The AwardsWatch Podcast AwardsWatch

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 56 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys are joined by Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com Brian Tallerico to discuss the latest film in their Tony Scott series, Domino (2005).

In the early 1990s, Tony Scott was sent an article about a young English woman who was the daughter of a movie star that turned into a bounty hunter, hunting down wanted people in the greater Los Angeles area. This intrigued the director so much that he tracked down Domino Harvey and spoke with her about turning her life story into a film. After getting her permission, and going through two versions of a screenplay, Scott and screenwriter Richard Kelly set out to make a thorny, sex, over-the-top action crime drama about the seedy underbelly of America through the lens of Harvey and her counterparts adventures, some real and some fictional. It made for one of the most divisive films in Scott’s filmography and one of the more anticipated films to talk about within the series. Ryan, Jay, and Brian break down their relationship to the film, Kelly’s screenplay and other directorial work, Scott’s wild visual language throughout the film, Knightley’s bold performance, and why a movie like this would never get made by modern studios.

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

This podcast runs 1h28m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series on the films of Tony Scott with a review of his next film, Déjà Vu. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. 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 242 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson and AwardsWatch contributors Josh Parham and Karen Peterson to give their thoughts on Twisters and discuss their favorite disaster movies.

Before a big political announcement right before the recording of this episode, the news of the weekend was the success of Lee Isaac Chung’s Twisters, which made over $80 million dollars, shattering expectations made by box office prognosticators. Though this is one victory for the film, the AW team’s review of the film was rather mixed in their in-depth, layered conversation about the follow-up film to the original 1996 film. The team talked about the film as a whole, as well as the weak script, half-hearted attempts at connecting the original film to this new version, the chemistry between the film’s leads, and the impressive visual effects that are on full display. We have a full review up on the site written by Erik, where he describes Twisters perfectly, as it is “more fizzle than sizzle.”

In the back half of the episode, inspirited by Twisters and the fondness for Twister, the team had a fun discussion over some of their favorite disaster movies; films that cover some form of natural disaster, accidents, attacks or global catastrophes such as a pandemic. The films mentioned included The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, Contagion, The Day After Tomorrow, Titanic, War of the Worlds, Sunshine, Jurassic Park, Dante’s Peak, Armageddon Unstoppable, Airplane, Deep Impact, Volcano, Crawl, The Happening, The Perfect Storm, 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 2h11m. We will be back next week to talk about the latest release, Deadpool & Wolverine, breakdown the lineup for the 2024 Venice Film Festival, and talk about their favorite films and performances of the year so far. 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 55 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys are joined by Editor-In-Chief of InSession Film Dave Giannini to discuss the latest film in their Tony Scott series, Man on Fire (2004).

Back in 1980, when Tony Scott was trying to make his first film, he grew fond of a book series written by author A. J. Quinnell about an American-born former member of the French Foreign Legion. He wanted to make it as his follow-up to The Hunger, but studios didn’t think he had enough experience to make this movie work. Twenty years later, Scott finally got the chance to make his passion project, and alongside his frequent collaborator Denzel Washington, set out and made one of the defining films of their careers and one of the great action films of the 21st century. Updating the story for the protagonist John Creasy, we see a one-man death machine reborn looking for closure and peace after the abduction of the young girl he was in charge of is kidnapped. In doing this, Scott creates a cathartic, violent, uniquely visual experience very rarely found in modern cinema. Ryan, Jay, and Dave break down the film, the film’s visual style, Denzel Washington’s performance and where is ranks in his career, the emotionally beautiful ending, why Rotten Tomatoes is frustrating, if Creasy earns his redemption, and the complicated shout out to the country of Mexico in the end credits of Man on Fire.

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

This podcast runs 2h27m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series on the films of Tony Scott with a review of his next film, Domino. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. 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 241 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson, Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello and AwardsWatch contributors Josh Parham and Jay Ledbetter go back 25 years to take a look at the 72nd Academy Awards, celebrating the films of 1999.

Two and a half decades ago marked on of the richest years of cinema, showcasing some of the most influential films within popular culture that have lived on as classics that brought us into the 21st century. But with such a rich selection of cinema released by Hollywood, with innovated blockbusters, stellar comedies, groundbreaking international selections, and introspective, auteur driven projects that rank as some of the best films of the careers for filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick, The Wachowskis, David Fincher, Paul Thomas Anderson, Michael Mann, and more. But when it came to the Oscars for this year, the Academy went with a newcomer in director Sam Mendes and his suburban drama, American Beauty, a beloved film at the time that has become complicated and disliked by many, as well as most of the winners from this ceremony.

On this episode, the team talk about where they were in 1999, their thoughts on the overall film year as well as the Oscar ceremony, briefly discuss talk about American Beauty as a Best Picture winner, do a little Oscar trivia as it relates to this year, and then the new version of the AW Shoulda Woulda Coulda game, where instead of individual replacements, they must decide as a group who the nominees and winners should be in the top eight categories. The rules of the game state they can only replace two of the nominees that year from each category, except in Best Picture, where the group could replace up to three films to make up the final set of five nominated films. It made for a lively, fun show with spirited debate, alliances, vote swinging and more that we all hope you enjoy.

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 3h04m. We will be back next week to talk about the latest release, Twisters, and our favorite disaster movies. 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 54 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys are joined by Kelsi and Trey of The Extra Credits podcast to discuss the latest film in their Tony Scott series, Spy Game (2001).

There is a phrase the Director Watch hosts like to use a lot when it comes to films starring two movie stars where one of the stars is a legend of the past and the other is a future star in the making that goes on to be one for their generation. This is called the “baton passing” film; think of Paul Newman and Tom Cruise in The Color of Money and you will understand the kind of film Spy Game is should be because it should not just be a passing of the movie star mantel, but it should also be a movie to showcase what makes these two actors so special; with Spy Game being that for Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. Instead, director Tony Scott gives us a political spy thriller that feature the duo less than one would want, making this more a vehicle for late career Redford to take center stage and face both the realities of his life as a spy, and the protégé (Pitt) he misguided on his way into the field. It makes for a messy, complicated, fascinating film to break down as Ryan, Jay, Kelsi and Trey talk about their reactions to the film, the release of this film post 9/11, the poorly written love interest played by Catherine McCormack, the lack of veteran actors that made Scott’s other films shine, an examination of Redford and Pitt’s career, and some remarks on the better spy movie from 2001, Robert Rodriguez’s Spy Kids.

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

This podcast runs 1h51m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series on the films of Tony Scott with a review of his next film, Man on Fire. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. 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 240 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson is joined by AwardsWatch TV Editor Tyler Doster to give our final predictions for the 2024 Primetime Emmy Awards nominations in Drama and Comedy Series, Limited Series and TV Movie and all lead and supporting acting categories.  

I know it seems like we just had the Emmy Awards and because...we did. Just six months ago, the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards were held in January after the Television Academy vacated their usual September date due to the ongoing writers and actors strikes last year. Not only did we have the Emmys plunked right down in the heart of Oscar season, because the Television Academy uses its traditional eligibility period of June 1 - May 31 and groups like the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild use a regular calendar year (January 1 - December 31) that put, for example, the first season of The Bear winning Emmy Awards and the second season (which aired last June) winning Globes and SAGs. Messy and confusing for the average viewer, to say the least.

Speaking of The Bear, after its domination last season (winning Comedy Series, Directing, Writing, Lead Actor, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress), the second season should find itself among the most-nominated comedy seasons of all time when nominations are announced next week. The current record holder for a comedy is 30 Rock when it earned 22 in 2009. With expanded supporting and guest categories, The Bear is very likely to tie if not surpass that this year.

This year's nominations will also give us a wealth of new contenders, both as first seasons and as one or more in, as many shows have either ended their run or did not make the eligibility cutoff. Shows we won't hear on nomination morning include The White Lotus, House of the Dragon, The Last of Us, Yellowjackets, Jury Duty, and Wednesday while shows canceled or that have ended their run include Succession, Better Call Saul, Barry, and Ted Lasso.

As Tyler and Erik break down who we think is getting in, it becomes clear that not only will some of these five-nomination slot categories be bloodsport competitive, the move by FX to soft greenlight more seasons of Shōgun, therefore allowing it to submit in Drama Series, has really shaken up the race. A race that seemed like a bit of a cake walk for the final season of The Crown as it limped to its finale. We start off with the limited series categories, which prove to be the most competitive with so many categories limited to five spots. Faves will fall on nomination morning. Moving into comedy, the dominance of The Bear after its season one triumphs point to a likelihood of it being able to take up half of any given supporting (or guest) acting category. Finishing off with drama, it's a similar story, figuring out how many actors from Shōgun will make it in.

The 76th Primetime Emmy Awards nominations will be announced on Wednesday, July 17th at 8:30am PT by previous Emmy winners Tony Hale and Sheryl Lee Ralph (Hale is in Unfrosted and Quiz Lady, Ralph is in Abbott Elementary) on emmys.com.

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 1h30m. We will be back next week for a Oscar retrospective covering the 72nd Academy Awards, celebrating the films of 1999. Till then, let’s get into it.

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