AwardsWatch Podcast Ep. 332 – Oscars Retrospective of the 74th Academy Awards
On episode 332 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson and AwardsWatch contributors Dan Bayer, Jay Ledbetter, and Josh Parham to go back 25 years and take a look at the 74th Academy Awards, covering the films of 2001.
On this retrospective, the AW team starts the year off with a look back at a solid year of film in 2001, that brought together some of the most memorable films of the last 25 years. But the winner for Best Picture is not one held in high regard, as A Beautiful Mind took home the top prize, a make-up win for director Ron Howard after losing for Apollo 13. While the film hasn’t aged well as a winner, and even as a film, the year has with spectacular films that are mentioned throughout the show like In the Mood for Love, Mulholland Drive, Gosford Park, Memento, Ghost World, The Royal Tenenbaums, In the Bedroom, Hedwig and the Angry Itch, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and more.
In their in-depth discussion, the AW team talked about the film year of 2001, briefly discuss talk about A Beautiful Mind as a Best Picture winner, and how that speaks to the legacy of their nominates and or wins, do an extensive conversation over the below the line categories and nominees for the year, and then the new version of the AW Shoulda Woulda Coulda game, where instead of individual replacements, they must decide as a group who the nominees and winners should be in the top eight categories. The rules of the game state they can only replace two of the nominees that year from each category, except in Best Picture, where the group could replace up to three films to make up the final set of five nominated films. Like past retrospective episodes, it was a fascinating, fun conversation including spirited debates, alliances, vote swinging, celebrating various movies, performances that aren’t normally talked about and more that we all hope you enjoy.
You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more. You can also listen to it on our AwardsWatch YouTube page.
This podcast runs 2h06m. We will be back in next week for a review of the latest film from director Emerald Fennell, Wuthering Heights. Till then, let’s get into it.
Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).
- On the Shelf: ‘Excalibur,’ ‘Westworld,’ ‘Network,’ ‘The Man Who Wasn’t There’ Highlight the 4K Physical Media releases for the Week of February 23 - February 23, 2026
- On the Shelf: ‘Ben-Hur,’ ‘All the President’s Men,’ ‘Boxcar Bertha,’ ‘The Visitor’ Arrive on 4K, Lubitsch Musicals added to Criterion in Physical Media releases for the Week of February 16 - February 16, 2026
- AwardsWatch Podcast Ep. 332 – Oscars Retrospective of the 74th Academy Awards - February 10, 2026
‘Mint’ Review: Ambition Outpaces Impact in ‘Snapper’ Director Charlotte Regan’s Stylish BBC Crime Drama Series [C+] Berlinale 
‘17’ Review: Kosara Mitić’s Devastating Debut Exposes the Cost of Silence and Complicity [B] Berlinale 
Vancouver Film Critics Circle (VFCC) Winners: ‘One Battle After Another,’ ‘Sinners’ Take Top Awards 
Sundance Film Festival Announces 2027 Dates, Boulder Venues