Awards Season Has Gone Cuckoo. Plus: The 10 Best Movies at Sundance.

Awards Season Has Gone CuckooSAG nominations, the GameStop bubble, and HBO Max's day-and-date bet

The Little Things 2021

Jared Leto's second nomination for it: Golden Globe, now SAG. Sean and Amanda can't fathom what in the film merits an award, and wonder whose slot he took (Sound of Metal's Paul Raci among the casualties).

Hillbilly Elegy 2020

SAG went for both Glenn Close and Amy Adams. 'This movie was made so that this could happen.'

Minari 2020

Overlooked at the Globes, better here: Steven Yeun, Youn Yuh-jung, and a Best Ensemble nod. Reaches theaters the 12th, then VOD.

Da 5 Bloods 2020

Two straight snubs for Delroy Lindo; the film landed a Best Ensemble nod. Sean's theory: a summer release fading before awards season.

Mank 2020

Led the Globe nominations but missed Best Ensemble here. Amanda Seyfried's omission surprised them; a movie about directors and writers may just not move actors.

The Father 2020

Olivia Colman in supporting, good work, but it reads to Amanda like a 'she's the good hang' vote versus the unknowns (Youn Yuh-jung, Helena Zengel).

Wonder Woman 1984 2020

Day-and-date on HBO Max; not a critical favorite but it drove the service past 40 million activated users, which is all HBO Max wanted.

Locked Down 2021

HBO Max streaming movie with Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor, Doug Liman and Steven Knight behind it. More quality than Sean expects from straight-to-streaming, though the quarantine setting is an asterisk.

The Best Movies at SundanceSundance 2021, virtual edition

With Adam Naiman

CODA 2021

Sold to Apple for a record $25 million and swept four of six U.S. Dramatic prizes. The trio finds it the most 'fine,' formulaic Sundance movie imaginable, and Amanda cried anyway. Sian Heder directs.

With Adam Naiman

Passing 2021

Rebecca Hall's directorial debut, sold to Netflix for ~$16M. Adapted from Nella Larsen's 1929 novel; Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga star. Adam: a real filmmaker, sound design and all.

With Adam Naiman

In the Earth 2021

Adam's top pick: Ben Wheatley in the woods during a vaguely-defined pandemic. Too long at 110 minutes, but the strobe-and-EDM freakout is the one movie all three wished they'd seen in a theater. Not an Amanda movie.

With Adam Naiman

In the Same Breath 2021

Amanda's pick: Nanfu Wang's COVID documentary. The on-the-ground China footage, much of it later censored, is what she can't shake; the American-failure material feels rushed.

With Adam Naiman

The Sparks Brothers 2021

Edgar Wright's documentary on the L.A. duo. Way too long and too devoted to its subject, which Sean kind of loves. The brothers stay unknowable even after two-plus hours on camera.

With Adam Naiman

Judas and the Black Messiah 2021

Shaka King's docudrama on the FBI and Fred Hampton, a serious grown-up movie sitting oddly in the awards race. All three rate it well above Trial of the Chicago 7 on similar terrain. Sean and Amanda tackle it next week.

With Adam Naiman

Try Harder! 2021

Debbie Lum's doc on college-admissions anxiety at a predominantly Asian American high school. One of three vérité high-school films Sean groups together.

With Adam Naiman

Homeroom 2021

Peter Nicks's third Oakland film: high school where social activism collides with the students. Sean's kind of movie, alongside Boys State and Minding the Gap.

With Adam Naiman

Cusp 2021

Isabel Bethancourt and Parker Hill on three young Texas women in the fever-dream summer after high school.

With Adam Naiman

All Light Everywhere 2021

Theo Anthony's essay documentary on body cameras and the weaponization of being watched. The most fully realized thing Sean saw, if not the most commercial. Adam missed it and regrets it.

With Adam Naiman

A Glitch in the Matrix 2021

Rodney Ascher on simulation theory: all white guys of a certain age, which Adam reads as the actual subject. Eerie to watch mid-GameStop; Ascher's refusal to supply a counterpoint is the point.

With Adam Naiman

President 2021

Camilla Nielsen's doc on Zimbabwe's post-Mugabe election (Chamisa vs. Mnangagwa). Amanda and Sean both watched it like a thriller. Still unsold, the kind of thing a savvy distributor should grab.

With Adam Naiman

We're All Going to the World's Fair 2021

Jane Schoenbrun's film about a teenage girl in an online creepypasta game, the only thing Adam forgot he was watching. Specific rather than universal, which is why it feels large.

With Adam Naiman

Mass 2021

Fran Kranz's debut: two couples on opposite sides of a school shooting. Stagey but cinematic, with Jason Isaacs, Ann Dowd, Martha Plimpton, and Reed Birney. Sean's under-loved standout.

With Adam Naiman

Summer of Soul 2021

Amanda's favorite: Questlove's directorial debut on the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. Half unseen concert footage (Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Mavis Staples, the Fifth Dimension), half context that enlivens it. A big acquisition feels inevitable.

Also mentioned raised along the way

In the awards talk The Trial of the Chicago 7On the RocksMa Rainey's Black BottomOne Night in Miami...Sound of MetalBorat Subsequent MoviefilmNews of the WorldAmmonite

Coming in February NomadlandThe United States vs. Billie HolidayMalcolm & Marie

GameStop reading list Margin CallBoiler RoomThe Big Short

The streaming slate ahead Godzilla vs. KongZack Snyder's Justice LeagueMortal KombatTom and JerryTrolls World TourSoulHappiest Season

Other Sundance titles On the Count of ThreeJohn and the HolePrisoners of the Ghostland

Filmographies and touchstones RebeccaOne Child NationRat FilmRoom 237The NightmareNewlyweedsThe Cabin in the WoodsBoys StateMinding the GapThe Miseducation of Cameron PostMe and Earl and the Dying GirlBarton FinkMangrovePalm SpringsClose Encounters of the Third KindThe Matrix

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV WandaVisionThe Crown

Games FIFA World Cup Launch Edition

Podcasts Table MannersJam Session

Ads NetflixBoar's HeadBotoxSam's ClubAthletic Brewing