AwardsWatch Podcast #210: Post-Gotham/NYFCC Best Picture Oscar Predictions plus Movies We Saw Too Young as Kids
On episode 2010 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson, Associate Editor Sophia and AwardsWatch contributors Kevin L. Lee discuss the 2023 Best Picture race and the movies they watched way too young.
It is December so that means we are right at the beginning of awards season, where the various critics groups are going to start handing out prizes to the best films and performances from the year. This past week saw the Gotham Awards give Past Lives Best Feature Film, Lily Gladstone (The Unknown Country) and Charles Melton (May December) taking the Best Lead and Supporting Performance awards. Sophia was able to attend the ceremony and gave her reactions to the night’s events before the group talked about these wins alongside the NYFCC announcing their winners later in the week.
This led right into the first major discussion of the episode about the Best Picture race and where everything stands. As of now, there seems to be three films that stand as the frontrunners for Best Picture, and those are Barbie, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Oppenheimer. The group discuss the strengths and weaknesses in these films chances of winning Hollywood’s biggest prize, as well as the various films, The Holdovers, American Fiction, Maestro, Poor Things, The Color Purple, that are right there in the mix to win the Oscar.
After that great conversation, they transitioned into talking about a topic the team has wanted to talk about for a long time, movies that they were way too young to see. In a deep dive into their taste in films, Ryan, Erik, Sophia and Kevin revealed the films that they were shocked they got to watch at such a young age, as well as movies that scared them, and made them cry. Titles included Jaws, Alien, Jurassic Park, Basic Instinct, As Good as It Gets and a ton of Disney animated films.
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This podcast runs 1h45m. We will be back next week to talk about the Oscar Acting Categories, review Poor Things, and talk about our favorite coming of age films. Till then, let’s get into it.
Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro)
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