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PODCAST

Academy Vs Audience

Claire Bolton, Dan Gibbins, and Erin Weir

Ever since 1928, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has handed out trophies to what it considered the best in film. Sometimes they were absolutely right, sometimes they were entirely wrong, sometimes they were so, so basic. But in all that time, audiences have had their own opinions, sometimes better, sometimes much worse. And sometimes, when the stars align or the fates allow, they even agree. Academy Vs Audience is a deep dive into Oscar history, revisiting film history from the 1920s

tv & film film history

All Episodes

130:14

1978: The Grease Hunter (feat. Kevin Weir)

Academy Vs Audience ·

2024/04/18

It's 1978 and the tonal gulf between Oscar winner and people's champ has, if anything, widened, as has the gap in host reactions. The Academy goes for Michael Cimino's home-from-Vietnam story The Deer Hunter, which has some stellar performances but also very strange and off-putting pacing, and an iconic, definitive scene that maybe does more harm than good. Meanwhile, audiences flocked to see John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in the 50s nostalgia musical Grease, filled with songs

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81:54

1977: Hall Wars (w/ Munsi Parker-Munroe)

Academy Vs Audience ·

2024/04/04

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94:54

Oscars 2024: Year in Review (w/ Olav Rokne)

Academy Vs Audience ·

2024/03/21

The Oscars have happened, Award Season is done for now, and we take a look at the ten candidates for Best Picture of 2023, with returning guest Oscar enthusiast, and greatest living fan of Zardoz, Olav Rokne. Dan and Olav saw all ten, as is their wont, Erin's seen six, and Claire's here for the vibes as we speed through reviews of nine great movies and also Maestro. What were their strengths? Their failings? Should modern audiences regrow and attention span or is three and a half hours too

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60:47

1976: Yo, Rocky!

Academy Vs Audience ·

2024/03/07

It's 1976, and audiences and the Academy are united in loving one man: Rocky Balboa. A nine film franchise spanning six decades has a small and simple beginning as a struggling young Sylvester Stallone writes himself into stardom as a simple palooka trying to prove to the world and himself that he can go the distance with heavyweight champ Apollo Creed. Erin, Claire, and Dan dig into Rocky's journey from nothing to stardom, where the Rockys went from here and what it tells us, which scene

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66:41

1975: One Flew Over the SHARK! SHARK! RUN!

Academy Vs Audience ·

2024/02/22

It's 1995, and we have cuckoos and sharks coming your way! The Oscar went to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, second film ever to achieve the Oscar Grand Slam, as Jack Nicholson's anti-hero McMurphy squared off with Louise Fletcher's icily villainous Nurse Ratched. It's hailed by a classic, but how does it hold up? And what do other versions of the story do better? But the audience pic is the birth of the blockbuster, Steven Spielberg's classic, Jaws. Claire, Erin, and

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101:42

1974: Godfather 2 Electric Boogaloo (feat. Gina Stewart)

Academy Vs Audience ·

2024/02/08

Two years after The Godfather dominated the box office and snagged the top Oscar, Francis and the Corleones are back for one of the most lauded sequels ever, The Godfather Part 2. Gina Stewart's back to join Erin, Claire, and Dan in unpacking the rise of Vito and the fall of Michael, and the sad story of Fredo and the career of the man playing him. But the sequel didn't fully wow the crowds, so we move on to the pinnacle of the early 70s top genre, disasters, with The Towering Inferno

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106:04

1973: Heists and Horror (feat. Keith Kollee)

Academy Vs Audience ·

2024/01/25

It's 1973, and we take a break from Coppola's mafia movies for... more crimes, of legal and spiritual nature! First up, Paul Newman and Robert Redford are back together for new crimes in a new century, as 1930s con men out for payback on a vicious gangster in Oscar winner The Sting. But as popular as the Butch and Sundance reunion was (very), audiences were even more drawn into horror classic The Exorcist, in which a desperate mother exhausts many, many, many options before a young priest

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59:31

1972: You've NEVER Seen The GODFATHER!? (feat. Gina...

Academy Vs Audience ·

2024/01/11

It's 1972 and Francis Ford Coppola had an offer neither Academy nor Audience could refuse, with all-time-classic mob movie The Godfather. Erin, Claire, and Dan dig into the suspense, the twists and turns, who the best Corleone kid is and why it's Tom Hagen, and Gina Stewart is back to tell us all about how Mario Puzo's novel was adapted (by Puzo himself and Coppola). Get yourself a plate of pasta, pour some wine, and dig into the first Joint Champion of the 70s with us!Find all of our

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50:31

2023 in Review

Academy Vs Audience ·

2023/12/28

It's the holiday season, so while taking a brief break, Erin, Claire, and Dan look back at the hits, possible nominees, and other random movies they've seen over the course of 2023. What were some Oscar History highlights? What were the weird trends of 2023 movies? What's the most unfortunate trend? Are we headed for the first Joint Champion in two decades? Probably not but maybe we should be. Join in for a look back.Find all of our episodes and the rest of Writing Therapy

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85:20

1971: The Fiddler Connection

Academy Vs Audience ·

2023/12/14

1971 brings us another year where you have to ask if someone wrote the winners down wrong, as the Academy goes with the cop thrillers and audiences decide they're not quite done with musicals. Best Picture goes to The French Connection, with Gene Hackman as Popeye Doyle, a cop on the edge in world he never made, fighting French drug traffickers with... racism and mostly inept surveillance? Doesn't seem great... Meanwhile, our Box Office Champion Fiddler on the Roof sings of Tradition,

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81:51

1970: Love and War

Academy Vs Audience ·

2023/11/30

Welcome to the 70s, New Hollywood! And as Erin, Claire, and Dan enter this new decade, all is fair in love and war... and if it isn't, love means never having to say you're sorry. The Academy goes for Patton, a biopic of the controversial World War II general, and Erin and Claire are... not convinced. Meanwhile, the audience showed up in droves for the simply titled Love Story, and the hosts have some notes. War gets the glory, love conquers all at the box office, but who stands the test

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63:03

1969: Oops All Cowboys

Academy Vs Audience ·

2023/11/16

Grab your hat, your boots, your portable radio, and all the chewing gum you can carry, as New Hollywood hits hard in 1969. The Academy goes for the bleak, urban tragedy of two failing hustlers in Midnight Cowboy, and Dustin Hoffman shatters our hosts' hearts. The audience went for something lighter, more fun, and yet with fewer surviving protagonists in western buddy comedy Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Two very different movies succeeding in very different ways, but which is the

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115:37

1968: Last Stand of the Hollywood MegaMusical (feat....

Academy Vs Audience ·

2023/11/02

It's 1968, the dying days of Hollywood's "Golden Age," and while grosses have been down and the market's oversaturated, the big-budget Hollywood musical is going down swinging. First, the Oscar goes to Oliver!, a whimsical, light-hearted, peppy musical adaptation of... Oliver Twist? Weird choice. Once we're through the toe-tapping child trauma, it's on to Funny Girl, Barbra Streisand's breakout movie depicting the rise of top-tier Ziegfeld Girl Fanny Brice,

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99:13

1967: The Heat of the Graduate

Academy Vs Audience ·

2023/10/19

Welcome to New Hollywood, listeners! The Academy goes for tense, racially charged In The Heat of the Night, where Sidney Poitier announces "They call me Mr. Tibbs" and helps a hick southern sheriff solve a murder. It's gripping, it's powerful, it brings up some sad thoughts for Erin, Claire, and Dan in the wake of recent events in Canada. Then on the lighter side, Dustin Hoffman makes his AVA debut in The Graduate, a blend of bleak and very funny that your co-hosts fall for

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103:54

1966: Old Testament Centrism (feat. Munsi Parker-Munroe)

Academy Vs Audience ·

2023/10/05

It's 1966, and as the so-called "Golden Age" of Hollywood collapses, nobody's having a good year. The Oscars favour A Man For All Seasons, the story of Thomas Moore, a man bold enough to [checks notes] take no actions, speak no opinions, and "My name's Paul and that's tween y'all" Henry VIII's marriage controversies. Yeah. Great subject for a biopic. Meanwhile two underperforming would-be epics have a photo-finish for Box Office Champ, and we select

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65:55

1965: The Hills are Alive! RUN!

Academy Vs Audience ·

2023/09/21

It's 1965, and Academy Vs Audience hits Film History's Second Juggernaut: Dame Julie Andrews and the late, great, Christopher Plummer in The Sound of Music. Erin, Claire, and Dan dig into the sweet little musical about love, family, music, and the dangers of capitulating to Nazis... breaking down the kids, the king that is Captain Von Trapp and the glorious problem that's Maria, and lots of love for the songs*. Box office records are smashed, Oscar gold is hauled in, one of the other

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76:18

1964: POPPINS. VS. DOOLITTLE!

Academy Vs Audience ·

2023/09/07

It's 1964 and it's all singing, all dancing, all grudge match for Julie Andrews! The Oscar goes to Lerner and Lowe's My Fair Lady, with Audrey Hepburn taking over the role Julie Andrews created onstage, because the future Dame wasn't "a big enough draw." In response, Andrews joins Walt Disney for the aggressively whimsical Mary Poppins, claiming the box office crown from the film that rejected her. But who did it best? When it comes to the tunes, Doolittle's doing

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106:02

1963: SEX BOMBS (feat. John Tebbutt)

Academy Vs Audience ·

2023/08/24

It's 1963, and both Hollywood and the UK were starting to poke at the boundaries of film censors. First off, the best picture winner, England's Tom Jones, in which the title character tries to win his lady Sophie (whoa, She's a Lady), but can't resist saying "What's New Pussycat" to any woman with a come hither look. Our special guest, Video Vulture John Tebbutt, explains to Claire, Erin, and Dan that It's Not Unusual to find the appeal may have shifted since

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82:43

1962: Larry Arabia and the Long Day

Academy Vs Audience ·

2023/08/10

War! Huh. Good god, y'all, what is it good for? In 1962, the answer is two surprisingly good movies. First, the Academy Award goes to Lawrence of Arabia, featuring stunning cinematography, deadly deserts, amazing breakout performances from Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif, and some DEEPLY uncomfortable casting choices for Arab leadership. But by a narrow margin, the box office crown goes to The Longest Day, an impressively thorough and nuanced examination of the D-Day invasion of Normandy

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74:20

1961: DANCE FIGHT (feat. Keith Kollee)

Academy Vs Audience ·

2023/07/27

Welcome, listeners, to the Academy Vs Audience/Recovered crossover! Dan, Erin, and Claire welcome Dan's Recovered co-host Keith Kollee to dig into 1961's Joint Champion, West Side Story, the only movie whose every film remake is an Oscar contender. The gang digs into this story of rival gangs, racial tensions, corrupt cops, amazing progressive trans representation, and if there's time, the star-crossed lovers at the center of this Romeo and Juliet riff*. The songs, the dance fights,

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100 results

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