Heading into awards season, the big mystery is once again, Netflix, and how they’re gonna push their films for Oscars. We discuss 7 of their upcoming movies, all the buzz & everything we know about them, including chats about The Irishman, Meryl Streep’s next film & much more!

What is This Episode? - 1:26

Netflix’s Oscars History - 3:12

THE NETFLIX MOVIES:

The Untitled Noah Baumbach Project - 4:37

Dolemite is My Name - 8:47

The Last Thing He Wanted - 12:42

The King - 17:20

The Pope - 22:42

The Laundromat - 26:13

The Irishman - 30:52

Apple+ Promising Oscar Contenders - 38:40

Your Homework/Our Social Medias/TALK TO US! - 43:21

Coming Next From MMO/Words of Wisdom - 44:34

The format was simple. We discussed everything we know about the 7 films Netflix seems to be angling towards awards season. These films include the Untitled Noah Baumbach Project, Dolemite Is My Name, The Last Thing He Wanted, The King, The Pope, The Laundromat, and The Irishman. The casts & filmmakers involved are impressive & certainly, relevant to Oscar discussions, and the buzz is real. To finish, we also have a speculative chat about how Apple Plus is gonna factor into future awards seasons in the upcoming Streaming Wars, as our friend Ken Napzok put it.

For each film, we break down the cast & crew, discuss the filmmakers previous works & where they played into awards season’s past, and then we have fun discussing the plot / premises and all the buzz. The Untitled Noah Baumbach Project pits Scarlett Johansson against Adam Driver with Laura Dern getting serious buzz, and Dolemite is My Name has Ruth E. Carter costumes and comeback stories for Eddie Murphy, Wesley Snipes, and a host of comedians in the cast. Dee Rees is back with another possible contender with The Last Thing He Wanted, where Willem Dafoe tops certain Oscar projection lists. The King is Shakespeare by way of Game of Thrones with a stellar cast including Timothee Chalamet. City of God director, Fernando Mereilles has Anthony Hopkins & Jonathan Pryce playing TWO heads of the church in The Pope.

Then we have Meryl friggin’ Streep and Gary Oldman in Steven Soderberg’s The Laundromat. It’s about the Panama Papers, bringing the news to life, and we discuss how & when us Mikes consume current events, and why Meryl Streep chose to make this her streaming debut. In our final film synopsis, we break down everything we know about the production odyssey of Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, it’s old school cast, and their new school VFX.

Finally, we debate the high stakes of this awards season for Netflix because both Disney and Apple will be entering the streaming wards in a major way in the next year, and we cite an Indiewire article, projecting Apple’s Oscar aspirations. How does it undercut previous debates we’ve had about Steven Spielberg’s “love” for the cinematic experience? What are the possible Apple roll-outs for these films come Oscars 2021? We speculate and have a lot of fun doing it.

As always, we want to know what you think. Is Netflix gonna break through in the acting categories? Will some of our favorite thespians and filmmakers be thanking the streaming giant at the Oscars podium this year? Let us in on your thoughts. We’re at MMandOscar on Twitter, and we are on Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Gmail. You can subscribe / rate / review / like / share / & listen to us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Google Play, Tune In, Spotify, and just about wherever you listen to podcasts. When reality sucks, keep watching movies with us. We’re Mike, Mike, & Oscar!