Half in the Bag Episode 104: The 2016 Oscars

half in the bag oh no we're too late the last two humans have died in unrelated matters alcoholism and obesity horrible morbid obesity what oh no sir we're not dead we're just very cold and bored hey did you alien [ __ ] nuke our planet no that was your own doing for we are benevolent aliens as you would call us we have been watching you humans for centuries and we're here to help hmm oh so you've come to help us get down off this mountain no no no I'm here to help you save your species okay now since you're the last to left I don't forget about mr. blinken Oh the old man already hung himself Oh No there goes the daisy chain now it's something entirely different shut up and listen okay I'm going to send you both back in time you will replace your former selves with you now once you're back in time it is very important that you warn your leaders about the war the Iranian nuclear treaty was a [ __ ] disaster you all knew it but you did it anyway so what about this [ __ ] house will you get this house off the goddamn mountain I'm trying to save your species and and all you care about is this [ __ ] house well I mean if the house is back on the ground and that means we could go to it and help mr. blinken fix his VCR and he pays us a lot of money yeah and that's how we make our living so alright fine fine I'll I'll put your house sign on some [ __ ] like Milwaukee or something no that works perfect well that's incredibly convenient that's a very short commute from Milwaukee yeah that's really not bad now why thank you mr. alien you've really helped us get out of this hole we've written ourselves and I mean gotten ourselves into okay now prepare yourself to be sent back in time I'm going to operate the Cano Tremec device or oh the kana tronic device oh my gosh boy do you think that alien transporter beam will give us cancer probably oh well hey we're back in the VCR repair shop finally oh yeah huh but Jay wasn't there something really important that we were supposed to do um yeah talk about the Oscars so the Oscars are right around the corner February 28th 2016 and this may be the first year in history of ever that collectively we've seen all the Best Picture nominees I've yeah you've seen all of them to know that's why I said collectively oh sorry you're pointing at yourself have you seen all of them I've seen all of them wow that's impressive I've seen all eight Best Picture nominees okay I've not seen any of the animated feature bus pictures but I don't care well it's a little bizarre to have in the same category Shaun the Sheep nominated alongside animal Lisa the new Charlie Kaufman existential drama so that animated category is a little bit of a joke well if it's animated then it doesn't matter well that's like slick then then have don't have Best Picture like all these movies are so completely different like if you're gonna have a Best Animated then you have to have subcategories for that too I don't know it's it's a bunch of nonsense the Oscars are a bunch of nonsense so let's talk about them yeah let's talk about them well I guess we'll get into the Best Picture last but it's when we're talking about like the other categories when we say what our predictions are there's almost two different predictions you have to make which is what I personally would like to see when and what I assume will win based on the Academy and history and the type of movies that usually went yeah so I mean sometimes there's upsets there's things that you think will sweep but don't um go ahead and and then there's you know ones that you go oh okay they're going to give it to that and then they do all right you just like roll your eyes it doesn't matter I don't know why people get in such a such a fervor over the Oscars I mean if there's a celebrity of it all of course all right obviously everyone all the stars are there and they're all dressed up no make the speeches in everyone but the the actual Awards like who cares all I care about is waiting to see any of them do anything embarrassing Jennifer Lawrence has created herself a new Oscars tradition she falls for the second year last year and this year in her opening monologue you got John Travolta touching what's-her-face he couldn't say that lady's name right please welcome the wickedly talented one and only idea that does he right and then the next year they tried to make a joke out of it and he made things worse mmm darling my beautiful my we could be talented idina menzel is that right I don't know it's like once the Oscars happened the next day immediately I forget everything about them yeah so the only thing that people remember is celebrities doing things that are embarrassing yes that's all that really matters about the Oscars and James Franco and a dress can we say more those more embarrassing than Marlon when Marlon Brando dressed up like a lady Indian and accepted his award no I'm sure someone will make a speech about diversity and everyone will clap they'll all be so proud of themselves and their bravery because of a private industry or drugs event show that's all this is yes people people treat it like like it's an election like it's just an industry awards event like I don't know well if we can't look up to celebrities as role models then who can we look up to it's also widely known that the Oscars is the rich white people drama Awards because comedy feature films don't get Best Picture yes rarely do sci-fi films or fantasy films get Best Picture Return of the King did a couple exceptions but for the most part comedy Annie Hall right yeah mt7 but for the most part it's white people drama Awards so yeah British accent you get an Oscar you play a character with some sort of disability challenge or struggle then you get an Oscar make yourself ugly if you're a pretty person that looks ugly that's apparently a very brave thing to do it's like an award for sound design Krampus did not get award for sound design or nomination I should say for sound design even though it had amazing sound design but I'm sure the revenant did yes because it was a movie where a guy was in the woods by himself so must have good sound right because there's no other things going on but it had terrible song Krampus did but Krampus was a silly movie about a killer monster on Christmas now that stuff doesn't doesn't garner the attention of rich old white men yes so rich old white men go oh the revenant it's a movie about a guy in the woods the title almost sounds like something you would hear like as a parody in like a fake Oscars yes evidence yes by movie but it's on the movie itself sounds like a joke so you could complain that there's a lack of diversity this year but you can also complain that they didn't give Krampus a nomination for sound design and they gave it to the revenant I don't even know if this is true I'm assuming revenant got a nomination sound design and if it didn't something else stupid did I'm sure the Danish girl did did you hear how she put that teacup down oh it's great sound design yes and so there's a lot of snubs there's a lot of bias I guess not not necessarily all in race chair but in in genre and type and all that and they made that that animated category a couple years ago but you know they're not going to make categories for best comedy in the feature film it's it's best acting right mostly drama and that's what it is so Mike who's nominated for supporting actress for supporting actress our nominees are Jennifer Jason Leigh into hateful eight Rooney Mara for Carol Rachel McAdams in spotlight Alicia vikander for the Danish girl and Kate Winslet and Steve Jobs or me Winslet played Steve Jobs oh no she did that was just really good makeup yeah Kate Winslet she did a really good job as Steve Jobs mmm I mean like she really pulled it off the weird thing she can't look like Michael Fassbender after they put all the makeup on her well I think that was the idea was Kate Winslet playing Michael Fassbender playing Steve Jobs so you know it's layers it's layers and the Academy likes that that's why she got the nominee that's why she got the nomination yes but what do you think will win I'm my vote is for Jennifer Jason Leigh for do for doing the best acting and concealing her shock while her rustle smashed a priceless antique guitar she could have said oh [ __ ] could have ruined the whole take and she she stayed in character she did the best acting she could under horrendous circumstances so I'm gonna say Jennifer Jason Leigh just because I thought she was really great in the movie and because I haven't seen any of the other movies but I'm gonna say what we'll probably actually win is Alicia vikander for the Danish girl because that's the sort of newcomer that they like to prop up early in their career Ian Ayre she's also an ex machina which is much better movie than almost everything nominated and it wasn't nominated for hardly anything so I'm going to go with her now let's talk about actor in a supporting role and I have seen every one of these films oh my god guess that makes me sexist christian bale and the big short tom hardy the revenant Mark Ruffalo spotlight Marc reliance balance in Rylance I think I don't care bridge of spies Sylvester Stallone and create a what's your pick and personally I would say Sylvester Stallone and Creed but that's my own personal bias because I have a soft spot for that character but I actually think the winner would be that Mark Rollins from bridge of spies that seems like the type of supporting role that's just so natural and it's an older guy he played the spy yeah okay yeah um and he was in the movie I didn't think the movie was anything terribly spectacular or interesting but talk about a movie when we talk about a movie but I thought he was very good my my vote is for Tom Hardy in the revenant I love Tom Hardy you'd be another personal pick I thought he was great in that movie but I don't know if that's the type of performance that it's a little too little too dirty little too gruff they like the the sort of classic kind of like that Mark Rylance guy and bridge of spies he's like classic actor man it's the opposite of the Alicia vikander where how they like to prop up the young people they also like to prop up the older people that have never gotten their their shiny moment yet so lead actress we've got Cate Blanchett's for Carroll DC Carroll brie Larson room Jennifer Lawrence joy Charlotte Rampling 45 years what the [ __ ] is that that's an old grandma and so the actress I'll never be able to pronounce her name right for Brooklyn says Cersei ropes a rope while my pick is for brie Larson for room mine too we'll talk about room extensively but she's great in it yeah um I didn't see Carole Cate Blanchet she was in the Lord of the Rings films right as the elf she was she's also been in some other movies that aren't Lord of the Rings movies she's sort of like if she's in a movie that year I just nominate her Cate Blanchett and Kate Winslet should fight each other for names my name is better [ __ ] I predict the winner will be Kate Kate litt yes ah that's me no that's me you we're not even at the same category are you crazy I want the award and then she smacks her in the head with the Oscar hashtag Oscar so bad because of all the blood Jennifer Lawrence looks like a little kid playing dress-up and everything she's in that's how I felt about American hustle I was like why is this little kid hanging out with all these older people um but yeah this joy movie one I don't particularly like David O'Russell no and I don't really like Jennifer Lawrence so it's like we're gonna be [ __ ] drama you're gonna [ __ ] like it it's going to be about a woman who made a mop and we're gonna take this this story and it's gonna be so [ __ ] important yes and that's a great David O'Russell impression by the way I don't know if you've ever seen interviews yeah he has that sort of intensity yeah yeah and and then she's like they have that lunch you do whatever you can to get to the [ __ ] tapping [ __ ] and one yes or speak on my behalf about my business again there's a clip where she's uh she's berating the the guy on the cell phone no ah I pick up the gun she was at the Golden Globes and and this is where she came off like an ignorant kid because there was a guy and they were asking questions at the Golden Globes I don't know if she won or not and he was reading off his phone and she's like I don't know buddy why don't you put down your phone yeah hi Hey how did you feel for the how did you see yourself for the ocean live your whole life behind your phone bro oh you just said we can't do that you gotta live in the home sorry sorry it's on yeah but it turns out he was a foreign language reporter and he was reading that trying to translate now Jesus his question was basically how does now that you've won the Golden Globe what do you think your prospects are for the Oscars chair how do you see yourself for the Oscar tonight but if you phrase it kind of in Reverse and Oscar's came out first and she goes I don't know idiot and how well we're at the Golden Globes have you if you put your phone down you'd know that and it came off like so ignorant and arrogant he's been hanging around David O'Russell too much yeah that's like he's on it he's not really he's not tweeting while he's talking to you he's reading something off his phone yeah and that was a little story and I watched the clip and I'm like oh my god how embarrassing for her yeah I live in a home sorry sorry it's on yeah this little kid was in The Hunger Games and I became popular and then she had to contractually fulfill her obligation mystique to the x-men movies I'm gonna do this movie where I put on blue paint and walk around naked it's [ __ ] awful I'm working with David O'Russell now now Hollywood royalty and getting Oscars and gonna do this crap this [ __ ] so she's like most of the other actors and actresses in Hollywood yes but she's not mature enough to hide it yet yes and that's the problem all these people are [ __ ] all of them all big [ __ ] right and then but they all know how to hide it real well because they've played the game long enough yes speaking of [ __ ] let's talk about actor in the world well we have Bryan Cranston in Trumbo which nobody in the world is seen including Bryan Cranston we have Matt Damon for the Martian Leo for the revenant Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs which is confusing because I thought that was Kate Winslet and then Eddie Redmayne in Oscar bait yeah well this is a tough one everyone says Leo should win because he's been in movies a long time and he acted in the cold I'm going to go with that Leo gets quote-unquote snubbed that's the tradition is that he gets snubbed and everyone thinks he'll win this because of the revenant is the greatest thing on earth it's this year's boyhood it's this year's boyhood and look what happened to boy hit last year yes so I don't know it's a tough one it definitely won't be Matt Damon you didn't like his performance as Matt Damon that movie sucked so hard well we'll talk about that we get the best pictures I'm going to say Leo because he ate a raw fish all right salt eggs so you're taking the cynical approach I'm take it oh yeah absolutely I went with all the ones that I say are gonna actually win it's pretty much a cynical approach okay um I think this will be the year that he finally gets it and they'll be articles written about him finally getting is just do I'm picking I'm picking the upset when I'm going with Bryan Cranston for Trumbo okay I have a feeling all right you think that'll be the the unexpected it'll be the unexpected underdog win okay cuz everyone loves Bryan Cranston plus that's a movies about communists in the Hollywood industry and blacklisting and if it's about the industry then that's a good sign that he will win and all those old old crusty old white men were probably around during the blacklist arrow yeah of Wisconsin's own Senator Joseph McCarthy proud proud Senator Joseph McCarthy and his efforts to blacklist communists and I think that's what the films about so the crusty old white men will pick that I was not nominated for Best Picture but anyway I'm going for Bryan Cranston Trumbo alright cuz everyone's gonna go prank Redmond he's going to give a really good speech he's gonna man runs a warm welcome poles political [ __ ] yeah it's going to warm the cockles of everyone's heart definitely oh and everyone will be pissed off now onto Best Picture and while we talk about Best Picture we're also going to do quick many reviews of the films with the exception of Mad Max fury road and the revenant they already talked about them very talked about them so look up these episode numbers right here if you want to see our reviews of those films but we're going to quickly talk about the ones I'm going to talk about all the ones I've seen Jay has been too busy to see the other films well how am I supposed to see all these movies when I have three seasons of the Bates Motel to get through our first nominee is called the big short didn't see it it was about it was film about the housing market collapse 2008 it was a very folk you mentor II kind of thing because it was it was very like it reminded me of if you watch a documentary about this subject the recreations of things that happened and thence characters talk to camera break the fourth wall it's kind of funny in parts and but then it's also a narrative as well the direction of it just felt odd and Steve Carell is in it and the whole time he talks like prison Mike from the office when the hell did we forget all that the worst thing about prison was that was the Dementors they were flying all over the place and they were scary and then they come down and he sucked the soul out of your body and at height everyone say I haven't seen that Foxcatcher movie but I know he does like a weird voice in that to lock sketcher was great I I'm sure it's fine but I see him in these roles and all I can think of his Michael Scott pretending to be somebody else no no Foxcatcher he actually transcended and he became a it was like an actor okay I was like oh yeah that's Michael Scott did you know Foxcatcher was a really good movie they tried their best to do a little like like fun bits they're like here's um here's Margot Robbie in a bathtub to explain to you you know about this and then it cuts there and she's drinking champagne and bathtub that's like here's a famous restaurant chef so so and so to explain to you this and he's like well the housing market is a piece of meat i cuddle it you know and it had cup but it didn't do it a lot it just did a couple times and I'm like what what's going on and it seemed a little scatterbrained a little unfocused and then at the end I was like I'm not that interested in the housing market collapse we target strippers won't even all cash-rich not going to be able to refinance on all my loans what do you mean all your loan high five houses in the condo a bridge of spies we both recently saw this and that's an in one ear out the other movie it's a movie it's the movie esteem ever seen it's worse than the movies movie I've ever seen bridge of spies oh my god first of all I love historical films I love Steven Spielberg I love Tom Hanks but this movie was the most boringest thing I've ever seen III was it's it's a well made movie of course I mean it's Spielberg because a him and Scorsese their like they were born to make movies and so I was constantly I was actually distracted because I was so bored by the story I was just distracted by the technique and be like man even though a simplistic scene like he knows how to to move the camera and keep it looking interesting and at that Janusz Kaminski lighting everything's blowing background windows are constantly blown out which is something that's always bothered me about his lady but the story of the movie I didn't think was a terribly interesting it's it's bizarre the the I was familiar with the storyline I mean I everyone knows about the not everyone but in the Cold War a u2 pilot the u-2 spy plane got shot down over the Soviet Union he was captured and then later they're gone out yes it's like a movie made exclusively for the trailer they've exciting action sequence where the plane gets shot down that felt so out of place with the rest of it yeah they are countries are at war you know you got to go over to East Berlin and you know do this thing and they show people getting shot on the Berlin Wall and like oh my god this can be a super spy kind of thing and then Tom Hanks gets her and he's like I've got a cold and I just want to go home and get this over with let me talk to your guy okay well we want this other guy to this American student also got you want to guys for one guy I don't know I want to talk to this guy I got a cold let's be on the bridge and then they make up this like tents thing where are the Germans going to drop off the the US student to checkpoint charlie or not is he there is he there on a row oh he's there listen okay the movies over yeah nothing exciting happens in the whole movie nothing tense even I don't I don't even want action I don't want Tom Hanks driving around on a motorcycle and cars like banging into him like shoot it happen I don't want that I just want some tension to intrigue some betrayal or some drama and it was just lots of talking about talking about the exchange that eventually happens yeah a little to no consequence or attention well I think it's trying to do because I didn't see the Lincoln movie but I know you saw it right and there was focused more on like one specific aspect of it wasn't just like an overview of Lincoln so I think it's the same with this they're trying to do it where it's not focused on everything this guy accomplished but this one little moment of history yeah well it's it's Spielberg likes the historical characters that that made a difference you know you're Oskar Schindler's or whatever and we're this the little man the low man with the briefcase does an important thing right and then that's what this was but it was so boring it's funny to see like because of the end credits are rolling and it gets the of the credits and you have the Amblin logo that they still use or the little et in the cart and the bike yeah it's like oh that's when Spielberg made movies damn it so what else do we got the only enjoyment I got from it was I was the whole time I was pretending it was Tom Hanks character from Saving Private Ryan who had survived the war and went on to do these things okay I was like and I just kept thinking about his previous adventures the world war two I'm like it's the same character that was the only enjoyment I got out of it also I had a 30-minute nap in the middle which was quite refreshing and didn't miss any of the film what's not you missed the scene where the two characters met in a room and talked about where they were going to meet next this movie had more scenes of people talking in a room than a room so next up we have Brooklyn I did not see Brooklyn I just saw Brooklyn I kept getting a confused with Boulevard for some reason I think because they both begin with the same letter of the alphabet that's a real real good reason to confuse two films that's that's that's all a god I kept confusing a Brooklyn with Beastmaster for the same reasons Brooklyn was a lovely sweet charming film it was about a girl and from Ireland and she has an older sister and they lived with their mother and the older sister says you got to get out of Ireland and go to America and then she meets Tony Danza and falls in love it's a straight up classic dramatic coming-of-age story with some some romance and heartbreak and I got a I got to make the right choice to get out of my my little town and and follow my dreams I guess it was written by Nick Hornby no well he wrote an adapted screenplay from a novel she goes back to Ireland and then like they're all trying like well you could get a job here and this this young man is available and you can have a life you like the mother wants her to stay and then they would become like I'm just going to live in I hear and but in America there's lots of new opportunities there's lots of different things there's Tony Danza apparently yet Tony danza's there and it's it's a solid solid movie it's a classic oscar-nominated film okay um it bordered on a little Nicholas Sparks II a little bit not too much but little leaning towards that way but like Gramma's are going to love this film grandmas are going to go in there and and go that was lovely it's a very unoffensive it's it's very sweet it's very heartwarming and it has all the little points of drama right at the right moments I mean it's a solid [ __ ] movie but it's not a stand out movie all right it's not a movie you go you got to go see that that was amazing that was really different but it's a solid solid movie Oh anyway what's next next we have Mad Max fury road which of course we've already discussed s-- ivory watched it a couple times since our episode I don't know if you have I've grown to appreciate it more and more and watching it a couple more times just the the ambition of the film making the the way it tells the story through action there's not lots of stopping for exposition just a really great entertaining movie plus watch it at home in surround sound it sounds [ __ ] great I want them back well this is a good point too to segue into a slightly different discussion it's about best pictures and and there's a lot of people saying revenants going to revenants going to one after seeing other films in this in the in this list of best pictures I hate the revenant because one I didn't I didn't get any I didn't get any emotional attachment to anything happening in the revenant yeah and then people go like well oh you know it's it's so technically amazing they shot in the cold and you're talking about Mad Max fury road I didn't get too emotionally invested in Mad Max fury road but boy oh boy is it a great well done technically executed action movie yes and so that I would say I had more emotional connection to Mad Max than I did the revenant I did - yeah but but you know as far as like general dramatic emotion so what it what qualifies Best Picture I mean I know it's just everyone just votes for whatever but you look at the revenant and then you look at something like room and then you go one is good in this way and one is good in this way right and so well that's like what I was saying about the animated category yeah like it like a Charlie Kaufman movie in the same category is a kiddie movie about sheep like that doesn't make any sense yeah I mean art is subjective right our art is not artists I think I would describe artists how something makes you feel okay and so you could have a really technically accurate painting or you can have a painting that's terrible but makes you feel a certain way makes you feel an emotion and I think if if a work of art draws an emotional response out of you it's a better work of art than something that's more technically competent in my opinion I catch [ __ ] sometimes for not caring for Blade Runner this how could you not like Blade Runner it's the most amazing thing ever and it's like I understand on a technical level how amazing that movie is I get nothing out of that movie emotionally story-wise yeah that movie does nothing for me yeah I I can I can marvel at the technique and the style and the look and the builds this universe but I get nothing out of it yeah aside from an appreciation for the technical aspects but while we're on that subject let's talk about something that doesn't work in any format the Martian Matt Damon's stupid phase Matt Damon on Mars yeah a lot of people like this movie this is one I would say in a technical level I mean it's Ridley Scott he knows how to make a movie but the whole movie is a boy this is quite a predicament gotta figure out a way out of this okay I took care of it oh here's another problem I should figure out how to do something about this alright got it that's the whole movie it's a movie trailer uh all the things are in the trailer yeah I mean I I like some of the the science aspects of it I like that there's a little more is a little more technically minded as far as some of that goes yeah but story wise dramatic wise the most exciting thing to happen was towards the end when other people were in control when he's out in space and they have to rescue him like I thought that part of the movie was was entertaining yeah this is a rare occasion where I wish for the hollywood-esque cliches like the Matt Damon character they didn't talk about they talk about parents at one point but even have like a love interest or a daughter or son you know like the movie was a movie interstellar who saw little Matthew McConaughey Christopher Nolan oh yeah at least like they had this some connection with his daughter and there was a kind of time-travel thing I remember that movie but there something was going on there it's the most emotional and entertaining movie ever made you don't remember it's um something was tugging at my heartstrings I don't know number as small and withered as my heartstrings are something attempted to tug at them and this it's like I also appreciate a dry bland science film it was somewhere in the middle sure and and Matt Damon was just like there were no challenges at one point I was wondering I'm like is anything challenging gonna happen he seems to be doing alright making those potatoes out of his poop well the door blew off at one point that's what that's what happened yeah the door blew up and I'm like oh [ __ ] that whole habitat thing's gone and [ __ ] and I was like I put some duct tape over it and it's working again that's fine uh-huh like saying these lines are not funny he was not funny Wow in your face Neil Armstrong okay so let's do the math I have enough food to last for 50 days he's going to starve to death long before we can help this tomb so I'm gonna have to science the [ __ ] out of it now I would have preferred like a more wacky likeable actor than Matt Damon well if you have someone that's a little more eccentric to start with and then as it goes along they get more desperate they get more sad and pathetic they get you know weaker skinnier you see more of a change here it's in the beginning of the movie the end of the movie has the same personality I never got any sense that there was any stake so that he was in any sort of danger yeah I mean as long-term stakes maybe like oh my god in 398 Souls he's going to run out of potatoes share and then in the last five minutes they show him like they have been another actor walk out was all skinny and gross and and then he has like glued on beard and he's like I'm sickly now all of a sudden I was in this rough no matter what happens tell the world to my family never stop Friday well it's weird you look at something like alien and there's the the scenes early on in that we're I mean the spaceship feels lived-in it feels real and they're the dialogue between the characters it's overlapping and it feels so it almost feels like a documentary it feels so like grounded and real and then you look at the Martian and cement Damon just like being silly that's weird yeah yeah you want the conveying character one to be likable and I guess he was somewhat likable but two to be to be flawed and to be in danger and weak yeah and and go through challenges and struggles and really to root for him right and he was just like I'm Matt Damon I could do anything I'm gonna science the [ __ ] out of this eat that Neil Armstrong ha ha ha yeah aren't I awesome I don't know this does seem like a movie for dummies and I kind of reminded me that gravity film I was thinking of gravity a lot dorita where it's like there's an interesting story here but it's it's never like it feels like too much Hollywood schmaltz yeah that sort of keeps it from yeah keeps you from getting invested yes it keeps it from feeling real gravity held up for the first 80 percent until Sandra Bullock was flying around with the fire extinguisher in the face and that's exactly what happens at the end of this yeah yeah I'm an Iron Man the [ __ ] out of this don't you can you just die we'll talk about spotlight real quick and then we'll close with the room spotlight was boring I think the problem these are all Best Picture nominees and you're saying they're all boring Mike I think the problem is that you're not I didn't say everything was boring you're not not intelligent enough or hoity-toity enough to appreciate these slow-moving dramatic films I am maybe that's possibly maybe we just watched too much crap on this show no no spotlight was a good film um what I mean by boring is that it was very straight forward it looks like the but like classic oscar-nominated despot and it has some similarities to bridge of spies because it's like it's about spotlight is the name of this like newspaper article and a group of people that like the you know do these specific stories they spotlight this story okay and then they kind of get wind of this the Catholic priest sex abuse stuff and then there they start doing some investigating and then they uncover like all this abuse has been going on for a long time it's been covered up and then there's you know the politicians local politicians cover for the priests and then they start digging and then they kind of expose the story and then you know there's no there's no fight scene with the priest where Mark Ruffalo's on top of a subway car you're he's throwing a siddik holy water atom as the the the subway car flips off the tracks and Mark Ruffalo goes like this they're none of that happens it's just like let's look at these files and figure out what's happening it sounds like the type of thing that would work better as a documentary than as a narrative yes exactly like bridge of spies like I'd like the vege Big Short too which was partial documentary kind of well yeah it's so it's and then at the end it's like a sex abuse priests everywhere and it's like here's all the lists of cities where there's been molestations that's like somber as a literal lists as little as Benny Hill music playing no no it's a good thing you aren't in charge of the music for the film but no it's like depressing sad music the end is basically list every city in the whole world for like 15 minutes and it's like the spotlight kind of started the whole thing where they uncovered how priests molest little kids and then kind of cover it up but there wasn't much to the story as far as a real life event so yeah documentary and then so but it's one of those movies that's political that brings out well you know when they make their speech at the end destruct abuse and the church is still going on and you know this movie hopefully will bring more awareness to that so because no one was aware of it before this movie yeah but like a solidly made movie but I'll never think of it again except for the moment when a priest dressed such my wing now say hey why don't you watch spotlight you [ __ ] anyways let's talk about our last film and my pick for Best Picture which you won't get because the revenant because they filmed in the cold yes is room well this films called room which is kind of an unfortunate title because a lot of people will probably confuse it with another film with a similar title and happens to be terrible roomie and Michele's high school reunion yeah and you know you don't want to confuse it with that film I heard there was a lot of angry people coming back to the box office as they're just horribly confused yeah they're saying where was Lisa Kudrow so glad Lisa Kudrow is back on the big screen yeah so you finally saw a room I just saw room and it's fantastic I think the first half is a little bit stronger than the second half but that's almost by design because the the big dramatic exciting moment is about halfway through the movie yes and then the rest of the film is the the aftermath of that is of course about I will talk a little bit about spoilers I don't know how much was given away in the synopsis or the trailer or anything for this movie right I didn't know anything about it I saw the poster and it's it's mom hugging childs and I already pictured the whole movie in my head is like oscar-nominated movie about the relationship between a mother and a child and would be whimsical will be uh there's something there's a room and there's a room involved but they'll be tug at your heartstrings music and then within the first five minutes I was like oh this is not what I was expecting at all yeah all I remember hearing about it and you know we're throwing out a spoiler warning here because it's it's nice to have watched this film without any foreknowledge right because I didn't know anything about it I knew it was about two people in a room and like a kid adjusting once he gets out of the room and that's all I learned so brie Larson and Lil boi it starts off with them in a room it reminded me a little bit of a horror film called hidden starring Alexander Skarsgard about a family that's you know like a fallout shelter kind of thing underground shelter and which is a good movie if you haven't probably all you heard of it yeah it's good unexpected turns it takes yes it's a recomm datian no yeah so you're like okay was this post apocalypse is this issue in a weird religious cult or what's going on and then you start to realize that they're being held captive by a crazy person and but the point of the movie is it's a real good character movie it's about it's not about them escaping or you know getting the guy and all that like it's about character adjustments and I'm growing and this little this little boy was born in this room does not know of the world outside of it right and that's that's where the drama comes from that's the interesting aspect of it is him adjusting to this world like just trying to picture yourself in that position of like you know the mom for so long kind of kept the real world you know hidden from him yeah like everything they have a little TV in there and he's she's saying that's magic don't fake like finally when it gets to the point where the mom tells the kid the truth there's this sort of him kind of trying to understand it like is it such a foreign concept to someone in that position I some windows hundreds of cars and birds in Grandma and Grandpa yeah someone he'd like to meet you holy friend us no you will never find us it's it's kind of through the lens of the little kid and and you don't you don't you see you there's a lawyer there there's like media and then they guys are going to do this trial and they never say what happened to the guy that you see one shot of a TV or they say he was arrested and then he's never talked about again which I thought was great because that's not the focus of the story that that's like um it's that would have been a real easy-like drama like like like ploy brie Larson goes to the trial and she's I ball him well I think in an in a more traditional movie the kid escaping would be the climax of the entire movie but to you know that's another way they would take it out so the fact that it happens about halfway through and then it completely shifts gears it becomes a very sort of focused character story about the mom both of them adjusting to the real world and the mom I'd like that it didn't it wasn't terribly conventional it went to some darker places than I was expecting well yeah it works because we spend so much time in the room first we don't you know the whole first half of the movie we don't leave the room so much of it is from I love that because we if we wanna talk about like directing like the revenant there was talking about the amazing direction of that movie and it's I mean it's good it's a well-made movie but it's very show off he mm it's something like room I loved that's when it was just the mom and the kid it was very sort of you know two shots and then the minute someone else entered the room it was in the kid's head and it was suddenly the the camera work is more claustrophobic it was more not exactly his point of view but sort of his perspective and as the movie got went along towards the end and he sort of grew more comfortable being around people like they eased up on that visual filmmaking utilized very well in the room yeah and on the end they go back to the room and it's very small and dark and it's it's much different there's a clearly different look I would imagine I don't know if this is true but I imagine the set was much bigger when they were filming with the kid and you know lit differently of course probably a bigger space because when you're a kid thing the world seems bigger and the broom seemed like the whole world to him and the end it was just like this dark small place shows he had grown as a character and all that but yeah you're right um the revenant there was Leo Leo had old son and the best like it's bizarre because Alejandro Inarritu and birdman' birdman Michael Keaton was such a strong character and so likable and so real and it was there's so much going on and revenant was like like leo the best they could do with the flat like show him laying there with the little boy in the flashbacks yeah there's a little cute moment with the boy well yeah he's teaching them how to shoot an arrow or do something and they have basically the only interactions with Leo and the boy is he slaps him on the head to shut up yeah don't talk and then it's like oh oh yeah they love each other remember when they were lying on the blanket then he's comforted him after he got burned yeah also the wife died oh no we didn't even know her Oh as in the sad no it's not set up yeah yeah in room the entire first half of the movie is getting to know these characters and only these characters so then when they get out in the real world yeah you understand both of their their perspectives but with the revenant they filmed in the cold oh okay and then Leo ate a fish great film absolutely it would be my pick for Best Picture I don't know if I'm going cynical on this it might be beyond cynical I think it might be sort of an underdog I think it might be the movie that like boy had last year everyone thought was going to win and then it didn't yeah maybe the room the policy I'm going to do it maybe room will will overtake something like revenant I'm hoping revenant does not win best picture and Romy and Michele's high school reunion - I keep doing it - you know it's impossible and and room wins Best Picture and also as an alternate I would love to see something like Mad Max win just to see something so unexpected and something that's such a different type of filmmaking because it happened so rarely there's something like Lord of the Rings you never know you never know just on a pure filmmaking level as far as like performances driving a story forward and being ambitious with the filmmaking everything about Mad Max I think is great ex machina wasn't nominated so we can't even say that should win but yeah I'm talking of Mad Max and room 3 best movies of the year you're just not going to can't do that you gotta live in the moment sorry sorry so yeah anyway that's our Oscar discussion and our picks sort of our picks our picks and what we want to win and what we cynically think we'll win and what we'll probably win and what probably won't win and who cares well I guess we can look forward to next year's Oscars where movies and actors will win awards for movies that will forget about until next year's Oscars what are you mute oh my god the phone's ringing lightning-fast VCR repair shop this is Mike how can I help you all right let's go god it's miss miss mr. plague advisors that's an emergency going on here my house it's in a perfectly normal location and there are no problems whatsoever goodbye

Channel: RedLetterMedia

Views: 1,778,001

Keywords: redlettermedia, red letter media, red, letter, media, half in the bag, plinkett, mike stoklasa, jay bauman, rich evans, oscars, academy awards, 2016, revenant, big short, mad max fury road, room, martian

Id: kX50REHezPY

Length: 49min 21sec (2961 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 24 2016