Academy Vs Audience

Two years after the lowest rated Oscars ever, two different Box Office Champions and one sleeper hit vied for the throne! Everything Everywhere All At Once took the title, showing what a multiverse movie can be right as people were getting tired of them, and bringing Ke Huy Quan back to Hollywood prominence. But two long-awaited sequels battled to be The Film That Saved The Movies (Again), as Tom Cruise returned to the skies of Top Gun while James Cameron brought us to seas of Pandora. But which reigns in our hearts? Kevin Weir is back to talk all things Maverick, Avatar, and Jobu Topaki. Listen in!

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While we sort some technical difficulties and get schedules aligned for our final episodes, please enjoy this look back at the end of All 80s Summer/Fall, as Munsi Parker-Munroe joined Erin, Claire, and Dan for Batmen, Last Crusades, and of course, the dawn of the Learning Not to Be Racist Via Chauffeuring Cinematic Universe. The narrative importance of Scudda Hoo Scudda Hey, whether our Oscar winner had the best Dan Aykroyd performance if 1989, Dan's definitive rank order of Indiana Jones adventures, and more! Tune in and turn back the clock with us.

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It's singing and spiders and Hollywood began to emerge from lockdown! A fierce awards race between two lauded competitors resulted in an unexpected result as CODA took the trophy. Is a simple tale of a Child Of Deaf Parents who dreams of a life in music enough to be the Best Picture? Erin, Claire, and Dan get into it. But there was no debate on who deserved to be the Box Office Champ, as a triple-team-up of Spider-Men became the first movie to Save Theatres, breaking the COVID doldrums and packing theatres like nothing else had in ages. All this plus Dan spots a trend in the Oscar nominees our hosts find unsettling. Tune in!

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In the year of 2020, a global heath crisis shut down the film industry, and the Academy chose to meet the moment by extending deadlines and loosening rules on theatrical release in order to find eight joyless festival darlings to nominate for Best Picture. Nomadland, Chloe Zhao and Frances McDormand's examination of those who respond to trauma and tragedy by roaming the roads, took the top prize. Ruling the box office, however, was even easier: you just needed to be released either before March, or in Asia. And thus do Erin, Claire, Dan, and returning guest Munsi Parker-Munroe examine the return of Michael Bay's Bad Boys, and try to unpack Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train, a feature release from an anime none of our team has seen. Plus Dan and Munsi ponder a more entertaining world, where the Academy only nominated movies that managed theatrical release, asking who would triumph: Sonic the Hedgehog, Harley Quinn, Bill and Ted, or Jaja Ding Dong? Listen and learn!

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As we begin to enter the decade of Way of Water and Fire and Ash, we look back to 2009, when Kevin Weir joined Erin, Claire, and Dan to unpack James Cameron's Avatar, and how it lost the Oscar to his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow's war drama The Hurt Locker. The wonders of Pandora and wondering if this time Erin will recognize Guy Pearce await! 

Find all of our episodes and the rest of Writing Therapy Productions' various entertainments at www.writingtherapyproductions.com

While the stars align to kick off the 2020s, Dan takes a look at what 2026 has had to offer so far: the best of what he's seen up until mid July, the penultimate month before Oscar season starts to take shape, including big hits and the criminally (he says) underrated and also Grogu is here. But to balance that out, Olav Rokne of the Hugo Book Club blob tags in to sum up what may be the worst the year has had to offer. How bad can it get? And what beloved (by Dan) movies did you miss that you should find on streaming? All that and more as we review slightly more than half of 2026!

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Is 2019 the apex year for Oscars and audience? Some say the Oscars made one of their best choices ever as embarrassment over Green Book caused voters to look overseas to South Korea, and Bong Joon Ho's class-warfare comedy-thriller Parasite, as a poor family worms their way into a wealthy family's life, only to find they were novices on an expert's turf. Audiences, however, were never going to choose anything but the big conclusion to 11 years of Marvel movies. Avengers: Endgame narrowed the focus from every character possible to the core six Avengers (and four friends) as they conduct a Time Heist to undo Thanos' victory, briefly claiming the all-time box-office record. Is Parasite the greatest Oscar winner? Is Endgame the best of the MCU? Claire, Erin, and Dan are here to find out.

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The dogs were good in cinema, here are Claire's top 10.

We've talked about the best in Best Pictures, the champions of Box Office Champions, but have missed a key factor: the best in cinematic dogs. Claire is here to correct that, bringing us the goodest boys (and one girl) from the happy dog stories, the sad dog stories, the adventures and the bonds with their humans. Which dogs reign supreme? Find out!

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It's 2018, and Marvel is lurching towards the climax of ten years of interconnected movies, while the Academy manages to trip over itself. The Oscar went to Green Book, now considered one of the century's biggest blown calls, but is it a bad movie, or just a bad pick for Best Picture? Claire, Erin, and Dan discuss, before moving on to the Marvel movies that ruled the box office. Black Panther brought audiences to the kingdom of Wakanda, while Infinity War finally bring Thanos to the forefront. But which works better? Who's got the hotter lead? Listen in and see if you agree.

Find all of our episodes and the rest of Writing Therapy Productions' various entertainments at www.writingtherapyproductions.com

It's 2017, and it's time for space wizards and award-winning amphibian erotica! Guillermo Del Toro made a Creature From the Black Lagoon slashfic so beautifully realized it ends up winning Best Picture. Marginalized people in the 60s stand up to the US patriarchy to save a possible fish god, a fish god one mute outsider finds extra compelling. Then it's box office time, which means it's time for the most relaxing thing you can do on the internet... talk about The Last Jedi. Kevin Weir returns to help dissect what works about Rian Johnson's attempt to expand the idea of Star Wars, along with some issues, Erin finally gets her casino planet, Dan reassesses Rise of Skywalker, Claire loves a Porg, and Dan and Kevin share some probably entirely rational rank ordering of Star Wars. Which sci-fi fantasy epic was best? Find out!

Find all of our episodes and the rest of Writing Therapy Productions' various entertainments at www.writingtherapyproductions.com