The Trial of the Chicago 7 2020
Sean didn't realize it was Oscar-eligible until pundits started floating Sacha Baron Cohen for supporting actor.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Awards
The Second Annual Alternative Academy Awards (a.k.a. The Big Picks!), With Wesley Morris
April 20, 2021/ 106 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Wesley Morris
Sean, Amanda, and Wesley Morris run the Big Picks back for year two: a verdict on Soderbergh's no-Zoom Oscars and the Amazon problem in Nomadland, then invented categories and six reimagined real ones. Time wins Best Picture, Ben Affleck wins Best Actor, and Wesley picks a fight with a nine-year-old.
83 films across 4 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
State of the 2021 Oscarsbefore the ballots
Judas and the Black Messiah 2021
Wesley meets it on its own terms, as a two-hour action movie about a spy; Amanda wants more interest in what William O'Neal's betrayal actually means.
Nomadland 2020
The presumptive winner. Wesley's read: a well-made, palatable movie about domestic grief that flinches from the rage underneath it, especially once the scene with Fern's sister explains her away.
Sorry We Missed You 2019
Wesley's counterpoint: Ken Loach's actual screed against the Amazon business model, with none of Nomadland's ambiguity, and no path to an Oscar nomination.
Minari 2020
Cited as one of the good things a broken, streaming-driven Oscar season still let through.
Mank 2020
The most Oscar-shaped nominee almost by design: a David Fincher movie about writing the idea of Citizen Kane, not even about making it.
News of the World 2020
Sean's example of a movie that could easily have filled a Best Picture slot this thin.
Godzilla vs. Kong 2021
The only movie making real money in the U.S. this year, which Wesley reads as proof audiences want event movies, not anything like this year's Best Picture slate.
Let Them All Talk 2020
What Wesley actually wants from Soderbergh right now, as opposed to producing a stripped-down Oscars broadcast.
Dune 2021
Sean's test case for whether the Academy can still get behind a real blockbuster.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm 2020
Comes up for the joke about a Kazakhstan satellite-viewing site and Sacha Baron Cohen's own supporting buzz.
The Coogler pipelineindie cred as leverage
Fruitvale Station 2013
Wesley's starting point for Ryan Coogler: a true story that announced him.
Creed 2015
IP Coogler had an actual reason to take on, in Wesley's telling: reviving a franchise rather than just servicing it.
Black Panther 2018
The blockbuster payoff: historic, and a hit, whatever else you think about it.
Schindler's List 1993
Sean's precedent: Spielberg banked enough studio hits that his passion project became a box-office smash too.
The made-up categoriesthe awards the Academy should add
Best First Feature
- Palm Springs Max Barbakow
- Sound of Metal Darius Marder
- The Forty-Year-Old Version Radha Blank Winner
Breakthrough Performance
- Never Rarely Sometimes Always Sidney Flanigan
- First Cow Orion Lee Winner
- The Forty-Year-Old Version Radha Blank
- The United States vs. Billie Holiday Andra Day
- Happiest Season Aubrey Plaza
Best Cameo
- Soul The New York Knicks Winner
- I'm Thinking of Ending Things Robert Zemeckis
- The Assistant Patrick Wilson
Best Kid Performance
- Minari Alan Kim Winner
- Boys State Steven Garza & Rene Otero
- News of the World Helena Zengel
Best Casting
- The Last Dance Winner
- The King of Staten Island
- Bacurau
- Boys State
- Tenet
Best Action Sequence
- Dick Johnson Is Dead
- Tenet the highway chase
- Birds of Prey the roller-skate chase
- Pieces of a Woman the birth scene Winner
Best Ending
- Bacurau
- Time
- Collective
- Another Round Winner
- Tenet
The Glenn Close Memorial "It's Time" Oscar
- Hillbilly Elegy Glenn Close Winner
- Mank Amanda Seyfried
- Da 5 Bloods Delroy Lindo
The six categories that actually existtheir alternate nominees and winners
Best Supporting Actor
- Driveways Brian Dennehy
- Birds of Prey Ewan McGregor
- Tenet Robert Pattinson
- One Night in Miami... Eli Goree Winner
- On the Rocks Bill Murray
Best Supporting Actress
- Shithouse Dylan Gelula
- Let Him Go Lesley Manville
- Let Them All Talk Candice Bergen Winner
- Judas and the Black Messiah Dominique Fishback
- Nomadland Charlene Swankie
Best Actor
- Bad Education Hugh Jackman
- Mangrove Shaun Parkes
- The Way Back Ben Affleck Winner
- Another Round Mads Mikkelsen
- One Night in Miami... Kingsley Ben-Adir
Best Actress
- The Invisible Man Elisabeth Moss
- Shirley Elisabeth Moss
- I'm Thinking of Ending Things Jessie Buckley Winner
- The Assistant Julia Garner
- Miss Juneteenth Nicole Beharie
Best Director
- Possessor Brandon Cronenberg
- Small Axe Steve McQueen
- Never Rarely Sometimes Always Eliza Hittman Winner
- Time Garrett Bradley
- Bacurau Juliano Dornelles & Kleber Mendonça Filho
Also mentioned raised along the way
Oscar-history touchstones Green BookGet Out
In passing WavesUsFrench ExitSylvie's LoveBlack BearScary Movie 2The PaperboyMy Octopus Teacher
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV The Falcon and the Winter SoldierBridgertonJake and the Fat ManThe Handmaid's TaleParks and RecreationOzark
Ads The Press BoxTremfyaWells Fargo Active CashBoar's HeadNOS EnergyCarvana