OscarWatch Podcast

We pay tribute to the one and only Burt Reynolds with a look back at his one and only Oscar nomination: PTA's landmark Boogie Nights, a movie so good it obviously wasn't nominated for Best Picture. Joining our intrepid duo this week once again is Shahir Daud of The Only Podcast About Movies, who brings his professorial swagger and learns us a thing or two. We talk Reynolds, the porn industry, the bonds of family and of course, THAT soundtrack. Can we talk for five minutes about a single shot? You bet we can! All that and more on this DD sized episode of Oscarwatch.

Thanks for listening. Write us in with your thoughts to [email protected] and find us on social media @oscarwatchpod. In December, we are beginning a listener request Gift month! Listen to the podcast for details and write in the films you want us to review. Our gift to you.

Next week, our regularly scheduled program: Five Easy Pieces

To honor the passing of Broadway giant and screenwriter Neil Simon, who died recently at the age of 91, our hosts fall in love with his 1977 romcom, The Goodbye Girl. What more do you need than a script as punchy and witty as this? At long last, a worthy comedy deserving of Best Picture...that happened to be released when one of cinema's greatest comedies also happened to come out! Oh, the injustice! Plus, is Richard Dreyfuss really only 30 in this? Steve admits his ignorance towards Marsha Mason, though says that the kid is one of the few precocious children he can actually stand. And of course, love. How it swoons, how it laughs, how it's messy and how this is one of the most relatable romantic comedies ever made.

Listen in! If you don't, I have a lawyer acquaintance downtown...and be sure to write us in with your thoughts to [email protected] and follow us on social media @oscarwatchpod

RIP Neil Simon

We seize the day with another inspiring, rousing podcast about the 1989 Best Picture nominee, Dead Poets Society. The movie that all taught us a little Latin and reminded a generation of who that Whitman guy was. How has the film held up? And is it better subtitled 'See! Rich White Guys Have Problems, Too!' Plus, we figure out just what seizing the day is NOT (cough Knox cough) and Amy points out a smattering of plot inconsistencies that, Steve admits, don't bother him. Finally, just how would Robin Williams survive in this day of 'teaching to the test'?

So stand on your desk! Give a yawp! Your captains are here, and listen in. Remember, we are food for worms. Will your verse not include hearing our discussion?

Write in with your thoughts to [email protected] and follow us on social media @oscarwatchpod

Next week: spader, soderbergh & cannes

There's acting. There's good acting. And then there's Daniel Day Lewis, a man so talented he only needs one limb to wow you in his first of three Best Actor winning films, My Left Foot. A fine film elevated by a great performance...and we don't always mean Mr. Day Lewis, either, for Best Supporting Actress winner Brenda Fricker is every bit his equal. Plus, Amy brings her own personal history into this and we reflect on how it is impossible to remove one's experiences from watching a film. And Steve once again curses that we could've had 'Academy Award winner Tom Cruise' this year, but nooo...all that and the dickishness of artists, bad haircuts and she had how many kids?!?! and so much more.

Thanks for listening. We hope you've enjoyed our little stopover in 1989. Almost done! Send us a line with your thoughts to [email protected] and find us on social media @oscarwatchpod

It's hot out there, so what better way to pass the time than with a look back at a snub so great we're still talking about it nearly thirty years later? Joining us for our discussion is special guest Steven van Patten. He helps us break down the music, the culture, the incredible cast, the heat, anything and everything - and yet we leave so much undiscussed! He even drops a theory that further clarifies the relationships between the characters. Plus, we ask: does anyone actually do the right thing? All this and more. As relevant now as it was then, if not moreso, failing to nominate Do The Right Thing remains one of the Academy's numerous wrong things over the years. And that's the double truth, Ruth.

So, up you wake! Grab a slice, turn the AC on, dunk your head in a tub of ice and listen up! And as always, fight the power.

Drop us a line with your thoughts to [email protected] and be sure to find us on social media @oscarwatchpod

Next week, grab that foot and paint!

The film world has been agog at the recently announced changes to the Academy Awards format. Hosts Amy and Steve break down the new rules, regulations, try to figure out why (hint: money & millennials) and generally try to keep their cool while not breaking their computers. Can we live in a world with a Best Picture and a Best Popular Picture? We'll soon find out; but it's not one either host is ready to be a part of.

We come to it at last: 1989, one of the greatest years in film. Seriously, look up all the movies that came out and tell me that's not a stacked deck? And yet...

Driving Miss Daisy has been maligned since the very moment it won the Academy Award for Best Picture nearly thirty years ago. Is the world right to condemn this movie? Amy and Steve, your valiant hosts, aim to answer that very question. Join them through discussions of friendship, cinematic tropes, quite the conversation on race relations in America and a look inside the Academy's head at the time. Did they, in fact, do the...right thing?

Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night.

Send us your thoughts to [email protected] and follow us on social media @oscarwatchpod

Next week, a 'Shoulda Been A Contenda' joint...

Our hosts look at the beautiful side of ugly, and the ugliness in the beautiful with a conversation about the 2013 Best Foreign Language film, The Great Beauty. Sure, we all wanted to be artists when we grew up, but would we all end up as insufferable as everyone in this movie? Amy and Steve are split on this one and one is very, very passionate about it! Join us for a trip through the majesty of Rome, the frustrations of age and the sheer absurdity of life...maybe together we can all find something a little beautiful, a little perfect. Now that would make a great book, wouldn't it?

Thanks for listening! Send us your thoughts to [email protected] and follow us on social media.

Next week, we begin 1989 in earnest. Glorious, glorious, passionate earnest...

Hoo boy, it is hot out! How better to spend a sweltering summer day than holed up inside a bank after a robbery goes spectacularly wrong? Amy and Steve discuss the classic 1975 crime caper, Dog Day Afternoon. But first, they have to get their love of Sydney Lumet out there in the open; few are better, or more unloved these days. We lament the passing of 1970s Al Pacino...but then remember that he's been killing it on HBO these past many years, so I guess it's okay that he hasn't been nominated in over 25 years? Forty years on, just how does the central motivation work in our "enlightened" times? All this, the heat, humidity, a look at America's love for the outlaw and goddamn New Yorkers, this week on the podcast.

Thanks for listening! Write us, won't you? The address is [email protected], and follow us on social media @oscarwatchpod

America! F--- Yeah! concludes this week. What can possibly be more American than unfettered, naked capitalism? So grab a seat - I hope you paid - because you're going to sell us a pen, it's Leo. It's Marty. It's The Wolf of Wall Street. But can you make a movie about such deplorable people and not start to sympathize with the characters? And how is it that a seventy year old man has more energy and life to his movies than all the 30 something mumblecore directors combined? Amy and Steve discuss the excess, the charm, the Thelma! and of course, Beni-fucking-Hana...and more! this week on the podcast.

So grab hold of the American dream. Money makes you a better person...right? Write to us with your thoughts at [email protected] and be sure to follow us on social media.

Next week, the dog days are over.