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We’ve got our ballots, we’ve seen the Best Picture nominees, and we’re ready to make our final Oscar predictions. The Favourite, Roma and A Star is Born are all in the running for the biggest awards, but the competition is tough this year. Will the front-runners take the prize, or will we have dark horse winners across the board? It’s going to be a fascinating Oscars, and when it’s all said and done, one of us will have a pretty good prize for our next season…

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Intro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.

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We’re here with a quick bonus episode to discuss the Oscar nominees for Best Original Song! We pretty much nailed it last year, but we had so much fun talking through the songs we’re bringing this back by popular request! The nominees this year are:

Macintosh & Maud have started a Patreon! Any little bit you can contribute helps, and we have special contributor-only content if you donate at the $2 level, including the final chapters of our Rocky-thon, Rocky Balboa and Creed!

You can email us with feedback at [email protected], or you can connect with us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Intro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.

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CW: Tragic death.

We’ve watched a lot of movies this Oscar series, but none have the charm, wit and sheer good vibes of Moonstruck. Between Cher’s Oscar-winning, understated, and grounded performance and Nicolas Cage’s wild, untamed portrayal of a man perpetually on the edge, this movie is that rarest of media that just makes you feel good when you watch it. John Patrick Shanley writes a masterful screenplay, and Norman Jewison directs the film with equal treatment of the written word and the camera’s eye. It’s a killer combination, and it’s no wonder this movie garnered so many Oscar nominations in 1987.

Macintosh & Maud have started a Patreon! Any little bit you can contribute helps, and we have special contributor-only content if you donate at the $2 level, including the final chapters of our Rocky-thon, Rocky Balboa and Creed!

You can email us with feedback at [email protected], or you can connect with us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Intro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.

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CW: Frank discussions of racial prejudice, microaggressions and interracial relationships, swearing.

Green Book was one of the absolute worst movies we’ve ever endured. And it’s still got an outside shot at multiple Academy Awards. So this week, we decided to watch a movie that’s endured as a cinema classic because of just how well it deals with issues of race and interracial relationships. The real stars of the film are obviously Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, who just sparkle in every scene they’re in. But even more so, the script for this film swings for the fences every single time and hits more than it misses. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner isn’t the greatest film of all time, but it’s certainly one of the most important films of all time, and after more than 50 years it’s still incredibly relevant today.

Macintosh & Maud have started a Patreon! Any little bit you can contribute helps, and we have special contributor-only content if you donate at the $2 level, including the final chapters of our Rocky-thon, Rocky Balboa and Creed!

You can email us with feedback at [email protected], or you can connect with us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Intro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.

CW: Discussions of death, cocaine & drug use, ghosts, cancer.

Yes, dear listeners, Macintosh has not seen a full Patrick Swayze movie other than Donnie Darko. Yes, it is a movie crime that he hasn’t taken the time to watch one of the most important romantic dramedies of the past 30 years. It’s time that changed. Ghost was the rare romantic comedy that managed to capture the Academy’s imagination and make a GIANT PILE OF MONEY at the box office. And with apologies to Jerry Zucker, who is not the right director for this film, this movie has a very solid script and some strong performances from its lead actors. It’s probably not Oscar-worthy by today’s standards, but Ghost is definitely a popcorn classic that everyone can enjoy.

Macintosh & Maud have started a Patreon! Any little bit you can contribute helps, and we have special contributor-only content if you donate at the $2 level, including the final chapters of our Rocky-thon, Rocky Balboa and Creed!

You can email us with feedback at [email protected], or you can connect with us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

If you like the podcast, make sure to subscribe and review on iTunes, Stitcher or your favorite podcatcher, and tell your friends.

Intro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.

The Academy has announced its nominations for this year’s awards, and we’re here to break down the list! We’ve got love for The Favourite, excitement for Roma, and a heaping load of anger about The Green Book even being shortlisted for these awards. We’re here to do what we do best - judge movies!

Macintosh & Maud have started a Patreon! Any little bit you can contribute helps, and we have special contributor-only content if you donate at the $2 level, including the final chapters of our Rocky-thon, Rocky Balboa and Creed!

You can email us with feedback at [email protected], or you can connect with us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

If you like the podcast, make sure to subscribe and review on iTunes, Stitcher or your favorite podcatcher, and tell your friends.

Intro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.

It’s kind of hard to remember, but 1993 was a really, really great year for thoughtful storytelling in film. Schindler’s List, Short Cuts, The Remains of the Day, Six Degrees of Separation, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and Philadelphia all came out that year, and all had gut-wrenching performances from established actors and rising stars. However, one film from New Zealand stood out from the crowd - it was female-led and female-directed. The Piano’s cast alone is enough to make it worth seeing, but it’s the directing choices of writer-director Jane Campion that transform a unique period piece into a transcendent romance told almost exclusively through the female gaze. You may come for the Oscar-winning performances, but by the end you won’t be able to deny that The Piano is a stunning work of art.

Then, after the break, we rightfully skewer the recent awards darling Green Book, which has notable performances from its leads, but is ultimately a film made by white baby boomers to make other white baby boomers feel OK that racism isn’t as bad as it used to be. Never mind the continued foot-in-mouth disease of the creators; this film is one of the most racist pieces of garbage to come out this year. Avoid it at all costs.

Macintosh & Maud have started a Patreon! Any little bit you can contribute helps, and we have special contributor-only content if you donate at the $2 level, including the final chapters of our Rocky-thon, Rocky Balboa and Creed!

You can email us with feedback at [email protected], or you can connect with us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

If you like the podcast, make sure to subscribe and review on iTunes, Stitcher or your favorite podcatcher, and tell your friends.

Intro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.

Dreamgirls, on paper, ought to be a home run movie. It’s a landmark musical with an almost entirely black cast, led prominently by three female characters. It was a runaway hit on Broadway and won 6 Tony Awards in 1982. Yet many who went to see this movie in 2006 were completely unaware of its past history. Enter Bill Condon, a fan of the original run of the musical who had been pushing for years to make this film? He got a dream cast with a mix of incredible singers and great actors. And then Bill Condon just completely botched the movie. This is one of those cases where the captain of the ship has literally no idea what the course is, and runs the whole thing aground. Which is doubly frustrating, because this film had such potential to be its own landmark production. Instead, it’s a hackneyed mess that sucks all of the life out of this fantastic story.

Macintosh & Maud have started a Patreon! Any little bit you can contribute helps, and we have special contributor-only content if you donate at the $2 level, including the final chapters of our Rocky-thon, Rocky Balboa and Creed!

You can email us with feedback at [email protected], or you can connect with us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

If you like the podcast, make sure to subscribe and review on iTunes, Stitcher or your favorite podcatcher, and tell your friends.

Intro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.

1996 was a crowded year in movies. The English Patient swept up tons of awards, Jerry Maguire somehow commanded critical and box office attention, and Fargo cemented the Coen brothers’ status as true master craftsmen. So it says something that a tiny little movie from Australia garnered a ton of Oscar nominations and a Best Actor Oscar for a man that only Aussie theatergoers knew about. Shine isn’t just any typical movie though - it’s packed with stellar performances from young and older actors, an incredibly powerful and joyful script, and a style that bucked the standard biopic tropes nearly a decade before they were really put in place. Everyone should see this movie, not only to hear David Helfgott’s amazing story, but also to just enjoy the creative, masterful work being put into the film. This week, we fall in love with Geoffrey Rush all over again when we watch 1996’s Shine!

Macintosh & Maud have started a Patreon! Any little bit you can contribute helps, and we have special contributor-only content if you donate at the $2 level, including the final chapters of our Rocky-thon, Rocky Balboa and Creed!

You can email us with feedback at [email protected], or you can connect with us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

If you like the podcast, make sure to subscribe and review on iTunes, Stitcher or your favorite podcatcher, and tell your friends.

Intro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.

It’s Oscar season once again, and this year we’re focusing on past movies with Oscar-winning performances. First up is a 2004 surprise box office bonanza that not only earned Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman Oscars but also won Best Picture. Not that 2004 was a particularly great year for movies, but many people were shocked by this movie winning, even Macintosh who didn’t see it until months later. For anyone who hadn’t seen the movie, it was tough to understand how a low-budget, depressing boxing movie whose last act is about euthanasia and dignity of life could somehow be this good. But for those who have, it’s a tragic and beautiful story with masterful dialogue and a perfect, light touch from Eastwood as director. It’s lightning in a bottle, plain and simple, and you owe it to yourself to see the movie if you’ve never had the chance. Enjoy our review of 2004’s Million Dollar Baby.

Macintosh & Maud have started a Patreon! Any little bit you can contribute helps, and we have special contributor-only content if you donate at the $2 level, including the final chapters of our Rocky-thon, Rocky Balboa and Creed!

You can email us with feedback at [email protected], or you can connect with us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

If you like the podcast, make sure to subscribe and review on iTunes, Stitcher or your favorite podcatcher, and tell your friends.

Intro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.