It’s our Oscar Sprint Profile movie review of Shirley, featuring a monstrously good performance from Elisabeth Moss as famed novelist / short story writer, Shirley Jackson of The Lottery & Haunting of Hill House. Will this film have legs for awards season? Or will it be forgotten?

***Apologies for some audio issues early on with A.M.’s levels. We’re fixing them for next ep.

Prologue - Top of Show

SHIRLEY REVIEW

NONSPOILER REVIEW:

Production Profile - 3:26

Plot Premise/Expectations - 8:07

Production Values:

Cinematography - 11:40

(Scary Scorsese Camera Movements)

Sound - 13:43

(Straight Outta The Book of Peele)

Performances:

Odessa Young/Rose - 15:37

Stuhlbarg/Stanley - 18:03

Elizabeth Moss/Shirley - 20:08

(Including Moss Here vs Invisible Man; Is She Lead or Supporting?; More)

Script Thoughts - 25:00

Oscars Legs? - 29:11

Watch or Not? - 31:45

SPOILER WARNING - 32:26

SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW:

Best: The Devil in Disguise - 33:43

Best/Maybe Worst?: The Story Within The Story - 38:38

What’s Real and What’s Make Believe - 41:40

Best - The Ending Explained - 45:28

FINAL THOUGHTS AND GRADES - 48:29

Your Homework/LEAVE US 5 *’S - 51:12

What’s Next From MMO/Words of Wisdom - 52:00

We hyped up the early June movies of Shirley, Da 5 Bloods, and The King of Staten Island for most of May, and now they’re finally coming our way! Shirley is now available on Hulu, and though we thought to review it as only a shorter segment in an Oscar Race Checkpoint show, the film’s high quality demanded we give it a full review in this OSP.

As always, we offer you two reviews for the price of one. The first half is spoiler free, you get a spoiler warning, and then we dive into the plot. In the first 30 minutes+, we introduce the film by highlighting it’s remarkable cast & crew before offering you non-spoiler reviews of the horror-esque production values, some incredible performances, and its loaded & clever screenplay, all building up to an Oscar Lens, where we discuss Shirley’s chances come awards season. Then we dive into all the best & worst scenes before dissecting the finale and the weight of its themes.

Our hearts continue to be heavy after the tragedy of George Floyd and the nationwide protests. We support the Black Lives Matter movement, and we shall continue to cover those stories in forthcoming episodes like we have in previous shows. So do go back to our last two & please stay tuned. But we also recognize our role as film critics, awards pundits, and try to carry on our brand of talk radio for movie fans in this review.

It’s been a struggle to program our podcast through these trying times, and we do want your feedback on how best to proceed. 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 Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Google Play, Tune In, Spotify, and just about wherever you might listen. We’re Mike, Mike, & Oscar, and we’re making awards season year round, without the stuffiness. Thanks for listening.