Finally!

After two months of no podcasts, I return for #54 with special guests Júlia Guimaraes and David Acacia. David is an AW member as well as a member of the International Cinephile Society. He guested on last year's post-Cannes podcast and he's back to spill some tea on his faves, what he didn't like and the general 'meh' feeling of this year's festival.

Bear with this podcast, folks, as David's connection goes in and out so much he sounds like he's reporting from the Black Lodge in Twin Peaks. Júlia, however, comes up with a clever tactic to overcome this.

The podcast covers the Cannes prize winners and their possibility as awards contenders as we move through the season. With The Beguiled, The Killing of a Sacred Deer and Wonderstruck there are certainly some that could find themselves with Oscar attention. We also talk about the foreign language film contenders from the festival, including Palme d'Or winner The Square, Grand Prize winner 120 Battements par minute and Jury Prize winner Loveless. We dig into the female representation of the in competition films, which jury member Jessica Chastain found disturbingly lacking (her press conference convo started a viral firestorm).

We finish up, of course, talking about Nicole Kidman's 70th anniversary prize, bestowed on her for her body of work in this year's festival (The Beguiled, The Killing of a Sacred Deer - both in competition - plus How to Talk to Girls at Parties and Top of the Lake: China Girl. 

This podcast runs about 1h 45m and if you make it all the way to the end despite David's dropping in and out I heartily salute you.

Intro music: “Going Green”

Outro music: Thomas Newman’s “New York City By Day” from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack of Desperately Seeking Susan

This 53rd Oscar Podcast, the first of the 2017-2018 season, breaks down the main contenders right now and who could be in the future.

With CinemaCon last week, we got some insight on a few high-profile Oscar contenders like The Greatest Showman, Suburbicon, Downsizing, Wonderstruck and Darkest Hour. On the flip side, we are still very much in the dark about other films like Kathryn Bigelow's Untitled Detroit Riots Project, The Current War, The Post, and mother!

We talk about the impact, if any, the buzz for CinemaCon films will have on this month's predictions and also dig deep into where things stand in a post-Moonlight Oscar world.  Will the pendulum swing back to an OscarsSoWhite year?

Intro music: "Going Green"

Outro music: Thomas Newman’s “New York City By Day” from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack of Desperately Seeking Susan

In our first Emmy podcast of the 2016-2017 Emmy season, Chris Pepper and I focus on the Limited Series and TV Movie categories.

Starting with Supporting Actress and Actor, we debate if American Horror Story can still muster nominations for Emmy winners Kathy Bates and Sarah Paulson or will Ryan Murphy's new venture, Feud: Bette and Joan, gobble up those spots for Judy Davis and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Category placement is still up in the air for many performances right now so we could see a different lineup in the coming months. 

Lead Actor is next with debate about Ewan McGregor in a double role for Fargo making it in or possibly getting the Patrick Wilson treatment. And, are both Riz Ahmed and John Turturro (The Night Of) getting in?

We hit the top categories, Limited Series and TV Movie, which feel much more locked than they should be at the moment. 

We end on the most competitive Emmy category in many years, Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie. Jam packed with Oscar winners and nominees, this category has 10 legitimate contenders vying for six spots. Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Jessica Lange, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Carrie Coon, Felicity Huffman, Regina King, Oprah Winfrey, and Viola Davis will battle it out here. There will be snubs. 

Intro music: Opening theme to Feud: Bette and Joan by Mac Quayle

Outro music: Opening theme to Big Little Lies: "Cold Little Heart," by Michael Kiwanuka

On this 52nd Oscar podcast, the last of the 2016-2017 awards season, I'm honored to have AwardsDaily's Sasha Stone and Ryan Adams as guests for the post-Oscar post-mortem.

After last night's historic win for Moonlight in Best Picture and an announcement fiasco unlike anything the Academy Awards have ever seen before, there is a lot for Stone, Adams and myself to talk about.

Between our personal appreciation for Moonlight (and La La Land, for that matter) the conversation traverses politics and emotions as we analyze the academic reasons for the film's success and why it was so important that it won.

We cover the perceived backlash and controversy that arrived late for La La Land, what streaks and records were broken last night and which ones held true, including that Best Actor SAG stat where we saw Denzel Washington lose to Casey Affleck.

This podcast runs 1h 36m with music.

Intro: A24's 'Moonlight' trailer featuring music from Nicholas Britell's Oscar-nominated score

Outro: Thomas Newman's "New York City By Day" from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack of Desperately Seeking Susan

Well, here we are. The last prediction podcast of the 2016-2017 Oscar season.

I am joined by Gold Rush Gang members Kenneth and Evan for a deep dive into all 24 categories, starting off with the last batch of guilds that announced and using them as the jumping-off points for those Oscar categories.

That carries us into a conversation about Hidden Figures in this race, a film that's done very well with the guilds even though it has only three Oscar nominations, none of which it's a frontrunner for.

Then we hit a pair of highly competitive races, Best Actor between Denzel Washington (Fences) and Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) and Best Supporting Actor between Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) and Dev Patel (Lion).

Here is the itinerary/agenda of the podcast.

Last week of guilds:

MPSE – Sound 
MUAHS – Makeup and Hairstyling (Star Trek Beyond v Suicide Squad)
WGA – Screenplays
CDG – Costumes (Will Jackie become the first winner here without a Production Design nom since Elizabeth: The Golden Age?)
Hidden Figures
Actor (Denzel Washington v Casey Affleck)
Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali v Dev Patel)
Shorts
Animated
Foreign Language Film (Toni Erdmann v The Salesman)
Documentary Feature (OJ v 13TH)
Actress
Music – Song and Score
Costumes
Prod Design
Cinematography
Actress
Director
Picture

This podcast runs 3h 4m with music.

Intro music: ‘Going Green’
Outro Music: ‘New York City’ By Day by Thomas Newman from the Desperately Seeking Susan soundtrack

In our 50th Oscar podcast, I am joined by Gold Rush Gang member Bryan Bonafede.

With BAFTA behind us, Bryan and I dig deep into that Dev Patel win and how much it and Lion's recent surge will impact the Oscar race. We also cover most of the tech categories, their history and correlation with Oscar and where BAFTA might have convinced us to change our Oscar rankings. La La Land lost Costumes, Production Design, Film Editing, and Sound so we look closely at the films that won these, compare them with recent guild announcements from the Art Directors and ACE Eddies as well as upcoming ones like Costume Designers and both Sound guilds.

The battle for Best Actor is next and it's a battle between the overwhelming critics' winner Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) and two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington (Fences). Between personality, awards history and checkered pasts, this is a category ripe for surprise and we detail the reasons we've chosen who we've predicted to win.

We also look at the Visual Effects category where, while we both agree that The Jungle Book is the undisputed frontrunner, we each make a case for a possible spoiler in Deepwater Horizon and Kubo and the Two Strings. 

With the Writers Guild of America this weekend we look at how, or if, the winners there will have much impact on possible Oscar results since category placement and eligibility between the two bodies don't match up very well. That said, Bryan and I both agree that at WGA the race for Original is between La La Land and Manchester by the Sea (where Moonlight is nominated) while the Adapted category (where Moonlight is Oscar-nominated) looks like a fight between Arrival and Hidden Figures. WGA predictions will be up tomorrow. 

Don't fret, we end with talking about Best Actress and just how far ahead Emma Stone and if a chance for an Isabelle Huppert spoiler is in the cards.

This podcast runs 1h 36m.

Intro music: 'Going Green'
Outro Music: 'New York City' By Day by Thomas Newman from the Desperately Seeking Susan soundtrack

With two of the three major guilds (PGA and SAG) having announced their winners, Gold Rush Gang member Júlia and I break down what the winners mean in terms of the Oscar race.

From the surprise wins for Hidden Figures and Denzel Washington (Fences) at the Screen Actors Guild to La La Land's march to an easy win at PGA, there's actually a lot to talk about.

We start with the PGA and its correlation to Oscar's Best Picture and where we now see Hidden Figures in that race. Then it's on to Supporting Actor where we wax poetic on Mahershala Ali's speech (lots of swooning here) and Viola Davis (Fences) as she steamrolls through the season and her competition. Best Actress is next, where Emma Stone (La La Land) stands alone as the frontrunner but who is next - Portman or Huppert? I detail why Portman might not be the #2 people think she is and why I think she lost. Next is Best Actor, which threw us a big left turn. Is Denzel Washington the new frontrunner or was he all along? Finally, we talk at length about the win for Hidden Figures for SAG's top award.

READ: 2017 Oscar Predictions - Post-Producers Guild, Screen Actors Guild

We close with predictions for next weekend's Directors Guild of America (DGA) awards and the impact on the Foreign Language Film race from the Trump administration's devastating anti-Muslim ban in regards to Iran's The Salesman and its director, Asghar Farhadi.

This podcast runs just over one hour.

Ok folks, get comfortable. This 48th Oscar podcast, our final Oscar predictions podcast before the nominations are announced on Tuesday the 24th is epic. 3h 25m epic. But don't be afraid; Chris, Bryan and I tackle all categories (except the shorts, sorry shorts) with laser precision and detail, offering up potential spoilers, justifications for crazy predictions as well as wondering if too much agreement within the group means we could be dead wrong.

We know La La Land will dominate on Tuesday but who will surprise? Is Nocturnal Animals the contender that BAFTA and the Golden Globes think it is? Is Isabelle Huppert safe? What about Best Picture - will we see all nominees come from the PGA top 10 or is something lurking in the dark? Will there be eight or nine nominees? What's the weakest link? The answer might surprise you. 

READ: 2017 Oscar Predictions: FINAL Predictions in ALL Categories

After all, it's the Oscars, anything's possible.

In this 47th Oscar podcast, Gold Rush Gang member Júlia and I have a lot to discuss. The Golden Globes were last week and brought with them the deluge of La La Land's history-making wins, the shocks of Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Isabelle Huppert and the triumph of Moonlight in the 11th hour. 

Then, BAFTA nominations showered Nocturnal Animals with love and held back on Moonlight. 

PGA and DGA showed us that Harvey isn't out of the fight just yet as Lion roared back to life, landing at both guilds. 

All this and more on a supremely succinct podcast that runs less than an hour.