Episode 22: And The Oscar Goes To... (feat. Misgana)

not Denis Villeneuve for DUNE: PART TWO, we'll tell you that much. Awards season wraps up with the 97th Academy Awards and it's been one hell of a ride with films nominated for Best Picture involving the use of AI, not involving an intimacy coordinator, having a cast member doing blackface, and all of these combined do not even live up to Karla Sofia Gascon's now-deleted tweets. But Steve and Ofili are joined by Misgana nonetheless to predict who takes home the coveted shiny golden statuette for a few categories on film's biggest night. Let us know if you agree with our picks or your predictions if otherwise!

Transcript

Hello, welcome back to another episode of The Cinephile's Aisle.

So back with your favorites, we're here with Steve and Misgana.

Let's go, how are you guys doing?

We're good.

I feel like Misgana is a regular on the pod now, honestly.

I feel like it too.

I feel like we make plans with you, and you're just one of us now, so acceptable.

I appreciate it.

I appreciate being part of this community.

It feels surreal talking about movies in a podcast world.

I think it's fun.

Honestly, I have a gripe.

I want people to hear me speak about my current predicaments and frustration.

Why aren't film clubs a thing?

The same structure in which we have book clubs where everyone just watches a movie, we come together and we talk.

Why is that such a rare thing or much more rare than book clubs?

I feel like it exists.

You know, something you just have to like graph to get.

It's not going to be easy.

You get me?

Yeah, I agree.

I also feel like films, it's not like it takes more work than book clubs, right?

Because with the book club, you're just reading a book.

But I don't know why for films, first of all, they have to have the interest already because I joined a couple, but all the films they wanted to see were like really old films.

It's seen before and you just want to keep seeing them.

And in my head, it's like, bro, can we see new stuff and talk about new stuff?

No, I completely understand.

I joined the Black Film Club and when I tell you, I am tired of them posting, hey, this week we're going to talk about Brown Sugar, Love and Basketball.

I'm sorry.

Not too much on Brown Sugar.

I hate Love and Basketball.

We talked about this before.

But Brown Sugar is one of the good ones.

I understand.

But even if we're a Black Film Club and we're focused on Black movies, why can't we do anything post 2010?

You understand?

Occasionally, maybe we're going to do Get Out, but we never do.

Who recommends movies like The Photograph?

Yeah.

You know, it's a good 2021 movie.

What's that cool man Domingo John that just came out as well?

Singsing?

Singsing.

That's a Black movie.

Why can't we watch that?

Maybe you need to find your old people.

I need to find my old people.

I think that's the thing.

I think we need to form our own film club.

Yeah.

That's fair.

You need to craft your own.

That's what I recommend.

No, I hear that, but I think it's exhausting.

I don't want to be a pioneer.

I don't want to be a founder.

I want to join an established community.

I'm tired of finding and creating my own spaces.

No, I hear you.

There's too many people introducing things rather than people actually acclimating to a community that already exists.

Yeah.

So it's okay.

For you're going to find it.

Just grab this.

Yeah, or you can join one and then take over, bro, take over from that's where you see, you know, that then, you know, I have to pick up more workload.

Do you understand what I mean?

You have to pick.

There's always struggle somewhere.

You have to pick your struggle.

I'm just like, I'm just tired of joining from clubs or from events and, you know, we're sitting there.

It's me and like 12 other white guys, you know, maybe one Asian guy talking about Citizen Kane or, you know, American Psycho.

I'm tired.

We need more.

Right.

No, excuse me.

Film club comments and spearheaded by Ofili.

So, yeah.

You know what, guys?

You know, this, we're putting the call out right now.

If you want to join our film club, just just just let us know.

Just comment, DM, whatever.

We're going to start a film club.

Virtual.

We can be community based.

One of us can start one in each sector.

We're all in.

You know?

Yeah.

All we need is what?

Three people?

Three people from each city.

Right.

And I know a couple of people that will be open to join the crowd, you know, the Averia.

So.

You see?

Easy.

Easy.

All right, ladies and gentlemen, I want to introduce our most beloved question.

What have you guys been watching recently?

You know, I've watched yesterday, I watched with two of my friends, the movie Diddy.

And, okay, every time I say it, I have to preface.

It's not, I think the way how we pronounce it is different.

It's Diddy.

I actually don't know.

I'm not trying to get out of the prance.

But anyway, I watched Diddy and Past Lives, one after the other.

My friends loved it.

They were just like, wow, taken back.

We had a mini dialogue about it.

And then today, we watched, what was Flow?

You watched Flow?

You know, Flow is, Flow is all right for me.

My friend was reading about it and I literally called Brad for not seeing something he didn't saw in the movie, but it is what it is, you know?

Fair enough.

I think regarding Flow, I'm not going to lie, I expected it to be a little bit more whimsical.

Fair.

Yeah.

It just had a different vibe than I expected.

And I was like, oh, this is like, objectively, this is still a good movie, you know?

But it's no like Marcel, the show with shoes on.

That made me cry.

Yeah.

It's still interesting.

It's still interesting hearing you guys talk about Flow like this, because isn't it omniscient for like three Oscars or two or something?

I don't know about how many.

International and animated, I think.

I haven't seen it.

I haven't seen it.

So I wouldn't know.

But everyone I know, I saw.

But everyone I know that I've seen waves about it.

So I know Ofili really like Marcel the seashell with the shoe.

What was it called?

Marcel the shell with the shoes on, yeah.

Yeah, that was it.

It sounds like a tongue twist.

I'm sorry.

But I haven't seen Flow.

I feel like Flow is my type of film.

But back to what you had said earlier, Diddy and Past Lives kind of looks like an unlikely double header.

If you take away the, you know, race element, it kind of looks like an unlikely double header.

But then when I think about it, I feel like it would work.

Like I don't know why exactly works for you guys.

But both films are like relatively soft and are dealing with that.

I don't want to say long in, especially on Diddy's part because he's a kid, but it's not long in for romantically.

It's long in for somewhat adulthood or somewhat like more.

So I feel like it works.

Like he wanted to be friends with the skateboarder kids.

And he just wanted to learn how to kiss a girl and all of that stuff.

So there's that element of long in there.

And past lives is literally all about long in.

So I feel like it works when I think about it.

Because initially, I'm like, oh, that's a weird one to watch after the other.

You just saw Asians together and said, let's watch them together.

No, well, I feel like because it was on Prime, I was like, oh my God, y'all haven't seen Diddy, like we have to watch Diddy.

And then we sat for a minute and I was like, wait, we should watch past lives.

So it wasn't like one after the other, more so was like, you guys have to watch this film and I had to convince them.

And I think if we don't watch it together, like could have them watching it would have been far less.

Yeah, I feel like it's kind of an emotional roller coaster because they do dive like deep into themes of like identity, culture heritage and just, I guess, like complex relationships.

Yeah.

Yeah, like.

Have you been watching?

I want to know.

No, I actually want to talk about, like thinking back to what Steve said.

Yeah, like in my head, first thing that came to mind was that, yeah, did she just watch two of these movies because they are both like.

No, there's Asian leads, Asian director is like.

I've been on this spree of watching non-American movies because I feel like there is, there's this relaxing piece of it that is not about pursuit of something.

It's rather like an existing moment of a life that's lived, and it captures it really well.

And I feel like with movies like the, like TV shows like The Bear, Oppenheimer, Brutalist, you see like this obsession of like reaching for something.

And I feel like past lives and, and does it so subtly that it doesn't feel like, oh, like we have to see this and understand the obsession that there is present.

Okay.

I, I get that for me.

I just think like when I think about those two movies, the major connection that I'm seeing is essentially the complexities of having that cultural identity.

I think we've talked a lot about how past lives, you know, it's, it's, it's an immigrant story.

It's a migration story.

Whereas Diddy is not as heavily like that is not the face of it.

It is still like, very much present in the way that he has to interact with his friends and like the cultural values and his community.

So I think that's, like I said, emotional rollercoaster for sure, because both of those films can be incredibly sad and multiple times.

But yeah, okay.

I'll probably really good.

I will say, I did not cry that much second time watching it.

Which one?

Pass Live or Diddy?

Which one?

Both.

Oh my God.

When I watched Diddy, I sobbed.

Sobbed to a point where my friend afterwards had to give me a hug.

Like he was worried.

It was really beautiful.

I think they portrayed emotions really, really well.

Very complex ones as well.

Yeah.

Very complex emotions.

Yeah.

Because crying to your husband that you have to let your childhood love go, sounds like an insane thing to do.

It feels so wrong.

Ethically questionable stuff.

You know.

But in that space, it is a very real situation that happens to people.

And yeah.

So I think another thing I really like about like your combination of those two movies is that it really is about just like chasing those connections.

Do you understand?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And just, yeah.

Universal Quest for connections.

Like that's really.

Universal Quest for connections.

I like that.

I love that.

Yeah.

No, we're cooking.

We're cooking.

Two beautiful movies.

But yeah.

Yeah.

What movies have you guys been watching?

Steve, you can go.

So as both of you know, but not our listeners, I have just undergone an international move.

So I moved to Canada and I have not had time to watch any movie.

So I can't remember the last film I saw.

But I started this TV show last night.

Finally got settled in last night.

I think I texted you guys and I tried to binge something on Netflix.

There's this new mini series called Zero Day.

It has like, oh my goodness.

Yo, so it's not like, it's not like super great or anything.

Don't get me wrong.

I think I gave it a 3.5.

I might change it to a 4.

But it hooks, like it sucks you in.

There's something when you have like really good actors and actresses because he has like De Niro, he has Angela Bassett, he has Jesse Plemons.

This is the poster that they posted.

It's like an airport or something.

But yeah, no, Jesse Plemons, obviously Lizzie Kaplan.

Like the cast is relatively stacked for a TV show.

And I saw no news about it.

I didn't see a trailer drop.

I didn't see anything.

So I thought it was fake or something.

And I just clicked on it and it sucked me in.

I binge it yesterday, the whole day.

And it was really good.

It was decent.

It was like a 7, 8 over 10, which is not bad, you know.

Is it limited series?

It's limited.

It's a limited series.

Yeah.

And it's similar-ish to Designated Survivor.

I don't know if you guys ever saw that.

But yeah, so that's what I've been watching.

There was a time for that.

You said what?

There was a time for Designated Survivor.

I don't think you can watch it now.

You're already out of place.

That mid 2010s, 2010s.

Yeah.

You had to watch it.

But that's pretty much it.

I don't know that I've seen any movie in a long time.

So unfortunately, yeah.

What about you Ofili?

What have you been watching?

I'm trying to whip up my letterbox right now because I feel like I haven't watched anything this week.

Oh, okay.

So I, yesterday I watched the...

Oh, actually, before I go into what I watched, Steve, if you're looking for something else to binge, that is also presidential and kind of dystopian.

Paradise.

Is that what you're about to eat?

I was going to say paradise, yeah.

Okay, everybody's been raving about it.

It's so good.

I really want to watch it.

But I feel like there's too many shows.

I feel like they need to put their money into movies.

You know what?

I'd rather have limited series TV shows that could be fleshed out a little bit better than movies that have to be two hours or two hours and 30 minutes, because after that point, you lose a lot of people.

So you end up cutting it very badly.

So I'd rather have like a six, seven episode limited TV series or an interesting thing.

I feel the same way.

Yeah.

And I think with the TV show, it kind of takes...

Because it takes more time, because it's more minutes, right?

You can spread it out and you have more to do.

If I'm watching a movie and I don't watch it in one max, two sittings, I don't really feel like I've watched the movie.

I just feel like I've, I don't know, gotten the true essence of it.

Or the TV, like sometimes you need TV shows, you need movies and sometimes, like I'm more of a movie person.

I barely watch TV shows, but sometimes you just need that.

Like in this, you know, yeah.

I hope they're limited.

I hope they don't come back and be like, yes, well guys, season two.

Like it's too many, like me and my roommates started watching White Lotus and it's fun, but like I want to watch Seven Days and I want to watch Paradise and I want to watch the early days.

And I don't like, it's too many of them.

I can't keep up.

And I have my OG shows that I've been watching since 2010 that I still want to keep watching.

Misgana, just pick the good ones.

I feel like that's what I do.

Just pick the good ones and just stick.

Like I stick with one weekly episode.

And right now for me, that's Severance, right?

But I started this other show, Prime Target.

So like I have two weekly episode drops right now.

And then-

Getting a one-episode was a weekly-

Oh, it's a weekly drop.

I feel like it's just very nerdy.

So I don't know.

I don't know if many people-

I don't know that it's going to get renewed even.

But, and then for the other ones that you're naming, like White Lotus, I'm going to watch White Lotus because I watched the first two seasons.

I probably watched first season like a couple of times.

But I'm waiting for Severance because I feel like I'm maxed out on my weekly drops.

So like I'm going to wait for Severance to finish so I can get to that.

And that's how you don't like burn out on TV shows, for me at least.

That's fair.

Yeah.

That's fair.

I think for me, I just do it.

Man, I love a weekly drop.

I'm not going to lie to you.

I like a binge.

But I really like a weekly drop because it lets me schedule my week and like my, I guess like the dopamine hits.

I watch a show called Pit on the Facebook Max.

It's very much like a new version of ER.

Old show George Kearney was on back in the 90s.

Yeah.

And each episode is an hour, like an hour in the day.

So like I'm on episode seven now, but that's just like the seventh hour of everything going on in the same day for these people.

So insane.

So that comes out on Thursdays for me.

Then, you know, Sevenths comes out.

I'm watching Sevenths.

I just watched White Lotus' first episode.

We'll see.

I feel like I might let that build for like three or four, but it depends on how discourse is going.

I think as well, there is like just so much pressure to be part of like multiple conversations.

Like when the timeline and you're just, you don't want to miss out.

You don't want to see spoilers.

So I feel like that might be the pressure.

But for me at the same time, I feel like I'm only really following like two shows.

Then there's like new stuff that I'm trying out when I don't have anything to watch.

I just kind of want to like sit in front of TV, maybe work a little bit, but like be passive.

So that's when I toss on like Sopranos or Supernatural that I haven't finished.

So I'm just like kind of like just watching those passively.

So I feel like that's like an easy way to reduce that burnout.

You're watching Supernatural's after how many years has it been?

I know, man.

I know it's kind of crazy watching.

And like everyone who knows me knows that I hate, I really dislike watching like really old stuff because like camera quality, the behaviors, the clothing, like what is acceptable and what is not acceptable just like has really changed.

So like you kind of lose me a little bit.

But Supernatural just feels like, I don't know, man.

It's about family, family and killing monsters.

You know, you feel me?

You sound like, what was the name?

The guy from Fast and Furious.

That's what I was going for.

It's all about family, family and killing monsters.

That's just it.

Okay.

Whatever you say.

I think the longing TV show that I will watch at any point, at any time is Curb Your Enthusiasm.

I think it's just a good, funny, like 30 minutes of my day.

Yeah, I think Curb comes into, you know, some days I'm not even looking for a comedy.

I want a little bit of excitement.

Curb, Modern Family, those are like, yeah, toss it in when you don't really, you know, you just want to laugh a little bit.

Yeah.

But sometimes they can be a lot at the same time.

So I get you.

Or let me say that sometimes they're not as engaging.

Well, I feel like Curb is very much like funny.

I feel like if you watch it, it's not the same ascending.

Because people just randomly pick an episode and watch it when there's background, you should know or a build up to the story.

But yeah.

I think you also have to know Larry Davis.

Like once you know Larry, you kind of get it.

Yeah.

And I feel like you can only know Larry by watching like sequentially like you're watching the director.

Yeah.

Because I think more recently there was like, you know guys, you know, planes are falling out the sky.

Kind of crazy.

This feels like, this feels like, you know, I feel like I'm kind of shocked, honestly, that there isn't like a re-binge of Manifest on Netflix.

Because it feels like this is like the perfect time for people to like watch.

Manifest are lost.

That's what I was thinking too.

Like one of these shows about planes dropping out of the sky should just go viral.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And like normally that would have happened.

But like it's crazy.

But yeah, there was like conversations around like, I think somebody's trying to push a bill that airplanes have to disclose what time.

No, no, no airplanes.

Movie theaters have to disclose what the exact time the movie starts and like the time the ads start and stop.

And that's all like such a Larry Davis, like, you know, that's, that's like a Larry complaint.

Why are you worried about?

Just assume that it's 20, 25 minutes.

And then you get there, watch the movie.

I think people, people's priorities are very interesting.

I was like, wow, that's what you're worried about.

Interesting.

Yeah.

So I think, so I guess round about back to what I've watched recently.

I've watched Companion, Jack Quaid and Sophie Thatcher.

That was pretty fun.

I gave that pretty high on my letterbox.

I think I was like four and a half or four stars.

I also watched most recently The Gorge with Anna Joy Taylor and Mouse Teller.

That was good.

Mouse Teller and another like mustache, you know.

That's an Apple TV, right?

Yes, an Apple TV, but that's what I was going to say.

Like because it's an Apple TV, you know, it's not going to like go crazy like that.

Like prime target.

So Misgana, can I say, there was a time on this podcast where Ofili would not go one episode without dropping something from Apple TV.

I swear to God, at some point, I thought he was like, they were paying him to promote them.

No, I thought both of you.

As a listener, I was like, okay, so this is an Apple TV stan podcast.

Cause y'all were watching at least one thing that was, I was like, maybe should I go and get it?

Your library is good.

It's low key, like, it's like people don't know, but your library is low key deep man, right?

It's so deep, like it's actually insane how deep their library is.

And you know, you're going to find a show like Bad Sisters or something like season three.

And you're like, how did I know?

Yeah, exactly.

Exactly.

Foundation.

Like, what's the other one about, like, people going to the moon?

Forgot what it's called.

I don't know.

Let's not look up now.

No, no, no, no.

Asylum?

Which one are you talking about?

I forgot what it's called, but it's an incredibly good.

I watched that, like, while I was procrastinating in grad school.

I was praying for it.

So, I think my theory is, I think they want to build a big enough library, then they're going to start, like, shooting advertisements.

Like, you know, like, right now, with the Severance pop-up, what happened in New York?

Now, a lot of people are watching Severance.

Yeah, Severance just became the most watched Apple TV show, actually.

Just passed 10 last year.

I think what they did was great, like, allowing a weekend free to watch one Severance show.

That was brilliant.

That was actually brilliant.

I think that was a free advertisement.

So I think, like, now, this is actually a really good point, because, you know, you come for Severance, but you can stay for, like, all the other good shows.

And again, it's kind of insane.

Yeah, Severance surpassed Ted Lasso.

Yeah, and, like, Ted Lasso was scooping up awards for, like, four years.

Yeah.

And it just, Ted Lasso always felt like a kind of, like, Jason Sudeikis, like, banter show, you know, but you stay and you're like, damn, this is actually incredibly emotional, and, like, there's, like, so much development.

Then, like, Severance, you now have, oh, these are, like, some crazy dramatic themes, and specifically, like, subservience, like, you know, capitalism, and, you know.

Man, are you talking about fascism as well?

Because, you know, it's like a new buzzword over the internet.

But, like, the eagons are something.

Yeah.

And I've always thought it was genius that Severance is an Apple TV show, because if I had to pick the company that most resembles Lumen in the real world, it's freaking Apple, but there you go.

That's funny.

That's part of the brilliance in it.

Yeah.

Speaking of Ted Laszlo.

No, I'd argue maybe Amazon.

Amazon.

They just locked their people up in warehouses.

That's it.

They don't really...

Well, not too much on Amazon.

I feel like they have The Cross.

I don't know if you guys have heard of it.

I think it's big in the DMV area, because it's filmed in the DMV.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

The show with the black guy.

Yeah.

Alex Cross.

Not the black guy.

My bad.

I don't know his real name, but Alex Cross.

His name is Atlas.

I think his name is Atlas something.

The only reason why I won't watch Black Adams was because of him.

If he was in that movie, I would not have gone to that theater to watch that movie.

Oh, you're talking about Aldrich Hodge.

That's his name.

That's his name.

Yeah.

Yeah, I love him.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's great.

I've known him since like Leverage.

Like, I was like back in like early 2000s.

He was like, they were like a version of like Robin Hood.

They would like steal from billionaires and like give that money to like charities and stuff.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Really good show.

Deep cut.

Deep cut.

If you know, you know.

But yeah, Amazon, especially because like when I found out Amazon owns Whole Foods as well, I was like, hands are in everything.

Hands are in everything right now.

Fair enough.

Fair enough.

I was just going based on the whole, the work is mysterious and important.

That just sounds like something Tim Cook would say to his employees instead of Amazon.

But I mean, even Google with their latest like biological, like, you know, creating a new form of matter.

I saw that.

Help with computing is insane.

But let's get off this and, you know, start cooking on the actual episode.

Because we're like deep, like 30 minutes now.

Into the episode that we should be talking about.

So ladies and gentlemen, we're talking about the Oscar productions.

You know, I think quite honestly, there's been like a lot of drama this Oscar season and this award season as a whole.

It's pretty, pretty exhausting.

So like, you know, forgive us for like taking our time before we dove into this.

Yeah.

I think if we were to just run it out really quick, right, the ones we remember, first of all, the first one I remember was Anorah not using intimacy coordinators for their sex scenes, which was like, what the F, considering that there's a lot of sex scenes in that, you know what I mean?

And I just want to say that as someone who's been a Sean Baker hitter from the very start, I said that during our Anorah episode, that this man belongs on the watchlist, right?

It was so vindicating to see that I was right, that he's a nonce.

You were waiting for that, I told you so.

Great filmmaker, but he's a nonce.

He's always been.

Misgana, how do you feel about that?

You know, I was shocked when I realized.

And the thing is, Mickey was like, yeah, I love Sean Baker.

I'm like, girl.

You're a victim.

Do you really?

Yeah, like, that's not right.

You know, you're a victim.

So my view on that, because, you know, that came out during the Actors On Actors were her and Pamela Anderson.

And for me, especially because she said, she said, yeah, it was offered, but I, Mickey and, sorry, I and Mark, is his name Marsh?

Yeah, I think so.

I don't know.

I call him Russia and Timothee Chalamet, so I've never known his name.

Yeah, Russia and Timothee Chalamet.

And Sean, like, well, her and the lead guy, he went to Sean and we're like, hey, we don't, we're okay keeping it smaller and we don't think we need an intimacy coordinator.

And so as soon as she was like, she wanted to not have one there, I was like, who the fuck cares?

Because it's like, the clip that went viral was her saying we didn't have one.

But like if you watch literally like the next three seconds, she's like, yeah, we went to him and said, we don't want one.

The one was offered, but we went and we said we don't want one.

So I was just like, okay, who the fuck cares?

So I thought it was Sean that didn't want one and they were fine with not having one.

I thought that was it.

Like Sean said he didn't want one and then they were like, oh, we're fine with not having one.

No, they were offered and he was like.

I think as a director, he should have one.

Yeah, I think so too.

I think it's an obligation.

If your actors and actors are very much like, oh yeah, we don't need one, that's fine.

But it should have been one there just to be safe.

If your coworkers are having, if your workers, if you're an employee and your workers are having, even if it's a consensual relationship in the workplace, it's still your job to make sure one is protected.

You know what I mean?

They don't necessarily want HR meddling in their affairs, but at the same time, you know that for whatever reason you need to provide one.

So Sean is a nonce.

I agree that I'm fine with it.

Like who cares really at the end of the day, like she's a grown woman, he's a grown man, like they can decide their own.

But my smoke is for Sean.

My smoke is not for them.

My smoke is for Sean.

Yeah, I think like people forget this is a job.

Yeah, like you think of the Blake live.

Yeah, I knew I knew we're going to see that.

Yeah, it's a job.

I think people forget.

Oh, yeah, we don't need one.

Yeah, you don't think you need one until you do.

Yeah, until a situation happens.

Yeah, you know, thank God no situation happened, but had one happened, you know, intimacy would have been able to like help absolve a situation and resolve things in the best way.

Yeah.

So I get why you're saying this, but at the same time, you know, you know, we can only speak from like the now, which is like nothing happened.

So shout out to them, but like in a place where a stop was not heard and obeyed.

Yeah.

And then the next one, we had The Brutalist, which we talked about in the last episode, and the use of AI, which they still have in like overtly defend.

And I think the filmmaker has just come out to defend Adrian Brody and Adrian Brody's talked about it in an interview saying, you know, like it doesn't negate the work that he put in and blah, blah, blah.

But the film has not said, you know, defended their use of AI or anything.

So that's still not even resolved.

What are they going to say?

I think an explanation would be, you know.

I think the world is not going to take it lightly.

Yeah.

I think the onus is also on the Academy to decide if this is, you know, if this is worth it, you know.

Yeah.

Especially because it was like, I think what's insane is also like, just like the general view of the film was like, hey, we made this amazing masterpiece for like such little change, such little.

Yeah.

Then you didn't pay workers, like.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You did this quick.

You didn't pay workers and we see how, you know, like we've seen people like Jeremy Strong or, you know, Shia LaBeouf, like really dedicate themselves to their role so they can have the best possible accent and provide the best, the most realistic experience to what it is.

I'm so sorry if he could not spend more time learning how to speak Hungarian, through the fucking teeth, you know, for his lines.

Because we don't need you to be fluent.

We just need you to practice your lines long enough for you to like deliver it in the most natural way.

Then it's okay.

Maybe you shouldn't have been cast.

I feel like, okay, you say it's okay, but in reality, it's really not.

I think, I'm not okay with the USAV AI.

Oh, no, no.

I'm saying, no, no, no.

I'm not saying it's okay.

I'm saying maybe he's not beyond, you know?

The cast, I get it.

But I think it's wrong.

I don't know why the director comes out and says, oh, yeah, Adrian Burde.

Why are you looking at the actor?

He's just an employee.

That's what's important to them.

You understand what I mean?

Like, for me, like, let's take a Nora, for example.

There's like a heavy amount of, because the film, like a lot of it is in Russian, or like, you know, there's Russian culture and like, you know, just like that immigrant experience and that viewpoint.

You don't see fucking George Cuney, you know?

Using Aisle to speak Russian, just so that he's on the cover.

And do you know what I mean?

Like, Glenn Powell, and because, let's be honest, if it was Glenn Powell, and what's her name?

If it was Glenn Powell and Mickey Madison?

I would have raved.

I feel like that would have been an Oscar.

It would have been an Oscar before it came out.

I would have raved to the end of time if Glenn Powell wasn't there, so.

Yeah, so, but, you know, clearly, he can't speak Russian.

Yeah.

So let's, I get what you're saying.

I get what you're saying.

Yeah.

I get what you're saying.

But I think, like, putting Adrian Brody at the forefront of what happened, like, I think that's just wrong.

Like, he's just an employee to the whole production.

The fact that they're pointing to him to be like, oh, you did something.

Like, he didn't write this film.

He's just acting in it.

They need to stop.

Like, wrong person to shoot the message.

Okay, yeah, exactly.

Because he's not the production company.

Yeah, so why are we saying, hey, you go speak up?

Anyway, exactly.

And then the other ones, obviously, Fernanda Torres from I'm Still Here.

She was caught using blackface.

And Sofia, Karla Gascon from Emilia Perez had a string of racist tweets.

So it just feels like The Green Ripper is coming for all of these one by one.

But the Oscars are still next week.

So let us run through our predictions.

I just want to say The Green Ripper is coming for them one by one, except concrete.

Concrete is The Green Ripper, bro.

I will say this.

I will say this before we get started.

Every person in this world has to recycle and see what they have posted within the past five years.

So when you become important, nobody's coming to you and saying, oh yeah, you said this, you did this.

And you know what was crazy is her tweets were not even that far back.

Like you couldn't claim, you couldn't even claim that she didn't know better, bro.

They were like two years ago.

Exactly.

I think people forget like, what makes you think you're different that people are not going to check you?

It is so crazy to me because it's your industry.

You're not tweeting about something that's so far-fetched or something that's so far removed from you.

Bro, you're talking about your potential coworkers, bro.

This is not a burner.

This is not a burner today.

This is your name.

That woman will not get me to watch any of hers.

Amy Schumer?

I kind of want to watch her, though.

I'm not going to lie.

I'm going to say this, if you want to watch exactly the same movie as that, I can recommend a 2010 movie about fake pregnancy.

That woman will never get a sense out of my pocket.

We got a real hit out here.

You're one of us for Real For Real.

You're a real hit, right?

All right, guys, so let's dive in.

Okay.

Oscar predictions.

You know, 97th Academy Awards, I believe, you know, that is coming in next weekend, March 2nd.

Dolby Theatre in LA.

And I think the host is Conan O'Brien.

I think so.

Yeah, I'm excited.

Yeah, I'm actually excited.

Yeah, Conan is pretty funny.

Conan is a great guy.

Yeah.

I'm very happy they didn't do some shit like, let me stop.

Let me stop.

I'm gonna drop a name of someone that's hot right now, but, you know, I'm cool.

I'll be respectful.

I'll be respectful.

Yeah, so I think Best Picture.

Oh, we're starting with a big one.

Starting with a big one, yeah.

Oh, I would have thought we would be ending with this.

Okay.

I feel like Conclave has to take it from me.

Conclave, really?

I think for the reasons of knowing the background of them having to find a place to do it, create the whole scene of it and everything, I get Wicked has done the same, but I feel like Conclave just did it for me.

You know, Conclave is a sleeper.

I don't want to call it a sleeper sleeper because from the start, it's been a big shower or whatever.

But at the beginning of award season, Conclave was nowhere near in time.

It wasn't one of the big names.

It was Wicked, it was Anora, and it was Britalist.

Those were the big ones that were coming up.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

Even Dune Part Two had more of a shout than Conclave at the start to tell you how little it did.

But it feels like the more the film sits with people, the more people come to like it.

Because even when I saw it, it wasn't that like it was good.

I really liked it, but it wasn't, and the more time has passed or whatever, the more I'm like, wait, this is actually pretty good film making.

I feel like it was, it's a, yeah, I think people forget that, how much it took to make the film in a short amount of time.

And then I get like, they didn't release it at the same time everywhere.

So UK people watch it much later than US and Canada and stuff.

But I think it's a really great film, very subtle.

And sometimes that's all you need.

You don't need some big production like Wicked.

All love to the people that made Wicked, but absolutely not for me.

I think also, Conflav, you know, perfect film, amazing.

It's kind of crazy how we might actually have a, the current Pope is actually in critical condition.

Yeah, bless his soul.

Yeah, so that's actually like pretty interesting.

Oh, insane.

Because I think prior to this Conflav movie, the bulk of people did not know what actually goes into like picking a new Pope.

We're getting step by step.

Like, it's, we're getting behind the scenes of one of the most culturally relevant situations.

Of all time, yeah.

Yeah.

So that's, that's very interesting.

Yeah.

But for me, you know, so sorry, like since Pomp and Beor, it's been making waves, Anorah probably is going to win this.

That's, that's how I, like, it won at Cairns.

Yeah.

Or Cannes.

Yeah, Cannes.

But I'm pretty sure the Brutalist wasn't at Cannes.

That's the one thing to know.

Until the AI came out.

Yeah.

I think, I think I'm with you, Ofili, in that I wanted to be Anorah.

I think my best, like of the 10, I think my best picture is Anorah, like not counting Dune, since everyone's removed Dune for whatever reason.

But I think it's going to be the Brutalist.

I feel like, I feel like when it comes to the Academy, they don't love films that are too in your face.

Like films that are too real, too raw.

They like it to be, there's a reason why the term Oscar bae exists.

It's because you're baiting the Academy into things that are a little baity.

And everything about the Brutalist just gives what the Academy like.

It's an ode to the filmmaking era that they so much love.

It's, you know, it's real work.

It's real film work that's being done as opposed to like, very like graphics or VFX or whatever.

I just think everything about it points to, you know, you have a really good score, you have a really good filmmaker, you have really good cast, as opposed to like Anorah, for example, where it's a, for lack of a better term, it's a bunch of kids running around doing film making.

So I just think, I just think the virtualist has what they're looking for.

Anorah does not deserve Best Picture.

No, it does.

What do you mean?

It absolutely does.

It absolutely does.

I can't, I can't, like, I can tell you the storyline was great, but I don't think, you know, the picture was like something to die for.

I mean, but producers' guild and directors' guild didn't give it though.

It's not like it's not winning, Misgana.

It is winning.

Like, I'm not going to lie, PGA and DJ both win.

It is winning.

And I'm pretty confident when I say, like, they have a really good chance of siding tonight.

Like, I think they have...

I feel like, okay, like, don't shoot The Messenger.

I feel like we just had to slap a name on there to add for Best Pictures.

So don't hate The Messenger.

But this is the trueness of it all is, if it wasn't Anora on that list, what movie of this year would be worthy to be added on a list as Best Pictures?

Like, are you saying if Anora was, if we were to remove Anora, what would we replace it with?

Is that what you're asking?

Yeah, I don't think there's like another great movie that was memorable to people that could have been on Best Pictures.

I think Singsing is good enough.

I don't think it's good enough to be nominated for Best Pictures for the Oscars.

Like, I don't think any other category, I would agree with you, but I think Best Pictures, the reason why they put it in there is because they have room to film.

So, I'm still summary, all love.

That is so not true, but it's okay.

It's simply just not true.

I'm sorry to you.

I don't see what you're saying.

I think typically there's usually an animated movie that they toss in there.

So if it wasn't a Nora, it would be maybe The Wild River.

What would it be?

Maybe The Wild River or The Flow, one of those two.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

Flow does not.

I would say two things.

I think, again, don't know who the fuck, Denis upset, but I feel like if a Nora wasn't there, Dune would be tossing a little bit higher up in the rankings for this conversation.

Yeah.

Then secondly, I think what happened is that Ridley Scott had a really great chance in his hand, then he dropped it.

He dropped it crazy.

Gladiator, I don't know how that fumbled, but the fact that Gladiator had much higher budget, much higher like marketing, you know, they even tried a Barbenheimer.

Did you get me?

Yeah.

It was wicked.

Yeah.

You know, you were going to glitch or something like that, you know, and it just didn't click off in any way.

So that's kind of crazy.

I've been trying to tell people that Ridley Scott, the filmmaker that you know and love, has not been that Ridley Scott for a long time.

It's been a long time, right?

He's not been Best Picture Good in many years.

And that's not a problem.

He's still going to make money.

He's still going to put any movie that makes 300 million bucks.

And I think that's where he is now.

He's going to create, like, I don't even want to guess how much Apple paid him for Napoleon.

That movie was so bad.

It was so bad that they released the director cut.

And it was even worse, like, bro, how?

So I think it's at the point in his career where he's just making these films that serve a purpose and tell the story.

But he's not trying to, something like that.

But he's not necessarily going for all these acclaiming.

He's done that.

You know what I mean?

So he's looked his life.

He's close to the age.

Careful now.

Careful now, Misgana.

Careful now.

I don't know what to say.

What's right.

But he's lived.

He's lived enough for him to see his work reaching.

So for Best Picture, we're going Misgana with Conklee, Ofili with Nora, and I know I should win, but the Brutalist World.

You're getting Brutalist.

I think Brutalist gets a, I think this is another thing.

I want to piggyback off your point about Brutalist being Oscar bait.

I think even just the direct decision to stick with Adrian Brody, who is also of like half Bulgarian heritage, like plus like when he won for The Pianist, I think this is all intentional, like Oscar baiting tactics.

Yeah.

Like, do you get me?

Like this is all tactics.

And it's like, oh, this would be so special to me because my family blah, blah, blah.

Like, bro, come on.

I mean, Oscar bait is not a slurring for bad, OK?

Oscar bait doesn't have to be.

It's not a slurring for bad, but like you get me.

Yeah.

And like, I guess like, I'm just happy that Conclave won BAFTA.

I think it was BAFTA's, yeah.

Yeah.

And I think since 2020, BAFTA's had like a 78% accuracy for The Oscars.

So they have a chance then.

Yeah.

I think SAGs has like an 86 or something, but like, we'll see.

We'll see how it goes.

So ladies and gentlemen, we'll move on to the next category.

Let's go Best Director Predictions.

So I feel like Best Director, Best Picture tends to kind of go hand in hand.

Kind of, yeah.

I'm gonna say A Complaint Unknown.

I'm so glad you said that.

Yeah, because I think, I don't know if you guys know this, but Bob Dylan did not like play a part in any of it.

They contacted him.

They contacted me and said, yeah, don't reach out to me.

He didn't even respond to them, I think.

So the fact that they, like for me, who didn't know Bob Dylan, was curious enough to listen to his music, but kind of hated him because he said that word.

Yeah, it was quite interesting in his music that he did that.

But yeah, I think a complete unknown is a good transition.

You actually killed me.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I have to be honest.

Fair enough.

Should I go next?

Okay.

Brita this guy.

Oh, Brady.

I keep saying Brady, but I don't know.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, Brady.

Yeah.

Or Corbett.

Yeah.

Corbett, whatever his name is.

Whatever, man.

I think because I watched some of the BTS, it might be besides Dune, I think that's the only one I saw the BTS for.

And I think because I was curious as to how you could make something that good in such a limited amount of time.

Ofili has given us the other reason why, you know, he said that the first time.

But I think I was just so curious as to how you can make something this good.

This is one of those films that you hear the filmmaker talk about.

I've been making this for 10 years.

I've been writing this script for 8 years.

I've been working with Adrian for 6 months type, you know?

So I was curious as to how.

And so I watched a lot of the behind the scenes.

And I think it's a lot of trusting in the parts.

Like, he's the director, he's the filmmaker, whatever.

But he's trusting the production assistants, he's trusting the cinematographer, he's trusting a lot of the parts that are making up the whole as opposed to him trying to be involved in literally every single thing.

And I think the different elements of this film, the score is so beautiful.

The score is so good.

And the cinematography is so beautiful as well.

Like, they kind of work to serve the purpose of the film, which I know I'm talking about the director, I'm talking about all the other parts, but it's his vision.

Like, he's the one that's sourcing out these parts, and he's putting them together to make this, you know, film.

I was so moved by The Brutalist.

I said that when we had the episode, but I was really so moved by it.

And that's why I saw the BTS to see his work.

And I think it's his award.

If we're not giving Denis, which he's not nominated for, I think it's his award.

Okay, that's very fair.

I think, quite honestly, it's tight racism.

It's really tight.

And it's, I really feel like this is, I'm so sorry, but I feel like, again, this is Sean Baker's to lose.

That man is not winning.

I'm so sorry.

This is Sean Baker's to lose.

I think it's tight.

I think it's tight between Baker and Corbett or whatever.

After what Mickey said.

You know, I don't think he lost smoke.

I don't think he lost theme based off of the intimacy coordinator.

I think the Oscar should factor that he, as director, your job is to make sure, I think that should be a factor.

I agree.

I think the problem is that he can easily respect, he can easily phrase this or they can easily perceive this as him doing his best not to make her comfortable and honoring her respects and like her wishes, which is like what, as a director, you are meant to help manage these situations.

And, you know, he still kept it quiet, kept it close.

There weren't too many people, nobody was uncomfortable.

There was no like scandal or abuse.

There was no big situation.

That's true.

So that's like, But that's out of luck.

True.

But to us, it's luck.

But we also don't know what they did regarding intimacy coordinator.

Do you get me?

Like, just want to give context.

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni did have intimacy coordinators and that shit went up in flames.

Yeah, but that the way they went about it was sick.

Let's begin with, but I think they should have been one.

Granted, she felt comfortable and that's fine, but I think he should have had one on call or something to just have in just a case.

I think that's why I'm not even considering him as a Best Picture.

I think it's tight.

And it'll also be funny if he gets an Oscar knowing what kind of movie he makes.

Not gonna lie to you, I'm very much on the disdain for Shane Breaker.

I think, yeah, yeah.

I think this is a very, very, we're hearing the hate, a lot of hate coming from you.

I'm not invalidating what it is you're saying.

I'm just saying you're talking and I'm just hearing, hate, I hate this man, I hate this man, I hate this man.

So thank you very much.

I mean, it's the perfect time to hate.

No, I get it, I get it, it's the perfect time.

We are going to move on to lead actor.

Yeah.

I think I can start this one.

I think it's pretty easy for me.

I have been a fan since the very first film I watched him in 2018.

I've been so happy to see him grow and I have seen him put on the best performance of his career in this year.

Even though he's nominated for a different film, Timothy Chalamet's Awards, without any doubt in my mind.

I hope not.

I hope.

I said what I said and I stand on it.

I hope Coleman did me.

I'm going for everybody black when it comes to best actresses, because it's Black History Month and we got to stand with our brothers and sisters even if they may lose.

Bro, you are killing me today.

I think for me, true hater coming out.

You might not win, but you're a winner in my heart and in my mind.

That's all that matters.

That's fair enough.

I think for me, true hater coming out.

Fuck, Adrian Brody for that shit, really and truly, but he probably is going to win that, specifically winning the BAFTAs.

Honestly, would love Chalamet to win this shit, but I think they're going to give Chalamet that.

Down the line?

Oh, yeah, later on.

Yeah, same thing, down the line.

We're going to give it to you.

But I think his performance, like again, Mangold and him, they cooked on this Bob Dylan movie.

I'm knocking a lot.

Yeah, it's a really good movie.

Then I don't, I just want to say, Adrian Brody also getting sexually abused, like, you know, in The Bruisers, I feel like that also moves their heart.

You get me?

So they're like, oh, okay, let's give that triumphant story.

You know, what's that BS that they were saying throughout the movie?

The journey over the dream.

The dream is more important.

Yeah, the destination is more important than the journey.

I was like, you saying it's while you're exploiting this, like, you're still right now.

Oh, oh my God, guys, guys.

Exactly.

No, we're going to have to have a conversation some point about the ethics of, like, regarding families of, like, artists.

And like, you know what?

Let's not get into that because I, like, you know, I'm going to start talking about, like, post-humours albums and, like, kind of vitro that's going to come out of me right now.

Crazy.

Let me stop.

This is a full podcast, guys.

What's happening?

What's happening today?

I think based on sags, I think based on sags tomorrow, we're going to have a much clearer picture.

Okay.

Or today.

Today.

Whichever day sags is.

I think if a complete unknown wins, the sag for best actor, I think he wins for, I think he wins once it called The Oscars.

I feel like if he wins, he's too early in his career.

I don't think so.

I don't think so because he's been here before.

It's not like he's not been here before.

He's been here a couple of times.

Like this is not new to this stage at all, right?

Then he's okay being the second and losing.

I'm so sorry.

Coleman, by the way.

I'm sorry.

I know you love Coleman, but it's going to be the same thing as last year.

Like last year for Rustin, I felt like personally, I think I'm on Twitter.

They're like, Coleman back to back, most deserved loser or most deserved to lose or whatever.

Because I think it's going to be the same thing.

Unfortunately, Coleman puts in these performances, and yeah, when other actors are putting on career best performances, something like that.

That's like, it's not an indictment of him as an actor.

I think he's so good.

I want him to work with better filmmakers that will get the best out of him.

And I think he's really good.

But I just don't know that he wants it, man.

I think he wants to do his work.

I think he's an artist, he's a true artist that wants to do art.

That's what I'm saying.

Yeah.

That's what I'm saying.

He needs to want it more.

He cares more about his craft than he recognizes.

I think for me, Oman Domingo is, he is getting in a very iffy situation.

Yes, he, you know, it's kind of like how I was talking about a real pain and I want to like, before I had like watched it a second time, I want to apologize for saying that in a real pain, you know, he's just Roman Roy again.

And, you know, that is off the mark.

You know, when I watched it the second time, I'm like, OK, OK, my bad.

So my fault on that one.

But with Coleman, I think what's going on is that they're seeing him and stuff like Rustin or what's that other thing that he did before.

And they're like, oh, I love you like this.

Come and do the same thing.

Yes, bro.

Yes.

Thank you.

So like nobody is like asking more of him, essentially.

He's not putting in performances that is like so different.

And it's like, OK, you're really cooking.

We're seeing the growth.

You're doing amazing.

We're just like, hey, this is Coleman Domingo.

Like, you hear me?

This is the same guy on any.

I'm not saying that he needs to be fucking count Orlok.

It's like, yeah, yeah, I feel like I feel like at some point, we have to give him his flowers.

And I think he's missed his mark so many times.

And what best time to do it?

Then Black History Month.

Love that for him.

You know, my guy, maybe he's just got to talk to your agency.

If you're working with CAA right now, you got to find, you know, maybe you got to switch up, find some new directors.

I feel like he cares more, like based on the conversation that he had, I mean, he sat down with, Aaron, Aaron Carlton.

Yeah, he talked about, like, he actually loves doing this.

He's not doing it to reach a certain point of getting Grammys.

Yeah, look, I think he appreciates being part of it, that he doesn't really care.

Love that for you.

My boy, you know what?

Go find Christopher Nolan's number right now.

Go get that number, because that man is getting an award if he's presenting it like a slideshow.

I'll wait the day that he doesn't win anything.

Yeah.

I'm tired of it.

We already know this year's is fucking winning.

It's so insane that we already know this year's is winning.

But back to what I'm saying, like, I just really, I love Colman Domingo.

I just want more.

Yeah.

I think I'm not there.

I think it's, I don't even feel like we're at, like, the...

I don't believe in the age thing.

I don't believe in the, okay, time paid or giving them their flowers.

I believe in, is this, was this the best performance of the year?

Yeah.

That's what I believe.

It was not.

Yeah.

So I don't really care that Sanamé is young, but in both Dune and unfortunately, I feel like you kind of have to, like, that's like the benefit of dropping two movies in the same year.

Same thing with, like, what's his name?

The Captain Bucky.

My different man.

Yeah.

Apprentice.

Apprentice.

Sean, Sebastian.

Sebastian's dad.

Same thing.

Kind of this, you just put them together and it elevates for you and your mind.

Sebastian is, I feel like, Sebastian is more damaged.

He's getting stumped.

He's getting stumped right now.

Yeah.

But he got nominated though.

He got nominated.

I don't know what.

He won for Golden Globes, right?

He was nominated for both at Golden Globes and he won for Different Man.

Different Man.

Yeah.

But I don't think he deserved it.

I'm so sorry.

I will be that person.

Then this time, but this time around, he got nominated for The Apprentice.

That's crazy.

Which is kind of insane to me.

I think The Apprentice is so good.

Let's make our actor move on.

Okay.

Let's go to the next one.

When actress, this one shows like a straight shot, you know, Demi Moore.

Okay.

How do we feel about Demi Moore?

I know Mickey just won BAFTA, but like, how do we feel about Demi Moore?

I think this is maybe my third most sure prediction of the whole 23 in that it's Mikey Madison that wins this one.

Yeah.

I think it would be a mistake if Cynthia doesn't win.

Say who?

Who?

Okay.

Cynthia who?

Oh, black streamer.

I will say this.

Not because, well, She might be number four, man.

I'm not going to lie to you.

We just can't get you to be right now, bro.

She needs to win.

She might be number four of the five.

She needs to win because her career depends on it.

I'm not even making...

She might sit down and cry if she doesn't win.

She might be number four.

I'm so sorry, Cynthia.

One thing I will say though, I feel like I loved one, what I liked about Wicked and it was number one thing in my review is she and Ariana kind of work up, they bounce up each other.

Like they back up each other in such a elevating, like they elevate each other's performances.

And I really liked that about that.

I feel like both of them did good.

I wanted, before Zoe's whole, you know, now Zoe's the lock, but before Zoe's whole thing went up, I wanted Ariana to win.

But yeah, no, I liked her performance.

Enough to be nominated here.

Not enough to be anywhere near the winner.

No.

I think, I'm gonna stand on that.

Thank you.

Thank you for your opinion.

I think, I think if I can think more again, but again, man, you know, Lucy, I'm just thinking maybe we should have just waited for Sinex to come out.

That's what I was saying over text, bro, because it's going to tell me.

But it's calm.

It's calm.

This way, it's our actual, like, you know, opinions as opposed to like, you know, on my influence.

I get you.

Yeah.

If you want to go to Best Supporting Actor now.

Oh, let me do this one again.

Same way I started with Acto.

This is an actor that I've supported since whenever the first episode of Succession aired.

Since he was a child.

Since whenever the first episode of Succession.

I texted my girlfriend at the time.

He is my favorite character, Roman Roy.

And from episode one to season three, episode nine, he was my favorite character throughout.

He has grown so much since then.

Like, he's really, really grown as an actor, right?

And I'm so glad that we've seen him outside of Succession and we've seen that he can still do the same thing on the big stage.

And people say he's acting the same.

He's really, really not.

Like, we haven't seen Ciaran Caulkin this emotional on screen.

You know, even in the episode where he shut the debt of Logan or whatever, he was not this, like, at the core emotional.

I think this is the easiest one, right?

Of the people categories.

No brainer.

He's one of the supporting awards leading up to this, so there's no point even debating the Ciaran Caulkin.

Yeah.

We agree on this.

We agree on this.

Okay.

I'm happy.

Yeah.

Do you only agree because there's no Black person nominated?

No, it's not that.

I really want Guy to win, but I think Ciaran just did what he needed to do, to carry that movie so well.

For it to be a two main character film, he did it really well and he was memorable.

Not that Guy wasn't, he was, but not enough to win.

I think that's fair.

That is fair.

Ofili.

How about you?

Yeah.

I think I'm really in the same camp.

We don't really have anyone else for Ciaran Caulkin to talk about.

That's the word.

Fair enough.

Supporting actress?

I think like I...

Yeah, let's get supporting actress.

I don't really think I have anything to add on that.

Okay.

Supporting the male.

Yeah.

Supporting actress, how do we feel?

How do we feel?

Are we going Ariana?

Absolutely not.

Oh, wow.

Sorry.

That's rude.

Absolutely not.

Okay.

I'm so sorry.

If she wins, I will...

I'm just going to tell you it's Zoe Saldana or Ariana.

It's not really a happy situation.

I know.

I feel like none of the people up here are deserving.

I mean, Zoe Saldana is black, though.

So what happened to your earlier bravado?

This shit.

I mean, we saw her in that Nina Simone doc.

I mean...

A bio page.

Does she claim she's black?

I don't want her to go up there and be like, my children, my husband, he's resilient.

Oh my God.

I'm tired of that speech.

I actually don't want it to hear it again.

I don't want Ariana to win, I think, because the message that was sent.

I don't want people to come for her neck.

I don't want people to compare Cynthia and her.

If one wins and the other does.

I think it would look bad and it will actually hurt the production for Wicked Two.

I see.

If I had to choose, I feel like Felicity or Monica would do it for me.

No, that's unpopular.

But I think Monica, she was not necessarily important to Bob Dylan's story, but I think her being there throughout his story was important.

I think maybe that's good enough to win Oscar.

I don't know.

Some of these women in these categories, they're not that great enough for me to be one over the other.

I think for me, supporting actress is always harder than supporting actor.

But typically, supporting actress has one person that everyone already decides is going to win pretty early on and you just stick with it.

I think last year was like Divine Joy, and the year before that it was the girl from West Side Story, I forget her name.

But usually pretty on the lock.

I think this year is weird because we don't have that.

But at the same time, we do have a best performance and I think it's Felicity Jones.

I don't know that anybody else compares to Felicity Jones' performance.

But I don't think she's going to win.

I think it's Zoe Saldana.

It's similar to the year that we all said, either Stephanie Hsu or the woman from Banshees was the best actor and then they gave her a similar name.

She was so great.

What's her name?

Condon?

I forget her name.

But it ended up being Jamie Lee Curtis.

Yeah, I think this is going to be a similar year in Felicity Jones and Monica are probably the two better performances.

So it's going to Zoe Saldana.

So yeah.

I hate that.

I actually like the way I loathe that one.

She didn't do bad.

Like, I don't know why you're acting like she put in a bad shift.

I don't like her as-

None of these actresses were bad.

The only person that was bad was the one from Conclave.

She wasn't even bad.

She was just, I don't know why she's here.

There was a second-

I didn't think she was bad.

That's why I said she wasn't even bad.

I just don't know why she's here, bro.

I feel-

She didn't even talk that much.

Yeah.

I didn't really see-

But she's important to the storyline.

But that's not what determines a performance.

It's not the importance of your character.

Performance doesn't have to be vocal.

I think the performance is very good.

Yeah, despite of-

With her limited lines, I think I argue this as well.

Limited lines, but she did an amazing job.

Yeah.

She was memorable.

You remember her.

She was sound like she wasn't-

Interesting.

Fair enough.

I'm going to let you guys have it.

Yeah.

The same way people thought-

Misgana.

Misgana.

Please.

The seven seconds of dude.

I just want to say as well because in The Brutalist, we remember Zovia, she had very few lines, not memorable.

I hated that actor.

I'm so sorry.

I loved him, but I hated that character.

Okay.

Which one are we rather?

We're talking about original screenplay.

Okay.

Initially, I'd wanted Anora to win, just because I really like the story.

I feel like the story was sort of an important part of it.

But then I came out of the film and I thought, and I saw everyone saying that they did not like the story, which for me, I'm like, this is the best that Sean Baker has ever written.

He usually is bad at the stories.

He just puts people out and tell them, do something bad or do something horrible or whatever.

But this time around, there was an actual plot.

And I liked the plot, but then I caught myself doing, okay, I'm reading this plot relevant or relative to all other Sean Baker's plots, as opposed to ranking this plot to the rest of the films this year.

So I'm gonna scratch that and I'm gonna go with the substance.

Just because it's new, it's farfetched, it's interesting, it's captivating.

People talk about that you leave the film thinking about the plot longer than almost anything else in the film.

So I'm gonna go with the substance.

I think because of Demi Moore and her speech from Golden Globes, I'm gonna go with the substance.

I think she sold it to the point that people went to watch it, and that was good enough for me.

Yeah.

Sorry, I failed you.

No, no, no, we're good.

We're good.

Definitely feel a little bit...

I think original screenplay, Jesse Eisenberg, won for the BAFTA for A Real Pain.

I think it did go to Golden Globes as well.

Yeah, so I think that is very...

That's possible to win again.

I don't want to...

Don't want to...

I really don't want that to win, but I don't think Enora can win it at the Oscars.

But we'll see.

We'll see.

So what's your guess?

I think my guess would be A Real Pain, even though I don't want it to win.

Fair enough.

Yeah.

Fair enough.

Then we can do Adapt It.

How do we feel about Adapt It?

I think you should start this one, Misgana.

You should be happy about this one.

Did you see Nickel Boys, Misgana?

You go ahead.

You do it.

Ofili, do you want to start?

Oh, no.

I want you to talk about your ways.

Okay.

So I want Misgana to start this one because I thought, you know, in the spirit of black history, blah, blah, blah.

I was thinking, I was like, you go.

Let's give this one to Nickel Boys.

Because I looked up the original Nickel Boys story, this film, I'm so happy that it's in Best Picture Conversations, or that it was nominated.

I think it's a bold step from the filmmaker.

It's truly inventive.

It's the most inventive of all of these, or arguably the most inventive in the story style.

And all of that, I just don't know that the story, like the way the director shoots the film, is in service of the story, right?

And because I struggled with the way the story was being told, I consequently struggle with the screenplay itself.

So I can see a world that exists in which this wins adaptive screenplay.

I do not think it should win adaptive screenplay.

Yeah, I think the winner here should be Conclave.

I think Conclave, the story, and Ofili has talked about that earlier, saying like, you know, this is one of the most cultural.

Edward Berger has this very good trait of taking something that's so important or something that happened or something that's fictional, you know, or something that happened mostly, and telling it on the big screen in such a way that you can re-tell that story as if you were there, or as if you've been a part of this process before.

We saw it with Au Quai, right?

When he took this film about the horrors that existed in a real war, where people died, right?

And like you were able to actually follow the screenplay or the story in a way that was somewhat kind of personal, in that people took away like their lessons from the war, as if they were in the war.

Same thing with Conclave Man.

Like people know how to pick the Pope now.

You know, some of the intricacies and all of that.

That's not because of acting, that's because of storytelling.

So, I think that's my pick for this year.

That's the only thing I want Conclave to win.

I'm not, I don't live in this fantasy world that you guys all live in, that it's going to win Best Picture or Best Director.

I don't subscribe to all of that, but storytelling, no one did it better than.

That's insane.

I'm actually gonna go opposite.

I feel like you're gonna come at me for it, and it's okay.

I'm gonna go sing-sing, because you're laughing.

This is crazy.

I think Nickel Boys is complicated, and I think it's sophisticated that you have to watch more than once to get it.

I agree.

But I think Sing Sing, they adapted it into-

Musical?

Broadway?

Yeah.

They adapted it to be in Broadway.

I think it reached people to a point.

I don't know how the magnitude of how many people watched it, because it was available at limited theaters, which is annoying.

But I think, I would say, I would say Sing Sing because of that.

But if that doesn't win, I would go Complete Unknown, because knowing that Bob Dylan did not take part in any part of it, and them having to adapt the story based on whatever knowledge they have, whether it be through a third person or like whatever they read.

Yeah, this, I think because of that, I will go, I will go Complete Unknown, because of Timothy's interview that he did that he told people, yeah, I don't, I have never talked to Bob Dylan before.

So, so this is not an indictment of Complete Unknown.

I love the film, but, and I guess credit where credit's due, but the film has been in production for quite a while, right?

Like the story has been in development, like especially the story and working with Timmy, that has been in development for quite a while.

So sure, yes, like it's good.

And if it's, if it's that good, it should win.

Sure.

But like, they've had many, they can have many years to write this story and come up with this story.

So it had to be good.

Does that make sense?

Like, I'm, I'm, yeah, I'm not saying like, like they shouldn't win or should, because they had more time or whatever.

But like, they've been writing this story for a long, long time.

I mean, what would I say?

Good things take time.

So maybe it deserves an Oscar, because it took time for them to make it.

But what do you think, Ofili?

I think, you know, I don't want to, I love how you guys keep praising Complete Unknown, because it's a, it's a really good movie.

But like, every time Misgana says, yeah, they didn't reach out to Bob Dylan, I'm saying they reached out to Bob Dylan, but he did not help.

I'm always like, I'm going to be honest with you, a lot of times they don't even reach out to them at all.

And they just, they find out there's a movie made about them.

So I feel like it's kind of like almost industry normal to like talk to autobiographers, talk to like historical records people, like, and then craft the story on its own without the help of that person.

I think we have been pushing for, you know, just like it's kind of like a good thing that you, you should talk to them, like, it's a good practice, it's good practice essentially to get inputs from them about their life and how they would love to be depicted.

I don't think it necessarily makes the story better.

No, no, I don't think that that's what she's saying.

I think like, for example, if you're writing a biopic about like when...

I don't think it makes it better or harder.

Do you get what I mean?

I think there's still a lot of work depending on the kind of story that you want to put out.

Yes.

Yeah, but choosing that is difficult when you don't have anything of the person.

It's not like Bob Dylan is out here like crafting his own life and showing people.

They had to be like, okay, what is Bob Dylan like?

How do we want to portray him?

Like based on whatever they had, whatever they had was limited because that man was very much like, I'm a musician, don't ever talk to me.

I don't have anything to do with this.

He doesn't even come to award shows.

So for an artist to just be like, no, thank you.

And then for them to have to come up and like craft that work.

Of course it takes time because like they have to come up with the measure of not portraying him how he is, but portraying him good enough to create a movie about him.

Yeah.

That's why I put it.

That's fair.

That's fair.

I kind of agree.

I kind of agree with the bulk of what you're saying.

For me, I would say Conclave.

I think Steve said that as well.

So I would just like, I'm picking up on that Conclave pick specifically because I feel like the themes in Conclave are really complex.

And as Steve said, like we all know what's going on within the Conclave now.

And it's just like, unfortunately, on like Nickel Boys, you don't have to like watch it more than once.

That's the problem.

For you to like completely, you know, absorb it.

Like, however, however, I don't, I think Company Unknown still has like a pretty strong chance.

But I think Conclave might edge closer because I believe Conclave just won for the BAFTA.

So I think Conclave has, I think screenplay is like the one Conclave has in its pocket, like pretty consistently.

You guys take it home.

You know what's crazy?

In every single category that we talked about, nobody talks about Amelia Perry's except the one where we felt Amelia Perry should win.

Like, no.

It's kind of crazy because Amelia Perry's has like 13 nominations.

Like, this is so crazy guys.

They just have to pick a random movie and it just happened to be that.

I'm so sorry to the people who picked it up.

I wish they picked a random movie and it was like a good movie.

They still kind of globes home.

They don't mention it.

They don't need Oscar.

This is so serious hating guys.

Well, I think that's a good category.

It's a good list of categories.

You want to finish up?

I feel like I want to clean up with one, a final one that might make Steve very happy.

I know.

I'm waiting for this one.

Oh, which one do you think I'm talking about?

I don't know what you guys are talking about, but let's go.

Let's go.

Best Cinematographer.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Why do we know?

Bro, you already know what I'm saying.

We don't need to talk about it too much, dog.

Bro, when they put Best Cinematographer on there, they just need to plate that warm right scene.

The scene with fucking Timothée Chalamet, like, riding the warm for the first time.

And just, don't even list the nominees.

Don't list anything else.

Just put that scene on and call Greg.

Just read the part.

And call him to come and take the award, because are you kidding me, dog?

What are we doing here?

Like, really?

Yeah, we're gonna take it.

I'm gonna give that to you.

Yeah, I'm gonna give that to you.

If they don't, if he doesn't get for that one, just he needs to take it.

He's gonna reset your friendships.

Take that one?

That would be insane.

Yeah.

The fact that it's in there is insane to me.

I don't know what Denis did.

I'll give that to you.

I don't know what Denis did to the Academy man.

He needs to work on those relationships because...

He needs to...

Like, they're chopping him left and right.

Yeah, they're chopping him left and right, but...

He needs to mend all the relationship up in that joint to get a couple more Oscars.

But no, I think, yeah, Dune too.

As somebody who actually hated Dune One, I was surprised that I really, really, really enjoyed it.

Like, I was in there like, wow, like, this is actually good.

Wow, crazy.

Surprised, yeah, and I really enjoyed it.

I'm gonna give that to Timothy.

Offili, you.

Offili, you.

You said?

Yeah, I think Dune would probably win for that one as well.

I was talking with some people, found another cinematographer guy at work, or cinematography guy at work, and he was talking and tried to like sneak in, tried to sneak in like Nosferatu in the conversation with me.

And I was like, okay, I don't want to.

You know when you make like a work friend, and you're like, oh no, I just found out why.

I was like, okay.

Shut it down.

You're not a serious guy.

You're not serious on him.

Let me know when you wake up.

Let me know when you wake up.

Damn, this is not messing with Nosferatu cinematography, really?

Absolutely not.

It's like good, but like it's not good enough for the conversation that it's in.

Do you feel me?

Oh, I see.

I see.

Okay.

I know the group chat is going to go crazy when they do too.

I'll be there.

Don't worry.

I'll be there.

Every Dune win is a win for me.

It feels like a personal, like I've built this shit, bro.

Yeah, of course, you did.

That and the girl in the driver's seat too.

Well, Misgana, it's like that, huh?

Okay.

I see it.

I love that.

All right, guys, this has been a great episode of The Cinephile's Aisle.

Yeah.

Hope you guys have a great day.

Yeah.

See you guys later.

Yeah.

We'll see you guys at the Oscars.