Contending at the Water Cooler

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.

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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.

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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.

The 2026 Telluride Film Festival is right around the corner, meaning we’re gearing up for another awards season.

This year looks like a doozy, with past Oscar winners like Julianne Moore in the mix, newbies like Jordan Firstman campaigning their first awards season, and actresses like Sandra Huller with not one, not two, but four films in contention this year (eat your heart out, Hathaway!).

With the TIFF schedule out and Venice lineup announced, we thought it would be a good idea to take a stab at figuring out the Telluride schedule — although one can never predict when a Frankenstein will show up for a last-minute screening. The great Rebecca Hall will be a guest director, curating her own selection of films (one of her own might even be on the schedule at this fest—she’s in Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love).

In this new Contending at the Water Cooler Podcast, Megan and Joey are joined by Mark Johnson to talk about what to expect out of the film lineup, including what celebrities will be traipsing around Main Street. (Will Joey lose his mind if he sees Penelope Cruz? Probably.)

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

Click here to listen to our audio podcast. Our video podcast follows below!

A Long Winter

Artificial

All of a Sudden

The 2026 Telluride Film Festival takes place September 4-7. 

The post Podcast: What to Expect at the 2026 Telluride Film Festival appeared first on The Contending.

The 2026 Emmy voting window is finally here. So, with the Television Academy weighing in on their favorite television series, Joey, Megan, and Clarence offer their Emmy wish list recommendations. What do we think that the Television Academy should most definitely consider? What personal favorites do we advocate? Find out on this week’s podcast!

But first, Clarence unveils the 2026 Cooler Awards nominations! Find out what surprises the readers and staff of The Contending have in store for the best in 2026 Emmy season television. Nominations will post on the site Tuesday night, so you’ll get a first-hand look at the noms via our podcast! Starting Wednesday, August 19, check back at The Contending to vote on the 2026 Cooler Awards winners!

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 or subscriptions, and positive ratings on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Click here to listen to our audio podcast. Our video podcast follows below!

The post Our Emmys Wish List and the 2026 Cooler Awards Noms! [VIDEO] appeared first on The Contending.

This week, Joey, Megan, and Clarence take a break from the 2026 Emmys to look at three new series. Ryan Murphy returns to directing in the pilot of FX’s The Shards. Based on the novel and co-written by Bret Easton Ellis, The Shards stars Igby Rigney as a fictionalized version of Ellis growing up in the posh world of early 1980s Los Angeles. Being a Ryan Murphy project, social norms emerge as frightening as the serial killer targeting Ellis’ prep school friends. Then, Megan has already raved about Furious, so Joey and Clarence weigh in with their takes on Liz Meriwether’s serial killer limited series loosely based on the 1987 film Black Widow.

Finally, in a 180-degree shift, Ted Lasso returns with a fourth season that’s both sequel and reboot. Does the new season merit a return of Jason Sudeikis’s underdog soccer coach? Or is this beating a dead horse?

Plus, along the way, we wonder if we’ll be talking about any of these series a year from now at the 2027 Emmy Awards.

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 or subscriptions, and positive ratings on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Click here to listen to our audio podcast. Our video podcast follows below!

The post New TV Reviews: Do ‘The Shards,’ ‘Furious,’ and ‘Ted Lasso’ Offer Emmy 2027 Hope? appeared first on The Contending.

Notably, the Outstanding TV Movie category is completely unpredictable, with past winners including Rebel Ridge, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, and Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers. There is no one type of TV movie.

In terms of the 2026 Outstanding TV Movie category, this year we have a buddy comedy with John Cena and Idris Elba (with Priyanka Chopra as the third wheel), a rom-com that steals from When Harry Met Sally, the latest Jack Ryan film entry, a film that explores the beautiful relationship between a sentient octopus and a cleaning lady, and a dramaedy that explores the not-so beautiful relationship between a grieving woman and her son’s assistant.

Remarkably Beautiful Creatures is the clear frontrunner, but special guest Joshua Axelrod thinks there’s a better movie in the bunch.

Watch or listen below, where we recap each film, list what we like and didn’t like, and then rank the films in terms of likelihood to win.

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

Click here to listen to our audio podcast. Our video podcast follows below!

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