2020/21 Oscar Sprint Profile Movie Reviews

Could it be this year’s Parasite? Well… as was the case with Parasite, the Mikes disagree and debate many of the finer points. But as is the case with all our film studies, we build our spoiler free first half to an Oscars discussion before analyzing the plot.

What is This Episode? - Top of Show

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN 2020 OSP:

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW:
Plot Premise/Expectations, Review Scores - 3:06

Awards Profile/Script Thoughts - 9:40

Production Values:
Sight - 15:25
Sound - 17:11

Performances:
Carey Mulligan - 21:13
Bo Burnham/Laverne Cox - 25:50
Rest of Cast - 27:26

How Many Total Noms? - 33:17

SPOILER WARNING - 35:38

SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW:
What’s Real? - 36:56
Mulholland Driving - 46:50
Subversion + Recontextualization - 51:01
Don’t I Know You? - 57:41
Highs + Lows Throughout The Plot - 1:03:40

FINAL GRADES - 1:17:00

Where To Find Us/LEAVE US A 5* REVIEW! - 1:20:51
Words of Wisdom/What’s Coming Next - 1:21:40

Promising Young Woman was one of our most anticipated films of the year, and we begin with a discussion of these high expectations. Then we analyze the Oscar possibilities throughout the rest of the non-spoiler first half as we give you some opposing thoughts on the direction & script. But we come back together for the underrated cinematography and rightfully celebrated music. Finally,  although we save more debate on where the performances of Carey Mulligan and cast rank in this year’s acting categories, we deliver some high praise to the ensemble.
 
As for our massive spoiler section, we begin with some of the issues hinted at in the first half. It’s not a throwback blow-out argument like the MMO old days. But we do get into a debate as we analyze some of the main plot points before a big discussion on the film’s end. Then we backtrack and go chronologically through a bunch of our shared best scenes until it’s time to drop our final grades.

This is the latest of many recent Oscars Profile Movie Review episodes including Mank, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Soul, and Pieces of a Woman. It’s also the first of the next flurry of film studies as we have One Night In Miami and News of the World coming soon. So stay tuned.

As always, and especially with this episode, we want to hear your thoughts. We’re at MMandOscar on Twitter, and we are at Mike, Mike, and Oscar on Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Gmail. You can subscribe / rate / review / like / share / & hear us on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Google Play, Tune In, Spotify, and just about wherever you might listen. We’re Mike, Mike, & Oscar, and we’re making awards season year round, without the stuffiness. Thank you! And do stay safe, everybody.

Promising Young Woman Review - When Harry Met Huh-oh - 2020 OSP - Ep 348

With so many Oscar possibilities, we wonder which ones could go the distance. But one thing’s for sure, Amazon Prime has a big fat glorious hit on their hands. So you get the full Oscars Profile treatment of a non-spoiler first half and a plot breakdown after that.

What is This Episode? - Top of Show

ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI 2020 OSP:

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW:
Cast; Plot Premise/Expectations, Review Scores - 1:56

Awards Profile/Regina King’s Direction - 5:39
(Including How We Know We’ll Never Know)

Script Thoughts - 8:10
(Theater Watching vs THEATER Watching)

Performances - 15:41
(Goree, Odom, Category Placement, and Parsing Through 4 GREAT Performances)

Production Values - 23:05

How Many Total Noms? - 28:15
(Does the Long Calendar Help This?)


SPOILER WARNING - 32:48


SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW:
A Change Is Gonna Come - 34:04
Slow It Down - 45:47
Why Is Sam Here? - 49:50
The Rest of the Bests - 53:58

FINAL GRADES - 1:00:18

Where To Find Us/LEAVE US A 5* REVIEW! - 1:02:23
Words of Wisdom/What’s Coming Next - 1:03:00


One Night In Miami has become the movie of the moment. Could it become the movie of the year? That’s why we do what we do. Our spoiler free first half discusses its script, direction, performances, and production values, and we contextualize all our talk around it’s many Oscar possibilities. Then in spoilers, we break down the ending and all our best and worst scenes.

Yes, we reviewed the film atop our Fall Film Festival Variety Show. But a movie like this deserves its own episode, and we were glad to give One Night In Miami the full film study treatment. So if you enjoyed this episode, check out our recent catalog with reviews on Promising Young Woman, Pieces of a Woman, Soul, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and Mank. Then stay tuned for our next episode on News of the World w/ special guest Kolby Mac, as well as planned February reviews on The Little Things, Malcolm & Marie, Judas and the Black Messiah, Nomadland, and The Father.

As always, we want to know your thoughts. We’re at MMandOscar on Twitter, and we are at Mike, Mike, and Oscar on Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Gmail. You can subscribe / rate / review / like / share / & hear us on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Google Play, Tune In, Spotify, and just about wherever you might listen. We’re Mike, Mike, & Oscar, and we’re making awards season year round, without the stuffiness. Thank you! And do stay safe, everybody.

One Night In Miami Review - Hip, Hip, Goree - Watch(ing Famous) Men- 2020 OSP - Ep 349

Kolby Mac returns to review News of the World and enjoy a Tom Hanks Top 5 with Also Mike. That’s right. It’s another episode of Mike, Mac, and Oscar, and you’re correct, I will punch myself in the face for making such a terrible dad joke. Good thing this is a good Dad movie.

What is This Episode? - Top of Show
Introducing The One And Only Kolby Mac!

NEWS OF THE WORLD NONSPOILER REVIEW:
Cast; Plot Premise/Expectations, Review Scores - 1:42
Movie Watching Experiences - 4:12
Script/Story Thoughts - 11:48
Act By Act Breakdown - 15:38
How Good Is This Hanks? - 19:03
Helena Zengel - 21:02
Production Values - 24:01

Wrap Up + Final Grades - 30:04

DUELING TOM HANKS TOP 5 
The Ground Rules/Criteria - 31:20

5s - 33:00
4s + 3s - 38:26
2s - 52:12
1s - 1:01:18

Where To Find Us + Kolby/LEAVE US A 5* REVIEW! - 1:09:40
Words of Wisdom/What’s Coming Next - 1:10:50

Make sure you all seek out everything from Kolby Mac at KolbyToldMe dot com, on social media, on his new youtube channel, and at The Kolby Told Me Podcast. He’s a longtime friend of the show, who’s also a 3 time returning MMO guest host with previous episodes on Ford v. Ferrari and Tenet. He’s a film critic we trust, he makes fun youtube videos, and he’s a podcaster we love to have on our show.

So in this latest installment of Mike, Mac, and Oscar, Kolby & Also Mike enjoy a 30 minute non-spoiler review of the latest Tom Hanks Dad Movie, News of the World before they dive into A Tom Hanks Top 5 countdown.

As always, we build our non-spoiler reviews from analysis of the script, performances, and production values to an Oscar Lens, where we discuss the potential awards chances for this film. Is Tom Hanks gonna surprise on nomination day? Can Helena Zengel break through in a wide open Supporting Actress category? And just how good is this score and cinematography? We break it all down before enjoying a duelling top 5 to celebrate one of our favorite actors and national treasures, Tom Hanks. 

What’s your favorite Tom Hanks performance? What are his best films? And how did you rank his latest film up against the rest of the Oscars field. We want to hear your thoughts. We’re at MMandOscar on Twitter, and we are at Mike, Mike, and Oscar on Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Gmail. You can subscribe / rate / review / like / share / & hear us on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Google Play, Tune In, Spotify, and just about wherever you might listen. We’re Mike, Mike, & Oscar, and we’re making awards season year round, without the stuffiness. Thank you! And do stay safe, everybody.

News Of The World + Hanks Top 5 ft Kolby Mac -  Mike, Mac, + Oscar - Ep 350

Andrew Morgan of The NOMcast returns to review Malcolm & Marie, which features some epic scenes & rants about film criticism and the business we have chosen. But above all, we celebrate the miracle of this pandemic production.

What is This Episode? - Top of Show
Introducing Andrew of the NomCast!

MALCOM AND MARIE REVIEW:

NONSPOILER REVIEW:
Movie Watching Experiences - 4:53
Plot Premise/Expectations, Review Scores - 8:30
Critics Getting Fed and Fed Up - 14:17
Script/Story Thoughts - 24:31
Production Values - 31:04
More Criticism of Critics - 38:40
How Many Noms? - 41:03
(ft Malcom and Marie and GOT)

SPOILER WARNING - 51:19

Actual Lowlights - 52:42
Fanning Each Others’ Flame - 1:02:00
Peaks and Valleys and Closure - 1:03:14
Awards Frustration - 1:10:03
Wrapping Up Highs and Lows - 1:17:22

FINAL GRADES - 1:25:30

Where To Find Us + Andrew/LEAVE US A 5* REVIEW! - 1:29:40

Do make sure to seek out Andrew at JokesOnDrew on Twitter and The NOMcast at nomcastpod on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and dot com. We’ve enjoyed many recent collaborations, including an exclusive NOMcast feed episode reviewing many 2020 hidden gems like The Life Ahead, The Forty-Year-Old Version, I’m No Longer Here, and A Sun in his NOMcast “What We Missed” special. Also check out our episode on Mank, as part of our MMO Mank Miniseries.

As for M&M, we released this episode on a Monday ahead of its Friday Netflix release, and therefore, we wanted to make sure to give you a thorough non-spoiler section. This lasted over 50 minutes, a whole episode worth, and we are able to get into several of the controversial stories surrounding the film and build that up to an awards discussion. Here, we make some unfortunate predictions, even if we feel extremely fortunate to have enjoyed this film so much.

Otherwise, we lead our spoiler section with some lowlights and a few serious criticisms both on the craft and the content. Did the critics ignore these issues? Or did we ignore their attentions? Obviously, we must elaborate on our arguments made in the non-spoiler first half. So if you did listen to the first part before your watch, it could be worth a second click.

As always, we want to hear your thoughts on this film. We’re at MMandOscar on Twitter, and we are at Mike, Mike, and Oscar on Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Gmail. You can subscribe / rate / review / like / share / & hear us on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Google Play, Tune In, Spotify, and just about wherever you might listen. We’re Mike, Mike, & Oscar, and we’re making awards season year round, without the stuffiness. Thank you! And do stay safe, everybody.

Malcolm & Marie Review fr. NOMCast Andrew - Hypocritics - 2020 OSP - Ep 351

We want more noms than Song & Supporting Actor for Shaka King’s Judas and the Black Messiah, WB’s latest addition to the surging subs at HBO MAX, and our latest addition to the ongoing argument we have with the Academy’s take on the Best Picture category.

What is This Episode? - Top of Show

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH REVIEW:

NONSPOILER REVIEW:
Credits/Crew - 3:53
HBO Max + The Streaming Landscape - 5:11
Awards, Plot Premise/Expectations, Review Scores - 8:37
Systemic Reflections + Script/Story Thoughts - 12:03
(Antagonism, Defined - 18:18)
The Chicago Problem, 1.0 - 28:48

Performances:
LaKeith Stanfield - 35:05
Daniel Kaluuya - 37:01
(and The Chadwick Supporting Actor Conundrum - 41:40)
Dominique Fishback/Rest of Cast - 45:02

Production Values - 47:41

How Many Noms? - 49:51


SPOILER WARNING - 52:30


Double Cross + Fact Checks - 53:40
Water and Escape - 57:50
Deborah Checks Fred - 1:01:31
I AM… - 1:03:07
The Chicago Problem, 2.0 - 1:05:50
Trying to Sum Up - 1:08:50

FINAL GRADES - 1:10:33

Where To Find Us/LEAVE US A 5* REVIEW! - 1:13:16
Words of Wisdom/What’s Coming Next - 1:14:03

We give Judas and the Black Messiah the full film study treatment in our latest Oscars Profile movie review. That means you get our non-spoiler section first, where we build to a recap of its performance thus far this awards season and a discussion of the film’s Oscar chances. Then we break down the plot and some of our favorite scenes in spoilers.

As we’ve stated throughout this strange awards season, the Best Picture conversation is a difficult one. We’ve struggled with the candidacy of one particular film, which some predict as a frontrunner, and that conversation continues here. But we also break down the supporting actor race in further detail and how Daniel Kaluuya could contend.

Otherwise, this episode is certainly one where we cannot avoid politics or a discussion of history. Hopefully, our efforts add to the discourse and help where possible. But we also recognize our limitations.

So as always, we want and need to hear from you. We’re at MMandOscar on Twitter, and we are at Mike, Mike, and Oscar on Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Gmail. You can subscribe / rate / review / like / share / & hear us on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Google Play, Tune In, Spotify, and just about wherever you might listen. We’re Mike, Mike, & Oscar, and we’re making awards season year round, without the stuffiness. Thank you! And do stay safe, everybody.

Judas and the Black Messiah Review - Water and Escape - 2020 OSP - Ep 352

MMO is talk radio for movie fans with weekly news shows, reviews, previews, and special guests. We celebrate the Oscars by making awards season year round, without the stuffiness. If you love cinema, if you love showbiz, welcome home.