Academy Vs Audience

While Erin and Claire are busy with the all-new theatrical experience of Riverona, travel back with us to 1944 and what Dan insists against all opposition is "one of the three most criminally underrated Best Pictures in history," the cask-stength comfort viewing of Going My Way. But first, for All 80s Summer, Erin has a speed-run review of George Miller's Mad Max saga, since we don't live in a just world and will not have a 2024 episode on Best Picture Furiosa and Box Office Champion The Fall Guy. That's on us as a society. Join us in reminiscing on Father Chuck O'Malley, whose unflinching love and support could rebuild the world.

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While Erin and Claire are bringing a fresh new work to what lucky audiences are able to catch it, we turn back the clock to one of our earliest episodes, in which Dan invited Erin, Claire, and you, the listener, to join him in his Yancey Cravat Madness. Followed by some love for Charlie Chaplin! And since this is All 80s Summer, some quickie 80s movie reviews from the one co-host not getting a play onto a stage right now. Join us in the Wayback Machine!

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It's 1982, and the rift between Academy and Audience grows ever farther. The (many) Oscars go to Richard Attenborough's lengthy biopic Gandhi, bringing you the greatest hits of Mohandas-then-Mahatma Gandhi, managing to fill over three hours of runtime with few insights beyond "Gandhi: Nifty." Meanwhile Steven Spielberg re-conquered Hollywood with the simple tale of a boy and his stranded alien exo-botanist in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. Whose death earned what reaction from Erin, Claire, and Dan? What makes this the year that Art and Commerce broke up? When you're ready to listen... we'll be right here.

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It’s 1981, and one of the most iconic adventure movies ever takes on a movie with one iconic piece of music that they use a little. The Academy goes with Chariots of Fire, about the 1924 UK Olympic track and field team and the obstacles both great and very small they faced, while the audience flocks to see Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ latest offering, a rogueish archaeologist named Indiana Jones. Will Claire, Erin, and Dan be able to keep the Chariots cast separate? What’s the one great flaw of Raiders of the Lost Ark? And what was actually the Best Picture of 1981? All this and more for your listening pleasure.

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Welcome to Academy Vs Audiences All 80s Summer! The hits get bigger and the Oscar winners get smaller, and nothing spells that out quite like 1980. The Oscars go with Ordinary People, Robert Redford's film about a family in turmoil after a tragedy, and the different ways we successfully or unsuccessfully process grief. The audience, however, just really wanted to see more of Luke, Han, and Leia, then got to shock of their 1980 lives about Darth Vader when the Empire Struck Back. Is Ordinary People's quality filmmaking enough for repeat viewings? Do Erin, Claire, and Dan have more notes about this Star War than the last one? Listen in!

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It's 1979, nearing the end of the era of serious dramas for adults ruling the box office, and Dustin Hoffman's divorce and custody drama becomes one of our more unlikely joint champions. Erin, Claire, and Dan dig into Ted Kramer's attempts to juggle two lives: raising his son alone after his wife Joanna disappears into the night, and a career that doesn't care for him having other priorities. Will Ted and Billy find a new rhythm? What happens when Joanna comes back? How obvious is it that this was written by a man? Is the real villain, once again, capitalism? Join us to find out.

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It's 1978 and the tonal gulf between Oscar winner and people's champ has, if anything, widened, as has the gap in host reactions. The Academy goes for Michael Cimino's home-from-Vietnam story The Deer Hunter, which has some stellar performances but also very strange and off-putting pacing, and an iconic, definitive scene that maybe does more harm than good. Meanwhile, audiences flocked to see John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in the 50s nostalgia musical Grease, filled with songs and bad life choices, and which maybe gets more criticism for its ending than it warrants. Erin, Claire, and returning guest Kevin are here for it all, Dan... has a different take, and an explanation as to how Deer Hunter contributed to the Birth of Oscar Season and the Death of New Hollywood. Who's right? Listen and decide!

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In 1977, a long time ago, you might say Academy and Audience's tastes were far, far away. Claire, Erin, Dan, and returning guest Munsi Parker-Munroe strap in to take on one Woody Allen in his seminal hit, Annie Hall, asking how well it's aged and how challenging it is to deal with the Woody Allen of it all. That accomplished, it's time for our first dip into the Skywalker Saga, as George Lucas changes the film landscape forever with the pure-strain monomyth action of Star Wars. Is Annie Hall worth engaging with a problematic creator? How much did Lucas get right out of the gate? Find out with us!

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The Oscars have happened, Award Season is done for now, and we take a look at the ten candidates for Best Picture of 2023, with returning guest Oscar enthusiast, and greatest living fan of Zardoz, Olav Rokne. Dan and Olav saw all ten, as is their wont, Erin's seen six, and Claire's here for the vibes as we speed through reviews of nine great movies and also Maestro. What were their strengths? Their failings? Should modern audiences regrow and attention span or is three and a half hours too long to feel horrified? We discuss, you listen, good times are had.

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It's 1976, and audiences and the Academy are united in loving one man: Rocky Balboa. A nine film franchise spanning six decades has a small and simple beginning as a struggling young Sylvester Stallone writes himself into stardom as a simple palooka trying to prove to the world and himself that he can go the distance with heavyweight champ Apollo Creed. Erin, Claire, and Dan dig into Rocky's journey from nothing to stardom, where the Rockys went from here and what it tells us, which scene has NOT aged well, and the birth of the training montage (and what all other montages got wrong). Put all that together? Baby, you got a stew going (RIP Carl Weathers)! Listen in!

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