The AwardsWatch Podcast

Welcome to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 62 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys are joined by AwardsWatch contributor Karen Peterson to discuss the next film in their Terrence Malick series, The New World (2005).

Entering a new millennium, Malick embarked on a mission to create a vision of timeless story that he had been trying to make since the 1970s. After finally getting the financing to create The New World, he sent out to create a definitive take on the story of historical figures Captain John Smith (Colin Farrell), Pocahontas of the Powhatan tribe (Q'orianka Kilcher), and Englishman John Rolfe, without having to hold true to being one hundred percent accurate to their history. He uses this love story to breakdown our human relationship with exploration and nature, and how when these worlds collide, it provides change that irreversible, beautiful, and tragic. In short, he created another masterpiece. Ryan, Jay, and Karen give their reaction and relationship to the film, speak about how hot Colin Farrell was during this era of his career, Emmanuel Lubezki luscious cinematography, Q'orianka Kilcher’s transformational performance, the movie’s connection with the past, present, future via water and boats, the poor animated Disney version of this story, and how the freedom, if the extended version of this film is worth it, and how the experimental filmmaking of this movie set a path for the modern Malick we’ve come to know.

You can listen to the Director Watch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 2h02m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series on the films of Terrence Malick with a review of his next film, The Tree of Life. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

On episode 250 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson, Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello, and special guest Christina Birro of Pop Culture Confidential come together to discuss their reactions to the films at the 51st Telluride Film Festival.

The 2024 film festival season has begun and many of the biggest titles of the fall film slate, Oscar season are being released over the last week with both the Venice Film Festival and Telluride Film Festival. Based on our past episode, the Telluride Film Festival announced their line-up with the world premieres of Conclave, Nickel Boys, Saturday Night, The Piano Lesson, The End alongside with several other films, as well as movie that have premiered at other festivals like Anora, The Outrun, Maria, A Real Pain, September 5, Emilia Perez, and more. It made for a great lineup over the Labor Day weekend, and the group break down their time at the festival, talk about all the movies they saw above and more.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 2h01m. We will be back next week to discuss Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and talk about our favorite “legacy sequels.” Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

Welcome to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision-making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 61 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys are joined by film critic Jake Tropila to discuss the next film in their Terrence Malick series, The Thin Red Line (1998).

After making two of the most celebrated, respected films of the 1970s, Terrence Malick spent the next twenty plus years crafting multiple projects, with nothing to show for it. Towards the beginning of the 1990s, the director was approached with the idea of crafting an adaptation of the World War II novel The Thin Red Line, which intrigued Malick enough to start working on this film, which seemed to spark every male actor in Hollywood to audition for him so they could be a part of this epic. The results of being gone from cinema for two plus decades gave us not only one of Malick’s most signature films, but what some consider to be the greatest war film of all time. Ryan, Jay, and Jake discuss their thoughts on the film, the insane roster of actors in this film, how Malick cut Adrian Brody mostly out of the film to create a new vision from the original source material, the brutality of war and what it does to a soldier’s morality, how it compares from Saving Private Ryan which came out from the same year, how something as so necessary as water becomes vital for the everyone involved, and the continued look into the career of Jim Caviezel.

You can listen to the Director Watch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 1h58m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series on the films of Terrence Malick with a review of his next film, The New World. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

On episode 249 of the AwardsWatch Podcast it's another all editors edition as yours truly, Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade and Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello are packed and ready to head to mountains of Colorado for the 51st Telluride Film Festival with special guest Christina Birro of Pop Culture Confidential.

As Telluride famously does, the actual lineup of films isn't released until the day of the festival (August 30) but with Venice, Toronto and New York announcements and designations of films as a 'world premiere,' 'international premiere,' 'North American premiere' or 'Canadian premiere' we have a pretty good idea of many of the films we'll be seeing, with all important world premiere titles that we'll likely be seeing before anyone like Edward Berger's papal thriller Conclave (Focus Features) starring Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow and Stanley Tucci, Michael Gracey's Robbie Williams biopic Better Man (Paramount Pictures) with the UK star playing himself, Jason Reitman's Saturday Night (Sony Pictures), telling the story of the first night of SNL in 1975 with Gabriel LaBelle, Dylan O'Brien, Rachell Sennott, Cory Michael Smith and Willem Dafoe, Malcolm Washington's adaptation of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Piano Lesson starring Samuel L. Jackson, Danielle Deadwyler and John David Washington and RaMell Ross's Nickel Boys (Amazon MGM), adapting Colson Whitehead's Nickel Boys with Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Hamish Linklater and more.

We also expect a healthy selection of Sundance and Cannes features to make their way to Telluride for a fall resurgence like A Real Pain, Emilia Pérez, Anora, The Seed of the Sacred Fig and more. Telluride medallions are also a topic of conversation with three traditionally up for grabs. Based on the expected lineup we think it will be Jason Reitman, Angelina Jolie and Samuel L. Jackson but there's a handful of possible contenders here.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 1h10m. We will be back the week after next to recap the 2024 Telluride Film Festival. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

Welcome to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 60 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys are joined by AwardsWatch Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello to discuss the next film in their Terrence Malick series, Days of Heaven (1978).

Five years after delivering one of the best debut films of all time, Terrence Malick returned with an essential piece of art within his filmography, and one of the best films of the 1970s, Days of Heaven. Shot mostly in Alberta, Canada, Malick’s epic follows lovers who travel to the Texas Panhandle for work harvesting crops for a wealthy grain farmer, only for the three of them to turn into a love triangle of biblical, spiritual proportions. While the shoot and edit of the film ran so long that additional editors and crew members had to be added to the film in order to get the film to the finish line, Malick was able to deliver a mesmerizing, lyrical cautionary tale about love, lust, greed, anger, desire, and finding your sense of freedom in a new world forming around. In other words, a masterpiece. Ryan, Jay, and Sophia breakdown their relationship with the film, the beautiful house built by Jack Fisk, the logistics of the locus scene, the film’s incredible performances led by Richard Gere, Sam Shepard, and Brooke Adams, the troubled production of the film, the director’s relationship with water, the insightful narration, if Malick’s career relates to any other modern director, and how the film’s ending full encapsulates all the themes suggested or mentioned throughout the film.

You can listen to the Director Watch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 2h16m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series on the films of Terrence Malick with a review of his next film, The Thin Red Line. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

On episode 248 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch contributor Josh Parham to breakdown the various films in the Alien franchise and then give their thoughts on the latest entry, Alien: Romulus.

For listeners of last week’s episode, which covered the films of 1979 via a Oscar retrospective, you would’ve heard the team was really high on Ridley Scott’s masterpiece, Alien. Known as one of the most celebrated films of the 1970s, as well as one of the greatest sci-fi films ever made, Alien set a standard of excellence for the sci-fi horror genre that everyone has tried to recreate. The film then spanned many sequels, prequels, spin-off films going on for the past 45 years. Ryan and Josh discuss their relationship with the franchise, their favorite and least favorite things about each film, which includes Alien, Aliens, Alien3, Alien: Resurrection, Prometheus, Alien: Covenant, and the two Alien vs Predator films. Once they’ve gotten through all of those titles, they jump right into a SPOILER-FILLED conversation about Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus (review here by Sophia Ciminello), which is a low stakes prequel set between the first two films in the franchise and stars Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson. While the film provides some decent kills, Ryan and Josh give their full thoughts on how disappointed they were by this film, and how they don’t know where the future of this franchise will go after this confusing, wasted entry left things off. It’s a very in-depth conversation we hope you like.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 1h56m. We will be back on the next episode to preview the 2024 Telluride Film Festival. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

There aren’t many actors that are having, and about to have, a year like Jonathan Bailey.

For Showtime’s Fellow Travelers, a sprawling look at the Lavender Scare of the 1950s to the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s as told through the eyes of two lovers spanning these three decades, Bailey earned a Critics Choice Award for his performance in the series at Tim Laughlin and cheekily during his now viral speech thanking co-star Matt Bomer, “Those of you who have seen Fellow Travelers will know that Matt and I come together” and that was a moment I couldn’t let pass by in my conversation with him after earning an Emmy nomination for Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie last month.

He’ll be guest starring on the third season of Netflix’s Emmy-winning YA hit series Heartstopper in October and then the silver screen in November with the feature film version of the smash Broadway musical Wicked, portraying Fiyero, the prince of princes in the land of Oz. He’s set to return to the stage next year in Richard II and oh, he’ll also have the fourth Jurassic World film to catapult him into even more mainstream screen stardom next summer.

For Bailey though, his focus is being able to talk about Fellow Travelers and like his co-star and fellow Emmy nominee Matt Bomer (read our interview with Bomer here), bringing the truth about this period in American history is something he’s passionate about. Based on the 2007 novel by Thomas Mallon and created for television by Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia), the story chronicles the lives of staid State Department official Hawkins ‘Hawk’ Fuller (Bomer) and rebellious but deeply Catholic political neophyte with the eagerness of a golden retriever, who wants to work in the Eisenhower administration in the late 1950s as the government began weeding out anyone suspected of homosexuality. Through marriages and children, secret retreats and rendezvous that push into the civil rights era of the 1960s, the gay sexual liberation of the 1970s and the brutality of the political reaction to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, Hawk and Tim live deeply complicated and conflicting lives; of love and commitment, or lack thereof, of unbridled passion and sex, and ultimately acceptance.

He goes into great detail about how the book and series came to him, how much he wanted to do a gay romance of this scope after hitting such a starry stride from the huge success of Bridgerton. With both of us being gay men, Bailey’s language quickly becomes an inclusive ‘we’ and ‘our’ and he also takes time to ask what my experience and knowledge was like. I mention my grandparents, who probably never knew what the Lavender Scare was and he talks about how his 92-year old nana, who was born the same year as his character, watched the show and recalled someone she knew and worked alongside with who was gay and killed himself and that the show was able to reveal a way for her to process and understand it. He wants to relate and wants Fellow Travelers to reach and be related to. But through serious questions, Bailey and I take time to have fun. To joke about his Critics Choice speech, to talk about carrying Kylie Minogue to the stage at Hyde Park with Andrew Scott. “The real trophy for any gay man is carry Kylie Minogue,” he says, and he can’t help but comment on Bomer’s toes (“the most delicious I’ve ever come across”) and we venture into the show’s nakedly erotic and vulnerable sex scenes. So cheeky.

Bailey also wants to make sure that I knew the collective effort it took for him to bring Tim to life, shouting out his agents and reps (“The power of asking ‘why not?'”), and the cumulative nature of allyship in aligning him with gay journalists that ‘get it’ because we’re a part of the same community. “This is interview is knockout, one of my favorites,” he says, not to toot my own horn too much but then again, why not? As he says, “The conversations open when opportunities arise.”

Jonathan Bailey is Emmy-nominated in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for Fellow Travelers with the episode “Make It Easy.”

Welcome to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 59 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys are joined by AwardsWatch contributor Dan Bayer to discuss the first film in their Terrence Malick series, Badlands (1973).

With the summer of Tony Scott in the rearview mirror, the newest Director Watch takes a look at one of the most celebrated, unique, creative, innovative, and important American directors of all time, Terrence Malick. Within Malick’s filmography lies questions about nature, spirituality, creativity, violence, conflicting internal and external human emotion, and the longing for purpose in life. He is not only the perfect director to explore for a series, but he also happens to be Jay Ledbetter’s favorite director, setting the expectations for this director deep dive at higher levels than usual. With Malick’s first film, Badlands, the director took his first crack at tapping into the soul of the American culture he grew up in with a tale about a two young lovers who go on a killing spree in the summer of 1959. While it may seem as the most straight forward of Malick’s narrative feature film, Badlands is an engrossing examination of the past that reflects the unstable, violent world we create amongst the love and beauty that surrounds us. Ryan, Jay, and Dan discuss their thoughts on the film, what they think of Malick overall, Sheen and Spacek’s incredible performances, the exquisite, detailed work of production designer Jack Fisk, the narration sprinkled throughout the film, the loss of innocence between each of the main character and how that effects their overall love for one another, and the final fifteen minutes of the movie, which features one hell of a car chase sequence. A good start to a promising new series that is lengthy, but filled with tons of insightful detail (mostly to make sure the guys attempt to sound like they are smart when talking about the thematically heavy films of Terrence Malick).

You can listen to the Director Watch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 2h25m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series on the films of Terrence Malick with a review of his next film, Days of Heaven. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

On episode 247 of the AwardsWatch podcast, AwardsWatch Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade and Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello take a look at the newest announcements from the Toronto International Film Festival and New York Film Festival, changes to the Gotham Awards and the kickoff of International Feature Film Oscar submissions.

Beginning with the TIFF announcements of new Gala and Special Presentations, we look into the heavy Venice to TIFF crossover with titles like Babygirl, Queer and The Brutalist (all skipping Telluride) as well as the 'Canadian Premiere' of Jason Reitman's Saturday Night, detailing the 90 minutes leading up to the first ever episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live's debut in 1975. Toronto will also get the world premiere of On Swift Horses, with Jacob Elordi, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Diego Calva, which appears to be its sole major fest showing. We then venture into today's NYFF Spotlight additions, including A Real Pain, Emilia Pérez and Maria. We talk about studio strategies and the paths festivals can create for determining awards contenders and how flying a bit under the radar, like Netflix is doing this year, becomes a vehicle for audience discovery. Next we move to the 2024 Gotham Awards, which announced this week the introduction of two new categories (Best Director and the return of Breakthrough Performer) as well as the rules that come with each of them. Finally, the submissions for the International Feature Film Oscar have started to roll in with Ireland's Kneecap, Austria's The Devil's Bath and Latvia's animated film Flow as the first out of the gate.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 45m. We will be back next week on this show for our Telluride Film Festival preview and predictions and on the main show to talk about Alien: Romulus, the state of blockbusters and more. And keep your eyes out for the Thursday drops of Director Watch episodes, which kicks off its Terence Malick series this week. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

On episode 246 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello and AwardsWatch contributor Josh Parham to go back 45 years to take a look at the 52nd Academy Awards, celebrating the films of 1979.

Before we step back into another AW Oscar retrospective, the team take a look at the summer movie box office game as we enter the final month of the summer. With Deadpool and Wolverine, Inside Out 2, and Despicable Me 4 dominating the box office, they take a look at how the summer has shown to prove many of their initial thoughts right about the box office, as well as the couple of surprises that took over the box office like Longlegs. Ryan’s team is in the lead by there is still plenty of time left for Erik’s team to make a comeback.

Onto the main portion of the podcast, Ryan, Sophia, and Josh travel back forty-five years, to 1979, where Hollywood was in the middle of a transition from the auteur filmmaking of the 1970s to the more conventional, franchise, populist filmmaking of the 1980s. The 52nd Academy Awards were a good showcase for this shift in focus as Kramer vs Kramer took home five Oscars, including Best Picture, a small family drama that was one of the top grossing films of the year; beating out All that Jazz, Apocalypse Now, Breaking Away, Norma Rae for the top prize. In their in-depth discussion, the trio talked about the film year of 1979, briefly discuss talk about Kramer vs Kramer as a Best Picture winner, do a little Oscar trivia as it relates to this year, and then the new version of the AW Shoulda Woulda Coulda game, where instead of individual replacements, they must decide as a group who the nominees and winners should be in the top eight categories. The rules of the game state they can only replace two of the nominees that year from each category, except in Best Picture, where the group could replace up to three films to make up the final set of five nominated films. As usual, it was a fascinating, fun conversation including spirited debates, alliances, vote swinging and more that we all hope you enjoy.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 2h42m. We will be back next week to talk about the latest release, Alien: Romulus, as well as break down the Alien franchise as a whole. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).