Contending at the Water Cooler

Peter Farrelly’s I Play Rocky sailed through a handful of high profile film festivals on some early good favor. The film tells the story of Sylvester Stallone’s legendary journey writing and, famously, starring in Rocky. Dubbing it a massive crowd pleaser, many Oscar watchers pegged it as a potential Best Picture candidate in addition to praising star Anthony Ippolito’s performance. But will goodwill at film festivals really equal goodwill with the Academy? Joey, Megan, and Clarence weigh in with their I Play Rocky review. Plus, they consider whether or not it could truly find its way into the Best Picture race.

But first, Megan shares her experiences at the recent SCAD Savannah Film Festival.

We’re deeply appreciative for your shares, likes, and positive ratings on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Click here to listen or watch below!

Spread the Word!

The post ‘I Play Rocky’ Review: Will There Be a ‘Rocky’ Road To the Oscars? appeared first on The Contending.

Have you caught up with A24’s game-changing documentary You Can See Everything? The Nathan Fielder/Lance Oppenheim exploration of truth and truth-telling is the epitome of a water cooler moment, and it’s the film that everyone is talking about. Megan is a Fielder devotee, but Joey is a little less familiar with his work–does that matter when it comes to enjoying the Elizabeth Holmes-centered film?

Is Film Twitter’s enthusiasm as aligned with what we think the Academy will vote for? Is [REDACTED] really in for Supporting Actress? Our resident Doc Queen gives her recommendations on other nonfiction films to check out.

We’re deeply appreciative for your shares, likes, and positive ratings on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Click here to listen or watch below!

Spread the Word!

The post Oscars 2027: You Can Hear Everything We Think About ‘You Can See Everything’ [VIDEO] appeared first on The Contending.

Joey, Clarence, and Mark gather in the luxurious Salamander Resort room of Variety’s Clayton Davis to record a podcast quickie about the first few days of the 2026 Middleburg Film Festival. On the podcast, we discuss our and audience reactions to The Debut, Club Kid, La Bola Negra, and Ray Gunn. Plus, what is the most anticipated film of this year’s festival? Check it all out on our mid-festival podcast.

We’re deeply appreciative for your shares, likes, and positive ratings on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Click here to listen!

The post 2026 Middleburg Film Festival: Recapping Our First Few Days appeared first on The Contending.

It’s truly two wildly different conversations on this week’s Contending at the Water Cooler podcast. First up, Joey and Megan have endured Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning. So, the results aren’t good despite game performances from the cast. Where does the film go wrong? Is it entirely Sorkin’s fault? Does he need to be placed in movie jail? Then, following last week’s Digger conversation, Tom Cruise (and to an extent the film itself) have passionate defenders in the 2027 Oscar race. Can Cruise crack the Best Actor five? We talk frontrunners, Cruise’s position, and potential dark horse candidates.

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

We’re deeply appreciative for your shares, likes, and positive ratings on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Click here to listen, and our video podcast follows below!

The post Oscars 2027: A ‘Reckoning’ Over Cruise and the Best Actor Five appeared first on The Contending.

Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Tom Cruise teamed up to deliver the most polarizing film of the year, Digger. Is it a climate change satire? Is it a satire of climate change satires? Twitter / X will tell you with thousands of hot takes, but here, Joey and Megan offer (SHOCK) thoughtful takes on their opposing reactions to Iñárritu’s film. They consider what works, what doesn’t, and whether or not the film has stayed with them since seeing it. Plus, does it still have a place in the 2027 Oscar race? We cover this and more on our Digger review podcast!

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

We’re deeply appreciative for your shares, likes, and positive ratings on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Click here to listen, and our video podcast follows below!

The post ‘Digger’ Review: Cruising Into Climate Disaster? [VIDEO] appeared first on The Contending.

Yes, we do see how this looks–and we think it’s good!

With Lance Oppenheim’s Primetime lighting up the box office for A24 this weekend, it was obvious that Megan and Joey were eager to dive into their thoughts of the film. How did the film live up to expectations? Is there room in the Best Actor for Robert Pattinson’s driven performance as Chris Hansen? Could it be possible that Merritt Wever or Skyler Gisondo could ride Pattinson’s coattails? Or is the film too dark for some voters?

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

We’re deeply appreciative for your shares, likes, and positive ratings on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Click here to listen, and our video podcast follows below!

The post ‘Primetime’ Review Podcast: You See How This Looks, Right? appeared first on The Contending.

The recent Telluride, Venice, and Toronto film festivals gave us our deepest view yet into the 2027 Oscar race. Many contenders emerged and faced shifting winds as they screened for varied audiences. Joey, Megan, and Frank attended the major three early festivals and share their informed view of the 2027 Oscar race on this week’s podcast. Which films surprised or disappointed them? What can we expect now that La Bola Negra received the often predictive TIFF People’s Choice Award? Can anything stop The Odyssey‘s march to the podium?

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

We’re deeply appreciative for your shares, likes, and positive ratings on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Click here to listen, and our video podcast follows below!

The post Oscars 2027: First Fests Wrap-Up, Updates on 2027 Oscar Race appeared first on The Contending.

And with that, another Emmy season comes to a close.

Last night, Apple broke last year’s The Studio record for wins with Widow’s Bay completely steamrolling over Hacks in all the acting categories (except for Jean Smart, of course). Many predicted The Pitt to dominate, but it only went home with two in the major categories, for Drama Actor and Drama Series. Finally, it was a good night for DTF St. Louis, which took home Outstanding Limited Series, except most of the other wins it took home weren’t televised (we would have dropped some of those music numbers to see Linda Cardellini and David Harbour receive their trophies).

Team Contending got together to review the 2026 Primetime Emmy Awards hosted by Mariska Hargitay and discussed how the newbie host did overall (she at least gets an A for effort), why some of us were left unfulfilled by the Dolly Parton dedication, whether The Pitt needs to rethink their actor and episode submissions, and why Love Story fell out of love with voters.

Plus, we open our 2025 Emmy Time Capsule to find out whether last year’s predictions came true and make predictions for next year (hint: Furious might be on some of our wish lists).

We’re deeply appreciative for your shares, likes, and positive ratings on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Click here to listen or watch our video podcast below!

The post 2026 Emmys Review Podcast: The Good (Rhea!), the Bad (No Hacks?), and the Ugly (Those Songs) appeared first on The Contending.

Joey and Megan are taking a much deserved rest after their brilliant Telluride experience. This week, Clarence and Jalal leverage the recent 2026 Creative Arts Emmy Awards to see if their initial thoughts on the Primetime Emmys have changed. Can Pluribus upset The Pitt? Is Beef still a contender, or did DTF St. Louis sew it up? And can Widow’s Bay break into Hacks‘ final season Emmy run after dominating the Creative Arts ceremony?

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

We’re deeply appreciative for your shares, likes, and positive ratings on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Click here to listen, and our video podcast follows below!

The post Emmys 2026: Final Thoughts Ahead of Next Week’s Primetime Emmys appeared first on The Contending.

For long time listeners of our podcast, this is the one where we really earn the Explicit rating (thanks largely to Joey). It’s the 10th edition of our Fantasy Oscar Pool! Before Megan and Joey head to the mountains of Telluride, Colorado, we make our first round draft picks for the Fantasy Oscar race. Then, we’ll follow our selected performances and films throughout the 2027 Oscar season. We regroup for our second round drops and swaps shortly before the critics groups weigh in after Thanksgiving. We’ll be tabulating results on the website across the season.

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

We’re deeply appreciative for your shares, likes, and positive ratings on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Click here to listen, and our video podcast follows below!

The post Oscars 2027: It’s Time For 10th Annual Fantasy Oscar Pool! [VIDEO] appeared first on The Contending.