***This podcast has a spoiler section.***
The first (59) minutes of our Darkest Hour Oscar Sprint Profile are spoiler free, we dance the dance of the Mikes, and then we spoil the movie and all of WWII history for you after the musical interlude.
Darkest Hour Oscar Sprint Profile
Extra Silly Nonsense Banter / Joe Wright Filmography - 2:08
Gary Oldman Allegations of Domestic Violence - 5:37
Oldman Bio/Filmography - 10:16
Giants Super Bowl Parade Story - 18:12 (just trust me)
Rest of Cast - 21:57
Movie Inception - 25:36
Movie Specs - 35:32
Non-Spoiler Review
Expectations/Production Values - 41:43
The Lead Performance - 51:44
We debate some real history - 54:22
The Supporting Cast Performance Review - 57:08
Spoiler Music - 59:02
Spoiler Review
Best/Worst Scenes - 1:00:22
Debate Over the Antagonism - 1:07:39
Dunkirk Movie’s Impact - 1:16:58
Other Major Plotlines - 1:20:55
Final Grades/Thoughts - 1:32:24
This is our Oscar Sprint Profile for Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour, starring Gary Oldman, Lily James, Ben Mendolson, and Kristin Scott Thomas. Our intro gets the giggles and procrastinates, but we mention Joe Wright’s filmography off the top. We also address the allegation against Gary Oldman back from 2001, we discuss his much maligned comments from 2014, and we cover his bio/filmography including a troubled upbringing and an adulthood overcoming alcoholism. After those unhappy tidings, we give filmographies for the rest of the cast and resume our Abba singing, man-giggling nonsense. Either we’re THAT good at this, or we’re terrible horrible people - jury’s still out on that.
We share several weird anecdotes from our own lives in this episode. Mike No 1 does multiple impressions from Leon, Air Force One (doing HF), and this film. Also Mike brings historical research on WWII and mixes it into the production stories from the cast & crew. There are tales of marriage proposals, parades, secret meetings between film people, secret meetings between governments, we gush over some aspects of Darkest Hour, and we call BS on others. So despite the fact we cover some serious issues up top, we do find some balance and have one of this Mike’s favorite recording sessions to date.
You get the usual MMO review treatment with a Cast & Crew Bio/Filmographies, a Production Profile, Movie Specs, and Award Season updates and projections. We review and debate the production values, performances, and non-spoiler storylines. The spoiler music plays, and then we break it all down with a full complement of real WWII historical information, and we share screenwriting principles that help us figure this movie out. So again, we’re proud of and enjoyed the hell out of this recording.
Thank you for listening. We really appreciate all your continued attentions. Our audience is growing, and we’re thrilled. So please keep this train rolling. Tell a few friends about us or repost/share our pods on your social media with a few clicks, and of course, we’re always happy to chat with you via email, facebook, instagram, or twitter.
We’ll have a few more Oscar Sprint Profiles coming your way over the next week including The Post and Phantom Thread. Then we may mix in some other pods going into the Oscar Nominations on 1/23. So if reality is sucking, there’s no better time to watch movies with us. We’re Mike, Mike, and Oscar!