Critical Darlings: The 2026 Oscars Ceremony with Griffin Newman

Welcome to Critical Darlings, a conversation about the award season conversation. One contender at a time. Please welcome to the stage your hosts, Richard Lawson and Allison Wilmore. Marie Barty, thank you so much for that wonderful introduction coming to us. We are joined by our wonderful producer, Ben Frisch. Hello, Ben. Good morning. And our special guest, Griffin Newman. Welcome back to the podcast. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me here. All four of us watch the Oscars together. Yes. Which is the first for all of us, right? I normally watch it on my couch at home at this point. Stay tuned to the end of the episode. We're going to have an announcement about the future of Critical Darlings. And also throughout this episode, we had Ben Frisch recording during our viewing party of the Oscars, and you're going to hear some special, I don't know, correspondent bits from Blank Check Universe's own Ben Hosley. So keep an ear out for those. And near the end of the episode, we're going to be doing a popcorn bucket review, both for the Oscars popcorn buckets and for just some of the best, brightest popcorn buckets with Rebecca Alter. But Allison, what's your big question about this year's Oscars? You know, I wanted us to bring us back to my recurring question. How real is this award ceremony? How real are the Oscars? And why do we care, I guess, is the essential question. We've spent hours now talking about films in the context of the Oscars. I mean, it's pretty high. There were some significant things happening last night, like the first woman to ever win the cinematography Oscar, Michael B. Jordan joining a very small class of best lead actor winners. Six in total. I mean, that's nothing. That's pathetic. It's six, and it does feel like the six are all hugely historic. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, and I think that if you want to compare Michael B. Jordan winning that to Denzel winning it for Training Day, like Training Day is a movie that people probably still watch and think about, but like Sinners was like one of the huge movies of the year. It had all this other awards momentum behind it. And so it felt like it wasn't just this lone standout to give a beloved actor a prize. It was, he was one of several representatives for a movie that was widely beloved, which I think is even rare. Yeah. Yeah, and you know, for me in general, the Oscars, I'm not like an Oscars trivia junkie. I have like really not great stores of historical awareness about them. Like I wish I could pull up like last time someone won or this. They are interesting to me always because they are a reflection of how the industry is thinking about itself and how it is changing with the times or not changing with the times and what it considers valuable and prestigious. It is, you know, its own kind of extremely imperfect mirror to every year. And it's, I think in that way, an incredible check in. And this year, yeah, I mean, I thought it was a really good ceremony. Like I thought like it was, it was one that the vibes were good. It felt very invested in the idea of the movies being important without being self important about that, without being all like cloying. Like there are lots of times when they're doing like, you know, cinema, movies, the history and all of that, where you're like, oh, for God's sake. Like let's move it along, please. And in this case, I felt like it was all coming from a place of sincerity, but also from a place where it didn't feel like it needed to reach out and be like, come on guys, remind us of why, you know, you think this is important too. I think it was understood. This was a ceremony fairly devoid of montages. Yes. Which I usually am a person fighting for the montage because the montage is almost always make me tear up. Yeah. It feels like this is the one time a year I go to church. They do the Henry V music or like one of those other classic scores. Right. Or from Dragonheart Weirdly is one that they've used a lot. That's a big one. And you get eight minutes of like the best high fives or eye contact in the history of movies or whatever. Yeah, or like speeches, battlefront speeches. Yeah, any of those things I love and I've always been like, no, we need them, they're important to the Oscars, but there literally might not have been one last night. And I also felt outside of the memorial. Yeah. Which had to be 20 minutes because last year was a bloodbath. Yeah. Straight up into the first three months of this year. Yeah. The amount of people in a memorial who passed away just in the last six weeks was absurd. Yeah. But I also felt like it was the most comedy they have gotten into an Oscar ceremony in a long time. Yeah. And certainly the most successful comedy. I don't think the ratio has been this strong of good versus terrible. And I think all the things that were failures on the comedy front were basically overly confident presenters. Yes. Overly confident underprepared. Yes, exactly. Yeah. But every Conan bit was great. Yeah. And I feel like there's been a reticence to the comedy the last 15 or 20 years. Can you even pull this off anymore? Do people want this? Is this a no win job? And then you'd get like two or three big segments and the rest of the time the host feels like they're kind of gone. And I felt like there was comedy throughout the show last night that was all kind of like appropriately judged and actually funny. It's a simple metric, but I think the difference between a Conan versus a Jimmy Kimmel is like Conan, I think genuinely cares. Yes. And genuinely is like, you know, he's a sort of Harvard guy. Like he's like, he has a high mind for art, you know, and that counts for a lot. But also just throughout the show, because he put in little jokes wherever he could fit them, it means, oh, he's invested. Like he wants this to be an entertaining worthwhile show. Whereas, you know, yeah, Kimmel being like yet another monologue joke about why are we all here. Year after year, that got pretty tiresome. Yes. Yes. That's a great way of putting it. It felt like the comedy in the Oscars for a decade plus became lampshading about how irrelevant the Oscars were. Right. Or how self congratulatory they were. And I'm like, don't deflate this. I'm watching this. Right. Exactly. Like this is insulting me as someone who is invested in this. Especially like, I hate the jokes about like, oh, here's a bunch of movies we never watched. Like, ha, ha, ha. I didn't watch his best picture nominee. And I'm just like, I don't really want to hear that. And I think- The only person who pulled that off was Hugh Jackman in his opening musical number where he was like the reader. Yes. I couldn't- Yes, that is like the one exception. Yeah. But I mean, something that I appreciated about this year is, you know, of the Conan bits, like the opening, the weapons referencing opening, which I thought was terrific. We've been waiting 20 years for them to bring back post runs through the movies. And they literally did it. I was like, it was so good. They literally had to run through them. I wrote about it on premierparty.com, people can read now online. But I was like, about that bit, I said, it's one of those things where you're like, the minute it starts, you're like, of course, this was the only way to open the show. It's perfect. Right. It reminded me a little bit of the opening to an MTV movie award or something complimentary. Yes. Yes. It was so fun. In the Golden Vinceler days. Yes. And then, notably, that is a bit from the ending of weapons and the award show closed off with a bit from the ending of one battle after another. This was an award show that assumed you had seen the movie. It's like you would not get the jokes unless you. He ran through the end of Hamnet too. Yeah, exactly. This was a great point you made in the moment though, Allison, which is like, there's both a, I've been very frustrated for the last 15 years or so with the Oscars being self-hating. Yes. And then, you know, we've run to even these jokes we're talking about of like calling out like, no one cares. We're just here patting each other's backs. But also this assumption of we are out of touch. There is no longer this overlap between what we deem important and the popular culture they've gotten further and further apart. And the Oscars tying themselves into knots of like, how do we get people back in? If we nominate this, do they watch? You know, if we don't nominate this, if we bring on these stars or all of these things that felt like, just let the Oscars be for the people who want to watch it. And I think this year, you both organically had a crop of nominees that felt like they stuck more to the culture that people actually saw and were invested in. And also the Oscars just felt like they chilled out about all of that. Yeah. I don't know if part of it is that like, the YouTube deal is done, ABC is in its final years. Yeah. This idea of trying to chase how do you get it back to 1997 ratings is never going to happen. And it's no longer a long-term thing they have to solve. But it just felt good to be like, these are very specific reference points, not from the trailers, but from the endings of these movies that we're assuming both because they actually were widely seen and because who watches the Oscars if they don't actually care. This is a spoiler safe space. Yes. Yeah. And that was nice. I mean, it felt like we were all in this together. Like we do all care about this. We know we get this. The assumption that we were all there. I think that maybe the mistake that the Oscars made for a long time was a reaction to both the Ricky Gervais Golden Globes years, but also kind of the Tina and Amy Golden Globes years where Ricky and his kind of classic, I mean, that guy, did you know that he doesn't believe in God? Richard, you can't say that all night. Sorry, sorry. Oh, like I'm going to be held liable for these slanderous comments. I know. Obviously, he just mocked it in this really kind of acidic way. And then Amy and Tina made it. They would come out and be like, hello, you entitled brats, whatever. That works for the Globes, which genuinely don't matter. That's the kind of difference. But the Oscars, I mean, look, none of this matters. But the Globes are much faker. They are much less real than the Oscars in terms of how they work. But also, if we treat the Oscars as unreal, then this entire thing falls apart. Yeah. I mean, the other thing is also, as if you're going to attach any meaning to an award show, the Oscars, where it is made up by people in the industry voting on their own work, essentially, is as close as you can come to something that has some weight or meaning. Totally. And I mean, to your point of like, how real is this and what you astutely say all the time, that like the Oscars are interesting as a reflection of how the industry views itself in that moment. I think beyond that, the Oscars existing are one of the only things that still gets studios to take risks. There is still an ego involved in the industry as much as people become sociopathic, crass, like mega conglomerates. How do we just make everything for cheaper and faster and worse? Everyone kind of wants to win an Oscar. The worst people in the industry still want to win an Oscar. Many of the worst people in the industry have won multiple Oscars. And it's still this one thing that gets major studios to be like, can we allocate 5%, 10% of our budget a year to making things that might turn out well and that promoting them with a kind of care and delicacy that we don't otherwise apply. Right. But also the idea, it is the thing that makes these extremely bottom line focused businesses do things that are not in the interests of their bottom line. I mean, the Oscars obviously do provide a certain boost, but they're not really like, probably if you were going to zoom in on the stuff that makes reliably like the most money it is not going to be. No, it probably accrues some value as a catalog. Absolutely. Sure, but yeah, no, it is more about a certain sort of pride and ego. I mean, one of the nice things about this year was that, well, depending on how you break down budgets, but like one battle after another did make some money. It was seen. Sinners was obviously an enormous hit, those being the two front runners. It meant that there was a sort of populist momentum behind, you know, kind of joining the art, you know, the sort of ego driven thing. I would say there was a slight downside to that though, in that I think in the age of social media, that heightened scrutiny made it like one. When the show was over last night, I was like, thank God, like I enjoyed watching the show. I was happy with most of the winners, but I think there was such an exhausting kind of world surrounding that and such a huge lead up because the Oscars, you know, we're recording as it's put in June 23. Yeah, of course. Yeah, it was just so, it felt so delayed that like I almost found myself bitterly wishing for, you know, just a few years previous when no one had seen anything and we could just be in our little bubble. Yeah, I mean, that's, it's the champagne problem, literally. But you and I turned to each other when Best Actor was about to get announced and I was like, I'm genuinely nervous and we're like, our hands are shaking. There was just this feeling of like, what's about to happen and what is going to be the discourse cycle around this? It's genuinely your dirt. And then every Michael B. Jordan, he gets up and we're like, this just feels right. This feels good. Yeah. This is going to age well. This feels good in the moment. He's nailing the speech. Right. The speech was like very classy, but earnest and heartfelt. I showed you a picture of Timothy Chalamet arriving. It was like the Getty photo from the red carpet and he had the sunglasses on. He had the kind of like dirt baggy facial hair. He was in a white suit, stealing Wagner Mora's like signature move, but it was like a kind of hype beast fit like baggy and he was just standing there like this. And you immediately were like, he's not going to win. I said he's not winning tonight. And I had the exact same thing last year with a complete unknown. I don't remember what he wore, but just him showing up with a with a Jenner on his arm and just feeling a little too swaggy, you know, a little too like big for his britches. I was like, even though they're not obviously voting at the moment he shows up on the red carpet, this is the exact thing they don't want to have. That's the energy made manifest. It is. Yeah. It is. And it's the reason they're going to keep making him wait. Yeah. And I think, you know, even though when DiCaprio would go to the Oscars, he would play grown up very well. Yeah. But I do think if I can invoke it again for the second consecutive week, I do think the pussy posse stuff haunted DiCaprio for a long time where they were like, it's in what you're saying of like the Academy is picking what they want to represent how the world sees the film industry. There is this feeling of like, is the association bad here? Right. I mean, this is it is like their testament to what they want in a movie star, right? How they think a movie star should behave right now. And clearly they looked at what Timmy did and and for all credit to Timothy Chalamet, who I think is great and Marty Supreme and who also through like sheer force of swaggy will. Yeah. I've heard that movie in the box office to like heights that I don't think anyone would have expected for a period piece ping pong saga. But it was not the right energy for the Oscars. I think they're for a while, probably. I think there's a question of is he fundamentally unserious in a way that we can't reward him until he gains that piece, right? Yeah. So what about these things as if the Academy is like, you know, 800 people in robes who all sit around a long table and go, how do we feel about the way Timmy is dressing? Yeah. It's, you know, there's a sort of collective unconscious, but also there is something about as much as people think like Chalamet was great. That's the best performance of the year. And then you get your link and you open up for voting and you look at the five and suddenly there's this sort of like, wait a second. Yeah. You run the mental simulation. You imagine the speeches they're going to give. And sometimes I think you make an impulsive decision based on like vibes, right? Yeah. And I think you look at the two other, the two youngest best actor winners of all time, the people that Chalamet would have been in the class with are Richard Dreyfus and Adrian Brody, who are both cases. Love. Love figures. Where they gave it to these guys young and the egos went out of control. Strewing them, yeah. Arguably, we're already bad like before. Yes. I think to me a current state is better than either of those two guys. Sure. And his sort of like, he has more humility and what he's doing is more theatrics and self-aware. He's self-aware. Yeah. He's self-aware. But I think there is that concern, especially when last year they brought Brody back and then this year he wanted to do five minutes of self-referential bits about how much he sucked last year. Yeah. I mean, I laughed. He's not great at like that delivery, but it's still pretty funny. Yeah. And like not to, I don't know. Who knows what the voter thinking was. But you know, I had this thought a couple days before the Oscars, against better judgment, watching deposition video of these two doge assholes, these like 20-something guys smirking. I'm impressed you could watch it because I got so angry right away. Oh, no, I mean, I watched maybe three minutes of each one being deposed. And I was like, you know, that's not exactly Marty Mauser energy, but it's not too dissimilar. And like, and then you compare what Chalamet's character is doing in that movie and he plays it very well. But you know, maybe people are sort of passing some sort of moral judgment on the character. And then you could, you know, to what Michael B. Jordan's two characters, you know, one tragic figure who becomes kind of a villain, but not really. And then, you know, this kind of avenging hero who, you know, sacrifices himself, you know, whatever. I just, I have to think that there was something subconscious, even in voters' minds that were like, I don't want to give it to this little pipsqueak pissing ass. You know, and not even just on a Chalamet level, but on a character level. Oh yeah, for sure. People really struggled with Marty. I feel like even understanding that he was clearly not like, the movie was not being like, here's a broad endorsement of everything he's doing. People really struggled with that character. Yeah, I will say. This is going to guarantee us many more Timothy awards campaigns. Like it's like all in ones. I mean, not this coming year. I do not think. No, no. Like Dune 3 does not seem like it is necessarily going to be a best picture. Well, there was a joke online that he's gonna, now he's guaranteed to do an In Your E2 film. Yeah, I mean, that's, yeah. Which like, yeah, I mean, okay, so if I can brag for a second. Please. I love the original original original original original original original original original the whole night, which I'm proud of. One of them was best actor. Yeah. And I had to do a little analysis of that when I wrote about the show after the broadcast. And I think that one of them was I was reading sort of tea leaves about like BAFTA and SAG a little bit wrong or a lot wrong. The other was I think there was a subconscious thing where I was like, I just want, I'm not in predicting and wanting is not the same thing, but I kind of confused them. I wanted Chalamet to win solely so we wouldn't have to have this discourse anymore, that we could finally be done with it because like we all chilled out on Leo and that was he that was in a much younger social media age than we are now. So but yes, you're right. Now that didn't happen. I think the ultimate the end result was the better one. But yeah, I sort of do dread already what the next but maybe he learned. Yeah, I mean, I you we were talking last night and like is the next move he did the the bio pic he has done like this like really kind of brush it challenge like abrasive totally challenging. Like I kind of arguably I feel like what's next is. Yeah. Physical transformation, right? Like aesthetics. Yeah. Well, I feel like it's either going to be gaining a lot of weight for the role, which is a tried and true narrative, right? For your actually transformation skills or he's going to bulk up. He's going to get like really some sort of suffering for the art. Yeah, exactly. You know, yeah, can I throw out I think his three nominated performances and it is wild that he is 31 now and has three best actor nominations. Yeah. But calling by your name complete unknown and Marty Supreme or I would argue three very different performances, but they're all digging into what his core movie star energy is, which is a weird balance of brashness and incredibly sensitive emotionality, right? Like an almost transparent with a charm sort of total woven in there. Right. And it's different versions of that in very different films, but they're all digging on that's what David Fincher likes to say the quality that's still going to be there in an actor at three o'clock in the morning when you're on take 100, right? David Fincher should also not make people do it. It's a whole other conversation. But yes, like David Fincher, just go home. But he's you know, he cast people for that and then movie stars are often about what's the thing that's still going to be there at three o'clock in the morning, no matter what, because it's not an act. It's their core kind of being that makes them a little interesting. I think to win now, he almost needs to find a performance that's outside of that rather than transforming in some demonstrative, you know, external way. He needs to find a performance that has an entirely different energy. And that's when I think they'll also be like, oh, you grew up. Yeah. Yeah. Because the defining thing about those three performances is that's the kind of energy we ascribe to overly confident. Yeah. Oh, no, we're young men. I think it's like he like boyishness has been his chief quality for such a long time. And I feel like he and I have that in common. Both are. You're young, you're young, you're greatly led. But I feel like it's not necessarily something he's going to be able to shed. I feel like he needs to maybe grow out of it. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and so like we might be waiting around for a while for that type of role. Possibly. Yeah. Another question is what does this do for Jordan? I mean, I want to throw out a couple, Jordan, thoughts here. Yeah. I remember sitting with you at a bar. It was when we had the first conversation about doing this podcast in person. And you had just come back from Venice and Toronto? No, I just Toronto. Just Toronto. And we were sort of like, I was getting your opinions on what you had seen and where you thought the Oscar race was going. And you said to me then, beginning of September, or maybe end of September, I feel like the Oscars might circle all the way back around to sinners. You had seen one battle. It hadn't come out yet. We didn't know how it was going to do with the box office, but it was like, this is beloved, but I feel like there could be a kind of everything everywhere. All at once horseshoe, especially because it's a blockbuster. And like these are, you know, Sean Fennessey, a big picture keeps pointing out that like Ryan Coogler's key crew has started to become like Spielberg's key crew. You know, where you're like, Ruth Carter's winning multiple costume awards under him. My Ludwig Gorin sent, you know, like, right. These things will not. I mean, too, for boosting. Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like in the last month, there was the vibe shift of is everything going to swing centers, but at very least it felt like something major has to swing centers. They can't just give it the best original screenplay that felt kind of like a lock. Yeah. And does that mean the picture is going to swing, the director is going to swing, that Michael B. Jordan is going to swing, that maybe it wins both supporting categories. And I think part of what worked for Michael B. Jordan was there was all this pressure on the idea of Timothy Chalamet as the last movie star and the movie star that Gen Z connects to and the guy who drives box office and brings legitimacy. And he pulled off making Marty Suprema hit. And there was this kind of like, is Michael B. Jordan kind of getting in on the back of the movie? He's the fifth nominee. He's overdue. It was a kind of performance that I embarrassingly said in some episode of Blank Check to Sims, like I question if he's going to get in there. And I mean, we didn't know, you know, my thinking was in a way, it felt like the kind of Yeoman's work performance of a movie star who's also a producer who's carrying all the weight of the film, but is generously allowing the supporting performers to really get the flashy stuff. And I kind of comped it to Mark Wahlberg in the fighter, snubbed all of the supporting people nominated supporting wins. De Niro in the Irishman, Leo and Killers of the Flower Moon, all kind of like nomination morning surprises were an A list movie star who will that movie into existence in close kind of tandem with the director was snubbed for just sort of holding the center of the movie and being taken for granted. Totally. And I think the two things I weren't considering were one, there's the stunt factor of Michael B. Jordan playing two characters really subtly. That was kind of hiding in plain sight. And it felt like in the last six weeks, they like hit the gas on that narrative. Hey, have you noticed like how skillfully he's differentiating these two characters? And even like Del Rey, Linda and William Misako going out in interviews and explaining what the process was like, suddenly made people go, oh, that performance is better than I realized. I is preventing people from taking it for granted. The other thing I think supercharged him is you could argue this is the overdue Oscar after three previous Michael B. Jordan, Ryan Coogler snubs. Yeah. You could argue that he should have been nominated for Fruitvale, Creed and Black Panther. Yeah. And that he was snubbed all three times and that here we have something that generationally feels similar to like Scorsese and De Niro if none of the performances were nominated before Raging Bull. Yeah. Right. I mean, I think the tricky thing with Michael B. Jordan is that he is someone who has been so good working with Ryan Coogler and then has made some other things in between that like have gone basically unnoticed. You know, and I think. All the way from like Tom Clancy's Without Remorse to Just Mercy, a perfectly well intentioned journal for Jordan. Yeah, exactly. Like these movies where you're like they might as well not like Just Mercy is a great example directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. You know, it's about Ryan Stevens. Right. Brian Stevenson, the civil rights attorney, but it is like just an incredibly boring movie. Like it is like very dutiful. It's like very well intentioned and just like has very little spark of life. It is a true Oscar rate movie. Yeah. It feels self-consciously Oscar paid. Yes. Yeah. Or even like, I mean, he did that HBO Fahrenheit 451. Ramin Barani directed it. Great director. Yeah. Just an incredibly kind of like lifeless movie. So I feel like the tricky thing with Michael B. Jordan has been like that the movies in which he really just has that you're like, oh, you're such a movie star have been either with Ryan Coogler or when he's directed himself in Creed 3. Yeah. Which is a really interesting movie, you know. And I feel like the biggest test for the kind of movie star he will be, which I think we are still kind of learning is his Thomas Crown Affair. Totally. Which he's directing. Which he's directing. I mean, the potential for that to just be like a weirdly, you know, like almost in reverse order, like, I mean, he's already a movie star. Don't get me wrong. Yeah. And but now he has the Oscar and then we can kind of go back to be like, oh, right. But you're also fun and sexy and I want to pay for it. Like, you know, to see you on a Saturday night, you know, at the theater, like I really hope that movie works out because like, you know, the more recent, the remake, you know, from the 90s, like that's a really great movie. And I just, you know, there are big shoes to fill, I guess. We covered that on Blank Check, I guess a year or two ago. And it's a real like, why don't we have this in the ecosystem anymore? There was a movie starring grownups that came out in August. And Bill Conte just freaking it every bar of that score. It was just like, yeah. And in Sexy and it was a hit. You know, and it does feel like that's a very strategic move on his part to try to identify what his movie stardom is. I think you're right that there was this kind of recognition of the industry has been putting all this pressure on, can we identify the next generation? And what it wants more than anything is to be like, can we have a Tom Cruise where no matter what everything he makes will cross a hundred million dollars domestic? The Caprio being able to do that mostly working with prestige directors and sort of more high brow fare, you know, Julia Roberts, what have you. And I think there's been this pressure for Chalamet to be that because the track record was building towards that. And maybe people looked back and they were like, you know, we've been like hard on Michael B. Jordan when they're like minor missteps, but the missteps are small. Every major movie he's made has been a major hit. There is no bomb that people associate with Jordan. Correct. Right. You know, correct. And if you just look at the Cougar work and especially the last three, you're like, that's billions of dollars. And then you add in that he made like two successful Creed sequels where he basically took over as the main credo voice fully on the third one. I think there was this feeling of like this guy has quietly, you know, through quiet little ups and downs proven himself as if not the definitive star, certainly a definitive star. And also we don't really know about his personal life. He's not out there grandstanding. When he does press to promote his movies, it just feels like he's a serious focused, you know, disciplined. Like this is a actor we want to present to the world as, look, here's our new serious leading man. Yeah. And I mean, you would certainly also say that like black actors are punished more or not allowed the kind of leeway to act out the way Timothy Shalame has. Well, and then be kind of taken seriously. But I do think that, yeah, like up there on stage giving that award, like Michael B. Jordan was like, and like kind of explicitly putting himself in this kind of history of these like, you know, like milestone, like performers. And yeah, the full list is Podye Denzel Washington, Forrest Whitaker, Jamie Foxx, Will Smith. Yeah. And Michael B. Jordan's the sixth. And Will Smith that win has been pretty memory hold because of, you know, what proceeded it. But if you remove Forrest Whitaker, who's a phenomenal actor and was like fully deserving of that award, but is more of like a serious actor. The other five Michael B. Jordan included are like generational, yeah, definitional movie stars. They are people who like change the culture. Hi, this is Ben. We're doing brooch corner. Everyone's been calling out tonight. And I fully agree that this is a night for broaches. The boys and their broaches. Big ones, small ones, shiny ones, back ones, front ones, side broaches. And I love it because here's the thing. Often men are just boring and they wear a tux. Throw a little brooch on it. Spice it up. Adrian Brody wearing a very shiny, stupid brooch. Michael B. Jordan wearing the back brooch. I like that on the back of his collar. God, I don't know. Oh, yeah, it truly feels like every actor was rocking a brooch. It's like, oh, you know, who had the like a pro Palestine? Have you are? Have you are? I like that was cool. It was like a handmade one. And it was political and I had a good message because it was often people are showing a little bling, right? To to like have a little pop with like a neutral color, a black or, you know, white colored suit. I think I would try to go for a first place rosette so that no matter what, even if I don't win, I'm number one. I'm I got first place in my own heart. So that's what I would go for. David, yes. Hmm. Hmm. We're trying to thoughtfully build a wardrobe. Oh, that's right. You know, you want premium fabrics and you want considered design. You want every mix. Well, and last, obviously, that's true. And they should be everyday essentials that feel effortless to wear. Yeah. And dependable. Yeah. Evens the season's changes they are doing currently in New York. They've got light wear, cashmere sweaters. I've got a couple of those. They got short sleeve, mongolian, and a little bit of a little bit of a I've got a couple of those. They got short sleeve, mongolian, cashmere polo. 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Don't keep settling for clothes that don't last. Go to qince.com slash check for free shipping and 365 day returns quints.com slash check. If we want to shift gears a little, I curious, what did you guys think about Sean Penn speech? I thought it went a little long. Yeah. Yeah. It is funny that after all we've talked about, like what the Academy wants in like its best actor. Like to be like the opposite apparently is true for best supporting actor. Sean Penn showed up for the Golden Globes, smoked in the room, didn't win, did not show up for the other things that he won. The ones he won. BAFTA. Yes. The SAG Actor Awards and the Academy Awards. Yes. Zero speeches. And there were some concern in the room last night, like, oh, I heard a rumor he's not well or whatever. And then people are like, no, he's in Ukraine. Boots on the ground. Boots on the ground. I will say that there is a part of me and maybe this, I think if you don't fucking show up, that's next person down the list. Unless there's a, you have a real reason for not being there. Like the ceremony suffered from not having someone give a speech in that slot, especially because you considered the other four guys would have probably given a very memorable speech. They plan out the order of awards. And they're like, OK, and then we need the actor speeches that they're sort of like the supportings are their tent poles, you know, in the sort of first roughly half of the show. We need two famous in the first hour to get us to the room. Absolutely. The next two hours we're going to the floor. Yeah. And we should pull back to famous. Exactly. A friend of mine was texting last night and he was like, I don't know, I just feel like something's off. And I was like, it's because we've only had one actor speech so far. That's why. And not that Sean Penn would have given some rousing, you know, stump speech, but like. Both of his speeches were memorable. The two previous times he's won. Yeah. Yeah. I was years ago. This is a sort of silly anecdote, but years ago, I was traveling abroad with a friend and I just had this little sound sort of echoing in my head and it was just rise again. And I just kept thinking and saying it. I was like, what the hell is that from? And as we were on a train going from somewhere in Italy to somewhere in Italy, I was like, Sean Penn's milk speech when he was talking about Mickey Rourke rises again. And she was like, what is wrong with you? Why is that in your head? But no, I think it's yeah, he does kind of give like somewhat like, you know, memorable speeches. Interesting speeches. And I think it and that was also milk was what? Over 15 years ago. It was 2008. Yeah. So it would have been interesting to hear from him, especially at a political time. I will say that there is I've seen some criticism and I maybe have it myself where the show did skirt around political stuff to some extent. I mean, do we want them weighing in on all this? But Sean Penn, he would have done it. You know, I want to get to that in a second, but I will also say I did appreciate that it was Karen Culkin giving that award and he did not pretend to be gracious about. Yeah. And anyway, he doesn't want to be here. Yeah. No, but I mean, like that felt right to be like, you know, this asshole, like not being here. Yeah. And that also made the rhythm of the show feel off because Kieran Culkin was like, I don't know, let's get this thing over with. Sean Penn. Yeah. You know, the whole moment went by so quickly that it almost felt like a hallucination. Right. I was doing the tally at my head sort of toward the end of the night and I was like, wait, but they haven't done supporting action yet. And it's like, oh, no, they did. It's just about two seconds. There was like no moment that's stuck from that. I mean, I think as a performance, he's kind of undeniable in that film. Yeah. I surveyed it. It's not like an embarrassing win in any way. Yeah. It becomes the sort of like how many Oscars does a person need, especially when that category contains two like historic actors in their 70s who have never been nominated before, getting their first nomination and giving like a great performance and a best picture nominee. Yeah. And then like a Lordy, who's another one of the, is it the future guys? Mm-hmm. And Del Toro, who'd be winning for the second time, but fully 26 years later. Yeah. There's more of a distance and, you know, he's certainly a towering figure. It felt like any one of those guys would have given an emotional speech. And I saw people speculating that Penn not showing up at the other events after getting called out by Nikki Glaser at the Globes, chain smoking and looking like a bag of garbage, was strategically like the less people see of me, maybe the better chance I have at winning. Yeah. And then it was so funny that it's like, no, we're just assuming all this shit on him. He just actually kind of doesn't care. Yeah. Yeah. But so with the politics, I mean, I feel like whatever. I'm asked to write about the Oscars like the next day. The day is always just like, the Oscars were surprisingly apolitical or the Oscars were very politically or like the two tanks. Uh-huh. And what was interesting about this year? Well, as an editor who fired me once said, I want any Hollywood story to be one that everyone in DC cares about, which is like, there's no such thing as this. Yeah, they don't. No. No. Anyways. But like, it was funny, like in the beginning, like I think in the, in his opening Conan like was like, this might get political tonight might get political. But like these Oscars were, the politics came through much more from the presenters than they did in the speeches. Like there were a few. Kind of doing his like, isn't it funny that Trump's angry at me thing? Yes. Yeah. Or like, you know, Javier Redem being like no war in free Palestine, like explicitly. That was the moment that I think people thought was going to be happening across the show. Yes. And I do think he did exactly what you should do, which is just get out there, say the thing you want to say and then read off the teleprompter. Exactly. Bianca Chopra looked a little thrown. Yes. Yeah. But you know. She rolled with it better than I would have guessed. She did. She did not seem like someone who would, from afar, who would have necessarily. Excuse me. I'm sorry. Bianca Chopra Jonas. I apologize. Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. We're stuck in the past. Yeah. I wanted to be single. But I feel like it actually worked better that way in that I feel like one of the things that having a political speech, like what is challenging about that is it's one wants to also get out the thank yous and I'm so grateful. And then also here's a political statement and those don't go together very well. Like they often feel like you're just trying to serve these two enormously different purposes. So having presenters feel more freed up to make jokes about, well, without ever mentioning Trump by name, you know, like it did feel like it offered some relief to in terms of like the expectations that are on the people giving speeches. Yeah. Like the assumption that people had seen the movies, there was this assumption like, like obviously, like we're not, everything's a fucking mess and, you know, we can, we can acknowledge it wryly or directly, but like we're not going to make that the theme of the evening because that's giving him yet another thing or whatever. I think that's a big part of it. I think it's, there's this feeling of it's a vicious cycle, but it's like, if you get up there and say anything at like the Woke Liberal Academy Awards, is that just going to become fodder for Fox News and sitting members of the administration. Or read in card to like, truly, you know, pull ABC license. What are you accomplishing here in a weird way? Does it become not like an echo chamber, but does it just become fuel for them to stoke outrage in their own base? Yeah. I also think it's fascinating to look at like early 2000s during the Bush administration, there would be these very fiery political speeches and the audience would turn on them. Like it was Hollywood was no less liberal, but there was this feeling of you're being unpatriotic, don't politicize this. And you know, Michael Moore is a famous one of those. When he won for bowling for Columbine, right? He basically explicitly political speech and was booed in the room because Iraq had been invaded like that week. What do you say? We're engaged in a fictional war with a fictional president. Yeah, and he booed him. Yeah. Was it a year later, two years later, that he was nominated for Fahrenheit and he was 9-11 and was greeted as if like, you know, Jesus returning to Jerusalem for Easter, or for Palm Sunday. And it was just, yeah, like the Oscars are not traditionally that polite to that kind of sentiment. No, no, no. And then, you know, Sims and I were recently talking about in 2001 when Robert Altman was seen as the best director front runner of like, it's time. Here's the Lifetime Achievement Award for Robert Altman. And then in the run-up, he won the Golden Globes. It was like, here we go. He did a big interview where he criticized the war and Bush and everyone turned on him. And there was this energy of we can't give him an Oscar who knows what he's going to say on stage. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And then I think in the last 10 years, the Oscars got more overtly political. You had these moments of like, you need to take a stance. And there's a little bit of possibly a step back, like what did that accomplish? Right. You know, which isn't saying it's not worth saying something and speaking truth to power, but it does. We just live in a time that is insane and everything becomes like weaponized and picked apart. And I don't think people were like strategically going like, I don't want to get political because it will hurt my career or we need the Oscars to be inclusive or anything like that. I think there's genuinely a moment after like a kind of 2010s of, do we all need to be tweeting all the time, turning everything into a press release? Like what is actually going to move the needle on any of these issues? Is it going to be whoever wins best supporting actress? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I also feel like, obviously I support anyone who wants to like go up there and make a political statement, use their time to do that. But I feel like it was telling that the first really political speeches came from the documentary winners because there's just a very obvious and easy way for them to speak to how their work has relevance. I also feel overtly political films. The films about Russia and Putin and about school shootings in America. Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like, and maybe this is just me being too generous, but like, I, there was just a definite feeling in the room more so this time of being like, everyone understands like everyone is like on an approximately same page about their feelings about what's happening in the world right now, at least certainly like within like the presidential regime. And that kind of provides, you don't need to keep saying it out loud. You know, I mean, like when Jimmy Kimmel came up and like told his, yeah, his jokes, like his late night jokes. He's going to hate this. Right. And I was just, it felt kind of like. It feels a little glib and pat. I think there's another thing too, which is like everyone's saying they're going, I don't want to be Adrian Brody, right? It's not even like I don't want to speak out for fear of career repercussions. Yeah. It's, it's a thing that's talked about a lot of like, these aren't our elected officials. These are like actors and creatives. And even if they're smart, they're not necessarily like political science majors. And if they get up there and give some like self-indulgent speech where they completely muddled their own point and the audience is like, what are they saying? What does that accomplish? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I feel like it was telling that the bits that felt the sharpest were not aimed at the larger political world, but like the more immediate ways in which corporations have been affecting the industry, right? Like Conan's bits, by the way, they should bring Conan back forever. As often as he wants to continue hosting these. Forever host. Yes, exactly. Until Mr. B steps in, of course. That, you know, the bits about like his job at like Ted Surandos being like, here is a movie theater. And it kept going. Yeah. Zest on it where I was like, oh, you genuinely dislike like what this man has done. He kind of had the right targets. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And the, I mean, I loved the, Casablanca is maybe like a little easy as like the film to like riff on, but like that bit was really funny about just repeating. And they did it live. Yes. You know, like it wasn't like a pre-taped thing, which I thought was fun. And the Jane Lynch YouTube ads also very good. The flashlight that killed Bin Laden stuck in my head forever. Like those, those are bits were funny, but also like they felt like there was both like legitimate grievance and way to make those have zing while also working as jokes. We were also, we were talking about right before we started recording how fascinating it was that it did feel like ultimately despite, you know, us very confidently deciding Hamnet episode will be about Hamnet being the Oscar villain that is clearly positioned as the Oscar villain this year. And one of the episodes in this mini series needs to focus on that phenomenon. Things absolutely came around to one battle being seen as the Oscar villain. Which was fascinating. I was arguing that to Sims that like the last time that felt like this was 2007 where no country and there will be blood were the presumed front runners. And you were like, you have two movies here that are just sort of like adored and held in really high esteem by serious film people that also had some level of like popular crossover box office success where it's not like there's a low brown movie and a high brown movie and which one's going to win. It's two high brown movies that feel like in conversation with each other. And those two like weird modern American Marfa westerns were that and sinners and one battle very much feel in conversation. Well, they were fighting, but then one of them said Marfa and they said, how do you know that name? I filmed there. Nice. A thousand comedy points. But yeah, it felt like a similar kind of thing. And I think in the last month there was a lot of like, what are the politics of one battle? And what is the statement if we give this the award? And in his first of three speeches, I feel like PTA summed up succinctly whether or not you like it, what that movie is about, which is the feeling of like, did we fuck this up? Yeah. Have we fucked this up for the next generation? Yeah. Is it done or is the next generation the one that's going to fix this? You know, have we put the burden on them or are they the first generation that's ready to sort of solve things? And he mentioned his children, which like everyone, including myself, had read into that movie and put it in reviews or write ups of the movie. And I don't always want, you know, PTA can be kind of an elusive storyteller and you don't always know what he's getting at. In an intriguing way, it's, you know, what keeps people coming back to his movies. But like, I appreciated that given the, you know, the political tenor of the evening and what was happening outside the evening and all that, I appreciated that he was like, yeah, I'm going to give you a little bit of an answer to the question. I'm going to give you the thesis. Without being self-important about it or, you know, self-aggrandizing about it, I'm going to humanize it because I genuinely believe that's why he made the movie. 100%. Yes. No, it's coming from a really real place of like, in their own ways, have the de Caprio character and the pen character fucked up things equally. One of them was doing it maliciously and one of them was doing it kind of fearfully. And, you know, at the end of the ceremony, he calls out at best picture Chase Infinity, the heart of the movie. He gave kind of the ultimate. My American girl. Has now replaced Linda Cardellini as the heart of Green Book. Jesus Christ. She is the new heart of, well, I want to see Chase Infinity's husband fold a pizza in half, all that's all I'm saying. I know. I mean, like that, a few images more iconic really in the celebration of cinema that is the Oscars. Green Book 2, just been broken. Yeah, you can get, oh, can't wait. Yeah. Griffin, Allison, reveal your ballots. How'd you do? Uh, I can't remember how many missed. Definitely a lot more than Richard did. I did not do as well as Richard. I went for Tiana for Best Supporting Actress, found Amy Madigan's speech delightful. Love that, you know, weapons got its one win. But yeah, I don't know. I love Tiana. I think Tiana's amazing. I love her in like during the ceremony, like when PTA won, just like, you know, giving him like the... She was also standing one or directly, one person away from her directly next to DiCaprio, who had just lost Best Actor. Like vocally cheering on Jordan on stage. And I was like, great, good. She was, you know, I used to, when I did the 20 years ago recaps, I would, I became obsessed with how good Sharon Stone was at being at the Oscars. Just the most enthusiastic clapper, a great presenter who really took it seriously. She would do fun fashion things. And I'm like, Tiana Taylor, if you want to come back to these Oscars every year, because you're a great, she's a great audience member. Yeah. Yeah. No, super. I did call out speaking of political speeches. I did call out when Amy Madigan won. If she had real backbone, her and Ed Harris would stay in their seat, refusing it back for her own. Yeah. Just arms crossed. I do wonder, how did you did okay in your belt? I think I missed five or six. I swung Sinners for Best Picture at the last second on a vibe. I went Stella and I thought they were going to give him the life I did too. I got the other three acting categories. I got director, both screenplays. I think I missed animated short. I missed Casting, which was sort of, I wanted to bring that up. One of the three that I missed. I missed four in the room because I switched to F1 winning editing for some reason, but in my official predictions The ones that counted. Yes. Anyway, but I, you know, I think a lot of predictors, prognosticators, Gold Derbyites got casting wrong. Yeah. And I think part of that is that like Sinners has this amazing ensemble that probably had to be found more than like, you know, PTA making a few phone calls or or Safty making a few phone calls. Um, I didn't win and one battle did and then it won Best Picture and the question is like, okay, with this new category for the time being, is it just like, I don't know, whatever I'm voting for for Best Picture wins Best Casting. I said this in the room. I wondered if, because when that won, it felt like, oh, one battle has Best Picture locked. Yeah. In the way it kind of used to for like editing or something. Yeah. Right. There's always been this Oscar metric that editing and Best Picture line up more than any two other categories. Yeah. Because even director sometimes they'll swing a different way to spread the love, but editing rarely swings to like an editing focus movie that doesn't happen to be the Best Picture frontrunner and in the way that very often not always the SAG Ensemble Award feels like a good predictor of Best Picture because it represents the acting branch, which is far and away the biggest branch in the academy. Is that going to be a one to one? It might be a thing where it takes five to 10 years before we understand how the casting category works because and they called this out in the presentation, which I thought was really good. They had an actor from each of the five nominated films talk about the casting directors specifically, but they said it's like invisible architecture for these movies. And what is casting? Right. In which cases are you're like, their job was negotiating 10 difficult contracts. In which case is it you had to find one unknown person, discover a key star? In which cases is it the amount of cast? Is it the strength and the cohesion of the ensemble? Is it like, you know, Marty Supreme is like five people you know, and then like 50 speaking roles that are mostly street casting. Well, that's the thing is like when you watch Gwyneth Paltrow on stage talking, you know, at Jennifer Vendetti, you're like, okay, but like, like, did Jennifer Vendetti reach out to Gwyneth Paltrow? I'm assuming like sadly did. That movie has like three kind of real actors. Yeah. Yeah. And then everyone else is someone you know for something else, but not really acting first and foremost or people they literally like found in a park muttering to themselves. I mean, I think it just raises that question of like, yeah, what are we talking about when we're talking about casting? And I do feel like one battle had this thing that like the search for yes, this the heart of the movie that was just such an irresistible story. So like even if I think like my vote if I had like, you know, would probably go to the Secret Agent, which is like a movie that is like filled with these incredible faces. Um, but yeah, like it's so hard to be like, you would have voted for the only man. Yep, exactly. I hate women. It's the question of like, right, is this award going to represent best discovery? Is it going to represent best cast? Or is it going to represent some understanding of what made the casting director's job difficult? Yeah, and I think one battle might have just the best mix of all three. It's got a really, really strong core ensemble of known actors. It has this one big fresh face discovery who's probably going to be a movie star for decades to come. And it also has a lot of people you've never seen before giving like five line performances who are like, Who is this interrogator? Uh, turns out he's a real former interrogator, you know? Both of the nurses, you know, these people who like really pop in these small moments It might just be the one that's checking all three boxes at once or it might just be that this category always lines up for best picture. Yeah, we'll have to see. We don't that we only have one thing. I mean, you know, maybe Paul Thomas Anderson called Jim Downey But maybe the casting director called Tony Goldwyn, you know, or whatever. Yeah, but I think those were the ones I missed plus Documentary, I predicted perfect neighbor instead of Putin. Yeah Um, going back to the Amy Madigan win. I think that You know, I mean sam sanders would disagree But you could say that centers is a horror movie If that's the case two out of the four best best acting winners were from horror films and that is uh, you know There have been horror winners in the past, but it's it's rare And I do think that there's something being said perhaps about the industry that like these two great performances But in very successful financial, you know films, you know from from in the genre space I turned to you. I think last night when we were watching it and I asked if like Does madigan winning sort of blow the door open that that unfortunately, tony collett couldn't you know, etc It was a fascinating moment because I feel like you're you're less hot on Uh weapons and that performance But she wins and you turn to me and you're kind of smiling and you're like that is kind of cool Like you had this moment of this does feel big Beyond just her being an actress who's overdue, right? Yeah, like that's cool That's someone one best supporting actress for playing a witch. Yeah And in a summer, you know, block plays of vampire. It's Exactly. Yeah, I mean a vampire like coming in in an incredible period sweater Like like it's there's like a kind of salinist to that that is like great that it can be part of a vampire and a witch Winning yeah, two of the poor acting categories does feel representative of something. I think you're right. I think it's I think it's part of a larger kind of like Has the idea of elevated horror now settled into something more sustainable, right? But then do you is weapons elevated horror? No, I think now we've come back around to These movies don't have to dress them up in a certain sense of self seriousness They can be personal and they can be about something but they can also exist as Genre entertainment, right be well made But not have to be like we're not like these other horror films because both of those movies engage in things that are very traditional Gory silly over the top static. They're not kind of these very earnest austere or yeah, they're not a 24. Yeah, I will say like the Amy Madigan win does very much rhyme with Ruth Ruth Gordon winning 100% of her spires baby, you know, uh, so like there is precedent there as well That's so many decades. I know You can't even point to another performance in between that's close. Yeah, I saw some stat that In supporting actress Madigan is the first loan nominee winner Like she's the only nominee from her film since Vicki Christina Barcelona, which was practically 20 years ago. Yeah I that's the trend. I mean horror. Yes, would be great But like in general I would love it if like, you know in april or june or even november If any of us saw some great supporting or lead even performance and we're like, wow That would be so cool if that got awards attention. Yeah in years past, you know for decades I'd be like but that'll never happen. But now it's like I don't know for us was another one where you're just like this Felt really close and how could they ignore this? Obviously denoucalu you got in for get out But that's yeah playing the straight man in a horror movie. It's unbelievable performance But like the person playing The creature. Yeah, the big bad, you know, I mean I will say The real test of this will be if we can get any serious traction for array finds for 28 years later bone temple He is incredible incredible that what I think it needed to make more money. Yeah, I'm still gonna Hold out for it. I mean New York film critic circle. Yeah Yeah, we can make the case but I mean you should have been nominated this year for supporting actor. Yeah, and next year for Yeah, yeah, yeah, um, but yeah, I don't know I I do like that Yeah, like something like sinners or something like one battle they do work as genre films Yeah, you know like there is no question that they work as entertainment and I think the big thing is they're not embarrassed to be genre films Yeah, yeah, and I think the only really traditional You know in some sense Oscar win of the major categories was Jesse Buckley for Hamnet, which um, you know It's funny that you know, we we did sort of couch our kamek conversation weeks ago at this point as an Oscar villain narrative and like And now it's like, oh, why were we ever worried about that? Like it was just going to win that and yes It's an old-fashioned kind of movie and an old-fashioned kind of win But like that's fine because it it fit into the mix that the sort of collage of this year Way better than it initially seemed like it was going to and that's not to say that it didn't deserve to win other things Um, but like, you know, I think that all told Hamnet winning best actress kind of passed by with a with no friction, which is you know It was not what people thought a few months ago It felt like a fate of complete that it's like Buckley's winning and otherwise the movie is like happy to be there And so any sort of animosity towards ham net felt like it mostly dissipated right? Right? Um I also I think it was 2005 or 2006 is the year where Helen Mirren and Forrest Whitaker win the two lead categories and that was the last time in my opinion that like movies screen at the earliest festivals in the fall and immediately upon sight people are like they're winning done And then they just won uncontested. They won every precursor It was like a done deal And in those cases it was like, yeah Helen Mirren and Forrest Whitaker should have Oscars No one's angry about this. It's fine. But there was a real lack of drama throughout that whole season This year at least the other three categories felt so up in the air that the buckly thing didn't feel as boring Yeah, um, and she's you know In a certain way, obviously It's Why give it to her now when they know they're gonna have to give it to her for the bride as well next year They're sort of in a tom hanks situation of like, do you really want the same person winning two years in a row? That's the only criticism I would throw out. Well, no, but they'll give her she is a producer on the bride So when the best picture they'll give her that right? Yeah, yeah Yeah, so yeah, no, you're right. That is a tricky thing Right because she'll win lead actress supporting actress for the other voice. She does I think that's pretty good for playing Mary Shelley, of course I think they're just gonna have a special bride Oscars like I think it's all the acting out like I think that here comes the mother Fuck I mean actually actually the bride probably They could they could run in every kind of Sure And that me is very good. I do like that mental exercise sometimes if what if The qualifying period for next year's Oscars ended tomorrow Does the bride get into like 10 categories by default and then you have a getting a lot of golden globes Certainly, but you have a second year of people on the Oscars stage holding trophies thanking frankenstein Hey, this is Ben Haasley Fashion correspondent for critical darlings. I've decided to give myself that title So we have shalamé and Givenchy wearing his big boy bar mitzvah look Looking like you know a grown boy Um, you know tiana and chanel and then kidman also in chanel and Demi and guji all rocking feathers Um, I thought they all looked really great I was hoping though when demi presented that she would have done a bit where she spit out a feather Chase infinity looks incredible and louis louis um Truly just like a lavender dream um, she's so young and just like really I i'm so excited for her. I think she really looked great on the red carpet I haven't done this before this is funny. I'm like i'm like really channeling jone right now michael b jordan I mean he always wears like stylized Very like modern kind of cut sort of suits But to me the accessory other than the brooch chain wallet Pedro sands mustache Kind of crazy just to see his face like that that's fucked up Uh wearing a brooch and i'm taking this joke from richard, but it's worth repeating Uh wearing an e-wa looking brooch giant Like dandelion like pedal brooch Uh, so yeah had to shout that out Conan all night He was wearing color Which again men are always just so boring And and I it really inspired where I want to Get my own velvet Sports jacket because he was wearing like a like a kind of midnight blue Uh, you know full velvet suit and it looked so good Uh, and then I want to end on Sigourney Unfortunately The dress not so great To me it kind of looked like the optical illusion dress The one famously where people couldn't tell if it was a gold or blue I saw it as gold, but I'll leave it to the listeners out there to make their own decision Um, but yeah, that's that's my my fashion corner Thanks, ben. 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He was the little kong baby suko suko suko I do think something that this year did well Is that it folded a lot of the kind of anniversary tributes into the like being presenters like that made it so that I mean I do love a montage as well But I feel like it does stop the thing dead like my momentum is dead And so instead to be like we're going to get the bridesmaids Except for wendy mcleven Wendy mclean and covey who iconically posted on instagram during the ceremony like the reason i'm not there is because I got a neck lift because Quote i'm tired of looking like a melting candle. So I had discotheca academy awards. No drama. Everything is fine So you read that out, but I didn't hear the beginning where you said the name So I thought you were saying that was shan penn's explanation for why he had missed the other fine looking like a melting Yeah, he melting is is his thing. Yeah, I always argue he looks more like a boot left left out in the rain Yeah, I mean I I I agree that I think they they those like the bridesmaids thing was really fun I thought that doubling up presenters doing two categories. I think helped keep the show moving along Especially downy jr. And evans who were really just Chemistry between those guys really just made me long What's it called? On twitter, but like it is what it's called actually It is like I mean maybe it doesn't matter because just rdj was under rehearse or whatever, but like man 10 years ago When everyone's eating out of the palm of their hands like that would have gone over so well and this time it was like who What oh, right you guys like the the superhero stuff like who get you like it was just very interesting It feels like a mirroring of the response to the first avengers doomsday trailer revealing that chris evans was back And they clearly thought that was the ultimate night drop And instead the public kind of responded by like has he not been in these? What he was gone from them, you know It's the same thing where they're coming in like victory lap like aren't you thrilled we're back together again Or like the culture has moved on after the fact that like robert an engineer in the second bit Made a magic mic joke and it was like what year do you think it is my friend like and then they like throw to Chantatum in the audience and he nails his part. Yeah. Yeah, he gets like four successful laugh lines Yeah, he saved the whole thing saved the thing that said it is Something to watch, you know either a bit that doesn't work like that or a bit that does like the bridesmaids And they go on for some length and then have Literally the mic Dropping and the lights going off when someone's in the middle of their acceptance speech. Yeah Like I did think there were some pretty rude cutoffs like five or six times that also led to awkward television Where people didn't know where to cut. Yes. They cut to conan on the side and like laughing just like yeah Just be like yeah throw back to them Well, and then like the the one for the golden win was just the most egregious where they just she spoke and then he was like And they just like turn the lights off on him and pull the camera back and we're just like absolutely no way Like there's just not and they didn't budge Yeah cut to a wide shot for 20 seconds as they turn the lights off for him And I'm like right now you're showing a silence from the back of the room right instead of be finishing his speech He wrote one of the things that's saving movies. Yeah. This is golden winning best song Yes, like this is why like 10 year olds are tuning into the serum from korea Yeah, yeah that felt ugly and I and I I guess one sort of hope for the for the youtube oscars in 229 right is that there wouldn't be run there won't be run times, you know like just let it go, you know There are downsides to that as well, but uh, but you don't want to be watching for five hours Can we talk about in memoriam briefly because I think this also was a big reason there were less montages in other areas Is everyone just kind of new going into this? How are they even going to tackle it? Yeah, because it's been such a like red wedding 12 months of historic people that kept piling up I thought they handled this really well Yeah, I thought it was smart to kind of like do a few spinouts into like spotlight sections to start with the rob briner thing With billy crystal. Yeah, so emotional. Um, love that they skipped north And then stopped at a bar and stopped. Yeah, then they're like that was it. Yep. That is exactly why we have always said We can't cover him on life check because it gets really bad. Yeah. Yeah, and and after You know after he like tragically died a lot of our listeners were like, but you have to do him now And I'm like it would be so rude to be like and after 1997 we ignore Just do it all the way up to his first presidential administration right with michael douglas. Yeah Yeah, no, it's tough when you're like now we have to do lbj starring woody harrelson, you know like, uh But yeah, and then you're like, no, he did like that stone cold Round of masterpieces. Yeah, but no, it's important to call out. Yeah, I thought crystals Speech was like beautiful and then having the cast members. Yeah, that was lovely and then you go in and I am sick of having Daphne's and niga's Presidents at the oscars every year year after year Daphne's Niga's always there. I mean it's court news thorn smith sometimes it was totally but basically the melrose plays cast just needs to get away from It's crazy. I mean it feels like sometimes Daphne's niga gets thanked more than god Well, that's heathens. That's the kind of nation we live in. Yeah But that was nice. I think reginald macadam's was lovely and she spoke to you know about, you know, katharine o'hara Her fellow canadian uh, uh, yeah Diane lad and and but heaton because she was in mourning glory with her and and family stone and family stone, of course, right? Yeah I thought that was nice And then I guess we were we were talking while we were watching we were like, okay, so who do they get for redford? But then it seemed like oh redford's just in the montage. She's just the last person in the final Segment of the montage and then babs came out. Well actually richard. She hates it when you call her that I don't know if you caught it was a subtle she gave me permission I thought I gave only you permission. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh what a legend. I know I I love that She comes on Uh, she tells this yes lengthy story about uh, the And she's like fine. I will allow you robert redford to call me babs and then she starts singing She started singing in a way that was like she was at A lectern with a mic, but then she had a hand mic and it was like Stage magnetists better. I'm sure she didn't really either show up for rehearsal or you know, whatever It also felt like there have been rumors. They're gonna have her sing memories as part of the in memoriam and it felt like The way it manifested on the final ceremony felt like there was a lot of back and forth Of like, I don't know if I want to do it. Maybe I want to sing a little bit. Maybe I just want to see how I feel Yeah, real I'll see how I feel energy. It ended up in a way. I liked feeling like a wedding toast Of like she's kind of going on an emotional and then she grabs the mic and you're like, is she about to sing? She starts singing you're like, is she gonna sing the whole thing? Is she gonna walk over to the band and then it just kind of wrapped up But I thought it was it was great and it was In a show that had a lot of modernity to it and a very Contemporary sense of comedy and all that and pacing even Just to have this old-fashioned kind of schmaltzy But but meaningful sort of oscar moment. I think it was just the right amount of that Um in in the show. Yeah, well, I mean, especially you're like watching her I feel like you're just acutely aware of this thing that is uh Has been causing panic in the industry for a long time Which is like you have this this class of like larger than life celebrities and movie stars And filmmakers in her case as well, right historic who are all Dying, you know, they're or or older Uh, and there is this real question of like we will never have that back, you know, right like you may have a timothy chalamet, but like He is not going to be Robert Redford. It's not going to engender that same. Yeah. Well, I was asking You guys like last night So when and I'm not putting this out in the universe many decades will happen. Yeah 400 years from now when Lustreep goes They're just gonna have to do a fucking 40 minute segment at the office, right? Like like because the most nominated actor in history. No one will ever beat that record. I don't think I think that record is permanent Yeah, um Like that's like what are they gonna do? You know and but the thing but then you think about all the other people what happens when time hangs tight What happens when you know, and it's just Yeah, we started talking died in an accident Yeah, we base we started talking about this last night and you said actually no We have to keep this for tomorrow and the point I started to make was I think we're in a somewhat unique time Where our octogenarians are still present. They are still active They feel They are deceptively older than they feel You know some of that's advancements and cosmetic work. Some of that is just people used to retire You know and it's like Kerry Grant didn't make a movie for the last like two decades of his life credit guard boat It was like four decades, you know A lot of these people would retreat or they would just do one movie if they all like move to paris or or elect Topanga or something felt like elder statesmen who would mostly come out at the oscars and remind you they were still alive And when they died it was sort of sad, but it was of course they've exist as right You feel prepared for it. They feel like former presidents, right? And there was a class of people who are all like in their 80s and a lot of them have started going but like De Niro and Pacino and Dustin Hoffman and Nicholson, you know and we've lost Hackman and Deval and Diane Keaton and all these people recently who still feel very present to us Yeah, who still feel modern and active even though they are historic They're not stuck in the past which I think is going to make it feel all the more shocking when they go Uh, and we're just living through a time now where we have people who tragically are gone far too soon And people where we almost aren't conscious of the fact that they are now entering or close to entering their ninth decade I mean, yeah It's something that I sort of briefly touched on when I wrote uh up the show is that like We just have to steal ourselves that these in memoriam bits are going to be be hard ones for the next, you know 15 years like it's going to be every year is not going to maybe not as big as this one fell because it just happened to be you know Uh An extinction level then um, but like it's going to be it's going to be rough, you know And and and and like you said, Allison like there's not a ton of iconography coming up behind them Yeah, not not on the same way We're just not going to have that kind of relationship with just doesn't exist. Yeah, it's just different Um, can we before we bring on our special guest? Uh, I wanted to speed run a few topics. Yeah, uh The two live musical performances. How did we feel about them? I thought they were both excellent I mean, I I always think it's a little rude when they don't let the other nominees Perform especially, uh, you know, you didn't want to hear the the aria From Good tv even if no one has heard of this movie Well, I was joking that angelina jolie should have just come out the stage to do it Uh, like you said you sang live for maria. So right now's your time. Um, I mean train dreams What if it would have been a bit like um when poor elliott smith got sort of like Pushed out on stage to perform the goodwill hunting song and he was like what am I doing at the oscars But like, you know, like man always talks about like how getting to perform at the oscars that you're basically made her career You know, he's still touring off of that obviously had an illustrious career before that point But there was a level of mainstream exposure that an oscar nomination gives Uh, a musician that is is unique. Yeah, yeah, yeah But I appreciated the showmanship of these two where they basically staged both the numbers I lied to you from centers in golden like a bit like like they were in the movie But also to be like this is going to be these are here because that makes for a good show Yeah, it was it had NBC live musical event energy in a good way. Yeah And I wanted to see how are they going to pull this off? Yeah, and I love the audience with the lights for golden Like seem like right at the paltrow like yes. Yeah, it was yeah, that was fun. Yeah Um, how about the orchestra playing the scores live for the nominees because I loved love I mean, I love that I sometimes do wish they would give a little more time to that like like, um, the the 20 years ago that I recapped, uh It's like pearlman plays selections from each nominated score like And it was like, well, they're really giving the scores there do it maybe does eat up a lot of time But yes, some sort of nod like that is I think Kind of cute. Yeah. I mean just like having the orchestra. I like I mean that kind of like And involving the orchestra like Conan did with like the marty supreme joke. Yeah, yeah, the bum drone. Yeah um the tie for uh best live action short Very rare occurrence, uh seventh total. Yeah, I like total. Yeah, how do we feel about the way it was announced? um, I did We I think we all felt sort of pity for the other four because he's like we're gonna call one Winner and they're gonna go up to the stage and then the other four were like, oh wait, did I win? Suddenly I have a one and four chance, but also if they don't call my name. I know I didn't even come in second place Right. I can't even comfort myself with that um It was good showmanship. It made for an exciting tv moment And Camille was a good person to be stuck in that situation because he was able to throw out like Five good off-the-cuff jokes about it. Yeah, no, I think it was and it was exciting. Um, and You know the A funny sort of bit of cosmic irony that the shorts took really long, you know, I don't know I I we were talking like so the the most famous Probably tie was barbara striestead and kathryn heppern barbara striestead won for funny girl, right? Yeah, um And luckily kathryn hepper never went to the oscars. She she was hanging never did she used to have a shan pen over the house And then they'd smoke cigarettes and talk about whatever no But so so striestead got to give a speech as if she was the sole winner But when you have both winning parties there, it gets a little airy. I guess I appreciated kumail's just the like Don't panic like uh, this is what we're gonna do. He really, you know, yeah, I wonder if they had told him beforehand Yeah, I kind of hope so Bill pulman and louis pulman. What was up with that? I mean, he's louis pulman's really hot. I don't know. I just felt like there you would be like Their timing just felt so off throughout that and you're like, do you guys just not talk that much like why dry guys? Yeah, exactly their sensibility and their humor who maybe need a more boisterous person to play off of I also think it's just like the third rail of the nepo conversation We're almost any time A nepo tries to address it head on it just makes everyone more uncomfortable. Yeah It's it's a little bit of like a kobayashi maroon. No in discussion Yeah, and also louis pulman is not famous enough I think if anli had been like a player at the oscar So he's like, oh, he's one of our characters this year, right? Right pulman it would have worked better and maybe they had even like booked him before like, I don't know Is there some percentage of audience members who are only realizing for the first time when they come out on stage? Oh, right. Those guys do have the same face. I saw Several posts on social media up to that effect. Like, oh, I never put that together and it's like, okay so I did the joke doesn't work if If people are learning that information for the first time pulman's a very familiar face at this point But maybe not a household name by name and bill pulman is infamously the guy who was always confused with bill packs Yes, where even though he is a Historic that guy. Yeah, there is a little bit of a oh wait. They're both named pulman thing. Yeah, yeah And I feel pulman. I mean he has a new movie that was at was it Berlin? I saw it at Berlin. He's wonderful. Yeah It's like one of his best performances. Yeah, but it's been a little while since he's just his name has been floating around in public awareness He's trying to get jinn up support for the Casper sequel legacy sequel Who had better speech laughter jesse buckley with the giggles or abe madigan with the cackles Oh kind of go cackles. Yeah Yeah, yeah Was timothy shallow may ragged on enough about the ballet comments. I think just the right amount just the right amount Yeah, yeah, I agree. He had this. Yeah, I mean I look We talked about it last week He his sentiment. I don't disagree with he just praised it badly But he did have to sit there and like he like it was a requirement of the evening that he get a little bit direct Yeah, you know a fire for that and yeah, I think it was just the right amount Yeah, and finally did anyone else think about when paul thomas anderson Admitted that there was a pleasure to having the oscar in his hand Um, did anyone else think about uh, fiona apple's story about how he threw a chair across the room when they were watching the 1998 awards together because he lost To uh, matt damon and bet a flag for a screenplay for a goodwill hunting Uh, I did think about his Oscars at past, you know, like the famous, you know Fiona apple sort of making fun of the the winner whatever well, you know, they're self in the audience Um, but I also think that in a way it's nice to think about that past because like I think that he's shown a lot of That he's matured as a filmmaker and a person and and it's like yeah, you can be the brash young thing and then You know time and experience changes you it comes full circle back to the shallow may conversation too Which is just like this guy was a prodigious talent and the oscar's were like You're so convinced you're a genius. We don't want to give you that validation yet And it felt like we're already dealing with enough fucking quentin tarantino do just sit just wait, okay? Right, right. Yeah, it felt like he had settled into the exact right place Yeah, in in terms of his own I don't know our relationship with himself and his work. I also I appreciate the candor of it without it being a like Finally, it's about yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think clearly everyone in that room wants to win That's a thing. Yeah, you know people come up for amistad except for amistad who is clearly like please I'm kind of surprised she went in a way. Yeah, like I'm sure she was just there to like support the film But but it was kind of like just don't let just don't yeah No, but I think a lot of people get up on stage and go. Oh my god. I never believed this could possibly happen and it's like Mm-hmm. You don't really go into any film related line of work without at one point going like What do I want to know? Yeah, thinking about what your speech would be. I don't think that I don't has thought about it eight Trillion I don't think that Kate Hudson would Bring her husband grogu to the event if she didn't think there was a chance she would write what a couple though Yeah, a beautiful couple I just don't want to think about that there was some puppeteer hiding under a fake auditorium seat. They like what am I doing? I David it's time to take a break from your school or work routine, but stay consistent That's the tough balance while staying consistent with your health Because ag1 provides easy support with travel packs to celebrate the adventure. We love ag1 ag1, you know You're a big fan. We've talked about all the time. It is a load bearing product in my life exactly It's holding this batch of popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners that I call Griffin Newman together And and they've been a sponsor for so long. 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Okay So go to drink ag1.com slash check to get an ag1 flavor sampler and a bottle of vitamin d3 Plus k2 for free in your ag1 welcome kit with your first ag1 subscription order only while supplies last That's drink ag1.com slash check Is it time I I think so we're gonna do a very special segment a kind of award segment of its own an award ceremony of its own Yeah, uh the great rebecca altar From from vulture And popcorn critic extraordinaire has cultivated for us a look at the Best the academy award nominees of 2026 represented in popcorn buckets amazing We are honored to have rebecca altar here, uh popcorn bucket Corresponded extraordinaire uh to run us senior senior senior popcorn bucket. Sorry. I can't believe I forgot that To run us through the rarefied popcorn bucket award season offerings. Thank you so much This is the only aspect of the oscars. I feel qualified to comment on at all And something exciting about this year is this is probably the first year where something like half the nominees for best picture Had a corresponding promotional popcorn because last year was just brutalist, right? Right of course and it was the model. Yeah, right. Yeah, if we had really made that it would have been the best collector's item of all time It is really fun in a sort of oscars party menu way to imagine what the bucket would be Yeah for each one. Yeah, sentimental value is like the father's head morphing into the daughter's hamlet. Oh, yeah Hamlet is uh, yeah, it's just a child's body But if it's like the um the dead hawk and like that No, it's the skull that it's the skull that hamlet holds sure Oh, uh, well speaking of skull we could start with that which is one that was Really difficult to acquire like on the black market secondhand market ebay, which was netflix's frankenstein bucket Oh, because barely a theatrical. I mean it did. It did have some theatrical play, but apparently did fairly well Give us like given the netflix of it all now apparently when it was screening at the egyptian They gave the buckets out to people for free for the opening weekends here at the paris in new york They did no such thing. They put it up on their website It sold out really quickly and ebay it was going for hundreds of dollars And also for a while the internet was riddled with 3d printed fakes people were ordering buckets and and and and sub par quality Was shocking. Uh, wait. Will you talk us through what this looks like? So it is sort of a pretty generic looking skull I like the detail on the eyeballs which are sort of rolled into the back of the head You don't normally see an skull with eyeballs. Yeah, I have some questions about that, but yeah And of course the good point the most delightful thing about this is the popcorn coming out of the head looks like brains That is good. Yeah. Yeah, I don't like that. Now it is not a representation of frankenstein's monster It is seemingly just like a prop recreation of another experiment victor frankenstein has in his lap, which feels like a slightly weird choice I think we'd all love to eat out of a lordy's skull Absolutely, some of us have or even do you know what like that one guy that he has opened with the spine? Exposed on the table like that would have I would have loved to have eaten out of that exposed. Oh, that would have been great out of it Yeah, yeah, this is actually the one out of the ten Best picture nominees I haven't seen so I'm just taking everyone's word at it There's a there's a ship could have been There is a ship and if you went to the egyptian and you asked if you knew to ask for it You could eat popcorn out of christoph balls like he would just come on. He was there Yeah, essentially feed you popcorn. Yeah. Yeah, you just sort of fit him in your lap. Yeah. Yeah Uh next best picture I'll bring up is of course the marty supreme bucket Had a real viral moment a 24 on the back dream big on the front It is the orange ping pong ball which played a big role in the marketing um Doesn't hold a ton of popcorn. I gotta say also has to be the has to be the ball The hole is a little small. I feel like it would you know getting your hand in there would be a little bit Difficult in the dark. I don't know would anyone like some popcorn from a screening of the secret agent 24 hours ago Oh, wow, okay. Yeah, you're like, oh, wow, it's fresh I'm okay. Thank you. Um I feel like you talk a lot about in your bucket reviews The sort of accessibility right literally like how easy is it to get popcorn in here and get Popcorn out of here with your hand. This does feel despite the opening being narrow. It's a clean Unobstructed your hand did did go in clean. I just I just yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, I mean like I appreciate that you can close it and then travel with the popcorn Like that is a it's a nice feature and they love that. It's just a sphere I think this is very elegant and it speaks to the sort of the the round themes of the movie Round themes though the spherical themes. Uh, this is the uh ovum from the opening credits Nice. So this is the really like elegant bespoke, you know, this is the yeah, the taste one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah This is like the hype beast Yeah, um, all right another bucket that we have in studio. I'll veer away from best picture ones for a bit That's fine. And I'll just call out. I tried to out of the the blank check production funds Uh purchase the two other best picture nominated buckets with the f1 helmet And the sinners guitar case And both of them were purchased over 10 days ago and have yet to arrive I've been getting constant delivery updates that they're running behind So thankfully I'll just have these buckets arriving probably the second this record finishes They're still printing the 3d models. Yes, but here's a common complaint I've read from bucket fans and I've spent a lot of time on r slash buckets as I assume you do as well um The marty supreme the frankenstein the sinners and the f1 have a commonality which is too small Is the complaint and very often the collectible bucket is supposed to be equivalent to a large popcorn And you're getting that amount of popcorn inside in my bucket reviews I also do measure up how many cups can fit into each bucket And correspond that to You know, is that a large? Is that a medium? A lot of them come with a large that's just in a separate bag So it's defeating the purpose in the theater kind of I feel like people aren't even opening half of these in the theater No, they're um, yeah, but I do think marty specifically came with a small like they're sort of channeling Oh, yeah, skinny timpani. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. He just does not look like a guy who who is eating a large popcorn in that movie So no tree big eats small exactly big eats small Next up we have a best animated nominee and maybe you know counter-intuitively to the bucket game There were not many buckets of animated films this year because a lot of them You know that we had two sort of european rd ones. We had helio, which I don't think It was not very merchandisable. Well, they were putting all their effort behind stitch at the time. There was stitch stuff And then yeah, yeah, I do find it a little offensive just circling back to frankenstein for a second when netflix Throws their hat into the bucket game where I'm like you don't get to do this if you're telling us to stay at home Right, right. I have my own bowls. Exactly. Yeah. These are the in theater experience. This is part of it Um, okay, so we have gary disnake. It's very cute. I think this is my first You know, I learned about the character through the bucket before I saw the film and was instantly endeared to him He's coiled around the park. Yeah, it's an elegant. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, it's a classic bucket and it's it's a kind of Earned organic design. Yeah. Yeah, I like anything where you can pretend to feed the bucket creature by putting the popcorn in his mouth That's actually a huge deal. You can do that here a voiced by former oscar winner ki-hee kwan Yeah, yeah, very well a very anointed bucket great performance. Yeah, so I'll add that there. There was another zootopia bucket I saw at a cinemark that was um It was the little uh, italian coated rats walking into a little movie theater. That's good. Oh And I thought that was very fun. Um, next up We have the two in one Jurassic world rebirth Which is a sippy cup and This is very involved. Yeah, wait. So just you like it is like uh, it looks like a It looks like a water lake. Just like to really like describe it. It's like Like yeah, it's it's got a clear. Yeah, like plastic case to encase the uh dinosaur fetus a test tube dinosaur Yeah, it's basically on the side is like, uh, what is that supposed to be like a well? So it detaches and sort of almost looks like an 80s Cell phone. Yeah, I was going to say it has like a walkie-talkie like vibe. Um, but that's like the drink Okay, has the classic logo on the side But so when you put the popcorn like you have to go around the fetus Yes, uh, and When the light was still working, you know, it's sort of lit from underneath Uh, I found there to be a horrible plastic taste to this one even popping the top open You get a sort of plastic smell. Do you remember the price point on this? Uh, it was probably in the 50s. Okay. That's that's that's that's high. Yeah. Yeah, but it is a pretty elaborate Yeah, I mean, I appreciate the idea of it. It just feels functionally like it would be inadequate Is this is this is this well liked in the collector community this one the drastic one? I think so and certainly compared to um Some of the other drastic bucket offerings which one other was like a generic dino head So this is kind of boring. You reviewed that one and that one was yeah, it certainly lacked. Yeah, just doesn't it doesn't compare Uh, but speaking of expensive. I will get to another um effects nominee effects winner Which is the avatar fire and ash Banshee bucket, which uh, does anyone want to guess how much this cost? I feel like griffin knows off the top $80 Yeah, really? Yeah, that was my guess. Oh, wow. So this was an $80 bucket. It is of course, um, a banshee Which are also known as are they ikron the mighty ikron the mighty ikron Yeah, um, which are the dragon type things that they ride in the movie and it has Uh basket strapped to it with a sort of harness Allah something the wind traders that we were introduced to in the third movie woodcraft Uh, and it is carrying popcorn and it also looks like a very inadequate Amount of popcorn especially for a movie of that length Seriously, you'd have to go back at least twice to get refills Especially that size, uh, we we had a miscommunication where I thought you had the bucket and you thought I had this bucket I in fact purchased every bucket that came out for the way of water All of which now live permanently in the the display of the blank check offices But this was the regal one which is pretty minimalistic, but I liked is just kind of a translucent blue Water bowl, but it lights up. It has a nice bioluminescence. I love that then uh, or no, I'm sorry. That was amc Regal had this tin bucket covered with uh, oh regal come on The water life it has what you must understand is that was this 2022 was a different era We had not you know, we had not entered this type of territory making these elaborate mold and things Even the dune bucket people don't remember they have cultural amnesia about this. Yeah It is just a tin bucket. It is a normal tin bucket with a fun Topper on right, but this was the one that I really liked I think this was cinemark because I had to get it online no cinemarks in the trite state area But it's the banshee's nest. Yeah, which I thought was a really good form factor Yeah, I mean it recalls a bit, uh, you know this uh, yeah gary disnake Becca can you show off the images of the uh, the sinners and the f1 that did not arrive in time? Yes, I absolutely can I've got sinners sinners and this is tin This is tin. It's a good target. It looks huge. It's covered. It looks enormous in as if it were stickers every poster for sinners Okay, but it is weirdly not super big. It's like ukulele side smaller than ukulele side. Exactly. Okay. Um, the other thing is this was not Uh, a product available when the movie came out. It was when they re-released it. They put it back in imx theaters I think in january Which speaks to how much maybe everyone was taken by surprise the massive success of sinners because when it came out It was just the lullo kirk bucket, right? Yes. Yes. Yes. It was just her skull. Yeah. Yeah Okay, beautiful and we have f1 which I will pull up Again another sort of head sort of yeah, so this is the helmet I actually have upstairs a project hail mary helmet that looks very All right. Yeah, I feel like that the visor allows you to see the popcorn inside. It's nice. Yeah Like the the lid is on top. Yeah, the the marty supreme kind of like that kind of lid But you can see the popcorn quickly. I also I appreciate it. That's the best of both worlds of you want Visibility of the popcorn, but if there were a micro brad pit skull inside that you had to root around that's just awkward I mean it would be a fascinating choice, but uh, and the implications about what happens to brad pits character And f1 would be significant, but I do think next year Every movie should just have a skull of one of the actors. That's a good point. Yeah, it's a classic No one battle bucket this year centers took a long time to get there We had four out of ten best picture nominees, which feels like major progress for sure But there's so much further we can go. Do you you could get the train dreams pot of beans if you went to who see it Do you have outside of the oscar nominees a pick for what the best bucket of 2025 was? Oh I mean a really exciting moment in buckets last year was It's up there on the shelf galactus the last year a world it's enormous Dollars, but he is half as tall as me or more. Can we bring it down? Is that possible? Yeah for those listening at home. It's the galactus head. It's Ralph innocence skull. Yeah It is another skull, but it's huge. It's really truly bigger than your head Wings that come out on either side. So he also lights up. Um, yeah button is tastefully hidden. Oh, that's nice Yeah, the eyes light up and I respect, you know, you're someone who lives in a city And I don't know that you have a car but like this is designed for someone to put in their car after a movie Not carry like you have to fold down the third row of seats I do like the idea of someone Trying to eat it in the theater and you would be bumping both of your neighbors all of the time. Um, yeah Yeah, it would be very No That cost 80 as well that cost 80 as well and there I really do see the value because that could become an amazing planter Is that the current ceiling for pricing for now? Nothing's for now, but it's so interesting to see these 2022 ones and they're all priced at 2024 right and now yeah, it does feel yeah, things have changed I my favorite bucket last year, which I might be wrong here I don't think is one that you got but from the same film the herby bucket from fantastic for Oh, yeah, I believe was only 50 dollars. It has sounds You press a button. It plays a sample of the michael geokino score You push a different button it projects the fantastic for logo onto a wall And it's exactly what you want during a movie 100 percent. It had three compartments three compartments So included in the 50 dollars was your choice of candy popcorn and soda His head is the soda with a straw on top and then his body the front is for candy The back is for popcorn So I sat in a theater with a robot on my lap pouring all these things into it because I insisted This is this is how this film supposed to be watched You need to be eating and drinking out of him and then just had to carry it around with me for an entire day I love that. It's fun. I love that it's interactive I got a spongebob one last year that has a viewfinder in it Good But in the thought of sitting at a movie and like doing viewfinder Well, that's a great type of sort of old school second screen. Yeah I appreciate that all of these are of course like the most important part of supporting the theatrical experience Like you've got to come so you can get your expensive collectible. Yeah Another one that was really good on the same lines Mission impossible, uh, the final reckoning had a lot of buckets, but I know the ones at amc It was um, the cup Had binoculars on top like spy binoculars Which I tried to use during an amc screening as if they were opera glasses Oh, perfect. Yeah, don't tell to me. Uh, it harkens back to like inspector gadget happy meal toys Where they were all little spy toys. Yes Um, I was thinking of another but I forgot it But one more sort of a bucket that came out last year that I am claiming for one of the best picture nominees Is it was the 50th anniversary of jaws and we got an incredible Jaws bucket perfect. Yeah, and that um, you know major motif in the secret agent. There's top of my yes Yeah, no, it's real it's very real. I'm saying this is the secret agent pop I like it. Yeah, we got to five out of 10. No, thanks. Yeah like with gary to snake. You can make him much Yeah popcorn. Yeah, and that's you know, I classic design you want to put your hand in jaws' mouth So and if I'm not your leg just not your leg if I'm not mistaken the teeth are kind of rubbery, right? No, the teeth are sharp. Oh, I like that. I like that the thread of injury makes the popcorn more more delicious Yeah, you have to work for it. Uh dune had the rubbery Right. Well, that's because it was yeah, well, yeah, it's being used in different ways, but Um, yeah, I I think that's my favorite. I also think that if you wanted you could mount it on the wall Oh, head out. Oh sure. Yeah. Oh, that's great. That's lovely. Yeah. It was also a naked gun beaver That was it would look really handsome on a mantle. We could also we could reclaim that as a train dreams bucket as well It's him chomping on a log, right? Yeah. Yeah, he's got a little stump. Oh, I love that scene. Rachel. Interesting eats that log I like that the future maybe of pop wearing up buckets is repurposing them for smaller movies. Yeah, like we can we can go rogue we don't need to stick with uh Established branding is there anything you'd like to say to the bucket companies in terms of what you think they can do better Going into the future what you'd like to see in 2026 um I would I mean, I don't know if it's possible, but whatever happened with the rubber plastic smell and taste here Was a real misfire so I would like them to be using I don't know food grade plastic fair a fair ask. Yeah, imagine imagine recycled plastics a possibility Probably not we can't we can't happen at all. Yeah, not from in gen. They're they're corrupt Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, it's established. It's their slogan actually, which is weird. You know, just in gen. We're evil and I would love them to not um You know, let's try to keep it at 80 people are strapped people already times are tough. Yeah People already complain about oh you're taking a family afforded the movies and with the this and the that and the that it's like 200 dollars Um, they will use these as further fuel to make that complaint. Um, which is not helping No, I think the herbie model is is a way to look forward to of don't charge 80 Dollars for an amount of popcorn you couldn't possibly finish within the runtime of a movie If you're getting over 50 at least have it tackle multiple areas of concessions. Sure. Give me the all in one. Yeah And I will always uh prefer, you know, a sort of custom molded thing with nice little details like the sort of scarring and the gills on the shark Yeah, it's well made versus like this even has the look of those um 3d printed dragons that people sell on etsy like I like I like quirk and personalize it. Yeah. Yeah. Give us some texture Well, this is a great recap of the year. I think it's the only important. Yeah. Yeah recap of the year in movies So thank you. This is I hadn't seen most of these before so I'm I'm into them You're doing the work and and thank you for that. We appreciate your work. Keep doing the work. What the movies are really about Of course merch we all know that All right, so I mean guys award season is over this means um, we'll never be able to see each other again. No, that's it. It's we're done I dream is done goodbye forever. We're no longer darlings Or or We could keep going we could keep going I there. You know, there are other movies coming out No, like for the whole rest of the year not even a warts movies. Well, maybe Some some are saying already. I mean nothing could top the bride Well, sure and of course we are going to do the spin-off podcast about the bride Yeah, um, but you know there are movies like I don't know project hell marry that some people are already kind of being like Well reserva spot in the best picture 10 for that one, you know Who knows what else is coming this spring can't the can film festival might reveal some things to us So we kind of figured like why not keep going and Talking about stuff that's coming out new movies. Uh, I'm game if you are yeah I I uh compared it last night to howard dean giving his speeches of the of the states Yeah, yeah, we're going on the project. Don't marry. We're doing super mario galaxy movie. Yeah. Yeah, exactly exactly And that worked out very well for him. Yeah, um, as we don't know. Yeah, he's our patron saint Uh, yeah, I mean look there's a lot to talk about. Um, that will you know, not necessarily always bend back to the awards You know campaign and all that but like but often these days you can make the case for a lot of different things Yeah, but I think we would love to Continue talking about new releases and taking the same tactic we have here Which is to put them in this kind of larger context in which they're arriving not always awards sometimes awards, but also just Just how are they landing and like what like how are we looking at that? And what does it represent in sort of the state of the industry right now? Which I think you guys have done a great job of of doing sort of what is the larger Conversation behind each of these movies. Yeah, like I think one topic for project how mary might be like The strategy behind like showing a movie to this group of people Three weeks out and then another group of people one week at you know, like the idea of the the Quote-quote four quadrant movie, you know, like the the movie that can please a whole family Men over 40 men under fun 40 rock monster fans and sandra huler fans. Yeah, those are the classic the classic demographics out there Yeah, yeah, anyway, so we're gonna do it Uh, you know same, you know once a week kind of thing and what we're gonna do is We'll be covering new releases the week after they come out So you'll have an opportunity. We'll tell you what we're gonna talk about the following week You'll have an opportunity to see it that way. We're also helping keep theaters alive. Hopefully Also, and if there are sometimes movies that are getting a platform release We'll try and give a bit more time there so that it's not just open. No, I don't only I only want new york and L.A listeners, I don't care about anyone. Yeah screw the rest of you guys. Sorry coastal elites So we will try and give enough windows so that you can see the movies And talk join us, you know to talk about the map. Yeah, we want to be talking about these things together, you know And we should also acknowledge that up until this point critical darlings It's of course lived in the safe banshee's nest of the blank check feed But moving on to this next stage critical darlings is going to exist as its own standalone feed So it is very important to say the thing sarah jessica parker showed up because kathy bates and terry bradshaw hired Yeah, yeah hired her and now we we are push it out of the no longer a failure to launch. We're going to have our own apartment Exactly. Yeah, um, but but to to say the rote thing, but really mean it this time Yeah, please subscribe and we're going to put links to the new podcast feed in the description Of this episode. So if you want to go Click down there right now And subscribe that would really mean a lot to us. We're really excited about moving forward Yeah, please please find our new feed and subscribe if you would like to continue Joining us on this journey. Yeah, we're going to have great conversations. Great guests. Uh, Yeah, we'll have people from the the blank check extended cinematic universe and joining us and beyond Yes, uh, it's it's going to be a great time guys. Um, and I just want to quickly call out um because the sinners and the uh, uh Uh f1 popcorn buckets did not arrive in time, but there was another big production cost production value Cost I put down at the beginning of this run. Yeah, which you know has has gone We try not to put too much of an emphasis on it But this incredible kind of set dressing that I contributed the day before our first these are these beautiful set of trophies From trophy world in brooklyn. Yeah, and peter at trophy world who hooked me up. They had just moved locations They were truly like active construction site setting up their new home and he was like everything's in boxes I have these three lying around and I was like, I'll take them But if we can grab those off the back line quickly, I want to award the three of you Oh my goodness and much like the oscars and people I don't know if they know this when you win an academy award They hand you the statuette without any kind of plaque description, right? And then after you give your speech you go to some back alley and some guys like how do you spell right? paul thomas anderson But I would just like to quickly award the three of you, uh ben frisch Uh an award for the best benduser in podcasting critical darlings division Yeah, well deserved Richard Lawson a best co-host in a leading role. Oh, thank you. This is my ball peak up Yes, and then allison a best leading co-host. Oh, thank you It means a lot to me. I think that's a fair I actually I've I've practiced this speech a lot and I deserve it Is what I wanted to say. Yeah, and screw the rest of you losers. So absolutely Can we give an honorary award also to ann? Absolutely. Yes, that's a great and victoria clark here at all for who has uh Been so patient with us in doing these recordings here in in the box offices We are actively at work at a gift of appreciation for you and that is not just an oversized trophy So no that something will be coming. Yeah, it's a smaller trophy. It's a smaller All right, so all that said and done no more talk of 2025 movies. We're moving to the future We're going to space next week. We'll be back here and a new feed talking about How to come in Critical darlings is a blank check production in association with vulture Hosted by allison wilmore and richard loson Produced by benjamin frisch executive produced by griffin newman and neil janowitz video production and distribution by ann victoria clark wolfgang ruth and jennifer john Hey It's a critical darling Make a speech hey make a speech speech speech speech speech speech speech speech speech This is the best thing that's ever happened from a drunk tech message. I sent to griffin and david After I lost me But seriously actually I didn't think you but they would take it seriously, but they did It's been super fun so far. So yeah, yeah, we're not we're not done. We're gonna keep going hopefully in some fashion, right? Yeah, I gotta do the howard dean. Yeah And we can announce our our our third host timothy shallow me