The Envelope

On this episode, we discuss the ninety-third Best Picture Winner: “NOMADLAND”

"Nomadland" is based on the 2017 nonfiction book "Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century" by Jessica Bruder. The film follows Fern, a woman in her sixties who, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad. The film is a poetic ...

On this episode, we discuss the ninety-second Best Picture Winner: “PARASITE”

"Parasite" is a South Korean black comedy thriller that follows a poor family who scheme to become employed by a wealthy family and infiltrate their household by posing as unrelated, highly qualified individuals. Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim c...

On this episode, we discuss the ninety-first Best Picture Winner: “GREEN BOOK”

"Green Book" is a biographical comedy-drama written by Peter Farrelly, Brian Hayes Currie and Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga's son, Nick Vallelonga, based on interviews with his father and Shirley, as well as letters his father wrote to his mother. Dr. Don Shirley is a world-class African-American pianist, who is about to embark on a...

On this episode, we discuss the ninetieth Best Picture Winner: “THE SHAPE OF WATER”

"The Shape of Water" is a romantic fantasy film that follows Elisa, a mute, isolated woman who works as a cleaning lady in a hidden, high-security government laboratory in 1962 Baltimore. Her life changes forever when she discovers the lab's classified secret: a mysterious, scaled creature from South America that lives in a water tank....

On this episode, we discuss the eighty-ninth Best Picture Winner: “MOONLIGHT”

"Moonlight" is a coming-of-age drama based on Tarell Alvin McCraney's unpublished semi-autobiographical play "In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue." The film presents three stages in the life of Chiron, a young black man growing up in Miami. The film explores the difficulties he faces with his sexuality and identity, including the phy...

On this episode, we discuss the eighty-eighth Best Picture Winner: “SPOTLIGHT”

"Spotlight" follows The Boston Globe's "Spotlight" team, the oldest continuously operating newspaper investigative journalist unit in the United States, and its investigation into cases of widespread and systemic child sex abuse in the Boston area by numerous Roman Catholic priests. In 2001, editor Marty Baron of The Boston Globe ...

On this episode, we discuss the eighty-seventh Best Picture Winner: “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”

"Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” follows former cinema superhero Riggan Thomson as he mounts an ambitious Broadway production that he hopes will breathe new life into his stagnant career. It's risky, but he hopes that his creative gamble will prove that he's a real artist and not just ...

On this episode, we discuss the eighty-sixth Best Picture Winner: “12 YEARS A SLAVE.”

"12 Years a Slave" is a biographical period-drama adaptation of the 1853 slave memoir "Twelve Years a Slave" by Solomon Northup. In the years before the Civil War, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South. Subjected to the cruelty of one malevolent owner, Edwin Epps...

On this episode, we discuss the eighty-fifth Best Picture Winner: “ARGO.”

"Argo" is a historical drama thriller based on the 1999 book by U.S. Central Intelligence Agency operative Tony Mendez, titled "The Master of Disguise," and the 2007 Wired article by Joshuah Bearman, titled "The Great Escape: How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran". The film deals with the "Canad...

On this episode, we discuss the eighty-fourth Best Picture Winner: “THE ARTIST.”

"The Artist" is a French comedy-drama film in the style of a black-and-white silent film. The story takes place in Hollywood, between 1927 and 1932, and focuses on the relationship between a rising young actress and an older silent film star as silent cinema falls out of fashion and is replaced by the "talkies". Actor George Valentin...

On this episode, we discuss the eighty-third Best Picture Winner: “THE KING’S SPEECH.”

"The King's Speech" is a British historical drama that follows King George VI who, to cope with a stammer, sees Lionel Logue, an Australian speech and language therapist. The men become friends as they work together, and after his brother abdicates the throne, the new king relies on Logue to help him make his first wartime radio bro...

On this episode, we discuss the eighty-second Best Picture Winner: “THE HURT LOCKER.”

"The Hurt Locker" follows an Iraq War Explosive Ordnance Disposal team who are targeted by insurgents and shows their psychological reactions to the stress of combat.  Following the death of their well-respected Staff Sergeant, Sergeant JT Stanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge find their Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit saddled with a ver...

On this episode, we discuss the eighty-first Best Picture Winner: “SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.”

"Slumdog Millionaire" is a British drama film that is a loose adaptation of the novel "Q & A" written by Indian author Vikas Swarup.  The story follows 18-year-old Jamal Malik from the Juhu slums of Mumbai. As a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Jamal surprises everyone by being able to an...

On this episode, we discuss the eightieth Best Picture Winner: “NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.”

"No Country for Old Men" is neo-Western crime thriller film based on Cormac McCarthy's 2005 novel of the same name. While out hunting, Llewelyn Moss finds the grisly aftermath of a drug deal. Though he knows better, he cannot resist the cash left behind and takes it with him. The hunter becomes the hunted when a merciless killer n...

On this episode, we discuss the seventy-ninth Best Picture Winner: “THE DEPARTED.”

"The Departed is a crime thriller remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film "Infernal Affairs" and is also loosely based on the real-life Boston Winter Hill Gang; the character Colin Sullivan is based on the corrupt FBI agent John Connolly, while the character Frank Costello is based on Irish-American gangster Whitey Bulger.  In the film, South...

On this episode, we discuss the seventy-eighth Best Picture Winner: “CRASH.”

"Crash" is a crime drama that interweaves several connected stories about race, class, family and gender in Los Angeles in the aftermath of 9/11. Characters include a district attorney and his casually prejudiced wife, dating police detectives Graham and Ria, a victimized Middle Eastern store owner, and a wealthy African-American couple humiliated...

On this episode, we discuss the seventy-seventh Best Picture Winner: “MILLION DOLLAR BABY.”

"Million Dollar Baby" is a sports drama film based on short stories by F.X. Toole, the pen name of fight manager and cutman Jerry Boyd. The film follows Frankie Dunn, a veteran Los Angeles boxing trainer who keeps almost everyone at arm's length, except his old friend and associate Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris. When unde...