Welcome to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 5 of the Director Watch Podcast, they are joined by AwardsWatch contributor Zach Laws to discuss the latest film in their Todd Haynes series, Wonderstruck (2017).

Two years after Carol was released with worldwide acclaim, Haynes took a rather unpredictable turn in his filmography by crafting a multi-generational family drama aimed for young audiences. Working off a script from writer Brian Selznick (based on his novel of the same name), Haynes takes two time periods, the 1920s and 1970s, and melds two stories of two young deaf children who are searching for their parents in New York City. Working alongside actresses he’s worked with before in Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams, and discovering the breakout talents of Millicent Simmonds and Oakes Fegley, Haynes is able to takes us on an emotional ride through fifty years of family, as well as human history, to tell an earnest story about togetherness and sincerity. Ryan, Jay, and Zach dive into the right turn for Haynes, the look of each time period shot by Haynes’s regular cinematographer Edward Lachman, the child performances, and if a less cynical approach for a Todd Haynes films makes this stand out in a good or bad way for his filmography.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 2h13m. The guys will be back next week to conclude their Todd Haynes series with a look at 2019's Dark Waters. Till then, let’s get into it. Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

On episode 196 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch contributors Sophia Ciminello, Zach Laws, and Josh Parham to discuss their Top 5 Modern Directors.

With Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan’s films dominating the box office, having audiences racing to see Barbie and Oppenheimer over and over again, we thought that it would be a good idea to do a list inspired by two of the biggest directors working in movies today. For the Awards Watch team, directors and their filmographies are the backbone of why they are the writers and film enthusiasts they are. In do this list, Ryan, Sophia, Zach and Josh dive head first into the directors that speak to them during our modern era of filmmaking. In doing so, the gang set an age requirement of 60 or below and the director had to have at least three films to their filmography to qualify. In doing this, some of the biggest, most influential filmmakers of our time were mentioned, including Barry Jenkins, Steve McQueen, David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, Céline Sciamma, David Lowery and Wes Anderson, alongside some names that were new discoveries for the group, and many more.

NOTE: The audio to this episode was damaged but that still shouldn’t stop you from listening to this fantastic, fun conversation.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 2h13m. We will be back next week talking about our pre-fall festival 2024 Oscar predictions. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

Welcome to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision-making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 4 of the Director Watch Podcast, they are joined by Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly Content Update Editor and host of the And the Runner Up Is podcast, to discuss the latest film in their Todd Haynes series, Carol (2015).

After making I’m Not There, Haynes stepped away from feature films for a lengthy eight years to focus on other projects, most notably the 2011 Mildred Pierce mini-series for HBO. But in 2015, Haynes returned to the big screen with a dazzling, romantic period drama that is considered to be one of the best films of the last decade, Carol. Working off a script written by Phyllis Nagy adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s groundbreaking novel, the film follows two women, a young inspiring photographer (Rooney Mara) and an older housewife (Cate Blanchett) going through a divorce, who begin a forbidden affair that forms into a beautiful, heartbreaking love story over the course of the film. On this episode, Ryan, Jay, and Kevin dive into these two fascinating performances by Mara and Blanchett, Nagy’s perfect screenplay, the expert work by everyone in the crafts departments, why the film was nominated for Best Picture, and most importantly, Haynes’s evolution as a director as a filmmaker who specializes in making memorable period pieces.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 1h26m. The guys will be back next week to continue their Todd Haynes series with a review of Wonderstruck. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

On episode 195 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson and AwardsWatch contributors Nicole Ackman, Dan Bayer, Sophia Ciminello, Zach Laws, and Josh Parham conduct a classic Academy Awards retrospective for the 66^th Oscars, covering the films of the year 1993.

Right now, while the world is still in the middle of the phenomenon that is Barbenheimer, the AW team go back thirty years to when director Steven Spielberg was the king of Hollywood. In 1993, Spielberg made two of what many people believe to be his best films in Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List, the latter being the film that would win the director his first Best Director Oscar and win Best Picture of the year. Alongside this success for one of cinema’s best artists, the year was a banner year for cinema all around, with a great variety of films celebrated at the Oscars that had massive cultural and critical success like The Fugitive, Philadelphia, The Piano, In the Name of the Father, The Remains of the Day, In the Line of Fire, The Firm, The Age of Innocence, and many more.

In this retrospective, the AW team take a look at the year as a whole, talk about the Oscar ceremony, any trends they see in the year, and the legacy of Schindler’s List and its Oscar wins. Throw in some Oscar trivia and an extensive version of “Should’ve, Could’ve, Would’ve”, where the team highlight what they think the real winners and nominees should be, and you’ve got a fun look back as the gang cover dozens of titles, filled with plenty of juicy hot takes.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 2h47m. It is a big episode but worth the time to talk about this milestone year in cinema. We will be back next week talking about our Top 5 Modern Film Directors. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

Welcome to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 3 of the Director Watch Podcast, they are joined by AwardsWatch contributor Sophia Ciminello discuss the latest film in their Todd Haynes series, I’m Not There (2007).

Following up his most successful film to date, Todd Haynes pivoted from the Douglas Sirk inspired world of Far From Heaven to tackle a music biopic about one of the greatest American figures in music history, Bob Dylan. Unlike Velvet Goldmine, where he wasn’t granted access to use the songs of the iconic singer David Bowie, Dylan gave his blessing to Haynes for this project, which explore the multiple personas of the legendary singer songwriter performed by six different actors of various age, gender and race. With this, Haynes made a film that is now celebrated amongst the other outstanding films of the vastly rich year that was 2007. On this episode, Ryan, Jay and Sophia breakdown if Haynes was able to stick this landing for this ambitious film, if it does right by Dylan’s legacy, why more modern biopics aren’t made this way, they aren’t looking forward to the new Bob Dylan biopic from director James Mangold, and which other music genius could get a similar I’m Not There style of film made about their life and career.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 1h37m. The guys will be back next week to continue their Todd Haynes series with a look at Carol. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

On episode 194 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson and AwardsWatch contributors Zach Laws, Kevin L. Lee and Jay Ledbetter to review the two biggest movies of the year, Barbie and Oppenheimer.

Barbenheimer is upon us! As audiences are selling out theaters around the world, it has become one of the most successful weekends in history of cinema. With this, the AW team takes a deep dive into the two most hyped films in a long time, starting with Greta Gerwig’s Barbie followed by Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. A candy color dreamscape comedy and a three-hour historical epic about the making of the atomic box take center stage as Ryan, Erik, Zach, Kevin, and Jay go into what the liked about each film and if they struggled with any aspects of the film.

After the teams very in-depth and length reviews, they take a look at the 2023 Summer Box Office Draft and notice that Team Erik has gain some ground on Team Ryan, as we make our way into the final month of the summer. Moving on from there, the team answer some listener questions that included what they thought the Oscar chances were for both films, who the hottest Barbie and Ken was in the film, which Gerwig film was their favorite, and a fun game involving which director-actor pair they would’ve love to have seen taken on the story of Oppenheimer like Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 3h12m. It is a long episode but worth it to talk about the cinematic event of the decade. We will be back next week doing an Oscar retrospective over the 66th Academy Awards that covered the films of 1993. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

Welcome to Director Watch! On this brand new AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision-making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 2 of the Director Watch Podcast, they are joined by AwardsWatch Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson discuss the latest film in their Todd Haynes series, Far from Heaven (2002).

Right off at the top of the show, we address that there won’t be an episode on Velvet Goldmine, as an error was made, and the episode has been lost forever. But Ryan, Jay and Erik give some brief thoughts on the 1998 film before diving into Haynes’s 2002 follow up. In a pivot away from the glam rock drama, he found his way back into the cinematic world with another look at the domestic life of a wife played by Julianne Moore. Unlike Safe, Far From Heaven takes place in the 1950s, and explores a traditional 50’s family crumbling due to sexual and racial relationships the married couple form in the film that were taboo for the time. Known for being one of the best films of the year 2002, Ryan, Jay, and Erik breakdown the film from every angle, from the brilliant score, Moore’s performance, Haynes’s screenplay, the homages to the genius director Douglas Sirk, and so much more.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 1h31m. The guys will be back next week to continue their Todd Haynes series with a look at I’m Not There. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

On episode 193 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, AwardsWatch Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch contributors Sophia Ciminello, Catherine Gonzales and Zach Laws to review the latest action packed epic Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One and give out their Top 5 Tom Cruise films.

Before the team gets into the review, there was big news out of Hollywood this week, as SAG-AFTRA announced that they would be joining the WGA strike, joining forced in a strike for the first time since 1963. This historic move set a clear and loud message around the world and the AW team not only wanted to comment on the ongoing strike, but wanted to also share their full support in the fight for a fair deal for the writers and actors, whom without, none of this would exist.

Transition into the rest of the show, the number one film in the world finds Tom Cruise back in the saddle again as IMF agent Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One. The team talk at length about the latest Mission adventure, what they like and don’t like about it, and try to figure out how much longer Cruise will keep making these movies before he ends up killing himself. After the review, they transitioned to talking about Cruise’s Top 5 films of his career. In a career that spans decades, and close to fifty films, this length conversation spanned multiple films that showed Cruise’s range not just as a movie star, but an incredible actor. Titles included Eyes Wide Shut, Magnolia, Legend, Collateral, A Few Good Men, Mission Impossible: Fallout, and more.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 2h49m. We will be back next week to review the two biggest films of the year, Barbie and Oppenheimer. 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 episode 192 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, AwardsWatch Executive Editor Ryan McQuade and Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson are joined by Griffin Schiller of FilmSpeak to discuss the filmography and legacy of director Christopher Nolan.

There have not be many writer-directors over the last twenty plus years who has become one of the bigger names in Hollywood than Christopher Nolan. From starting off with small indie thrillers, he morphed overnight into one of the most well-known names in the business, making countless box office hits, landing critical success, and dozens of accolades along the way. So with the release of his latest film, Oppenheimer, coming out next week, Ryan and Erik invited Griffin on to talk about Nolan, and what the director has meant to the landscape of modern cinema and what their relationship is with his films. They also discuss his greatest strengths and weaknesses as a filmmaker, his influence (good or bad) on cinema, and talk about some of the favorite scenes from his films. They also give out their Nolan film rankings and give out their expectations going into not just his newest project, but what they would like to possibly see him do next.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 1h42m. The AwardsWatch Podcast will be back next week to discuss Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and talk about our Top 5 Tom Cruise performances. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

Welcome to Director Watch! On this brand new AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision-making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 1 of the Director Watch Podcast, they discuss the first film in their Todd Haynes series, Safe (1995).

After introducing the show, Ryan and Jay go into a review as to why Safe, Haynes’s second feature, is one of the most remarkable indie films of the 1990s. Released four years after his debut feature film Poison, Haynes makes a startling examination on a housewife slowly losing herself to a mysterious illness caused by the daily environment she lives in. Led by an all-time performance from Julianne Moore, Safe was a film that not only brought together this iconic director-actor duo for the first time, but both were brought to the attention of audiences around the world and would set the stage for their incredible careers going forward. We dive into the film’s themes, its lingering questions, the impeccable blocking by Haynes and his cinematographer Alex Nepomniaschy, if Julianne Moore is the greatest actress of the last thirty years and a whole lot more.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 1h39m. We will be back next week to continue their Todd Haynes series with a look at 1998's Velvet Goldmine. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).