Academy Vs Audience

2015 is all about nostalgia, be it for classic space operas or this old-timey thing called "investigative journalism." The Oscar went to Spotlight, an unassuming yet star-studded drama about the Boston Globe's efforts to expose child abuse within the Catholic Church, perhaps the most Boston movie the gang has covered yet. But audiences had little time for hard hitting historical hitpieces, not when STAR WARS WAS BACK...

It's 2014, and the gang hits another good news/bad news situation. First up, the Michael Keaton Renaissance began with Birdman, in which a former superhero actor fought a career slump through a big artistic project by playing a former superhero actor fighting a career slump through a big artistic project, all in seemingly one shot. Claire, Erin, and Dan's theatre kid energy is unleashed, as is returning guest Munsi Parker...

As the 98th Oscars recede into the background, Erin, Claire, and Dan run down the nominated films and look ahead to our 2025 topic. Dan's seen them all, Erin's seen some, Claire saw none and tries to figure out their plots based on vibes, and returning guest Olav Rokne of the Hugo Book Club has controversial hot takes that have Dan asking how many nominees he actually paid attention to. From how four films ended up with n...

While Erin and Claire are away, Dan is left unsupervised, and thus takes us on a journey through the remaining years of the 2010s, looking at popcorn movies (often if not only big hits) that perhaps deserved a Best Picture nomination... or at least deserved one more than some of the actual nominees. Dan argues that perhaps cinematic thrill rides and well-made spy thrillers* are as worthy of Oscar attention as mediocre biopics in wh...

It's 2013, and it's all about oppressive systems! And Disney. Award season cleared a path for the historical tragi-horror 12 Years a Slave, recounting the true story of a free man forced into a dozen years of brutal servitude, so clear a winner that the Globes had some record-high category fraud to avoid competing with yet, and yet it fell short in many categories? Audiences were split: in North America, audiences came ou...

Ben Affleck escapes Hollywood purgatory while the Marvel Age begins as we reach 2012! Affleck directs a tense yet also funny thriller on the Iran Hostage Crisis and makes it an awards darling by skipping over the international cooperation and diplomacy parts to focus on six people being saved by The Power of The Movies, just what the Academy loves. Audiences, however, could not resist the pull of Marvel Studios rolling their previo...

While Claire and Erin are away, Dan digs into the idea of Oscar snubs, why the term still matters, and which big or acclaimed films of 2025 are conspicuously absent from the 2026 Oscars. Wicked: For Good and Avatar: Fire and Ash are follow-ups to past Best Picture nominees; why couldn't they make the shortlist? And which two films does Dan think the internet is right to feel should have been more loved by the Academy? Find out...

We reach the second silent movie to win Best Picture, and it only took 83 years. French-made silent era throwback The Artist claims Best Picture, and briefly launches Jean Dujardin in America, through nostalgia, hijinks, and one adorable dog. Erin, Claire, and Dan find themselves charmed, partially from having experienced this era at the beginning of this journey. But audiences were flocking to Brazil, as the Fast and Furious films...

It's a new decade, and intentionally or not, everything is cute. The King's Speech pulled in as many Oscar-bait elements as it could to take the trophy, but the earnest friendship of King George VI (aka Bertie) and speech therapist Lionel Logue is cute and charming enough that Claire and Erin get swept up anyway, although Dan has some notes on their loosey-goosey approach to history. But the audience came out in droves fo...

As the year comes to a close, it's time to look back at a year of cinema, and look forward to what our 2025 episode may look like. Erin, Claire, and Dan try to figure out what might be crowned Best Picture. Erin compares her heart favourite to what she thinks might win, Claire tries to remember if she saw a movie not for this podcast (She did! Several! Go Claire!), and Dan shows how fun he is at parties by presenting multiple ...

As we take our last between-decade break, Munsi Parker-Munroe returns to challenge Dan to a game. Munsi looks back at franchises from their youths, and asks Dan to guess which they genuinely liked, which they pretended to like because they were popular and boy-coded (and Munsi was at the time also boy-coded and hoping to be popular), and which they would have liked if only they'd felt safe indulging in them. Dan weighs in as s...

Awards season 2009 came down to a telenovela-worthy duel between Kathryn Bigelow with her war drama The Hurt Locker, and her ex-husband James Cameron, delivering his second consecutive Highest Grossing Movie Ever with Avatar. Kevin Weir re-joins Erin, Claire, and Dan to break it all down. Claire is not thrilled, Dan explains how a later release makes Hurt Locker seem much better, Erin posits you can only like movies about one war. ...

After the directors of Goodfellas and Fargo won Oscars for their bleakest movies to that point, Danny Boyle won over the Academy with something basically uplifting: the story of a poor Indian youth chasing his fairytale ending via a western game show in Slumdog Millionaire. First time viewers Erin and Claire ponder Jamal's journey, while on his third viewing Dan finds some grace for Jamal's dirtbag brother. But the people...

In the wake of Martin Scorsese getting nominated for his bleakest movie (pre-Silence), the Coen Brothers deliver their bleakest effort (pre-A Serious Man) with No Country For Old Men, pitting an opportunistic hunter Josh Brolin and a pragmatic sheriff Tommy Lee Jones against human Terminator Javier Bardem. Audiences, however, are torn between two threequels that fail to live up to the originals, as Jack Sparrow and Spider-Man face ...

It's 2006, and get ready for the most thrilling, action packed, high quality bummers of a movie. The Oscar finally found its way to Martin Scorsese, with his tense remake of Hong Kong flick Infernal Affairs, The Departed. Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon go head to head in the Battle of the Snitches, and nobody walks away clean. Speaking of nobody being clean, audiences flocked back to Tortuga for the long awaited return of Ja...

While schedules align, Dan presents a one-man crossover between us and Recovered by asking the question... do the Best Pictures of the 20th century need or warrant a remake? From Wings to American Beauty (at which point they're all so recent it's a hard no), Dan skims through 72 years of Oscars darlings to sum up potential remakes: which could be, which should be, which must not, which already have been, and some fancasts...

It's 2005, and Munsi Parker-Munroe rejoins Erin, Claire, and Dan to discuss what is often called one of if not the worst Best Picture winner ever... by people who have not seen The Broadway Melody. It's Crash time, and Paul Haggis is trying to say something about racism but not managing more than "Racism, boy I dunno." Will the box office champ improve the viewing experience? It's Star Wars: Revenge of the ...

In the wake of Lord of the Rings dominating the Oscars the previous year, the Academy decided to go small and serious again, while the audience remain here for fantasy good times. The Oscar went to Million Dollar Baby, Clint Eastwood's story of three broken people bonding over boxing until boxing breaks them all the further. Meanwhile, audiences around the world had a relapse of Shrek Fever, flocking to Shrek, Fiona, and Donke...

It's 2003, and we reach our final Joint Champion, as after two years of being Best Picture nominees and lurking near the top of the box office, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy reached its grand finale with The Return of the King. Gina Stewart is back to help Erin, Claire, and Dan break down the full Lord of the Rings experience, novel and movie versions, as we follow Frodo and the Fellowship past the Two Towers ...