What Are You Watching?
A podcast for people who LOVE movies. Filmmakers/best friends, Alex Withrow and Nick Dostal, do their part to keep film alive. Thanks for listening, and happy watching!
What Are You Watching?
90: 2023 Oscars Recap
Alex and Nick react to the 95th annual Academy Awards. Recorded just minutes after the live telecast ended, the guys talk about all of the big winners, the “All Quiet” wave, “Everything Everywhere” dominance, "Elvis" losing out, Brendan fuckin’ Fraser, Hugh Grant as an all-timer presenter, and much more.
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Ready. Let's do it. Hey, everyone. Welcome to. What are you watching? I'm Alex with their own. I'm joined by my best man, Nick Dostal. How are you doing there, Charlie? So I was. Oh, my God. That was the biggest celebration. Oh, my God. It was great. My heart is so happy. I'm so happy. Yeah, that was. Oh, God, it was really great. Like, I just. Right up until the end, I didn't expect it. Oh, well, I mean, okay, we'll talk about this, but. Yeah, I mean, right away. I think that's my highlight of the night. Brendan Fraser winning best actor for the Whale. I just loved it. I loved watching. Yeah, that was I. And nothing against any of the other nominees. Oh, sure, sure. No, I think we've we've spoken about like, how we feel about the movie of Elvis, but then how also we feel about, you know, Awesome Brothers performance because it was between the two. It was either brother Fraser and, and just personally, I'm just so happy that Brendan Fraser got that and well earned. It makes me just very, very happy. Yes, same here, same here. So I mean, from the top, like we both really like to show, you know, we agreed they played it safe a little bit. And you just noted how there wasn't any like controversy this year. And we are used to controversies like there was Envelope Gate 2016. Then the Anthony Hopkins the father thing was a huge deal. Yep. And then, of course, we all know what happened last year with the Slap. And just going back to like I was reminded, this felt like just a return to form. Let's keep it moving. Let's go. And they just played it safe. But I liked the show. I did. I liked the show. I do feel like there was like a collective like, all right, there is going to be no problems here. Not today. We are going to make this the safest show to me, actually. Like, I actually kind of felt in a way like I don't miss the controversy. I don't know necessarily if that's the thing that I was missing, but there is no edge. Yeah, sure, Sure. That's fair. Yeah. And I do I think I did appreciate in other in other years some type of shock and some type of you know it's it's something to talk about. Yeah. Yeah. Obviously last year was too much like that. Crosses the line. Yeah. Envelope gate was just ridiculous. I mean, totally. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think those two are kind of like you know, but. But there's something to talk about. But we are talking about where I think the star of the overall show tonight was the speeches. Yeah, I all the speeches. I thought they nail my only negative remark which I'll get to has nothing to do with the content of any of the speeches. It's how little time they give some of these people to give their speeches, particularly when like that second person would step up. Yeah, you know, the first person gets their stuff, but even for some of them, the first person was going quick and then the second person would step up and then the orchestra comes in. It's like, But yes, the speeches, by and large, even from people, you know, we're going to get into all the winners and everything, but even from from performances that I did not rate as my top choice, the speeches were still good. Everyone displayed humility. Everyone was extremely grateful. There was no just like nonsense about it. Then I Yeah, I really appreciate that people everyone who won seemed really happy to be winning an Oscar. It didn't seem like Yeah and that's that's really great and yeah and to your point about having stuff to talk about, like when people outside of hardcore movie fans are talking about the Oscars the Monday after, it's always based on controversy. That's what they're talking about. They're like, Oh, wow, yeah, they they've gone and watch that stuff on YouTube. They may not have even been watching the show live this year. All the headlines are going to be, you know, good news. Yes. Everything everywhere walked away with seven wins, seven huge wins. These are all major awards. And right at the top, because I had a question for a prompt, what are people going to be talking about tomorrow? I think Oscar historians or people who love Oscar history like myself are going to be talking about the fact that win Michelle Yeoh won best actress. Everything Everywhere joined the ranks of On the Waterfront and Network as the only films to have three acting Oscars. That is crazy. And I mean just good on it. Like you got to give in to it. It rode the wave for a year. I did everything correctly like it really, really did. A24 did an amazing job keeping this in everyone's mind and it just did it. And that is that's the biggest that as someone who's been obsessed with the Oscars for my whole life, that's just that's an amazing stat. It it's crazy because you called this a year ago basically like because everything everywhere all at once came out in April. Yeah. And I saw it in theaters. I loved it. I remember even saying, I go, It's going to be tough for any movie for this year to beat that for me in terms of personally me liking it. But I remember you were like, well, you probably a lot of other people that movie might win the Oscar, and I go, Get the fuck out of here. That's it's so funny about this year. Yeah, You liked it? Yeah, I didn't really like it, but I'm like, No, it's taken it the whole way. You're like, No, it's not. It just doesn't. I mean, I. I just did. I still can't believe that that that movie is it took it. I'm happy that it did because I loved it but it's historically no movie that comes out in April. No, it's very rare. Very, very rare. Like there's a reason why all of the, you know, main Oscar movies come out between the months of September and December. Yeah. Now it just feels like November, December, really, all those quote unquote prestige movies, they dump them all on us. Yeah. Just right at the end of the year. And this year we had the best picture winner and everything everywhere in April. Top Gun. That came out in May. Yeah. So you've got these two big heavy hitters that have just stood the test of time. Sure. Throughout And speaking of Top Gun, they pulled one out. Thank God. Thank God. Yeah. Yeah. Let's jump to that Top Gun conversation. Takes us right to the. What are you watching award of the evening best sound. We are all quiet on the Western front with holy shit. We were both like, what is happening? This thing is making a wave. Dude, this is this is the OC for all you man movie. Still really wide. Yeah, I figured I got to talk about this because I'm a goddamn idiot. Yeah, we'll put a we'll put the brakes on. Best sound for a second. Yeah. OPA, this is actually hilarious. So I'm historically wrong on all of my thoughts of going into the Oscars since we've been doing this podcast. You got 12 out of 23, right? Last year I got 20 out of 23, right? I only got I got 15 out of 23, right. This year. I did not do that. Well, because of what you're about to go into. Yeah. So I was so fans, you guys know like when we had this first episode coming into the Oscars a month ago or two months ago, and we found out that all quiet on the Western Front had the most nominations outside of everything everywhere. I was like, you know, I mean, maybe what if this all quiet on the Western Front just starts cleaning house, right? Right. And you were like, No, no, I don't think it's going to do that because it's up against so many other things. I go, I don't know, man. I'm thinking all quiet might all quiet might just start taken like bit by bit, like cinematography. What if it wins that? What if it wins this? What if he wins that? And on my fucking ballot that we do Between you and I, I had my head just completely skewed that Elvis was going to be. So did having to do this. So did I. And so all of my initial thoughts that were going to go towards that did not. And then even before I said there's no movie that's ever going to be Top Gun for sound. Right. Right. And and I've got in my head that Elvis was going to do this. And so I voted against both things that I said, which cost me in our ballot contest. Yes, I did. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, God about for fun. But yeah, that's what was so funny is that in our most recent episode, The Narratives Oscar podcast, I was saying like, I only vote with my head. That's what I really try to do. And I put I should have put my heart more into it, you know, this year. And also on that podcast, I was giving my dad some fun little flak saying how he votes too much with his heart. He voted fully with his heart. Dude got 15, right? Yeah, I voted for him with my head. It got 15, right? So I got 14. Right? Right. It's just funny how that happens. Like I should have been better about a mix of both. Apparently I should have been. We both should have been thinking with our hearts in all those technical categories. Yeah, that's, yeah, I was like that. It kind of made the show interesting for me because. Yeah, here's another huge headline. Elvis zero wins zero. I never if someone would have said yesterday that, Hey, Elvis is not going to win anything up got Now, come on, man, you're crazy. I even said in one of my updates that if you like everything everywhere in Elvis, you're going to have a great night and Elvis coming away with nothing. It's genuinely shocking. I just did not expect that. I'm truly shocked. It did not win costume design. That was I mean, yeah, that was that might have been one of the first ones. We were like, huh? Because Ruth Carter had already won that for Black Panther in 2018, and then she wins again this year for Wakanda forever. And I was like, Oh, okay. Because we yeah, we thought a few of these Elvis was a foregone conclusion, by which I mean, wow, they, they got the same like things that like, Elvis wore. Like they yeah, like, I mean, there was a whole entire in the pre-show, there were all these little segments devoted specifically just to Elvis. Elvis. We kept seeing them over and over. And I just was like, Oh, well, they're not telling us something with this, are they? It made it clearly not right. They they're like, nope, Did he get it all in in the pre-show because this movie went in any right. And I mean seriously, it's like they were telling us something but really there weren't many multiple winners this this evening we had everything everywhere with seven we had all quiet with four. I expected it to win one, maybe two. I expected it to win international feature film, which it did, and maybe adapted screenplay, which it did not, but it went on to win cinematography, which is a big surprise. I really thought Elvis was going to win that production design, which was like huge surprise. I thought that was going to go to Babylon, Avatar, Elvis, I mean, any are any of those. And then, I mean, maybe most shockingly, it took score. Not shocking because it's not a good score. It's it's a really amazing score. They kept leg and every time somebody said it, it was like, dun dun. It was three nos. Yeah, exactly. But Babylon, I mean, has just been cleaning up and, you know, Babylon was not really well received in, in mass. It didn't they even got a joke in there and the opening monologue about it losing money. I was like, ouch, Shots fired at Babylon Garden. Yeah, that clearly followed through with the Oscars. So those nominations were were its gift. Certainly. But yeah, not they did spread the wealth a little bit. You know Avatar got one it was that was nice to see RR got in there. My two icebreakers that I had in our last episode, I asked, is Tom Cruise going to be there? Was not there. And they took a shot at him early. Kimmel took a made a Scientologist joke early. And that's, you know, I guess he has better things to do with his time. James Cameron wasn't there. I guess he has better things to do with his time. But I think that's a bit of a flex to not show up. I just you know, that doesn't really matter. But and then I want to know how many slap references we're going to. Yeah. What did you say? I think you said like two. Three. I said two and then like cap it. Yeah. And then stop it and then. Okay. So there were I counted six, it was actually four and I was about to turn off the show because like, the credits were about to start. These were all from Kimmel, the host. Then he got two more in there right at the very end, like of about like thanking the crisis team and then showing that no, you know, what was it? No, no, no, no incidents. No, it's how many years going for no incidents. Yeah. Yeah. Like one. Yeah. So, so they got six in and then. Yeah. And then now let's circle back to best sound here because we had all quiet was nominated Avatar The Way of Water, the Batman Elvis, Top Gun Maverick wins. Thank God I got an Oscar. There we go. I did think it was going to get more than one, but that was a lot of fun. But as you said, it's funny because on my ballot, which I'm looking at, I actually did think Maverick was going to win. So I put that at the last minute. But probably up until like recently, I thought it was going to be Avatar. Yeah. And then you. Yeah, we both thought it could be Elvis. It could very easily be Elvis. But another note about the show, I liked it. This is the first year, you know, in post-COVID that they went back to the traditional set up. So it's not tables. It's not. Yeah. The thing that Soderbergh did in the train station, which is like, I like that. I mean, that was just that was the flexible flexes that was that was really a thing Springsteen was Union Station duds. Okay. First big award of the night we had supporting actor Kiwi Cohen wins it for everything everywhere. He gave a great speech. I cried. Yeah. I mean, it was really emotional and long standing ovation. And as you noted already, like the speeches of the show were probably the highlight of. Yeah, I agree. And it was you know, I don't have the speech memorized, but it was it was very emotional and very well done. That is not an easy thing to do when you have one. Every single award and given all the speeches last few months and you really nailed it, you did great. You got a plan. Each one you would hope. I mean, actually that is part of the game. Like you can't get up there and say the same thing all the time. Yeah. Or they may not give you the Oscar. I don't know. I certainly can't say anything dumb. No, See that come to hurt people. Oh, yeah. He just was very, very grateful. The whole time. Yeah, just. Just really kind of just a pleasure to watch him as even though it was kind of like a foregone conclusion that he was going to win this award. It's still he kind of his his just energy lights up. Yeah. Yeah. Even even if you weren't a fan of that movie, even if you didn't see that movie, which my wife hasn't, she texted me and goes, okay, he's adorable like that. And I go, Yeah, yeah, he is. He is so good. Win Supporting actress was a big one because a lot of people thought Angela Bassett could sneak in there. Jamie Lee Curtis did win the SAG. She carried that over and won the Oscar. She seemed very surprised. And I loved her short and grateful speech. I thought you did really, really well. Yeah, I think she had her big flashy speech at the SAG Awards. Yeah. Yeah. And I agree. That was. Yeah, that was the more I mean, I don't think I think she was stunned that she won that. Yes. So that was. You're right. You're right. That was probably the more like flashier, powerful statement speech. Yeah. And this one was just it was classy. Yeah, it was. It was great. It was a lot of gratitude. That's nice. It's always good with gratitude. Should be. Always be it. Yeah. Number one spot. Yeah. Christopher Guest. Married to Christopher Guest. They've been married for years. Great to see him there. Got a little emotional when she was winning. You said he was yawning at a joke or something. You call it a yawn. I got to go back and see during Michelle Yeoh speech. I think Michelle Yeoh, she's saying in her speech that that this is for all the moms, because, you know, these are who the real superheroes are. And it cuts to Jamie Lee and she's crying and she's like trying to grab Christopher, I guess, like they can she can't really find it. And Christopher is just yawning. I'm like, God, I guess it was like, well, I, I got to go back and see that is I missed it. I had that. It was just it was just an unfortunate timing with the camera, but it was hilarious. Oh, man, that's great. Okay, what else? Going in? Going in order here. Oh, they I wondered if they were going to have Questlove at least present. Best documentary. They let him do it. That was great. I thought he did good. No references from any presenters, which is a classy way to do it. I mean, if you're going to reference it, like, just leave it just make that Kendall's job. Yeah. Don't like, put anything in, you know, Questlove wants to move on. He already wanted to move on, so that was cool. I really like that best documentary. I put an update in the episode saying all the beauty and the bloodshed was going to win. It was my pick. And then Navalny pulled it out. And that's a really, really good documentary. Navalny is. So I really didn't expect that to win. I thought it was going to be between maybe even fire of love and all the beauty and the bloodshed. But that was cool. That was a good one. Yeah, it sounds like a really good documentary. Yeah. I mean, they they spoiled the end of it. And you know, in their speech. But it's it's like Jesus, I mean, the whole time you're watching that thing and it does have like, Navalny does have one of the great jaw dropping moments of 2022. It's just a phone call. It's people having a phone call. And I kind of told you a little bit of what it was. But yeah, if you've seen the movie, you're like, Oh my God, It's like a really shocking moment. Yeah, It's something I brought up during the broadcast was that I think that that particular Oscar award, I think actually has a lot of influence. Yeah. Thank you for bringing this up. That's a really good point. Yeah. Because like, you know, with Oscars nowadays, like, it's really kind of difficult to assess how much weight is the fact that you've won an Oscar carries just because you win one. I think it almost seems like you won it for the night. Right? And then tomorrow it's like Academy Award winner. Okay. Yeah. And sure, you know, but but with the documentary feature award, that's one of those things where because everyone likes documentaries and everyone's kind of on the lookout for like, what's the next good one, right? So if you hear, Oh, this one won the Oscar, that is going to make people just go on to whatever platform it's on. And this is the documentary that won the Oscar and check it out. Yeah. And I think that this so this category is very interesting these days right now. Yeah. And it's always that award is always a good like if you want to watch a good documentary you can I mean it's not true of all of them, but you can go to a best documentary Oscar winner, put it on and you will understand why it won the award. Yeah, that's like that. My octopus teacher won a few years ago. That was like that was a Netflix movie. It wasn't. It was not the best documentary that year. But, you know, I cried when I watched it. So whatever it so it still works. But what what was next? Live action short that's when they sang Happy birthday to that guy that. Oh, really, really sweet. That was really cute. I like that a lot. And I didn't get to see that film in Irish. Goodbye was not one that was available online, so I didn't get to see that. That's kind of a bummer. All quiet when cinematography, which is like that was really close because you said if Elvis wins, you weren't here to watch the show next year. And then I did my update saying, because, you know, she did win the A C award and I really thought it was going to go to her. I thought, I don't know. I guess I got no, because she won that award. But the press definitely caught on to that narrative as well. And I got fooled a little bit because like, no one can deny how good the cinematography is and all kinds. And it makes sense looking at those nominees, you know, with Avatar, with Top Gun not being there, it absolutely makes sense that all quite is the winner. Yeah, it does. I, I honestly even I actually picked Bardo because I thought, yeah, this is going to be a shocking kind of, you know, swerve that no one would expect. I would have loved it because I think that movie, the cinematography is breathtaking, but all quiet is undeniable. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think you could look at especially those two movies and look at what they're doing visually with the camera and not be like, Wow, okay, you might not like Bardo. And sure, it's very specific type of movie, but I mean, just watching it, yeah, it's just crazy cool. It's really something else. Yeah, I mean, that would have been awesome, of course, but I'm glad it went to all quiet because absolutely deserves it. I had said that be, you know, watch makeup and hairstyling closely because I think that's going to be Elvis or the whale. And whoever wins that I think is going to win. ACTOR So when the whale won, we were both very shocked and we were both very surprised. And I even tweeted like, right before they said the winner, I was like, okay, here we go. Like, if it's watch out for best actor in the night. That carried over and he won Best actor. Oh, that's it's such a like an odd but cultured version of this makeup and hairstyling going to the eventual best actor or best actress winner. I don't know when that started, but it's just really cool. Yeah, like definitely a crazy coinciding, right? I mean, it is. It is. I would I got to do more research on that. Okay. Let's get to our song performances. Oh, because Lady Gaga showed up on that red carpet, just done up with makeup, black dress, and then she comes. Okay, well, actually, rewind even farther. I heard that she was not going to be there and not performing because she was so busy. I thought that I've heard that on podcast. I saw that in the news. I saw that in the press. So I don't know if that was like an intentional reverse or if she just, you know, wanted to show up. But moreover, the biggest statement was, you know, no makeup. Well, he's wearing a black t, no makeup and just singing her damn. Oh, my God, It was it was great. Well, I know you love it really quick before I start to gush on that. Yes. Basically, everything you just said. Well, you know what that makes you? What a liar. Thank you. Well, I'm not really a liar because I'm just saying what it makes the people who you told me the world were that she was going to be she wasn't going to be there. Okay. There's about 25 articles that makes right there. All right, fine. It makes me a facilitator of fake news. It's terrific. But I didn't make up the lie. Whatever She was there, she crushed it. I did. I did not think she was going to win, but she I mean, she gave, like, give a little speech first. But when that I mean, God, the camera was, like, so close to her. And then the no makeup is that's a flex and choice. And and because it's also such a departure, that was basically like an unplugged type version of that song because that that song, if you listen to it and like, you know, from the movie soundtrack, it's a very, very I mean, this with the best regards, very produced. Sure. Sure. And you know, so this kind of stripping it all down, just give it the basic instruments and black t shirt, black jeans, no makeup. The emotion that came over her as she was singing and the notes that she was hitting, I was like, Oh my God, she's so great. The goat. She really, Oh, God, I just love her. The only reason she didn't win is because she won in 2018. That's for Shallow. That's the only reason not to love the movie. That's a great movie as well. RR did take that they were up there for. I just thought they had that was like they were having so much fun and I'm really glad they got to take that. And everyone, you know, standing and having a good time. One thing, I don't even remember what he was presenting, but I think the best presenter award has to go to Hugh Grant just taking the best out of himself because I missed it. I think I was I was not in the room. But you said on the red carpet. Oh yeah, he was just like over it, I mean, before it even began. Like, So what do you wear a suit like this for? INTERVIEWER Like she was just trying to do her job in. Grant Right. Granted, like, like these questions are always dumb, dumb questions, but someone's got to ask them. Yeah, and it's not like she wrote them. She just being told what she has to do. So she's trying to put on a personality of like an interview. And she's like, she's like, So is there anything that you're excited for tonight? MM. Not particularly. Okay. You worked on Knives Out, which is up for this award. How was that experience? I was only in it for 3 seconds. She's like, Oh, tell me what you're wearing. A suit. Oh, my God. Stonewalling this poor woman and. And then that was it. Then he comes out, he comes down and is giving all these this eloquent praise to Eddie Bechtel for, like, using moisturizer. This is why she looks great. These reports of service, like I've never used moisturizer. They had my life and now basically a scrotum to his face. And that I mean, people just lost it. Everyone was dying. We were dying. And yeah, that has to get like especially knowing that he seemed like a bit of a just curmudgeon like over it on the red carpet. And then to come out and kind of slay like that presenting an award. I genuinely don't even remember which award it was, but it was great. Was in the middle of her trying to get through their next verse. Because what is wrong with you? Yeah. Which did not feel scripted at all. No. Yeah. That's why, you know, that scrotum bit was a completely off the rail I got. I loved it. Oh, I loved it. Kept going on with the show and I think it felt like don't get me wrong. Like I, I've talked about how on the actual night of the Oscars you can a wave can start and all quiet was the biggest win even though it didn't have the biggest earned the most wins. But I think it's also because, like all of those wins happened within like an hour of the show. So we were like freaking out. But when it won production design over the Way of Water, which we've done research on to figure out like actually what goes into it and it's crazy. And that in the original Avatar won in 2009 over Babylon as well our beloved Babylon over Elvis And that was when I looked at you and I went, you called this like you called this wave. It was shocking, good wins. And then it take and then it took score, which I think was probably the biggest the biggest shock of the night for that. Yeah, though, I mean, maybe maybe it wasn't. Maybe that's just us. Yeah. Yeah, sure, sure. We're the only ones in the world who like that movie. All quiet. No Beverly O Babylon. No, no, no, no. I'm saying I think it's a shock that it won. Well, no, I mean, he's won some precursor awards for Babylon, like a lot of them, but I think. Yeah, yeah, he's taken, like, all of those. I was really surprised by that because he already has two Oscars. Yeah. So I thought they but, you know, I think maybe one thing that's becoming clear is I focus a lot on these precursor awards. And I think there there is some validity to that. I think you can you know, if you're trying to predict who's going to win, you can focus on those. But with the academy being so many members now being like 10,000 members, maybe they are interested as well in like sharing the wealth and going, yeah, you know, the Babylon dude, Jason Horowitz has two Oscars. And so let's just give it all quiet. Yeah, No, no, it's cool. I'm not mad at it. I love the Babylon score, but I would have loved if Babylon was an Oscar winner. But, I mean, this is cool. That wave, that all quiet road was fun. And it was riding such a wave that by the time visual effects came up, yeah, we were both nervous that you actually said it all like, not win this one. Like, this is not going to be okay. It beats Avatar, and I don't know why it was like, actually nervous, like when you were about to say, Well, I I'm glad all quiet is having a run, but I don't want it to take this like it has to be Avatar the way of water. And it was, yeah. So, you know, rejoice. Yeah. There would have been something very wrong with the world if that if Avatar two didn't win for best visual effects it just Yeah. And then really my only negative note of the show was the only thing you weren't present for because our food was being delivered. So you had to go outside to get it. But when Vision Avatar won for visual effects, they were, I believe it was only two people on stage. It might have been three, but I think it was two. The first person went and spoke for like 30 seconds and then clearly like stepping out of the way for, you know, the second person to come up. The music starts right away, okay? And the person's like trying to, you know, I mean, when the music starting this telecast, sometimes they back down and they'll stop when the music started and never back down. So you were cute off. But they did that and then they immediately cut to Kimmel in the audience and he was like, Oh yeah, sorry about Avatar getting cut off there and then made in like a pretty lame Avatar joke and then did one of those stupid bits in the audience. Thankfully, this was the only stupid audience, but sometimes they do like five or six. Yeah, and I'm just watching it going like you couldn't let that second person talk for 30 seconds, Like you had to do the 4 to 5 minute bit. I don't know. I hate when they do that. Otherwise I'd like to show. I did. I did. What was that one better that they did a few years ago where like they brought in a bunch of people. Oh yeah. Like from the street. Yeah. And they told them they were going to go like, I think that was when Kimmel did it. Yeah. He doesn't succeed. Maybe. Maybe. I mean, there used to be a lot of food bits, passing yards, passing out snacks. Billy Goat. Ellen was host. There was just a lot of food bits and I'm okay with like a montage. That's fine. I'm all in memoriam I think, which we're going to talk about is like a necessary segment. I don't even the song performances, if it isn't a song I care about, that's a perfect time for me to like, go do something, like go use a bathroom or something like that. But I don't mind that they're in the show. I like that it's a part of the show. That's fine. The bits. I've always talked a little poorly on, but thankfully they were limited this year. I'm just saying like, give everyone 30 seconds to give a speech. Jesus. That's all. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 3 hours and 40 minutes was the final runtime time. I thought it went by pretty fast. I remember it went by really fast. Yeah, actually, I. Yeah, I was actually going to wonder if it was even hit 3 hours. Yeah, but commercials. Yeah. I mean, the commercials. Well, you know, there's something to say for how the Screen Actors Guild Awards did it, because that is honestly probably like the way that they executed that is maybe one of my favorite executions of an award show ever because there were no commercials. Yeah, they did not cut off because it was all streamed. It was streamed. What was this? It was streamed from Netflix, but via YouTube. Yeah. So like anyone could watch it. As long as you could click on YouTube, anyone could watch it. So the ease of access was great. No commercials. Every person who gave a speech was allowed to. I mean, some people did give long speeches. In fact, they did like they ran long when it won Best cast. James Hong gave that really, really amazing speech about how far the industry has come in terms of Asian representation. And you need like I don't think the best I don't think the Oscars would have allowed that when they won Best Picture. You know, I mean, the best picture speech was actually pretty they were pretty respectful. It seemed like the Daniels wanted to keep things moving. Like every time they won, they weren't. You know, again, that is also exercising, exercising humility by not going on and on. When you win repeatedly, you know, they they were they were up and down. And I did respect that. I respected it. I mean, they really were like they were they would win, go backstage, do this, do the pictures right. Go back to their seats, win again. Exactly. They're just like up and out everywhere. Yeah. Which is it's got to be really cool. Yeah. I mean, after the all quiet wave was done, I said, we're going to start to hear everything everywhere. But a lot. Yeah. You know, presenters. And that's, that's kind of what happened. But a lot of us predicted that. And that does take us into, you know, once we crossed over that third hour, we really only had like three or four Oscars to go. Another note of the show that I want to make, Travolta introducing In Memoriam was really sweet because, you know, he's talking about another controversy like him completely botching that name that year. You know, he got so much shit for that. And but but then for him to be invited back and to do this really touching tribute to introduce In Memoriam, which the first person to show was Olivia Newton-John. And then, you know, we've then obviously devoted and, you know, he started to cry. I really like that. It was it was very sweet, very emotional. Yeah. Sad. Sad for all the people we lost, too. Oh, yeah. It always is on the show, Ray. God, Yeah. I miss you, Ray. I miss every day. How about speaking of Ray Elizabeth Banks coming out there? Who are there? Of course. Oh, my God. And the cocaine. And the cocaine. There's the visual effects on the way she did it. Yeah, she. Oh, man, that was close. That was close. God, no place for the ages. Yeah, that would have. Oh, God, that would have been terrible. And then you have the bear come out in, like, pick her up. And then we would have been like, is this a bit like, what's going on? It would have had to come out. Yeah. Like who else? It would have been closest. She's like, What the hell's going on? It was doing visual effects. Yeah, right. It was a fall like that. Right. This is She did almost eat it. Like she always even held out her hand like, Oh, wow, that was a close. Well, that was a close one. Yeah. After a memoriam, we really had the big four left starring Brendan Fraser, as we mentioned, takes Best Actor. Remarkable speech. And you know, two guys from Encino, Man, when it goes to the same night, it's just great Amazing. But yeah, that was that is my that's my favorite win of the night. I can I'm looking at everything now. Yeah. I can confidently say that. I just I love that it puts even though all the winners this year weren't necessarily my favorite movies, I don't have a bad taste in my mouth over the night. I don't know. Everything's all good. And that helps. That award helps. It does. Yeah, it does. And and I really like the I think my favorite speech of the night was was from QI. That was great. It was just very, very emotional. But I also really love the editor from film. Everything everywhere. Oh my God. He was great. Yeah, he was. My second movie is basically if you imagine you just you make one movie and that's your second one and you win the Oscar for it. Oh, I just like that. I like I liked his speech a lot. I do, too. I do, too. But but yeah, this was just it was just a really good night. I really, I, I agreed with all of the wins. I liked all of them, the ones that I really wanted to. So it was like a good night if you're one of us. Well, maybe for me. Well, yeah. I mean, especially if you're it. Everything. Everywhere. It was. It was a good night. And I, you know, I. Let me make sure. Yeah. I predicted all of its wins. So those all everything it won. I did get right And those were all quote unquote. I mean you could argue like the seven biggest awards. So it's a big night. It's a huge night for that film. But after Brendan Fraser won, that's when I knew, you know, Elvis is walking away with nothing. This is going to win picture. And that again, I know we've already talked about it, but that is that will be, you know, a headline. But this does happen like Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York Zero, The Irishman, zero. And it also had, you know, tons of nominations. So this does happen sometimes where you give it a bunch of names and it just doesn't walk away with anything. Banshees two Oh, that's right. You have with nothing. That's I didn't really have high hopes for that. I know. I was frankly stunned by how many nominations got, which is not I'm not doing a dig towards the movie at all. I just thought that movie was so, so subtle, really, and so kind of patient. I was surprised that they the academy. But again, that's another one where it's like the nominations were your were your gift because once that movie got nominated, that's when people really started watching it because it was on HBO, I believe. And that's when, you know. So that's the legacy of Banshee. What else I said, noting this three acting wins thing, that if Michelle Yeoh wins, it's going to be history. And I was kind of wondering, like, could this be not go her way? Because do they not want to give everything everywhere three awards and then she won and I think she needed to win. You know, it felt it really felt great. And I do want to say I did chime in with that update because she yeah, she had a hell of a week. Yeah. She had a really, really tough week where and none of this was her fault. And I hope that update didn't come off as me it like disparaging her because it wasn't it wasn't her fault. It's just the rules for this stuff is going to have to change because right now it's like you shouldn't even be using social media basically like during nomination time because you're not allowed to comment in any negative or disparaging way toward any other nominated film or perform it. And just by highlighting, like she just posted the bit about Cate Blanchett, she posted the entire article or like it was like nine of those, you know, you to swipe through. It's like a lot of screenshots. And then she took it down immediately. That happened on the last day of Oscar voting, and I chimed in with an update because there was a lot of talk on that Wednesday, like, could she be disqualified? I'm sure she got a a very solid slap on the wrist and oh, yeah, let's, you know, take it down. I'm sure she got a call from her publicist. So what the hell is this like? You know, and either they're going to have to reframe these rules or do a better job of explaining it to people, because there was a lot of social media activity this year. Is Michelle Yeoh stuff, the Andrea Riseborough stuff? Yeah. For getting her nomination that everything had to be under investigation. And I don't know, I don't they're just going to have to reshape up those rules. But all that said, I'm glad she won, and I really liked her speech. I did too. Yeah, I she's classy. Yeah. And yeah, very heartfelt. Very. And the first woman of color to win that award since Halle Berry for Monster's Ball. And that was a big question. Who's going to present best actress this year? Because typically, not always, but traditionally the best actor from the previous year presents best actress for every acting award. The previous winner in the opposite gender gives it and you know, the previous winner for best actor is not allowed back on the show for now. Nine more shows. So it was who's going to bring it out. And I do want to say, to go back to a point of the show, I like how they did like those double presenting. You know, they bring out like two people and it present the screenplay's present acting. So I thought that worked really well. But yeah. Michelle Yeoh There we go. It was cool to see Halle Berry give her that. That was fun. Yes, very cool. Oh one. We kind of skipped over. We should give a little love to Sarah Polley where, oh, her dad already called. That was great. And that was another update I had because that one had just it just fallen off my radar that I, I didn't realize how respected she still is in the film industry. And she really, really is. Yeah, she has. Yeah. And I mean, well-deserved. Like, I loved her speech. I really loved it. And I just think it's cool that that one. Yeah, I do too. Yeah, I, we were thinking what else could it be? It's seemed like all quiet could have taken it because it was on that wave. And I'm happy that Sarah Polley pulled that out because it was just good seeing her. Right. You know, we grew up, you know, with her being kind of like a she was a very, very common actress that was like around. Yeah. And everything's like an indie. Yeah. In the actress. I mean, common Yeah. But we would see her frequently. Yeah. Yeah. In movies, in like weird indie nineties. Yes. Go see. Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff. And she was always very, very good. And so when she turned out to start directing, Yeah, I really liked that this waltz. And so it's cool to see that her her her directing path is is flourishing. Yeah it is. It is because I think she'll she has nowhere to go but up from here. But I did look at you similar to visual effects I looked at you kind of nervously and went is all quite going to win adapted screenplay to or and then they gave it to Polly, which was great. And then, well, I'm looking at this kind of last column on my ballot. I'm using the Vanity Fair ballot. We got original screenplay actress in a supporting role. Actor in a supporting role. Actress in a leading role director. Best picture all, everything everywhere. Yeah. And then it's other one was editing. So it just it really cleaned up. And I did predict all of those and I think it had a very good night. I don't I don't see anything bad to say. I beat it pretty much. So yeah, I really didn't lose that much score song. It couldn't win both Supporting Actress awards. But again, as an Oscar nerd, I think that is the biggest headline for me that that that Will Ferrell will forever be in history as a triple acting winner. Wow that's just crazy And I liked everyone's speeches from that film. I thought they did everyone did a really good job. Even the best picture guy that was really touching. The one kind of cool thing about everything everywhere. Sweep being the way that it did is that everyone who won that talked about the movie, talked about it in a very similar type of way. You could feel almost the collaborative energy that that movie had based off of all the different departments that were winning for these Oscars, how they were speaking to the work and to the movie and to the gratitude of it. So you could tell, like that was a really good team of people and everyone's voices were heard and everyone talked about that. And the Daniels were the first. And keep saying that they're not the winners of this like everyone that was a part of this and got to throw in their their creative genius into it is why this movie took over the way that it did. So it was very cool to kind of see that this must have been the dynamic that the Daniels kind of set for their set for that movie. Yeah, like all genuinely all of like all of no hostility, really. It just seemed like everyone really got along and they had a great time and again, to be riding this wave because, you know, it takes a long time to produce a movie to make a movie, and then you edit it and then you release it. But a lot of this window of like when it's released to when it starts winning Oscars is usually a much shorter window because these movies are released in November. December. Yep. And then yeah, this one is had to end is one of the hardest things for a movie to do to continuously ride that wave and never really got any bad press. The only remotely bad press was from this. Just so yeah, for me, you know, with some of the fandom, some of the fandom was getting accused of being a little toxic online. But even the jails did a really good job of calming that down and like being very public about how they want this movie to be viewed and talked about from a place of love. So it really worked. And I have to commend I just do I have to commend the film and the campaign on how long it went and how well they did Jesus. And one of the things that blows me away with everything everywhere was how fast they shot that movie. 38 days. That's wild. That's wild. Yeah. Especially when you consider like when you watch all the crazy in that movie from really quick location shots and the production design that was put into all of these little things that you only see for these brief periods. I don't know how they did it. They said that they just moved very fast. Yeah, I mean, you would have to. So it is what it is. And when you have a team that's around you that they're like, we're moving fast. Everyone was let's let's go and let's do this and everyone was on board with it. Yeah, that's it. That's really I mean, think we covered all the big points that we want to talk about. My biggest highlights of the night, the three acting wins for everything. Everywhere. Elvis getting zero wins. Just because I never would have expected that. Brendan Fraser Winning is my outlet, so those are probably my three big, my three big highlights. How was that your favorite moment? Actor Oh yeah, for sure. Sure. You know your favorite win then? My favorite win for sure. Brendan Fraser I didn't really have a win that I didn't agree with or everything. Everything subjective. Yeah, but there wasn't one where I was like, Oh man, I can't believe that one won. No, because even all those all quiet wins, I wasn't mad about it. Yeah, they all went like, Yeah, yeah, like really good world. I mean, that movie is just like an beast of a fucking well-done movie. Yeah, it is. It is. It deserve everything. It deserved everything. It won. It really did. I think is a better show and experience than last year. I mean last year it's obviously so talked about, but I was just saying before we turned on the mics like, I'm in, I'm in a much better state this year than it was last year. We recorded just because it was so crazy. I was like my voice was hoarse. Oh my God, We couldn't talk about anything. That was just it. It was like, That's the only thing to talk about. I was just I was still in complete and utter shock. You were. It was hilarious. Total shock. I could not believe Koda remembering. Oh, my God. Koda, Remember? Koda? Oh, wow. Oh, yeah. I mean, I just had more fun watching it this year. It was, I don't know, last year. Oh, God. Yeah, I seriously, I, I mean, we could do a whole. We never did. We never even went back to the Oscars last year. We just, like, did that show and then moved on. But the one of the things that made that so uncomfortable for me and we're going to and this episode was just like, honestly, I'm laughing about it now, like to collective horror on everyone's faces for like two and a half hours. Oh, yeah, that happened. Even the people winning awards, like, they just looked like terrified. Yep. Like, is someone going to take care of this? Should I be? And that's so awkward because I don't know. It looked like it was a movie, but it was. It was like real life, just people. And then this dude is just so annoying. Doesn't he think about it? I still I'll never think God. Kimmel said that they'd do the same thing as last year. Nothing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Yeah. They deserve they deserve some heat for that too. But good show. I like. I like this one a lot. Yeah. 2023 Oscars, which heretofore after this date I will be referencing as the 2022 Oscars because I only did I only got 2023 around this time because everyone else does. But I like to say for you know, the the movies awarded from 2022. That's it, though. Good night. Let us know what you thought of the show on Twitter or Instagram at W AIW underscore podcast. As always, thank you for listening and happy watching. Hey everyone. Thanks again for listening. You can watch my films and read my movie blog at Alex Withrow dot com Nicholas Dose ELLE.com is where you can find all of Nick's film work. Send us mailbag questions at What are you watching podcast at gmail.com or find us on Twitter, Instagram and letterboxd at W aiw underscore podcast Scream six is here. We saw it together. We have a lot of thoughts about the movie and this franchise and our friend Dan is going to guest with us live and in person our second official guest. Stay tuned.