2026 Oscars Guide and What's Making Us Happy

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“The 2026 Oscars have something for everyone. Vampires, car chases, showtunes, ping pong,”

Shakespeare, and we're ready to talk about all of it. As always, some categories seem like

locks, but there are also some real toss-ups, and as always, we'll be rooting for some upsets. I'm Stephen Thompson. And I'm Linda Holmes. On this episode of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, we are offering up a guide to this year's Oscars. Joining us today are our fellow Pop Culture Happy Hour hosts Glenn Weld and Hello Glenn. Hey, Linda, it's that time of year when I start worrying about my friend Oscar Gold, you know why? Because everyone's got to chase in him,

chase in the poor guy. First thing of a mock-out of nods, they're not going to ask her nods, and then they start chasing him. It's weird. Weird, I tell you. We are off to a great start. And also,

“welcome to Aisha Harris, Helen, my friend. Linda, it's been 84 years of this award season.”

Finally made it. Well, I am so glad to be here with all of you for our big Oscars show. As we always

do, we've checked out all the nominees in the major categories. And we've all got opinions about what will win and what should win. So let's get directly to it. We are going to start at the top with best pictures, Stephen kick us off. All right. Well, first up, we've got two very different sports movies, Marty Supreme, Timothy Schallemey plays a work in class heel, aiming to become a table tennis champion in the 1950s. And I have tremendous respect for your money. And I know it's

hard to believe, but I'm telling you this game, it feels stadiums overseas. And it's only matter time before full stadiums in the United States, too. Before I'm staring at you from the cover of a week, he's box. And F1 Brad Pitt plays a veteran F1 driver who clashes with a young hot shot. I'm the last time you want to race. Sunday, Daytona. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm in Formula One. Oh, I'm sorry. Then, same as you. All right. Next up, we've got two films from directors who have

earned their fair share of Oscar nominations. We've got Bagonia, Yurgos Lantimos's movie where Emma Stone's high-powered CEO is kidnapped by conspiracy theorists and accused of being an alien. Oh, where is my hair? Your hair has been destroyed. You saved off my hair? Yes, we've saved off your hair. Why have you saved off my hair? To prevent you from contacting your ship. And then we've got Frankenstein Guillermo del Toro's take on the Mary Shelley classic.

Jacob Alordi plays the creature in Oscar Isaac is the scientist. You knew I have created something truly horrible. Not something, someone, you made someone, me. And for the past several years, we've seen international features nominated in the best picture category. This year, we've got

“the secret agent from Brazil. A former researcher is caught up in the political turmoil of the”

military dictatorship in 1977. And sentimental value from Norway, Stella and Skarsguard is a filmmaker attempting to reconnect with his strange daughters and it proves that at the very least, the tension between art and parenthood is complicated. Oh, he's a very difficult person. But he is a really good director and he sees something in you. We've also got two movies about grief. There's HamNet, a young English couple meets, falls in love, has children,

and suffers an unspeakable tragedy. One of them happens to be William Shakespeare, who goes on to write Hamlet. I see, grown, very strong. I see you in London working with your father. And then train dreams, which follows the life of a logger and railroad worker in a rapidly changing America of the early 20th century. These trees really that old. My son's old even. His world is intricately stitched to get a voice. Every thread we pull, we know not how it affects

the design of things. And then we've got the two presumed front runners in the category, sinners, Ryan, coogler's movie finds Michael B. Jordan playing twin brothers who open a 1930s Duke joint. And opening night does not go as planned when a bloodthirsty menace appears outside.

Its vampires were talking about vampires. It was never going to be free. We were running around

anyway looking for freedom. You know, Dan will. He's never going to find it until it is. This is the way. And one battle after another, Paul Thomas Anderson's action thriller stars

Steve Locke charges attack my home. I lost my daughter. This is Bob Ferguson. You understand? I don't remember anymore. I don't remember any more of this code speak, right? Let's just get on. All right. A real upbeat bunch of movies, real laugh riot, up one side and down the other. Glenn,

I'm going to go to you first. What do you think will win the best picture race? How do you see

this race kind of shaping up? Well, let's talk a, let's do a little big picture on the best picture. I mean, not too many years ago, this field would have looked a lot different because the kind of films that used to get nominated for best picture looked a lot different. They conformed to these very received notions of what is important and what is serious, which tended to overrepresent historical dramas and biopics. This year is a genre fest. Sports movies, sci-fi, horror, action thriller,

political thriller, and a couple historical dramas in there because that's also a genre. You can know that change. I call that progress. And I was going to say, oh, but we're still missing comedy, but we're not. I mean, Bagonia is a very funny film until it isn't anymore.

And one battle is a satire. So progress. Oh, that's fair. I think I feel more traditional

best picture-ness from some of these than you do, but I absolutely understand what you're saying. And given all of these entries, what movie do you think is going to win? Well, this goes to your point. I think one battle is going to win because it is the traditional pick of the two front runners. It's filled with actors, the Academy loves. It's been the front runner for a long

“time for a reason. Because you have to remember that the way best picture votes work is by ranked”

choice voting. A film needs to get over 50% of voters to win. And if that criteria's not met, they eliminate the lowest ranked film and redistribute those votes. So the next choice is until they hit that 50% mark. And that's how we get F1. And that's how we get F1. But in that environment, what you need is a film that everyone's seen, but also a film that everyone likes. It's not enough for there to be like a small base of very vocal supporters. You need everyone

to kind of like your movie. And I suspect that there are voters. Let's call them old school, very traditional Academy voters who will not vibe with the horror elements of centers. They're going to be like, "Wait, I thought I was watching historical drama. How did vampire peanut butter is in my historical drama chocolate?" And also, there's a more and better reason here. I think one battle, what it's satirizing at its heart is right wing extremism. It's poking much gentler fun

at left wing idealism extremism. That is the kind of thing that a certain kind of academy voter will vote for and feel very good about themselves for doing it. I'm not equating one battle with the crashes and the green books of the world, but I'm just saying there is a kind of Oscar voter of a traditional film snob who dismisses genre stuff who will think that voting for one battle is a political act. I mean, if they think that they should vote for centers,

“but they're going to vote for one battle. That's why I think it's going to take it.”

Yes to everything Glenn said, but I think the shorter version that I would argue is it's time for Paul Thomas Anderson. Do I think it's time? No, but I do think a lot of Hollywood thinks it's time because he has yet to win a best picture, he has yet to win, you know, best director. But like

I do think that there is a sense and we should never underestimate the power of its time historically,

the way that is worked across all the major categories for filmmakers. I think I'm spikily, finally, winning for a screenplay award. Like these things happen and I think because Paul Thomas Anderson has so much goodwill and he's like a director's director, he is the letter box king, all these things and so I also just think centers as Glenn said it is political in a different way, but there's a difference between the way Paul Thomas Anderson satirizes right wing extremism

and the fact that centers ends in part with a black character gunning down in KKK and I think that

“that's like a step too far for certain people. That's why I think one battle after another is”

probably going to win an e-gap. This is sort of one of those years where I have a movie that I wish would win and I have a movie that I suspect is going to win and some years I've actually managed to kind of go with my heart and say that I think that the movie that I love which in this case is centers will win, but I think for all the reasons that you've talked about that's probably not in the cards, I think the most interesting win that kind of got people going huh, you know,

for centers was that it won the best cast award at the actor awards formerly known as the sag awards. Like that's a big body of voters, right? However, you know, producers guild know, their big award went to one battle after another and the producers are also a big group and I think when Glenn was talking about the kind of more sort of old school heavy use of quotation marks people who kind of you envision when you think about why the Oscars tend to be kind of

a little bit stuck. It's more producers. I'm ering on the side of optimism. Ah, good for you, bud. You fool. At some point in this process as I was going through these films,

in favor of sinners. I feel like sinners has an extraordinary amount of momentum right now for a movie that came out very early in the year and I see a lot of parallels between its Oscar campaign and the Oscar campaign of the movie, everything everywhere all at once, several years ago. Both

films came out in the first half of the year, which is unusual for Oscar movies. Both films made

an enormous amount of money when they weren't necessarily expected to. Both of those films maintained awards buzz for the better part of a year. Both of those films contain largely non-white casts. Both of those films are outside of conventional Oscar historical drama/biopic genres as Glenn alluded to earlier. The last one that I'm going to mention is that they both received a greater than expected number of nominations, which suggests a pretty extreme bread

“of support within the Academy. I think there is more support for this film within the Academy.”

I think you're all are a little too pessimistic. I think the Oscars have made real headway in this regard not only in terms of what films get nominated, but in terms of what films win. And, man, I just sat down with this film a few days ago and just reveled in how gorgeous it was, how beautifully it's acted, how fun it is, how exciting it is. The musical center piece of this film is one of my favorite scenes in a movie in years. And if I have any rooting interest,

any strong rooting interest besides a general love of the movie centers, it's for the cinematographer Autumn D'Rald Archipel, whose work in this film is jaw drop. Like I said, I'm breaking all ties in favor of sinners. So I am saying it not only should win, I think it will win. It's my pick for should because I mean, I just watched it the other night, I have gone back to it more than any of the film that's nominated. And the first shot of this film after the prelude is a shot of the

sun with a lens flare. So it looks like there's twin sun in the sky, which is just so smart and it just made me clap there on the couch. So yeah, it's my pick too. Look, I've talked about this movie a lot and I love it. And while I don't think it's a perfect movie, I do think it is kind of a perfect movie for our times. And I wish I had your optimism, Steven, but also we don't know really. We're saying all these things and we can predict that and sometimes the Oscars

does surprise us. So maybe it will turn out that it does win. I just think it is such a stunning feat of artistry and clearly the work of someone who needed to get everything out there because perhaps you thought maybe I might not ever be able to do something like this again. Even though he is one of our most consistent filmmakers and he's done so many great blockbusters rank nuclear, but he just throws it all out there, leaves it on the floor and I love this movie so much.

“So that's what I think should win. I do too. I think as we've alluded to the bread of achievements”

in this film, like it's hard for me to argue against a movie that I believe is nominated in every category, which was eligible at all. 16. And on the one hand, that's just counting up nominations and you don't want to get too wrapped up in that. But the reason for that in this

case is that the music is great. The visual effects are great. The costumes are amazing. The

cinematography is amazing. The acting is amazing. Across a bunch of different roles and every one of those nominations I think is fully defensible and understandable on its own. You don't just get the sense of like they just voted for everything centers the way that you sometimes might get that with other films. Yeah. So to me, look at that and you say that's a very good argument for something being the best picture of the year. As is the fact that I simply think it is the most enjoyable

of these movies for me personally as a combination of entertainment, but also really thoughtful. You know, I had really thoughtful conversations about this movie. I learned a lot from talking to people about this movie and from sort of thinking through my own reactions to certain things in it.

“And yet, it's a really fun, really exciting, really scary vampire movie. So I mean, how cool is that?”

I don't know. I love it. I think it's great. We're going to move on from best picture to actor in a leading role. All right, Steven, you're going to take this one as well. All right. So our nominees

are Leonardo DiCaprio for one battle after another. DiCaprio plays a washed-up x-revolutionary

whose past catches up with him. Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon, Hawke plays songwriter Lorenz Hart on the worst night of his life, the opening of Oklahoma on Broadway. Wagner Mora for the secret agent, Mora plays a researcher who goes into hiding during Brazil's military dictatorship. Timothy Shalame for Marty Supreme, he plays Marty Mouser, a scoundrel, a hustler, and an aspiring

money will follow. Ultimately, my struggle isn't even about money. How do you pay rent? I don't.

“You're avoiding the question. John, what do you want anything? How do you plan on eating food today?”

Honestly, I was going to order room service the second you leave. And Michael B. Jordan for sinners, he plays twins smoke and stack, who face off against vampires when they open a juke joint.

I never saw no roof, no demons, no ghosts, no magic, just power, and only money can get it.

So once again, we are going to start with who do you think will win? Iisha, who do you think will win actor in a leading role? You know, I made this choice a little while before we taped this episode. And the more I think about it, I'm going to keep it, but I do think his juice has waned a little bit. I know who you're going to say. I'm going to stick by it. Our boy Timmy Shalame, who I think is actually very well cast in his role as Marty Supreme.

As we've seen from his very, very chaotic campaign throughout this entire word season, I do think that he's probably rubbed some people a little bit the wrong way. I'm going to put my money on, on TV for Marty Supreme. Yes, same. I mean, to say it's a show where your performance

than a guy who's playing twins is saying something, but it is. It's a bigger performance. It's

more in your face. It's the most acting. And, you know, I talked to some people who find that performance charismatic. I could not be casual friends with somebody who finds that performance charismatic because I find him repelling. But I believed him. Also, to Iisha's point, he's campaigning hard, and there is this notion that Oscar doesn't like tryhards,

“and that is probably false. And tryhards win all the time. I think he's going to take it.”

I would agree with what I just said that I think his juice has waned a bit. I think the persona that he took on and promoting this film has worn thin with people. As we record this, this clip is going around of this town hall interview he did with Matthew McConaughey where he says, he wants to keep movie theaters alive, and he doesn't want to be working in something like ballet or opera, the kind of thing that he says, no one cares about this anymore.

Oh my god. Yeah. People are taking that way too. Like what? No. I don't think so. I think that is a thing that it is rude to say, and for an artist to say it about other people's art forms is the kind of thing. I'm talking to you in terms of Oscar campaigning. Yeah, yeah. I think that's the kind of thing that can make people feel like you're a pill. Do I think that's going to tip it? No, I don't. I think people are exhausted by this performance, by this movie, and by not only

this Oscar campaign, but last year's Timothy Shalomay, Oscar campaign for a complete unknown.

First of all, I want to echo something Linda said, where I think this is such a strong field.

I think this is Decaprio's best performance in ages. I love Ethan Hawken, Blue Moon. I love

“Wagner Mora in this secret agent, but I think it is as much Michael B. Jordan's time as it is”

Timothy Shalomay's time. The Michael B. Jordan performance is plenty showy. He's planned twins, and he's great at it, and he gives them distinct personalities where you can tell them apart. I think the Shalomay Oscar campaign has been a little too tri-hard. I think people are less fond of Marty Supreme, and they are of sinners, and I do think that's a factor. I'm going with Michael B. Jordan for not only Willwin, but should we have sweet summer child. Thank you, buddy.

Optimism. So that one has to be optimistic here. I want to give it to Michael B. Jordan, and again, I really do like this category overall, and it was hard for me to choose, and I think if I'm being totally honest about it, like I'm picking Michael B. Jordan in part, because I worry that he might not ever have a chance like this again. And look, the awards in the grand scheme of things they don't really make any sense. So my choice is going to be one that doesn't necessarily come from

logic, or like you can't, there's no scientific way to game this out, but I would love to see Michael B. Jordan in mind, because I do think that this is his best performance, and Ryan Kugler is quite literally the only film director who has known what to do with him as a performer. And this is such a, I rewatch sinners again the other night. My goodness, just the fact that he's really kind of playing not just twins, but then he has to play a twin who has turned into a vampire. So there's

there's lots of layers. It's not quite three characters, but it's like two and a half. And so the way, those roles so seamlessly work off of each other. And this is also just based off of, you know, 20 plus years of watching the sky grow up and grow into the man he is. So yeah, that's my pick for should win. Agreed. Agreed. And I agree with you. I would pick him also. I double triple echo how good this field is. I really have a soft spot for this Ethan Hawk performance. I didn't care

for one battle, but I think that the caprio is good and it's so funny. So there's no wrong way here in terms of, of should even, you know, I don't want to make it sound like boo, who I think Shalam is

Michael B. Jordan, everything I just said is so true. I would love to see him win. If I could only

have one thing on the night, that might actually be my pick. Maybe best picture right, you know, that might actually be my pick. I don't know. Glenn, do you disagree with us or do you agree? No, man, I mean, I could sit here and make the case for Vaughn Amora who holds the center of that film. So he really does. In the film, it could easily fly away to separate chunks. But I mean, what Jordan does is he finds distinct ways of exposing the vulnerability in two characters who are

each in different ways, performing the utter lack of vulnerability. He creates two distinct characters. You know, which when you're looking at the moment, the camera hits them before you process

any of the visual cues of costume or anything, you know who you're looking at. Which becomes hugely

important in the film when the poop hits the fan later on. So yeah, it's Jordan all the way from me. It's a remarkable force. Really wonderful. All right, we're going to move on to actress in a leading role. I show who are the nominees in this category. Yeah, so we have Emma Stone for a Bagoña. Stone plays a high-powered CEO who is kidnapped by conspiracy theorists who think she's an alien. Wow, that wouldn't move you. That was okay. Okay, Hudson for song sung blue. Hudson is playing

a down on her luck musician who teams up with Hugh Jackman to form a meal diamond tribute band. Okay. Rose Burn for if I had legs, I'd kick you. Burn plays a therapist children. All the responsibility of caring for her ill daughter while her emotionally absent husband is away for work. And we're not a rinds bit for sentimental value. She plays a stage actress who reunites with her

“estranged father when he offers her the lead role in his next film. And then I think we all are”

going to predict that this final actor, Jessie Buckley, will win for Hamlet. She plays a witchy young free spirit named Anis who falls in love with William Shakespeare. So Steven, why do you think Jessie Buckley both will and as I understand it should win here? Well, I think it is a perfect confluence of events in her career and in this particular Oscar's campaign. I think Jessie Buckley is one of those actors who is great in everything she does. She's extremely committed in everything

she does. She's willing to take things over the top in much of what she does but does it extremely well. This is a best acting performance. This is a most acting performance. She's given an extraordinary amount to work with here. You get deep emotion, deep pathos but also kind of quiet, face and eyes acting. She does it all. I think extraordinarily well. She is the giant concrete beam holding

“up this film and I think this is also a cumulative award because she has been really good for a”

long time and basically everything she's done. Now I don't want to dismiss the rest of this field.

I think there are other extremely strong performances here as much as I never want to see if I had

legs I can't you ever again in my life. I think Rose Burn is terrific in it. I think Kate Hudson is way better in the Neal Diamond movie than I could have expected for one thing she's just about the only person in that film who pulls off the accent and I'm from Wisconsin and I always love Renata Rainsva and everything she does and she's terrific in sentimental value and of course Emma Stone you never want to discount Emma Stone. It's a strong field but to me Jessie Buckley runs away

with this because she's been putting in the work. She makes weird choices and she doesn't make on uses grief traditionally Oscar-Badie. She makes it something spiky and difficult and real and if this film works on you didn't for me but if it works on you it's because of those last 10 minutes or so the movie needs us to go on the emotional arc that she goes on in those last 10 minutes that's a really really heavy lift and for the people who are worked for it worked

“really well so yeah I think that's all on her. I just keep going back to seeing this in the theater”

in a packed house and literally everyone around me except for myself bawling and sniffling and while this didn't work for me. She's quite good in it and I also think that that is where that power lies in getting people to vote for her if you have a heart and apparently I don't or mine is cold and frigid and frozen it. There are mothers in this category as well Roseburn if I had like I'd kick you but that movie I think is so so difficult to sit through that I wonder how many people

actually were able to make it through and again we don't know how many voters are actually watching all of these movies so I'm thinking it's going to be Jesse Buckley for those reasons. Yeah I think it's going to be Jesse Buckley too. I think she's very well-liked. She's been in a lot of other things women talking for one and lost daughter so I'll get a lost daughter. You know I think sometimes when people including me sort of talk about very Oscarsy performances which this is

them to be traditional Oscarsy type of performances right. I think she will probably win she's been on a great run of precursor awards now as far as should win my pick would be Roseburn. I think Roseburn is doing such interesting work and if I had likes I'd kick you and really is the whole movie. I mean there are little bits of other people including by the way Conan O'Brien who's quite good and strange in this film doing something very different from what I'm used to

from him but for the most part she is the movie it tends to stay very close on her face through

“the entire movie kind of forces you to look at this woman very closely you have to believe both”

that she loves her daughter and that she's incredibly frustrated and angry at her situation and that's a really hard balance like listen we were talking about Jessie Buckley and all the good things she's done I also love Roseburn and a bunch of wonderful things that she has done so I would pick Roseburn same I mean I pick Roseburn I mean like just in terms of heavy lifting she's in every scene of that film she's often isolated in the frame as you say it's often a tight shot of her face just

we watch her reactant from most of the film and that's an example of the script and the performance lining up to make you feel empathy if not sympathy you're experiencing what's going on in your guts and it's raw it's miserable it's completely unforgettable which is good because

as other people have mentioned I'm never going to see the movie again but I don't need to

because it's in there I'm going with Renata Reinsville this is a pretty stacked category there's

“some people in here I'm not sure why they're there but like I think like Reinsville is very”

very good here I really appreciate the fact that her character both has to deal with her father played by a stellar star as they're coming back into her life but also she's like struggling as a performer and there's just some really great scenes of her having to act being an actor and I just find myself drawn to that sort of characterization and that sort of excavation of emotion and creative processes and so for me I would love to see her win but also like

if Jesse Buckley wins she's really good like everything you've said she her body of work is

so impressive and I am always looking forward to whatever she is in but give me Renata Reinsville

I will be happy yeah can I just say a quick word about the Kate Hudson of it all I mean I just want to dress up when the nominations came out I'll just speak for me I was surprised by that nomination and in the episode we did about it I was kind of glib about it I can't change that that's just my operating system but I was commenting from a position of ignorance having not seen the movie in question and I really wish I hadn't done that if I've seen it and it's a solid

“performance and she's easily the best thing about that movie doesn't change my pick but I really”

wish I hadn't shot my mouth off without seeing the damn movie that's that's not the joke I get it but I was in the same boat as you Glenn and I agree I admit that as well I also think I'm sorry but the material is not there and I can give points for being great and not great stuff but again I do think there are other actors from last year that I would have preferred to see there instead but anyway yes I think a lot of good performances in this field up next we're gonna

talk about more Oscar nominees including supporting actor actors and directing grab your cheat sheets and come right back hey it's a lot of firm radio lab our goal with each episode is to make you think how did I live this long and not know that radio lab adventures on the edge of what we think we know was wherever you get podcast all right welcome back we're gonna move on to actors in a supporting role Glenn who is up in this category all right first up we've got L fanning for

sentimental value fanning plays in american actors who is cast as the star of a Norwegian film maker's passion project we've got inga ybsd author Lilos for sentimental value Lilos plays the estranged daughter of that Norwegian filmmaker we've got Amy Madigan for weapons Madigan plays at gladis who plays a certain role in the disappearance of 17 children we've got one me masaku for sinners masaku plays a hudu conjurer and healer who has a deep relationship with Michael B. Jordan's character smoke

but uh we have tabulated the results and it turns out that all four of us think it's going to be

tiana Taylor for one battle after another she plays an ex-revolutionary named perfidia bebbly hills

who goes into hiding you didn't count on me you didn't count on my fight the message is clear free board is free bodies free choices and free from f***er i have such complicated feelings about this character and performance isha you have written very eloquently i think about this character within the context of one battle why do you think she's going to win who well i mean there's the

likes to see black women and what kind of characters they like to nominate them for i've seen people try to compare this to hally berry getting nominate and winning best actress for monsters ball and fact that she had to have sex with the billy bob blurton's character and that movie like

“there's so many things going on here and i think that you could point to that but i just think”

overall tiana Taylor has to a less grating extent than timi shallony has really been out there like pounding in the pavement doing a campaigning thing turning looks oh my goodness she i mean she knows what she's doing and she's charming she's funny this is hers to lose at this point but this is also again this is kind of a kind of a stacked category so it's it's hard who knows how this would turn out but i do think tiana has had that energy going for most of

this award season and i don't think she's really relinquished it but we'll see well this is a category where i really thought a lot about one of my own personal type breakers which is can you

imagine anyone else in this role um by that metric i'm happy basically with either tiana Taylor or

Amy Madigan kind of both of whom passed that test right really can't imagine anyone else occupying that role not only in terms of acting ability and what the performance and the character brings to the movie but the kind of physical presence and tiana Taylor you know she disappears for a really long

“stretch of the movie but you never forget her face and you never forget her presence and i so i think”

she is a really strong way to to honor this film if things go in the direction that i and none of you think will happen and sinners takes most of the other major awards i think she is away for the academy to honor one battle after another i do think she's going to win but i would not be shocked if there was a different winner yeah tiana's not the film much but her absence hangs over everything which is important the film doesn't work without it because like it motivates that absence motivates

several of the characters um and when she is in the film she's incredible so yeah yeah i agree that's

it those are my thoughts too i think she's very good when she's in it i think it's been one of the more well-received performances of like i said a really complicated character who's provoked a lot of spiky conversation but i also think that she will win now blend and Steven and i all think that Amy Madigan should win my personal feeling about that is that i first thought i think she's great in it and the performance is so strange and i i really love the idea of a performance that i just

would not have even been able to conceive of until i saw it winning in award i also love the idea of a straight up horror movie um even sinners although it is a horror movie ryan coogler and Michael B. Jordan are both sort of like prestige yeah i'm very different they both come with a little

more cashier that makes sinners a kind of like as much as i hate this expression would never use it

by self people who say elevated horror weapons is straight up horror and i love the fact that it really embraces its horrorness and its weirdness and its grossness i love that idea and i think she really gladis is just a such an invention and for me the last like a few minutes of her performance are so funny and strange and the lack of vanity and how often is the climatic action set piece

“of a movie the best part something you will never forget why it's pretty great there is no category”

fraud here that is a true supporting performance she doesn't really show up in any real way and tell about an hour and 15 minutes into this movie at which point who boy well and if i support you mean could not exist without it right and when she does show up we talked about this before the physicality of that role to make up the wigs is so potentially distracting that for the move to work you need the menace to to establish it the menace needs to be not something you can just

put in a box and say well that's otherworldly that's comical you need to feel the hatred you need to feel the need you need to feel it in your bones and she nails that part of it as i understand did i she you have a different pick for who you think should win supporting actress tell me who you picked yeah i'm out all all alone in this island i'm going with alfanning for sentimental value interesting interest i keep coming back to not that i didn't know that alfanning was a very good

actress before this because i have seen her and other things and then really taken by just how how she can make like a quote and quote small role or small performance feel bigger and full and brave life into it and i think that this character and sentimental value is really tricky

who is like cast in this film project and she's it becomes very clear that spell and scar's guard character wants to sort of make a movie about his own life and use her as a stand-in for like various people in his life and the way she's able to carry that and this also goes to the writing as well but like she could have been some snively like annoying irritable actress from america who doesn't like respect the craft but she

that whole created process again she's just really trying to understand why she was even cast in this role and there's just a lot of layers to it that i really really love it's it just me it's just just doesn't feel right it doesn't feel right for you either does it me doing this film of course it does i don't think it does i don't think she's going to win and maybe this seems like a

“contrarian p o v but i just keep going back to that performance and i think everyone in this category”

is really really good yes another run with no bad choices i don't think you mentioned alfanning in sentimental value i think that inga ebstotter is just gorgeous and when we must talk i mean it is a great guy i agree with you i i think that alfanning performance it is not the showiest performance and it not that it's a particularly showy movie but it's maybe not the biggest performance in it but i think in some ways it's the hardest to get right yeah because it's not necessarily naturally

sympathetic and yet it is she is meant to be a sympathetic character and some of the realizations that she comes to over the course of that movie are really emotionally complicated i think it is a beautiful performance again no bad choices steven we're moving on to actor in a supporting we're also run us through some nominees all right we've got benicio del Toro for one battle after another

he plays a karate instructor who aids Leonardo DiCaprio's ex-revolutionary we've got Jacob

alordie for Frankenstein he plays the creature in this adaptation of the Mary Shelley classic del roi lindo for sinners lindo plays a harmonica player at a juke joint who's opening night doesn't go as planned shon pen for one battle after another pen plays kernel lock jaw who is seeking revenge against a group of ex-revolutionaries and still in scars guard for sentimental value scar scar plays a filmmaker who is working on his next film while trying to reconnect

with his daughters all right i have been told that we are firmly divided in this case on who we think is going to win so i'm gonna let not my team i'm gonna let team still in scar's guard go

first iisha the floor's yours let me start by saying i don't think it should be in this category

he should be in best actor he's not as a parting actor and sent about to value but

“i think what makes me think he will win is just a feeling if i'm being honest like i just i don't”

know i don't know i just i feel as though he is a respected bet and i think that can go a long way and this is a movie that is very deeply emotional and i think it might connect especially since he's playing a film director in this movie like i think there's all these little factors so again just a gut just a feeling i think it could be him but honestly it could go anyway this is just where i'm taking my claim yeah this was a tough one to predict i could certainly see

them going with shon pen which is a shouir performance in the academy loves shon pen i want with scar's guard in part because looking at the nominations it's clear that the academy loves sentimental value relates to it deeply it's themes of balancing art and life i think our extremely resonant for a lot of academy voters and i think they relate to no one in this film quite the way they relate to stellar scar's guard's character and the fact that you have

as i mentioned a little bit of category fraud here shades of cure and colcan last year uh in a film that doesn't really feel like a true supporting performance uh give some a lot of opportunities to shine so that's the direction i went in terms of predicting who i think will win. all right well Glenn you like i chose shon pen as the person who is going to win why did you make

that choice yeah i went with the stevens first thought first draft thought i look askers gonna asker

i don't think it's deserving i think it's a fun performance but it is a cartoon character's name is lock jaw but as steven mentioned they love nominating shon i get that i get that i picked it for basically when i heard steven say you know they love shon pen and it's a very big showy

“performances like that's why i don't think that the Oscars have a history of rewarding”

subtlety perhaps as much as i would like you know even in that same movie the minicia del Toro performances a little bit funnier more low key performance shall we say new ones i think it's going to

please again i keep going back to these moments where all the performers find in this movie but

especially del roilendo when we first are introduced to him at that train station he has to play

a drunkard but he's a drunkard who also has moments of clarity and it's quick-witted and is sympathetic and he's just so good he also has like a few lines in there that i actually like genuinely funny I got socks over in this year more what they are you know about the blues i i also keep just thinking again to the body of work and what he's been able to do and i'm still mad about defive buds and how like his his role in that movie he's so great in that so great in this

and you know i jiggle already fantastic benicio del Toro yes love it but i i would be very happy to see del roilendo here pretty much the same is as i should del roilendo is a sentimental favorite for me i also think he's just magnificent in this film he pops off the screen every time he shows up which is what you want from a supporting performance i'm glad i should

“mention jakeah ballorty who i think is kind of a revelation in frankinstein i think he brings”

a physicality to that performance and kind of a grace to that performance that it could easily not have had and i think he really deepens the effect of that film and though he does a fair bit of bellowing brings a tiny bit of subtlety to a film that otherwise contains it almost not at all there are certainly elements of these other performances that i admire i mean chant kind of nothing else it's a very committed performance but for me linda was who i think

should win same it's such a small role but he gets to play a lot of different notes a lot of different aspects of men they all feel true he's been out here putting in the work and if he wins they're just gonna say oscaris was trying to make up her defive bloods which would be fine so exactly yeah you know as i hear all of you advocate for del roilendo that sounds right to me

“i cannot disagree with anything that you said i did go with jakeah ballorty just because i think”

that performance is so odd that character is often presented in a very physically blunt way and i did appreciate the specificity of the kind of take that he chose with del torro so i went with a lorty now are you sure bring a song best director nominations maybe we're going home all right

first up Josh saffty for marty supreme you'll contriere for sentimental value Chloe jow for hamnet

and now we have the presumed front runners Paul Thomas Anderson for one battle after another and Ryan coogler for sinners all right Glenn you think the Paul Thomas Anderson is gonna take it tell me why because again oscaris gonna ask her i think there's some old school established economy voters who were gonna see this as their opportunity to finally give Paul Thomas Anderson the oscar he has not gotten if there is a sense among those people that coogler you know just has an earnedy yet baby it's

kind of manifest here yeah i mean i said a similar thing when we're talking about this picture and i think that the it's time is really what's working in Paul Thomas Anderson's favorite right now and also just the fact that it has this that movie has done relatively well at the box office people are happy about it and we cannot you know undersell how much like people who are voting on these things really still care about movies being seen in theaters and people being excited

“about seeing movies in theaters and so i think that this is Paul Thomas Anderson's moment and he will”

win replace everything i should just said just replace the words Paul Thomas Anderson with Ryan coogler from your lives to the voters areas in part because like don't count out the fact that sinners made a boat load of money it made a lot more money than one battle after another maybe i'm i'm speaking to you with my heart and not my head maybe for a while i had really been thinking like maybe sinners wins best picture in Paul Thomas Anderson wins best director but as i said kind of at

the top of this show i'm breaking all ties in favor of sinners this feels like a neck and neck race and in a neck and neck race i'm going with sinners i love a hunch buddy i absolutely love a hunch and and i went with Ryan coogler to basically for the same reasons i think it's between Paul Thomas Anderson and Ryan coogler and i just think everything that Ryan coogler is doing right now is so cool and interesting and there is to me an opportunity to actually say hey he's like

one of the most interesting directors we currently have plus he's incredibly commercially successful

maybe we should give him an Oscar do i think that's always what's gonna happen you know but i

also think that he should win which it sounds like steven does also sounds like steven and i are both going with will and should for Ryan coogler 100% and i will admit that like steven it's a little bit

for should win yes definitely i am such a pessimist when it comes to these things and i've also seen the way the academy has treated black art over the years and for every moonlight there's you know a green book and or multiple green books i also think that if Ryan coogler does win

he would be the first black director to win in this category this is almost 100 years of this now

and i don't know if we've come that far i do think that if he does win it will be in part or in large part because of that video that he made explaining all the formats in the way he did it which is just like sheaps kissed directors cat nip and that alone should be why he wins i mean obviously sinners but like yes to that as well because it's just like a brilliant piece of

“explaining why film is important and so yeah give it to Ryan coogler same if if we're gonna make”

long overdue history with this win this is the film to do it with because it's kind of commenting on history it's also using genre elements to comment on something real it's not elevating horror

what it's doing is it's revealing what horror is always done which is the power of metaphor

to uh communicate something all the stuff that's essential in an elemental and true so let it happen everything that has ever happened has at some point never happened this is my and this is my optimism talking it's never happened until it happens be on say never one album of the year until she won album of the year these awards shows used to be a lot more embarrassing than they are now and again i don't think it would be embarrassing if Paul Thomas Anderson won he's a great director

“but i i'm going with my heart man i think it's Ryan coogler okay we have talked about will win”

we have talked about should win make sure to check your feed on monday morning we will have a recap of the Oscars telecast right here in your podcast feed you will not want to miss it and of course we want to know what you think about this year's Oscar nominees find us on facebook at facebook.com/pch and on letter box we'll have a list of our favorite movies across all the categories this year you can find that at letterbox.com/npr pop culture up next what's making us happy this week

from wqxr and carnage all comes classical music happy out and new podcast posted by me pianist many acts each episode will speak with a special guest listen to musical gems play music inspired games and answer questions from our listeners the first episode drops march fourth listen on the npr app all right now it is time for our favorite segment of this week in every week what's making us happy this week grand kick us off what's making you happy this week our co is one of

the animated features up for an academy award this year it's French it's uh it's uh it's owes a lot to me is hockey it's about a little kid who goes back in time from the far future to an earth that is in the throws of climate change put it that way and makes friends with little girl and uh they have adventures i'm usually a sub not dub guy but the version of this film that i saw was dubbed and uh the three kind of wacky sort of villains uh are voiced by flea and isamberg and will feral one i'm

“not gonna turn on my nose at that it's a lot of fun our co is available streaming on demand i think”

it's gonna get creamed to buy k-pop demon occurs but that doesn't mean it's not a fun movie to watch all right thank you very much Glenwell then i share it's what is making you happy this week i am going to keep it in the Oscars realm and i'm going to say that it is buddy guy performing a tiny desk concert it's such a lovely little woven he he performs you know some classics who she could she man but then he brings out mileskating played Sammy and sinners and they perform

a couple of songs together including i lie to you and it's just magic and there's just something

lovely about it it's amazing it's i'm so glad buddy guy is still with us he's still he's still got

the like the verb and the vivid the the the charisma i am recommending the buddy guy tiny desk concert go check it out it's so good excellent excellent pick thank you very much i should hear us Steven Thompson what is making you happy this week so mine is not Oscars adjacent last week a new benefit compilation album dropped called help to it's a fundraiser for a group called war child UK which raises money for children affected by conflicts around the world the first

help album came out thirty years ago and included some of the biggest names in British music this one is similarly ambitious but expands its list of contributors to include artists like

greatest songs ever written there are tons of great covers here but the one i've been

“kind of living in for the last few days is a version of the song by like wine that song has been”

recorded by earth a kit Nina Simone and Jeff Buckley among many others here it is performed by a ruch off top who's one of my favorites and back it's a beautiful set of music that is

helped to benefit from war child records all right thank you very much Steven Thompson okay

we've talked about a gazillion wonderful excellent Oscar movies now i'm going to provide balance

“by telling you about a very bad movie that i enjoyed watching a great deal which is Mercy starring”

Chris Pratt as a person being tried by an AI judge played by Rebecca Ferguson now when i tell you

that this movie is bad it is very bad it is what my buddies over the flophouse would call a good

bad movie which is you can i could not stop giggling at some of the dialogue some of the efforts by Chris Pratt to play a very serious police officer who spends most of the movie sitting in a chair searching the internet the setup being that he is trying to defend himself against an allegation that he has killed his wife this is not a due process heavy set up that they have gone here the

“question isn't what was the best thing you saw this week the question was what made and everyone”

who has talked to me about Mercy knows that i had a great time is Mercy our new trap oh trap is much better than Mercy oh trap is trap is much better than Mercy Mercy wishes it was trapped so at any rate that is what is making me happy this week you can find it streaming i paid to rent it if you want links for what we recommended plus some additional recommendations sign up for our newsletter nkr.org/papkel for newsletter that brings us to the end of our show ijaharis Glenwell then Steven Thompson

thank you so much for being here to talk about the Oscars woo thank you thank you thank you this episode is produced by Liz Metzker and edited by our showrunner Jessica Ritty they work very hard in this episode thank you so much hello come in provides our theme music thanks for listening to pop culture happy hour from npr i'm Linda Holmes and we will see you right nearly for our Oscars wrap up next week hey it's a lot that from radio lab our goal with each episode

is to make you think how did i live this long and not know that radio lab adventures on the edge of what we think we know. Listen wherever you get podcast.