On episode 260 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch contributor Josh Parham to review Steve McQueen’s Blitz and A24’s latest horror film, Heretic.

It is a short, simple episode of the AW podcast this week as tons of films are being released right now before the holiday season, campaigning events are happening all around the country, and the world is still reeling from the results of last week’s U.S. elections. Instead of a grand show, Ryan and Josh are here to talk about two films that hit theaters this weekend, Blitz and Heretic. The first is Blitz (read review here), the latest film from Oscar-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), and premiered at the London Film Festival last month before making stops at the New York Film Festival (Closing Night selection) and Middleburg Film Festival (Opening Night selection). The boys talk about the film’s relation to McQueen’s filmography, the lackluster script, beautiful craft work, the performances from Saoirse Ronan and Elliott Heffernan, and where it sits in the Oscar race right now. Next up is the religious, psychological horror film Heretic (read our review here), from the writers of A Quiet Place. Led by an excellent performance from Hugh Grant, Ryan and Josh talk about the tense, exciting pace of the first act, Grant’s monologue’s, hint at hilarious pop culture references within the film, A24’s run of films this year, and why the film crumbles, like a blueberry pie, in executing a thrilling finale.

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

This podcast runs 59m. We will be back next week to do a discussion on where everything is at in this year’s Oscar race. Till then, let’s get into it.

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

Welcome to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 71 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys discuss the first film in their Krzysztof Kieślowski series, The Double Life of Veronique (1991).

Known for being a documentarian in the 1970s and making smaller, personal films and television shows in the 1980s, Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski broke through in the 1990s with four films that became some of the most influential films of the last 30 years. For the first film in this month long series, Kieślowski dives into the world of two young girls (both played by Irène Jacob) who feels connected to each other, a bond that transcends time, language and geography. In a unconventional, beautiful version of a coming of age story, Ryan and Jay talk about their relationship with Krzysztof Kieślowski, thoughts on the film, the differences between Weronika and Véronique, sex used as a vital tool for storytelling, the film’s haunting tone and ending, and many stories about Jay’s recent family Disney trip.

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

This podcast runs 2h04m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series on the films of Krzysztof Kieślowski with a review of his film, Three Colours: Blue. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let’s get into it.

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

On episode 259 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello and AwardsWatch contributors Dan Bayer and Josh Parham to go back 10 years to take a look at the 87th Academy Awards, celebrating the films of 2014.

 Ten years ago, Hollywood’s biggest night was won over by Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Birdman, a dramedy about a washed up actor trying to form a comeback away from the big screen and back on stage in New York City, and while doing this, also making sure he can keep him mind sane. The film was a critical, commercial success, though winning Best Picture, Director and Original Screenplay for Iñárritu that night has put a target on his back for not only beating films like Boyhood and The Grand Budapest Hotel, but was the first of back to back years where the director found himself capturing Oscar gold. With these wins, it has become one of the most divisive years of the Oscars in recent memories, alongside a slew of other questionable winners and nominees inside a bountiful year of incredible cinema from the year 2014. A lot of Oscars from this year need to change hands, and the AW team is here to rewrite some Academy history.

 In their in-depth discussion, the AW team talked about the film year of 2014, briefly discuss talk about Birdman as a Best Picture winner, do an extensive conversation over the below the line categories and nominees for the year, and then the new version of the AW Shoulda Woulda Coulda game, where instead of individual replacements, they must decide as a group who the nominees and winners should be in the top eight categories. The rules of the game state they can only replace two of the nominees that year from each category, except in Best Picture, where the group could replace up to three films to make up the final set of five nominated films. Like past retrospective episodes, it was a fascinating, fun conversation including spirited debates, alliances, vote swinging, celebrating various movies, performances that aren’t normally talked about and more that we all hope you enjoy.

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

This podcast runs 3h21m. We will be back next week to do discuss the latest film release, Blitz, and doing a character actor movie draft.

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

Welcome to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 70 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys discuss the next film in their Carl Franklin series, Out of Time (2003).

After the box office failure of Devil in a Blue Dress, and making a Meryl Streep movie (One True Thing) and a standard legal thriller starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman (High Crimes), Carl Franklin’s last feature film was his last effort at trying to make a entertaining popcorn films starring Denzel Washington, Out of Time. What sounds like an interesting premise of a small town cop racing against the clock when the woman he is seeing ends up the prime murder suspect in his area of Florida, with the team investigating the crime run by his ex-wife (Eva Mendes). In what feels like a discount Tony Scott film, Franklin isn’t able to elevate the movie beyond just being a decent film that Denzel carries to the finish line. Ryan and Jay talk about their thoughts on the film, diving into some heavy Jimmy Buffett references, Dean Cain’s filmography, the illogical ending of the film, how much they’ve loved talking about Denzel Washington films this year, the sad reality behind where Franklin’s career is now, as well as give their ranks of the films within this short but important series.

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

This podcast runs 2h03m. The guys will be back next week to begin their series on the films of Krzysztof Kieślowski with a review of his film, The Double Life of Veronique. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let’s get into it.

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

On episode 258 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade and Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello talk about the Gotham Awards nominations, the world premieres of AFI FEST 2024 and two films we saw outside of the festival that will be in the Oscar race.

Always considered the kickoff of awards season, the Gotham Awards nominations were revealed this week and without too much surprise Sean Baker's Anora led with four nods: Best Feature, Best Director, Outstanding Lead Performance (Mikey Madison) and Outstanding Supporting Performance (Yura Borisnov). Next up with three apiece were RaMell Ross’s Nickel Boys (Best Feature, Best Director, Breakthrough Performer – Brandon Wilson) and Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow (Best Director, Outstanding Lead Performance – Justice Smith, Outstanding Supporting Performance – Brigette Lundy-Paine). We break down these nominations, the surprises (Challengers in Best Feature as its only nod, The Brutalist missing there) and snubs (notably, Joan Chen) and everything in between. See full list of nominations here.

Then we head over to the AFI FEST 2024, which just ended last weekend, to talk about the world premieres of the fest: Music by John Williams (review), Robert Zemeckis's Here (review), Clint Eastwood's Juror #2 (review) and the new Aardman Animation film Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. It's a pretty spirited conversation as the film from two directing giants are among our least favorite films of the year, but then buoyed by the joy and fun of the new Aardman. Conversely, we venture into two films that we loved and saw outside of the festival last week, Halina Reijn's Babygirl, starring Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson, and Ridley Scott's return to the Colosseum with Gladiator II, starring Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington.

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

This podcast runs 58m. We will be back next week for a retrospective of the 87th Academy Awards, covering the films of 2014. Till then, let’s get into it.

Welcome to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 69 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys discuss the next film in their Carl Franklin series, Devil in a Blue Dress (1995).

Following the massive success of One False Move, Franklin turned down the opportunity to work on bigger studio films to adapt a neo-noir mystery thriller based on the popular series of books by Walter Mosley. With an Oscar winning star, Denzel Washington, on the poster to go along with an impressive ensemble cast around him, detailed production design and world building within the script, this movie was destined to be the start of a new Hollywood movie series. But sadly, we never go to see more stories of Easy Rawlins on the big screen, with the film earning a cult status since its release, becoming another gem in Franklin’s filmography. Ryan and Jay break down their thoughts on the film, the history behind the making of this movie, their continued love for Denzel, the amazing performance from Don Cheadle, the film’s SAG nomination, the racial dynamics of the film, and answer why they think audiences didn’t connect with it when it came out.

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

This podcast runs 1h43m. The guys will be back next week to conclude their series on the films of Carl Franklin with a review of his film, Out of Time. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let’s get into it.

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

Welcome to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 68 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys discuss the first film in their Carl Franklin series, One False Move (1992).

Much like Terrence Malick, the subject of the last Director Watch series, director Carl Franklin came out of the AFI Conservatory ready to take the world on fire as a force behind the camera. In his first couple of films, he was taken under the wing of producer Roger Corman, who saw something in a young Franklin and gave him the necessary experience to then make something of his own. By the early 1990s, when the American indie film era was beginning, Franklin made one of the most vital crime thrillers of the decade with One False Move, a film centered around a small town sheriff waiting for three killers to enter his town, with a connection to who they are leading to a dangerous conclusion. With a script written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson, Franklin was able to tap into the insecurities of being in a small town position as a police officer, the danger of being a fugitive on the run, and the racial dynamics (and insecurities) at the heart of the story. Ryan and Jay break down Franklin’s early work, their thoughts on the overall film, Bill Paxton and Cynda Williams’ performances, the film’s shocking ending, the tragic final shot of the film, Thornton’s career as a writer, and how influential a movie like this was for the decade.

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

This podcast runs 1h53m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series on the films of Carl Franklin with a review of his film, Devil in a Blue Dress. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let’s get into it.

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

On episode 257 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade and Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello talk about some of our favorite (and not so favorite) films we saw at 62nd New York Film Festival and then look at them through the lens of the pending Oscar race.

Kicking things off we start with The Brutalist, Brady Corbet's sprawling epic about a Hungarian architect, played by Adrien Brody, who emigrates to the United States post-World War II. Corbet won the Best Director award at the Venice Film Festival. You can read Sophia's review of that film here. Next we go into the Venice Golden Lion winner for Best Film, Pedro Almodóvar's The Room Next Door, starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, the director's first major festival top film win. Ryan's review of the maestro's festival favorite can be found here. The conversation here, about older directors creating films now that stand up against their best early work, moves to what we felt as a far less successful version of that, Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis (read Ryan's review here) but then we're back to the festival high of Luca Guadagnino's Queer, his adaptation of the 1985 William S. Burroughs short novel starring Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey, a drug-induced story of gay love and longing set among the lives of American expats in Mexico City in the late 1940s. You can read my review of Queer here. We also venture into some quick talk of other films we saw and loved at the festival, including Mike Leigh's Hard Truths and David Siegel and Scott McGehee's The Friend, starring the biggest attention getter of the fest, Bing the great Dane.

From there we look at how looks at these films have shaped or changed our earlier Oscar predictions, what's out in front, what is falling off and the complete unknown entities coming up that could change race completely.

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

This podcast runs 1h16m. We will be back in two weeks to discuss AFI FEST and update our Oscar predictions. Till then, let’s get into it.

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

On episode 256 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch contributors Dan Bayer and Josh Parham to discuss Sean Baker’s latest film, Anora, and discuss their favorite films to win the prestigious Palme d'Or award.

While we are coming towards the end of fall festival season, one of the hottest festival films of the year was the winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival back in May. Anora, written and directed by Sean Baker and starring Mikey Madison, has been the one of the most talked about films of the year, garnering praise from audiences around the world and setting itself up for a big run later this Oscar season. But just how good is the film? Ryan, Josh, and Dan breakdown Baker’s latest, what they think of the film overall, the performances, mild discussion on the film’s ending, and where they see its path in the Oscar race moving forward. Once they were done with that, they moved into a larger discussion over their favorite past winners of the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, the Palme d'Or. With some of the most influential, celebrated films of their respected years winning the award, the Palme d'Or is a signal for excellence in cinema. Some of the films discussed ranged from All That Jazz, Taxi Driver, Pulp Fiction, The Piano, Brief Encounter, Blow Up, The Conversation, Parasite, Shoplifters, Barton Fink, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Tree of Life, and many more.

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

This podcast runs 1h49m. We will be back next to do discuss the main trifecta of fall festivals - Telluride, Toronto and New York - then in two weeks for AFI FEST Film Festival and take a look at the Oscar race after each.

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

Welcome to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 67 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys are joined by Dave Giannini, Editor-In-Chief of InSession Film, to discuss the final film in their Terrence Malick series, A Hidden Life (2019).

The time has come for the Malick series to come to an end, and it is ending with yet another beautiful look to the past by the director after years of making personal films about the present. In taking a journey back to the past, the director was able to search into a man’s personal, religious reasoning for not wanting to go to war for the Nazis. Shot beautifully cinematographer Jörg Widmer, Malick has created another masterpiece of epic, poetic masterpiece, contrary to many who thought it was just another Malick film; this one is just as special as the rest. Ryan, Jay, and Dave break down their relationship with the film, Malick’s stance on religion, the film’s beautiful score, the excellent performance from August Diehl, give their final thoughts on the series, their final Malick rankings, and announce their next series they will be doing starting next week.

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

This podcast runs 2h26m. The guys will be back next week to begin their series on the films of Carl Franklin with a review of his film, One False Move. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let’s get into it.

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

On episode 255 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch contributors Dan Bayer, Jay Ledbetter, and Josh Parham to go back 15 years to take a look at the 82nd Academy Awards, celebrating the films of 2009.

Fifteen years ago, after the Academy made an egregious snub and didn’t include The Dark Knight in the Best Picture lineup, the Academy expanded the category to include ten films, in an effort to include a wider range of films that audiences had seen. The results ended up with one of the most balanced, representative selection of nominees in some time, with the biggest, highest grossing film of all time going up again the indie-war film, that would go on to win and make Academy history as the first female director to win Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow). In their in-depth discussion, the AW team talked about the film year of 2009, briefly discuss talk about The Hurt Locker as a Best Picture winner, do an extensive conversation over the below the line categories and nominees for the year, and then the new version of the AW Shoulda Woulda Coulda game, where instead of individual replacements, they must decide as a group who the nominees and winners should be in the top eight categories. The rules of the game state they can only replace two of the nominees that year from each category, except in Best Picture, where the group could replace up to three films to make up the final set of five nominated films. Like past retrospective episodes, it was a fascinating, fun conversation including spirited debates, alliances, vote swinging, celebrating various movies, performances that aren’t normally talked about and more that we all hope you enjoy.

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

This podcast runs 2h40m. We will be back next week to do discuss the latest film release, Anora, and discuss our Top 5 Palme d'Or winners.

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