OscarWatch Podcast

Don your best zoot suits. Glue on that toupee and fire up the science oven, it's our lookback at that ode to 70s excess, American Hustle. The latest entry in the Amy T. Top 100, the film has been a long time coming on this podcast. But how will our hosts respond to each other's opinions? The answer may shock you! We delve into the razzle dazzle of the film - is it too much? Is it only that? The acting - does improv really work when in a film like this? And just what constitutes an "original" movie, as argued by our hosts. This is week three of our four week series 'America! F-- Yeah!' Plus, what he hell does "from the feet up" mean anyways? So bust out the disco soundtrack, we're in for a hustle. Write in with your opinions to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and be sure to follow us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week: what could possibly be more American than wanting MORE, MORE, MORE?

Happy Fourth of July! We continue our 'America! F---, Yeah!' series with a look back at the most American president ever, Steven Spielberg's 2012 Best Picture nominee, Lincoln. Let's pour a toast out to all of those poor bastards who were nominated for Best Actor alongside Daniel Day Lewis, though as we will quickly realize, our hosts are far from in sync about this movie and DDL's performance. Can the first three minutes of a movie really force someone to walk out? Yes, yes they can. Plus, remember when the film came out when all was hopeful? Yeah, neither do we and now this movie is just depressing. Things have changed in politics...but have they really? That and so much more this week on the podcast. So, in the immortal words of Honest Abe himself: "Party on, dudes!" and be sure to tell us your thoughts at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week on our series, America ain't nothing but a con job and therefore, we Hustling this one.

Our two very white hosts discuss a topic that they are absolutely experts in, Steve McQueen's 2013 Best Picture winning film, 12 Years A Slave. The latest entry in our VERY IMPORTANT FILM series. As unflinching and uncomfortable an experience as one may have at the theater, the movie is absolutely designed to make you squirm. Not for its brutality, but for the insidiousness of its story and the mirror it holds up to our world some 170 years later. The more things change, and all that. But is it enough to just show it? And why can't Solomon be half as interesting as literally everyone else around him? Can a good man like Cumberbatch really be a good man in this system? And Patsy. Your worst days are Patsy's best dreams. All that and of course, Brad Pitt, this week on the podcast as we kick off our 'America! F--- Yeah!' series looking back at those films that highlight our true American values. Thanks for listening. Be sure to write us, you don't need to make your own ink out of berries, just send us an email at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and find us on social media @oscarwatchpod; we'll come for you, I swear. Next week, speaking of white saviors...

Pull up a seat and get ready for a whole lot of not kissing! Amy and Steve go back to the days before Netflix, when the movies were too big for any one screen to fill, to celebrate the 1989 Best Foreign Language Film, Cinema Paradiso. A love story for the ages...not between man and woman, but between man and the movies. Does its quaint, rosy colored Odyssey hold up some thirty years later? Have we finally found an adorable Italian kid that Amy DOESN'T want to take home? And do we need resolutions or 50 extra minutes when the original says so much already? Plus, Steve gets to wax poetic about his second greatest job: projectionist! All that, a beautiful Morricone score and much more. The square is ours. Won't you join us for one more trip to the movies? Thanks for listening. Drop us a line at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and follow us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, we begin a four week stint into the heart of our culture in what we're calling 'America: F-- Yeah!' First up, that most American of pastimes...slavery!

HAPPY 100 EPISODES! To celebrate this illustrious milestone, we are throwing ourselves an Incredi-ball and there's only one film to do that with: 2004's Best Animated Feature winner, The Incredibles. Just in time for the long overdue sequel, Amy and Steve take a look back and see just how incredible this film is...or has a decade of superhero glut ruined the magic for us? We also get to trash talk those most vile of vile villains: Objectivists! And the Libertarians who are ruining everything. Finally, isn't this all really Mr. Incredible's fault? And aren't we over this yet? All this and more, including how awesome Holly Hunter is on this, our very special centennial episode! Thank you for being a part of the last 100 and we hope you'll stick around for the next 100...and beyond! Write us an email at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, we return to Italy for another tale of tiny adorable kids, love and the magic of movies...

We feel the bitter cold on this, our third journey with David Lean as he takes us to the Russian Revolution with his sumptuous adaptation of Doctor Zhivago. Amy and Steve ponder why the titular actor is not, in fact, the first billed, try to dissect Russian history is about two minutes - to varying degrees of success - and come to the conclusion that the most interesting characters are the two that the film does not pay enough attention to. And how addicting is that score from Maurice Jarre? All that, and just how hard it is to be Omar Sharif caught between two of the most gorgeous women ever. The worst, amirite? Did Doctor Zhivago deserve to win over The Sound of Music? Tune in and find out. Then write us with your thoughts to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and talk to us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week: Episode 100 is going to be INCREDIBLE!

Terrence Malick's sumptuous meditation on combat asks many questions, and Amy and Steve are here to answer them as best we can with this look at (yet another) 1998 Best Picture nominee, The Thin Red Line. Our hosts bunker down and attack the hill of storytelling and what moments matter and are required in your film. What is the strength in asking a question - especially one you never intend to answer? Or, does Malick actually answer it and perhaps we are too thick to see it? Maybe. More likely, we're getting blinded by how beautiful James Caviezel is in this film. Seriously, call us! Finally, who the hell wasn't in this movie?! Of course, we ask: is this the World War II film that deserves the recognition that year? All that and more, this week on the podcast. If you don't write us, let us feel the lack. We hope you do, though. Write us at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, we reconsider David Lean...again!

Just in time for summer, Amy and Steve grab the biggest boat we can find and set sail for shark infested waters with a look back at Steven Spielberg's gamechanging film, Jaws (1975. The old adage 'less is more' has never been truer than with the iconic shark, who is still terrifying swimmers 40 years later. More than a sharkfest, the film works because of its three main characters; because who doesn't love Quint (or his introduction?). And no conversation about the movie is ever complete without a long discussion of John Williams' iconic score. All that and a bucket of chum, this week on the podcast. Thanks for listening! Do you think Jaws deserves its place in history, or like Bruce the Shark, does it fall apart under scrutiny? Drop us a line at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week...this great evil. Where does it come from? How'd it steal into the world?

Join hosts Amy & Steve, along with special guest Brian Hartz, as they celebrate the 50th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick's ultimate trip, 2001: A Space Odyssey. A film so influential in cinema that, of course, it was nominated for Best Picture...right? Wrong! So, in honor of this momentous occasion, we introduce a new category of film: Shoulda Been A Contenda, those films that for whatever reason were not nominated for the big one. Kubrick is renowned for never winning an Oscar...for director. He did walk away with his only statue for overseeing the effects work here; effects that still hold up to this day. We discuss what Steve calls "the sin of tools" and question whether violence and civilization go hand in hand; just what why did HAL go crazy and kill everybody, and Amy gives the greatest summation of the plot in history. All this, and more! Like the legendary music, that brilliant flash-forward and those monkeys... Write us an email with your thoughts to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and be sure to find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, we're gonna need a bigger boat...

Special guest Shahir Daud of The Only Podcast About Movies joins in for a discussion at what the great critic Pauline Kael said was "the greatest movie of all time", Vittorio de Sica's Bicycle Thieves. Or is it The Bicycle Thief? By whatever name you call it, the influential Italian neorealist film provokes a deep discussion on "poverty tourism", the differences between America and Italy in the post-war environment, how time and tide affect how we view films, the failures of institutions and the morality of stealing... and just how adorable that kid is. Seriously, he's got that face! Be sure to find Shahir on his own podcast, and thanks for listening. Write us in with your thoughts to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and follow us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, we introduce a new episode category and sing Daisy...

The duo hitches up the wagon and heads west for greener pastures with a look back at the 1931 Best Picture winner, Cimarron. A movie very much of its time, the film straddles the line between progress and "the way things were" both in terms of story, and in how famed silent actor Richard Dix handles a speaking role. Hint: there is no line that cannot be belted out of the park for a homerun. But how have the values of Cimarron and its supporting characters fared in the last 80 years? Do listen in. Another hint: if you were mad at Three Billboards, have I got a movie for you! Thanks for listening. Write us in with your thoughts to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and be sure to follow us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, we're gonna steal some bikes.

In honor of the passing of legendary director Milos Forman, Amy and Steve are looking back at one of his most iconic films, the 1975 Best Picture winner, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Starring the one and only Jack Nicholson, the hosts debate if Jack ever actually acts; whether Louise Fletcher deserved that Best Lead Actress Oscar she so famously won; the positive side of ECT and how books and movies can be very different things. Plus, what is the deal with Chief, anyway? So grab your Juicy Fruit and be sure to demand your cigarettes. Thanks for listening in. Write us with your thoughts to oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and be sure to find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week: the hell kind of name is Yancey, anyways?

We finish our stay in 2010 with our last ReConsideration, Darren Aronofsky's descent into madness: Black Swan, wherein Natalie Portman slowly goes insane trying to be perfect. What does Aronofsky think of art and artists? We think something rather untenable, but who better to look at obsession than the most obsessive director currently working? Of course, we talk Portman - she won Best Actress. Kunis, Cassel and another in our long list of difficult mothers, Barbara Hershey. The dancing is superb, the effects sublime and subtle and the horrors very, very intimate. And you thought the ballet was boring. Thanks for listening. Drop us a line at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and be sure to find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, we pay tribute to the late Milos Forman with a look back at Cuckoo's Nest.

We continue our descent into 2010 with a look at David Fincher's The Social Network, a movie that makes us go 'Oh yeah, all this stuff involving Zuckerberg totally makes sense!' Though a Fincher film, Amy and Steve talk at length about the film's writer, the legendary Aaron Sorkin and the good - and bad - that often comes with him. Is it so hard to write women, dammit?! Plus, Steve confesses that simple A to B storytelling is boring and that more films should play with time like this. And while the film is about our age, the themes of friendship and betrayal, of pride and jealousy have been around since stories first began. Did it deserve Best Picture? Well, you'll have to stick around and listen. Thanks for tuning in. Write us with your thoughts at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, our final stop in the 2010 train sees us soaring high in the sky, like a swan.

This week, we look at the harsh morality tale, In A Better World which went home with the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film over some considerable competition. Parents beware, there are children in danger in this one. A prescient film about the nature of violence in society in general and young men in particular, Amy and Steve discuss whole and half measures, and the pulling of punches. Can you have a film like this end on the note it does? Plus, why do non-Hollywood actors look so real? Thanks for listening. Drop us a line with your thoughts at oscarwatchpodcast@gmail.com and find us on social media @oscarwatchpod Next week, for your reconsideration...another surprisingly prescient and relevant film, The Social Network.