saying I love you to Sean Pennesy.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's so true.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's like, it's literally.

[Sean Fennessey]

We've never discussed that.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But you can speak. And honestly, Jack, I love you. You so much. Like, you're not really allowed to speak when we're watching the Oscars. It's okay. Like, you do so much for us. I'm so grateful to you. But we're not there yet. So it's. I.

[Sean Fennessey]

But we have never talked about that, but it is true.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, we don't talk about the things. You know, we know when to talk and when not to talk.

[Sean Fennessey]

But. So that's so funny.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So an Oscars party, like, we don't know is the answer. However, I can answer this as like a. Not as a professional, but as a person who likes throwing parties. And imagine, yeah, you throw good parties. We didn't have to be psychotic. You know, I've seen what other people do. Like, I've been on the Internet.

[Sean Fennessey]

Should we almost, like, remove the Oscars and just make it the Emmys or something? Or the Globes? Cause, like.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, or like super bowl or something where, you know, like an event thing, a viewing party where we aren't. Don't have like, our entire careers on the.

[Sean Fennessey]

But you also need to, like, kind of gamify it because people are asking here about the betting or any sort of, like, box boxes you might have.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So ballots, for sure. I think that you should do ballots and someone should be tallying during the.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

During the run of the show to keep people interested.

[Sean Fennessey]

Get those spreadsheets going.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. Also, like, we have always wanted an elimination process to be part of the broadcast, and they'll or the show, and they'll never do it. But you could do it at home.

[Sean Fennessey]

I love that idea.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You know, like, vote people out. I don't know. I don't know what they lose. Maybe they have to take a shot or something.

[Sean Fennessey]

Once you're eliminated, you have to leave the party. You can't see best picture.

[Amanda Dobbins]

How many people you should invite. It really depends on seating.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think size of your home is a factor.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right. And this and the size of the screen and how comfortable people are. Can I throw a number at you?

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah, 12.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's good.

[Sean Fennessey]

I feel like 12 is the right number of people. It's enough that you've got. You can have, like, multiple islands of conversation, but not so much that it feels like it'll get too noisy, that you won't be able to watch when you want to watch.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's. I. That's. That's great.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

One pro tip that I would give as a professional is to make sure you know what time the Oscars start if you're hosting an Oscars party. Our friend Izzy recently went to an Oscars party. As she showed up on time, 4pm PST. The hosts and everyone else thought that the Oscars were. Were still starting. Oh, that's right.

[Sean Fennessey]

Because they've moved it up.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Moved it up. So make sure that you're clear on the time that. That would be my note.

[Sean Fennessey]

Amazing.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Let's see. So the food people really like to do the puns and all the foods and stuff. I'm not a pun person, but, like, I. Who doesn't love a theme?

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. Like Marty Supreme Pizza, you know. Sure. There you go.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. One quesadilla after another. Yeah, There you go. What else can we do?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I just really like dips and potato chips, so I just. People should have more potato chips and parties. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Ham and cheese nut. You know, like, keep going. It's really, really good we're doing this. Give me some more titles of films. I can't think of any. Begonia, Burgonia, Bergonia.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Sure. Sliders. There you go.

[Sean Fennessey]

We need some kind of sinners themed cocktail. Right. Because they're in a juke joint and they're serving. Sure, they're serving up.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'm really focused on, like Frankenstein. So, like Frankfurt. Like what, what can we do with frankfurter Frankenstein?

[Sean Fennessey]

You just. Well, we. Yeah. You did it. Yeah. There's gonna be a lot of, like, pork themed items on this menu. For whatever reason. You know, I, I, you know, I think that's fine. I think if you've got the wherewithal.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Sentimental value meal and everyone just gets, you know, then you're sponsored by McDonald's.

[Sean Fennessey]

Sure.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Lock in that Spotcon partnership. Okay. That is my advice to you.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Get people to sign, get it sponsored. I like drinks, so have drinks. If you don't like drinks, you know, don't. Or don't have alcoholic drinks. Where are you on sound system?

[Sean Fennessey]

I think you, if you, if you've got some sort of Sonos surround, lock in. Okay. You know, or, you know, at worst, a sound bar. Yeah, I think that'd be helpful.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Are you allowing people to talk?

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay. So thank you for asking. Now, I would never do this. Now. We. I think we did.

[Amanda Dobbins]

We've done Golden Gloves, Golden Globes.

[Sean Fennessey]

Did we not watch Oscars in like the 15, 16 or 1617 era when Chris posted?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yes, we have watched together, but I think it was only like four people or six people at your house. And you and I both were like, no talking, please. And I think our spouses were like, these sociopaths should be examined. I. To me, it's very, very similar to a Mets playoff game.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, great.

[Sean Fennessey]

Few and far between, though. They are not annual experiences. Of course, we know they've only been in the playoffs twice in the last 10 years. However, I can't watch that with anybody. I Can't even watch that with loved ones in my family. I actually need to just be alone because it's very painful and it's not fun. The ostrich is not painful. But it is. Like I'm observing the presentation of my science project after months of preparation. You know, I definitely have an unhealthy relationship to observing what's transpiring, but in a way that I love. Like, I love watching the Oscars to this day. We joke around and we're like, they suck. They don't suck. It's my favorite thing. I love it. The reason we spend so much time on it, on the show is it's a lot. So I. I think it would be hard to do a proper party in that way. But we should maybe even consider a Golden Globes. Yeah, I would. I would. Because I don't really care about the Globes anymore now. I'm officially now, like, these don't really mean anything to me.

[Amanda Dobbins]

There are also breaks for the. The TV awards, which, like, I really don't care about.

[Sean Fennessey]

Right. So exactly.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You know, you can chit chat or whatever.

[Sean Fennessey]

Great point. There's plenty of time to socialize.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Pause everyone and be like, I'm so sorry, we need to know.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's international feature. Please, like, everyone, this matters.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Shh.

[Sean Fennessey]

You know who's getting on stage? Will it be Cleber Mendoza Filho? And people can be like, why are you guys so weird about this? Yeah, good question.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I. I hope you have a great party.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yes. Christian, good luck.

[Amanda Dobbins]

This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Life is all about choices.

[Sean Fennessey]

You know, I was thinking about recommending Radiance films to my buddy Chris Ryan, a physical media company, because I knew he had a real taste for Italian crime films. And no one does it better than Radiance. And of course, I was right. Chris got involved in Radiance and now he feels great about it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

At State Farm, their goal is to help you make decisions that you feel good about. That's why with the State Farm personal price plan, you can choose the right amount of coverage to help create a competitive price.

[Sean Fennessey]

Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. Okay, what's next?

[Jack Sanders]

Next question comes from Vince. Actually, this is going to be a little bit of a two parter. Vince is asking while I was incredibly happy with the best picture noms. It's been heavily discussed how we've seen to reward five of the same movies. Do you think this is a product of going to 10 nominations? And the follow up question is from Ryan saying, since the Academy has expanded best picture from 5 to 10, should they also expand the acting nominations from 5 to 10? With so many more movies being made and more opportunities for acting, shouldn't they expand the acting categories too?

[Sean Fennessey]

So the first one first. It's interesting. We have been circling this idea a little bit of late.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Sean Fennessey]

I do think that the ecosystem of awards campaigning and awards identification around films has gotten extremely strong and extremely skilled at putting big red circles around titles. As early as January, for example, I got a text from someone that we both know about the film the Invite, which premiered at Sundance over the weekend. And that text said this film will be nominated for best adapted screenplay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, okay.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's January 25th. So one, that happens all the time. Two, Cannes is now considered a major precursor which starts in May. That gives you a Runway of several months. Three, we have a major kind of active and vocal cinephile culture that when a big otur is coming with a moment in the example of one battle after another, people will be like, well, this certainly feels like it's an Oscar contender and if the film turns out to be good, then in fact it gets that five month treatment where it gets to be identified. I don't think this is a great thing, but I don't think it's because of 10 nominations. I actually kind of want it to come out in defense of 10 nominations this year because it kind of is doing exactly what it was supposed to.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Do which is getting more movies that people have seen in the conversation.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

The reason that we're reward only five of the ten same movies is because all the other categories are still five nominees including every single below the line category. And so.

[Sean Fennessey]

But is it working in reverse where people know what the best picture contenders are and then they're putting all those movies in those other categories? Because in the past, if you look there are historically there were have been more funky like whoa, this movie in production design or this movie in cinematography. And that is changing a little bit. I would say it's, there's, there's more concentration at the top than there was 25 years ago.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, I think that's true though. You know, makeup design. I is one this year where I learned about two movies like, you know, I knew about them visual effects, you know, there are still Places where things that are not anywhere near Best Picture.

[Sean Fennessey]

You're right.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Make it in. And you're just seeing that in the. The movies that are, as you said. And I think you're completely right, they're identified. January, February, May. You know, as soon as we're guessing what's gonna be at Venice, then we're guessing, okay, which are the two, you know, what's the Telluride nomination? What's the Venice nomination? You know, like we're gaming it out before schedules are. And I think that studios are gaming that as well as they're figuring out releases and festival stuff. So you're right. But then I do think also just the limited number of slots, it is a little bit like Best Picture has five real contenders and five, like, happy to be heres.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's been that way pretty much since they went to 10.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I am happy that all of those films are there, you know, even F1, which, like, I thought was silly and should have gone to something else. But it's fun to have a big budget film at the like in Best Picture.

[Sean Fennessey]

I totally agree. And I kind of like the balance that we're getting there where, you know, it's not just the film, like Sentimental Value maybe creeping into the top five, but that the Secret Agent is kind of firmly there and it's a part of the race. And because it's a part of the race, I feel like it does get recognized in other categories it might not otherwise get recognized in, like Wagner Moore, for example. That feels like a change and a good change. So I like that. And then on top of that, as you say, films like F1 getting in, it's not a bad thing. Like there are movies that I personally prefer. I would have preferred weapons to get in. I would have preferred no other choice to get in. I would have even preferred the Testament of Van Lee to get in. There's probably 10 other movies I like more than F1, but F1, as I said on Thursday, is a representation of another aspect of filmmaking that doesn't necessarily always get recognized by the Academy that I think actually should be recognized more frequently. So I actually love what ten has been able to do. But if you expand the other categories to 10, I don't know how I feel about this. What do you think?

[Amanda Dobbins]

So I think we just need to add more acting categories. I mean, we've talked about Breakthrough for forever, but I think that's a really easy one and that Chase Infinity could absolutely win that this year. And that would be a nice way to recognize A performance that we both think deserves a nomination.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yep.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Comedy, comedic performance. I don't know how I feel about this, but, you know, it's, it's a little bit like the Golden Globes Box Office Achievement Award. You know, you just wish that actor and actress would actually recognize comedic performances every so often. And they don't.

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, I have seen some. I don't think I would want to break it down by genre because I think too many films are already operating in category fraud. And it's like, is one battle a comedy or not? You know, we talked about it with the Globes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I don't want to do that. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

So. But one thing that I would love to see that we've talked about versions of in the past is the kind of like One shot award where it's like you get one scene.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. Or two scenes.

[Sean Fennessey]

You know, like a kind of an elevated cameo where it has to be critical to the part. It can't be Matt Damon and. Well, he's Matt Damon and Interstellar for sure.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessey]

You know, that's an example of like he gets one sequence.

[Amanda Dobbins]

All of his cameos that are like, pretty essential. I don't want to spoil any of them.

[Sean Fennessey]

No, he's, he, he, he's somebody who would frequently be nominated in this category. But like, I mean, Peyton Manning in Is this thing on this year, Like, I didn't think that was a very effective use of him or idea. I thought it was more distracting than effective.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I thought that was funny.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay, but that's an example of someone who could be nominated in that spot. And every year there are 10 examples that are really cool. That would be another way to recognize more performances. So you don't have people. You know, it would be the Beatrice Straight Award from. From network. Netflix. From Netflix. From network. That's. Netflix is the new network.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

So that would be cool. I'm trying to think of what are some other.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I mean, I think having more, you know, more performers and more top line or recognizable people, both like on the broadcast and getting awards is I think a good, good, good for the awards, good for the show.

[Sean Fennessey]

Can I give you another idea that I had that is sort of related to this? I was wondering if they could revise the Lifetime Achievement award and make it more of a vote within, within the body. And it doesn't mean that you would. There would be a vote, but that vote would not just be among the people on the governor's board. It would be amongst the entire academy. But it wouldn't. The prize wouldn't be the prize would be given out at the awards, but it would be revealed before that. So, like, there would be 20 eligible nominees who have had a body of work that is longer than 30 years.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So you're sort of Rock and Roll hall of faming it.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessey]

And then you get to identify who is the most deserving person in the Academy who does not have an Academy Award and who maybe won't get one.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Sean Fennessey]

And, you know, we saw Tom Cruise receive a Governor's Award this year, and he's never won an Acting Academy Award.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But it's. I mean, it's tricky when you're using that award to make up for all of the times that the Academy has overlooked very deserving people. And then you're gonna let them vote on it once again. And then it just.

[Sean Fennessey]

This idea comes directly from baseball, because the Baseball hall of Fame is voted on by the writers, and oftentimes there are people who go up for that nomination, and if they have, for example, a bad reputation amongst the writers, they won't get as much love as they maybe should get. And that sometimes that very thin margin of dis. Dislike will keep them out of the hall, and then they'll come up for what is called the Veterans Committee some five or ten years later. I don't know what the threshold is of time. And that committee has kind of changed a lot over time, but basically their job is to correct the sins of the Writers Committee.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessey]

And so they'll place people in some years after their career has ended as a sort of like, hey, we're sorry, but Gil Hodges, you know, very legendary first baseman and Mets manager, should actually be a Hall of Famer. And then they go in. I always thought that was kind of interesting because it's a different perspective on a person's career and the work that they did with some distance. This would be kind of an interesting way to change things up. This is like, my 900th idea for the Oscars.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes, I know. I think it's true. I still. You know, the honorary ones don't mean anything to me. Like, let's.

[Sean Fennessey]

Well, but if you make it more race, you know, like, so then you could say, like, the entire Academy agrees that this person should have an Academy Award.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Tom Cruise deserves a competitive Oscar. You know, that's. That's just. I won't be satisfied until that happens.

[Sean Fennessey]

I agree. But what do we. What does. What does Joan Allen deserve? You know what I mean? Like, there's going to be some people who are like, they'll Never win now. You know they've been Academy award nominated. Everyone thinks they're good.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Expecting nominations, you know, give like.

[Sean Fennessey]

But you can't be like there's a geriatric award for performances 70 and older.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You know, another one could also just be ensemble. Just take it straight from the actor awards. If we've added cast casting, then we.

[Sean Fennessey]

I know they're a little same, same kind of close.

[Amanda Dobbins]

But if, also if you want to crystallize what casting is and how that is different, if you're trying to recognize like casting directors versus the performances, you just add an ensemble and then you get more people there.

[Sean Fennessey]

I like that.

[Amanda Dobbins]

There you go. I don't know, just, you know, more awards. Awards are good. Where we've already made up what, 20. How many are we giving out now? 23 or 24.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think fewer precursors, more Oscars. Make the Oscars a two day event. I've pitched this idea. 48 Oscars over two days. It's a kind of a Lollapalooza situation. Sure, you gotta buy a ticket.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I, I don't think that that's a good idea. I think that you need to have it in one night. I think you have people's attention for that. You've grandfathered in a certain amount of respect and history for the Oscar.

[Sean Fennessey]

I'm available for freelance awards consulting. I have more ideas than I know what to do with and I'm just screaming into the void all the time.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Don't think that you alone just giving out Oscars in a marathon for like five great programming. And we want it, we want to bring the audience in.

[Sean Fennessey]

I said two days, just two days. I think that's enough.

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[Sean Fennessey]

All right, Jack, what's next?

[Jack Sanders]

Next question comes from Cole. What was a performance from this past year that you knew had no chance of being nominated but would have been in your personal nominations?

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay, we both picked two.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

You want to do yours first or me first?

[Amanda Dobbins]

You. You're one and two. Go ahead. You got to the doc first.

[Sean Fennessey]

Elizabeth Olsen is really good in this movie. The assessment that nobody saw and is on Hulu right now, and I have some notes about the movie, and I think it is a bit flawed, but her performance is insanely committed and really good and totally overlooked. So I would encourage people to seek that out. We didn't really spend very much time on that movie on the show, but it's an interesting example of, like, it was a fest. I think it was Toronto 2020, 24, and then came and was released in spring of 25 and just kind of vanished. And if they just played their cards a little differently, maybe you would be in a different place where, like, it's getting an indie spirit nom. And then all of a sudden, maybe there's a chance for it, but that movie got passed aside and then the other one, that immediately popped to my mind. And this would have been really more a sort of recognition of the work that he did all year. But Josh o' Connor for Wake Up Dead man, yeah, he's terrific in that movie. He's excellent in all four films that he starred in this movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I was gonna say I like this as the choice, even though it could really be this and Hyphen the Mastermind, because you're giving out your own awards.

[Sean Fennessey]

And he was hardly recognized at any precursors for this. Everybody I know kind of universally agreed, even if they didn't love the most recent Knives out movie, he's terrific in it. And he's obviously having a moment. He's about to be in disclosure day. It would be a way to kind of continue to promote his growing stardom. So Those are my two. What do you got?

[Amanda Dobbins]

So I got Ralph Fiennes 20 years later would have been so worthy. Great. And also setting up Bone Temple. What a great character. Great performance. And just as we discussed on that episode, we don't appreciate Ralph Fiennes enough. That is just a man who likes to act. He likes to do stuff.

[Sean Fennessey]

He does.

[Amanda Dobbins]

He goes for it. And then, I mean, she was nominated for a Golden Globe, but I knew it was never gonna happen. Jennifer Lawrence and Die My Love. She amazing in that.

[Sean Fennessey]

Were you at least A little bit surprised that she didn't get in at Best Actress, or you didn't think she had any chance?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, no, no, I didn't think. Especially once, you know, like, they're like, the troubled moms already are dominating that particular category. So she's like, the fourth or fifth, like, also ran in Troubled Moms.

[Sean Fennessey]

I know, but troubled mom representation, you know. Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Listen, I, like, I. I felt seen. I loved it. Looks great.

[Sean Fennessey]

But, yeah, this film had a very bracing effect on Eileen. Yeah, well, she was like, I admire it, but I will never look at that again.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Sure. How often do you think that she thinks about the dog?

[Sean Fennessey]

Interesting question. I don't know. I think about, are you not a big dog person?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Oh, no, no, no. I don't mean the.

[Sean Fennessey]

Oh, you mean the character.

[Amanda Dobbins]

The. The character of the dog. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, no, about the husband just showing up with a dog.

[Sean Fennessey]

Oh.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Which I think about all the time. My husband has never showed up with a dog.

[Sean Fennessey]

I don't mean so offensive to you.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, but I thought that was just, like, such a perfect crystallization of just someone just not paying attention. You're like, are you kidding me?

[Sean Fennessey]

I'll tell you what would make me not want to get a dog is having a kid. Like, once you have a kid, you're like, oh, I have a dog.

[Amanda Dobbins]

His name is Sai, and I just have to keep him from eating things he's not supposed to and potty training. Yeah, yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's all the same stuff.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, I love him. He's very cute.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay, what's next?

[Jack Sanders]

Next question comes from Bailey. Can we please receive an update on the getting drunk and going to see Mercy situation? As someone who will be getting drunk and going to see mercy tonight in 40X, I would love a report back on this situation. P.S. go Mets. Let's fucking go, Bailey.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So as I Google Mercy showtimes and then the zip code, I'm not going to share with everyone.

[Sean Fennessey]

I can't see films in 40x.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, if Mercy is a film about Chris Pratt sitting in a chair and talking to Rebecca Ferguson, then What is the 40x experience?

[Sean Fennessey]

It's a really good point. Is his. Is his chair also in 40x while he's on trial with AI?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I have to tell you, the most fun I've ever had was sitting on the floor four months pregnant, watching you do the fall guy in 40x. That chair was moving so much, and you were. Were so unhappy.

[Sean Fennessey]

I was 4 months removed from a pretty significant hip injury during that experience, and I regretted every minute of it and I was not pregnant. I find 40x to be uncomfortable. I really do.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I tell you after that that I googled 40. Like literally after we went. Of course was it only occurred to me to google 40x while pregnant. And of course like the fine line printed, they're like, we don't recommend this. But I wound up on like Mom's net, which is like one of the UK mom forums.

[Sean Fennessey]

Wow.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And someone's like went to see Avatar the Way of water in 40x while pregnant and had a very soothing time. I think the baby liked it.

[Sean Fennessey]

Wow.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So there we go.

[Sean Fennessey]

Kiri was in touch with the mother with AWA and AWA was giving warm vibes. What happens if I watch Fire and Ash again? And I'm like, I love it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You gotta. You gotta take Knox with you. Knox has got to confront his fear, you know, to get through the fear.

[Sean Fennessey]

Varang though.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, what's it.

[Sean Fennessey]

What? What? How are you gonna feel when. When Nox comes alive at the sight of Varang?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Is he. I tried showing him K Pop Demon Hunters and his face was just. He just covered his eyes. It was like me at a horror movie.

[Sean Fennessey]

Two different energies.

[Amanda Dobbins]

So Mercy Showtimes.

[Sean Fennessey]

You're going to do this in real time?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, it's. What. Yeah. What are we going to do here?

[Sean Fennessey]

Because it is playing at the Ipick.

[Amanda Dobbins]

For the record, it is playing at the Ipick. So there's that.

[Sean Fennessey]

Jack, there's a 4.

[Amanda Dobbins]

They've got a 4pm and 7PMs this week. So I guess we just got to discuss.

[Sean Fennessey]

Neither of those are ideal for my lifestyle.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I mean me either, but I can't do 10:30.

[Sean Fennessey]

You know what I love is a one piece movie on a Tuesday. That's one of my favorite things.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I. I could maybe. So we've got a. We've got a Dolby Cinema115 tomorrow at Marica at the Americana. But like McGuffins is not really hitting my cocktails of choice these days.

[Sean Fennessey]

What do you mean there? What do they say?

[Amanda Dobbins]

They don't carry Campari.

[Sean Fennessey]

So what about Regal Paseo?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Let's see. I haven't checked. They've got a one forty here. Also a twelve oh five tomorrow.

[Sean Fennessey]

Twelve oh five with drinks.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think I can do that. I was gonna try to hit an 11 o' clock Pilates after jam session, but I'm.

[Sean Fennessey]

Get in that chair. Jack, where you at at noon tomorrow?

[Jack Sanders]

Drinking at noon for mercy On a workday?

[Amanda Dobbins]

What else do you have to do?

[Sean Fennessey]

You could. You could have.

[Jack Sanders]

I edit stuff for this podcast called the Big Picture. I. I would be down if we. If I can schedule it accordingly.

[Sean Fennessey]

This is.

[Jack Sanders]

This is gold content.

[Sean Fennessey]

We can. We could just placebo you. You know, with like, water that we tell you is vodka. If you need to be. Do some editing. Might be. Might be easier to edit the show while drunk. Just for the record. I'm not advising that, nor am I recommending you it, but it could be easier for someone who isn't Jack Mercy. What if it's good?

[Jack Sanders]

No, I don't think that that should happen.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I don't think it's going to be good.

[Sean Fennessey]

I reserve the right to say it's good if I think it's good. Okay, what's next?

[Jack Sanders]

Next question comes from Matt. Since the Best original song nominations were once again a disappointment, I thought a better hypothetical song category could be Best Needle Drop from this year's movies. Who would be your nominations and winner?

[Sean Fennessey]

I used to do this every year and I stopped doing it for some reason.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessey]

So I have lists from the past.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

And I love this question from Matt. I think it's a good call. I don't think the Oscars. It's a little too, like, internety for the Oscars. You know, it's not prestigious enough because who are you even giving the award to? The music supervisor, I guess. Even though a lot of times these come directly from the filmmakers.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right. And they're. It's written into the script.

[Sean Fennessey]

Some written into the script, yeah. For example, I wrote Dirty Work for One Battle After Another because that's such a chills moment when you hear the Steely Dan song and you see Chase Infinity for the first time. You wrote a couple of other candidates from that film.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I mean, both Soldier Boy and of course, American Girl.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. So pta, kind of renowned for his needle drops in every movie. He's got cool ones. And he spends a lot of time kind of pouring over playlists. I know to think about where to pick things. The ones that jumped out in my mind immediately were Beware of Darkness from Weapons, the George Harrison song, Incredible Cannock Chase, which ends Sentimental Value, the Lobby C. Frey song. There's a ton of songs on Sentimental Value. Joachim Trier talked about it a little bit when I interviewed him on the show about how he picks music and how he does a similar thing with kind of playlists and isn't really like one of the things that they're really good at. And I do feel like a lot of these guys were inspired by Scorsese over time is they're not really, like stuck on time frame or trying to match anything. It's just like, what's the feeling I want to evoke when I pick? And that's what I'm looking for. I added boots from 28 years later, which we first saw in the trailer, but is actually in the film. The reading of the Kipling poem Firework from Eddington.

[Amanda Dobbins]

This would have been on mine. Really funny. Also, Ari Acer just using pop music.

[Sean Fennessey]

Against all of us, poking us. I thought the punk rocker dropped again to Superman was fun. Not a song I really cared about, but it kind of gave me some warmth towards it after that. Did you add this last one?

[Amanda Dobbins]

No. You did, but I would have.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. And then everybody wants to rule the world for Marty Supreme. And there's a couple of others from Marty that I think are good. There's probably others out there. But good. Good year for needle drops. Yeah. Oscars are not going to do it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No. I mean, also.

[Sean Fennessey]

But on my Oscars Palooza, they will do it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I do think this reminds me that, like a category that's like too amorphous and too like MTV Movie Awards to actually. But. But still would be fun. Would be best ending. Like, you know, because two of these are actually like how they've ended the movie and it's. And it's hard to land a movie.

[Sean Fennessey]

Totally. No, that's a great point. And the feeling you want to give an audience on the way out is such a. Such a challenge. With that in mind, I think also that Bobby Gentry song at the end of Eddington, which is like, not exultant, is actually quite devastating and funny and dark. But that's another good example of what you're describing. Okay, next question.

[Jack Sanders]

Before moving on, did you see Ari Aster wanted to use Empire State of Mind before landing on Firework?

[Sean Fennessey]

Really? Yes.

[Jack Sanders]

I can't imagine it any other way.

[Sean Fennessey]

Firework is perfect. I just thought. I feel like there's an. Is there an Eddington question here? There is. Okay. I was gonna say. I feel like we gotta address that. What's next?

[Jack Sanders]

Next question comes from Anthony. My question is regarding the Academy's demonstrated disinterest in sequels. Wicked last year was an Academy darling, and this year they basically spit on its face to a lesser degree. They also didn't really care much for Avatar, Fire and Ash, despite being generally regarded as much better than Dune Part one. Dune Part two only got half the nominations as Part one. It's my understanding that similarly to Wicked for good, Dune Messiah has a polarizing final act. Do you Think Dune Messiah is destined to a similar fate and will barely factor into the awards race next season.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think. I don't think it's going to win Best Picture, knowing what I know about the plot, even though apparently Chris and I were misinformed. And also knowing what I know about the rest of the awards landscape next year, which involves a Christopher Nolan movie and a Steven Spielberg movie, though both.

[Sean Fennessey]

Summer blockbusters and not necessarily destined for the Academy Awards.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think that's true.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think, by the way, I don't have a gut check check Oscar con, like leading contender right now. I was looking at the slate, just putting that out there.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessey]

Not that anybody gives a shit, but.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right. I. I think it. I don't think it'll be shut out like Wicked, like if I had to place my bets today. But I know you've been talking a lot about Return of the King and you even when we talked about the kind of muted reception for Dune Part 2 at the Oscars and you were like, well, I bet they're waiting. Like, I bet they're waiting. I don't know if they're waiting.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think it's really ultimately a question of what is it up against? Because in a softer year, in an a Nora type year, you could very easily make the case that Villeneuve, who will be moving on to James Bond after this, it's an appropriate time to recognize his work. You know, you mentioned that there's a Nolan movie this year, but Nolan just won in the biggest and grandest way you could ever win a year ago.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Sean Fennessey]

So I don't know if there will be as much fetishization of. Of the Odyssey, even if it's a huge hit. The Way of Water, also, in the same way as Dune Part 2 took a big hit, nominations wise from the original Avatar. The original Avatar, I think, had like 10 nominations, maybe more. And I think the Way of Water only had a few. It did get Best Picture just like Dune Part two did. Wicked for Good did not look Wicked for Two was kind of reviled. I mean, people are mocking it. I felt like there was an immediate blowback to both of our Wicked episodes. The blowback for Wicked for Good was like half a day long. And then a lot more people got a chance to see it and they saw that, like, they shouldn't have stretched that movie at that story hour.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And that is one difference of Wicked and Wicked for Good and everything else we're talking about, which is it cut something in half. Exactly. Versus installments. And honestly, like Avatar Fire and Ash felt like it was a little bit cut in half from the way of water. And it also did not make it into Best Picture, so.

[Sean Fennessey]

And I think people can feel that, yeah, they can tell when something just doesn't feel constructed in this way. Now, Dune Part three, as you know, I haven't really been spending any time reading it or trying to figure out what's going on there, but it does seem like they're going to end up having to do some massaging around the Herbert text to make that totally coherent. I'm not really sure. Return of the King was kind of a comet, you know, that whole stretch of movies. Even when Jackson tried to kind of recreate it with the Hobbit movies, it was received like, very blah, you know, and, you know, like stuff. Other examples of this, like the Harry Potter films, which are widely liked and always successful, never really got that kind of Oscar recognition. There's just a little bit of a bias towards fantasy sci fi, event storytelling of this kind. So maybe that would be a sign of it evolving. But to me, Dune Part three is not, like, locked in at number one in the best picture race for next year. What's next?

[Jack Sanders]

Next question comes from Harry. I moved up the editing question. I know Sean ranks it highly and many other people I know loved it. Yet it was absent from any and all awards talk before the season and has been absent from every awards show since. Did this movie ever stand a chance? And did one battle after another replace it as the capturing what it's like in America movie? Which Oscar categories would you guys nominate it in?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, I think part of the success of Eddington, which I also just really liked and was definitely in my top 10 of the year, is that does not pull punches and thus it did not cater to the Oscars at all and it would never have been nominated. And I think an Eddington that was nominated for the Oscars is an Eddington that, like, I wouldn't have liked and like Ariaster really goes for it and that and. And does not care and is trying to alienate you. I mean, that is the. The point of the movie in some respect is that you're supposed to feel completely grossed out and despairing about this very true and also, you know, funhouse mirror version of the world that we're living in. And it's both at the same time. It is in many ways like the most accurate movie of the last year. But it's provoking. I never expected it to be nominated.

[Sean Fennessey]

I didn't either. I will say I don't think Cannes was the right launchpad for the film. And there has been a big wave of people in the world of movie watching who are kind of like Eddington, innocent. We mistreated this movie. The discourse was really bad. I think Adam may have made a comment about that in our year end episode about the best movies. This is my number two movie. I think this is the best thing Ari's ever done. It's been fun just watching him over time get more and more confident with going for things that are like this and being. Not being worried about the kind of like the trappings of genre and just making a movie that is about something real, even if it's in a very sort of like outlandish satirical style. And I agree with what you're saying that it would be very hard for a movie like this to be loved. It's not designed to be loved, but if it didn't come out, it can. If it came out at. Where's the inappropriate place for this movie to have come out? Because it was released in theaters in July. So they played the New York Film Festival. And some of the movies that didn't hit as hard as we thought might be hitting, like as the J. Kellys were falling away, as the fire and ashes don't quite reach the summit, as even stuff like it was just an accident not seeming as strong as it did coming out of Cannes. Eddington had no chance of winning the Palme d' or either. It was not really widely liked there. You might have said, like, wow, this is almost like a fascinating follow up to one battle after another. Like, this is the real coin. And you know, honestly, things in America suck right now. People are really angry and justifiably about what's happening in the country, and they've gotten worse throughout this year. And I think that. That he might have been able to tap into something in this electorate with some of the kind of like. Like not just the rage, but the like completely scooped out cynicism of that movie where it's like, we are so fucking screwed and we are being completely controlled and manipulated by powers that are way beyond our reach, that it might have had a little bit more resonance. I think you're right that in the construction of the movie, it's hard.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Like, I appreciate the nihilism at the end of the film, but I still think that, that it, like people vote for. For some shred of hope. They vote for. They do vote, but they vote for American Girl at the end of one battle after another. Even if you don't even if that's like an ambiguous. Is it going to be.

[Sean Fennessey]

I don't know, man. I already referenced network today. Network did do really, really well at the Academy Awards. It's not out of the realm of possibility that a movie that kind of like sees the future by looking at the past could get recognized. I'm just trying to find the use case for getting into the race more. It had no chance, like it was at no precursors. This is very clearly to me a really gifted filmmaker working with like big stars.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Network didn't win. Rocky did.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You know, over network and all the President's Men.

[Sean Fennessey]

I'm just talking about getting nominated.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Totally. I, I, I think that's true. I mean, the other thing is that I wonder how. I think Eddington is like a, an incredibly incredible American film about America in this particular moment. But like internationally.

[Sean Fennessey]

I mean, the opposite.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Do people like it or do they think it's. Yeah, they think they really get it.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think, I think international audiences love when America says like, God, we suck so much.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think that they do.

[Sean Fennessey]

But people overseas don't like America right now.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, no, I, no, it's not that. I sometimes find that a more simplified version of like this is bad and this is good translates more outside of America. And this is like, you know, it's, it is, is ugly and like America is really fucked up and this movie knows it, but it's kind of self loathing and you know, I just, I don't know how much it travels.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's really. We'll never know. We'll never know. It's an, it's an interesting question and I hope if people haven't had a chance to see that movie that they check it out. I think it's on HBO Max right now. All right, what's next?

[Jack Sanders]

Next question comes from Brendan. Much like with Parasite in 2019, where early wins on Oscar night got you excited about where the night could lead to. What award early in the broadcast on Oscar night this year would make you feel differently about a film's fate immediately?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay, so supporting actor and actress usually go pretty early.

[Sean Fennessey]

They'll both go at the top of.

[Amanda Dobbins]

The show if, if it's a Delroy Lindo Wunwee Masaka sweep.

[Sean Fennessey]

Oh, if they sweep, forget it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's over and then.

[Sean Fennessey]

Cool.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think even if just one of the two gets my antenna will immediately.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Go up for sure. Let's see what else. So, you know, and likewise, if Benicio.

[Sean Fennessey]

Or Sean Penn win, that might Also be an indicator that one Battle's really strong because that's a challenge when you've got two nominees from the same film in a category.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Teyana Taylor wins. What's your read?

[Sean Fennessey]

Doesn't move me as much because I think she's the favorite in the category right now. I'm still feeling Amy Madigan ultimately because I think Teyana Taylor's character is divisive.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessey]

But to me, I think the point you made is the best one that's like Delroy or one meet Misaku getting Love would be a real huge indicator.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And then in editing, cinematography, anything else.

[Sean Fennessey]

That I think if One Battle doesn't get cinematography that's notable and likewise with editing, if it doesn't get either of those, it doesn't mean that it's definitively not going to win. It's just like, okay, so it's going to be a little weaker below the line. And what does that mean for us in these races? I think it's the acting. The acting?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think so as well. I mean, we talked already about. I think there is a real chance and it would be deserving if Sinners picks up production design, costume design at Score. You're gonna see a lot of those earlier below the line categories. I don't know if that necessarily translates into a director in picture.

[Sean Fennessey]

It could, but the acting usually tells you. Like, as you said, Mikey Madison with Anora winning. We saw Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis winning for Everything Everywhere at Once. We saw Cillian Murphy winning for Oppenheimer. Like, of late, there has always been. There has often been one big acting award affixed to the best picture winner. Nomadland. Frances McDormand winning for a third time. That was really strange. Troy Kotser winning for coda in 2022. Like, there's almost always an acting award affixed to a best picture winner. So, so let's. We'll. We'll. We'll have a sense of the vibe within the first 10 minutes of the telecast, probably. Okay, let's do two more. Okay.

[Jack Sanders]

Next one comes from Rob. With only three best picture nominees coming from fall festivals this year and four last year, do you think the fall festivals are losing some of their steam as a place where best picture hopefuls must premiere? Seems like the last two years, plus Oppenheimer, Everything Everywhere, all at Once and Cody show that maybe fall festivals don't have the same juice as they once had. What do you make of this trend?

[Sean Fennessey]

I think it's really interesting.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think it's True. Yeah. And I mean, as you have already pointed out in the doc, this year, like, we've seen examples this year of movies not going to festivals. Most specifically, one battle after another.

[Sean Fennessey]

But since that choice. Yes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Dinner's was also not a fall festival, Marty supreme was like a surprise. New York, not really a festival movie.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And I think some of that was just because that's when it was done. But I do, you know, there are two from Venice, I think.

[Sean Fennessey]

Two from Venice, two from Cannes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

One from Telluride. I think that's it. Right.

[Amanda Dobbins]

One from New York, if you're counting Marty.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. So. And that's six out of. Or five.

[Sean Fennessey]

Six.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Six out of ten.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. I mean, this is fall festivals was the question. So, you know, ultimately, I think it's going to be. What is it? It's Frankenstein. It's Hamnet.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Begonia.

[Sean Fennessey]

Begonia. What's the fourth? Nothing from Toronto?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Marty Supreme.

[Sean Fennessey]

Marty Supreme. I guess if you consider New York. And that's it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Right.

[Sean Fennessey]

So that's interesting. I think you made that point earlier in this conversation about certain films being kind of targeted, like Hamnet and Tell you, Ride was a match made in Heaven. That was a perfect bit of programming. It was the perfect audience for that movie. That audience flipped for it. It went very well. Netflix is so tied in right now with Venice that they're basically premiering almost everything in that space. I wonder if they think that's effective. J. Kelly and House of Dynamite, I thought did. J. Kelly didn't do very well out of Venice. House of Dynamite did very well, but neither of those translated. Ultimately, Frankenstein's bump really came into Rono. That was when it really kind of swung back because it didn't play well at Telluride when I was there, and.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Our friend David Sims came on the podcast and pointed out that Jay Kelly is the most Toronto movie that has ever existed. And would that have gone differently? It might have, I think is wise.

[Sean Fennessey]

You know, I think One Battle didn't play because my understanding is that PTA doesn't really like the festival scene, and he's premiered movies at festivals, but that's not really what he wanted to do with this. And he. Sinners in One Battle are. They're audience movies. They're mainstream movies. They're not like little movies that could. They're $100 million movies that are meant to be seen widely. And, you know, a lot of movies that have won recently have had that. That color and shape. Oppenheimer was never going to be a film festival movie. So I don't know. I don't know if it's that the film festivals are not as important, but they may not be as effective a launch pad. And obviously, the other knockdown effect of this is just the Cannes is much stronger. The Cannes influences the best Picture race way more than it did 20 years ago. And so even though it was just an accident, didn't get in, and no other choice didn't get in. And some of these other films that Eddington didn't get in out of Cannes.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, no other choice was Venice.

[Sean Fennessey]

That was Venice. But even still, they're starting the conversation there in a way. Seurat getting the conversation started there as well. So I think that they're kind of pulling a little bit of energy away from specifically Venice and Telluride, I think, are getting a little bit of their life force pulled by Cannes premieres. At Telluride in particular, they do an amazing job of this. They tend to show basically the five best movies that played at Cannes at that festival. It's a great way to see them. If you love going to film festivals, those are sometimes North American premieres, but they're not real proper film festival premieres. So I guess it's something that we can look at as we analyze the slate this year. Okay, one more question, and then we'll quickly do our power rankings.

[Jack Sanders]

Last question comes from Kelsey. Amanda quotes the iconic Olivia Colman speech all the time. What are your other favorite acceptance speeches?

[Sean Fennessey]

I shouted out Jack Lemmon in 1974 because he's so surprised that he's won for Save the Tiger. And he gives a really nice speech, but then he says something that always sticks in my mind where he says something where he kind of acknowledges the discourse, and he says, you know, a lot of people are saying that this prize has problems and isn't what it once was. Whether that's true or not, and it may be true, I just want to say I feel good about this. And it's like the weirdest. Like, he was online that day. He kind of acknowledgment and I don't.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Know contextually, but it's like you think.

[Sean Fennessey]

Of 1970 is this incredible period in American film history that that was really the absolute apex of the new Hollywood. And he's a celebrated and beloved actor winning for a leading part in a stormy character drama about a man going through kind of a midlife crisis. And he's like, are the Oscars washed? Perhaps. But I'm happy to have this one. So I think of that and Then I thought immediately of Bong Joon Ho shouting out Scorsese and Tarantino when he won for Best Director, which I thought was just a great moment. And I'm into lineages. I like when a filmmaker is part of a lineage.

[Amanda Dobbins]

And that was such a special moment. And to, like, our. One of the last questions, that was when we really knew that the parasite thing was happening, and you couldn't believe it. And he was so moved and also so engaged with what it meant to win that particular award with that group of nominees. So, yeah, it was great.

[Sean Fennessey]

What else?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Marion Cotillard is always the one that I think of just because of the last line where she's like, it is true. There are some angels in this city tonight. I just. I mean, it's great.

[Sean Fennessey]

Very French.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, very French. Really good. She was wearing a great dress. And then Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, obviously, just. Just yelling at people. So hyped and like, I was the formative age for that. That's. That's. That's when the Oscars came alive to me.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yeah. Someone reminded me of. Who was it? The guy who edited everything everywhere all at once, whose name escapes me now. And he's like, this is only my second movie. This is crazy, bro. That was a really good one. There's obviously a lot of moments like that in history, but the speech that I was referencing before that I rewatched was Jeff Bridges winning for Country Strong. Country Strong, not Country Strong. Country Strong is the Gwyneth Paltrow movie.

[Amanda Dobbins]

That's right. Something Heart.

[Sean Fennessey]

Country Heart.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Jeff Bridges.

[Sean Fennessey]

Country Heart. Heart of the Country Oscar.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Let's see. Crazy Heart.

[Sean Fennessey]

Crazy Heart. Wow. It comes for us all. Crazy Heart. When he won for Crazy Heart, and he was. You know, he got a massive standing ovation. He had been dominating all the precursors. It was a foregone conclusion that he was gonna win. It was one of the years when they had very famous people come out and introduce each of the nominees and be like, Jim Johnson. It was an absolute pleasure to work with you on the film Scabies 2. Thank you for all your service in Hollywood. And I felt like Jeff Bridges was presiding over something that is gone. And he acknowledged in that speech how much his parents loved show business because Lloyd Bridges is his dad. And Jeff Bridges got his start as a teenager on. On films and television shows, working alongside of his dad and his brother. And watching that last night, I kind of felt like that is gone. Something different is happening. What's happening now is interesting and fun, and it's been fun to actually track it over the last five or so years to look closely at. Like, wow. Everything everywhere, all at once. Anora Nomadland. Like, these are best picture winners and performances from these movies are winning. And these filmmakers don't look like the filmmakers who were winning 25 years ago, but we got addicted to this stuff with the old stuffy. Everyone's in the same black tuxedo, and there's kind of a rigidity and a kind of grace to it, but it's secretly racist and weird and exclusionary. But let's not think about that right now, because Jeff Bridges is winning an.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Academy Award and Jack Nicholson is sitting in the front row.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yes. Specifically, he's literally there for that show. So. Yeah, I don't know. That popped into my head for some reason. That's my final thought about that. Power rankings.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

So you made a comment when the nominations were announced that we had been ignoring Begonia and we didn't have it on the list. And I said, no, no, no, no. We had it. We had it. And I was wrong.

[Jack Sanders]

We did not have it.

[Sean Fennessey]

We did not have it. We did not have it. I don't know why. We didn't have it in November either, and I don't know why we should have had it. When you look back at this list, December 19th was the last time we did this, over a month ago.

[Amanda Dobbins]

This was before the BAFTA shortlists and.

[Sean Fennessey]

All pre BAFTA shortlists, pre pga, pre dga, pre Globes, pre. All that stuff. We didn't have any of that information. We did have the Oscars shortlist. So we put Seurat on the list at 10. That was kind of a. It was a little snack.

[Amanda Dobbins]

We were being cute.

[Sean Fennessey]

Little treat. A little something to make ourselves smile.

[Amanda Dobbins]

It was in the air.

[Sean Fennessey]

Nine was the Secret Agent. Eight was Trained Dreams. Seven was Sentimental Value. Six was Frankenstein. Five was Marty Super Supreme. Four was. It was just an Accident. Three was Hamnet. Two was Sinners. One was one battle after another. Now all you got to do is swap F1 for Surat and swap Begonia for. It was just an accident. And this is pretty darn good.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I don't think Begonia is sitting at number four, though.

[Sean Fennessey]

No, I think it's probably more like number nine.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah. And I think sentimental value is at four.

[Sean Fennessey]

Yes, I agree with that. So, I mean, do you want. Do you want to just keep that? Would you? Do you. Let's look at how it should go.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessey]

Is one battle after another still on top?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think yes. But you. I Mean, let's. Let's just listen. Listen. We did that. We just did this. We just.

[Sean Fennessey]

Let's freeze this moment in time. No, let's freeze this moment in time.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessey]

If on March 15, Sinners wins and we open the show and you look down the barrel of the camera, I'll.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Say I was wrong.

[Sean Fennessey]

And you'll say on January 26th, I told you, dear listener, that one battle after another, nothing to fear. You are in the pole position and.

[Amanda Dobbins]

You'Re already saying sinners winning would be cool. It's not my number one movie of the year, but you can't put like it's not me against.

[Sean Fennessey]

I just think what's more important to you? Being right or things being cool, that's really tough.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I honestly don't know.

[Sean Fennessey]

That's the ultimate paradox.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, that's really tough.

[Sean Fennessey]

The problem is you'll never be cool, but you can sometimes be right.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'm genuinely very cool.

[Sean Fennessey]

Many people are saying.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I still just think based on what we know, that it is probably one battle.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Including all of the racism that you just talked about, of historical Oscar's past.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think that's one of the biggest things being held against it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Let's be real. That and then the snobbishness about genre.

[Sean Fennessey]

Movies, the vampire stuff. Yeah, yeah, I agree. Okay, so one battle at one, Sinner's at number two. I believe Hammond is still number three.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think so as well.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think people saw that win at the Golden Globes. It's a different kind of film. It's a different kind of period film relative to everything else that is on here, with the exception, I guess, of Frankenstein number four. Is it Marty Supreme?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think it's sentimental Value.

[Sean Fennessey]

They both have not well, but I.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Think that Sentimental value.

[Sean Fennessey]

Has four acting.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Numbers and you know, the international level screenplay director.

[Sean Fennessey]

Marty has both of those.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Marty has those as well. But it doesn't have as many acting noms, but it has.

[Sean Fennessey]

On the flip side of this case, Marty having more below the line stuff could make it more powerful throughout the Academy. Having production design, having. Has editing. Right. You know, what are the other ones? Costumes, you know, like, that's. Those are pretty interesting nominations for the.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Movie and I think they're deserving. And it was my second favorite movie of the year. But I said during the nominations, sentimental Value, I feel is very strong. It got even more acting nominations. Elle Fanning got nominated, bless her.

[Sean Fennessey]

She had an amazing year. We didn't talk about that. Because you haven't seen Predator Badlands.

[Amanda Dobbins]

No, but I'VE heard a lot about it.

[Sean Fennessey]

She's so charming in Predator Badlands. She's great.

[Amanda Dobbins]

She's deserving somewhere forever.

[Sean Fennessey]

But Rachel Kemp?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, but listen, I just.

[Sean Fennessey]

They would. So they would make that movie. Netflix would make that movie with Rachel Kemp, but they would not make it with Renata Rienzva. What do you think about that?

[Amanda Dobbins]

You think that they are underestimating their international viewership and subscribership?

[Sean Fennessey]

Good note. I'll let Gustav Borg know that. And his producing partner.

[Amanda Dobbins]

What's up with Netflix Scandinavia?

[Sean Fennessey]

Good question. Is that how they do it?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I don't know. They made Borgon, right? They made the new season of Borgon Netflix.

[Sean Fennessey]

Is that a fact?

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think they made a new season. I don't remember if I watched it or not.

[Sean Fennessey]

Cool. Okay. Yeah. I never watched this.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay. It's good.

[Sean Fennessey]

You asked me that in a very curious way. Borgon Hardly knew her. Okay. I would say sentimental value 4. Marty at 5. Frankenstein at 6.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay. Train dream 7.

[Sean Fennessey]

Train dreams 7.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Or do you want secret agent 7? Train dreams 8?

[Sean Fennessey]

I think. I don't know. And it doesn't matter because this is made up. But I'm thinking about it.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I think secret agent 7, train dreams 8.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think you're right.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Thank you.

[Sean Fennessey]

Because Wagner Moore got in.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Exactly.

[Sean Fennessey]

And Joel Edgerton did not.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Exactly.

[Sean Fennessey]

Okay, so that leaves us with F1. And Begonia.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Begonia 9.

[Sean Fennessey]

Are you sure about this?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Well, sure. No, I'm not sure.

[Sean Fennessey]

F1 has more nominations than. No, they have the same number of nominations. They both have three. Is that correct?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Let's see.

[Sean Fennessey]

Sound editing film. Is that it?

[Amanda Dobbins]

That sounds right.

[Sean Fennessey]

Visual effects does F1.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I don't think it has a visual effects. A visual effects nominees, maybe. I mean. Okay, it does. You're right. Okay, so that's four. So Begonia has Emma Stone screenplay score, best picture four. So they both have four. Wow, wow, wow.

[Sean Fennessey]

What a race. What will.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah, well, we'll get the meaningless number nine spot on our list.

[Sean Fennessey]

God, this is everything.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Never know the answer to. Because they don't release the tallies.

[Sean Fennessey]

This is everything to me.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Fine. F1. Did Begonia also get a PGA? Begonia, PGA.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think it did.

[Amanda Dobbins]

PGA Award nominations. But I. Yes, it did.

[Sean Fennessey]

I think it did. Okay, honestly. Begonia 9, F110. Okay.

[Amanda Dobbins]

If you want to flip it, that's fine with me. What we need to focus on is you having the strength of your own convictions. You know, you need to. You.

[Sean Fennessey]

Did you see the clip that Jack pulled with what I said?

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yes, I watched it. And I was mostly concerned with your skin tone. And then I. Jack informed me that he like desaturated it to make it look like old timey.

[Sean Fennessey]

Many people are wondering about my skin. There's just nothing I can do about it. I don't really know. I wish I could.

[Amanda Dobbins]

I'm trying. I'm trying to help. I'm doing what I can on a day to day basis.

[Sean Fennessey]

I. No makeup here. This is the real me. Just. This is as close as you're going to get to the real me. I should have predicted F1 and that was stupid. And what I said in October was 100% right.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

And my instincts specifically around it being a film that did very well internationally are the reason why F1 is an international sport.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Okay, do you want to put it at number nine or number ten? No.

[Sean Fennessey]

Number ten. We're done.

[Amanda Dobbins]

All right.

[Sean Fennessey]

The power rankings are as strong. Number 10, F1. Number 9, Begonia. Number 8, Train Dreams. Number 7, the Secret Agent. Number 6, Frankenstein. Number 5, Marty Supreme.

[Jack Sanders]

Number 4.

[Sean Fennessey]

Sentimental Value. Number 3, Hamnet. Number 2. Sinners. Number 1. One Battle After Another. Now we will talk about the BAFTA nominations on Thursday. So that is really the last major event. I would say that has significant influence on how we feel about a lot of this stuff. With the exception of the actual BAFTA's ceremony and the actor awards, those are really the last two things that we're going to see. So there won't be a ton of Oscar talk on the show until we get into March. There's not a ton of opportunity. We do have a fun Oscar themed draft coming in February, but post BAFTAs, it'll be a little bit of a breather, which I think is much needed. Well, that does it. That's it. Thanks to our producer, Jack Sanders for his work on this episode and for reading those questions and collecting those wonderful questions. Thank you to the listeners and watchers of this show for asking such great questions and being so engaged in this kind of pretty normal chill award season. Yeah, it actually has not been weird. Have you noticed that?

[Amanda Dobbins]

It's early.

[Sean Fennessey]

It's early.

[Amanda Dobbins]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessey]

Fair enough.

[Amanda Dobbins]

We still have six weeks to go.

[Sean Fennessey]

As I mentioned, three hours on Melania coming later this week. Should be a good episode. We'll see you then.