184: Best Picture Hot Take

This mixed-bag episode has it all. Alex and Nick begin by introducing their new website, wawypodcast.com, where you can find every episode, buy merch, donate, join Patreon (!), and more. 

Then Alex reveals a scorching new hot take concerning the Academy Award for Best Picture. 

Lastly, the guys review new Broadway shows, “The Drama,” “Mother Mary,” Season 3 of “Euphoria,” “Face/Off” on the big screen, the best-looking 4K discs, and more.

Visit our brand new website waywpodcast.com

Buy WAYW Merch

Join WAYW Bonus Features on Patreon

Transcript

0:10

Welcome to. What are you watching? I'm Alex with throat. I'm joined by my best man, Nick Dozzell. How are you doing? Their mother. Mary. Don't you fuck with me, you fuck. I had to hit you with it. I had to do it. Oh, how you doing? I'm mean, I'm. I'm sound as a pound. You're here. I'm here together in Virginia, visiting. Visiting me. Well, you have a flight. And, like, we're leaving the airport in about two hours and ten minutes. It's going to be a fun mixed bag episode. We're going to talk about any and everything. New stuff, some older stuff, some really fun, exciting new stuff. But genuinely, you know, I tease that because we're going to get into, you know, this episode is going to come out in a few weeks. It's fine. I don't think Mother Mary will still be in theaters. I'd be surprised, but maybe on streaming. But then the other new 2026 movie we talk about that'll probably be streaming soon. The drama. But yeah. How you doing? How do you feel to be here? Well, listen, man, I'm listening. Episode has it all. All all of it. We got it all. Got hot takes we got. We got nothing planned. This is. This is a complete random mixed bag of really fun stuff. But looking at the outline that you have so eloquently made here. Thank you. This is this might be one of our funnest episodes of everything and nothing. Yeah. Exactly. Once. Yeah, that that's actually he's going to go into my hot take which will be shortly. Yeah. That's like a loose structure. I have an Oscar related hot take that I have not shared with Nick. In my opinion, it is scorching hot. I'm going to hit you with that and we're going to scorching. And then we're going to talk about it. You will disagree, I believe vehemently, almost everyone listening will disagree. But just hear me out. I just asked for a little space. That's it. We're going to talk about what you've been up to this week because it's cool. Some new movies, the drama Mother Mary. But first, but first, perhaps most importantly, oh yes, in the background for the past year or so, but really intensely in 2026. So far, I've been building out the brand new What Are You watching podcast website? Yeah, it is easy to find. It is a podcast. That's it. You can put before it, you know, if you want, but just way podcast that is going to take you to our website where every single episode is listed. We have, we got all sorts of stuff on there. You know we got now we got merch, we got merch, baby merch. It was just a matter of time before we have what are you watching merch exactly. Click on store. It's going to take you to our merch page. You want a hat, a coffee mug coaster? You can get a magnet phone case. We got shirts, we got tank tops, we got sweaters, hoodies. I have one of the hoodies. Mouse pad. Mouse pad. Advertise. What are you watching everywhere? No, I mean, it's it's real. I've been wanting to do this for a while, and, you know, it's merch. There's also, you know, if you're so inclined, if you're like, hey, I kind of like these guys. They, I like, listen to them, you know? Whatever. They've been going for six years. Never ask for a penny. No we haven't. I have a little yellow link on there of a coffee mug. Or you can click on donate, takes you to a website. Buy me a coffee and you can just, you know, you can send us a book, you can send us something or whatever you're feeling on any given day. It's not a subscription thing. It's not like a every month charge, just a it's a one off thing if you're feeling, you know, generous that particular day. That's all. That's all. I mean it's really great stuff. And I'm sure as this goes on it's going to expand. So, get in on the ground level. Yeah. At the with what are you watching podcast, a podcast. And we do a really cool thing where we actually break you down every one of our episodes into the categories that we have become famously known for. Okay. So I'm like, I try to be very organized with the pod, but in our in our hosting service, which I'm very happy to and appreciative of them, I'm happy to be with them. They don't offer any category. You can't break episodes in the category. So I've always been like, I want someone to, if they were inclined. Like, how many commentaries have they done? If you go to a podcast, click on episodes. I've, we've categorized them. So it's all of our commentaries. You click on that boom, all of our director episodes, all sorts of fun stuff. I'm still playing with it too. So I'm going to build out categories, all that stuff like, yeah, what's every director they've done? And then you can just see them, you can contact us there to it'll go straight to us to our email. But yeah, the episode category is honestly that's like my crazy organized. And yes, they're all they're like all the way new Hollywood film project. You go, oh where where are all those? Click on it. It's going to take you a page of just those episodes. Great stuff. Really proud of the website. Very proud of you. Oh, thank you very much. No, it's been fun. It's just, you know, branding. It's easier to have like one link. Everything's on there. You can, you know, you can listen through the website, but it can also take you to Apple. It can take you to Spotify, to our X, to Instagram, all that stuff. Awesome. So that's yeah, that's how we're starting to. And I'm very excited to share that with the fans and all the all the new listeners, because that's something I shared with you over the past week. We, I, you know, welcome everyone. I am not sure where everyone is coming from, but the you know, the podcast has been doing well numbers wise and I'm very appreciative of that. We both are so welcome everyone who might be new. Welcome, everyone to what are you watching? This is it. This is us. I got nothing. Yeah, well, you've had a you've had a long haul here. You've been traveling. You're on the last day, the last few hours of an epic travel bench. And I promise we'll get there in a second. You ready for my hot take? I mean, I guess I have to be. I mean, this is. I have no idea what you're about to say. I thought our biggest hot take that you had for the Oscars was breaking down the in 2010, when they started implementing the new ten best categories. And then we had that episode where we fixed it. Fixed it fixed. Yeah. And so I kind of thought that was the big Oscar hot take it is a hot take. Going to ten nominations technically the first year they did it were for the movies from 2009, The Hurt Locker year. Bad mistake. They should go back. They still haven't. No. Mine's a little broader and I think a little hotter. This just hit me like a bus on the street. Like a bus? No. Well, yeah, it hit me like a bus on the street. About two weeks after the most recent Academy Awards, in which Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle after Another won Best Picture. Let's go. So I'm going to hit you. The take is easy. It's just one sentence. I think you're going to be surprised. I can clarify further and I just want everyone to listen. Hold on to your butts. I have. I've researched this tediously. I want to start by saying there are 98 years of Academy Awards. I've seen every Best Picture winner multiple times. That's almost 100. It is two. Only two left. Actually, yes, only one because we just had 98. So I'm 99, then 100. You're just crushing it. I know, I know it. I've seen them all. I saw them all kind of young. I've written reviews for all of them on my blog. I've seen them all more than once. Okay, here's the hot take. The last three Best Picture winners are 2023. Oppenheimer 2024 Honora 2025 one battle after another agreed. The last three Best Picture winners are the best consecutive trio of Best Picture winners in the history of the Academy Awards. So ever. So you're saying ever now. Wait, wait. Okay. Hold on. Okay. I am not saying that those any of those movies, Oppenheimer and Nora or One Battle are better than The Godfather. That is not what I'm saying. Okay, I'm not saying they're better than the Godfather two, okay? That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, when you look at those three and you go in the order boom, boom, boom, the bang, bang, bang of the three, if you stack those up in consecutive order with any three, you pick in the 97 or rather, what, 9596 preceding years? My three stack up and there. There is a lot where people are going to argue. We're going to go through them all. I can already see some, I can already see some. Yep. It gets dicey in the 70s, folks. They get some real, real dicey. All right. You want so questions. You got any questions for me, Claire? Claire. Clarification. So what you are saying? Yes. 2023 2024 2025 these last three years Oppenheimer, Honora and one battle after another are the three best triple threat like, like three block movie of any yearly order that you'd want to pick because you have anything. So ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of certain ages Alex Witherow has has printed out for me a all 98 Best Picture winners, a list. We're both looking at it. Yes. In order. You're saying that any three doesn't matter what year doesn't need to be, they have to be in order. They have to be in order. Can't say you can't pick like 72. The Godfather 74. Yeah, Godfather, you can't do that. They have to be in order and we're going to go through them all. The only thing that has to happen in order for my take to hold, is that one of my movies has to be better. Just one has to be better than just one on here. That's it. Obviously, this is at the. What's the word? You know the word. I have no idea your personal opinion. Well, yeah. This is my hot take. That's what it is. It's a personal opinion. People. Certainly people who are older, who are were like our age maybe in the or little younger in the 70s or something. And they fell in love with these movies. A lot of people are going to disagree with me. I this just popped into my head and I went, wait a minute, that can't be right. And then I went through the list and which we're going to do now. Some of it's going to be very, very easy. I've seen them all. So you just have to trust my judgment. Some of them it's going to be a little harder. But would you like to go through the list or anything else to clarify? So what you're saying again, is that your favorite three movies back to back to back of any of these years? It's not even my favorite. I'm saying they are better than any. At least one of my movies from the last three years is better than at least any three consecutively that you can pick out. And I see, I know, I see exactly where you're staring at the page. You're staring at the bottom left, which is where the early 70s. Yes. But there's another. There's an argument to be made in the 90s. It gets dicey to. Right. Let's go. All right, all right. Quick. Okay, everyone. Okay. So like I'm going to about to list every Best picture winner. But the ones you have to keep in mind are Oppenheimer. Honora. One battle. Let's start all the way at the beginning. First best picture winner. Wings. I'll do them like, three in a row. Wings. The Broadway melody. All quiet on the Western Front. I like my movies more than all three of those. Okay. Cimarron, Grand hotel, Calvin. Cade I like my movies more than those. It happened one night. A very, very popular, you know, great movie. First Big five winner in Oscar history, but 1934. It happened one night, 1935. Mutiny on the bounty, 1936, The Great Ziegfeld. I'm just going to keep going because none of these are better than mine. 37 The Life of Amelia Zola 38. You Can't Take It with You 39. Gone with the wind. Let's pause here a little bit. That's a big one. You can't take it with you, is not. That's. I've seen it, you know. Fine. Whatever. But you have 1939 gone with the wind, 1940, Rebecca. Two very good ones. 1941 How green was my valley, my movie. Is that my. Hey, that fucking beat Citizen Kane for the John Ford movie. Yeah, yeah. And it was your valley. Yeah. Tell me about it. Gone with the wind in. Rebecca, you can make strong cases that they're better than my movies. Fair. How green was my valley is not. That is not better than any of my movies. I'm with you. I'm with you right now. But now also preface. Like you're not just going by like these initial three blocks. Three blocks. It could be any. It can be any three. As long as they're in order. I'm just cruising through them because there's nothing. There's nothing. Okay, now we're just tracking it for the mad movie here. Here is another one that gets dicey. 1942 Mrs. Miniver. We can just kind of throw that, throw it, throw that one out because it's not better. 1943 Casablanca. 1944 Going My Way. 1945 The Lost Weekend. Casablanca. In the last weekend are two fantastic movies. If the movie that was that should have won in 1944, Double Indemnity had won, that would be then. Then here you go. I may not be able to say that like Casablanca, Double Indemnity in the last weekend, those three movies are better than all of mine, even if I stack up like one against him, in my opinion, you know. But Double Indemnity did not win. Okay, so I think I think we can move on. Let's look at here's another good one. 1945 The Lost Weekend. 46 the Best Years of Our Lives 47 Gentleman's Agreement. The last weekend and best years of our lives are really, really good. Gentlemen's agreement is good, but my movies are better than gentleman's agreement. Or at least one of my movies. Is Oppenheimer's better than Gentleman's Agreement. Okay. 48. Hamlet. Hamlet. I must Said. Hamlet 1948. Hamlet 1949. All the King's Men 1950. All about Eve. Those are just the next three. All about Eve is probably better than at least one of mine, but the other two are not. Now I can burn through these. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Can you? Well. 1950. All about Eve is a contender. 51 in American in Paris is not 1952. The greatest show on earth is not to know. All about Eve is out, because All About Eve is the two movies surrounding it on either side either. Yeah yeah yeah. All right, now we're gonna cook. This is the first time people might really, really disagree with me. 1953 From Here to Eternity 1954 On the waterfront. Yeah. 1955 Marty, I do not think Marty, for example, is a better movie than Nora. So my theory still holds. The other two movies are fantastic. People love Marty, so people could already be like, no, he's off his rocker. Like, Marty's a classic Paddy Chayefsky, I get it from Here to Eternity and On the Waterfront, I could probably say, are better movies than than my three. I think I can make an argument those two, like if you were to break this category by saying, like Oppenheimer and and Nora. 22222. My theory falls apart. But when you add the three. Okay, so there's there's Marty out of it. 1956 Around the World in 80 days. That one's out. 1957 bridge on the River Kwai. I would consider it if the next one wasn't. 1958 Gigi. Not for me. 1959 okay, here's okay. Now here's another good one. This is where I would probably lose my dad. 1959 Ben-Hur. Yeah, I still like my movies more than Ben-Hur I do. However, the next three are bangers 1960 The Apartment, 1961. West Side Story, 1962 Lawrence of Arabia. Now my dad loves. Well, I don't know if he's a big Lawrence Farabi guy, but he loves West Side Story. West Side Story in there is I. I like Oppenheimer and certainly a Nora more than West Side Story. It's just me now. The other. You haven't lost me here at all I okay. They're not those two are not for me or even the apartment. The apartment. Yes, but but but but you can't bend her. That was one of my uncle's favorite movies. Yeah, I already kind of threw that one out, because even Ben Hur, The Apartment, West Side Story, Ben Hur in West Side Story, no. But then Lawrence of Arabia kind of toes the line, and I. But I can't get I never could get into that movie. A lot of people can't. So there you go. A lot of people like it is, you know, big movie. All right. We're going to go quick through these. So 62 is Lawrence of Arabia 1963 Tom Jones. Boom. That's no way 1964 My Fair Lady if it's for you cool. Not for me. 65 The Sound of Music. Same thing goes not not for me. 66 a man for All Seasons. Not a bad movie, but. And no way better than my three movies. 1967 In the Heat of the night. Good movie. But the next year, 1968, Oliver is not with an exclamation point, Oliver! Now it's going to get tough, real tough. And now we're going to have some fun. 1969 Midnight Cowboy I would that would be up there. Yeah. 1970 Patton 1971 The French Connection. So now listeners have to decide, in my opinion, if they think Patton is a better movie than Oppenheimer, Honora, or one battle I like. I'd rather watch any of those. I think Oppenheimer is a better movie than patent. People may think that's crazy. Midnight Cowboy and French Connection are two movies I love. I don't know if I would call my three movies better than those, but Patton, I'm just gonna, I think is better than Patton. It's my it's my it's it's my asterisk in this like I like I agree like I wouldn't, I wouldn't say those three movies are better than Patton. So you so you think my theory falls apart, so you think, no, no, no, no, I think your theory holds okay. But even looking at what's next to, like, if you were to say this, this is where it gets this is the trickiest is between basically 1971 and 1976. So 1971. Well, I can let's start with Patton for the patent fans, 1970 Patton 71. The French Connection 72 The Godfather. That's a tough one. I'll give you The French Connection and The Godfather. I'm not going to give up Patton. But again, there may be people who disagree. The next one. Wow. 1971. The French Connection 1972. The Godfather, 1973 The Sting. So it's the same argument for Patton. Do you think the sting is better than Oppenheimer, Honora? Or one battle? If you do, then my theory falls apart. I don't I love this thing. I've rewatched. I bought it on 4K, like it looks amazing. I love that movie. I do not think. I don't think The Sting is better than Oppenheimer. I don't think it's better than Nora, obviously. I mean, French Connection, I mean, The Godfather is that's one where it's really butting up against my theory because it's like it's The Godfather. The Godfather wins the God, you know? Yeah. But it this really, really depends. My whole theory depends how much you like Patton, how much you like the sting. And then there's a big one where I'm mostly going to lose people. Well, this is I really would have to think about it, but I think you lose me with these next three. Okay? Okay, hold that thought. Well, the next three are The Sting, The Godfather Part two, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. So again, Godfather Part two and Cuckoo's Nest that those are probably better than my three movies, but I don't necessarily think The Sting is no. I agree with no, no, I know, I know, you know, you know where I'm going here. This is where I lose people. This is the hardest one in the 98 years. Here it is. 1974. The Godfather Part two 1975 one floor of the Cuckoo's Nest, 1976. Rocky. They're probably people listening to this, where Rocky is their favorite film, I get it, it's it's it's certainly not. I like Oppenheimer and Nora much, much, much better than Rocky. Much better. I, I have a hard time with this one because Rocky's a good love story. But as someone who's been boxing for more than half of his life. Of course it it makes it a little tough. It's not that there was a point in my life box. There was a point in my life where Rocky was my favorite movie. Like, I'm not hating on anyone. No, no, no, I know, I'm just saying if I'm if I mean endlessly entertaining, endlessly rewatchable, don't let me talk shit. I'm just being. Oh, no, no, I'm just giving you my my theory here. This is where because of your favorite, all three of them. Because I feel that I feel very similar. I'm with you. I do think Oppenheimer and Nora in one battle after another. Honoré is my favorite out of all of them. So. Right. You also have in this conversation one of my top five favorite movies. So none of these movies can touch One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, correct? Godfather part two is just sort of undeniable. Godfather part two is better than my three movies. Yes, I'm calling the my three movies. You guys know what I mean? Yeah. So because you made all three of them, I did you single handedly with the triple back to back winner of directors. So I really have to test what Rocky means to me now. I would take a Nora over Rocky, more than likely. There you go. But I haven't committed to it. But that would be the one. Because Oppenheimer in one battle, I don't think I could. That's really man. That's crazy to say. I know, because one battle. Yeah, I mean, Nora and Rocky, that's probably the best comp, honestly, because of the love story, like, unconventionally told. But I like honor better than Rocky. A lot of people listen listening to this or disagreeing with me, because this is like the most way w coded take ever, because we've repped these three movies so damn hard the past three years. Oppenheimer, Nora in one battle. So that so that's the big hiccup so far. The biggest take. Buster 1974. Godfather part 275. Cuckoo's nest 76. Rocky. It's a tough one. It's really tough. It is. But let's. Okay. What was the movie that we were watching that that Rocky Beat Network network due to Beat Network and Taxi Driver and All the President's Men. Now it is not better than those movies. That's crazy. No, dude, we were. We went on. I'm going to get to this. We have a section coming up about like four K's. We put on that network 4K. We never seen it together. I just got it from criterion. It's 50 years ago. The shit they're talking about, it's still going on literally almost verbatim the, you know, conflicts in the Middle East. I mean, it's like Paddy Chayefsky was so far ahead of this and I get why Rocky one I do I understand and I understand the importance. It has stood the test of time. It has. Yeah, it has the end montage, the music, like all of it. I've my favorite of the whole franchise has been the second one. I like the second one because I love that montage and that final fight where they both fall down. Yeah, but I hear you. I mean, I suppose like because it is a very meaningful and impactful movie, is it a better movie than like one battle after another in terms of I mean, yeah, it's all personal taste, all of it, but you're really just saying on sort of like a, a craftsmanship level of just overall what is a better, but then again, do you like, how much does, how much does the fact that this movie is so old? I it's a tough one for me. It is. It's a tough one. It is. And that's I think that's right where I lose a lot of people. Again, if there's some hardcore patent heads on here and they're like, no. Pat and French Connection, The Godfather are better than the three wins. And and that's I hear that too because Patton man, I rewatched that when we did something I don't know one such damn pod. Probably one such probably the Five Easy Pieces. One because it was 1970. It's a really good movie. I mean, Coppola 1 in 1 picture, director. Coppola one screenplay for one actor. It's a very, very good movie, but I think better than what I'm saying. Let's keep moving. Only halfway there. All right. So let's start at like 75. Cuckoo's nest, 76 Rocky 77 Annie Hall. I like my movies more than Annie Hall. Yeah. Okay, so then I can just. I can just skip and just jump. Since we agree. Annie Hall, 1978, The Deer Hunter. This one's tough. Yeah. 7079. Kramer versus Kramer 80 1980 Ordinary People. That's. I like deer Hunter more than my three movies. Yes, Kramer versus Kramer and Ordinary People. Good movies. But I like a Nora more than I. The this one. I have to stick with yours. I do think if I really was to take these three, but this would be my second biggest. I don't think I'll have a more of a theory breakdown over Godfather to one flew in Rocky, but deer Hunter, that is our. That's our shared favorite movie of all time. I really enjoy Kramer versus Kramer, and I've only seen Ordinary People once, but was pleasantly surprised, but then was bummed to find out that it beat Raging Bull. That's the big thing. But you can't. You can't hold a grudge to a movie because of one. How was your experience with that movie? Well, I mean, if this is deer Hunter, all that jazz and Raging Bull, then maybe my furry doesn't hold it or not even all that jazz for me. Apocalypse Now, deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, and Raging Bull then. My theory doesn't hold, but I like Kramer versus Kramer, I do. I like ordinary people. I watch it, not that since we've had the pod going, but it doesn't. No, no. Yeah, yeah. Okay. All right, all right, all right. Yeah. We're moving. Let's keep going. 1981 Chariots of Fire. No. 82 Gandhi. No. 1983 Terms of Endearment. Good movie, but all right. So 82 Gandhi. 83 Terms of endearment. 84 Amadeus. Nah, I like my movies more. Yeah. Just saying. Yeah, yeah. Nothing here. 85 days I do too. I own it on the 4K 1985 out of Africa na Na 86 platoon. Great film, maybe better than my three, but the next one, The Last Emperor 1987 to me is not 1988 Rain Man Not bad 1989 Driving Miss Daisy, Get Out of Here 1990 dances with Wolves, Get out of Here! Next one's kind of tough now this one. Okay, here's here's how much you like Clint. Then there's going to be a few here that are going to be tough. 1991 The silence of the lambs 1992 Unforgiven 1993 Schindler's List. This one is actually tough because I genuinely love all three of these movies. Top one supreme value in all three. But if someone was like, hey, do you think Oppenheimer, do you like that more than Unforgiven? I do, I mean, and the only reason I'm comparing them is because the Oscars compared them. They're on the same list together. They're on the Best picture list. It's the only reason I'm comparing them. And, you know, I maybe like one battle more than Unforgiven. I've certainly seen both of those movies. I've seen Oppenheimer and Nora and one battle far more than I've seen one forgiven, Unforgiven. But I do like Unforgiven a lot. So. But and but I mean lambs, silence, the Lambs and Schindler's List, I think are probably better than my three movies, but I. So Unforgiven is another kind of rocky patent situation. I mean, this is another one where I could lose people. And I mean, and also to like if you there are a lot of Dances With Wolves fans. So if you actually were to take dance of the Wolves, silence of the Lambs in Unforgiven, okay, you could try that. You could try that. I, I'm with you still on this, on this chunk right here. I think there's going to be some people that are going to be up in arms with potentially the next three. Okay. We'll hold that thought there, sonny boy. So let's do 92. Unforgiven 93. Schindler's List 94 Forrest Gump. My movies are better than Forrest Gump. Sorry. I know everyone loves it. It's an entertaining movie. It's funny as hell it is. It's not a bad movie. I like at least one of my movies more than Forrest Gump. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. How about 93? Schindler's list 94, Forest Gump, 95 Braveheart. We already agreed on Forrest Gump that it's not as good as all three of mine. So now, 95 Braveheart, 96 The English Patient 97 Titanic. I know you love two of those, but there ain't no way you think English Patient. If I'm talking for me. Like I'm just saying this, I think there would be a lot of people that would come up with Schindler's List, Forrest Gump and Braveheart as a because I can hear people. So I'm like, so yeah, I'm, I'm blowing past that and that's okay. Okay, let's just get to that a little bit. Do it at me, come at me. If you think The English Patient was that one you mentioned. No no no no no force gone. Okay. Yeah. Okay. It's fair. Yeah. English patient I can discard a lot of way. Yeah. Pretty quickly. Braveheart was not for me at the time. Like I was ten. I was. That's when I was discovering like, Taxi Driver. All I watched leaving Las Vegas that year. I wanted that to win. I watched casino that year, I was nuts. I have gone and rewatched it a few times. Like, I really appreciate the scale, the scope. It's not a bad movie. None of these are bad movies. I think Forrest Gump has like a lightness to it. And yet Forrest Gump is forest gum. It's a special movie. Yeah, but I don't I. To me, it is not more special than I mean, I like my all three of my movies more than Forrest Gump and more than Braveheart, more than Schindler's List. No, Braveheart. That's easier. Braveheart is easier for me to ignore than Forrest Gump, frankly. But you're right. We should pause here. Yeah, because this this is probably a big one for people. But then also, is anyone going to tell me that you're watching Schindler's List as much as I do? And I watch it a lot. I mean, I watch it once, maybe once a year, maybe twice, once a week. Well, no, that would be that. That would be wild, but I do. I put I bought that 4K, that movie. One of the reasons why I'm so impressed with Schindler's List is because it is, you know, the heaviest of all topics. But somehow that movie just flows. The whole thing feels like a documentary. So you're like on the ground. It is not fussy. It's not anything like that. It's horrific. There are parts of it that are actually funny. Like he adds humor into it. So I don't know, I might put it on after you leave. Man, I don't know what to say, but that, yes, that one I concede to. And again, yeah, I'm glad this is why you're here. This is why I didn't want to do this on my own. Because I probably would have blown past Forrest Gump and Braveheart. I'm. Forest Gump taught me a lot. Go listen to our one battle commentary. Forrest Gump taught me one of who one of the founders of the KKK was Nathan Bedford Forrest, which comes up in force. Come. Hey, I'm just the voice of the voice right now. That's that's the Watergate scene in Forrest Gump is one of the funniest things I've ever seen when he's, like, making himself. I don't know if it's hot chocolate or tea or Ovaltine. And he called. There's some people over there, flashlights, and they're keeping me awake. Like that to me, is so fucking funny. You know? I'm obsessed with that shit. Watergate, all the president's men. All right, well, so. But that doesn't win for, you know, it doesn't win for me, but I'm just. I'm just speaking. I'm the voice of the voice. You're the voice of the people speaking up for people that may be like, whoa, hang on. You tell me, because I can hear it in my head. People are going to be like, you think Honora is better than Forrest Gump combat? I will say yes. Reach out to me at a podcast, please. You know, we announced this podcast, this this website, and then we announced this hot take and then this is what people are here for. This is this is going to be the end of us. This is the best part of someone's Sunday. Like right now they're driving around and they're like, man, this guy, listen, all this, these guys are crazy. Or the one of them is nuts. No, I love everyone listening to this. Okay. So we can, I assume kind of skirt. We can we can move forward okay. So 1997 Titanic if same Private Ryan one, but it didn't. 1998 Shakespeare in Love 1999 American Beauty Shakespeare in Love. Absolutely not. Like get out of here. My movies are better. Yeah. 1999 American Beauty. 2000 Gladiator 2001 A Beautiful Mind. My movies are better than a Beautiful Mind. I'm not going to sit here and argue about Gladiator. I think my movies are better than all of those movies. But I know people people love. I really want to rewatch American Beauty, man, it's been so long. I definitely have not watched it since, you know, maybe two since all that stuff and that. I love that movie I did too. What a fucking to me, this, this, this would be a beautiful mind is is not. Yeah, yeah. But I mean I could see some people that would say the American Beauty Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind. Could be, could, could be. Yeah, yeah, yeah I think yeah. Those are probably like, if you like A Beautiful Mind and you're defending it this way, you're probably also the Forrest Gump defenders that a little bit of like sentimentality stuff. But I don't think, you know, Beautiful Mind was not the best movie that whatever. We're not even talking about that. All right, well, I could do okay, then I could give people Gladiator 2001. Beautiful mind, 2002 Chicago. I mean, I, I getting me with that. Okay, good, good. Let's bounce pass Chicago maybe or. No, no, let me do Chicago 2002 2003. Lord of the Rings Return of the King $2,004 Million Baby no, but my babies are better than at least one of those, in my opinion. I know there's people who return to the Kings their favorite movie ever made. I get that, I hear that, I mean, I don't think the movie will say that. There could be there could be a batch. People out there that really dig the Chicago movie because of the musical you get of the ring, you get the fantasy, and then you get like this hard drama. So maybe there are like some people out there that like that mixed bag of everything. You don't got me with any of these, but I'm just saying. Voice of the voiceless. Yeah, I do love Million Dollar Baby, by the way, I watch that. I rewatched it again. Hurt the that actually teach that movie actually teaches you something about the craft of boxing. Unlike, I don't know, Rocky, you watched Million Dollar Baby. You can kind of learn how to make a lot more than $1 million baby. Not me. Sorry. What you like million dollar baby more than Rocky. I like boxing, dude. Million Dollar Babies, an authentic amateur undercard boxing movie. She is. She starts from like, nothing and then claws up and sorry to say. And let me. This is the biggest hot take of the whole fucking thing. Let me clarify something I said earlier. Sylvester Stallone now could crush my head like a grape with his hand. Like now what is he, 70? 75? And that's fine. I'm not saying the dude ain't strong. I'm not saying he ain't tough. He cannot box. And anyone who knows anything about boxing who watches a Rocky movie, you're like, what the fuck? Kind of fighting to make sure. And one reason, if I'm just going on boxing, I'm just going on boxing alone. The Million Dollar Baby boxing is immeasurably better than the fighting. And Rocky, if you put the fucking fights on, Rocky on, you know, pause and you go frame by frame, they're missing by like, feet. I'm not trying to talk shit, but no, I do. I me personally as me. I will fire up Million Dollar Baby as a lifelong boxing fan. Way, way, way more. Before the entirety of Rocky, I will fire up to end montages of all the Rockies on YouTube or something anytime, especially to the Rocky fan. You're just not really a Rocky fan. I don't know many people who love boxing who are. I'm just saying. I mean, I'm not even packs. Of course it is. But it gets it gets met. Like if you type in the top ten, the best boxing movies ever made, that's been variably number one, 2 or 3. And I'm like, yeah, it is a great love story. That's what it is. It's a great love story. But that movie is not like some fantastic. And I don't think if you watch that, you come away with any really further understanding of the sport. That's all I'm saying. Sorry, I didn't even know if this is going to get brought on. Well, I also I got a good friend of mine that really hates that movie because he doesn't win at the end, which is an argument that I see and I love that that's one. And they don't even really pay like that much attention to it. I love that he might. I know all about Rocky, that he modeled it after the guy who went to distance with, you know, Chuck webinar, who went to distance with Ali. I know the whole thing. But like if you put 1976. Mohammad Ali in a ring with 1976, Sylvester Stallone as Rocky, they're fighting it. It was not even actor I know, but they like, tried to hustle us and to say like hustle. Four years later, you have an actor who could convincingly beat anyone's ass in a boxing ring. De Niro is Jake LaMotta. That is some of the most convincing boxing I've ever seen in a movie. That's like number 1 or 2. Number one is I can't. All right. No one. Number one is, you know what it is? It's I mean, I don't even have a problem saying it. He's not even himself. He became Mohammad Ali. Will Smith became him. And that is the most convincing. This isn't even a boxing episode. No, but it's just. I mean, it's a it's. That's the hottest take of the day. Sorry, everyone. I always I the Rockies always had a few dings as well because I don't think it's the fourth or fifth best movie nominated that. Well no, I mean not it's just I we can move on. Okay. We can move on. Millie. All right. 2005 Crash banger. Yeah. Fuck out of here. Come on. God, don't even talk to me about this. Yeah. 2006 The Departed 2007 No country for Old Men 2008 Slumdog Millionaire. There are a lot of people who love The Departed. I might even say that no country is better than my three movies, but The Departed and certainly Slumdog Millionaire is not. And there are people I understand that every movie I'm going to list, especially from here on out, there, are people who love them, and it might be considered they're one of their favorite movies of all time. Every best picture from here on out. Okay, but you're with me on that. I'm with you. All right. 2009 The Hurt Locker. 2010 The King's Speech. 2011 The Artist, Get Out of Here, Hurt locker maybe I'd entertain a bit, but King's Speech and artist. No. 2012 Argo 20 1312 Years a Slave 2014 Birdman. I have never been the biggest Argo fan either. I could hear arguments about 12 Years a Slave. I don't think Birdman is better than I mean, we just watched that together yesterday. I love that movie, but I don't. That's no no no. Yeah, I agree, I agree, and I think that's the you know, and I really, really appreciate 12 Years a Slave to. I may hear some arguments for that one, but I'm actually trying to see outside of your theory because I agree with that. But I'm kind of looking and see like what would since the 2010 switcheroo, what would be the next best three in a row? I think I have what I would pick, but keep going. I think maybe, maybe some people would say like the the next three. So you could do is 2014 Birdman 2015 spotlight 2016 moonlight I just don't I mean, spotlight is if we start talking about that too, I might piss you off her. Oh no, no, I know I have. I went to journalism school and I'm like, oh, I love movies about journalism. But that is that movie Ain't All the President's Men. Let me just put it that way. And that winning Best Picture week year for both of us, I think. But that that was kind of silly. So that one is in no way, in my opinion, better than my three movies. No, I agree moonlight, a lot of people disagree with me, a lot of people. But how about 2015? Spotlight 2016 moonlight 2017 The Shape of Water, Shave of Water, which won four Oscars and has no cultural relevance. I never hear anyone talking about that, whereas I hear a lot of people talking about Get Out! Lady Bird, Phantom Thread, all movies from that year. But yeah, yeah, Oh, here comes the best one. Well, you get to. Yeah. How about 2016? Moonlight 2017 Shape of Water 2018 Green Book. Absolutely not. Green book. Are you kidding? Shape of water. Green book. Parasite. Green book is still in there, so no. 2019 parasite 2020 Nomadland 2021 Coda. Anything to say here? Can't even talk. Okay. Thank you. And then and now know. Then we get Nomadland, coda, everything. Everywhere, all at once. Maybe my least favorite trio I was going to say has to go down is your like. And that's funny because technically, if you went by this, your favorite trio of all is followed by your least favorite trio, the they. I mean, that's another argument, but Nomadland, coda and everything everywhere again to me might be my weakest trio in Academy. I mean, I haven't looked at that. I'd have to go over and I'd have to study the the really, really early ones again and see those. But yeah, that's what sucked because we started this pod in 2020 and I'm like, I am not liking these Oscars at all. And then when 2023 came, I'm like, if they don't do something here, these Oscar episodes are not going to be fun. But there it is. We had some hiccups with these 1974 to 76 that's Godfather to Cuckoo's Nest and Rocky. Well heard. I think you also drew out a good one with Schindler's List, Forrest Gump and Braveheart. Very well heard. Yeah, I think I think those are two. Those are two viable contenders for it. I am, I think I agree with you. Wow. But I'm not committing to it because I need to think about this. I need to assess myself. I need to return some videotapes. Okay. And then. Yeah. Good. And then you also said I'm going to. So I have three tentatively circled here. I have got a father two cuckoo's nest. Rocky. You also called out deer Hunter, Kramer versus Kramer and Ordinary People for me. Well, and I'm thinking also my dad because I he loves my dad will probably just I will see the thing is like I know my dad that's a this is a bad example because he does not share he liked and or but he does not share my absolute diehard love for it. Yeah. So that so that's the thing. That's what makes the take fun. Is that like there are probably few people listening to this who love the last three Best Picture winners more than I do. If you do, then I love you work and I love these movies. And it is still. This is my biggest talking point, this entire damn podcast in six years that my my every movie we just went through, every Best Picture winner, none of those were my favorite movie of the year when it came out. Now I'm, you know, I'm like become I'm born in 85. So take that into consideration. Like, yeah, The Godfather. I mean, that's the thing. The Godfather is not even my personal favorite movie of 72 deliverances. So I would have to really go through this carefully and see, like is what's my favorite movie of 86? I think I like Blue Blue Valentine, Jesus Blue Blue Velvet more than platoon, but I love platoon, The Deer Hunter. No, that's my favorite movie of 78, so I hope people understand what I'm saying. I'm not saying like of all time, but I'm saying of my lifetime since, especially since I'm in. I started tracking the Oscars religiously in 1997, the Titanic year. That was the year that I was handicapping them, and I have watched and rewatched every telecast since many times. And yeah, I I'm just. Yeah. No, I hear what you're saying. What you're saying is, is that that Rocky in 1976, there were quote unquote better movies that came out that year, and Rocky just happened to be the Best Picture winner. It was, in your opinion, in the last three years, because we've covered all these years. Go back into our O.W. podcast categories to find our all of the year top ten all of these years. And, well, the three of us did. The three of us, the two of us had the exact same, favorite pictures of the year. Yeah, back to back, which which did win the Oscars. So I see it. Yeah. I mean, when it popped into my head, I was like, no, that's asinine. And I immediately went to Godfather and Godfather two and frankly, oh, here's a dirty word on this podcast. If The Exorcist won in 1973, I still exactly I still don't think I don't think my take holds. I don't. That's one that would be very easily, clearly, because no one's ever heard of that movie. People keep saying it and it's like something that's real. That happened. What if I didn't drive you to the airport and I just dropped you off those steps? I mean, I drove you the steps. I'm like, figure it out, asshole. And what a film. That 4K looks amazing. All right, so that was fun, right? It was fun. Yeah, yeah. You hate Rocky, and you like Million Dollar Baby more. It's. Yeah. It's fun. I should sit here and, like, watch both back to back. I understand the issues of people have $1 million baby. Believe me, I do. It takes a turn. I have always liked it. I do appreciate it. But again, if we're just talking about the mechanics of boxing, I'll. I'll take the Pepsi challenge with anyone any day about what features better boxing. Rocky, the first one or Million Dollar Baby? Come at me any time you want, any time. Just look at the runtime. There is so little boxing and Rocky just. It's like the last fight. That's it. Okay, okay, I hear you, I like her. You can, like, see her actually getting bigger. Like, I don't know, it's just good watch. Million Dollar Baby. You learn how to hit his feedback. Speed bag, ice pick, ice pick. Knuckles. Ice pick do do do do do. Okay, that was fun. That was the hot take. You want to. What's up to you? I'll let you decide next. You want to tell us a little bit about your week or you want to do some new material? I mean, I mean, yeah, this is a good time to talk about it. So it's fun. So I got the opportunity to go to New York City for about ten days. Yeah. And had a wonderful time and then got to see some very, very important for a lot of reasons. Theater. Now, theater is not something that we talk a lot about on this podcast. I like to yeah, we did have the one of our earliest episodes as one of our episodes of what were our favorite film adaptations from plays. But, you know, if you're not really living in New York City, it's tough to kind of talk about plays, because in New York, the play is the thing. Yeah, yeah. And the the whole entire world is is it really is it bubbles with theater? Theater. It's still means so much in New York City, which is wonderful. And to be able to be in that environment for about over a week was very cool. Now there are some plays that I saw that I absolutely loved. There was one in particular I was not a fan of whatsoever. I think it very much depends on a lot of things. And then I saw one where I was kind of lukewarm about it, but I got the opportunity to see Dog Day Afternoon, death of a Salesman and Becky Shaw. I'll just say this right now, everyone, if you are in New York City, go see Becky Shaw. Oh, you're you're hitting us with the the sugar first, the sugar, the sugar there. And Reich, who were big fans of. Yeah. It was cast amazingly. Everyone is great. The writing is fantastic. And the actors really, really elevated. You see the points of view of all these characters. It's honest. It's hilarious. It makes you think, great. I gave a standing ovation. I don't give standing ovations. Death of a salesman I enjoyed. I do not feel that the impact of the play, which is the most important thing, was lost. I do not think it was lost at all. I did find the set to be a little bit distracting for me. It looks like it's like outside of like a like a abandoned warehouse. That's exactly what you show me a picture of the set and I went, what the hell? They in the house? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They drive a car that is. That stays on stage for pretty much the entirety of the play, because all of the actor action takes place essentially what seems like in their parking lot. So I found that to be a little distracting. Well, one, we always champion Christopher Abbott on this pod. He played Biff. Yeah, he honestly was my favorite part of the play. Yeah. Not surprised. I've seen him on stage I was incredible. He had a moment where the family was kind of talking and arguing and celebrating. They were kind of doing what the Lomas do. But the wife kept trying. Laurie Metcalf kept trying to interject in the conversation, and Willy was like, no, stop talking, stop talking. And you can see Biff just getting really upset that his father is talking to his mother like that. And then Abbott did something with his breath and his voice, where it was this guttural, primal growl at Nathan Lane. Like that said, don't talk to her like that. And the entire theater gasped. He like the whole all the air just rushed out and everyone's breath was taken away by that. By by that moment it was beautiful. This is what theater is all about. It's this type of thing. Watching Nathan Lane honestly kind of shake in his boots to his son, who he doesn't want to show weakness to. And and it was a beautiful moment. It was the moment of the play. And I will share, like there was one very nice thing to happen where I got to sit next to these three young ladies who were all high schoolers. They were all there on their own will because they're in their English professor is teaching them about theater and they all love it there. So they're just theater nerds and they love that. I was talking to them. Intermission. They were reading Aristotle. They were reading Oedipus. They were reading Antigonish, the Greeks, and and they were asking me about theater. They were very moved by this production. It was just really wonderful to see a trio of young people that are like, whatever they do with their lives. This is very much a part of them. They love this, and it was great to see that. And, and and like, you know, pick their minds a little bit about like what they think and all of that. It was very, very good. It was my favorite part of the theater going experience. I love that that I try to get up to New York once a year and try to do two shows. Maybe I will this year. Last year it was Glengarry Glen Ross and Othello, and Otello was Denzel and Jake Gyllenhaal. And at intermission for Othello, I was listening to a kid. I mean, you know, you're like looking out of the corner of your eye. He was with his two parents. Maybe he was maybe 17, 18. He was definitely still in high school, by the way. He was talking, but he had a knowledge of Shakespearean theater productions like I had of Best Picture winners when I was his age. So I was like kind of listening and he was talking. It was just so cool. And I went, man, I love this. I love when the kids are like geeking out like that about movies, theater, just I love that shit. I told them I go like, this was like, warms my heart. Like I was a good luck to you all. Like, you know, whatever your endeavors are, if you go into acting, if you go into writing, directing or whatever you do, like the love of of the art form of this type of thing, you know that it just it just it keeps us who we are. And it goes into every area that you go into in your life. They were so funny because in the intermission they were like, is this end badly? Is this a is is this a sad ending? Everyone hugs and I was sort of like the biggest lie in my life, just, you know, to watch it, see what happens. And they were sobbing by the end. So again the impact of the play was not lost and I had to walk them out. They were all so upset. Yeah, I mean, Arthur Miller was adorable back. Let's talk about another big lie. How about it? And you do say as little or as much as you want. But I'm going to I'm going to butter you up by saying that the reviews of the next one are abysmal. So I don't think you should feel uncomfortable at saying it's speaking what you thought of the of the play. But if you also want to tone things down, I understand that too. It doesn't have to be a long ass rant, but I think people deserve to hear this because I'm a saw this. What I'll say is talking about dog Dog Day Afternoon starring starring Jon Bernthal and Evan Moss back from, you know, he was in girls, he was in the bear. He is in the bear. Yeah. This play, if you had seen the movie at all, in my humble opinion, at this misses a huge mark. I don't really know what this play was going for. If you haven't seen the movie, I could probably venture to guess you might actually have a pretty good time here. My audience certainly did. They were. They were laughing, which is if you've seen the movie, you know, you might scratch your head a little bit there. They were clapping after every single scene. They were eating up everything that this production was giving out. I, on the other hand, was wondering why what I was watching was happening. Yeah. I did not have a very good experience with it, but that's all being said. It's the same way that we kind of talk about and it's I'm not going to sit here and say like something is bad. I did not have a good experience with it. I the reasons, I have reasons for it. But this is the point of going to see something that might not be very good is because you learn what does and doesn't work. Absolutely. There's value. There's value to it. And that was forfeited a little money for this lesson. But there's still artistic value in watching something that does not work. My my acting teacher, who I got to meet for the very first time because we do zoom classes in LA. So I got to go to his in person class in New York. Very. He he knows more about he's he's like you when it comes to film when it comes to theater, man. This man knows it all and he knows good, he knows bad. And he can give you reasons as to why things work or don't work. Most observant and intuitive person I think I've ever met. He's the one that told you. You see Becky Shaw, right? Yes. He did. Yeah. And and he and he and he was very. Because I already told him I already have tickets to Dog Day. And he was sort of like, give me a synopsis of what you think when it's over. And so I sent him and I, I'm definitely peppering it down for this pod, but, no, if you've never seen the movie, we'll stop and go watch it. Well, I would say I would say if you're in New York and you haven't seen the movie and you have tickets, don't watch the movie yet. Go see the play. Take that for what it is, then go see the movie. And then you can you can weigh your experience, because it would be very interesting to take someone's positive experience with the play and then goes to the movie. Because here's the thing, folks. The movie, it's not going to let you down. It's a fucking perfect movie. Yeah. And, and I would love to see what that contrast is, as opposed to someone who has seen the movie values it for its note, perfectness as it is. And then you go and see this and you're like, what is this? Yeah. And you can do the movie thing. Well, because a few years ago I saw To Kill a mockingbird with Jeff Daniels by Aaron Sorkin, which was well done. And then even better, he won the Tony Network. We're talking about network. Bryan Cranston played the Peter Finch thing, and Bryan Cranston is on stage losing his fucking mind, yelling, I'm as mad as hell. Not gonna. And they like made enough that they updated that enough. And it was just like the you know, the William Holden part was Tony Goldwyn, you know, of the Christmas Adventures Club was great. Tatiana maslany was the fade done away? So you can do it, but you have to have something to say that this is the point that I kind of say about theater. Theater exists because there's a level of something, there's a question that needs to be asked or raised, and it needs to be heightened in such a way where really only theater can kind of really affect you. When the Humanity Network is a great example of something where even in the movie, but that you can see how if you amplify that question of like the state of the world, like it's madness, like what is going on to raise that question in theater, it's huge and it works. I think Dog Day Afternoon absolutely has a lot to say about a lot of things. But the question is, how do you take it from being a perfect movie? How does that kind of what's going on inside of you that that there's a need to express what Dog Day as a film does, but put that into the theater. I don't know if that question was raised in this doesn't sound like it is not getting good reviews, or at least anyone I didn't. Well, you and most everyone who's publicly reviewed it. Yeah. So I think that's. Yeah, I think you are falling, falling in line with kind of the masses here. And it sounds it sounds pretty unanimous despite it does what sounds to me like very performative audience reaction. Yeah, maybe. But yeah, you know, whatever. People see stuff and they like it for whatever reason. You know, I mean, it is true. And, and and it's also sort of the reason why it's a nice segue into one of the movies that we watched this week was, yeah, a lot of fun. We both had not seen it. I had not seen it since. No, I probably watched it right before Bardo. I rewatched all of them since Bardo. Yeah, but rather I had not rewatched it since Bardo. Sorry, go! And Birdman was a perfect way to kind of end this trip of of of a movie that it's a very, very genuine sort of take on Broadway. Oh, yeah. The way that it goes, the I mean, it's just some of the most honest acting from Michael Keaton. I've loved Edward Norton in this. I mean, I've seen it before, but I mean, watching it again, it was it's it's it's it's something, man. The movie is got something. It's a weird little fucker. It's weird. And it is a weird ass movie to win best Picture. I'm. Hey, I'm I'm glad for it. I'm glad to see. But the thing that really jumped out to both of us at this, this time were the conversations with mainly with Edward Norton and that that critic, the creator critic, when she says something like he what did she say? Like Hollywood is taking over the stage and he's like, or no, that's the actors are coming here. Basically, he insinuates what is happening now? What is that? Hollywood is coming to Broadway. Hence, I'll use this term. You're not using it. Perhaps a vanity project, like a new rendition of Dog Day Afternoon that is not critically well received, but that stars Emmy winners and very, very famous people. And yeah, this is. And they are talking about that in Birdman. That's I didn't even remember. That was a point of it that like, you're some glorified superhero actor coming here taking up theater space for good, hardworking actors like, fuck you. It's kind of the, you know, the one of the general statements of Birdman and that what, 12 years later is happening, it's been happening since Covid, I think. And that has been topic of discussion that I've had with many people during my trip in New York was that this is a very, very real. More and more A-list Hollywood stars are taking on to the Broadway stage, which means there is less opportunity for even seasoned Broadway actors. And it's hard enough to kind of, like, break into that world. So if you are an actor trying to break into theater in New York, it is just like it's it's hard all around. But, you know, even with the film industry, if you're living in LA, how that is problematic at best. So. But yes, absolutely. Whatever Norton said in that he goes like she's basically worried about that and he's basically saying, Hollywood's already coming here, it's already here. It's all it's it's happening. And that was 11 years ago. That was 12, 14, 2014. So that is absolutely what's happening right now. But but you know, good work will always be good work. But how we get there is, you know, that's I guess that's the rub. That's the rub that takes us right to talk about some new movies again. By the time this episode comes out, you know, a few weeks. Let's talk about we're going to talk about two new movies in particular, but one that you and I both liked. And it's going to be kind of a tricky one to talk about because I'm not going to be I do not want to spoil a popular movie like an hour into this mixed bag episode, but the drama directed by Christopher Lee. Sorry if I'm probably undoubtedly saying that wrong. This star is India and Robert Pattinson. And the great, the wondrous, the magical Alana Haim in a great role. Oh, I loved her. I you really like this one. I really like this one. And it got people talking. It's made a shitload of money. It sure it's made a ton of money because people are going back. The biggest thing award I can give it is best marketing that I have seen in ages, because what this movie is about is not suggested in the marketing material at all. And I'm not even going to. I don't even want to like, no talk about that. It's just I yes, I, I'm not I don't know if it's going to end up on my top ten of the year. We're going to have a big year with big releases, I don't know. But for like an April release, I went, okay, this is cool and it's cool to see people talking about it. People are talking about the questions that it poses, perhaps, you know, biggest of all, what's the worst thing you've ever done? And then if you hear that news about someone you care about, is that enough to judge them? And then are you weighing in your own contradictions? It talked a lot about judgment versus contradiction, because I think often when people are judging someone or giving this like harsh feedback, I'm always saying, what if you held up a mirror first? Yeah, but what do you think of the drama? It's by far my favorite movie of the year so far. Yeah, of 2026. Yeah, we've seen it twice. We should say we went to the theater twice. Yeah, I loved it. I oh, loved I loved it okay. Yeah, I really liked okay. It's it's refreshing to see good writing like this because. Yes. What the, the questions that it it it poses. But I loved in the, in the writing and in the performances by all the actors that everyone had a very specific point of view and it was voiced, it was judged, but it was also like, acknowledged. So you've got this really great conundrum that you're watching, and you can feel however you want to feel about it. But I almost venture to say that whatever your point of view is, is represented by someone else in the movie. Yeah. So you and you're able to kind of way how you feel versus what other characters are saying. And none of it feels like loss. Like like I didn't walk away from them being like, man, no one really kind of like championed this idea or this didn't get it. Like it was a very, very honest sort of exploration of, yeah, judgment, hypocrisy, big time and kindness. I mean, it really has it all. And by far and away I, I'm happy to say this, this is my favorite Robert Pattinson performance. I thought he was great. Yeah. I thought he was so natural. And I was just like I mean, talk about natural. Like my yeah, he's the best. Yeah she is. She is going to be in our lives for a long time. And I think she's going to be a fantastic performer for a very long time. She this movie had it all like I was laughing hysterically. Other people were cringing people, I had walkouts, I had people looking at me as, why is this guy laughing so hard? So I want to talk about that because in my my first screening, opening weekend, went with Fred, a friend of the pod Igor. And he likes because the director is Eastern European, I believe. Please let me have that right. I believe he is. He did. Sick of myself was a movie that Igor and I both really loved from a few years ago. And then he did dream scenario with Nicolas Cage. But I think this is his best. And yeah, just the way that he wasn't afraid to call out the hypocrisy and what? Okay. No. So the first time I saw it, Alamo crowd packed a lot of laughing and that helped us, like, laugh. There was a lot of laughter when I saw it. I guess a week later. Different theater, still in Alamo, but different. Not as many people, because it was like in the middle of the week. I was the only one laughing. Everyone in my second screening thought they were watching a dead serious drama. My dad and my stepmom, who we just had lunch with yesterday, they saw it. And you know, they live in a smaller town. They were the only ones in their screening and they thought it was a dead serious drama. They did not laugh. And I went, really? And I started bringing stuff up. And he's like, oh, yeah, that was funny. That was funny. And I think that, again, is a test of the viewer. Do you think this is funny? Do you think this is pathetic? Do. That's what I like about it. And I think people are watching it, not necessarily knowing how to feel about everything that's raised in it, which I think is cool. And then one of my favorite things is that, like, I'm a, you know, I'm a writer, too. I'm I'm like a sick, sick bastard. Like, I can come up with some sick stuff if I wanted to. And even if I look at if everyone's listening, asking yourself the question, what's the worst thing you've ever done? Okay, don't you know? Certainly don't. Don't tell me. But I'm just saying, if you're thinking of that, then you're watching this movie especially. I was like, well, that's like, that's the worst thing. Okay. And then it went around and it's like, no one's like beheaded anyone at the table. Like no one's, you know, hit someone with a car and driven off and that person died. It's not like that. The stakes could have been a lot higher, but they weren't. They were much more manageable and just much more realistic and, like, very practical for things that could happen. And I like that because despite being called the drama, it's not like about like, you know, no one like, oh, my girlfriend OD'd. And then instead of helping her, I left. It's nothing like that. Well, don't keep giving ideas, people what it is and isn't. I could keep going. I fucking I ran over a dog and didn't tell anyone. No, I mean, like, these are horrible things, you know? I don't keep going. You're now. I'm going to now. You've encouraged me. No, I know what I can cut that out. Unbelievable. So we both liked it. Yes, I yeah, I liked it as well. And then. Oh last night. Yeah. We went and saw Mother Mary. New film by David Lowery, a director we really like. We're both big fans of A Ghost Story, his movie with Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck. I love that movie too. This has an Hathaway and Michaela Coel, who I had not seen since her fantastic HBO show, was that I Will Destroy You. This made I should, I should Remember it, I think it's I Will destroy, I Will destroy you really good, really intense. And seen her in a movie. Now she's in this and the Christopher's which we haven't seen, it was either Mother Mary or the Christopher's. I mean, just like not. I don't even feel like getting into the plot. Just. I felt like two hours of going ahead of a lot of talking head nowhere. Yeah, yeah, I agree, I agree. Yeah, it just wasn't I don't I'm not really sure. Like we were talking about it, I was I saw a lot of persona that he was going for that. But Mother Mary's two hours personas 83 minutes long. I think that's for a reason. I, you know, I felt some like, All about Eve, not I, I, you know, I don't know. We've all like the pop star in crisis movie is not new and that's kind of Anne Hathaway. But, you know, the whole thing basically takes place like in a barn ish for the most part. There are some cool visuals that actors are committed, but it just wasn't. It wasn't worth the sit for me. Yeah, I have to agree. I think it's probably. And I think it's maybe something that goes a little bit over our heads. I'm kind of getting more and more. I've been thinking about it. I feel like this is much more of like an exploration of, like feminine connection with each other. So I'm kind of wondering if, if women will kind of vibe with this movie in a way that maybe you and I just really can't. I'm I'm all for movies like that, but I'm. Yeah, I just didn't you didn't give me an if that's what this is. You didn't give me enough. You didn't give me. And I agree it it pretty much just left me kind of wondering what did we just watch. Yeah. And like, why. And it did not have a strong ending. You and I were both kind of scoffing and, like, looking away, and it just it didn't go out strong. I this is a review. Like I have no idea how this is being received. It came out yesterday. Yeah. Came out yesterday. Hey, I mean it. He did the green night, which a lot of people liked. I am not that familiar with that story and I thought that visually was a wonder. But I mean, I will admit to anyone, I watched that and I was like, what the fuck is going on? I didn't know what was going on, but this was this is a much, much smaller story, but I, I don't know, I was I was really loving the first 20 minutes. Yeah. And then and will we talk about this a lot when I'll give any movie 20 minutes. I'll give just about any movie 20 minutes. But then that should be enough time for me to figure out, like, do you know what kind of movie you are? And maybe this movie did, but it didn't sell that to me. Yeah, I think overall I can kind of say for myself, I don't know what this movie was. Yeah. And, and I and I've been racking my brain about it and I'm still not coming up with it. I have some farfetched kind of ideas on what it is, but even if that is what it is, and I still don't really feel like it landed. Yeah, yeah. So but that said, I'll tell you something that did land do it. We're branching off a little bit, but we've got some, you know, common ground here because talking about the drama, we have Zendaya talk about Mother Mary. We do have Hunter Schafer. Oh there you go. We did look at that. Yeah, we did watch the very first two episodes of season three of euphoria. Yep. Not being that critically well received. And guess what folks? We liked them. And my god, I well, here's I, Sam Levinson is my guy, I don't care I know the idol was not I I'm not here to excuse anything. The idol is not good. Just about everyone can admit that. But I like him too. I like his style, I like him. There is something about this director that he does what he wants to do. He says things that people don't like to hear. He does things that people don't like, that people are doing. But you know what? He's fucking right on the money. It's it's I think a lot of people are going to have some issues with the Cassie Sidney it's Sweeney storyline. But I'm just saying look at what's going on. There's there's dialog in these two episodes that is so absolutely on point for what is going on in American society today when it comes to what people are doing with social media, how people are making money from it, I don't and then not to mention that, but just the state of where we are. Like, there is so much that these characters are doing in just these two episodes and some of the dialog and actions that they're taking that I'm like, this is I mean, it's heightened, but this is the world we live in. Yeah, you got all mad. Maddie Perez is in there. It's the manager in LA. I love her it it's I, I love everything that I've seen with these first two episodes. I'm on board with it. I think the show looks gorgeous. Well, that's that's a huge selling point for me. Like he shoots on film. The first season I don't think was. But and I mean, there's that scene of rude, just like outside of that gas station. I'm like, damn, this is all it takes. Like, there's not too much fuss going on here. There's like the gas station lights waiting till the sky is right. It's it is really it's good filmmaking. And I'll also say that like this I don't know how much we've gotten into this book in the past. So far this year I rewatched both seasons and I. My thought was the same. The first season is just like, okay, TV. Like, yeah, okay, I get it. There's nothing terribly special to me. Season two took a huge creative quality leap rather to me, like huge there. Yeah, there's just something like that that, that when, when these when the show euphoria works. Because sometimes it doesn't sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. It's a perfect shot a perfect show. But all and over and I'm looking at all of Sam Levinson's work on this is like, this is a guy who takes really big swings. He's got something to say, and it ruffles the feathers of a lot of people, because maybe they don't really want to kind of examine those types of things. But that's why it's important to have artists like him. And I do think that this guy is a fucking artist. Oh, yeah, he is. I mean, I'm the only person in the world who likes Malcolm and Murray. Some people do. I love it and I fucking love it. And but again, you even look at that movie, it's doing things that make people uncomfortable doing things that people don't really. But it's cinematically amazing and this is no different. And we've got to see some of the and this is just my impression, but based on some of the interviews that he was giving and like, he strikes me so funny because, like, he's just a guy who's just been taken shit his entire career from the beginning. From the beginning. Yeah. And he can. And I mean, you know, the baby stuff starting with that. And he can just take it on the chin and roll. Also, he's been through, you know, he's had serious issues with drugs and substances and he's, you know, sober. So he's been around he's been around and he just has an attitude of like, I'm doing what the fuck I want to do. If you don't like it, fuck you. Yeah. But like respectfully. Yeah. I mean, kind of. Yeah. He doesn't say it, like, in an arrogant way. No no no no. You know, I get it. It's. Yeah. Yeah, I like him. I'm a big fan. We need we need more people. It's similar to the director of the drama, you know, like with the writing. Like writing like, this is kind of great because we need it more. It's putting a microscope on what we are to each other today, whether you like it or you don't. What we do in our lives and how we do it is very much at play in both the drama and this season of euphoria, I think. So I like it, yeah, yeah, we did get to go. We went to the theater twice this week in your visit, Mother Mary, last night. But on Wednesday we see a 4K restoration of John Woo's classic American classic Face Off. Oh. Oh, it was fun, wasn't I kept it a surprise from you of what we were going to see. And then, you know, it was reveal. But yeah, that was a lot of fun. God, I love this movie. Never saw it in theaters. Oh, okay. See, you know that. Oh, never saw it the opening weekend. Yeah. And, man, what a ride. It just. It was. It's the best. It's so fucking good. And I'll tell you, man, we both had the same reaction. Especially seeing it in theaters. Like, you take that entire last big action set piece with the speedboats and you're watching just all practical effects, all the explosions. There was wire work. These stunt guys. Yes. You can kind of see when the stunt guys become the stunt guys, but it I didn't care because you're actually watching what these guys are actually doing. It's real people flying through the air with flow behind it, with the boat exploding behind them. They actually fucking did that. There's he's being dragged in the water by a high speed boat on his feet. His body is slamming against the boat. Yeah. Multiple times. And and he's just trying to get his footing and I'm like, yo, you can't watch anything anymore like that. We were talking about like, John Wick. John Wick started like the. And that's also extremely stylized. That is designed to combine martial arts gunplay. This was just a not a regular, but this was just a 90s action movie where, you know, Nicolas Cage and John Travolta, they're not they're doing some fighting, but they're not. This is not a martial arts movie. This is not designed to be like a Jackie Chan type thing. This is just a straight up American action movie. John Travolta is relatively not even in the best shape, and he's pulling off some of this stuff. But you're what you're seeing is just quality shit that it that doesn't exist today. And it's a goddamn Greek tragedy. It is. We we were talking about that. We were like, when did the action I mean, I don't know, because we both agreed that Casino Royale is great. And then I got a lot of great practical stuff. I threw out that the the marvel of stuff because that's oh six and then Iron Man is zero eight, and it just seems like people really started to accept this, you know, very non, non practical, very animated looking. You know, you had action Star Wars with the lightsaber fights. And the more that those went on those got to be more CGI and more CGI. And I also think it was probably become maybe cheaper to do it this way with CGI, I don't know. Well, this is the Oppenheimer argument because he made that for 100 million. And that's I mean, he like, you know, detonated a fucking nuclear bomb and people without using computers and people believe that, so I don't. Easier I don't know about cheaper, probably easier and quicker. I don't know about cheaper though. Maybe it takes like the exact same amount of time, but you involve more people, like putting them in a garage and doing it all practically. I don't know, practical just looks better. It always will. It just will. I don't care if you can tell it there, the stunt man. That's what kind of makes it funny. And it gets you excited in a way. Like all of a sudden when that, like, big explosion happened, I was like, it's like we were just clapping. Yeah, this is a fucking awesome. People loved it. The crowd loved it. Yeah. And then part partially this week because when when you visit, I try to cram in as many four cases. I can not even necessarily watch him all the way through, but I've never really gone through, like, I'm going to do this quickly, like my quote unquote reference disks, because I love physical media, I love 4K, but this is what I've seen on Reddit. Like what's your reference disc 4K? Like if you were going to someone's going to come over and you go, this is the best looking 4K that I own, the best looking one of all of them. And I don't know if you have one kind of in the top your head that I showed you. But first, I mean, I think my number one, seriously, my favorite looking 4K of anything on physical media is the criterion 4K of Eyes Wide Shut. I think that's so good. Astounding. And it is not what you've seen before. It just isn't. And you could tell, right? Just watching it there, there, I mean it certain times it was kind of crazy because it in the everything that I've ever seen from it, it's very, very warm like the, the, the like the blues are very neon. The lights in these places are very bright. And in this 4K it was, it was all practical lighting. Yeah. So it didn't have that. I didn't even notice it. And like you don't notice thinking how you've already seen it. Then you see this and you're like, oh my God, there's so much more shadow depth. But the lights don't lose their brilliance. No, it's just it's just not as as they're not as saturated like they're not as vibrant I don't know, they're not as like hot neon. They're not as smart as a blue. That's what it is. And it looks amazing. Yeah. The green is. See everything it was honestly. Yeah. That might be the best looking one I think I've watched Bo cool hand Luke cool hand Luke I wanted to put that one on for you. That one looks. Those are fun because you know that's 1967 and that just you. I mean, I would stand that up to a movie made in 2026. Like, I mean, in terms of how it looks, the quality is fantastic. And when you look at some of the original footage like that, you get from a DVD or Blu ray and you compare it, because we went to the special features and we saw like what that looks like. It's a different movie. That's the fun thing to do if you're a nerd like me, if you put in your 4K, let's say a Cool Hand Luke, and then you go to a special feature just like, you know, it could be an old one from the DVD. Yeah, an old special feature. They haven't taken the time to restore that to 4K. They don't need to, but then you can go on your 4K TV where you just watched the 4K restoration of Cool Hand Luke and see like DVD quality and go, whoa! I mean, it's the again for nerds. It's important to me. It definitely matters. It matters. Those two feel like you're watching it for Eyes Wide Shut, Cool Hand Luke, you're almost like, damn, I feel like I'm watching this for the first time. It really did. It really did. Network was also great. Network was fantastic. That was a new one for me because I just bought that. So that looked really, really cool. And then. Yeah, yeah. What else? We watched all of The Revenant. Damn right. Yeah. Okay. That's where I wanted to go next because The Revenant, that's the first digital one we're talking about. And sometimes this argument can come up like, can digital movies look good on 4K? Yeah, like that thing. It's just beautiful. It was. And it's a really, really that's a tremendous feat. I mean, every time I've seen it now three times and it's really something you just kind of behold. Yeah. Like you're just sort of like, fuck, man, this is a whole thing. And Tom Hardy, fuck God, he's such an animal. Go get built pelts. I love that fight at the end. And he just starts walking away from him like, yeah, I got oh it's good. I mean, it's an intense movie. Yeah we did that and Birdman, so we did a little double feature. I know Birdman isn't on for case. That doesn't. It's not what I'm counting. Watch some clips of Brokeback Mountain which looks which looks amazing. Casino we had on also amazing. And then some I didn't get to show you. I'll go through real quick sticking with I'll stick with some older ones. Hitchcock's North by Northwest is truly astounding. I'm like, oh my God, I mean, it just all of the Hitchcock 4K restorations look great. That thing's incredible. 2001 sure, Blade Runner the original is often considered a reference. If they did really a really, really good job with it. Mulholland Drive oh my god. Criterion 4K Mulholland Drive the best. Tarantino's are Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown. Those are the best looking 4K. They're looking credible. Yeah. So those are just those are a few of my like and then Phantom Thread Phantom Thread 4K. Oh my god, I can put on any time. Looks amazing. So those are some of my favorite 4K. But yeah, it's always fun when you're when you're here to just show you some ones that you haven't. So it's amazing. And it really and honestly, anyone who's like, if you're ever even curious about diving in because you're really kind of talking and like, you know, getting these to get like the actual 4K player, but the 4K TV, it's a whole thing. It's a whole new setup. It's like, it's like a it's like a vinyl setup, like you're getting the speakers, you're getting the receiver. You're actually. But I can definitely say you have shown me because the only time I get to see these four cases with you. The difference is absolutely there. It really is. And from Cool Hand Luke to the Eyes Wide Shut, those were in network. But you show me some more from these before too. And, I mean, yeah, the difference is you're not just being like, oh yeah, you won't question it. Yeah, you won't. Like, you'll be like, Holy fuck, look at this. And my wife loves the Harry Potter books and movies. So a few times this is like the I think we're in the second time we watching all the movies, kind of, you know, at when we get a chance. But we started doing that and I just as a, as a fun like treat for me because she's fine streaming them on whatever they're on. Paramount I bought the 4K set. So all the movies, even she is not a, you know, physical media dirt at all. And she I don't even think I've ever done like a comparison. Right away she went, oh, wow. Yeah. Oh, and like, you know, that's this is Paramount or whatever is streaming at verse 4K. And even she noticed it just looks so much better. And you're right, it won't, you won't be like, oh well, what are they. What are they talking about. Yeah. You can notice. Fun. That was our mixed bag episode. What are you watching? Yeah, baby. Fun stuff. What do you got for us? I'm gonna. I'm just going to go. I'm going to go with. Because we've talked. I talked so much about the theater. I, I am going to just use this opportunity so specific just to say again, that if you are in New York. My. What are you watching recommendation is absolutely Becky Shaw. Nice. Go check that out. If you are in the city or I'm not sure how much longer it's running for, I do I think I think it has a little bit left in it enough to warrant a recommendation. If you're in New York, you listen to this pod and you want to see something that's not going to let you down, you're going to have a great time. Becky Shaw go go go. Awesome. Yeah. I mean, that makes me want to go see it, honestly, because you don't. You know, I don't live in New York, but you love it. Take the train up. Yeah. Writing alone and and the the characterizations that all the actors have. Again, that's a that's another example like the drama where all these points of views are accounted for. And you can whether you agree with it or not, you'd be like, oh, I see it, I see that, yes. My what are you watching? Is Rocky? No, I was gonna say it fucking better be. No, I, I'm gonna use this kind of. Yeah, I'm going to deviate a little bit, too, and just kind of tease w a w for the rest of 2026. We have loosely mapped out our episodes. We got a lot of fun things coming. If you like our director episodes, we're going to give you more of those this year, not just 1 or 2. We're going to give you more. And these are good directors. We're going to talk about new movies. They're giving us some good movies this year, some big ones. We got Nolan Spielberg in Eureka. It's going to be fun. David Fincher, you know, we got some fun stuff coming. I'm going to ask you, do you want me to tease what our branded episode 200 will be? Oh, yeah. Yeah, we gotta talk. This is a perfect opportunity. So there are more than you know. This is going to be like the 184th episode of What are you Watching? That's like a branded episode. I've done. We've done some bonus ones around the way. So whatever the number is, if it's like 202 officially, whatever. When we get to the 200th episode of What Are You Watching? The branded 200th episode, that is going to be our coveted amendment episode in which Nick and myself are going to go through our top ten films of all time and update them, and perhaps more importantly, or a bit more rigorously, we are going to go through our top 25 films of the 21st century so far and amend those. Mine are not going to be quite as drastic as yours. It sounds like you have a lot of changes and I'm promising the listeners now. I even wrote in the outline, these are these. This is not going to be a five hour episode. We are going to cruise through it. And, you know, the top 25 of the century so far is our longest episode. This is not going to be that we're going to we're going to just make a few amendments because I have a few things to change and you have quite a few. Well, and I'll say why, I'll tease. Why is because when we did that episode, I approached it and even Alex told me he's like, I don't want like, I just want your I just want Nick. Pix. Favorite movies of the past 25 years. And I went in a different direction and I and it all started from that Quentin Tarantino list when he gave his top 25. I saw some of the ridiculous movies that he had on there, and I was sort of like, I see how my fucked up here a list. I mean, if you love movies and you have, you know, have taste and you some of the stuff, some of the picks, we even talked about that on my list. No one else would ever have on their list. That's what makes it fun. And and and to you, nothing that is ever discussed on this podcast. Podcast is meant to be like an AFI list. Like, these are the top ten. That's sort of what I was. I know what I did so long and even I felt like in the moment it wasn't right. So I will be amending my top 25. So you will officially get Nick's top favorite 25 movies of this past century so far. Yeah, and so that's any movie from 2000 to 2024. And that'll be episode 200. So again, you know, that's I think we'll get that in by the end of this year. But I bring it up because we're both actively like, you sound like you're close to kind of having a new list. And then I went, all right, and then sit with that for a few months and see how you like that one. That's true. And then we'll record later this year, and that'll be up whenever 200 hits. But this is fun. It's good shit. Good shit. Go to War podcast for everything. You want to talk to us. You want to be charitable. If you want to see our listed in nice little categories, do it all there. You can buy a damn t shirt if you want. It's awesome. Rep us anywhere. Let us know what you're thinking at w a podcast. Just go there. Go there for everything. Socials, everything. But as always, thank you so much for listening and happy watching. New outro. Hey everyone! Thanks again for listening. Go to our brand new website, a podcast for everything episode categories you can write to us. Donate. If you're feeling generous by our brand new merch and you can find our new Patreon link. That's right. What are you watching? Bonus features. We are on Patreon now, so for just a few bucks a month you can get so much more w a w content. Go to w a podcast for all of your what are you watching needs? This episode was in no way meant to slander John G. Allison's timeless classic Rocky. God, I didn't know that was going to happen. I like that film. It's fine film. It's a very, very fine film. Next time. Switching to a director, the youngest director by far that we have ever covered. Five feature films to his name, Damien Chazelle. We're going to go through all the movies, including his first one. It's thesis film all the way through Babylon. We're going to talk about the movie he's working on now. We're very excited to bring this to you. Stay tuned. For now.