Lorin Williams: If you're hearing this, we thank you for pressing play on a bonus edition of It's A Stream of Life podcast with Brandon and Lauren. This week we are discussing the 98th Academy Awards, which occurred Sunday, March 15th on ABC. The nearly four hour ceremony saw one battle after another and sinners, both Warner Brothers Films, duke it out for Oscar supremacy. So before we dive into our reactions to the major winners and moments, what were your thoughts on production as a whole? Brandon: thought it was good. Long. Very long. ⁓ Conan is very good at what he does, they have got to find a way to cut it down, It's insane that a show should last as long as it did. ⁓ What I will say is that I didn't feel bored, and I was flipping back between that and baseball. ⁓ But yeah, it was way too long. everything that happened was very good. I thought it was nice. Was it a different stadium or different place where they had it? Lorin Williams: I don't think so. I think they just dramatically changed the set because it looked totally different. Brandon: Yeah, it looked wild. When they showed it from, like when they would exit stage left or right, what they were looking at looked so much different than I guess what we're used to. It just didn't look as, I won't say regal, but it just didn't look as expansive. Yeah, it was much different. Lorin Williams: right. Mm-hmm. It looked, the stage, I'm sure it was big, but it did look small with like the, not bamboo, but like the wood decal and stuff like that. Brandon: Yeah, yeah. Lorin Williams: Yeah, I'd say it was good overall. It was very long. I thought starting at seven meant it would be done at ten, but that was not the case. We can get into that later where we thought they could shorten it up. But I think Conan does a great job. He balances the scale of jokes that aren't mean or vindictive, like a Jimmy Kimmel per se. Brandon: That's insane. Lorin Williams: with like seriousness. Like he's a nice guy, people enjoy him. Brandon: Right. Yay. Right, he's almost the... Lorin Williams: He can make fun of himself as well. Brandon: Right, he's got like cutting humor, but he's so silly in a way. And I don't mean silly to kind of mean he's like childish, but he's a little bit more light. So yeah. Lorin Williams: Right, right. Yeah, that it does help. Yeah, so I think Conan did a good job. I think he could come back definitely I thought the opening bit was good the running through scenes as Amy Matting's character from weapons The reduction wise I think it went well overall there were moments that felt like communication wasn't quite right There was a moment where Conan Brandon: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Lorin Williams: They must have came to him too early where they didn't signal him so he just kind of standing there waiting for the prompter waiting for them in his ear. It like, what's going on? So that was kind of weird. Brandon: Yeah. Yeah, it was a... Lorin Williams: It seemed a little off balance production wise. Brandon: Oh no, I was just gonna say the... Yeah, every time they have one of these, there always seems to be something wrong with the audio. not so much that it's not synced up, but something's way too loud or the music's too loud. And I think you saw that during the Barbra Streisand thing. You could barely hear her. Like, the music was so loud. Lorin Williams: Right. was like, you- one, she's- she's the singer and we can't hear her? Even when she came out to start speaking, I was like, why can't we- why can't we hear Barbara right now? It was odd. the bits, some were better than others. I really like the bridesmaids one. the- the Barbara Downing Jr. Chris Pine one kinda- Brandon: Great. You're Mm-hmm. Yeah. Lorin Williams: I don't know, something about that one just didn't feel so cohesive, I don't know. Brandon: No, I agree, yeah, yeah. Lorin Williams: But most of them were pretty decent I really liked Anne Hathaway and Anna Wintour That one was good People kind of fell away about the Grogu one given it was Disney and stuff like that But they're gonna plug this themselves as much as they can And then the speeches everyone's speech was really decent if they were able to get Brandon: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's true. Lorin Williams: it often time because the wrap up people were definitely wrapping people up. I don't know if I had any favorite ones in particular. thought of course the document people always speak beautifully. I thought both the short feature and ⁓ regular feature documentary speeches were very well done, very good. I'm trying to think what else. Brandon: Right. On it. Lorin Williams: The Immemorial. That was definitely a grander, yeah, grander production there, because usually it's just the faces, but I think given who we lost and how we lost them, especially Rob Reiner and his wife, they wanted to do something a bit more grand, so that was decent. And then we'll get into now the actual winners, losers, and more. Brandon: Those are really good. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Lorin Williams: So as I said, One Battle After Another and Sinners were sort of like the two heavyweights this season. ⁓ And of course, One Battle After Another came out on top, winning six awards. Best Picture, Best Director, Adaptive Screenplay, Editing, Supporting Actor. Brandon: Yeah. Casting Lorin Williams: And casting yes And casting was the brand new award featured for the first time 98 years a lot of people believed centers was a shoe-in for casting since they had won the previous awards throughout the season It seemed to be a shoe-in. So that was sort of like an upset there ⁓ But everything else kind of predictable director ⁓ Brandon: Yeah. Right. Lorin Williams: Paul Thomas Anderson had kind of ruled that all season. He won the DGA. So that was sort of a given. So was the adaptive screenplay as well. Supporting actor, I was expecting Delroy just because of the longevity of his career, how they hadn't given it to him for the Five Bloods. And Sean Penn was not there. So. Brandon: Yeah. Yeah. Lorin Williams: ⁓ But again, then again, he was very believable in that role one battle after another so I guess I did reward the better performance. Any thoughts on their wins? Did you have any surprises for you or? Brandon: Not really. I actually made a ballot and I left it upstairs. I think I got like 10 out of 24 or however many awards there were but ⁓ No, those didn't surprise me too much. I did want Delroy to win. Like you said, I kind of wish that would have made up for ⁓ the five Bloods, but ⁓ But no, I mean those those are pretty right on the money even the best supporting actress as well. I figured Amy Madigan would probably take that Lorin Williams: Yeah, she took the actor and the critics choice, so she was the front runner. But it was a win for horror films because we know historically the Oscars have not given anything for horror. Very few actors have actually won for horror roles. ⁓ So she won and her last nomination was exactly 40 years ago. So in a way, they're kind of rewarding her career. And the same with Anderson. Brandon: We have. Yeah, that's very true. Lorin Williams: He had 14 nominations going in and zero wins for his career of 10 films. So it was, I guess, quote unquote time to reward him. ⁓ Now with Sinners, Sinners entered the awards season with the most nominations in history with 16 ⁓ and it left with four. So the Oscars are definitely more. Brandon: Right. That's insane. Lorin Williams: App to spread the awards than they used to because I can remember back in the days where it was like ⁓ This one got 13 then it's gonna win eight like Yeah, those days aren't there anymore particularly so Senors did win what they respected to original screenplay for Ryan Coogler a surprise was cinematography for ⁓ Amanda No autumn Brandon: Right, exactly, yeah. Yeah. Lorin Williams: ⁓ gosh, I'm forgetting her name already But she was the first woman and woman of color to win best cinematography in 98 years, which was insane So that was a surprise I want to make sure I get her name and then they also won ⁓ Original score because Ludwig Gorssund does not lose He just he just doesn't Brandon: ⁓ wow, yeah, that's good. Yeah, that's very true. Lorin Williams: And then Michael B. Jordan coveted the Best Actor award, which I feel he definitely deserved ⁓ being able to play two roles in the film and really delivering a performance that sort of shows his growth as an actor because we enjoy him. We support him. But people were definitely critical of his his skills in the past. ⁓ Yeah, Autumn. Brandon: Yeah, exactly. Right. Lorin Williams: Durald Archipaul, she's black and Filipino. So yeah, she wants to cinematography. And with Michael's win, there was a lot of conversation about him winning over Timothy Chalamet and sort of like that quote unquote controversial statements. ⁓ Technically, he made the statement. Okay, so people keep saying Timothy statement didn't come to The until after voting had already ended. So people claim that they had no impact ⁓ Voting ended March 5th that video of his interview with Matthew McConaughey was released two weeks ago on YouTube so the timing is Brandon: Yeah. Yeah, I just think as good as an actor as he is and as big as A24 is at putting these films out in, A24 won Best Picture last year, you think about it with Anorah, right? That was last year, right? Lorin Williams: Hit or miss there. Yeah, I thought that was neon. Brandon: I ⁓ yes, I think you're right. I think it was. ⁓ But... ⁓ Lorin Williams: My Yeah. But it's one before. Brandon: Wait, there's two tongues. There's been too many. Okay. Lorin Williams: Yeah, last year was Enora, cause last year was Mickey, Kieran Culkin, Zoey Saldana. Yeah, I thought that was forever ago. was literally just last year. Brandon: Right. It's been a long year, but well, but even then the day that One Battle of After Another came out people were always like yeah, this is the best film This is gonna win this is gonna win when sinners came out people were going in groups You know there nothing was going to top those two this year like no matter what performance he put in so but well, but even then the day that One Battle of After Another came out people were always like yeah, this is the best film This is gonna win this is gonna win when sinners came out people were going in groups You know there nothing was going to top those two this year like no matter what performance he put in so Lorin Williams: Right. Right. Brandon: Yeah, and I don't think he's hurt himself, even though what he said was kind of silly. He'll be in another film this year, probably two more next year. and people will... Yeah. Yeah, his... Yeah. Lorin Williams: Yeah, he's got dune 3 coming out. He's gonna be fine it's just it's just the drama of the awards to have sort of like the alleged beef and Shade and whatnot in the media to drum up marketing basically press ⁓ And for what it's worth people said he was Acting that repugnant the whole press run so it wasn't Brandon: Yeah Lorin Williams: something surprising, it just kinda got out to people. Brandon: video. And secondly, who went and would look and go and see a talk between Matthew McConaughey and Timothy Chalamet? Like, what kind of meeting of the minds type shit? Like, I would not be there. Lorin Williams: I don't think even in Matthew's younger years, I don't see the similarities in the roles they took. Like, Timothy's definitely done, he definitely went the more indie route to begin, where Matthew was always sort of like in the blockbusters. He didn't win or he didn't do anything artful until the Dallas, whatever movie that was. Yeah, so Brandon: No, not at all. Right. Exactly, yeah. Dallas Buyers Club, Lorin Williams: They're totally different men artistries to me, but I don't know. ⁓ In other news, let's see. We mentioned Amy Madigan winning supporting actress, Sean Penn supporting actor. I was hoping centers would pull out original song with I Lie To You, ⁓ given that performance, the first performance of the ceremony. Brandon: Yeah. Yeah. Lorin Williams: As soon as those electric guitars were struck, tears. Like, I don't, I can't control it. Like, the same moment in the movie, like, I was sobbing. It's just something, the way they constructed that song, it gets you every time. And the performance was amazing. You had all the actors on stage in their roles. And then Buddy Guy was there, Rafael Siddique. Brandon: Thanks Yeah. Yeah. Lorin Williams: Who calls Shibuzy? Brandon: D'hah! ⁓ that's funny. Lorin Williams: I it was just incredible. Of course Golden One which I guess is because I need to watch that movie I guess to get the full impact of the song because I know it was popular I just don't know if it was the best on the nomination list. Brandon: Yes, a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Lorin Williams: What didn't win was Diane Warren's song for her own documentary and made her one of the biggest losers of Oscar history with 17 consecutive losses. Brandon: That's all that, yeah. That's insane. It shouldn't be funny, but damn. Lorin Williams: And people said allegedly she doesn't have a lot of friends in the industry because the way she moves behind the scenes, which I don't know much about, but someone's got out for her. Brandon: 17 consecutive is nuts, man. They're literally nominating her just to tell her no. Lorin Williams: It's crazy Why why why it's insane ⁓ elsewhere ⁓ Frankenstein kind of won in the categories we expected costuming production design Makeup and hair so it got three So good for them more wins for horror What were other standouts? Brandon: Yeah, the That makes sense, yeah. Lorin Williams: Jessie Buckley of course. Yes, Intimidative Value. And I was, I didn't know if that was gonna be that or it was just an accident. Like I didn't know where their minds were. Brandon: Well, Sentimental Value, yeah, well deserved. Got international feature film. ⁓ Right, Now they've opened up who can vote in the academy, whatever, but sometimes you just know, because I know the United States just like you do, and we knew they weren't going to vote for the Alabama solution or the perfect neighbor. Both of those documentaries were better than the one about, I mean, how much more can we say about Putin, man? How much more? Like, I mean. Lorin Williams: And it shows that they want continue to say that that stuff happens over there, not here. But a lot of people thought the Perfect Neighbor was going to win because it had such a win streak this season. So of course we're gonna give it to Putin. And people don't see like, this shit's happening now in the US. Like, I don't... Brandon: Exactly, yeah. So... Yeah? Exactly. And all the empty rooms deserved it as well. And the unfortunate thing about that is, despite how good that was, nothing is going to change here. If that film doesn't touch you, you have no soul. It's very good. Lorin Williams: and having the victim's mother up there barely holding it together as soon as she was done I knew she fell apart because the guy had to comfort her like and I follow a podcast on Facebook and there's someone I've actually met this person in person they actually go to the TV festival I attend he has his own podcast and he's constantly downplaying when Brandon: Right. Right? ⁓ I'm sure, yeah. Lorin Williams: award shows go political or they mention politics and it's just like art is political. Brandon: political. Absolutely. Yeah. Lorin Williams: Like the people that you're celebrating, the movies you're celebrating, they're literally having their expression threatened by our government now. And for them to just be silent doesn't make sense. Brandon: Absolutely. people behind the voice of Henry Rajab couldn't even come. Like, come on, you're talking about arts, not political. I mean, secret agent. Lorin Williams: And think he's just mad that they're talking about his politics. Because he made a statement that they didn't talk about the frogs and the costumes they make fun of them. It's like, what does it make fun of? People pro- like, what are you talking about? Brandon: Absolutely, yeah. country. Lorin Williams: just don't get it. Elsewhere we say international feature. I didn't see any of the live action shorts, but we had a tie. Which has happened before. There's only been six ties in Oscar history. So you had the singers and two people exchanging saliva. And this is where we kind of had another issue with the wrap up music. They wanted to cut the guy off. Brandon: Yeah, interesting. Thank Lorin Williams: and they sort of just stood up there so he could get it off his chest, which I appreciated, but they were being very picky and cheesy with who could talk longer than others. Brandon: Yeah, I did see where the people behind ⁓ K-Pop Demon Hunters, either it for the song or the show, when it won its award. It was when they went backstage, they got to, they allowed them to finish their thank yous because they got cut off as well. Lorin Williams: Yeah Yeah, I do. I mean the woman spoke a little long and by that time I was like, ⁓ so she should have wrapped that a little bit quicker because as soon as he got ready to speak I was like they were like no ⁓ Right, it was it was unfortunate. Let's see a one not a one f1 one best sounds which I expected Mm-hmm Brandon: Yeah. Right. Sorry, right, yeah. Yeah, which it deserves. Yeah. Lorin Williams: And wasn't that the... One of these had, surprisingly, a gay man accept the award. Was it F1? Or was it edit? No, that was the guy for editing. For one battle after another. I was like, ⁓ that's nice! Brandon: Hmm... Maybe? Good. Lorin Williams: ⁓ then of course visual effects went to Avatar, Fire and Ash, and I don't know why I Journey Weaver started crying when she read, like, girl, that movie's not that deep. Brandon: Yeah. I'm tired of Avatar. Lorin Williams: I people it was just Ferngully the racist rainforest. Like, take it out. Brandon: Yeah, pretty much, yeah. Lorin Williams: And we mentioned original screenplay screenplay so like overall kind of predictable a few surprises here and there ⁓ I thought jesse buckley's speech was beautiful And she's the first irish actress to win the best actress not ⁓ award Brandon: Yeah. Yeah. Lorin Williams: ⁓ there really isn't much else. We essentially just kind of start over pretty soon. We've got films debuting at South by Southwest currently right now. ⁓ and soon Sunday Dance Films will be purchased and shipped for distribution and then the Film Festival circuit starts up again pretty soon. So Brandon: Right. bread. I think this year leading into next year's awards season, the big film is going to be whatchamacallit, the Odyssey. I think that's going to absolutely just rack up awards, visual, acting, ⁓ casting, everything, all that. There won't be much that can compete with it. That's my prediction. Lorin Williams: Yeah, cause return of Nolan. Yeah, I'd have to do like a other than that. ⁓ you've got dune three coming That'd be another thing. ⁓ i'm trying to think of other films on the radar Devil boys product two may get some type of costuming makeup ⁓ mentions Brandon: Right, yeah. Yeah, I could get in there. Yeah. Lorin Williams: What else is on the horizon? I don't think Batman 2 is this year, I think it comes out next year. Brandon: Hmm, okay. Lorin Williams: But yeah, it's gonna be interesting. And of course Conan highlighted how in 2029 the Oscars will move to YouTube, which would be a totally different phenomenon for the Academy. Allegedly it's to draw younger viewers. I don't know if they'll be interested. Brandon: That's weird to even think about. Yeah. Yeah, you're gonna draw younger viewers than alienate your older ones. People in their 60s, 70s are not gonna tune into YouTube to watch the Oscars. They're gonna be flipping around like, what channel is it on? Where is it? Exactly. Lorin Williams: Yeah, not unless their kids bring it up on the TV screen. Cause my mom was like, oh, I don't have YouTube. I only have it my phone. I said, you can put it on the TV, mom. It'll be okay. But she literally only watched on her phone. It's like, you know you can watch it on your laptop too. Brandon: Jesus. Yeah, that's what I'm saying, yeah. Lorin Williams: But it's just, it's gonna be different. Like, are they gonna have live chats? Like, are people gonna be live reacting? Like, how? Well, how are ads? That was another good bit. I forgot the ad thing when he made that announcement was really good with Jane Lynch. I just, it seems very, it's radical in a sense that they're trying new things, but it's just, I don't know. Brandon: Right. Yeah. Lorin Williams: It makes more sense to go to a streaming network than YouTube. But YouTube is the biggest media platform right now. as far as views, it's outpacing regular TV. It outpaces a lot of streaming. Like people are on YouTube for any and everything except porn. Brandon: Yeah, we'll have to see. Right, right, I agree. Yeah. Yeah. Lorin Williams: So yeah, that's two years away, which could be here very well three years away. We'd have a new president allegedly by then. So yeah. So we are glad you ⁓ tuned in for this bonus episode on our reactions to the Oscars. We will see you in April probably for our next episode since there won't be one next week. ⁓ Brandon: Yeah, I agree. Right. We hope. Yeah. Lorin Williams: But you can also, found out that the software that hosts our podcast, Riverside, will also include a website for our plan. pretty soon we'll able to have a website with our episodes there where you can easily access them and access the other channels that carry us as well. So YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts. So cool things are happening. But until then, keep on streaming. Brandon: Hmm. Peace.