OscarWatch Podcast

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the bathroom...Hitchcock takes even that sanctuary away from us. Join Amy and Steve as they discuss one of the most influential films in history, Hitchcock's Psycho. How influential? It birthed the slasher and while it wasn't prescient, it sure informed us what was to come in the 1960s. And it is more than just the famous shower scene - but don't worry, we talk all about that - it is a wickedly crafted film from start to finish, as unsettling as only a master filmmaker can create. Plus, that music! And can we be honest? Anthony Perkins is a catch and a half. All that, plus we talk incels and the modern man...and more, this week on the podcast! Send in your thoughts on Psycho and your picks for what we should talk about this December, which is listener request month! The email is oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and we'd love to hear from you. Follow us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, these goddamn New York apartments, amirite?

Heeeeeere's...OscarWatch! We begin our October celebration of Shoulda Beens with a look at Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, a film that few liked when it was released but many came around on as the years went by. What is it about this movie that inspires revision and, as it turns out, an obsessive - nay, rabid - cult of fans? Joining Amy and Steve is #1 Kubrick fan Brian Hartz (who also chimed in on our 2001 episode) as they discuss the unsettling nature of the film, the indictment (or elevation) of misogyny, just why Jack works so well - and why Danny deserved a nod; and why we've all been overly harsh on Shelley Duvall. Brian also lays into some interesting takes on the music used, and we all throw up our hands and debate just what the hell happened in the end. All that and so, so much more on one of our longest episodes to date! Your requests keep coming in and we want more! What films should we discuss come December? You tell us! Write us an email and a brief paragraph on your choice to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com to make your claim! There's still plenty of time, but the more, the merrier! Next week...you know what you need after this movie? A nice showe--dammit!

Baa Ram Ewe! Baa Ram Ewe! Baa Ram Ewe...really should listen to our hosts discuss the magical and adorable Best Picture nominee, 1995's Babe. The second half of our George Miller double feature explores the writer/director's central theme of flying your own flag, whether that's dancing, not being sexual chattel or wanting to be a sheep-pig. Steve gets misty eyed thinking of this film; and Amy gets to experience it for the first time. Yes, we love the animals (especially Ferdinand the Duck) but we adore James Cromwell in this, his only ever nominated role. We can all agree that Christmas is indeed (emotional) carnage. All this and more, this week on the podcast. Write us in your Listener Requests and tell us why your recommendation is good (or bad!) at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com; we'll be talking about what you want to listen to all December long. Next week, a month-ish of the best horror films that never were nominated begins. Won't you come and play with us forever, and ever, and ever...?

Tap along if you feel like a penguin without a song...Amy and Steve tackle the George Miller directed tale of a lone figure wandering a barren wasteland in a quasi-ecological story while fighting the forces of the status quo. Yes, it is Happy Feet! (Why? What else could it be?) The 2006 Best Animated Feature is not without its critics, but as we learn, it was a bit of a down year for animation; besides, Pixar can't win all the awards, can it? We tackle the music - does it work? Does it make you dance? The message! Or rather, the messages. We reaffirm our love for Hugh Jackman and Steve wonders if the savior should also get the girl, but then we remember it's a kid's movie. But do kids like it? Amy has her own story to tell. Thanks for listening! Be sure to write us your thoughts to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and send in your requests! December is gift month and we want to review the movies you love! Next week, the George Miller double feature continues...

Hop on the back of this moving truck and let's play the ivory keys with a look at vintage Nicholson and his nominated role, Five Easy Pieces. Wherein we ask: why do we love watching Nicholson self destruct? And what is the film trying to say about the human - specifically the male - experience? Some people just like to run, I suppose. Steve admires any movie that can play it this close to the vest, and Amy says there's more to Rayette than at first glance. And, of course, we put it between our knees and talk the famous diner scene. All that and more, this week. Write to us! Give us a film to discuss. We're doing an all listener request this December! Write an email (no FB or Twitter) outlining a film that won, was nominated or you think should have been a contender and if we like your argument, we'll talk about it on the show with a shout out to you! Our Gift to you, our listeners. The address is oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com Next week, let's tap our toes. It's getting cold in here...

We pay tribute to the one and only Burt Reynolds with a look back at his one and only Oscar nomination: PTA's landmark Boogie Nights, a movie so good it obviously wasn't nominated for Best Picture. Joining our intrepid duo this week once again is Shahir Daud of The Only Podcast About Movies, who brings his professorial swagger and learns us a thing or two. We talk Reynolds, the porn industry, the bonds of family and of course, THAT soundtrack. Can we talk for five minutes about a single shot? You bet we can! All that and more on this DD sized episode of Oscarwatch. Thanks for listening. Write us in with your thoughts to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and find us on social media @oscarwatchpod. In December, we are beginning a listener request Gift month! Listen to the podcast for details and write in the films you want us to review. Our gift to you. Next week, our regularly scheduled program: Five Easy Pieces

To honor the passing of Broadway giant and screenwriter Neil Simon, who died recently at the age of 91, our hosts fall in love with his 1977 romcom, The Goodbye Girl. What more do you need than a script as punchy and witty as this? At long last, a worthy comedy deserving of Best Picture...that happened to be released when one of cinema's greatest comedies also happened to come out! Oh, the injustice! Plus, is Richard Dreyfuss really only 30 in this? Steve admits his ignorance towards Marsha Mason, though says that the kid is one of the few precocious children he can actually stand. And of course, love. How it swoons, how it laughs, how it's messy and how this is one of the most relatable romantic comedies ever made. Listen in! If you don't, I have a lawyer acquaintance downtown...and be sure to write us in with your thoughts to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and follow us on social media @oscarwatchpod RIP Neil Simon

We seize the day with another inspiring, rousing podcast about the 1989 Best Picture nominee, Dead Poets Society. The movie that all taught us a little Latin and reminded a generation of who that Whitman guy was. How has the film held up? And is it better subtitled 'See! Rich White Guys Have Problems, Too!' Plus, we figure out just what seizing the day is NOT (cough Knox cough) and Amy points out a smattering of plot inconsistencies that, Steve admits, don't bother him. Finally, just how would Robin Williams survive in this day of 'teaching to the test'? So stand on your desk! Give a yawp! Your captains are here, and listen in. Remember, we are food for worms. Will your verse not include hearing our discussion? Write in with your thoughts to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and follow us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week: spader, soderbergh & cannes

There's acting. There's good acting. And then there's Daniel Day Lewis, a man so talented he only needs one limb to wow you in his first of three Best Actor winning films, My Left Foot. A fine film elevated by a great performance...and we don't always mean Mr. Day Lewis, either, for Best Supporting Actress winner Brenda Fricker is every bit his equal. Plus, Amy brings her own personal history into this and we reflect on how it is impossible to remove one's experiences from watching a film. And Steve once again curses that we could've had 'Academy Award winner Tom Cruise' this year, but nooo...all that and the dickishness of artists, bad haircuts and she had how many kids?!?! and so much more. Thanks for listening. We hope you've enjoyed our little stopover in 1989. Almost done! Send us a line with your thoughts to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and find us on social media @oscarwatchpod

It's hot out there, so what better way to pass the time than with a look back at a snub so great we're still talking about it nearly thirty years later? Joining us for our discussion is special guest Steven van Patten. He helps us break down the music, the culture, the incredible cast, the heat, anything and everything - and yet we leave so much undiscussed! He even drops a theory that further clarifies the relationships between the characters. Plus, we ask: does anyone actually do the right thing? All this and more. As relevant now as it was then, if not moreso, failing to nominate Do The Right Thing remains one of the Academy's numerous wrong things over the years. And that's the double truth, Ruth. So, up you wake! Grab a slice, turn the AC on, dunk your head in a tub of ice and listen up! And as always, fight the power. Drop us a line with your thoughts to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and be sure to find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, grab that foot and paint!

The film world has been agog at the recently announced changes to the Academy Awards format. Hosts Amy and Steve break down the new rules, regulations, try to figure out why (hint: money & millennials) and generally try to keep their cool while not breaking their computers. Can we live in a world with a Best Picture and a Best Popular Picture? We'll soon find out; but it's not one either host is ready to be a part of.

We come to it at last: 1989, one of the greatest years in film. Seriously, look up all the movies that came out and tell me that's not a stacked deck? And yet... Driving Miss Daisy has been maligned since the very moment it won the Academy Award for Best Picture nearly thirty years ago. Is the world right to condemn this movie? Amy and Steve, your valiant hosts, aim to answer that very question. Join them through discussions of friendship, cinematic tropes, quite the conversation on race relations in America and a look inside the Academy's head at the time. Did they, in fact, do the...right thing? Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night. Send us your thoughts to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and follow us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, a 'Shoulda Been A Contenda' joint...

Our hosts look at the beautiful side of ugly, and the ugliness in the beautiful with a conversation about the 2013 Best Foreign Language film, The Great Beauty. Sure, we all wanted to be artists when we grew up, but would we all end up as insufferable as everyone in this movie? Amy and Steve are split on this one and one is very, very passionate about it! Join us for a trip through the majesty of Rome, the frustrations of age and the sheer absurdity of life...maybe together we can all find something a little beautiful, a little perfect. Now that would make a great book, wouldn't it? Thanks for listening! Send us your thoughts to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and follow us on social media. Next week, we begin 1989 in earnest. Glorious, glorious, passionate earnest...

Hoo boy, it is hot out! How better to spend a sweltering summer day than holed up inside a bank after a robbery goes spectacularly wrong? Amy and Steve discuss the classic 1975 crime caper, Dog Day Afternoon. But first, they have to get their love of Sydney Lumet out there in the open; few are better, or more unloved these days. We lament the passing of 1970s Al Pacino...but then remember that he's been killing it on HBO these past many years, so I guess it's okay that he hasn't been nominated in over 25 years? Forty years on, just how does the central motivation work in our "enlightened" times? All this, the heat, humidity, a look at America's love for the outlaw and goddamn New Yorkers, this week on the podcast. Thanks for listening! Write us, won't you? The address is oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com, and follow us on social media @oscarwatchpod

America! F--- Yeah! concludes this week. What can possibly be more American than unfettered, naked capitalism? So grab a seat - I hope you paid - because you're going to sell us a pen, it's Leo. It's Marty. It's The Wolf of Wall Street. But can you make a movie about such deplorable people and not start to sympathize with the characters? And how is it that a seventy year old man has more energy and life to his movies than all the 30 something mumblecore directors combined? Amy and Steve discuss the excess, the charm, the Thelma! and of course, Beni-fucking-Hana...and more! this week on the podcast. So grab hold of the American dream. Money makes you a better person...right? Write to us with your thoughts at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and be sure to follow us on social media. Next week, the dog days are over.