ReelBlend

Pacific Rim Uprising is making its way to theaters. So Sean O'Connell, Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy are diving into Steven S. DeKnight's robot-on-monster blockbuster, which Kevin liked, and Sean says is a coming out party for John Boyega as a franchise-carrying leading man. That discussion triggered a debate about the best sequels that came from directors who DIDN'T launch the franchise. How often does a series change hands, and then improve? The guys discuss. Kevin has seen Ready Player One. He even interviewed Steven Spielberg at the Ready Player One junket. He has amazing stories to tell about discussing RPO with Spielberg.

And finally, this week -- as part of the ongoing #Blend debate game, the boys tackle the filmography of Martin Scorsese, trying to decide on what his BEST movie is. Not their favorite. Scorsese's BEST. They all have different picks, and they passionately debate why they made their choices. Then, they share the choices from all the ReelBlenders who played along on social media.

It's a brand new day! The AwardsBlend podcast has undergone a change, and what once focused mainly on the Oscar race has expanded its scope. Welcome to ReelBlend! As Kevin McCarthy puts it on social media, "New show name. New logo. Same nerds." Those nerds are Kevin McCarthy, Jake Hamilton, and Sean O'Connell. And in this week's podcast, the trio starts off with a run through the top news stories of the day. Sean is finally able to start talking about his visit to the Avengers: Infinity War set, so Jake and Kevin pepper him with questions.

For the final segment of the ReelBlend podcast, Sean, Kevin and Jake bring back the fan-favorite #Blend segment, where they choose a filmmaker ahead of time, then debate the BEST film from that director. This week, the discussion swirled around the films of Stanley Kubrick. And as is always the case, we opened the conversation up to our listeners, who used the hashtag #KubrickBlend to share their picks for best Kubrick. The answers surprised us. They might surprise you!

Welcome to Episode 11 of AwardsBlend! The Oscars have finally come, and Sean O'Connell, Kevin McCarthy, and Jake Hamilton are here to discuss. They talk about the shows nearly 4 hour runtime and record-low ratings, Jimmy Kimmel's performance as this year's host, the wins they're most happy about (including THE SHAPE OF WATER for Best Picture & Jordan Peele's GET OUT for Best Original Screenplay), the fact that Roger Deakins finally won, and more!

Full list of Oscar Winners

Welcome to another episode of AwardsBlend! This is our final episode be fore the BIG show, and we couldn't be more excited. Sean O'Connell, Jake Hamilton, and Kevin McCarthy discuss Kevin Smith's recent health scare (wishing him and his the best), go through their picks for who will take home an Academy Award this year, and debate which of Steven Spielberg's films is his definitive best. The process wasn't easy, and we thank everyone who tuned in with their picks using #SpielbergBlend. Enjoy!

Raise your hand if you haven't yet seen Black Panther? No one? Good, then you all can listen to the latest episode of AwardsBlend, where co-hosts Sean O'Connell, Kevin McCarthy and Jake Hamilton kick off their weekly film-geek discussion with a breakdown of Ryan Coogler's Marvel masterwork, then lay out their personal Top 5 Marvel movies to see if Black Panther makes the cut. From there, the guys dive into a discussion on the Best Picture race. With roughly a week to go until the Academy Awards are handed out on March 4, Sean, Jake and Kevin talk about the films that they think still legitimately have a shot at winning Best Picture. Yes, there are nine nominees. But it really only feels like three movies hold out hope of leaving the Oscars with a Best Picture statue tucked under their proverbial arm.

This week, we're down a co-host, as Fox 32 Chicago's Jake Hamilton has to deal with a tooth problem. (The way he tells it, he chipped his tooth saving a bevy of adorable puppies, but we're guessing that's an embellishment.) So, AwardsBlend co-hosts Sean O'Connell and Fox 5 DC's Kevin McCarthy hold down the fort, and they kick off their discussion with a spoiler-free review of Ryan Coogler's new Black Panther.

AwardsBlend dives into the meat of the Oscar race, and this week, Sean and Kevin analyze the Best Actor and Actress races... to see if they actually are races, at all. While both co-hosts think that Gary Oldman is a lock to win Best Actor for his work as Winston Churchill in Joe Wright's Darkest Hour, they split on Best Actress. Kevin feels like Frances McDormand has Best Actress in the bag for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Sean, on the other hand, thinks that momentum might be shifting away from McDormand, and that Sally Hawkins could steal some thunder if The Shape of Water starts to dominate on Oscar night.

What is Christopher Nolan's best film? Is it the twisty dream-infiltrating thriller Inception? Or the galaxy-hopping Interstellar? Maybe you'd choose one of his Batman films, or something else entirely? It's a question that the AwardsBlend hosts -- Sean O'Connell, Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy -- tackle in this week's episode of the AwardsBlend podcast. You too can provide input by tweeting at the gang with #NolanBlend, and let us know which you think is his best.

This week the guys also weigh in on the first full Solo: A Star Wars Story trailer, as well as the best spots from this weekend's past Super Bowl. The Mission: Impossible -- Fallout trailer gets them talking about Tom Cruise's dedication to this films. For real, who gives more to this audience than Cruise these days?

AwardsBlend is your weekly catch-up on all things Oscars as we inch closer and closer to the Academy Awards, which will be held on March 4 this year. Why in March? How come we haven't had this ceremony already? For real, these movies have been in theaters for weeks... even months. It seems like we easily could have had the Oscar ceremony already. The guys -- CinemaBlend Managing Director Sean O'Connell; Fox 5 DC Entertainment Reporter Kevin McCarthy, and; Fox 32 Chicago Entertainment Reporter Jake Hamilton -- weigh in on the current state of the race, and then some. Before they get to the Best Supporting Actor and Actress races, Jake, Kevin and Sean share funny celebrity encounters, stemming from Kevin recently running into John Travolta and instantly peppering him with Face/Off quotes. Because of course. Enjoy!

AwardsBlend co-hosts Sean O'Connell, Kevin McCarthy and Jake Hamilton hop behind their microphones this week to talk about the various Oscar nominations, where Guillermo del Toro's sci-fi creature romance The Shape of Water led all contenders with 13 noms, but Jordan Peele's Get Out followed right behind. Peele and his colleague, Greta Gerwig, also made headway as first-time filmmakers who broke into the coveted Best Director race. And we made connections to the Screen Actors Guild Awards winners, who all got Oscar nominations -- so we wonder if that makes them frontrunners in their respective categories.

But things really heat up when the guys get into a discussion about beloved cinematographer Roger Deakins, who is nominated for his work on Blade Runner 2049. But he shot it digitally, and the AwardsBlend hosts wonder if the decision to not shoot on film will hurt him in his bid to FINALLY win an Oscar after 13 previous nominations and not one win.