CATEGORY IS… – Stunts

CATEGORY IS… comes to a close this week and we’re ending this May Miniseries by looking to the future. Next year’s 100th Academy Awards will bring the Academy’s first award to Stunts! This episode, we go into the decades-long effort to make the category happen, how we want to see the category presented on the monumental telecast, how the 1970s’ craze of disaster movies might have influenced the category, Tom Cruise and the influence of the Mission: Impossible franchise, and of course, our picks for ten films in movie history that we would award with a Stunts Oscar.

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CATEGORY IS… – Choreography

The May miniseries CATEGORY IS… chugs along this week with Choreography! You know we love talking about dance on film, so this was a category we couldn’t pass up discussing. We’re talking about the three (early) years that Oscar once awarded Dance Direction, when the lines might blur between choreography and fight choreography, iconic musical numbers throughout movie history, when there might have been showdowns between dueling worthy dance movies, “Shipoopi,” So You Think You Can Dance, and the ten films we would retroactively honor with a choreography Oscar.

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CATEGORY IS… – Voice Acting

Our 2026 May Miniseries CATEGORY IS… continues this week with a discussion about a dreamed-for category that stirred a lot of conversation, particularly in the 2000s. We’re talking about Voice Acting! This episode, we dive into a Disney-centric history of celebrated Disney performances and which of them might have been Oscar frontrunners, from Robin Williams to Ellen DeGeneres. We also talk about voice performances that earned major precursor nominations, Andy Serkis making waves in motion capture as Gollum, and how narration and documentary work might also be considered. And of course: the ten voice acting performances we would hand a retroactive Oscar!

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CATEGORY IS… – Casting

It’s May Miniseries time!! Presenting CATEGORY IS…! We’re in a moment of the Academy Awards introducing new categories for the first time in many years, and we’ll be spending the whole month discussing the categories already announced and a few we think should be! First up: Best Casting! This episode, we discuss the Oscar’s newest category and how we felt about the nominees for 2025, how we would like to see the category evolve in the years to come, what shortlisted films we think might have deserved the nomination, and we close the episode with the most important part: we name 10 films in movie history that we would retroactively award with a Casting Oscar.

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389 – The Manchurian Candidate

If you make a remake to a cinema classic (and Oscar nominee), chances are the buzz starts there. But in revamping The Manchurian Candidate to the post-9/11 culture, Oscar winning director also added the pedigree of recent winner Denzel Washington and then-recent nomination record breaker Meryl Streep, the buzz multiplied. But this version of a paranoia thriller about a political candidate whose brain has been hijacked was a mild summer success, kept only in the race by Streep in villain mode.

This episode, we talk about whether or not the material comfortably fits in with the era’s concerns and the period after Washington won his second Oscar. We also discuss Liev Schreiber breaking out of Cotton Weary mold, the film’s pseudo-incestuous bath scene, and a double Six Timer hottie quiz for Washington and Schreiber.

Topics also include surprise Ann Dowd, the 2004 Supporting Actress race, and sleeper cell activation phrases.

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388 – La Chimera

We’re talking about one of our favorite films of the 2020’s this week with Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera. Told with magical realism and an earthy bespoke quality, the 2023 film follows Josh O’Connor as a British archaeologist in Italy who belongs to a crew of tombaroli, grave robbers who sells off their findings. With O’Connor speaking mostly in Italian, the film launched to strong reviews at Cannes but had its fate sealed when Italy chose not to select the film for International Feature.

This episode, we talk about the film’s qualifying release that left it underdiscussed in 2023 and it’s surprisingly long run at New York’s IFC Center. We also talk about Anatomy of a Fall‘s Oscar success despite not being its country’s submission either, Neon’s 2023 Cannes lineup, and O’Connor as king of the last day of Cannes.

Topics also include the linen suit in the film, Rohrwacher’s previous films, and Palme Dog.

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387 – Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

As maverick director David Lowery returns to theatres this week with Mother Mary, we’re looking back at his 2013 film Ain’t Them Bodies Saints. The film follows two Texas lovers played by Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara torn apart by a showdown with local police, where he accepts guilt and jail time when she shoots a police officer. The film is an unpacking of romantic outlaw myths that caused a stir at the Sundance Film Festival and helped establish Lowery as one of the most unpredictable directors working today.

This episode, we talk about the influence of Terrence Malick’s Badlands on the film and Lowery’s subversion of story expectations. We also discuss Mara’s filmography between Oscar nominations, Ben Foster’s emergence into character roles, and beloved cinematographer Bradford Young.

Topics also include the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, Santa’s WikiFeet rating, and Chris’s favorite Huppert performance.

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386 – Contagion

With The Christophers finally arriving in theatres, we are returning to the ever-evolving filmography of director Steven Soderbergh. In the period of his one-for-you-one-for-me jostling between micro budgets and mainstream fare, 2011 offered his paranoid eco-thriller Contagion about a virus that overtakes the world. Though the film was an early fall box office success with major Oscar winners as Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, and Marion Cotillard, Warner Bros. only launched the film’s campaign at the end of the season. A decade later, the film would become a major mass rewatch for… totally normal, everyday reasons!

This episode, we talk about Soderbergh’s period between Oscar and “retirement” and Paltrow joins our Ten Timers club. We also talk about Laurence Fishburne and Jennifer Ehle as best in show, our reticence to watch the film during COVID, and Soderbergh’s current underrated era.

Topics also include Paltrow’s terrifying death scene, the 2011 Venice Film Festival, and the Saturn Awards.

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385 – Billy Bathgate

We’re journeying back to the early 1990s this week to discuss the forgotten failure Billy Bathgate. Adapted from E.L. Doctorow’s Pulitzer finalist, the film cast Dustin Hoffman as real-life mobster Dutch Schultz opposite a Loren Dean as the fictionalized street kid who falls under his wing. With Bruce Willis in a supporting role at the peak of his fame and Oscar-winning director Robert Benton at the helm, the film ultimately bombed at the box office but earned Nicole Kidman her first Golden Globe nomination.

This episode, we talk about the much publicized clashing between Hoffman’s ego and his reunited director and we have a (gasp) triple Six Timers quiz for Hoffman, Dean, and Stanley Tucci. We also talk about the film’s mild approach to crime material, the 1991 Supporting Actress race, and Benton’s somewhat forgotten Oscar comeback Places in the Heart.

Topics also include Highlander 2: The Quickening, Hook‘s surprising Oscar nominations, and surprise Frances Conroy.

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384 – Jarhead

We’re tackling Sam Mendes’ third feature this week, 2005’s war adaptation Jarhead. The film followed Jake Gyllenhaal as Gulf War marine Anthony Swofford trapped in an existential wartime malaise. With a supporting cast that included recent Oscar winner Jamie Foxx and Peter Sarsgaard, expectations were sky high for the film before it received a muted critical reaction and the season proved more positive for Gyllenhaal’s turn in Brokeback Mountain.

This episode, we talk about the film’s craft pedigree that made its on-paper potential sky high, from Mendes to cinematographer Roger Deakins to composer Thomas Newman to editor Walter Murch. We also discuss Gyllenhaal joining our TEN Timers Club, Sarsgaard’s early aught supporting actor run, and how the film cracked the lid on post-9/11 political THOB cinema.

Topics also include Jake thirst gifs, John Krasinski Six Timers, and Oscar winners’ Zodiac signs.

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