The Eleventh Annual Blank Check Awards with Joe Reid

Live from a windowless studio in Brooklyn, New York, it's the 11th annual Blankies. All the stars are out tonight. Oh, is that Ella McKay's deadbeat pizza husband I see on the red carpet? Clooney, extra cheese, and you're Hawaiian? Hawaiian. Just entering the red carpet, it's balls from Is This Thing On? Oh, looks like he spilled a gallon of milk. It's been a lot for me to carry around. Greta Lee wishes she could be here with us tonight. However, she's at Gettysburg watching a Civil War reenactment. But I'm going to help you find this mess. The paparazzi is loving our latest arrival on the red carpet. It's Varang, wearing a stunning ash dress. I am the fire! Oh, my goodness. Samson the Alpha from 28 years later just arrived with his date, his giant penis. Oh, my God, it's even bigger than I thought. And now your host for this evening, song and dance man Griffin Newman. What a wonderful night for blankies, blankies, blankies. Who will win? And possible nominees based on mostly just the things that have been nominated ever else, particularly the Oscars. Who knows where we're going to swim? Right. F1. When you were young and your wife still had her hawk, you used to say, let Hamnet live. You know you did, you know you did, you know you did. But if this ever-growing plague would make your son sick, that plague might make your wife cry. Dun-dun-dun. So let Hamnet die. Oh, okay. Okay. Boom. I had some pitch problems on that one. Sure. I was just, you know, it was a lot of buildup, and I was finding my way into it. That's all. He is the creature. He's got good features. He is hot, hot, hot. Oh, Frankenstein. Frankenstein. Frankenstein made him. But now he hates him because he's hot, hot, hot. That's true. Thank you. You're selling shoes for Uncle. He won't give you cash. Dun, dun, dun. Dun, dun, dun, dun. You're cucking Mr. Wonderful, he paddles your ass. Doing circus tricks on Globetrotter tours. You're absolutely sure that kid's not yours. You gotta fight for your right to Marty. Supreme. Honestly, you didn't even need it. I heard it said that the new Wicked would be numbed. Reward both films now. Return of the King was the comp. But then it came out, and it fucking sucked so hard. Because for good sucked. Wicked for good sucked. They nominate F1. F1 made it. I was wondering. I was wondering if F1 was going to make it. Begonia! What if Begonia's getting any noms today? What do you think? I'm a sinner. I'm a twinner. I drink blood for dinner. I can't be exposed to the sun. I'm a smoker. I'm a stacker. I'm a neck blood snacker. I'm eating pussy in the club. That's all true. It's actually correct. Stalin Skarsgård, why won't you come to your senses? You've been so damn pretentious To your daughters so long Got a project Al Fanning says she's attached But you're... I ran out of lyrics on that one Whatever Secret agent film Secret agent film It's a root one, but good Disappeared your loved ones And they severed someone's leg blue moon abu di abu die abu die he's a really short guy abu di abu die abu di abu die blue moon he will die abu di abu die the coal i feel like is running low he's performing these in the order that he wrote them down wrong wrong wrong and and you can feel the kind of steam That's what I'm saying, like the train is starting to slow down. Well, I guess you guys are forcing me off the stage, and I can't perform the one battle after another song I definitely cracked. So moving on. No, we need to hear it. No, we just have to know that I definitely had one. It was in, it was locked, and now he's putting it in the attic. There weren't ten different drafts that didn't work. One is the loneliest battle. We tried a lot of things. I got to thank the war room, the self-dubbed war room. the war rank tiger weiger oh yeah yeah sean clemens yeah like the the jingle burning turning to midnight turning out turning out jingles come with a good slate yeah yeah we have one battle or or or another like one way or another that was doing one jump ahead from aladdin and it was it was taught every every one of these i hit a wall after like two lines one jump ahead would have been a little like really delving inward to the like the real real heads are going to get this. Totally. But, you know, they can't all be... Begonia! Spent that entire setup being like, where is this going? Panahi? I couldn't quite... That's the juice. Panahi! Yeah. I don't know. You know, F1 is nominated for Best Picture. It is. It made your list. It was the 14th highest grossing domestic release. Don't say it made my list. It made the medal. That's what I'm saying. It's not good. It's just hitting the top of it. The sinners made more money than it. Yeah, yeah. So, like, if you're, you know, if you're bringing your hands over, like, oh, we needed a blockbuster. It's like, well, we're sinners. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not mad. I'm just saying. I was just sort of looking, being like, was there another blockbuster they could have nominated? What were the final totals on them? On which? On sinners and F1? Sinners versus F1. It's domestic, so not worldwide. No, I know, but worldwide did F1 beat sinners. Oh, I think definitely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was my answer. F1 beat so much worldwide. Oh, yeah, I mean, that was the rationale. F1 beat 633 worldwide. The International Academy members. And Dinners made $369. Yeah. But Damask 6 Dinners is $279 to F1's $189. That's all. Yeah. I just, you know, they could have nominated Superman. I don't know. Or Avatar. There's not really a lot else. There's not really. Particularly when the juice for both Avatar and Wicked kind of ran out at the same time. That was the real thing. It did feel like a lot of people were mentally holding a slot. Yes. For one, if not both. Yeah. And then when Wicked fell through, they were like, well, obviously the slot is Avatar. Yeah. Yeah, a little bit. I remember because I covered for my college. Post Thanksgiving, it was like it'll be Avatar. And then post Christmas, it was like, I hear a car rumbling. Yeah, yeah. But also a bunch of male married Oscar voters were at their ballot, right? Licking the quill. And they do. The quill, right? Right. About to write in Avatar Fire and F. And then they hear the old battle axe wife with a rolling pin. As she does. Ah, you better not be voting for the Vellang. Don't you vote for the Vellang. I'm sorry. You vote for the Vellang. I'm sorry. Oscar voters are married to Italian nannas with rolling pins. That's what all the cast members from the Nonas went into. I give you 40 children. I wish for your sex. You better not vote for the Vellang. Wait. No wonder they're all, like, having affairs or whatever. Like, if the wife at home is, like, Strega Nona. Like, I can know. And the husband goes, I work all day mixing this down. I want to watch my fingers through the phone. I want to watch the ring. I want to watch the ring. Okay. Welcome to our 2025 Blanky's episode. That's right. Of Blank Checks. The 2026 ceremony for the films of 2025. That's right. Which makes this the 11th. The 11th. Is that right? Yeah. I erroneously texted you several weeks ago and thought this would be the 10th, but last year was. The 2015 movie year was the first one I remember doing. Yeah. So this is the 11th. Yeah. Blankies. Who are you? I'm Griffin Newman. I'm David Sims. And who's that? Joe Reed. A.K.A. Reading Rain Joe. Reading Rain Joe. The only person in my life who calls me that is Griffin Newman, and I look forward to it. Just only once a year. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's not a... You've done it other times. Yeah, but mostly in the ramp up or the wind down sometimes. Once a year. Yeah. Now they're rebooting Reading Rainbow. Have you heard this? With whom? Someone called Michael Threats. Oh, of course. The great Michael Threats. 24-episode pickup. Where? PBS. Okay. Well, that's good. I like that part of it. I was really bracing for Netflix. It was like fucking Paramount Plus, reading you like Barry Weiss's book. What do you want from me? Brother. Producer Ben is here. What? What's up? I gifted him today a vintage McFarlane Toys, a.k.a. T-Dog Mac, Violator action figure from the first series of Spawn Toys, toys, and he has wrapped it around his mic arm, and he's looking at it so lovingly. They're almost feeling a little empty, so I'm glad that there was some personality brought into the space. Yeah, that's true. There's just nothing. We needed a little something. Yeah, colorful or sort of eye-popping in our office. Just perhaps a tchotchke. To absorb the sound. I've been around tchotchke once in a while. Yeah. It's all sound absorption. I've got my baby Joe. You got your baby Joey. Oh, nice. But it's greatly appreciated. Thank you. Of course. Anytime, buddy. I'm apparently staring at a photo of Austin Powers suspended in the crime spaces. Yeah, that maybe doesn't have to be there forever. It's a hell of a thing for your guests to – Yeah, it does seem a little aggro for the guests. Of course, when we covered the Austin Powers trilogy on Patreon, Marie Barty Salinas, a.k.a. A woman, would not stop talking about how cut, quote – Oh, I remember that one. You have never let this go. That was quite the opinion that was advanced. It really got to you. So that lives on that desk for when Marie's joining us as fourth chair on an episode. Also, on the back of it, there's some notes written that I think were Ratliff trying to jot some things down during a Lady Killer episode. There's some random... Hold on. Yeah. All right. Let's see. Here's the thing I like about the blankies and the movies. Okay. we were just doing the count of like this is year 11 right we start off the blankies the award ceremony as a franchise in our second year but our first year as blank check right we we were like where we were like three months into being blank check and we already were like you know what we should do I do vaguely remember that being the vibe where we were just kind of like let's just do like an oscary episode also let's plant our flag this is yeah Oh, yeah. This is who we are now. But it made me realize, last year, we were all, like, fucking celebrating the decade of dreams. Everyone was running down the streets, blowing, like, boo-hoo's velas and shouting about the decade of dreams. They were definitely doing that. But from a certain point of view, this year is when we celebrate the decade of blank check. Because last year was celebrating nine years of blank check and one year of Griffin and David Presents. That's a good... Okay, so you... I like this. Are you trying to bring decades of dreams... It hit me the other day. To a second, like, we're sort of, like, doing the faded, sad legacy called a decade of dreams. Right. The more honest decade of dreams. So it's not actually diminishing returns. It's better. And then next year you'll be like, and really, you don't start with counting. The millennium didn't begin until 2001. I was like, we had cruising out the food still noly. This is the real decade of dreams. Yeah. You weren't kidding about chicken scratches. I'm getting Spock, perhaps. Uh-huh. Two words that look like bacon melt, but they can't possibly be bacon melt, and then burn before reading is the thing that I can get out. Well, that sounds like a good bit that he didn't get to do. Yeah. These were notes. Oh, I see. Is this IP that I've just used into the universe? No, I just think what I like about having it on the guest desk is first we get to do a little Kinsey test of how you feel about Mike Myers and his cut body. No, yeah, yeah, that's fair. And then you can see how far you can get trying to decipher Conor Ratliff's handwriting. this is the Blanky Awards where we pick our winners you know you're right I never thought about it that we just kind of did it like six episodes into our M. Night Shyamalan series or whatever just being like this is the thing we want to do I also remember there was no we were basically like let's do awards episode do you ever want to do it and you were like yeah sure and then like you know day before it was like what is it by the way we were like I don't know your Oscar ballot like I mean it was not like we were like alright we didn't have a planning session I'm super prepared. Wait, you're saying that it wasn't organized? It was also recorded in the hottest little closet I've ever been. It was a little ball in the air, I'm not going to deny. And now look at us. Now look at us. A larger windowless room. Yes, but like ceilings that are higher. Why did I feel confident just being like, we should do an awards episode. Let's ask Joe and do no further planning. because I fucking know that all three of us keep nerd spreadsheets and lists and whatnot. It was not going to be a lot of work for us. Right. The work's done. Somebody asked me that the other day. Like, how do you prepare for the blankies? And I'm like, well, I keep lists throughout the year. Right. Like, this is not like I have to, like, cram session. Do you know what the episode before it is? Signs. We barely started the Shyamalan series. Yeah. It was four episodes deep. That's amazing. And then we were like, let's do blankies. Let's fucking do it. Yeah, we nailed it. I mean, you know what? Honestly, yes. Do you know who was our consensus pick for best actor that year? Michael B. Jordan. Is that the only time we've all lined up on an acting? I don't have those kinds of facts. I'm leaning towards no, but like, yeah. I imagine it maybe happened once or twice. There's a wiki out there that folks can solve it if they want to take a look at that. I know there's been a couple, like, two out of three. Yeah. Both you guys picked Jennifer Lopez for Hustlers. I picked Florence LeBron, Janice Buckets-Pew. What's she up to? She did Thunderbolts. I tend to consult that wiki a lot for my own picks because I often on the fly go a different way in the moments. And so I'm like, where did the wind breeze me to that day? Interesting thing. Now that we're doing this for the 11th time, do you guys find yourself at all getting into the psychological game of, well, I snubbed that person of the wind. Oh, I do that. Of course. Like when these were private spreadsheets for myself, I didn't worry about such things. And now I'm like, do I owe this person or would it look shitty if I gave them a second award? I privately do that. I privately. I'm like, well, I gave Leo his David for Wolf of Wall Street. I do that to myself all the time. I made a switch to one of my lists this morning, and I literally had the thought of, like, they're going to be so disappointed that they've got me. Yeah, right. That was my problem. They'll be sad to have missed out. Yeah. You know, Pew's in that MCU quagmire right now. I need her to do some more stuff. Yeah. And I know she did a lot and maybe worried about doing too much. Yeah. What else is going on? I mean, next year she's in Avengers Doomsday and Dune 3. And she seems to be one of those people who, like, they have plans for that character, seemingly, because a lot of the people they're bringing back for that are being brought back, allegedly. Pump the brakes on the big plan. Well, okay. Here's their plan. At this point, I don't know how firm any of the plans. I think they have a clear plan. There are sirens going off everywhere, and they're like, hold on to that fucking legitimate movie star who we have on a five-picture contract like your life depends on. The day of the chairs, right? You could tell, like, a good two-thirds of those chairs are, like, coming back so that they can get kind of rushed off into the sunset. Mostly it's a vamoosing. Yes, they're not. Ian McKellen is not going to do eight more Magnetos. Right, right. It is so funny that McKellen went on Colbert and was like, I think I destroyed New Jersey. And he was like, is that a spoiler? And he was like, oh, I don't know. I guess so. Just destroys New Jersey. I saw, I got Valgrin. It's like a bad sub or something? And he just fucking, sorry, Ben. All these guys over 70, if you put them in a Marvel movie, they spill everything. Adolin's been spilling tea on big franchises since the Lord of the Rings days, and he, like, outed everybody in the Hobbit movies. Yes. Who did he out? Right, no, Luke Hayes. No, but also the main troll. Richard Armitage? Richard Armitage, yeah. He was a twork. I don't think he got anybody by name, but I think he was just like, oh, everybody in that cast is gay. Look, I said this already, but, like, I think it's why he's mad about Hamnet. Oh, I didn't know he was mad about Hamnet. Well, he threw some shade at Hamnet recently. I can't remember where. He was like, I'm not in the chat. Oh, could you address Shakespeare being gay? He was basically like, I don't think it's very interesting to try and assign, you know, this wonderful, his works, which are so important and interesting, this kind of like simple emotional narrative. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like that was a perfectly valid point for him to make and he made it well. But to me, there is an undercurrent. McKellen's also like, who cares about Shakespeare's wife? Shakespeare was, you know, he was not getting dick all over London. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know if he actually feels that way. I shouldn't put words in Ian McKellen's mouth. Getting dick all over London is the title of the spinoff movie for him. He was getting dick all over Britain. They were traveling. The Northlands, I imagine, were just teeming with, I don't know. Kelsey Grammer did some interview where he was just like, they were like, I'm sure you can't say anything about Doomsday. And he was like, oh, I'm in that. A great time filming with Pedro Pascal. And like he just listed all the actors he had been in scenes with. So then people were making the grid of being like, what did he do in it? So the fantastic film is going to go into the pocket X-Men universe. And then I saw him on some other show where they were like, now I know you've gotten in trouble before for like admitting it. He goes, yes, I shouldn't have said I'd worked with Pedro. I shouldn't have said that. You shouldn't have said that I choked the life out of the human torch in that scene. Oh, you know what? This was some conservative show because they were specifically saying, like, what would Kelsey Grammer be doing on a conservative show? So ran a disaster. And I can exclusively reveal that Dr. Doom fucks Invincible Woman. Sorry. He was like. Just imagining. Whatever conservative fuck was like. Right. You said you had worked with Pedro Pascal. What was it like sharing a set with him? You guys hold pretty different political opinions. Oh, sure, sure. And he goes, Pedro, I loved him. He's a terrific guy. And you know what's interesting? We only really had one real conversation, and it was him saying that he thought Me Too was a failure. Okay. And I was like, this feels like. I love that in your conception of Kelsey Grammer that he's just Sam the Eagle. I also love the idea of someone being like, hey, Kelsey, was it tough for you working with a left-wing guy? I'm like, he was in La Cage of Frale on Broadway. I think he's encountered a liberal in his life. He worked with David Hyde Pearson, Dean Newark, his entire career. I think he's figured out how to navigate that in his life. Yeah. People act like he just, like, only does red tube movies or whatever. Right, right. No, he's, like, the old school Hollywood conservative. Right. Yeah. And he's like, look, I want my taxes lower and my cigars cheap or whatever. Years upon years of him and Bo Derek just going to the RNC every year and being like, we got two of them. Right, right. Exactly. All right, guys, we're going to do the blankies. We got to do the blankies. All right. Okay, right. Guys, we're going to do the blankies. We got to do the blankies. We got to. Come on. Let's do our. So what we're doing here on the Blank Check Awards, just for new listeners who this is their first episode, and I'm sure that's going really well for them, is we say essentially our Oscar ballots for the big categories. Right, Griffin? Yes, that's what we do. That's what we do here. What category do you all want to start with? Because I don't really care. I'm up for anything. We're traditionalists. I feel like we usually start with one of the supporters. We always do. Right? We could start with the screenplays if you wanted to get really good. No, I want to start with the supporting. Okay. Categories that are fairly wide open at the Oscars this year. They are. Yeah. Interesting. In a sort of a fun twist. Yeah. I'm going to say this is an anti-disclaimer disclaimer. Okay. Anti-disclaimer disclaimer. This is the year that I finally just gone like it has become prohibitive to shadow ban movies made by people who have been on the show. Yeah. Oh, interesting. Well, because we're getting too far. It's a true Humberbatch. Cracker. You're in. Nia DaCosta I'm trying to think like who made movies this year Ari Welcome in buddy You're in the ballots Alex Ross Perry made two movies He did that crazy fucker you're in it That crazy motherfucker But it was like We had some of it last year with I saw the TV glow which was one of my favorite movies And we had Jane on the show And it always been this thing of like Well there's high level working people we've had on the show who I wouldn't really say I'm like friends with, but to the listener, does it seem like there's the same level of familiarity and is there implied by it? Don't even trip yourself up. I would go into the other thing of, is it more fair to just put all of them to the side so that I can't offend anyone by snubbing them? Yeah. With the equal part of it. Now it's just impossible. Well, now there's enough of them where now they sort of like battle it out in this imaginary ballot. Last year, I did not nominate the film that I made, Amelia Perrin. Of course. Because I didn't want. I made that film. That's, that's, I played every part. Yeah. I wrote all the songs. You did all the, I did all the tweets. You did, yeah, I was going to say, you did all the tweets, you did all the interviews after the fact. But also, you didn't give the awards yourself because you were so tired of winning. You were winning so much. This year, my best friend, Cynthia Erivo, I decided to not include her because we are best friends. Sure. And I also can't actually attend our ceremony if we do one because I will be playing 27 parts in a one-man Dracula show. Perfect. And that's, I heard that was the same thing the Oscars said. Yes. That they wouldn't nominate a Wicked For Good in every category. But they're best friends with her, so they couldn't do it. It's a comfort actress. Right. The statue is her best friend. They're best friends. They hold her one finger. Supporting actor. Best supporting actor. Okay, great. So, Griffin, your supporting actress winner last year presenting this award was Renata Reinsper. Yeah. For a different fan. Yeah. That was a good choice. Joe, yours was, and mine, both of ours, was Michelle Austin for Hard Truth. So she's back, too. She's back, too. So, yeah, Griffin, whatever. You know, give me your supporting actors. Look, I tried not to overthink these this year. It was what came to me. And I'll be doing some last-second cuts in the categories where I have six people jotted down mostly to see who's not being covered by you guys. Got it. But supporting actor, I had a pretty clean five. Benicio Del Toro and a picture called One Battle After Another and boy if you heard the song I wrote for that you'd still be laughing toes would still be tapping big strong guys, tears in their eyes Michael Cera the Phoenician Scheme Delroy Lindo and Sinners a performance I am pleasantly surprised to be aligned with the Oscars on yeah it was one of my punch the air moments absolutely Rafe Fiennes in 28 Years Later. He's there. And Billy Crudup in J. Kelly. Nice. That's very good. He's got the one scene. I mean, I know it's a couple scenes, but it's that one big scene. Yes. Knockout. I would say I might put an additional title on this. Is this the thermostat performance of the year? A little bit. Except to some people, J. Kelly went from like 67 degrees to 68 degrees. like no one got hot watching it i i you and i like that movie i like that movie but you know what i mean like generally there was but but i also i'll say this i had i had a different thought of an honorific while watching this performance and i at once i at one point i was like do i just put it to the side and not put in proper best supporting actor my thought was is this the black box performance of the year where you go why don't they build the whole movie got it got it yes i I think there's a juice to that like eight minute chunk of the movie that as much as I like the film, I'm like, this is the fucking potent thing. If I'm bomb back, whatever I think I'm writing. Yeah. I get to that scene. Even on paper before you cast crude up and he knocks it out of the fucking park. I agree. Maybe this is the movie. Yeah. Maybe these guys spend the whole night together and that's the film. I can see it. J. Kelly versus whatever that guy's name is. Yeah. Well, the point is we don't know his name. We're proving the point right here. J. Fucking J. Kelly. Fucking Kelly. I'm Jay Kelly. You're Jay Kelly. You're up here. You're down here. That movie, here's another word I'll throw out. Worst trailer of the year. Oh, boy. You hated the trailer. You were always saying how it, like, almost poisoned you against the movie. You saw an early screening of the movie. I did. They showed it. You were like, it's really excellent. I was like, this thing looks like dog shit. It was a bad trailer. Fuck is Tim smoking? I saw the trailer. I was smoking that dink weed. I saw the trailer before, like, everything. It kept playing at the Angelica in the Paris. We've seen a lot of things. It's probably still playing. Yes. Yeah. And I was just like, it is impossible. This movie will do anything to me other than leave me with an overwhelming desire to eat glass. And then the movie started, and I was just like, the trailer makes it look like fucking Cinema Paradiso 4. Sure. Yeah. Cinema Paradiso, there's a real, like, genre of foreign film that is bad that was loved. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, Cinema Paradiso, Life is Beautiful. Il Pasino, huh? Cola? Was that that movie? Colia is a great example. Yeah. Which I want to say bad. It's not bad. It's like a sort of 7 out of 10 sweet movie. But where you're like, oh, this is kind of dumb. All I remember is the director carrying the kid on his shoulder up to the stage. And that was the poster. I saw that film in theaters. I remember it being very sweet. Look, we're not doing the happy birthday sign thing. Credit to Mulaney. And the two of you are going to list your best supporting actor categories. But I do want to say it's a shift that people don't know. But 10 minutes on call here. No, you're right. That like foreign film used to be the treacly shit. Yeah, it's not so much. Is that what you're saying? And the biggest change was it used to be to vote in that category. You had to go to a marathon screening to go to so many screenings. But you specifically, I think when the five films were nominated, you had to go to a full day marathon of all of them. That's crazy. And so the only people who would do that were the oldest people in the world. Well, right. Who are like ready for the treacly layups. The kind of sweetest movie always won. Or is it about the Holocaust or something like that? You know, maybe it was the opposite. But I know certainly for the nomination process, that was part of it. I think it was more the nomination. You had to see every single one. And it was only retirees because no one else had the time. But that's always been the double-edged sword of the Oscars, which is ideally you would like all the people voting on the Oscars who have seen all of the movies that they're voting on. And the realistic thing is the only people who do that are 80-year-old people who have nothing else to do. And Kirsten Dunst. And Kirsten Dunst. She has said she sees all the movies. So? That's why she's our hero. Who are your nominees for Best Supporting Actor? Best Supporting Actor, I have Austin Abrams in Weapons. Hell yeah. Michael Cera in The Phoenician Scheme. Two nubs for this guy. So good. Billy Crudup in J. Kelly. Hell yes. I'm stacking. William H. Macy in Train Dreams. Okay. And Dylan O'Brien in Twinless. Is he supporting? Has fudged it, maybe? It's a tweener. Best actor's tough. It's a tweener and a twiner. Best actor's tough. Very good performance by Dylan. I guess he is. I mean, the other one, the one I wanted to say bye-bye to upon meeting. You and my podcast co-host, Chris Vile, are of the same opinion on that guy. What's his name again? The guy who wrote it. James Sweeney. Endirection? Endirection. I believe so. Yeah. Okay. So you got two shared noms with Griffith. They're correct. Yeah. What was the other one? I already forgot. Oh, Sarah. Michael Sarah and Crudit. I mean, yeah. Okay, okay. I'll do mine. All right. And then we can discuss. I have Benicio Del Toro for one battle after another. I have Delroy Lindo for Sinners. So I have that. Wow. I am going to just say that, like, Ralph Fiennes is a very obvious candidate for me. I'm going to hold him out just to have a little fun. I'm doing the same thing. I'm sticking a pen. And obviously, also, his Bone Temple Nom is inscribed in stone. And you're, like, next to the season lead? Are you? I think sort of. I was sort of thinking about that. I would say. I would put him in the lead. He's more the lead. I was so conscious. The kid is the lead of the first one and maybe kind of Aaron Johnson. I was so conscious of my Adam Driver fuck up in Blanky's Awards Pass. Oh, sure. Where in The Force Awakens and Last Jedi years, Adam Driver was my sixth and I caught him on air. Right. And I was like, can I give you the award in the third one? It'll be, yeah. He'll crush me. For Rise of Skywalker, I'll come back around and give him the trophy. He did his best in Rise of Skywalker. Adam Driver is not the issue. Not the glaring issue with that movie. No, but I couldn't be like, and that actor goes to Adam Driver for Rise of Skywalker. The difference here is we've seen Bone Temple. Bone Temple did not pull a Rise of Skywalker. No, no. All right. So I have Del Toro and Lindo. Yeah. Then I have Alexander Skarsgård in Pillion. Mm-hmm. Nicholas Holt in Superman. So good. I considered it. And Matthew Pinchillon, I'm not sure how to say his name, in Nouvelle Vague, who plays Raoul Cotard. Okay. Where I was like, did Richard Linklater fucking open a time tunnel? How did you find a guy who looks like Raoul Cotard, one, like so much? And two, get the coolest performance I've ever seen of a guy, Godard is just annoying at him for five minutes, and he goes like, okay. And I was just like, cannot take my eyes off this guy. It is. I still have not seen that movie because it doesn't exist. But. It exists, but it's tough to watch it on Netflix. Yeah. I just, it is crazy from the trailers and the images I've seen how well he has physically matched every single famous French new wave behind the camera person. Like, I think all the performances in that movie are fine. But that's right. You're just like, it's a magic trick. How do you get them all to look like this? And you look them up and almost all of them have zero previous credits. Yes. Yeah. You just went around Paris going like, and the people just showed up. I don't know. I lit a cigarette in the old pants. A performance I really loved. My winner is Benicio Del Toro. My winner is also Benicio Del Toro. Benicio, I should say, was a close six on mine. I think all of the Oscar nominees are really good this year, so it was tough leaving all of them up, but Benicio was my number six. My winner is, and I mean, I'm falling into the Oscar voter trap of category fraud, I suppose, but my winner is Dylan O'Brien. I yeah I just don't like that movie yeah I saw your people are so mad at me about that but I thought Dylan was really good in that movie yeah and he's fucking excellent I still haven't seen Senhel I know I've been watching all the yeah you've had your work cut out Del Toro for me nudged over the edge by having Phoenician schemes as well this year yep he's great in that That's a valid point. There's a real, like, range of, oh, right, this guy is one of the most powerful screen actors ever. People have started to swing against him, not, like, in a mega negative way, but I've seen a little bit of a, like, all right, everyone, he doesn't need to win. Like, I don't... The arc on that performance has been interesting because when the movie first... Insane will be remembered for 100 years performance to me. When people first started seeing the movie and Penn seemed like such the obvious jump off, like, for supporting actor. Tom Penn is so funny and weird. And so the Del Toro thing started like this underground, like, am I crazy or is Del Toro the best performance in this movie? Do you know what it kind of reminded me of? What? Departed, where it's like, well, this is a fucking Oscar play if I've ever seen it for Jack Nicholson working with Scorsese the first time. And everyone starts being like, is Wahlberg secretly like the best performance in that movie? I don't like Wahlberg in that movie, but like that was the arc of that. Yeah. You know, but it was a similar thing where everyone was like, Penn, obviously, obviously, but like, yeah. It was kind of incredible in this. Right. Like, that was absolutely the best parts of the movie. It's things the most when he's there. And then becomes fucking king of memes. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know, and then it feels like, oh, I guess he's going to get in. Holy shit. He's winning all the critics awards. Is he like cakewalking his way to a win? And then it felt like there was some pushback on like, what? We're going to give him a second Oscar because we like small beers. Oh, that's yes. Yeah. Give it to the meme guy or whatever, which like I find so annoying. He won one time 25 years ago. It's true. And he's like a Titanic actor who's got three of them in Astronoms total. Like, you know, he should have more probably. It's been over 20 years since he was nominated last. Was it 21 grams? Yeah. Nomination? Wow. Yeah. Which is so good. It's not like a comeback Brody or in the wilderness narrative. But it's more like, you know what? This guy has continued to be good. Has continued to be great. for another quarter century. Sicario was the crazy miss for him. Yeah. Because he did have major Oscar buzz that year. And that movie had a lot of Oscar attention. It got a nomination. The thing about Del Toro, too, is like, I think without him, that movie fails in a way that you can't say about, I think, any other actor. It's the two reasons I give him the win. It's A, because he also had Phoenicians. Right. And it's like, this feels like a year to fucking call it out. And B, you hear every story about how much he created for that character. Yeah. Not just in, like, the look and whatever, but, like, actual core story themes and beats that then had ripple effects across the entire script. Yes. It's not just if you pull that performance out, the movie's not as good. It's, like, the effect he had on the movie at large in the entire creative ecosystem. And his energy. His energy is so different than most of the other characters. And I think it like it draws you in closer. Right. What I love, it's it's a great old master performance where you're like this guy has like cleaned his craft down to the bone. You know, everything is so simple and unshowy with him. Yeah. And he's always classically been one of those. Who the fuck is this guy? This guy is just interesting to watch on screen. Yeah. But sometimes he can do a lot. Yeah. Sometimes he can be big. And even when he was giving more naturalistic performances when he was younger, he was leading on a lot of sort of like. Oh, yeah. Neo-James Dean affectations. Yeah, mumbling his way through usual suspects. Right. Like that kind of stuff. And you're like, this guy has just, like, gotten to, like, Zen Masterface. Yeah. I agree. Yeah, he's great. Perfectly cast. Dylan O'Brien. You want to speak on him for a moment? Yeah. So he plays two characters in Twin List. And Twin List is a movie that you start off, you sort of think you've got a handle on what's going on. this guy, you know, meets a gay guy meets a straight guy in a grief support group, and there's an infatuation going on. And you understand that, like, something's up. Something's up with the James Sweeney character and whatever. And then it hits a point where you suddenly jump to this flashback and you see Dylan O'Brien as his deceased twin brother, who is the gay one. And not to be like, this straight actor really gets us. But, like, it's just an incredibly, it's not only, I think, a really authentic feeling performance, but it also is a blast of, like, energy in a very different vein. And, again, it's the kind of thing where, like, that movie really needs this guy to sell you on in the span of one night. He kind of, like, broke this guy's brain, the James Sweeney guy's brain. and I just think it's really incredible and then you go back to the other character and he just goes through this very I don't know, this emotional journey that I find really, really good and there's a degree of like Dylan O'Brien, little Teen Wolf guy you know what I mean? Like making good and I really like that aspect to it and yeah, I just think it's that was a movie that stuck with me from when I saw it early in the season. Yeah, I was not able to watch it at Sundance because some busybodies decided to pirate it and got it removed from it. Busybodies. They were screenshotting butts. Yeah, they sure were. They got in trouble. They sure were. So I wasn't able to see it until later in the year. But I really liked it. I almost went with Bill Macy in Train Dreams, which that movie turned out to be a lot more divisive than I thought it was going to be when I saw it. I liked that movie just fine when I saw it at Sundance. I thought it was very good. I thought it was nice. I thought William H. Macy was nice. I did not anticipate it becoming, right, the cinephile Civil War movie of the year. I was really, really thrown by that. Apparently, people who read books have opinions about this. Well, it changes the book, but that doesn't bother me because whatever. Change whatever you want. But, Griffin, you were kind of whelmed by it, I feel like. You were not like Andrew. I could not click into it. I might give another shot someday. I just need to call this out. Call it out. And I'm glad you put it here. The putters and murmurs thing? Yeah. Okay. Because we've gotten a lot of messages about this. This thing screens at Sundance, and immediately people are blowing up. It's a lock, right? Passing us notes, being like, Macy and Train Dream. It was equivalent to running down the mountain and saying, J.K. Simmons is going to win Best Supporting Actor next year. Sure. Out of the whiplash screening. Right. People just saying, it's done. It's a lock. Mark it down. You know, possibly just put a burden on the movie that it was hard for it to cross. Sure. But he comes on screen, and I immediately go, the fuck are these people talking about? He's so eloquent in that movie. Old-timey vernacular does not make a putter or murmur. I would agree. He's speaking clearly in an old style of language. It's just he's got a corncob pipe. I think it's just kind of throwing people and, like, a big white beard and all that. I get it. He's got accoutrements, but, like, the vocal is not. He's got a coot remont. It's true. That's good. Every year we have to redefine what Putters and Murmurs is because I think it couldn't be more clear, and yet it's constantly misinterpreted. There was an iron lock Putters and Murmurs performance for me. Someone turn the camera on. Turn the camera on. Turn the TikTok camera on, Kyle. Clifton Collins Jr. in Eddington. This is why Putters and Murmurs exists. That's interesting. I have not thought too hard about Clifton Collins Jr. What are we talking about? I don't know, Griffin. What are we talking about? Well, should we put a payment in Putters and Murmurs? the magic card. No, that's the winner. I'm just letting people know. Clifton Collins Jr. is the winner. Come on. Is there no one else? I guess we could get back around. We'll have that conversation. We'll get back to that. Is there anyone else you want to call out in your category? I really loved Austin Abrams and Weapons. Excellent performance. I love Amy Madigan. Great actor. I don't know if Austin Abrams owns the middle of that movie to the degree that Amy Madigan owns the last third of that movie, but he holds the center portion of that movie. He picks up the torch with a palm. So well. Yep. And I really, He's so entertaining. I love, obviously, you know I love Alden Ehrenreich, former blankie winner of mine for Hail Caesar. Yes. But I was just like, this, you assume that it's just, all right, this tweaker is going to be cannon fodder for, you know, whatever monsters are happening in this movie. And he becomes so, like, affecting, weirdly. Yeah. And you really end up feeling for this guy. Yes. And it really works. It is the performance that is, like, beautifully lacking in judgment. Yeah. In a way that I feel like a lot of actors would play that character condescendingly. Yeah. While also successfully finding all the humor where it needs to be. Yeah. Yeah. He's a really good actor. And then we had Michael Cera. Michael Cera. High five. High five. So funny. You also add in how good he is in The Running Man. I haven't seen it yet. But he is the best part of that movie. Yeah. Not only that, you get to his scene. Although you know who else is good in Running Man? William H. Macy. He is. Yeah. With weirdly high billing, considering the size of his role. Similar to Strange Dreams. Good agent. Good agent. Really good agent. And also not a lot of big guys in the movie, I guess. No. Michael Cera shows up for like one extended sequence, like a 10-minute chunk of Running Man, and immediately you're like, huh, does this whole movie work better if Michael Cera is in the Glenn Powell role? Yeah. Definitely. Do most movies work better if Michael Cera's in the lead role? I really feel like we as a culture have, or at least as like a cinephile culture, have turned on Glenn Powell in a way in the last couple years. I'm still rooting for the guy 100%. I am too, but like I don't think Running Man is his fault. I think people have been a little quick to throw him under the bus and be like, oh, so that was a nothing burger. But like the days of, what was the, oh, Hitman. The days of Hitman are sort of, I just think there's a lot of automatic hostility to the type of guy he's like you know the type of star role he plays sure right now yeah uh-huh and so it's still like tougher for him to win people over and then yeah he made a couple kind of man movies and people are like all right buddy i knew you were reheated nachos get out of here yeah i think we had like a 15 year stretch of like studios really pushing your your headlands and your hunnums and your kitches yeah and all these guys who never quite many of whom i'm a fan of but yes yes yeah and i think there is still some residual kind of knee-jerk resistance to what are they pushing this guy on us for right and i think powell works really hard to be like i am not a psyop right hair but then the second he makes one movie that doesn't work people are like i fucking knew it i called it um i was never fooled but sarah's really fucking good in running man and you watch it and the performance he's giving is very different than i'd say anything he's ever done before on screen uh it's a really interesting like hostile performance yeah but you watch it and you're like oh right on top of everything else this guy did fucking like 18 months of kung fu training with edgar wright like he also can do fucking fight scenes and shit uh and phoenician scheme i'm watching it in the first half i'm like yeah yeah all the memes of course how are they not done a film together yet wes anderson yeah he's doing it really well it's a good fit he's making funny choices i like that he's playing like a fucking european eddie bracken role whatever this is good but like there's part of me going is this all wes anderson's going to use him for sure sure and it is part of like the argument for why wes anderson's not fucking stuck in a rut yeah whoever thinks that is without ruining any of the twist of the movie like halfway through he just throws an entirely different assignment at michael cera and it's like right this guy gets yeah that we pigeonhole Sarah into doing like two things well. Turns out Wes Anderson has seen both Twin Peaks, The Return, and Molly's game. And he's in the role of it. Because he knows Sarah's got that energy too. Right. Everyone likes to say this guy only plays himself. Yeah. But like there is a pretty astonishing range within the tapestry of Michael Sarah's particular frequency. Michael Sarah only plays himself is really funny because I don't know if I could give you a real good sense of who I think Michael Sarah is as a person. Well, I also, that's my problem with ever people have that criticism. It's like you're saying Blink only plays themselves. Yeah. So what you're saying is their performances remind you of how they act in interviews, which also might be an act. Right. You don't know who they fucking are. Right. Right. Anyway. Wow. That was my little stump speech. A little rant mode there All right Turn the six camera off That was good Yeah I don know I just you know Holt that a performance I adore Oh Holt and Superman is so fucking good We showered praise on Delroy Lindo on these episodes over the years. I'm crossing my fingers that he could come out of nowhere and win. It really feels like any one of the five minutes. Sorry, JJ. Sorry, JJ's Twitter rant or Blue Sky rant last night. What's JJ's fucking ranting about? It was a reasonable point. I'll just start composing you now. Fire. Follow the paper. I'm normally the one being like, you guys are too mean to JJ, but this one I was just like, it was a decent point of just like, Delroy Lindo should have had 12 Oscar nominations by now. It would be weird if he wins for this particular. I don't disagree with him. I don't disagree with that either. Who gives a shit? That's also my thing. Well, if we give him an Oscar for this now, I'm not going to be like, that one? He's really good in this. He's excellent in this. And after, you know, I think the five blood snub is the most egregious of this decade in my opinion. It's a crazy snub. It is. You know, it's that. That also might have been one to two. We all might have agreed on that. But with him, he's got the ultimate, like, how has he never been nominated and they served in this performance on a platter? Yeah. And I see Sinners a year ago and he pops up on screen and I'm like, fuck, Delroy's in the pocket in this. Yeah. This movie's a hit. Yeah. There's a year to go, but could this possibly be an Oscar contender? He gets his big monologue. He gets to, like, run throughout basically the whole picture, but be, like, just perfect supporting, like, juice. And it made me so happy that he has, like, stuck in the whole time and has been a legitimate contender. Who do you think will win the Oscar? Right now, my inclination is Stellan Scarborough. Well, I talked about this. Griffin was there lurking behind me when I recorded. Excuse me. It's called Perdue. Critical Darlings yesterday. And I mentioned that, like, our friend Kyle Buchanan's stone-cold certainty throughout the season that once the industry awards happen, that Sean Penn is going to run the table. Kyle has been making that film. And that has, the Baptists sort of leaned into that. I don't see it. I'm hoping that that's not the case. Not because I don't like that performance, because I do. He's unbelievable in that movie. But he has two Oscars. He has two Oscars already. Which is so weird if that thing fucking stuck to Benicio. We need to give him a second one and then Penn wins a third. Penn wins a third. I think that category is so wide open that it would be really, it would just be really fun if Delroy Lindo could. Because sometimes my thing with awards is sometimes when somebody gets nominated without a ton of precursors, it's like, where did that come from? You're like, well, clearly they must have really liked that. You know, they must have really liked that performance. Sure. Because they sort of disregarded the, you know, pencil sketch outline of the nominees and put him in. We were also talking about this or you were talking about this on Critical Darlings yesterday. But like sometimes people get a career boost from the snub. Like as angry as everyone was that I didn't get the five bloods nomination in the worst Oscar year. Yes. It led to like several years of discourse of being like, remember when the fucking Academy didn't. It can help. It can help for sure. He's in people's heads, I think, a little bit in the way that boosted him in this. But this also feels like when you got to his monologue in the car, I was like, Ryan Coogler kind of knows what he's doing. Yeah. Ryan Coogler sat down and was like, someone needs to fucking figure out how to get Delroy Lindo nominated. Maybe. I'm going to give him like a combo platter character where he gets to do everything. Yeah. I think Skarsgård will win because I think the Oscars really like that movie and that's where they can award it. That's my feeling as well combined with him. And he's another, like, sort of just major guy who's never gotten an Oscar nomination. And it's a quasi-lead role, and it's a dad-dad, and it's just a lot of stuff that they tend to vibe with. Yeah. But I don't know. I don't know. Who knows? Back to the blankies after these messages. David! What? This episode, don't act so surprised because it's a familiar friend. This episode's brought to you by Mubi. Yawn. Just kidding. Comfortable. Secure. We love that. They are a global film company of champions, great cinema, iconic directors, emerging auteurs. Always something new to discover with Mubi. Each and every film hand-selected. So you can explore the best of cinema. Nothing more to say, I guess. Wrong! There's a new film coming to theaters. Yep. Movie theaters, February 13th, the first Nigerian film ever in official competition again. That's pretty wild. This is a film by Akinola Davis called My Father's Shadow. It was BAFTA-nominated, poetic, tender portrait of a father-son bond framed within the political landscape of 1993 Legos in Nigeria. It is about a father and two young sons as they journey into and around the vibrantly rendered Nigerian metropolis, reckoning their relationship navigating the city that's in the middle of a democratic crisis written by real life brothers Eccanola Davis Jr. and Wally Davis love it brothers co-wrote this groundbreaking feature debut and you've got Sofe Dorisu from Slow Horses I love him I hope I'm saying his name right but he's a really good actor and he's the star it's in theaters it's in theaters we love the movie puts movies in theaters before ultimately ending up on their wonderful platform. Dang right. I'm just looking at some of the stuff they got right now. Die My Love, of course. Yeah. An important watch, a necessary watch for any blankie. La Grazia, the new Palo Sorrentino movie, which I missed in theaters. Good moment to catch up with it. The Great Shall We Dance. Oh, the classic? The original. Oh, my goodness. That's fun. Like a restoration? Yeah. Yeah, and look what they got a collection called Heartthrob Nicholas Cage. It's Young Dreamy Cage. Well, still dreaming to me? Hey, you're very open-hearted. Anyway, to stream the best of cinema, you can try Mubi free for 30 days at Mubi.com slash blankcheck. That's M-U-B-I dot com slash blankcheck for a whole month of great cinema for free. And then go see My Father's Shadow in theaters. Please, thank you for listening. Thank you. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Thank you. Very kind. Best Supporting Actress Supporting Actress. Let's do Supporting Actress. Okay, so our winners last year for Supporting Actor were for Griffin, the twink for Menorah, Mark Edel, Eddie. Mark Eilstein. For me, to my surprise, Edward Norton. and for you Joe the Brutalist Mr. Guy Pearce himself who I'm sure will be super normal presenting this award I will do mine first I guess just to switch it up my nominees are Tiana Taylor for One Battle After Another and Regina Hall for One Battle After Another Amy Madigan for Weapons Miriam Afshari for It Was Just an Accident and Una Chaplin for Avatar Fire and Ash Normal Five very deeply. Yeah, okay. Those are my guys. I was fairly chalked, though. Yeah. The one battle girls have to be there. I went with Miriam Afshari for It Was Just an Accident, Nina Haas for Hedda, Yom Hairan, apologies if I did not pronounce that correctly, for No Other Choice, Amy Madigan for Weapons, and Wunmi Masaku for Sinners. Love her. Love that nom. I do too. I have to make one tough cut here. All right. An annual tradition. My tough cut was Gwyneth, who I just love. My tough cut, I mean, Gwyneth too, my tough cut was obviously Tiana Taylor. I think Tiana Taylor is incredible. Yeah. She's doing all right without me. I love the Regina Hall performance, and I'm sort of cheating it by giving it my Sergeant Shroom Award, which is a performance where, like, I wish I could nominate it. Sergeant Shroom, just for people who don't remember, is Vin Diesel's character in Billy Lynn's long half-time walk. Got it. Got it. Love her to know all. I know everyone remembers that. I think she's incredible in that movie. Yeah. I think it is to the credit of the movie and the performance that it could so easily have the explosive Oscar moment that would have made it an undeniable contender. Much like Vin Diesel and Billy Lynn's half-time walk, when that movie, when that casting got announced, people were like, Oscar number? Well, that's why, of course, we call it the Sergeant Shroom Award. Of course, yeah. But that character is so defined by the quiet and what isn't said in the in-between space. She's incredible. I'm using that as a cheat to not give her one of my five. I have some great surprise. Wait a second. Please drop your rolling pins. Una Chaplin in Avatar Fire and Ash. Marisa, Bella, and Black Bag. Kirsten Dunst in Roof Man. Yep. She's so good in that movie. Yep. Wumi Masako I will say I think is an incredible performance and was my vote for SAG this year I'm dropping her for my five only because she's being represented by the Oscars and I want to get my five weird people in Emma Stone and Eddington incredible performance not a performance I liked I think an incredible performance and Nina Haas and Hedda Yeah, she was a tough cut for me, too, because she's really good. She rules in that movie. The only problem I have with that performance is that it's almost too easy, where I'm like, well, yeah, of course, Nina Haas playing, like, the person who you can't get over, who's so powerful. She ruined your life walking around in that dress or that outfit, you know. Yeah, of course, that's going to work on screen. Good thinking, Nina. People talk so much about, like, oh, if you just, like, flip the gender of that character, the whole text transforms, like, so rapidly. And it's like, no, but also if you just put Nina Haas in that role, someone who also has played, had a Gabler before, has been on both sides of the situation. Who are your winners, gentlemen? Joe, who's your winner? Here I'm going on the fly. I'm going to go with Miriam Afshari for It Was Just an Exident. She's so good in that movie. My winner is Amy Madigan. That was my almost, yeah. Who I thought was going to win the Oscar, but now I guess I feel like she might not. But it also might happen. It could. It still could. I think that category is pretty up in the air. That feels like a three-way race. Tiana won me and Amy. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I think the sentimental value women cancel each other out. I agree. Yep. But, like, that feels like an even three-way. If I had... The supporting actor feels like a five-way. Yeah. If I had a crisp $100 bill, I'd put it on Tiana, but, you know... I would, too. But only slightly. I wonder if... By the way, Griffin, you owe me a crisp $100 bill. I got to do something with it. Oh, sure. Yeah. I feel like Amy Madigan might pull it out at the end. Yeah. That would be great. Her similar business phone scars guard of, like, the Hollywood firmament being like, you know what? Yeah. Thank you for all your service. Did you see somebody finally asked her in an interview about her Annette Harris refusing the clown? And her answer was pretty fucking perfect. She stuck by it, and I was just like, go with that. It was pretty excellent. I think every interview she's done has been on fire. Wearing all those suits. My supporting actress winner is Nina Haas, which is like my performance of the year. Yeah, she's so good. And I, getting to the earlier point we were making, I was like, oh, but do I give it to her? Because I gave her Best Actress for Phoenix, didn't I? And then I looked back, and Phoenix was the year before we started doing it. I was like, that's my private spreadsheet. I put her in my Best of the Decade Best Actress lineup. Yep, yep, yep. But because I haven't given her an award on Mike before, I'm going Nina Hassan. That's the decade, the podcast episode that caused COVID. Yeah, the last one. We left that recording. I was like, guys, I'm going to go to a rowdy screen of cats and then live forever. We're doing great. We're doing great. Vareng is mad at you, though, and she is going to set you on fire. Look, I just. We'll have a separate conversation off Mike. David, you and I agreed on Miriam Afshari. though. I mean, I think she's never been in a movie before. The scene by the tree with the taillight, the taillight illumination was, I mean, there's some really good scenes in a lot of good movies this year, but that was up there for me. I really thought for as much as, I love the ending of that movie and that's kind of what everybody talked about, but for me the scene of that movie is that one right there. Yeah, I've been in one other movie before. Yes, that movie is one of my favorites of the years. You've got Tiana and Regina, it's very obvious. Amy Madigan, you know, did you clock her when when you saw the movie like were you like this is amy madigan like when when the character because i was not really like i definitely didn't in the trailer in the movie yeah right like so yeah and like obviously gladys's first appearance is when she's apart from the little glimpses is when she's in full wig mode yeah and i was just like it's kind of like the don't look now thing where i'm like did he just like find someone from another dimension Like, I don't get it. What is this? Who is this? Right. My problem. And then when you see her with the wig off, I was kind of like, okay, no, no, no. Who is this? This is an actress I know. And you could carry a gear. No, my problem is that the release of that film basically directly coincided with the worst of my no other choice-esque dental nightmares. Oh, God. Yeah, I remember that. You took a while to see it. I couldn't see the movie for like a week because I was sick and vomiting from a dental infection. So by like... Dental infection? Yeah. Ben, I had a lot of food going on. His gums got all fucked up. Remember? My mouth was bleeding. Tooth stuff. Yes. Right. My mouth was bleeding, Bert. Sorry. Within three days, people were already doing the like, can Amy Madigan get a supporting actress nomination? Yeah, yeah, right, right. This is a cheat. I went in knowing she was a thing. Well, maybe we'll sneak it in. Right, right, yeah. Totally, totally. You loved Emma Stern and Eddington. That's not a performance I like. Yeah, I liked Eddington a lot. Me too. That sort of sits on me maybe. It was my least favorite part of it. I don't dislike her Yorgos performances. I don't either. This was my favorite performance she has given in many years. I thought it was the most different thing I have seen her do in a long time. I think she's capturing something really interesting for me, which is the, you know, in a movie that is all about, like, everyone's living in separate realities, right? Yeah. That for me so accurately captures the chaos of what it feels to be alive right now and that no one can agree on the ground we're standing on. Right, right. This very tricky thing of like people who have experienced extreme trauma can be disconnected from reality in a way that is a coping mechanism. Sure. Where you don't know. Yeah. Whether to believe them or not. Yeah. even when you have endless sympathy for the understanding of what caused this disconnect. Right, exactly, whatever happened. Well, and then you have Deirdre O'Connell in the other room breaking stick figures and casting spells. Right. And I think Emma Stone gets the kind of weird husk of that really right. It really worked for me. I found it. I found it very good. Yeah. I also just want to shout out Yom Hairan for No Other Choice, who plays the wife of the guy that the main character is trying to knock off and is so funny. Yes. Oh, yes, yes, yes. He's very funny. Yes. One of those, a great running performance. Every time she runs somewhere in that movie, I think it's very funny. Your winner is Miriam? My winner is Miriam. Griffin, who's your winner? Mina Haas. Right. Of course, right. Okay, great. I'm going to read you the blankies supporting performance winners. Okay. Or I'll go from 10 to 1. Okay. 10, Miles Caten and Sinners. A great, great find. Great performance. 9, Odessa, Zion, and Marty Supreme. 8, Stellan Skarsgård and Sentimental Value. 7, Delroy Lindo. 6, Inga Evesdottir Lilius. Is that how you say it? Sentimental Value. Yeah, she's great. Tiana Taylor is number 5. Amy Madigan, number 4. Sean Penn, number 3. Ray Fiennes, our beautiful Dr. Kelsman, number 2. And Ray Benicio is their winner. Yeah, that makes sense. It all makes sense. It all makes sense. It all falls into place. As the Lightning Seeds once said. Let's do our screenplays, maybe. Let's do it. I'm trying to think. Yeah, that's what we did last time. Okay, yeah. Let's do our screenplays. Okay. Okay. All right. Okay. Original or adapted? Let's go original first. Best original screenplay. Okay, I got It Was Just an Exit. Written by Jafar Panahi. Secret Agent. Written by Kleber. Kleber Philo. Sinners written by Ryan Coogler If I Had Legs That Kick Ya by Mary Bronstein and Robert Kaplow's Blue Moon script were my five interesting is that interesting? I thought it was interesting mine are Blue Moon written by Robert Kaplow Griffin in Summer written by Nicholas Collier got my ears a burning It Was Just an Accident, Jafar Panahi Lurker written by Alex Russell and Twinless written by James Sweeney My original screenplay nominations are If I Had Legs, I Kick You Sinners Weapons Eddington And of course David, say it with me Materialist I just want to point out You sort of were getting a little Bob Duca-y there Sinners Weapons Parker Posey Fox Lucy Lou Flo My winner is It Was Just an Accident which I think is great in every way but is a quiet like crucial screenplay, crucial story construction kind of movie But those are all good winners Did thankfully get that Right, that got a nom It didn't get Best Picture The Oscars They went pretty Yeah, they have sentimental value in there. They have Marty Supreme in there. But they, yeah. I assume, I still assume Coogler is winning there. I do too. Because of the Oscar trend of awarding black directors screenplay awards. Screenplay, yeah. Rather than giving them director. It's funny. Spike Lee, Jordan Peele. They're like, well, we got a screenplay award for you. Here, Barry Jenkins. Yes. Plus, it also just feels like it's a very tidy split between one battle after another and Sinners. Yes, of course. Where they get one to one and one to the other. And I think Spinner's is kind of a brilliant, like, brilliant, brilliant idea. And it was like a well-written movie. I'm not – it's just funny. Like, it's just like such a visual fucking feast. And, you know, like, yeah, anyway. I hope he wins. I want him to win. Look, there was always the thing of, like, original screenplay, that's the cool category. Yeah. That's the coolest movie that the Academy has recognized, but it's a little too edgy or out there or new to win Best Picture. It's the Pulp Fiction. It has sort of just become, we will let black filmmakers get this close. Or Nick Falonga. Of course. Or Nick Falonga. Well, we salute. But even, you know, those are, I'm about to name two films that were not written by their directors, but John Ridley winning for 12 Years a Slave. Yep, yep. And what's in Jeffrey Cheshire for Precious? I believe that's correct. Like there has been a last 15 years like this is the exact ceiling. And then. Really good point. Right. Yeah. Moonlight, of course, just the weirdest Oscar shakedown of all time. Shake out, I mean. Who are your guys' winners? It was just an accident for me. Also for me, it was just an accident. Wow. Who are you going for? That's a really good question. Purple Nurple. Are you going to murder me if I pick Materialist? I'm not going to murder you. No, I want to hear you talk about it. Because I was sort of, I did not like that movie, but I was fascinated by it. Yeah, I think that movie is like the it is exploding the subtext in all kind of Hollywood romantic comedies into a like examination of how dating has basically just become or rather partners have become another form of currency in our like insane late stage capitalism. hellscape sure that the whole movie is about that we have basically reduced this to like a sense of belonging in your like it's it's another thing you own in your brand portfolio sure sure certainly for a particularly for a character like dakota johnson yes and how much we've like gamified dating through apps and that's yes right and then you know the people with the money to afford it bypass the apps by getting the bespoke throwbacky experience. Yeah. And that all of this doesn't actually consider what makes you want to be with someone, what makes a relationship work, you know, the intellectualization of the kind of person you want to be with versus who you were emotionally drawn to. And I just think it's like an incredible movie about people lying to themselves. That is definitely true. I, two things, and neither one of this is to sort of discount your choice. One of which is I recently, I have made the somewhat bonkers decision to, for the 25th anniversary of the movies of 2001, to watch the movies of 2001 throughout the year as they are released, as they were released back then. So I watched The Wedding Planner. Oh, sure. That movie. Yeah. That movie scans onto materialists so well in a way that I think doesn't do materialists any favors, because it's like we were kind of doing a lot of these beats 25 years ago. I would say. Where, like, you know, a matchmaker and a wedding planner, you know, why do they even want to be together? Like, is this just a status symbol, yada, yada? The other thing is I like Pedro Pascal in some things. I'm very with whatever this is. He really does not meet the moment in that movie. He comes across as such a TV actor in that movie. I firmly disagree. Yeah. If you liked the movie, you would almost have to. And, like, I admit my – perhaps my single greatest movie frustration of 2025 is how badly he fumbled Reed Richards. It drives me crazy. He did fumble it. I think it speaks to – in my opinion, why he works in materialists. I know all my defenses of materialists are this is a feature, not a bug. Sure. But I feel very strongly about this. But that's how you end up liking movies against consensus. You end up liking the thing that everybody didn't like. I think, and I feel like there are other performances in the past I've referred to this way, and I'm struggling to recall another one now, but I think Pedro Pascal is giving a great fake movie star performance in Materialist. I think it is about his limitation. Sure. You know, and how, like, it's like, right, this guy should be, like, a giant movie star. Why isn't this working? Yes, I think that's what he's trying to do. I agree. Right, and all of this, what you're saying, is saying to me, I'm really not surprised this movie did not do well. I think it did well. I mean, it made money. It did make more money than it. It made $100 million worldwide. The crux of my whole take on this movie is I understand why it drove everyone insane because the marketing was, hey guys, we're bringing it back. I was not baffled by the marketing of this movie. I understand what you're saying in terms of a commercial response, but I was not expecting anything out of the marketing of this movie. I just feel like every critic friend of mine who saw this movie early was like, the tone of this is so bizarre. It's not a comedy. It's not funny. I did agree that it could not pick a tone, yes. But the sexual assault plot line especially landed so thuddingly for me, especially the way she reacts to it. I did not track a human onto that behavior. But my problem with Pascal was I was like, I think he's trying to come off as a little stiff, and he's coming off as someone with heads in his reach. and I just like the whole time was just like I don't understand who this person is and the movie doesn't really yes she's a little blinded by her stats and figures but I'm like she can't have sex with this person because he's crazy well the movie is also fairly eager to move on from him that's also true the movie gives him nothing we should put maybe a spoiler alert around this section of the conversation because this is a danger we get into every year at the Blankies where we start just throwing out random things. That's true. People get grumpy on the Blankies episodes specifically. This movie came out a lot. For me, it all works in the fucking kitchen scene where she, like, confronts him and he just, like, unravels and is like, why is this not working? I'm everything on paper. Yeah, I see that. I think his vulnerability in that scene totally makes it work for me. There is, like, a desperate, eager, just sort of, like, kind of pathetic quality that feels very honest, Which I also think is part of the Pedro Pascal thing of, who is this guy really? Right. Well, I mean, that's sort of a lot of his essential thing. Totally. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. I think there is one choice in relation to the sexual assault plotline in the movie that I think is a fatal mistake. Uh-huh. which is having the following scene take place in real time on their doorstep where Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans profess their love to each other. I think that cannot happen continuously with what she has just been doing. It just contributed to the feeling of like, these don't feel like people to me in the slightest. Yeah. Like, I just had that problem with it throughout. Yeah. But, like, I really was just like, this is not human behavior. and satire or not, I've lost any grip on this movie because they're just not behaving like humans at all. Yes, it totally clicked for me, and part of it is also that maybe I have dated three different Dakota Johnsons in my life. Anyway, next Saturday. Is it your screenplay winner? That was my screenplay winner. It is your screenplay winner. Yeah, because I'm realizing this is the one place I can sort of mount my case for it. Plant your flag. Plant your flag. I mean, yeah, it's that. Or what? I mean, you have five nominees. I know. The other four are probably better. IMO. Can't remember. Yeah. If I'd Legs I'd Kick, you sent her Rebens, Eddington, Materialist. Yeah, those are all really good ones. Eddington was, I mean, one of your favorite movies of the year. Yeah, well, we'll get to that. Yeah, right, right. You know what? I've made my case for Materialist. I'm going to give it to a If I'd Legs I'd Kick. A great movie. Yeah, because I thought I was going to give Justress to Rose Byrne, but I think I'm going to swing on that. Justress in my swing. Yeah, that's a special one in real time. I will tell you, the Blankies winners are, for original screenplay, I'll just go 1 to 5. Sinners was their winner, and then Marty Supreme, Weapon, Sentimental Value, It Was Just an Accident, and then Adapted One Battle was their winner. Oh, well, we're about to do one. Yeah, we haven't done Adapted yet. Best Adapted Screenplay. But I'll tell you something. One Battle was their winner, then No Other Choice. 28 Years Later, Begonia, and Wake Up Dead Man. My Adapted Screenplays, let me see. One Battle After Another, 28 Years Later. Peter Hujar's Day Hedda and Superman I'm glad you had Peter Hujar's Day those are my five mine are Hamnet Chloe Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Hedda, Nia DaCosta One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson Peter Hujar's Day, Iris Axe Wake Up Dead Man, Rian Johnson I was worried that Peter Hujar's Day is just so much a oh we have these transcripts no but I mean it's all precisely constructed yeah trying to what is my number five going to be I also realized I fell into one of the bullshittier Oscar things which is you're adapted if you have characters from previous movies I think spiritually I disagree with but in this case I wanted to nominate Wake Up Dead Man. Yeah, I mean, to me, right, saying Wake Up Dead Man is adapted is bizarre. Yes, it is. But, I mean, he's there. Otherwise, y'all were getting Song Song Blue, and I would have stood by it, but... Well, I'm glad it all worked out. Stay tuned. I'm struggling with my number five here, weirdly. Well, give us your four. Yeah, because I'm just trying to remind myself on what qualifies as what a little bit. My four definitely No Other Choice One Battle After Another Wake Up Dead Man A Knives Out Mystery Final Destination Bloodlines Good movie Is Roofman adapted? I don't actually think it is It's just based on a true story You don't want to nominate 28 years later Oh I'll nominate 20 years later Correct thank you sorry Yes. Yeah. That's exactly what I'm doing. Yeah. So I'm three sequels sneaking in there. Yeah. 20 Years Later is a, yeah, just a fucking fantastic screenplay. It's a great screenplay. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And it's my nominee for me. Yeah. I mean, I'm giving a win to One Battle. Like, sorry, guys. Like, One Battle's winning a lot of my awards. We're not breaking anybody's brains by saying One Battle, but it's the best. It is the best. And it's also a very interesting feat of adaptation. Yeah. It's like taking the guts of a book and, you know, messing it around in all kinds of ways. I take everybody's word for that because there's no way I... You don't want to crack open the vines? I can't read, so it would be pointless. I'm giving it to No Other Choice. Yeah. Other than Benicio, One Battle is, like, coming in, like, second for me in almost every category. Yeah. Park Chan-wook and Don McCallum and Lee Kyung-mi. and Lee Jahi. And that is based on a novel? The Act by Donald Wesley. Yes. Thank you to everyone who sent me the Costas Gavris film. Oh, right. It's hard to find. The prior adaptation. And if anyone wants a link, I now have 47 of them. So I have many ways to watch the movie. I can just goon it. I can surround myself. We're going to clip that as well. You don't need to goon it. Okay, so... Anytime I invoke Gooning on the show, listeners go, does he just think it's having a lot of screens? I know what the other stuff is. I'm just going... I don't want to talk about it. He gets it. Oh, you don't want to talk about it? I don't want to talk about it. What are your animated... It's a family show. It's so true. Best Animated Feature. What are your animated films, Griff? Give me your five. This is actually a tough year for this. And I will say I have not... I have some big blind spots. You haven't met Little Amelie yet. Yeah. I mean, this is the problem is like I'd be putting in some stuff I like. OK, just to fill out the five. Sure. That's the kind of three. Yeah. I mean, like the day the earth blew up. Oh, yeah. Sure. K-pop demon hunters. Yeah. And I'm like, what else do I even like? I admittedly haven't seen Arco yet. Oh, sure. I haven't seen Little Amelie yet. I was not crazy about Zootopia 2. What about Elio? I was not crazy about Elio. What about Fixed? I really was not crazy about that one. The Jenny Tartosky movie about a horny dog. Gotta cut his balls off. See, for some reason, I thought that movie turned out to not actually... Like, I know the joke, ha-ha, doesn't exist, but I thought it was a Jenny Tartosky movie. There was a real threat of it being a Zazlav, and it escaped containment. And, of course, we devoted a full episode to it. Of course. No, I don't even know what my, like, number three would be. I have some, yeah. What about you guys? Yeah, I have, yeah, it's boring. Yeah. Like, it's Utopia 2 and Arko and K-pop Demon Hunters, and then, yeah, I have to be, like, I guess Elio. I basically have to change. Yeah, I can't. Yeah, it's a weak year. I haven't seen Little Amelie, which got the off the nom. Little Amelie and Arko, I think they're in the same bucket for me, which is just, like. I did not really care for Arko. I thought Arko was fine. I thought Little Amelie was fine. I thought Elio was not bad, which felt like a radical opinion to me because I think Elio got a lot of shit for some reason. Yeah, I think Elio's solid. But, like, Elio left my brain. Yeah. Before it was over. I barely remember. And, like, I didn't, like, despise it. I'm putting Elio and Zootopia in. I don't think either one's bad. I thought Zootopia 2 was fine. I very much enjoyed it. I enjoyed myself with Zootopia 2. And K-pop Demon Hunters is kind of my number one with a bullet, even though I think that movie is mostly a good time that is grafted onto a decent movie. I'm glad everyone is having fun. Me too. I was a little bit like, I had my control for this. The songs are now encoded in my brain. I haven't seen Predator Killer of Killers, which I've heard is excellent. So our blankies put that in there, along with Arco, De Deer, and Chainsaw Man, Ben's favorite movie of the year, was number two for them. and then K-Pop Demon Hunters. I continue to struggle with the Niazha films. I cannot make sense of them. They're a little impenetrable. Bad Guys 2 kind of did nothing for me. The King of Kings and David, obviously, my two favorite movie. Did you see the Chainsaw one, too? That's Ben's favorite. I did not see that. I did not. I missed that one. Oh, Joe. Yeah? Worth it? It's fun. Okay. All right. Sneaks is one of the worst films I saw all year. That's a movie about talking sneakers. No, it's not. Yeah, it is. Starring Anthony Mackie. Tony. It's starring Martin Lawrence, who this is kind of there was an interesting technical breakthrough. If I can just animation nerd out for a second on the movie, Sneaks. That is the first voiceover performance recorded entirely while someone is fully asleep. Just kind of put a mic by the bed there. We're doing a lot with sleep technology. Yeah. Yeah. That's what it sounds like the whole time. He was getting tested for sleep apnea, and they thought while we were doing that, while we got him hooked up to machines, why not we also record a voice? Yeah. Any vocal performances we want to shout out this year? Honestly, no. I'm moving us on from the animation. You know what? We're all struggling here. Look, we talked about... You know what? David Struthairn and Andy Samberg did a great job in Zootopia 2. The whole Zootopia cast was great. I thought Samberg was really good. Yeah. I agree with you. Marin in The Bad Guys 2. I haven't seen that one yet. I really just want to talk about Goat, which is 2026. Oh, you're all about Goat. Goat Rocks. I still haven't seen Goat yet. That's good. number one movie in america is it yeah i got it there baby yeah yeah joe what you're witnessing is a very interesting inflection point in the narrative of blank check right okay which is i'm getting nonplused about all animated films uh-huh and david is going to see them with his daughter sure like this fucking rules i i it's kind of a i'm now in the i think if there's an animated film she's old enough where it's like yeah there's a cartoon you're gonna go see it like we're going to hoppers we're going to mario galaxy right like whatever the ones coming down the pike car. Hoppers, do you mean Meryl Streep's grand return to feature films? After, like, five years away? Hoppers, the first time Meryl Streep has played an insect queen in an animated film in 20 years? I mean, after the Empoli? Is that what we're talking about? That's correct. One of the greatest Cinematrix plays. I literally was like, the only reason I'm pulling that is because I've been in the Cinematrix. Yeah, yeah. All right, what else should we do here? Have you guys, did you guys do nominations for casting? Because that's the inaugural Oscar category. I did not, no, I don't do a casting nomination. It was kind of chalk, except for I wanted to throw in Griffin and Summer, which I was like, if you cast really awesome kid characters. Can I just call dibs on the other three seasons? Oh, Griffin and Spring, Griffin and Autumn. I will seed Summer to hand. What, are you going to do some Romare? I still have the other three. You're doing a Romare? Like, I want to complete the season quadrilogy? I just don't like this uppity little movie. Have you seen it? No, I've heard it. I think you've really enjoyed it. I think you're a real winner. It is a real winner. You probably love it. The whole thing with this, you know what? Everyone's got a new Griffin they love. Pin in Griffin and Summer. Okay. All right. Interesting. But cinematography. Best cinematography. Cinematography. Cinematography. Mine are Darius Kanji for Marty Supreme, Michael Bauman for One Battle After Another, Alex Ash for Peter Hujar's Day. Yeah, gorgeous. Mauro Hurst for Serrat. And Adolfo Veloso for Train Dream. Pretty movie. Yeah. Probably going to win the Oscar. Or no, actually. I think it's going to be One Battle. One Battle. Yeah, I mean, One Battle of the Fucking Rock. Yeah. Yeah, I have One Battle of Marty Supreme. I have 28 Years Later, which is my winner. That's such a good pick. Yeah, I have a Phoenician Scheme because, of course, like, every West movie basically deserves every Technom I can. I think it's Bradley Del Bonnell. I love them except for one movie that the weirdest Oscar narrative breaks my brain all the time. Yeah. This is the first live-action movie he's done with anyone other than Bob Brayman? Yes. Which is also really interesting. I can't remember what. I don't know if there's a reason. I don't either. Maybe he and Yeoman got in a fight over, like, craft services. But Yeoman goes all the way back to Bottle Rocket, right? He goes way back. And then No Other Choice is my fifth. Yeah. Mine are 28 Years Later, Die My Love. Oh, yeah. No Other Choice, One Battle After Another, and Phoenicians Game. Nice. He does go all the way back to Balaraka. Yeah, what the fuck happened? I don't know. I don't know. I mean, Delvin El's a king. I mean, he's one of my favorite DPs. But you're right, Joe. I will never stop yelling about this. It makes no sense to me. Even when they don't like the movie, he should be getting, like, Young Victoria-style nominations. I think that's why they don't do it. Well, Tannenbaum gets a screenplay nomination, so clearly you saw it. Clearly you liked it. And yet, like, no production design. And you could go, okay, so was that movie too edgy at that point in time for the Academy? Sure, but now it should be agreed on. Right, and it's like, it feels like what happened last year with Ray Fiennes not winning for Conclave, where people were like, but he already has one, right? Yeah. This is another Griffin Buckner. Right, where it feels like people are like, but hasn't Wes Anderson, like, haven't his movies won, like, 20 Kraft Awards? You will hear that from people being like, oh, another, you know, play for craft nominations from Les Anderson. It's like, no, actually, kind of never. Desplat won for Grand Budapest. And did Grand Budapest win? It won makeup and hairstyle? It won like three or four awards, I feel like. But it didn't get, because like, obviously, Tivo beats it for cinematography. Yeah, it won for costumes, makeup, score, and production design. So Stockhausen, it's like Stockhausen has his Oscar. Maybe that's how they feel, but I don't know. I don't know, and I don't like it. Yeah, it's bad. The Blankies winners here, our listeners were One Battle, and then Sinners, 20 Years Later, Train Dreams, and No Other Choice. So, you know, good-looking movies. Good-looking movies. Score? Best score. I've got some score nominees Kind of Chalky One Battle Sinners Surat Testament of Anne Lee And Trains Testament of Anne Lee is a good shout Yeah If nothing else And I've kind of been like In many group texts I've been the sort of holdout On Testament of Anne Lee But like There are elements of that movie That like Are really fantastic I was left quite cold By that film But it's quite impressive You're one of the very few people who I've heard that from, and I'm glad to have at least some company. For some reason, that became the, like, gay guy cause celeb this year. And I was like, oh, there's some, like, actual movies with, like, gay characters. I mean, I know that whatever, Lewis Pullman in that movie and whatever. But, like, I don't know. Everybody was just on the Cypher train. And she's great. I love Cypher. Adore that movie. I'll talk about it in a little bit. All right. I did. I forgot to post this on Letterboxd when I saw it. But I saw the film, was very moved by it, was very affected by it. Immediately came out with, like, a couple of really good pitches for if I had to write for the Spirit Awards. Uh-huh. Testament of Stanley. I mean, it's right there. Tim Robinson's Share Company parody, where he shows up at the Shakers, and he's like, What's going on here? And they just keep singing. That would be fun. That would be good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because they made all those great chairs. I just wanted the whole movie to be about furniture. Right. And it's like one line. And then my third Spirit Awards pitch was Shake It Off. They do like a Daniel Blumberg-style performance of Taylor Swift, Shake It Off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought there was like three good pitches right off the dome. You seem just like seething with rage that the spirits did not take you up on this. Did they even acknowledge, Ann Lee? I feel like the spirits were kind of so odd. Editing, because I drafted it in our other secret movie league we're part of. What? And I got it for $1, and I was like, I'm going to fucking reap the riches with this. I'm the only one who has it on their slate, and that is the only major reward I got all year. Indie spirits were weird this year in that, like, the nominations were so pleasantly, like, off the map. Yeah, because they do the work journey. In that, like, really classic indie spirit way of, like, oh, this used to, like, give me 20 ideas for movies that I hadn't seen. Right? Yeah. And then because of that, it was so much more stark that, like, oh, there's one per category that's, like, an Oscar nominee crossover. And so, of course, those ones were the ones that won. Train Dreams won. Train Dreams won. Sorry, baby, which is not an Oscar nominee, but was also, like, everybody's pick for Best First Feature this year. So, like, that won a few of them. And, like, Rose Byrne won. Very well deserved, but, like, is an Oscar nominee. My nominees for Score War I, Battle of Marty's Supreme, 28 years later, Young Fathers, Sinners, and Tron Aries. I did not see Tron Ares I was waiting to have to see it because it's an Oscar nominee I believe it I'm now wondering if I have the exact same 5 You might I mean there's other good scores this year though What have I been listening to? What have I been bumping? Black Bag score is great, the Weapon score is great Weapon score is really cool Not as much one to bump Because it's so disorienting But good What are some other good scores? The Superman score, the weird sort of hodgepodge nature of it not withstanding but it's good and Lee for sure I don't know I don't know mate thank you mate I gave what? final destination of screenplay now I'm just remembering that yeah thank you I think that is a perfectly structured screenplay I think that movie is so smart I give it so much credit for like after six right no no this is the sixth entry there were five previous yeah final destinations yeah uh showing up and just being like this is clearly what all of these movies should have been all like just finding the perfect narrative structure and emotional like underpinning for one of these films yeah i also think that movie does some of the smartest legacy sequel shit i have ever seen agree it is the opposite of the stuff that makes my teeth hurt where there is a well they essentially were like david gordon green's halloween but like what if it wasn't stupid well because the movie basically there is a reading of it that is not necessary for you to enjoy the film yeah that this is the starting point of the entire franchise yes that everything that has happened in the five previous films which have their own fast and furious style jumbled timeline where things keep on getting right rearrange are all the trickle effects of this one incident that happened that is the cold open that is so good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I really liked it. I thought it was really creative. I think I go to those movies, it's like, I'm not normally this much of a status, but I'm like, I need creative kills. I need, you know what I mean? Like, I become like a, a, a real struggle to be a little, you know, sort of, yeah. Incredibly good. And I, I just think the Tony Todd scene is like excellent It is another perfect example of just like retroactively applying all this meaning to previous movies that are like I find that entire franchise very fun But a lot of times through a lot of wonkiness. Oh, totally. Like, the power of the ideas push through a lot of conceptual, like, sort of inconsistencies. But, yeah. And a lot of it's, like, a master class of directing. but also and I've said this so many times any movie that can get an entire audience to cheer when a child dies yeah is doing some sort of I completely agree super sophisticated rainy-esque it was the way I felt watching Send Help where I'm like these are filmmakers who know how to play the audience like a drum that's a movie I wish I hadn't seen the trailer because the one trailer gives away so much of the backyard scene with the lawnmower and whatnot that I was like But that scene has so much wrong footing and so many Mr. X. Oh, that's true. But it's just like I just wanted – I wanted that – I understand why. It's the same thing with the Running Man trailer where they give away so much of the one action scene in the hallway or the elevator or whatever they're doing. I liked that the first Bloodlines teaser was the piercing tattoo shop. Yes. Which is the ultimate fakeout. Exactly. So I was like, oh, this is a good sequence and they're ruining it to do the marketing. And then you see it in the context of the movie, and you're like, no, this was the exact thing for them to spoil. It's not even that character. Because in context, it's totally different. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's great. Can I give out a special honorific award? Sure. Can I do one right after? Yeah, of course. The first ever Iowa Debris Memorial Couldn't Be More Seated Award. I say memorial because her time as a guest on a show is probably it. look once in a while i i talk to i o largely about my kids uh but once in a while i will be like gotta come back on bc someday and i'm like hey man doors open yeah she is about to do proof on broadway yes that's in new york here oh shit yeah she will also be fairly busy doing what is having seen you know the original production one of the more dependent theater roles i'm aware of existing yeah i wonder how that's gonna go i feel like we threw spielberg to her and she said i only want to do Columbo main feed. She didn't say I only want to, but she did say I really want to do that. And, you know, again, it's sped it up. But you are honoring, of course, your iconic I'm so seated. I couldn't be more seated. I couldn't be more seated. They're telling me it's not coming out for months, but I'm remaining seated. You know, her tweet. So this is my award for the best performance with zero standing up. Now, I think it's important that the performance cannot textually be a character who lacks the ability to stand. I understand. It needs to feel like the actor is overriding any demands, going, I got an idea. What if I'm just a little, what if I'm sort of in this chair here? What if I have an emotional connection to this chair? I really shouldn't leave it. Yeah. And this award was inspired, and I think this is much like Plutters and Murmits, something that would be easy to fill every year. But it was inspired by seeing a performance this year that was, in my memory, three or four different scenes in a couple different locations. All seated. And every time I cut back to this actor in a chair, I was just going, oh, I hope he doesn't fuck up the streak. I hope he never stands up. Al Pacino in Dead Man's Wire. Oh, yeah. I have not seen, but I've heard that his performance is a smidge low energy. Four different chairs by my count. Four different chairs. I believe I read that he shot the entire performance in one day. I also believe that. The movie takes place over, like, I think 72 hours. But he goes from, like, a country club to, like, a couple different rooms in his home. Yeah. Different chairs. But this man... Offscreen, he's moving and wheeling and dealing, but we never see it. And he's doing a lot, but he could not be more seated. And it's a clear choice by Big Al. I thought you were going to go for, like, Tracy Letts in House of Dynamite or something like that. But he's leaning and standing. Does he stand? Okay. Yeah. And he's going, like, okay. So it's there in the name. They could not be more seated. There have to be zero qualifiers in this performance. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Nuremberg, I've pointed out already, but Crow, I mean, he does do like some push-ups in one scene, but, you know, Crow is largely either lying down or sitting. Crow is a spiritually seated actor. I mean, he did a whole fucking serial killer movie where he's in the car the whole time. You know what I mean? Where they were like, you have to play like a crazy guy. He's like, you know, sit in the car, knock it out. And another one was just like, what if I was sitting on this Vespa for most of this book? The Pups Exorcist? Yeah. Different than, what was the other one he did? He did another movie called The Something Exorcism. Yes. Oh, right. That almost felt like they were like, we sort of CGI'd a little different haircut on you from deleted scenes from the other exorcist movie. Isn't that one about he's a guy who played an exorcist or something? A troubled actor begins to exhibit disruptive behavior. I don't see how Russell Crowe would vibe with that character. Am I not wrong that he is in some sort of middle space between real movies? Yes. And like Bruce Willis depressing Redbox. Correct. Like slop. Yes. You know, kind of stuff. They're more legitimate than that. Yeah. It's an interesting zone he's in. But once again, this category, which exists and is open to you gentlemen for all years going forward. Yeah. It's not for the spiritually seated. No. And if Russell Crowe is getting up and doing pushups in one scene, then unfortunately, I have a note. There is a way that you could be more seated. It's simply not doing the pushups. Yeah. It has to be someone who does not get up from the chair once. The rigorousness of your parameters really, like, dissuades me from, like, picking something on the fly. I will have to punt until next year, but next year I'll come locked and loaded. Yeah, just think about it. All right. Yeah. All right. Mine is, so on my podcast, This Had Oscar Buzz on our Patreon, we have been taken to doing what we call superlatives awards, which is all the weird detritus movie awards from various places. The NBR, whatever, tribute to integrity and filmmaking or whatever. Yeah, of course. Best Kiss from the MTV Movie Awards, the Can Palm Dog, things like that. And sometimes we make up our own category. And as soon as we were done, I texted Chris and I said, I forgot the one category I wanted to do, which is Best Wife on Phone. Because the trope of the wife on phone. Catherine Keener and Sully. Catherine Keener and Sully is me. Absolutely. No, she's in Captain Phillips. Correct. Sorry, I knew it was Laura Linney. Laura Linney and Tully. But the two, yeah, those are your twin pillars of, like, exactly what I'm talking about. I hope no pirates get you today, honey. All right, I'll see you later. Diane Lane in The Perfect Storm? Diane Lane in The Perfect Storm is on the CB radio. Yes. Yeah, for sure. She's wife on CB. I can't remember if she ever gets in a boat. But Mary Elizabeth Master Antonio is in a boat. Right. No, she's in the war room. She's in the war room? Like, she's the one on the horn. Yeah. Like barking out instructions. Yes. You know who's in the war room is Tracy Letts. That's true. Yes. Now he could be more seated. Joe? Yes. Who is your nominee this year? My nominees are. Okay. You got a full five. I did. Yeah. Put some creative accounting. Yeah. Renee Elise Goldsberry in House of Dynamite, who is a flotus on phone wearing full Brian Fellows Safari getup. Obviously. The funniest cut in that movie. I swear to God. She's going to be tough to beat this year. So she is. She's going to be tough to beat. This might be a Jesse Buckley run. So funny. Her Nailies Goldberry. Greta Gerwig and Jay Kelly, who have multiple wife-on-phone scenes with Adam Sandler. Yeah. Melanie Diaz in Roofman. An actress I was so happy to see. Same. But she didn't have a ton to do it. In a good Roofman. I don't know if that character gets done wrong. The movie doesn't not make the claim of, like, and he was much happier when he wasn't saddled with this family. I, okay. Can I just say this quickly now? Yes, yes. Not to interrupt your category. No, we'll put a pin. But I was pumping Roofman really hard when it came out. I like Roofman, yeah. And I saw some blankies be like, I don't get it. Really? Well, in specifically saying, I think this character is kind of a bad guy and the movie wants me to root for him and is trying to turn it into like a charming romantic comedy. And once again, I'm like, I think the movie is a portrait of a complicated man. Yeah. I think what it is digging with is that this guy abandoned his daughters. Yeah. And I was like. Yes. Over like parenting. Right. Right. He's being too pregnant. He wants to be the hero. For his surrogate daughters. Yes. But you know that it's like he's going to fucking do this again. And that like the ending of the film is not some like their love was true kind of thing. Right. It's like speaking to this guy's feelings are genuine and yet he can't stop fucking this up and hurting people. This is a thing I talked about a bunch with my vulture colleague, Roxanna Haddadi, who is a huge Derek Sean's France fan. We're like the two most enthusiastic place beyond the pines people that I know. And there is a degree to which we're like, we're not going to tell you you have to see another movie before you see Roof Man. But like knowing the whole Derek Sean France thing really helps you get more out of Roof Man. Because like it is the bad dad thing. It is the sort of like the terminal fuck up kind of a guy that really plays into that. And because it's at a more comedic pitch, I think people and I think some of this is a training from decade, a decade plus of very kind of. How would I put this didactic characterization, especially from TV, but from a lot of studio films. Yeah. Just like characters are really clean cut. Yeah. Good or bad. Yeah. And if you're wrestling with someone who is complicated, that has to be a heavy dramatic movie. And to see a comedy in which a character is complicated and, like, can do things that are both. A light comedy. It's not like a 70s comedy. It's not like now it's a little if you're anymore, kind of. It feels like a 70s. Yeah, light drama. Five easy pieces. Like, this guy is equally captivating and nauseating. My thing was, if the Golden Globe comedy categories weren't so crowded with fake comedies. great comedies, rip-roaring comedies. Then Channing Tatum would have been an ideal nomination. Do you think Derek C. in France looks like an AI of Ryan Gosling that kind of went wrong? You know what I mean? It's Ryan Gosling and Clark Gregg. Yeah, right. He sort of melded the two of them. But in Blue Valentine, with Godwin with the hairline back. And he had the big aviator sunglasses. And I was like, this is a cool look for Gosling. And then I saw my first interview with Derek C. in France. And I was like, oh, okay. He just took a picture. Got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, okay, two more. Two more wives on phone. I had Renee Lee Scoldsbury, Greta Gerwig, Melanie Diaz, Christian Slater, and if I had Lex, I'd kick you. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you got it. Got it. Got it. I'm in there. But, God, the fucking reveal there. The reveal is very strong. The classic, I know this voice. I know this voice. I know this voice. But he's not playing into his go-to so hard. He's not doing the fake technical thing. Well, obviously. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the reveal of that's who it is and the way he's dressed and what you now understand about the character and his profession. Yes. I will not spoil for people, but it is incredibly fine. So my winner is Grace Gummer in Springsteen, who plays Jeremy Strong's wife. Somebody, somebody said. I fucking forgot about that. And I saw that movie. You have a real easy time. She's married, too. Yeah, Jeremy Strong. But somebody said this, and I can't for the life of me remember it. And if you are out there and I've been quoting you all awards season, please let me know. Described it as a wife-on-phone performance where the wife is in the room with the guy. because it very much is just like she's serving that function classically. But she's not on the phone. She's right there in person. I mean, that's what's also interesting about Gerwig is that a good chunk of her performance is husband on phone, wife standing next to husband being like, talk to me. Yes, yes. In a different movie, she's dealing, juggling the kids or whatever, and he's Christian Slater. It is interesting that we had a robust slate of new releases between September and January where we're like more of a scheduling hassle than it's ever been before. Yeah, yeah, right. For movies that didn't end up mattering. Yeah. They're all coming to my podcast. Avatar got two noms, right? But otherwise, no other choice than zero noms. Bit rude. House of Dynamite, zero noms. Yes, not rude. Emma McKay, zero noms. I'm told that it's re-eligible for next year, and they're going to keep making it eligible until it gets a nom. Considering it only played in theaters for five days. Jay Kelly, Rental Family, like all of these ones that like coming into the festivals. Is Ellen McKay the first movie to lose money on Hulu? They're like, I don't, it's somehow gross negative dollars. I don't know what happened to you. Is this thing on? Yeah. Zero noms. Yeah. And is there one other one I'm forgetting? That might be it. I mean, there's plenty. You know, the three in a row for us was the Avatar, is this thing on, and no other choice. I think that was it. Yeah. Oh, especially like for your purpose. Oh, I'm my love. Sorry. uh yes yes you know because uh we did rammed admittedly i i the big strategy behind doing time i love and doing it at the top of 2026 was like oh can we do like a campion thing right but it like had such a big like yeah closure in a can and movies putting so much money behind it can we line up a series to what presumably will be the first lynn ramsey movie to break through at the Oscars and then like zero yeah so and you know what we did a mission impossible the final reckoning did that get a visual effects song it got sneak into somewhere no mission impossible did not it did it's not on my okay yeah it's not and then um and then we did of course do a honey don't episode and weirdly i think that only got like six or seven noms yeah superman did not get a number did it get a visual effects did it get a visual effects it didn't it's crazy jurassic world sure did they kind of they kind of just don't give the superhero movies vfx noms ever anymore i think they've just decided like you that's too easy yeah weirdly the dinos slip through. I mean, the Jurassic movie, the VFX were good. The VFX were a lot better than I anticipated. The story was much, much worse. I mean, I don't know. Guys, there's a shot in that movie in which a camera that feels vaguely handheld struggles to pan up and down a large creature being illuminated only by a red flare gun. I've never seen Gareth Edwards come up with such an image before. Fair. That's fair. Yeah, no, we just, our slate of new releases was almost entirely this ad Oscar buzz. Yes. Yeah. Well, we're give us a year and we'll get to all of them. we're back baby it's the blankies why don't you putters and murmurs now i mean it's it's i think it's time too hard yeah but are there any other considerations give me some others yeah so uh before i get to the proper putters and murmurs um oh yeah you'd like to throw on a couple others let's eat stanfield and die my love Smolders and Sexers. Uh-huh. Not a whole lot of talking. He's just sort of, you know. Yeah. He's leering. Rebecca Holland, Peter, Hujar's Day, Murmurs, but no putters. Yeah. Yeah. Her, she's digging into that accent. It's really wonderful to listen to. She was a close miss from the supporting actors. She's incredible. Yeah. Emery Cohen in Roofman, Chunkers and Shamers. Uh-huh. And fucking Marty Supreme. Yeah. And Marty Supreme. I love him in Roofman, though, because he is the moral center of that movie. Yes. And he gets the shaft for it. The kids' parents in Weapons, I thought. You beat me to that one. It's not a lot of puns because they're mostly just in stock still. Get the actress's name. But the one who's not Marin Ireland, but certainly, I don't think at least, but resembles. Maybe it is Marin. In Weapons, I will look it up. Tom Waits in Father, Mother, Sister, Brother. A movie I have not seen. Same, a blindside. I did not care for it. And I figured. I wanted to like that movie going in. Callie Shatara. Thank you. And Whitmer Thomas are the Alice's Corner member. Yeah. Former winner Timothy Spall in Goodbye June. Timothy Spall. I haven't seen Goodbye June on account of I'd rather not. Yeah. I don't want to be doing that. Is that a movie about something incredibly depressing? No, it's Kate Winslet directorial thing used straight to Netflix. It's just one of those things where I'm like. No, it is also like their mom is dying. I know it's also like Grimm. It's Grimm in Britain kind of shit. But like that I can handle it just seemed like a bit of a nothing. Look, I mean, nobody saw it. I'm like the only person who saw it. I often think it is not a productive discourse, even if the sentiments behind it are valid. Yeah. But Kate Winslet coming out in defense of her children saying, I really don't like this Nepo label. My children had to work hard for what they've gotten in this industry. I'm like, your daughter was cast in a Wes Anderson movie that you were not in. Catherine. Your son slipped you a screenplay and you said, I'll direct this and call my friends this far. you have to admit there's a pipeline I think her daughter is clearly has some talent and is very good in the Phoenician scheme my son slipped me a screenplay that's family business stuff just cop to it just fucking cop to it it's what's always happened it's fine that she directed she was saying look he got here on his own and I'm like you can say that you think his script is legitimately very good but you then decided It's directed. I just, I can't get thrown into it because I am always just like, look, you know, it's just how it works. It's always worked that way. There's things about it that are so unfair. Obviously, there's real talent that emerges. Who are nepotistic? They grew up in the business. It's not surprising. It is just kind of human nature. Right. It is true. I also think there's a larger barrier for access issue that has to do with wealth and class and social strata. Since fucking ancient Greece, if you were rich, you could be a poet. You know what I mean? Has anybody made the case of whatever butchers' children used to follow their parents? Everyone makes that case. You know what? I'm sick of these butcher nepo babies, actually. Get them the fuck out of here. Arthur and son? Yeah, yeah. Maybe? No, no. Run and daughter? My whole thing is I'm like, right, let's not do a debate, guys. You don't want to invite the debate. It's not a debate. Yes. You want to tip the cap. acknowledge it and absolutely and it's there is a degree to which it does feel like these things course correct if the person is not good and the public does not like the thing they do right right like this industry is so fucking sociopathic yeah that like whatever connections and favors exist only goes so long they will kick you to the fucking curb if you don't make them money on a completely different topic anyway yeah frank delane and urchin who the character sort of moves into different modes, but some of those modes have puttering and murmuring. Not an ideal choice. Yeah. Idris Elba and House of Dynamite, just for doing fuck all, I feel like is... It's... He's murmuring. Relatively murmuring and puttering. Murmuring about podcasts, yeah. Everyone in Ephus who putter and murmur their way through an entire baseball game. And then my number one choice was Benicio who does a lot of puttering and a lot of murmuring, as is his want in one battle. He's never been one to enunciate. We are missing Josh O'Connor in the Mastermind. And just that movie. I'm sure, but in Putters and Murmurs, it must be. John Begaro is kind of a lifetime achievement murmurer at the very least. And Mastermind is kind of like an original Kings of Comedy of our best young rising putter murmurer. Let me think if there are any others I'm sort of scanning around like that We haven't brought up, but I mean, it's a fairly solid list. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. I just think, like, Eddington is a movie that, A, uses the Clifton College junior character as, like, a puttering and murmuring Greek chorus. Reminds me where he emerges in that movie. It has been such a long time since I've seen it. The movie opens with him wandering in the desert, puttering and murmuring to himself. Literally, yes. And you're like, who is this man? Is he insane? Or does he see everything clearly? Or is it a mix of both? Right. And the whole film, he's like putting a checker profit under his breath. Yes. Yes. But he runs throughout the entire film. He's kind of like an emotional spine of the movie. Most of the third act kind of like plot hinges on him. Yes. And he's also he's a great actor who this is not his standard mode. I think he can speak very clearly when he wants to. He's a character actor with great sort of versatility. So underrated in Capote, I thought. Oh, great. Anemone. Anemone. Oh, I never saw it. Whatever, that one. That's heavy on it. The new-right nominated movie that doesn't mean. I never saw Anemone. Oh, boy, does it exist all right. I saw every existing movie. Okay, whatever. I'm moving us on to, I guess, the big stuff. Is there anything else? Before the big four? Before the big four, no. Right? I don't think so. No. Yeah, I mean, I can tell you the Blankies thought that one battle had the best editing of the year, and Marty's creating the best production design. Like, that's fine. That's great. Yeah. Do you guys, are you guys mad about that? I'm not. Best Actors or Best Actor? Come on. Who do you want to do? I want to do Best Actor first because I've already said that Josh O'Connor, Mastermind, is making my cut. You know what? Kick us off. Best Actor. You've got Josh O'Connor in the mastermind. I had a dream last night, Griffin, that I became good friends with him. Lucky. It was a weird dream because it was quite mundane. Yeah. It was basically like I had to interview him or something, and then we just became friends and were hanging out all day. And then I woke up and I was like, I've never met him. Where did that come from? I had a stress dream. I didn't even meet him in a movie recently. I had a stress dream recently that I was supposed to do a Q&A with John Lithgow and Brian Cox, and I was thoroughly unprepared for it. It's a chill Q&A. Ah! And, like, and they sent a car for me. Hello! With Lifko in the car being like, where have you been? And I, oh, yeah. God, it was so stressful. Do you guys, maybe I'm just far deeper in the pool of mental illness, but do you guys ever have the thing where you wake up from a dream and it takes, like, four hours into your day to be like, right, I don't know Josh O'Connor. Right. Well, I famously, I had a dream one time many, many, many years ago. Yeah. That the dream itself spanned, like, ten years, and I, like, had, like, full, like, fictional character, like, relationship or whatever. That took me the better part of a day. When they backfill like that, and also when they're kind of mundane, where you're like, oh, right, yeah, right, okay. But otherwise, I barely remember my dreams. Joshua Conner and the Mastermind. Yes. Had a fucking unbelievable year. This is the guy right now, in my opinion. Totally. I mean, down to that he's in the Spielberg movie this year. Yeah. It's like a guy trophy. I'm so into all the Disclosure Day trailers, posters, everything. Are you being facetious or are you being like genuine? Genuine. Okay, me too. I'm like... I was worried that it was like, are we... Do we not like... No, I feel like people are being a little like, I don't know. And I'm like, this looks awesome to me. There was a reaction to Emily Blunt's face that has been... Here's what I would say to that. when the trailer cuts to her doing the weather yeah i was like oh her face makes sense for this character she is a yeah television weather person the devil wears prodigy trailer happened right after that yeah it also makes sense i the devil wears prodigy trailer is one of those things where i'm like i'm so nervous it's plausible that yes of course this haughty character who employed Anne Hathaway for six months might not really remember her like we all remember her because we watched the movie. But you cannot release a trailer where everyone's reaction is, does Meryl Streep's character have a brain injury? Is she demented? What's going on? Why doesn't she know anyone? That was just everyone's reaction to that trailer. Yeah. Yes. Somebody made the case to me that it was and this is I know the reaction this is going to get, but it's an allusion to Milton because in Paradise Regained or whatever, one of the things, that one of the things about the devil is that the devil never remembers anything that's ever happened. I hope that is explicitly what the movie is doing. I do kind of hope it is, but I could not be more not certain about a movie than I am. I do think it could be very, very Does that almost feel like Avengers Endgame though, where you're like, they don't even need to release a trailer. Right. Well, no, the original movie, their trailer was just like Meryl walking into the building It's one of the greatest trailers of all time. It's so good. these trailers are nothing but confusing and yet it doesn't fucking matter this movie is going to make so much god damn money the movie could just be Meryl Streep looking at the camera being like I endorse Donald Trump people are like I'll see it I'm not sure maybe it's time for us to take another look okay you've named one of your best actors George O'Connor for the mastermind it's fascinating because I love Kelly Riker I love her movies so much this is the close star of Kelly Riker Well, I would not say star. But when I do my Kelly Riker rankings, I just forget to include that movie because I disqualify because I'm in it. I'm not even consciously doing it. I'm just like, oh, right. And then there's that one she made that doesn't count because I muddied the waters. But I think when she works with movie stars, she is usually asking them to just, like, strip everything back. Sure. And come to her as just. My friend Ellen's Letterboxd reviewed the mastermind. I just want to shout it out. I love a movie where everyone looks like a guess who card. That is just exactly the puss and murmurs. Yep. The ensemble thing. Yep. I just think, like, you know, Michelle Williams wants to work with her because it's just like, reduce me to just raw clay. Right? Strip it back. Yeah. Josh O'Connor is the most I've seen someone bring their movie star energy into a Kelly Reichert film and have it harmonized. Yeah. And you're just like, oh, right. in theory someone who's this kind of like off kilter and innately interesting should be vibrating too hard for a reichert film it should throw it off its balance right and yet the movie is just so locked into like it is just fascinating to watch this guy do anything yeah um he is put him in any shade of like uh beige brown or like uh off-white like put him in a linen thing or like a an old cream-colored button-down. It's just also smart because the guys got the juice so hard and the title leads you to believe, oh, this would be a movie about... A heist movie! Right, yeah. And it, like, wrong-puts you in its casting of... Yeah. This guy surely must know what he's doing. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Lee Byung-kun in No Other Choice. Yes. Channing Tatum in Roofman, more like Charming Tatum in Raise the Roofman. an incredible movie star performance. Got it. Like, it just feels like the perfect, here's the whole Channing Tatum thing. Oh, and, like, after a little bit of a wilderness for him, right, where it just felt like it's – He's always in and out. It's fascinating. He, like, has a comeback every four years. This is true. And I thought this should have been, like, you know, a clear high for him instead of got kind of slept on. Liam Neeson in The Naked Gun. Yeah. Yeah. Very good call. And for general politics and statements. Everything. Yeah. Yeah. Especially in the 60s and 70s. And my fifth nominee, the one I think they're going to fucking look back on and actually be embarrassed with themselves, Dwayne Johnson and the Smashing Machine. I couldn't agree more. He is unbelievable in that film. It's a great performance. It is an incredible performance. I think that movie so suffered from them trying to market it as a more conventional film. It did suffer from that. I think it also just suffers from being a not very pleasant movie to watch. It's not. Like, so it's just a tough festival watch, a tough, you know, whatever. It eludes any. It's not a big winning movie. No, I mean, the biggest thing I tell people about the movie, which I just feel like most people didn't even bother to engage with, is like his entire kind of recovery from addiction basically happens in between edits. Yeah. I think the trailers made people believe this was going to be a movie that's 60%. Triumph of the human spirit. Totally. Sports movie. It's a sports movie that does not structure itself along the sports movie. It's a sports movie in which, as I said, I think my piece about it or whatever, like his major triumph is the first thing we see. Yeah. And it's all downhill from there. And it's about him accepting that he does not have it anymore. and the industry is leaving it behind. This is why I think the performance is so extraordinary, is there is a specificity to it that just actually could not be achieved unless Dwayne Johnson has actually come to extreme realizations in the dark night of his soul. You know, like, he is finally, like, popping the balloon of all the shit that's been driving me crazy about him for, like, 10 or 15 years. I worry that him jumping straight into fucking Jumanji 5 and whatever, that he's just now going to like zag back into like his safe zone but this is the movie where it's all about like the scene where they ask him are you worried at all about losing and breaking your streak and he like starts short-circuiting and he can't answer the question is him leaking the fucking financial documents on black adam being like i just refuse to let anything be framed as a failure sure i i cannot let this happen and even like his biggest dramatic scene plays out with him covering his face with his hands the entire time he is like avoiding all the obvious showy moves and he really is clearly like interrogating himself yeah and there was a thing that benny safty said during the press that i thought was really interesting where he was like you know dwayne like loves being famous and he loves you know like what he's been able to accomplish now he's been able to help other people yeah but what i connected with him on when we started talking about this project is just how exhausting it has been to maintain that for 30 years that he has just had to be on and be this guy for everyone for 30 years yeah and clearly was getting to a point where it's driving him fucking insane and he had become like a hollow husk of a human being pissing into boss bottles on the sets of red one and this performance just feels like him like laying everything there everything i know about how benny made that movie because i i put a profile of any like is that they were very into like let's talk about ourselves about our feelings like talk about the worst shit we've been through like let's all lay out together that is not a performance that a director can trick an actor into giving you have to give him full credit for that and i you know but whatever nobody liked it my question is like isn't mma supposed to be this like the the crypto biggest sport in america that nobody wants to acknowledge it's the thing that all real americans like whatever yeah where were they for this movie well but the whole thing with him was he pinned people down and beat their heads yeah and the People who ran MMA were like, this is horrible television. Right. And so they basically banned the thing he was good at, which is what happens to him in the movie. Because he was just really good at, like, getting on top of people and just throwing like this to them. And people were like, well, okay, he did get them out, but that's boring. This sucks. So, like, he can't do that. So that's illegal now. So has MMA kind of, like, disavowed this guy? He's – MMA – I don't think MMA has a good relationship with a lot of people who've done MMA. Because it's not very good for you. He was part of the trial and error of figuring out the version of it that everyone would like. Yeah, it's probably like 30 years ago. And his thing of being like, you know what? I need to, like, be okay losing. I need to step away. I need to be done with this. Yeah. Happens right before they crack the code and it becomes the biggest thing. It's as they're cracking the code. Or starts its journey, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, like, to get in the vague spoiler territory, it is just fascinating the sort of, like, dialogue between Marty Supreme and the Smashing Machine. and one movie is about a guy at the inflection point right before the sport that he's at the absolute earliest stages of breaks free and he needs to accept that he needs to walk away yeah and the other one is the guy fucking convinced yeah that his thing's about to explode and that he's going to be the champion and he's willing to ruin everything in order to prove that point and he like ruins his life by refusing to lose yeah and then you're like for what it's ping pong It's not going anywhere Right This is the feeling on it It's also big guy little guy Yeah Big guy little guy Big guy little guy Alright my nominees Come on I gotta do mine Oh come on You did yours right I did mine You did yours You did mine Shannon Tatum Josh O'Connor Liam Neeson Dwayne Johnson Alright Joe you do yours Okay Go ahead Timothy Chalamet Marty Supreme That's very good Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon Michael B. Jordan In Sinners Josh O'Connor In Wake Up Dead Man and Theodore Pellerine in Lurker. Oh, Lurker. I like that movie. That movie is pretty good. It was really good. Yeah. I really liked it. He's a, oh yeah, he's, he's creepy. Yeah, he is. Yeah. Quite, quite good. Look out for him. Yeah. Um, cool. Oh, you got three of the Oscar nominees. Three of the Oscar nominees. Yes. Yes. Um, I, I flirted with maybe, you know, having a couple of them on the bench so I can move up somebody like Everett Blunk in Griffin and Summer. Right. Well, well, oh, all right. because I'll do mine. Okay. Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle. Yes. Dwayne Johnson in The Smashing Machine. Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon. Everett Blunk in Griffin and Summer. And Ben Whishaw in Peter Hojhar's Day. That's a good pick. And Everett Blunk is one of those things when you see Griffin and Summer where you're like, well, maybe they just found this kid who's this, like, swishy little hilarious child. Yes. And then you see The Plague. Yes. And you're like, oh, this is just a very talented guy. He's a very talented guy. Who just did two crazy good performances in completely different tones. like yep um but uh but griffin and summers is one of those movies where the first scene obviously is him what freaking about for freaking out about virginia wolf or whatever he's doing the like monologue from his play but like where he's like you know oh and i was just like yeah this is this is great i get it i get this right away i'm like the kid has good comedic instincts too in that movie but like that's a really sweet movie that and i like how you know how it is not just about a silly guy it is just how you know that's the this kid needing to recognize what a poisonous creature yes yes yes oh god and they have him sort of latch on to this like straight guy who's this you know wannabe very very funny artistic type and yet right yes the kid is still the poisonous one in that relationship i know i mean he's an idiot but like yes yeah you really would have I'm sure it would be too hard. It's like middle school Rushmore. Sort of, but like, but like, but if he was a theater guy. But if he was, yes, if he was a theater guy more so than just like a megalomaniac, like, in that. But it's obviously why Rushmore is one of the most important movies in my lifetime to me is that it's all about this guy being like, oh, I'm fucking insufferable. I'm a nightmare. Abby Ryder Fortson also showed out is very good in that movie from Are You Their God. And Catherine Newton, who is an actress I've been resistant to. has like one or two scenes where she just like knocks it out of the park. It's so funny. It's just really funny that both Catherine Newton and Abby Ryder-Fortzen are in it because they are the two Cassie Langs. Oh, you're right. Oh, wait, when is Abby Ryder-Fortzen? She's Cassie Lang in the original Ant-Man. No shit. She's little girl. She's like, I love it. I love Cassie in the first two movies. Never caught on to that. And then in Endgame, there's the weird middle actress who's just only the adult one. Right, that's right. Yes. Who comes, he comes back home. And then in Quantumania, Catherine Newton shows up and is like, of course, I'm famously your daughter. Right. They all know me. And it's one of those things like when they put Willa Holland in for Shailene Woodley in the O.C. Yeah. Where they're like, yeah, Shailene's just not glam enough. We're going to sub her out. And then Shailene just goes on to have a career. Yes. Yes. And like Abby Ryder Fortson is like, I don't know why you fired me. I'm doing great over here. Yeah. Yeah. She's great. I know they had a time jump or whatever. Yeah. Wait, did you get all five out? I did. I got them out. I got them out there. Did Joe get all five out? He did. He did. Okay, sorry, sorry, sorry. Who are your winners? Ethan Hawke. I'm sorry. Ethan Hawke, you're sorry. I love him so much in that movie. He's so good. He's so fucking good. I think about what our buddy, host of Critical Darlings, Richard Lawson, said when he was talking to me about that film in August. We met up for drinks. It was to talk about the idea of Critical Darlings for the first time. When you were Griffin in summer. It was when I still could lay claim to that title. Yeah. And he was like, it's a shame that Ethan Hawke isn't going to get nominated. If he gave this performance on Broadway, they would hand him the Tony before the curtain. Before the curtain. Yeah. Yes. Margaret Cawley would come on stage with the Tony being like, by the way, they got this. They'd give him another trophy every night. Yeah. Yeah. And it's so nice that that performance, like, punched her. It's incredible. It's astonishing. I filled in for my colleague, Nate Jones, for our Gold Rush column while he was on paternity leave this year for a few months. and I put Ethan Hawke in my best actor predictions almost as a defiant, like, come on, like, shame the devil kind of a thing. Right. It so sucks that this isn't going to happen, but, like, whatever. Yeah. Like, I'm just going to put it out there. And the fact that, like, that ended up happening, I'm like, what a weird, like, miracle that, like, now that it's happened, we're just like, well, Ethan Hawke, yeah, he got nominated. But, like, think about that when I first saw Blue Moon. It was like a pipe dream that that would have been nominated. It just felt like a niche movie. Like, I know it's like, I know it's 20 Pictures Classics. Like it's not like it had another movie that seemed like it was more of an Oscar kind of a thing. But also like it's my the most fascinating thing about the season to me. Yeah. Was going in. It was like, man, fucking best actor is going to be a bloodbath. Right. Everyone was correct about DiCaprio and Chalamet. Yeah. That's why Meskel hightailed it to supporting actor. Absolutely. But from a distance, it was like, OK, but we have Jeremy Allen White as Springsteen. Wayne Johnson, the Smashing Machine. Brendan Fraser and Renssel Family. Right. George Clooney and Jay Kelly. Yes. Like, you were like, this is like, the cup overfloweth. Yes. Our biggest movie stars, our rising stars, past winners, people who are overdue. What fucking chances Ethan Hawke have? Like, almost everyone wiped out. Yeah. If you look at the predictions, like, eight of the ten that people were predicting in August just died. Yes. On the vine. Yeah. It's fascinating. Yeah, it is. I agree. Yeah. And we ended up with, like, a perfect five. I have some people being like incredible lineup one of the best ones ever someone was like I really wanted Joel Edgerton to get it in there and I'm like I hear you but for who? that's a really really tough 5 to crack I love Train Dreams as much as anybody loves Train Dreams and I love Edgerton and he's maybe in my top 10 for actor this year because it's such a good like reading Wagner Mora off of my list is stupid and yet like me too that's a performance that I think is insanely good yeah so good and he was so hot at the New York Film Critics Circle. Oh, I believe it. Oh, my God. I believe it. And I think Michael B. Jordan is fantastic, and I love that he got the nom. I still think of the Nicky B. Jerkin joke from Golden Globes. It's so fucking good. It's so good. It's really good. Yeah. No, yeah. Like, I normally wouldn't want to put, like, three Oscar nominees in my blankie lineup because I'm like, that's boring. But, like, what am I going to do? Like, not nominate Chalamet? Like, he's my winner, by the way. He's great. That New York Film Festival performance, and I know Festival Fever, whatever, There was no better venue to see that movie than that moment in that time. But, like, I love that performance so much. It's so perfectly both tailored to him and yet the way that, like, Josh Softee is like, what if we make him pockmarked and gawky? And, like, it's great. I want to throw that out. That's a best makeup snub. Underrated best makeup snub. Yes. And it happens in, like, multiple areas of the film. It's some of the most subtle work I have seen. I really, noms this year are fine, although I don't know anything about the ugly stepsister. Ugly stepsister is good and gnarly. And it's like, I like that gnarly things get nominated for makeup. It's like what if Cinderella had people like cutting people's noses off. It was like Cinderella, but with like, yeah, but with botched surgery. Cinderella was a girl boss. Gosh. I was watching Marty Supreme and thinking, oh, have they just been putting makeup on Chalamet this whole time? and he had Miles Teller-esque scars. Yeah, awful skin. It's so realistically done, and it's so subtle, and even like Mr. Wonderful's hairpiece, which is like, oh, what if this guy's like 20% less balding than he really is? You know, these things that are like really hard to dial in. I also thought that Anne Lee had some of the best hazing makeup I could ever see. Anne Lee is just one of those, again, things where I'm just like, the craft given the scale of the production is very impressive. Yeah, but also just like really subtle things where I'm just like, oh, they dialed in the difference of like five years around the eyes. Also, it seems more obvious, but I mentioned this to, I said this to Katie, Rich, on our text chain. Weapons, as a makeup nominee, is kind of crazy. It is crazy. They sort of snubbed Weapons at the end of the day. And it's not just Aunt Gladys, but like there's a lot of, you know, different venues. The fucking Benedict Wong job is so memorable. well and also the the parents yeah the parents the multiple stages oh my god am i wrong in thinking that it was left off the hair and makeup shortlist but it was on the casting shortlist you know i just don't know it definitely i believe it was on the casting shortlist and i think you're right that it was not on the makeup but it ended up only getting the madigan performance yes yeah should have gotten that yep yeah screen players yeah picture i don't know it was interesting i was i was double checking yesterday because of the critical casting and nothing else yeah critical darlings conversation but uh pga this year was nine out of ten overlapping with the best picture lineup was weapons it was weapons in over secret agent right which and i think by the week of the nominations people were starting to think that weapons was going to stay in and that secret agent would stop in the pga lineup right right so people were like f1's the kind of thing that It was just an accident. Like, yeah. Anyway. My winner is Dwayne The Rock Johnson. There you go. What an evolution for you. Truly, it's like... It's a makeup award for Black Adam, just admit it. It is. It's another, like, I would have given him Best Supporting Actor for that year, which was prior to us doing these on-mic awards, so I haven't had to hand him an award since then. That's when I was like, this guy has like fully come into his power. And then part of why I've been so hard on him for the last 10 years is because I'm just like, dude, you have so much power. Why aren't you applying it to anything interesting? Also, you don't seem happy. I know. I was hearing, I'll say off mic, but I was hearing some stories about him, of what a sweetie pie he can be and how he's very good at like knowing everyone's name and like, you know, blah, blah, blah. In that kind of slightly politicization. Yeah, right, right. But still basically like, you know, very positive reviews. Maybe he enjoyed that one more. As far as I know, he had like a good reputation in WWE too. He wasn't like – I feel like if he was a shit in WWE, that would have gotten out. I only heard the best, right? But it's what I was saying earlier that like Benny was like – he was telling me how tired he was of having to do that all the time. Not because he wasn't actually a nice guy, but it was tough. the self-imposed responsibility to be that version of himself all the time. And this is this rare case of a performance that is like silencing the haters by also admitting that they were correct. Like, you can only, like, shut me up by being like, you were right about me up until now, and I'm going to give the performance about that. When my ranking for all of the Oscar nominees publishes, just like skip past the first ten or whatever. I think you'll be fine. I need to point out that these awards are being handed out by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Of course. Marianne Jean-Baptiste, of course. And Billy Miller. Oh, I didn't think to me. Sentimental choice, yes. Sentimental choice. Who are you? Did you say your winner? Ethan Hawke. Yep, there we go. Best actress My best actresses are Jennifer Lawrence for Die My Love Roseburn for If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You Kiki Palmer for One of Them Days Great call Chow Tao for Call By The Tides One of my favorite actors, obviously Love her Julia Roberts for After The Hunt I almost put Julia on there He made it for me She's great in that movie in that film. It's a movie that I had a lot of problems with. It didn't really connect for me. Another that's had Oscar buzz movie that people were putting that on. Absolutely. And I just think she really brings the thunder in it and I truly wish everything had worked to support that performance better or whatever. But I think she's so fucking good. It came up in some other... The scene where she chews the kid out in the tragic class. Her big tar scene. One of those things where the movie had basically lost me by that point I wasn't really invested in what was going to happen, but then I was just like, God, she's crushing this. Yeah. I also thought that I'd seen her in Garfield towards the end. It's great. That's in the secret apartment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Garfield's just so subtle and nuanced in that film. Beautifully shot. But, you know, I think it's a great movie. It's a very frustrating movie. Yeah. We have this conversation in some already recorded episode that will come out in the next couple of months that I can't remember what prompted this. But I just want to throw it to you quickly because you're a bit of an expert in this field. Sure. We were discussing how bad Julia Roberts' last 20 years have been. It's tough. Considering that on paper, almost all of the choices are commendable. And within that run, she has had quite a few genuine box office hits and has another Oscar nomination. And yet you're like, has she not made a good movie in 20 years? I am a Ben is back defender We can't go too deep on this because we did go deep on this You're a defender of which? Ben is back A great performance I won't be going there with you She's good at those I want to see if there was one you would defend That's the one Auguste, Osage County is just a quagmire that would take a longer time But you were like, she got an Oscar nomination In for a lead role in supporting So that was somewhat irksome That was also the year of the selfie Which is a haunted photograph that has had its tentacles throughout history since then. Yeah. Yeah. But, yeah. Money Monster, not a good movie. A lot of talent there. Wonder is a success. Big hit. Made money. Big hit. Ticket to Paradise, we shall never speak of it again. Made some money, but let's not speak of it. It's the most frustrating, how is this not a Gentleman 6 movie? Right. Leave the world behind, I think, is watchable junk. A lot of people just lop off the watchable. Secret in Their Eyes, a movie I have actually seen. We did it for our podcast, and that is a crazy boring movie. It really is. I've seen that movie. But this is the other crazy thing we were saying. That movie is a sleeping pill. She is really good in almost all of these. Yes, she is never the problem, and she's often the strongest after. And you're just like, why can't she fucking catch a break? I know, Julia Roberts. You know, she just can't catch a break. She was not going to give her a moment. She was really good on the Sam Esmail TV show Homecoming. Let's not. Come on now. But I say this because her next movie is a Sam Esmer. I know. She loves the guy. Yeah, which is fine. I mean, someone's got it. We threw out, so can Wes Anderson please get his hands? I would love nothing more. I would really love nothing more. Right? But the problem with that is there's probably like a list of 20 actors where I'm like, Wes, could you do this guy a favor? And Wes Anderson's like, you know, I don't just like randomly come up with shit. I take a while generating these projects. Also, everybody who works with me. Find a Julia vehicle. Quickly, quickly. Well, everybody who works with him, he retains. He loves it. And they love the experience. Yeah, so it's tougher to get new people in there. But he also says, he's been saying, that he's, like, five-plus times written a role explicitly for and offered it to Jodie Foster, who keeps turning him down. Oh, she would be great in that, too. And you can fill in some of the gaps of, like, oh, did Tilda start to get some of those roles? Yeah, sure. Like, which are the ones that were written for Jodie Foster? I feel like Julia has gotten into a Jodie Foster-adjacent spiky territory. at this age. I wonder if Tessie Rumpelton could get her mom into one of those movies on a connection basis. Oh, a sort of reverse nepo situation? Excuse me, she's going to have to work hard and get the role in her. She's going to have to read for it? Audition for Wes? Yeah, that's how it goes. Okay, come on, Bob, give me your best actresses, Joe Reed. All right, Jesse Buckley in Hamnet. I've just heard of it. Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You. Susan Shardy in I'm Becoming a Guinea Fowl. I love that movie. Kate Hudson in Song Song Blue. kind of performance cute vibe. Guaranteed four months ago. Yeah. And Amanda Seyfried in The Testament of Amanda. It was very, very, very. I texted you nomination morning. Congrats. And you texted back. I was so wary. I was like, are you making fun of me? I did it. And then you, in parentheses, said, like, is this about Kate Hudson? I've seen a lot of people, mostly in relation to the perceived Amanda Seyfried snub. Oh, blaming Kate? Yeah. Yeah. I have. And I'm like, that's not the performance I would knock out of the fight. I would knock out Emma Stone. Which would you knock out? I would knock out Emma Stone. Buggy? Yeah. Little Buggy. I don't dislike Emma Stone. I don't either. I have problems with Begonia, but I don't hate it. She's fine in Begonia. And it's like sort of a German performance, I guess. I think Kate Hudson is legitimately pretty phenomenal in Song Song Blue. The only reason I cut her is because I knew you were going to put her in. No, I understand. She's a bubble. It's also as she worked her tail off to get that nom and all that. It's a bonkers movie that I find to be better than a lot of people get it credit for. But like on that level, it's still a fucking bonkers movie. Yeah. Jackman is not up to her level. I think she I genuinely think she really kills it. I agree. I agree. No, I agree. And I love her. Of course, she was my supporting actress winner for Glass Onion. Of course. We all remember. She's my friend. It felt like a real we did a trail moment. I was I was like genuinely happy for you. I was so wary. I was like Griffin's making fun of you. No, I wasn't. I just, you know, it's one of those things where Kate Hudson, I know you like her. Yes. So I'm being nice here. Where Letterboxd, you know, sees her on the red carpet, and they're like, can you name your favorite movie? Like, you know, what's your top favorite movie on Letterboxd? And she's like, almost famous. I'm like, yeah. Yeah. And then she's like, I don't know what else. And she's like, I mean, some people like Skeleton Key. You can see her being like, because I don't really know what would even. Not a great advocate, right? Like, I think she's like, how to lose a guy in 10 days, Skeleton Key. and then even she starts to run out of ideas. Yeah. She's like, some people like something borrowed. And I wanted to say, yeah, some people do. Did you nominate that? I know Lawson. No, that's Lawson. I like that movie, but that's Richard. She's really excellent. Also, every gay guy loves her in Nine. Loves her specifically in Nine. I find that performance to be disgraceful. I don't think it's disgraceful, but she loves cinema tommy. My secret is great in Nine. The person is Fergie that makes everybody crazy. but I think Fergie's scene in Nine is the one good scene in Nine. I think everything about that movie is bad. I find that movie unspeakable. It's really bad. It's really bad. But if I'm at a gay bar musicals night or whatever, and I'm requesting something from the TV guy, I might put on Fergie in Nine. I believe I tapped out on Nine after 45 minutes because I did not wish to die in seven days. You tapped out around four. I saw the girl coming out of the well, and I was like, I need to get out of this purse before it sticks to me. So the Rob Marshall miniseries, it's still not happening. Not happening. That's our we're driving the cliff. We're like, all right, let's see Rob Marshall. I guess Trump's about to block us off. My best actress line. Yes, please. Sally Hawkins in Bring Her Back. Yes, she's really good in that movie. Amanda Seyfried? Seyfried? I feel like I'm told I'm always getting it wrong. No way of knowing. I think it's Seyfried. In The Testament of Anne Lee, but let's also acknowledge she fucking rules in the house, maybe. Well, I still have to. That's another one I still have to. A lot of my people this year had a double performance thing going on. A fun one on the side. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, Josh O'Connor just narrowly. Yay, mastermind. Wake up. Beaten out by Dwayne in that category for me. Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You. Yeah, that's a good performance. Jennifer Lawrence in Die, My Love. Yeah. And Sung Yi Jin in No Other Choice. Yeah, she's really good. And because of my last minute re-jiggering to spread the wealth and giving screenplay to If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You. I cleared the path to give my award to Amanda Seyfried and Testament of Anli. Right. Which also feels like the place to honor that movie. She's the powerhouse. Yeah. For sure. I love her. Rose Byrne's my winner, certainly. Yeah. That performance stuck with me all year. Rose Byrne's another one. Rose Byrne's a very close number. And it's also another one, kind of like the Ethan Hawke thing, where when I saw it, I'd be like, yeah, a world where she sneaks a nom for this, like, really hostile movie is a real, like, nice world to imagine. And now it's kind of like she's the runner up. Like, you know, like that was another one where that was a Sundance premiere that didn't screen online. So I didn't see it until TIFF. And then when I saw it on TIFF, I was like, well, first of all, everybody at Sundance kind of undersold how great she is in this movie. Yeah, great. I really love this movie, too. But it was another one of those. I was like, boy, it'd be really good if, you know, she could maybe sneak in. Yeah, it's a nomination. Right. It seemed for a while that she and Seyfried were sort of like jostling for like what would have been a fifth slot. And then all of a sudden it's like, oh, no, Rose is just winning every single critics award. And rightly so. Yeah. I thought it could maybe be a bit of an upset, but it does feel like Buckley's the most locked. Buckley's just also the classic thing of, like, we've noticed you. You've been bubbling along. We gave you an earlier nom. Yeah. And you screamed and cried and were very impressive. And I don't think it's a bad performance. I think she's really good. I know people don't like her. Even before the screaming and crying. Yeah, she's good. I think she's just, like, really good throughout. Jesse Buckley. I disproportionately like the first half more than the second half, which I think you bodied me by saying, what a surprise you like the movie about a sad boy falling in love with a witchy woman in the woods. But I was like, the second they have a kid, I'm out on that movie. It just lost me. Not in any intellectual way. Just when the movie begins to be kind of like piled up suffering, like, you know, sort of different phases of suffering. I think it's also there's a sense of inevitability. Right. You're on the rails and you're like, we know what this is heading towards. It's just going to be an endless series of body blur. Hamnet is my materialist, and everything that people don't like about Hamnet, I'm like, that worked for me. Like, that really worked for me. I did not dislike it. Yeah. But it definitely, I don't know. It lost me somewhere in there, and I thought, well, everyone says the ending is such an undeniable knockout. It'll win me back. I see. And it just didn't do it for me. Yeah. Well, and if that doesn't do it for you, then you're good. Yeah. I don't have anything intellectually against that movie. I love Jesse Buckley. It would be weird if it was. I get you, I get you. I love her too. For the last 18 months, I've been telling people about I'm Becoming a Guinea Fowl. That was a movie that screened... Embarrassing blind spots. It's on HBO, I think. It's very viewable. Festivals last year in A24, for some reason, did that bullshitty qualify it and then push it to March or whatever thing. No, they didn't qualify it. No, they didn't. They put it in the main slot. I think they were slow playing it, thinking that it would be submitted for international feature consideration and then no country kind of claimed it. But the problem, I think, is it's sort of a Zambian movie. It's a Zambian movie that had UK financing, I think. But it's quite critical of the sort of patriarchal cultures. I don't know. Anybody listening to this, if that movie is new to you hearing about it, go check it out. It rules. It's so good. We all set our winners. who's your winner? Burn. I'll just give you the 10 blankie lead performers. You said your winner? Roseburg. No, this feels like the space to honor Testament Van Lee for me, but I also think it's an astonishing performance. Sorry to derail us for like half a second. I put O'Connor for Wake Up Dead Man for, you had mentioned in Materialist, Mastermind, so the M movies, he's doing something so different in Wake Up Dead Man. So fucking good. And he's so, he's like, you know, the almost like nebbishy quality he has to that character, I think is incredibly funny. He's so locked in in that movie. And then you hit the Bridget Everett scene. And it's like... That scene is like a masterpiece of craft. The way that he makes the sun set during it even though you're inside. I love that scene. One of the best scenes in the entire podcast. When he's like, right, this is what I do. Yeah, yeah. It rocks. Yeah, no, I think, I remember when they announced that he was going to be in the new Benoit Blanc. The new Benoit Blanc. And it was like, he's going to play a priest. And people were like, is he going to be a guy pretending to be a priest? Like, is it the whole thing with Josh O'Connor the scuzzy? And if it's not a guy pretending to be a priest, then are they going to clean him up? And isn't that what we don't want from him? Right. And then you were like, no, the idea is. Hyper earnest. Josh O'Connor type is a priest. Yes. Yes. Yes. Right. Which is such an interesting. It's the first time anybody's taken the movie away from Daniel Craig. I think Craig sort of most definitely sits in the backseat in that movie. Someone did the screen time. I adore Craig in that movie. I do too. But I feel like I think O'Connor is much the more main character. He is, but I think Craig gets it. I think it's the best of his Ben LeBlanc performances. He's great. But I also saw that someone did a screen time clock and it's like 35 minutes. Sure. Oh, yeah. Hannibal Lecter-esque. He takes a while to show up. It's really Joshua Conner's home. Him and Joshua Conner being silly guys together is really funny. The Blankies, I'll just give you their 10 to 1. We're not to Reinsva. We all love. None of us are made here, but we all love it. Watching that movie a second time, as I said on Critical Darlings, she really emerged for me. I thought she was so good. My thing with that performance is I think it's borderline categorized I kind of feel like all three women have about the same real estate in the story. I think Stellan and Renata are your leads. I think so too. Stellan is not in as much as you think. And putting Stellan in supporting makes her being the only lead feel disconnected. It makes it feel imbalanced, but like, yeah. It's still her. She's excellent. Her opening scene is like unbelievable. Alright, so Renata, 10. Jesse Clemens, 9. Another performance I really like. Jesse Buckley 8, Lee Byung-Hung 7, Ethan Hawke 6, Chase Infinity for Modern Battle 5, Michael B. Jordan 4, Rose Byrne 3, Leo 2, Timmy 1. That was their list. Best Director. My best directors are Paul Thomas Anderson, Jafar Panahi, Zach Krager, Ja Junke for Caught by the Tides, and Ryan Coogler. I got to see Caught by the Tides. I mean, it's for the job boys. It's literally like him assembling stuff he's been filming for 25 years. Avengers Endgame for Zhajankar. My best director lineup is Ari Aster, Mona Fastfold, Park Jan Wook, Mary Bronstein, and Paul Thomas Anderson. There you go. Mine are. Thank you. Good five. Paul Thomas Anderson, one battle after another. Mary Bronstein, if I had legs, I'd kick you. Brian Coogler Sinners, Kleber Mendonca Filho for The Secret Agent, and Jafar Panahi for It Was Just an Accident. Who's your winner, guys? Paul Thomas Anderson. Yeah, I'm giving it to Paul. He did a good job. He did, in fact, do a good job of directing a movie. And I've been an annoying sort of fly in the oven for a lot of Paul Thomas Anderson. Josh Hartnett and Justice Smith. Wow, I forgot to mention that. Justice Smith was mine, I imagine. Yeah, I was Hartnett. And I was Coleman Domingo for Sinseng. Yeah. Yeah. No, I might be very wrong about this, but I just really feel like there's a director picture split coming this year. I feel like Snitchers. Snitchers. Those Snitchers. I was going to say, I feel like Sinners is going to snatch it. But Snatchers might also sin it. Yeah. But the Paul Thomas Anderson best director feels like only Brokeback Mountain style. Nothing is like veering off course. Picture is very much up in the air, but director seems solid. Yeah, you can't argue with it. Which is interesting because generally lately, when there's a director picture split, director tends to go to the movie that is also going to clean up in the craft awards, which I think is going to be sinners. Yeah. With a few exceptions, I think one battle will probably win editing and cinematography. I mean, look, I'm ready to be wrong, but no, I think one battle is winning. I think it's just one of those rare years, kind of like the Oppenheimer year, where everyone's just like, we're not going to fuck around. These movies don't come along that often. And I also think a lot of the... No Country. It feels like No Country as well. Their views hit September and everyone's just kind of like, I think this is the movie everyone's going to remember. My question, though, is, like, if in the no country year, there will be blood had made, like, six times as much at the box office. That's a fair point. But I just don't know. Because it does feel similar to those two movies in that year. But one battle, like, the imbalance is there. But it's not like one battle is, like, a Moonlight-style, like, $12 million. No, it's not. I think it's like Spinner's is going to win elsewhere, and they'll just be like, yeah, we check the boxes. But I mean, PGA, this is not to go all big picture or Nate Jones, but PGA will show because that's the preferential ballot. And I think it will probably win SAG as well, right? Although. No, I think Sinners is winning SAG. No, I'm sorry. That's what I mean. I thought you were saying. Oh, I think one battle is going to win PGA. Right. It wins the preferential ballot, which is what matters when it comes to best picture. Yeah. Yeah. Because I just think most people like one battle. like i will say that every at every turn sinners is proving to be more broadly popular i mean it's much money but like i think within like industry circles and within like people like there's just like nobody seems to be like tripping up on the genre thing of it or the sort of you know and it's such a triumph and it's like you know it's it's a real like throwing up the gauntlet for like, no, fuck, this still matters. We can make big movies that the people give a shit about. I love how bold it is. If I have a snag on that movie, it's a little bit like I think it sets up a lot of vampire movie stuff and then it's just sort of like, and then the vampire stuff happens. But I think there's so much else that's great about the movie that it mostly levels out for me. Critical Darlings, we did an Oscar villain episode on Hamnet and then I saw people going like right well like going into the season it was seen as that's the villain but it's clearly become sinners versus one battle and hamlet is the natural that's very online but that's that's what's interesting is you're like it's a year where we kind of don't have a villain and we don't have to create a villain 2007 feels like the last time where you're like there are just two different tastes of but also hamlet is a villain because it's like the oscar narrative it would could have been a villain i think it's probably out of the you know it's out of the top three or whatever but like the oscar narrative of like they like arty movies about making art you know like versus like big you know popular stuff and chloe jill has an oscar not to be like the ham that's like two oscars there is a perception i think a little bit that's a little bit overblown of this idea that like shakespeare stuff always wins oscars costume dramas only oscars like big picture was on that train, I think. And I'm like, that's actually just not the case. Not lately. Not in the last 25 years. Not so much lately. But when we're talking about Oscar villains, what we're really talking about is Harvey Weinstein. And we're talking about the machine he created. That's what people remember the most. And the thing where you look back where you're like, why did Chocolat, why did Cider House Rules, I don't understand. Why did all these movies that don't exist, like it up? I was thinking about this the other day. I mean, that's what that fucking movie I Swear, which just set Britain back a thousand years culturally. by mistake is like one of those Weinstein movies. Yeah. Like I know it to be clear to not to impure this movie. I haven't seen it. Yeah. You know it's not this movie's fault really but it has the vibe of those Weinstein movies of like let's convene a congressional hearing on Tourette's after you saw this small indie movie. You know like it's like pushing a yes. Yeah. Pushing a sort of discussion. It's three million Epstein file documents get released. One million of them are about the campaigns for different Weinstein companies. picture contenders right right including peggy siegel saying i don't care how many members i have to fuck i'll whatever it takes to come to vote for the king's speech relax yeah king's speech is being a pretty good but yeah the i swear thing it's like it's one of those things where it's like i've said this to you haven't you're like yeah it's genuinely upsetting that that happened and it's very bad it's also like a faulty towers-esque fucking insane sitcom incident of like them being like, okay, the BAFTAs who have the horrible track record on a race have finally, finally given sinners lots of acknowledgement. There's going to be winners. It's going to go great. Now, where are we sat there? I swear, guy, where are we putting him? Why is he in the seat labeled microphone? I don't understand. It just sounds like something you made of. What this update, BBs, put all of the volume up as hard as they could go? Like, what's that? It's just so fucking, like, British, like, in this, like, dumb BAFTA way. You know, this movie had this kind of like miracle underdog run in the UK and had a release there and was a hit and then was sort of overperforming at every step and like whatever the wind up to this. And then the lead actor beats Timmy. Yes. And the like, you know, the terminally online like Oscar stat brain people are like, fuck, does this mean that this is immediately now the front runner for next year's Beth-X campaign? Oh, yeah, no. And I'm like. Certainly not now. This is like the inverse of the King Richard thing. Yeah. Where the first moment we're becoming aware of this performance is inextricably tied. To a national disgrace for a country and an academy of film. But they're just going to put this movie in theaters in four months, and people are going to be like, nice movie. Yeah. Without thinking about it. Certainly what they were hoping to do. And what they're still hoping to do. Anyway. Yes. Sorry. I don't mean to beat up on, I swear. Yeah. I just think, like, almost every season, us and our friends and everyone we follow and talk to, sort of going like, I'm going to be so fucking angry if X, Y, Z. Yeah. Right? And then you have people who are like, I kind of like 1917. But you're saying it embarrassed because you know. Right. And this year it's just like, if Sinners beats one battle, no one's like fuck. I guess I don't even. If one battle beats Sinners, I think a lot of people will be like fuck. Like, I think that's, but in very online circle. You know what I mean? Like, I think, like, I don't think, I really don't think that that stuff penetrates as, as widely as some people are. Quite possibly. I can tell you that the blankie director nominees are PTA number one, Ryan Coogler, Park Jenwick, Josh Safdie, Danny Boyle. Those are their five. Wonderful. Wonderful. Back to the blankies after these messages. Best Picture Alright, my top 10 of the year is right now at least. So it's changing. One battle after another, number one. It was just an accident. Number two. Weapons, number three. Sinners, number four. Caught by the Tides, five. Secret Agent, six. Marty Supreme, seventh. Twenty-eight years later, eighth. Blue Moon, ninth. Eddington, tenth. I'm already looking at him being like, I want to mess with that a little bit. But that's my 10. Yeah. Yeah. I got like a 15 or 20 that I'm pretty strong about. Yeah. And I just made like seven changes to my 10. Uh-huh. But what I have, I'm going to count up. I'm throwing it in here at 10. I swapped this in at the last second because I didn't call it out in any other area. I also just swapped in my 10 at the last second. The Shroud's at number 10. A movie I... I still haven't seen it. I heard interesting things. I mean, just peak, whatever you call it, late stage. Was there a Pudders and Murmurs case there? No one's really puttering and murmuring, I guess, even though it's sort of that tone. Trouters and Obscurers? Possibly. But I think an excellent movie. Phoenician Scheme, number nine. People are just going to be embarrassed like 30 years from now at how many West movies got slept on. And we're seen as like not one of his best. And then like six months later, people are like, fuck, well, that may be his best. Materialist, of course, at number eight. Sinners at seven. Weapons at six. my top five lined up with my best director, but the order is Testament of Anne Lee at five. If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You at four. No Other Choice at three. One Bow After Another at two. And my number one movie of the year is Eddington. Yes. That's been your favorite for so long. I thought I was alone on Eddington. I'm glad to hear. I always like coming to Blankies and seeing I'm not alone. Eddington's got its fans out there. A lot of them are on this website, X.com. Interesting. Look, it's very... Turning point? What the fuck? People talk about this is a year where it does feel like there were two dominant thematic strains that ran through most of the high-level movies. And it was like Bad Parents and Is Reality Collapsing? And 2020 broke our brains. Right, right. Are things broken? Can we fix them? Is it all over? How did things break? Kind of shit. Yeah. And, yeah, I don't know. It probably just speaks a little more to my worldview that Eddington has stuck in my craw in a way beyond one battle, which I think is excellent and love. And even like seeing it the third time in theaters when it started, I was like, fuck, the opening like three seconds of this movie already feel iconic. Yeah. And then everything that happens after this point already feels iconic. Yeah. It already feels like a movie we've been studying for 50 years. Yeah, it's a text Yeah My list, I'll start also from the bottom Number 10, Blue Moon Number 9, Eddington Number 8, Sinners Number 7, Unbecoming a Guinea Fowl Number 6, Hamnet Number 5, Lurker Number 4, Train Dreams Number 3, Marty Supreme Number 2, One Battle After Another And my number 1 movie is It Was Just an Excellence It was It was, in fact, Just an Excellence Yeah Me and the can jury the top 10 from the blankies I'll just do an order one battle sinners Marty Supreme 28 years later no other choice sentimental value it's just an accident secret agent Eddington and now I'd like to turn it to Ben everything here what we're all here for well yes of course I just feel we've reached that part of the episode yes before I do my original categories I need to do kind of a in memory absolutely and memorandum what do they call it memoriam memoriam but memorandum would be like writing some notes which is fine i like this yeah um but uh sadly my beloved cat pig yes yes who we all love who yeah i had for 17 years the greatest was the best cat there was and she was a pig in the city she was a pig in the city she ran the city um and so yeah i'm gonna miss her a lot But she passed away recently. Oh, yes. Yes. Yeah. Passed away recently. And so, yeah, I don't know. Very recently, you're in a raw state then. This is the first time we've recorded since. Yeah. About half an hour into our episode, Ben texted BC Group Text Max Plus, which is the kind of all hands on deck text. And he just wrote, guys, I'm sad and we're recording blankies right now and I need to think of wet movies. so i just want to know ben's been on grief island and he hasn't been thinking about sure a t or t and if you have to choose now or any of his other great you know so yeah i think also i wanted to start there just well that's why we went extra long is because we want to get you got to get enough time to think of wet movies that's also why i bought ben a violator who's got bendy arms and legs and is now wrapped around ben's microphone arm yeah there he is that's where he belongs yeah So anyway, I wanted to give that context because I am, yes, sad, feeling a little bummed. But still, let's have some fun. Have a little fun. Okay, so here we go. The Weddies. The Golden Mop. The slickest flicks of the year. The movies that soak through. What splished, what splashed. We're so lucky to have you, Ben. Okay, number one. Frankenstein. old-timey dampness yeah yeah it is actually wet labs you're right it's a wet movie yeah the big rain a lot of rain there's a part of moistness to the creature i feel like a lot of ice which we should acknowledge yes which is frozen the hardest water of all yeah indeed number two sinners blood soaked uh-huh yeah and also a big fight in the in the lake or whatever at the end there Sweaty, a lot of sweat, a lot of slick bodies. Very sweaty. Spit. Spit. Yeah. Bottily fluid. Other bottle fluids. Yeah. Liquor. Sure. How would you spell that? Liquor. L-I-K-A-H. The liquor slicks of the year. And may I say it, Mike makes me horny, baby. Oh, interesting. Okay. So I'm getting a little wet down there. Sure, sure, sure, sure. Oh, Michael B. Jordan. I thought we were going back to Mike Myers and his cut body and the awesome powers to religion. I know him as Mike. You're getting wet. Okay. Well, you know what? Let's just keep going. Yeah. Number three, Last Breath. Yeah. I told you. I turned you on to this one. Suggested by Sims. It's a movie that's set underwater. It's set underwater, or as I like to call it, deep wet. Yeah. It is a deep wet movie. It's about the people whose job is to go all the way down there. Yeah. Yeah. Number four, Magellan, suggested by JJ. Nice. It's set entirely at sea. or as I like to call it, the sea. That is what you'd like to call it. Number five. Wetland. Okay. It's the wettest version of the land. That's a good alt. Number five. Sorry, baby. For all the tears ejected from my face. There's a bathtub scene in that one. I adored that movie. What really got me was when the lead character adopts the kittens. Yes, because we are sad. From the poster. Yes. Yeah. And I guess they kind of knew that was coming from the poster. Sure. But because when I first got Pig, it was a very similar moment in my life of, like, a close friend passing away. I was very depressed. And a kitten will really make your life a lot better. Ben, sorry if I can just interject briefly. Yes. You reminded me of a category that I forgot. Oh, yeah. If I could just throw it out quickly. Please. Yes. Truly one I've been working on all year. Yes. And I hope that this is not a one-off trend this year, and this is a category that can sustain and fill out three nominees for every year to come. Okay. It's the Babe Award for Best Fake Hog. Oh, yeah, sure. There were a lot of them this year. This is a trend that is trending. Yes. Increasingly. Yes. I'm now distrustful of all cinematic penises Because I do feel like so many of them are fake Alexander Sarasgaard in Pillian Yep I'm forgetting which guy it is In Splitsville Kyle Marvin One of the guys The one who comes out of the shower and is really hanging it Big fake hog Obviously the inaugural winner Of the Babel War Yeah Samson Biggest fake hog I've ever seen Yeah, for sure. Sorry, Ben, just had to get that harass stains on it from walking. Another wet movie that I did suggest to you was Dangerous Waters, the movie in which Jack Courtney feeds people to sharks. Right. Oh. Pretty fun movie. All right. Yeah. Quite a bit of shark stuff this year, too. Sure. Seems like. Sure. Dangerous animals. Sharks. Yeah. Into the deep. My nephew would love. Secret agent. Yeah. A lot of shark stuff. Yeah. Yes. Okay. Moving on. Next category. the um no thank yous we love to hear number one blue moon a movie absolutely packed with references that i don't care about what mid-50s theater okay no slash stewart little uh apocrypha eb white i'm i'm not a fan of his style no i gotta say i'm surprised to hear that because if you cracked open stewart little like today the moment we finished recording you would be texting this in 30 minutes guys i'm rooting so hard for stewart he's also a mouse trying to make it in the city it is about being obnoxious at a bar and i feel like that does kind of strike you but no i i see what you're saying you know like you don't really care about oscar and hammerstein and all that no that's just yeah not my jam okay number two war of the worlds i would rather spend that half an hour hour and a half rather with steven miller oh watch that film have either of you tough choice have either of you seen mercy no oh no oh i missed that one no spoilers first 90 of that movie chris pratt felt like he was angling for that iowa debris award and then he fucks it up oh chris that was defer number three deliver me from nowhere i'm good yeah yeah despite your chersiness yeah send me somewhere else anywhere else send that was a great impression of humanity at large. Yeah. Yeah, that decision was made. Global viewing public. Spot on impression. They were like, fuck, we need to call this movie Springsteen delivery. And the audiences were like, no, it doesn't matter. It's not going to work. It doesn't help. Number four, how to train your dragon. I was able to return to skipping this one in live action. A rebound skip. There you go. Yeah, but Ben, would you be excited to hear that they're now making a sequel to the live action remake, which is a remake of the animated sequel in which they are now recasting another actor who had voiced the character in the animated films to now play their live action equivalent as well. What a nightmare. Now I'm the fantastic Mr. Fox character with the spiral eyes. Yeah. Yep. God. Number five, Jurassic World Rebirth. Ass is right there in the title. There we go. Our finest film critic. Do we really need to be reborn, though? Let the dinosaurs rest. Yep. been great take. And yet I think they're being reborn again as we speak. There is a moment in that movie where a very tired dinosaur has wandered out of Cobble Hill Park. That's right. And it's just sort of like chilling by the bridge. It's just like, oh man. The one good idea the movie has and it's like, let's get as far away from it as possible. Some honorable mentions. Please. The Bone Temple for Achievement in Bone Temples. the bone temple and you know what it might have this category where was that production nomination like they made up the whole bone temple i we really the this is why we can't have nice things with those two movies yeah violator achievement award goes to test the thompson as hedda for being a delightfully evil little stinker this is a great yeah very good stinker movie yeah yeah yeah we have one of our superlatives categories is um homophobic enemy and despite the fact that she is queer in that movie, that character, she is a homophobic enemy because she makes a lot of trouble for queer people in that movie. Weapons for its great stick work. Not often are sticks showcased in cinema. What are we talking about here? Sticks. Oh, snapping the stick. She's snapping that stick. She's snapping the stick. She's snapping the stick. Branches. You stop looking at a picture of a ring or I snap this stick over your head. Branches are so often seen. Leaves, plenty. Gives sticks their due. Gives sticks a chance. And lastly, pavements for achievement and featuring Griffin Newman on the screen. Not enough movies dare to do it. I know. I want to see it more. It was nice to see it. Technically, Does it qualify as this year or last year? Was it 2025? Hell, I got a seat. Turn me on. Yeah. I recommend it. People, Michael Daburski film, Bill Powley, Nick Robinson, Julia Shiplett, Nesta Cooper, Justin and myself. IMDb is saying it hit the internet in 2024. In what month? September. So that was Griffin at Autumn. Sorry, November. Griffin at Autumn. I, let me double track that. I think it did not go on to VOD and then it got an illegal hidden theatrical release. The best kind of theatrical release. I think it was not until January, but I count it as a 2025 release. Fair enough. Then there was a movie that I think it would be very difficult to cut me out of on the schedule for 2026. Damn right, baby. Hell yeah. What will be my final film role? I'm retiring again. No. It's over. As long as you're doing this, you know, you're in the money forever, baby. Until people get sick of us, which could be tomorrow. Yeah, it could be yesterday. Right. Right. No, I've got an in with Mia Threppleton. She can get you in another movie. I'll just say, look, there's a curse upon me being optimistic about anything in my career outside of this podcast. But I shot this thing in December, and I was like, this thing's got a guaranteed theatrical release. That's true. Can I also tell you? And it would cost millions of dollars to cut me out of it at this point. Not because of my contract, because continuity. The buzz that whipped around my circles at the sight of you in a Muppet audience, by the way, was significant. So the juice is still there. Well, that was just Seth Rogen being a real mensch. Pretty great. But, yeah, that's it for me. Wow. What a year. Good job, buddy. What a year. Thanks. What a year it was. Well done, Pat. Looks like we made it. Joe, this had Oscar buzz. Yes. I have not been on. We've been around for a while. I know. I know. In many years. because of my overwhelming allergy to Zoom. I did recently reach out to you and say, we've gotten to a place of just enough healing that I think it's time. Can we say what the movie is? Yes, we can. If that's the movie you want to do, that is the movie I've wanted you to do. I've had the pin in it for so long. Igby Goes Down. Would you believe that movie meant a lot to one 13-year-old I'm so excited. I don't understand. We've been holding that one in space. The family in that movie is so functional, so I don't really see. I have been too terrified to watch that movie for at least 15 years. I haven't seen it in a while. We'll see. Yeah. We'll see. Yeah. I'm very excited. Very excited to have you back. David will have to have you back as well. You were around for our 70s miniseries a couple years ago. What did I do? Remind me. Don't look now. I love that movie. Yeah. Yeah. What should I do? Well, the Alexander. Yes. That was very early. Just a sentimental value episode on. Critical Darling. I finally have a Critical Darling. Yes. At long last. Thank you for doing that. Yeah. Unsurprisingly. Great co-hosts you got there. Hey. Richard and Allison, my friends. Proud of these kids. I think these kids got a big future. Yeah, I think we really did a good job hiring two very established. Family smart film critics who are good on mic. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm going to go see Project Hail Mary. I'm going to the same screen. Well, then. I'm very excited for the both of you. I got fucking invited to Project Hail Mary. Well, well, well. What a twist. I'm going to Moynihan. James Jason. You did get your luggage here. Thank you for being flexible. Did I tell you also that two days ago when I came here, and, of course, I slipped on ice and fell and hurt my knee. And then David hurt his butt. Did you also fall? No, I see. And then on the cab ride here, because I wanted to be in a cab because my knee hurts. Yes, yes. The cabbie had to stop short, and I lurched forward and banged my knee into the back of the seat in front of me. So it's been a couple of days, but we're doing all right. Let me also just clarify. David didn't hurt his butt slipping on ice. He hurt his butt because his wife whacked him with a rolling pin because he was looking at a picture of the vervang. I'm snapping a stick. She's snapping a stick on his push. You want to stop and look at the picture of the vervang. We got the funny babies. Are you looking at the picture of the vervang? We're going to get some kind of anti-defamation league on our ass about this one, but you know what? Men do be looking at pictures of a ring. If I know men, I know they look at pictures of a ring. If I know a ring. I can see you, no baby. I know I joke and I whack away the sticks, but I know men, and the men, they look at the pictures of a ring. You know why you've been looking at a picture of a ring. You know why. I don't tell this to everybody, but between you and me, I've been looking at the picture of her egg. Man, they are simple. All they want is to look at a picture of her egg. Ben, we love you. I'm so proud to come up. Love you guys. I love it. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Tribute to Pig. Yes. Who's been such an important part of this podcast across all the years. Yeah. We recorded in her home for two years. Close to. Yeah. Yeah. Yep So she's been a She was a violent participant In so many episodes Yeah And we miss her dearly And our thoughts are with you Thanks so much And yes Thank you all for listening Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe Next week Crack of the bat Start of a new miniseries That's right, Peter Weir Peter Very exciting Carthaday Paris Enjoy Yeah What a great miniseries Carthaday Paris Guestless Yeah, no guest Yeah we got it we've got it's it i think it's a good main series majority in the camp almost all we got some great returning guests and people who haven't been on in too long yeah we have a couple exciting first time new faces we got some new faces um i'll have to re-watch fearless before you do your episode on that i haven't seen that one since the 90s fucks it's that movie is um i want to say isabella rosselin he's known for is that not something no spoilers but that movie made David buy new sunglasses. Yes, he did. That's right. That's all. Go listen to this Hedoska Buzz, folks. It's a good podcast. It's the episode coming soon. And as always, R.I.P. Pig, we stand a legend. We love you, Pig. Love you, Pig. Blank Check with Griffin and David is hosted by Griffin Newman and David Sims. Our executive producer is me, Ben Hosley. Our creative producer is Marie Barty Salinas. And our associate producer is A.J. McKeon. This show is mixed and edited by A.J. McKeon and Alan Smithy. Research by J.J. Birch. Our theme song is by Lane Montgomery in the Great American Novel With additional music by Alex Mitchell Artwork by Joe Bowen, Ollie Moss, and Pat Reynolds Our production assistant is Minnick Special thanks to David Cho, Jordan Fish, and Nate Patterson for their production help Head over to BlankCheckPod.com for links to all of the real nerdy shit Join our Patreon, Blank Check Special Features For exclusive franchise commentaries and bonus episodes Follow us on social at BlankCheckPod subscribe to our weekly newsletter checkbook on sub stack this podcast is created and produced by blank check productions