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 50 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys are joined by the host of The Waffle Press Movie Podcast, Diego Crespo to discuss the latest film in their Tony Scott series, The Last Boy Scout (1991).

After the mild success of Days of Thunder, Tony Scott transitioned away from the protective arms of producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer to move over to a Joel Silver project with a script pinned by screenwriter Shane Black, who was coming off of writing Lethal Weapon and turning that into a franchise. But Black was kicked off the second installment of Lethal Weapon, and the script for The Last Boy Scout, a buddy action sports comedy about a private eye and a former pro Quarterback teaming up to stop corruption involving professional football and the US government, became the hottest thing in Hollywood (Black earned a record $1.75 million for the script, with over a $1 million guaranteed up front), and intrigued Scott immensely because of Black’s overall vision. Led by the impeccable duo of Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans, this dark, even dystopian vision of 1990s Los Angeles is a relic of 90s action films with tons of politically incorrect, problematic moments of humor that is a cult classic and is a wildly impressive piece of filmmaking within Scott and Black’s careers. Ryan, Jay, and Diego break down this complicated film, their history with it, kid acting, the body of work by its two stars Willis and Wayans, their relationship with the game of football, and why we don’t get movies like this made anymore.

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 2h03m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series on the films of Tony Scott with a review of his next film, True Romance. 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 235 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello and AwardsWatch contributors Dan Bayer, Cody Dericks, and Josh Parham conclude their tier ranking of the 97 Best Director winners from the Academy Awards.

In the second part of the Best Picture tier rankings (listen to Part 1 here), the AW team start in the 1980s and go all the way to the most recent winners of Best Director. This is where our hosts and audience are able to talk about the films they have most likely seen the most, and see the expansion of the limited “S tier,” where compromise and sacrifices of some member’s favorites are placed lower than you would be expected. But there are plenty of surprises amongst the team, leading to a fascinating final ranking of these 97 winners, including Ang Lee, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Sam Mendes, Steven Soderbergh, Christopher Nolan and Chloé Zhao. This was another fun exercise getting to talk about some of the best (and not so great) winners of all time and the team really hopes you enjoy this part as much as part one.

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 3h06m. We will be back next week to review Richard Linklater’s latest film Hitman and participate in a fun draft to determine who are the greatest movie stars of all time. 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 49 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys are joined by AwardsWatch contributor Karen Peterson to discuss the latest film in their Tony Scott series, Days of Thunder (1990).

Four years after making the monster hit that was Top Gun, Tony Scott reteamed with Tom Cruise and producers Dom Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer to take their collaboration from the skies to the racetrack with Days of Thunder. After making Beverly Hills Cop II and Revenge (which are discussed briefly on the show), Scott was tapped to recreate the magic of his 1986 hit, this time with his leading man a bigger star and co-writer on the project, inspired by Cruise falling in love with racing, as well as the producers loving this new idea. While Scott clashed with Simpson and Bruckheimer throughout the production, the end result is an entertaining sports action drama with tremendous performances by Cruise and Robert Duvall, as well as the breakout role for Nicole Kidman. Ryan, Jay and Karen (the biggest Tom Cruise fan we know) discuss the film, their relationships to the sport of racing and their overall love of sports, Karen’s favorite Tom Cruise movie, the overt boyish behavior the characters have throughout the film, if the ending/John C. Reilly side plot works, the racing scenes, the infamous wheelchair race scene between Cruise and Michael Rooker, and if this movie is better than Top Gun.

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 2h05m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series on the films of Tony Scott with a review of his next film, The Last Boy Scout. 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 234 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello and AwardsWatch contributors Dan Bayer, Cody Dericks, and Josh Parham to tier rank the 97 winners for Best Director from the Academy Awards.

While everyone is breakdown the summer box office and the state of movies from the month of May, the AW team turn to the month of June by going back to a favorite exercise from last year, an extensive tier of an Oscar category. After doing Best Picture last year, the team moves onto the next most prestigious category at the Oscars; Best Director and its 97 winners. In trying to place these winners in the correct spot, the team had to come together and decide on whether to place the films in the S (all-time winner), A, B, C, D, or F tier and explain the ranking. The episode was so much fun that it had to be split into two parts, with this episode covering all the films up to 1980, placing a couple of classics making their way into the S tier early on.

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 2h46m. We will be back next week with Part 2 of the Best Director tier rankings. 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 48 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys are joined by founder and podcast host at InSession Film JD Duran to discuss the latest film in their Tony Scott series, Top Gun (1986).

The Tony Scott series heads into the DANGER ZONE this week at Ryan, Jay and JD dive into one of the most popular films of the 1980s, Top Gun. After The Hunger, Scott was brought on to make a film fighter pilots in the Navy after a successful profile article done in “California” magazine. Used as both a vessel to entertain audiences and recruit young Americans into the military, Scott ultimately made a subversive, deeply emotional action packed spectacle that launch himself and the film’s star, Tom Cruise, into the figures we know them today. In this lengthy, entertaining discussion, the guys talk about their relationship with Top Gun, famous aerial warfare moments in history, Cruise’s rise as a movie star, the beach volleyball scene, the film’s soundtrack, the homosexual, hyper masculine undertones throughout the film. They also talk about how the film handles grief, the modern phenomenon that was Top Gun: Maverick, and what the guys call signs would be.

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 2h25m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series on the films of Tony Scott with a review of his next film, Days of Thunder. 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 233 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson to discuss director George Miller’s latest film, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, talk about the winners from the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, and preview the 2024-2025 Oscar season.

We are getting close to the halfway point of the film season, and you know what that means; Oscar season is around the corner. Before talking about the season though, Ryan and Erik give their thoughts on Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and has been buzzed as one of the best films of the year so far. Erik would strongly disagree with that statement while Ryan, who wrote the review on the website, would say that Furiosa is “one of the greatest prequels of all time” as well as consider it one of the year’s best. After have a well-rounded conversation about the film, they transitioned to talking about the winners at the Cannes Film Festival, which saw director Sean Baker take home the Palme d'Or for his latest film, Anora. This sparked a discussion that got Ryan and Erik talking about the impact this year’s Cannes Film Festival will have on the rest of the award season, what films from the first half of the year have a shot at breaking into the race, and which films to keep an eye out for at the fall festivals, as studios start to get into their positions for another race towards a Best Picture win. The films discussed ranged from Dune Part 2, Sing Sing, Kinds of Kindness, Blitz, Conclave, Queer, Maria, The End, A Real Pain, Gladiator 2, We Live in Time, Emilia Perez, The Nickel Boys, Wicked, The Piano Lesson, The Fire Inside, Inside Out 2, Joker: Folie à Deux, 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 1h34m. On our next episode, we will be doing a tier ranking episode based on Best Director winners at the Oscars to determine who the greatest winners of the category are.

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