The Oscars Hangover Mailbag. Plus: Bong Joon-ho Returns!

Anora 2024

Best Picture, Director, Actress (Mikey Madison), Original Screenplay, and Editing. The panel argues the five-win sweep only felt like a steamroll once Editing and Original Screenplay landed late in the night.

The Brutalist 2024

The four-hour outlier; won three, including Actor for Adrien Brody, whose long speech becomes the night's flashpoint over played-off artisans.

Nickel Boys 2024

Nominated but went home empty; flagged as a likely long-term cinephile favorite.

A Complete Unknown 2024

Wicked 2024

Conclave 2024

The consensus 'movie everyone liked' that many expected to win on a ranked ballot.

The Substance 2024

Demi Moore's frontrunner status collapsed to Madison; the panel replays how the campaign narrative flipped.

Dune: Part Two 2024

Two tech wins; none of the anonymous EW ballots had watched it. Sean keeps floating a 'Return of the King' turn for the sequel and gets mocked for it.

Barbie 2023

Cited for the 'I'm just Ken' playbook the producers reused to keep Wicked and Dune in the telecast.

Oppenheimer 2023

Everything Everywhere All at Once 2022

Challengers 2024

Snubbed; offered as the reason Zendaya skipped the ceremony.

Snow White 2025

The rare upcoming title the show promoted; the broadcast reportedly avoided even saying its name.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps 2025

Sean's example of a Disney tentpole whose cast could have presented but didn't.

Warfare 2025

The Odyssey 2026

Nolan is shooting it now, which the panel blames for keeping many stars out of the room.

Blue Velvet 1986

Isabella Rossellini wore the film's dress as a David Lynch tribute; most viewers missed it.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 2002

Source of the 'Two Towers stat' Sean invokes for the Dune sequel's odds.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 2003

After the Hunt 2025

Luca Guadagnino, with Julia Roberts. A no.

The Testament of Ann Lee 2025

Mona Fastvold's Shaker musical.

Avatar: Fire and Ash 2025

A maybe for a nomination, not a win.

The Bride! 2025

Maggie Gyllenhaal's Bride of Frankenstein; the panel worries del Toro's own Frankenstein crowds it out.

Bugonia 2025

Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone; a no for Picture but her name comes up for Actress.

Die, My Love 2025

Lynne Ramsay, with Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson. No, but anticipated.

The Drama 2025

Kristoffer Borgli, of Dream Scenario, with Pattinson and Zendaya. Joanna yes, Amanda no.

Eddington 2025

Ari Aster's contemporary Western. No.

Father, Mother, Sister, Brother 2025

Jim Jarmusch, with Cate Blanchett, possibly bound for Cannes.

Frankenstein 2025

Guillermo del Toro. A yes for a nomination.

Hamnet 2025

Chloé Zhao's literary adaptation. Unanimous yes.

Highest 2 Lowest 2025

Spike Lee's take on Kurosawa's High and Low, with Denzel Washington.

The History of Sound 2025

Oliver Hermanus, with Josh O'Connor and Paul Mescal; the panel is openly manifesting this one.

Jay Kelly 2025

Noah Baumbach, with George Clooney and Adam Sandler; buzz on the Sandler performance turns it into a yes.

Marty Supreme 2025

Josh Safdie's ping-pong period piece with Timothée Chalamet. No for Picture.

The Mastermind 2025

Kelly Reichardt's Vietnam-era art heist. No, but wanted.

Materialists 2025

Celine Song's June-dated follow-up; Amanda doubts it's an Oscar movie, prompting a Chris Evans apology bit.

Michael 2026

The Michael Jackson biopic; reported third-act reshoots leave its standing unknown.

Mother Mary 2025

David Lowery's pop-star film with Anne Hathaway. No.

No Other Choice 2025

Park Chan-wook; a confident yes.

One Battle After Another 2025

Paul Thomas Anderson, with Leonardo DiCaprio; yes for Picture and Actor.

The Phoenician Scheme 2025

Wes Anderson, Cannes-bound; a Screenplay play more than Picture.

Resurrection 2025

Bi Gan; no verdict reached.

Roofman 2025

Derek Cianfrance, with Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, LaKeith Stanfield, and Ben Mendelsohn. A no.

The Smashing Machine 2025

Benny Safdie's Mark Kerr film with Dwayne Johnson. No.

Sorry, Baby 2025

The A24 Sundance pickup; their annual breakout, a yes.

Train Dreams 2025

Clint Bentley's Sundance logger drama. Yes.

Wicked: For Good 2025

The easiest call on the board.

The Lost Bus 2025

Paul Greengrass, with Matthew McConaughey as a Paradise Fire bus driver; Sean's Best Actor wild card.

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You 2025

Tate's Best Actress pick for Rose Byrne off Sundance buzz.

Sinners 2025

Floated as an outside Best Actor bid for Michael B. Jordan.

Parasite 2019

Their pick for who currently holds the 'Best Picture belt.'

The Silence of the Lambs 1991

No Country for Old Men 2007

Casablanca 1942

Cavalcade 1933

Cimarron 1931

The Greatest Show on Earth 1952

Lawrence of Arabia 1962

The poster every filmmaker seems to keep on the wall; they hope to catch it at the 70mm fest.

Moonlight 2016

One half of the tightest Best Picture race they can name, alongside La La Land.

La La Land 2016

Avatar 2009

Joanna's nominee for a genuinely close race, against The Hurt Locker.

The Hurt Locker 2008

Boyhood 2014

Lost Best Picture to Birdman the same year.

Birdman 2014

12 Years a Slave 2013

Spotlight 2015

The Big Short took PGA that year, a rare recent nail-biter.

The Big Short 2015

The Revenant 2015

Mad Max: Fury Road 2015

Won everything below the line and was never going to take Picture.

Junior 1994

An extended detour over who plays which role in a remade poster, and whether Emma Thompson was the doctor.

Twins 1988

Rain Man 1988

Sean's benchmark: this year's top five contenders combined may have grossed less than it did alone.

Roma 2018

The Netflix-vs-theaters fight that kicked off the distribution debate.

Call Me by Your Name 2017

Joanna couldn't find a screening in San Francisco, an example of the limited-release problem.

Sing Sing 2024

I'm Still Here 2024

Sony Pictures Classics can't afford a 1,000-theater run for it, a hole in the proposed distribution rule.

Companion 2025

Warner Bros. put it on VOD after two and a half weeks; a data point on the collapsing theatrical window.

The Monkey 2025

Its marketing needled A24's Heretic candle in the Neon-vs-A24 belt debate.

Longlegs 2024

Neon's breakout, framed as an anomaly rather than a trend.

Civil War 2024

Heretic 2024

Babygirl 2024

We Live in Time 2024

MaXXXine 2024

Prince of Broadway 2008

Sean Baker's early film, arriving in Criterion the same week as Anora.

The Florida Project 2017

Baker went straight to Florida to film the now-teenage kids for the DVD extras.

CODA 2021

Offered as an example of a winner that got mothballed after its year.

The Banshees of Inisherin 2022

Sean rewatches it more than Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Gladiator 2000

Crash 2004

One of only six Best Picture winners this century to get a Rewatchables episode.

The Departed 2006

Argo 2012

The Shape of Water 2017

Get Out 2017

Lady Bird 2017

Phantom Thread 2017

Dunkirk 2017

Ford v Ferrari 2019

The Irishman 2019

Jojo Rabbit 2019

Emilia Pérez 2024

The one nominee they're happy to mothball; the future trivia answer for Zoe Saldaña's Oscar.

A Real Pain 2024

Last year's A24 Sundance breakout, the template for Sorry, Baby.

Poor Things 2023

Amanda's counter to the 'why is everyone a prude about Anora' complaint.

Dog Man 2025

Brian Curtis's $50 family outing, cited as an example of how expensive moviegoing has become.

Return to Oz 1985

Oz the Great and Powerful 2013

The Wiz 1978

The Wizard of Oz 1939

Mickey 17 2025

Adapted from the novel Mickey7. Bong says he passed on years of monster and sci-fi offers and took this one for the character, not the scale; Robert Pattinson was his first choice, cast off Good Time and The Lighthouse. He calls it one of his more hopeful films because he didn't want to destroy Mickey.

Parasite 2019

Bong says he stayed calm through the Oscar run, then got the Mickey7 manuscript in June 2020 during the pandemic.

Okja 2017

The Plan B connection that brought him the project, and his first VFX-creature collaboration with DP Darius Khondji.

The Host 2006

Shot against real Seoul and the Han River, part of his habit of avoiding green screen.

Snowpiercer 2013

The snowy-fields DNA reworked here as a spaceship rather than a train; John Hurt once called his method Hitchcockian.

Memories of Murder 2003

Cited among his films where people eating together sets up explosive scenes.

The Thing 1982

A lifelong John Carpenter influence rather than a direct Mickey 17 reference.

Dances with Wolves 1990

A surprise touchstone: Bong studied its bison-herd sound for the creeper stampede.

Assault on Precinct 13 1976

Bong's example of Carpenter's isolated-group-under-siege setup that he loves.

Prince of Darkness 1987

Good Time 2017

Where Bong first clocked Pattinson's range, via his friendship with the Safdies.

The Lighthouse 2019

Bong rewatched it and saw 'Mickey 18' in Pattinson's performance.

Armageddon Time 2022

The James Gray register Khondji usually prefers, far from VFX creatures.

The Lost City of Z 2016

Evil Does Not Exist 2023

Bong's most recent last-great-thing, a Hamaguchi Ryusuke film he found beautiful.

The Wrong Trousers 1993

He revisited the old Wallace & Gromit shorts after the new Netflix one; a true masterpiece.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl 2024