Join us—Natey, Katy, and Juddy—as we unpack the masterpieces and missteps of the season's most talked-about movies. We're tearing into the Best Picture nominees with the kind of authentic zeal that only true cinephiles can muster. From the raw storytelling of "The Holdovers" to the complex narrative of "Anatomy of a Fall" and the explosive "Oppenheimer," we're magnifying every cinematic detail. Get ready to have your Oscar ballot influenced by our spirited discussions and bold predictions!
It's a rollercoaster of opinions this time around, as we clash over the controversial Holocaust depiction in a certain thought-provoking film and Bradley Cooper's mesmerizing metamorphosis in "Maestro." We're hitting all the notes, from the silent intensity that makes popcorn chomping feel like a crime to Cooper's strut on the conductor's podium. Plus, we can't wrap up without touching on the Oscar-snubbed "Iron Claw" and sharing a sweet spot for "Wonka." Whether you're rooting for your favorites or seeking to discover new cinematic gems, our passionate exchange is the perfect accompaniment to this Oscar season.
Join us—Natey, Katy, and Juddy—as we unpack the masterpieces and missteps of the season's most talked-about movies. We're tearing into the Best Picture nominees with the kind of authentic zeal that only true cinephiles can muster. From the raw storytelling of "The Holdovers" to the complex narrative of "Anatomy of a Fall" and the explosive "Oppenheimer," we're magnifying every cinematic detail. Get ready to have your Oscar ballot influenced by our spirited discussions and bold predictions!
It's a rollercoaster of opinions this time around, as we clash over the controversial Holocaust depiction in a certain thought-provoking film and Bradley Cooper's mesmerizing metamorphosis in "Maestro." We're hitting all the notes, from the silent intensity that makes popcorn chomping feel like a crime to Cooper's strut on the conductor's podium. Plus, we can't wrap up without touching on the Oscar-snubbed "Iron Claw" and sharing a sweet spot for "Wonka." Whether you're rooting for your favorites or seeking to discover new cinematic gems, our passionate exchange is the perfect accompaniment to this Oscar season.
Hooray for Hollywood. You may be homely in your neighborhood. Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum bum To be an actor see Mr Factor. You make your kisser look good, so out.
Speaker 2:You try you luck. You may be done. You duck. Hooray for Hollywood, hooray for Hollywood. Hello everyone, and welcome to the special Oscar prediction episode of Nady and Katie at the Movies. I'm your host, nathan aka Nady, of course, and on this super awesome Oscar prediction episode I have not just one but two co-hosts. You've heard them before. It's my good friend Katie and my good friend Judi. What's up, katie?
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm excited. I got to chat with Judi last episode, so I'm pumped to hear his thoughts on the Oscar nominees.
Speaker 1:What's up, Judi? Hey friends, I love movies and I love talking about movies, and so this is the perfect storm. Let's get it going.
Speaker 2:So, yes, let's just get right into it. This is going to be a super packed episode, so let's just get started. The Oscar-nominated movies for Best Picture are the Holdovers, Anatomy of a Fall, Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, Barbie, American Fiction, the Zone of Interest, Maestro and Past Lives, and I named them in a certain order because that is my favorite to least favorite Oscar-nominated movie. So that means my favorite is the Holdovers, which if you've watched any of our quick reactions of any of these movies on our TikTok, then you already knew that. And my least favorite and Judson's really going to hate me is Past Lives, because I thought it was boring.
Speaker 3:So let's get Nathan. That's hilarious because I just read an article about someone who said Past Lives was their favorite. That's like the reverse of what they're ranking was.
Speaker 2:We can't all be right, so let's get right into each movie. So what we're going to do is we're going to say a movie and we're all going to go around and say what our favorite part and what our least favorite part of those movies are. Some of these movies I know Judson and Katie have not seen. I'm the only one who has seen every single one, because I am 100% dedicated to our fans.
Speaker 2:So let's go right to my favorite movie and that is the Holdovers. So the main reason I like this movie was just very well done. It had no agenda to it, it did not have any check the box moments to it. It was just a good movie. Now, the only thing I didn't like about it was that they introduced a love interest randomly and didn't do anything with it. So that was my only hang up about this movie. Katie, what was your best and least favorite part of this movie?
Speaker 3:Well, nathan, I watched it because you said it was your favorite, so I knew it needed to be on my list. I would agree with you that it was one of those movies that's just like a feel good. It's just a nice, like feel good movie. You and I are both teachers by trade, so I think there's a another piece of that that just feels so relevant and Feels so can I feel so connected to that experience. It wasn't necessarily like I wasn't cracking up laughing, I wasn't crying, but it was a feel-good movie.
Speaker 2:I liked it. And, jensen, what did you think of the holdovers?
Speaker 1:I have my list and With out of the 10 movies I did not place and I made the fall, the only one that I'm missing, so I currently have nine, and holdovers is number six on my list. I think this is a really good movie. I really really enjoyed it. I had a really, really good time with it. You know you can, I could see the ending a mile away. You know what's coming. You know you know most of the beats and it had really sweet, sweet, great moments and fantastic performances by Paul G Umadi and I'm I can't remember the kid actors name, but fantastic. I also love the tone and and you know they're going for that kind of retro cinematography and editing and stuff and it was wonderful and beautiful moving on to my number two favorite best picture is Anatomy of a fall.
Speaker 2:I was actually surprised that I put this as my number two because I remember talking about it and I've said it really could have been a French mini series. But I will say I enjoy the performances. I think that's the biggest highlight. The acting in it I thought was superb. The young boy who played the son I still think should have been nominated for at least best supporting actor. I thought he did so good in it. And my least favorite part is that I had to read subtitles. I think that would be it, because I don't like reading while I'm watching a movie. Katie, what was your best and least favorite part?
Speaker 3:I was a little nervous to watch it because you know I don't like scary movies and it has such a thriller type vibe to it. But it is just like a murder mystery. There's not, it's not scary. I really did like the psychological thriller that it was, but it's not my normal genre, so I wasn't a huge fan necessarily.
Speaker 2:Judson did not see this movie, so his opinion does not matter. So let's move right on to Oppenheimer. This is something that we all saw, so we can all give our opinions. My favorite part again was the performances. I thought the scope of it was really well done, I thought the the shot of it was really good, the directing obviously Christopher Nolan, is just fantastic, and so overall, I thought the biggest thing for this movie was the performances. The only negative is the length. I thought it was long, but it need. I think I think it needed to be long because the story it was telling, but at the same time it was just a really long movie. So, katie, what did you like and not like about Oppenheimer?
Speaker 3:I agree with you it's long. That's one of my probably big critiques as well. It's long, long movie. But man, I, maybe I'm just spoiled from Peaky Blinders, but I do just love me some Killian Murphy Murphy. I felt like he was incredible. It's a great story choice. I love the idea of we can get so wrapped up in technology say AI, say atomic bomb that we forget to look up and say what is the root, what are the repercussions of our scientific discovery. So I just like the content of the movie choice.
Speaker 2:Jetson.
Speaker 1:We're all interested. What you thought? This was number two on my list and I Didn't think it was gonna be there, going into Oppenheimer, especially with the marketing saying this is one of the most important stories ever told, like I don't know, I haven't been really vibing lately, I don't know, but I pursued barbenheimer, saw this in IMAX alone and I had a little depressive episode right after it, just because it was just that hard-hitting and I was not expecting that from a Majority courtroom drama, a three-hour movie, right. The performances were fantastic, you know, even Robert Downey Jr. Like I cannot believe that performance and and that the cast is absolutely stacked.
Speaker 1:The effects we talk about, the actual Trinity test scene Phenomenal pacing, the music, gorgeous. The down. The negative I do have for it is that I never want to watch it again, which is unfortunate. There is another movie that we'll talk about later that I feel the same way, which is unfortunate because it's just so near and dear to my heart and I absolutely love it. But I just know it's gonna like, make me feel like a little Ball of trash and I'm gonna want to go to sleep and cry.
Speaker 2:Killers of the flower moon is my number four pick and again the highlight was the performances. I'm surprised Leonardo DiCaprio did not get nominated. I feel like that is a snub. If we're going to talk about snubs, I thought he did a phenomenal job.
Speaker 2:I don't think Robert De Niro should have been nominated. I feel like he just played himself. And Lily Gladstone, I think she could be a sure win. I really think it's going to be Emma Stone, but I think she could win because her performance was really well done. So the performances are at it for me. And again, another dislike of that this movie was way too long and I feel like this movie. I felt the length. I didn't really feel the length of Oppenheimer, I felt the length of this. What do y'all think?
Speaker 3:I think we did an episode on the Cozio of the Flower Moon and I said that I feel like this would have succeeded as a mini series. I understand that certain categories that wouldn't fit in, but this story deserved to be told at the length that it was, and maybe even a little longer, but I didn't want to see it in a movie format. I think this would be at the top of my like one or two on my list.
Speaker 2:Jettie.
Speaker 1:I didn't see this in theaters. I'm also been booked all year. I did end up watching. This was like the last one that I saw. Before recording this, I knew this was going to be the one where you feel the length and the three hours isn't going to feel as earned, and I was. I was right in that. I will say, though, I was pleasantly surprised, because I found myself feeling like, oh, three hours or what? Three and a half, something, even longer, I don't know the exact runtime. It's a beast. And then I just find myself just still watching it and I'm like, oh, I'm invested in it, you know, and the structure of the scenes and the way that the story unfolds and the way that score says he tells the story. He's still got it, obviously, and he's still I mean, he didn't phone that and just use his name to sell tickets Like he is still trying right, which is which is nice, and for this it's number eight out of nine on my list, but I still really, really enjoyed it.
Speaker 2:Moving on, we have Barbie, which I remember I ranked. I rated this pretty high, surprisingly, because I thought about it later. So my best part, ironically, is Ryan Gosling. I think Ryan Gosling stole this movie. I know it's supposed to be about Barbie. Mark or Robbie, you got America, whatever her last name is who got nominated for best supporting? Basically just for a monologue. That's all I'm going to say about that. So the dislike is basically everything else.
Speaker 3:Well, you remember, we recorded, you and I did separate episodes for this one and we I ranked it lower than you did. I was just not so underwhelmed by this movie. To be honest, I think it was maybe overhyped. I agree with you, ryan Gosling with Soul Show, and I also agree with you the America for Arrow obsession and you know so and so deserves it. So and so deserves that. I just can't get into it. I don't know if it's political game or what, or if we're all just trying to say a woman power. Obviously I'm a woman, I support women. I want it to succeed, but I wasn't that impressed. Out of all the movies, I would not rank this in the top five for sure. Jenny, what are your?
Speaker 1:thoughts. It's sick and twisted to hear this slander coming from.
Speaker 2:Katie.
Speaker 1:Oh, what am I doing here? Barbie was number five on my list.
Speaker 2:It was a surprise, and it's not five on mine to.
Speaker 1:Hey, but then you're talking about the negatives and stuff, so so let's relax, because Barbie was a really nice surprise. Coming from Warner Brothers, I'm like, oh boy, product placement, here we go. But I love Greta Gerwig and she had a story to tell through this and with anybody else, any other filmmaker, any other cast, anything else. It would have been just that and that would have been fine. It would have sold the thing. But that's all it would have been is just to. You know, sell things and get things on and sell tickets, whatever.
Speaker 1:But Greta had a story to tell with this and it took me for a surprise, it took me for a loop. I genuinely laughed and I was not expecting that from a Barbie movie, but along this one, and I actually had a really sweet moment at the end. And again, no spoilers for any of these, but you know what I'm talking about and I I think that's really special in my book. But this is it is a strange get to have Barbie next to the Scorsese flicks and Oppenheimer and stuff like that. It is a little strange, I will admit, but I think it is very special in its own way.
Speaker 2:And moving on, we have American fiction. The biggest thing I liked is I thought it was an interesting way of telling the story that they were trying to tell. Going into this, if you watch my quick reaction, I was kind of hesitant of how I was going to feel about it. I guess it's because I'm a white dude, I don't know, maybe, but I was pleasantly surprised how they told the story. So that, right, there is my biggest like, my biggest dislike. What he's already going to know is what I felt was a big old check the box moment. I love Sterling K Brown. His name, sterling Brown. I love him. I thought I think he's a fantastic actor. He was in this Is Us, but what they did with his character I just was like to me, and that's just my personal opinion. That was my biggest dislike, but the movie was very well done and I did enjoy it. Judi, what did you think of American fiction?
Speaker 1:I thought this was really fun. It was a little lighter than I thought it was going to be because of the kind of subject matter and the themes that they're going for. It's not that I was like let down and disappointed in any way, but I walk out of it like okay, I kind of have seen this before. So a big comparisons that I was pulling from was sorry to bother you and it's not a one-to-one comparison, the direct comparison or something but some of the themes in subject matter reigned a little familiar for me, so that brought it to number four on my list, but I still had a fantastic time with this.
Speaker 2:Moving on to our final three on the list, the zone of interests comes in number eight on my list. This is a movie that Jetson and I literally just saw.
Speaker 2:The biggest thing I liked about it is I liked that they took it in a different direction than you're usually you're used to seeing in a movie about the Holocaust. Again, they did it from the perspective of the Nazi family and how great their life was living right next to a concentration camp, and I thought the performances were great. The same actress in Anatomy of a Fall is in the zone of interest. I thought she did a fantastic job in this as well. I think she's just good, and the fact that she speaks French, english and German is really impressive to me. So I thought the performances were great. I thought it was a very interesting movie. My biggest dislike is that it was just really quiet and I couldn't eat my popcorn without being really loud in the movie theater, so that would be my biggest dislike. There's like really awkward silence moments. So, jetson, what did you think of this?
Speaker 1:I thought this was a really interesting one. I think that has really special moments. We talked about this other quick reaction. I think it has very special moments and scenes that are really chilling, that I'm still thinking about being like a week removed from it. I just think as a whole, it doesn't connect and add together. I'm also a sucker for a really good story and this seemed like a slice of life, so I felt like I was a little whacking in the storytelling specifically. Oh, this is also number nine out of nine on my list.
Speaker 2:Going down to the final two on my list, we have Maestro starring Bradley Cooper, about Leonard Bernstein. My biggest like is probably Carrie Mulligan's performance. I think if I didn't already think that Emma Stone was a sure win for best actress, I think Carrie Mulligan would get it. I thought she did a fantastic job with her performance. Yes, it's the type of performance we've seen before in movies, but I thought she'd knocked it out of the park and I thought she just did phenomenal. My biggest dislike is that it felt like a movie that was going for an Oscar. I don't know if that necessarily sounds like a negative, but you could just tell that Bradley Cooper had been working really hard on this for years and he just wanted that Oscar. So bad that I thought sometimes the performance was a little bit over the top dramatic, and so that was my biggest dislike. This is a movie that I believe all three of us have seen. So, katie, go ahead. What did you think of Maestro?
Speaker 3:This movie watched because it was on the Oscar list. I watched the trailer and there was nothing about it that made me excited to watch it. The easiest summary would be it's the backstory of a person that I didn't know about and I never cared to learn more about. Not really that exciting, but I would agree with you. In terms of acting, I would say Carrie Mulligan was just like stole the show. I liked her more than I liked the about Bradley Cooper's version.
Speaker 2:Jettie, what'd you think of Maestro I?
Speaker 1:thought it was great. I was actually impressed throughout the whole thing. I know you were talking about it earlier but a lot of people haven't talked about. Oh, it's Oscar bait, it's. He's trying. He's so desperate to get it and you know, even if he is, he did the thing. And I'm really impressed that. The makeup costumes these looked fantastic. The studying the amount of studying you have to do to get mannerisms the fact you were able to direct an act in it, and to this scale, is really impressive for me as an artist that is also trying to do the dank thing. Even though Carrie had the performance and Bradley was doing his best to keep up, it was still really impressive to see all that combined together. I'm still not convinced conducting is a real career, but the composing aspect especially is very, very impressive. Don't come after me for that, conductors. I'm sorry I had to.
Speaker 2:Let's move on to our last movie, and that is Past Lives. This is another movie that all three of us have seen and, as you can tell, it is the last movie on my list, which means I thought it was boring. That's my biggest dislike and I honestly can't think of a like about this movie. I guess the performances were good, but I just, I just didn't like it. Jetson, I already know you liked it, so just tell me what you liked about it.
Speaker 1:This was. This is number one on my list. This is a fantastic piece of media. This was the director's debut. This was beautiful performance performances and it's so simple and touching and beautiful and Nathan is wrong. Also, Maestro was number seven on my list for fun fact. I disliked how I felt sad and lonely after watching it. I disliked Nathan's hate towards this movie. That's what I dislike.
Speaker 2:All right, Katie, what'd you think?
Speaker 3:I'm a sucker for a rom-com or, you know as maybe a second option, a romance movie, so I did like it. It wasn't definitely not my number nine, but it, I think what happens is the whole movie. There's this very great tension. So you never see your kiss, you never see your big hug, your culmination of all these strong feelings. So the whole movie. I thought they did a great job of building that like not sexual but like romantic tension with the main character and like maybe her potential lover and also her husband. So I liked that we end with something that's maybe not as Hollywood romantic, but I felt like it was more real. I really honestly loved the ending. It was sad, but I loved it.
Speaker 2:All right, so that is the Oscar nominated movies. So let's get right into. You don't got time for poor things.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, let's talk about poor things.
Speaker 3:Oh, please don't forget poor things it doesn't exist for me, poor things.
Speaker 2:What do we think? I already I'm already going to tell you what I thought. I thought it was terrible that that's actually below past lives. I thought I thought it was dumb. I thought talk about overrated piece of poop. There is nothing good about this movie at all. Jetson, what'd you?
Speaker 1:think, because I know you liked it. We're not talking about Emma Stone's performance. We're not talking about Mark Ruffalo's performance. We're not talking about Yorgo's direction and his world building and his creative CGI and artistry and color grading. We're not talking about any of this. We're not.
Speaker 2:No, we're not sick.
Speaker 3:Maybe. What do you think?
Speaker 1:This is beautiful.
Speaker 3:I actually like this movie more than I liked Barbie. I feel like it was a stronger feminist movie than Barbie was and I really liked it. I was caffling, laughing in a lot of the parts. I love just the idea of an adult going through life and learning the social cues and you know, kind of making fun at how we build society. I love Mark Ruffalo's performance. I thought Emma did a great job. I do think sometimes it can be a little political or overly trying to state some kind of message, but I thought it was a quirky, fun movie and I would put it towards the top of my list as well. Sorry, nathan, judi and I are outruling on this one.
Speaker 2:Well, again, every one's are allowed to be wrong sometimes. So let's get right into what we think gets the honor of best picture. I'm going to go ahead and I feel that holdovers should get it. But what do I think is going to get it? Poor things, because Hollywood is just dumb. I think this is this. Poor things is the type of movie that will win best picture, because movies like the shape of water has have won the best picture before. So that's what I think will win. I think poor things will win, but I think the holdovers should win. Jetson what do you think will win and what do you think should win? And are they the same for you?
Speaker 1:I think Oppenheimer is going to win this one. Based off of Kristen Nolan's career and the impact that this summer made for movies and that in ticket sales, I really wanted Iron Claw to win, but I didn't get nominated, so that's my pick.
Speaker 3:I don't think Wonka should win, but it was my favorite movie of 2023. I know that's silly, but there's definitely some good movies that I enjoyed this year that didn't get nominated. But in terms of movies that I think will win, I would agree with Judi. I think Oppenheimer will win, but my personal opinion is just because of how stacked the cast was. They're just too interconnected and there's too many big names to not win.
Speaker 2:And there you have it, folks. That is our Oscar prediction episode. Thank you so much for listening everybody. You guys are great. I love you and keep listening to Nady and Katie at the movies who made for Iron Claw.