The Feinics Gate Podcast - Issue 162 - The 98th Academy Awards

80s Now it's Showtime. Let's show them we can rise from Ash, Jane, Lavender and Scarlet Phoenix power. So Gaga, where will rise? They tried to pan. Us with one like a flower. They didn't know we had. A Phoenix 's power. Phoenix Power. Hello. Oh, Phoenix Nation. I'm here. I'm clear, and it's lavender here. I know it's your favorite time of the week when we get to roll us in. I know, I know. But I'm not here alone. I'm here with my lovely, beautiful best friend and Co host Miss Jade. Ah, Houston, we have no problems.

Hey, how you doing? What's up, everybody? How you doing? It's your girl, Jade Phoenix. We're here, we're queer, and we are making you mad about it. Oh 100% because we have the best, if not the most controversial opinions about all of our favorite media, but especially. It was media's biggest night a few weeks ago and we got a. Not even a few weeks ago. Not a few weeks ago. It was only a few days ago, babe. I know which is like crazy I feel like. Time is time is a construct. Time is a construct. Time is almost irrelevant.

A few weeks ago it was 60. Degrees. And then today it was 29. It is 30. And it's almost spring. It is literally almost spring for spring. I am ready for spring. It's like I'm itching to put all of my sweaters away. And especially when the Oscars happen, I'm like, OK, we're on the cusp of Sprint. Well, the Oscars always happened like the week before the the spring equinox. And The funny thing is, is this episode is coming out on the spring equinox, yes. Yes it is. So I hope it's at least 50. We'll see.

By the time y'all are listening to this, because that is what I'm aiming for, I'm ready to stop bundling up and I'm ready to do my spring like I always do. My little spring cleaning as it were. I always try to get my hair redone up. It makes me feel like a human being again after wanting to hibernate for 3-4 months. Fucking mood. Fucking so I'm like please let it be warm. At least make me feel comfortable enough to go and get my hair done at the beginning of April because then I can fix my undershave and feel like I'm not drowning in hair.

Anymore, of course, but on that note, just so that we can do a little bit of spring cleaning I want. To. Point out the fact that you are listening to the Phoenix Gay podcast. We are coming to you from Queens, NY where we rule everything that is the nerd media, whatever. We just had a super successful show and we want to shout out Moonlight Market Expo for putting on an amazing first time convention where we have the opportunity and pleasure to sit down and interview both of the major headlining guests, Doug Jones and Harvey Gehen, who we are so excited to see as Lavender is such a sweetheart.

For my birthday, which also was this past weekend, we are going we are going to see the new Rocky Horror Picture shows starring Harvey in June. And he is so excited because he even said he goes, I'm going to be looking for your hair, Jade. I'm like, yes, you should. I'll be here in the. Orchestra, Exactly. We're actually, I was able to get us great seats. We're like right in the central orchestra. I'm very, very excited. I can't wait. Rocky Horror. Rocky Horror is one of my favorites. Has been since I was This Is Rocky Horror was my entryway into being a dirty little theater kid.

Valid. Like I that's why I knew as soon as they announced they were doing the Rocky Horror Show on Broadway, I was like, there is no way. I don't care what oceans I got across, what connections I got to make. Me and fucking Jade are going. Hell yeah we are. Hell yeah we are. And what makes this even better, what makes this even more special is the fact that like, we're going to see #1 we do enjoy our Broadway shows. We always go and see a Broadway show. But the fact that we had to have a A, we got to get a one-on-one with one of our favorite people in the world, you know, with Harvey, because he was just the nicest being ever.

Oh, he was so freaking sweet. Greatest, greatest human. Such a kindred soul and he will always fight for the arts. And it was probably, you guys have to watch the socials to see exactly what he says exactly. It was the greatest moment ever for me, interviewing a guest and having someone just fully encapsulate how I've been feeling with some of, interestingly enough, controversy that surrounded the Oscars. Fuck you, Timothy Chalamet. Yeah, I don't want you're the most boring white toast man ever.

Like seriously, like dude, you, you thought you did something there. You didn't eat shit. Like bro, I'm a dancer. I am a classically trained dancer. I have been doing dance since I was three years old. Now that is what we into the age of antiquity as your girl hit a milestone, another milestone birthday this past week. I love. You. And so, like, for someone that is a classically trained dancer, like my sister still, she's turning 40 in May and she still does ballet every single day. Yeah, OK. Like, my sister kicks some serious fucking ass with ballet, always has since we were kids.

And she is like, her dedication to the art form is amazing. Me, I never did ballet. I couldn't because they I grew boobs. So I could never be a ballet dancer. I was the tap dancer. I did jazz, I did hip hop, I did modern dance. I did every other form of dance, just not ballet. Funnily enough, on that note, everyone always told me I had a ballerina's body. Unfortunately, I did not possess A ballerina's balance and grace, so I always really admired the ballet. But unfortunately your girl wasn't built for it.

But you know, I tried so much just to keep active. I love doing dance. I would love to get back into it, even though I'm not like amazing at it. I just enjoy it, not only for exercise but I love it as an art. Form I'm actually thinking. These. Things. Yeah, I'm actually thinking about going back to adult classes. You should, I've heard great things about adult classes. I know someone that takes adult classes and loved it and one of my core memories was my grandpa taking me to the ballet to see The Nutcracker.

I love The Nutcracker. It's one of the most beautiful ballets ever produced. In the entire world. Yeah, I mean you. Know nobody watches it. Nobody, apparently. I'm from fucking Florida. Shut up, bro. Like controversy notwithstanding with Timothy Shalom butt head. All right, another amazing thing that we have to announce here is the Phoenix Gate has officially gotten its own storefront. Oh hell yeah, girl. We opened a shop where you always hear about how we're always at all these different shows and all these different places, you know, slinging our wares and doing our interviews and all this stuff.

And we will be at yet another show in the first, the April 2nd, 3rd and 4th. We will be at the Chill Out Expo down in New Jersey. So come stop by the table and say hello and get some merch. But we finally opened up a store and with that store, we're hoping to launch our website. And with all these interesting and amazing announcements that we're doing for the Phoenix Gate, 2026 is just becoming our our year as it is for the 98th Academy Awards, which we're going to be talking about in this episode.

Oh the hell yeah. So, Lavender, the the Academy Awards is your wheelhouse. This is your thing. So please take us away. Oh, it is. So to be honest, I have always been a fan of the Academy Awards. As a huge film fan, I've always been almost like unhealthily addicted to the Oscars. I always wanted to be watching it. I always wanted to know. I famously got very angry one specific Oscar a year, which is when I stopped watching you Live, admittedly. But this year's show is kind of bringing me back, as well as when one Shape of Water, one for best Picture.

And we got to see Doug Jones and we got to see Doug Jones. And I got to talk very heavily with him actually about The Shape of Water because it's one of my favorite films ever made. And you guys will get to see that on the famous skate socials. So don't miss out there getting to talk to somebody who was literally in an Oscar winning movie, won an Oscar. He's an absolute gem. But the thing about the Academy Awards is, look, you're not always going to agree with the winners. You're going to be like me one year and be like, oh fuck, Daniel Day Lewis won again.

That that, that man deserves. That man deserves all the Oscars, OK? Look, look. Not that year. That was the one year Bradley Cooper deserves an Oscar. The Silver Linings Playbook. OK, that's fair, That's fair. That is fair. I will concede to your argument there. But most of the time, if it's Daniel Day Lewis, I'm going to just automatically say yes. I'm saying here like I like, let's make this clear, I love Daniel Day Lewis. That was the one year I sat there and I went, I hate Saint Louis because I wanted Bradley Cooper to win so badly for the Silver Linings Playbook.

I still believe it was one of it is like. One of the IT is one of the best. Roles he's ever played. I agree it is one of. The best movies. Ever made. I agree, it was definitely one of his best movies. Oh, 100%. And I think in saying that, I also felt last year the Oscars in general were pretty boring. We didn't have a huge influx of films for understandable reason. We had the writers strike going on, we had the actors strike going on. So in my opinion, there weren't any big frontrunners that really stood out to me.

So 97th or the 97th. So when the 98th Oscars came around, let's just say your girl fucking lives for sinners. You do. Lives for Frankenstein you do. I was really looking forward to this year of Oscar winners and I think the best way we can start it as we talk about horror a lot here on the podcast. We do. We do this is actually one of the This 98th Academy Awards was actually considered one of the biggest nights for the horror genre in all of the Academy history. And you're still love like me you know that they're often overlooked.

Horror movies are usually completely left out of the equation. If not maybe nominated but never taken seriously as an actual contender. Yeah. However, this year we had 8 Academy Awards go to horror films. Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We're going to definitely talk about who the winners were and what the what the big winners of the United were. But what I'm able to highlight that fun fact. Oh, of course. And we are going to talk about it. But what I want to talk about for people that have maybe never actually know like gotten into this kind of genre, they've never really gotten into it.

The Academy Awards obviously were they took place this year on May March 14th, 2026 and they were at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. They presented these Academy Awards honoring these all the films that were released in 2025. The ceremony is televised and you could have watched it on ABC or streamed it on Hulu. So they do will that. You could probably go back on any streaming service and rewatch the Oscars. Yes. The host for this year was Conan O'Brien. It's the second time that he did it. He did it last year and now he's doing it this year.

And he basically what we're getting is we had, there's a lot of returns with this one because Raj Kapoor and Katie Mullen actually were executive producers for the third consecutive year. And you had Hamish Hamilton, who was returning as a director. Now everybody's like, what do you mean this is an award show? What do you mean you need to have executive producers? I'm like, it's a, it's a show, people. This is still a show. It needs to have these things in place to run smoothly. Am I wrong? Let's just say Conan did a great job of actually pulling in bits this year.

Yes, he did. Personally, I love Conan. This might be a controversial opinion. My favorite Oscar host of all time is Seth MacFarlane. Granted, I am in love with Seth MacFarlane. You are. So I love everything he does. I'm not going to lie. But that personally was my favorite year. And if you even saw that, because it it kind of blew around a lot of controversy around the 85th Academy Awards in 2013. Because if you know Seth, you know he's a controversial comedian. And he got away with a lot more back then.

Oh yes he did, and he got away with a number of musical numbers and just full blown sketches on stage and a lot of these controversial jokes included. I found this hilarious, but let's just say the Internet at large did not. A little ditty called We Saw Your Boobs. I remember that. Yeah, we're Seth MacFarlane jokingly talked about all of the actresses whose boobs we've seen in Academy Award many movies and whose we haven't. Yep. And quite hilarious. It was quite controversial, so I will say this.

Conan didn't go as far as Seth MacFarlane in my opinion in terms of doing little ditties and bits. I don't think he's allowed to. Really. Especially after that year. No, I do not. Think so. No, I mean it's it's the same time. It's the same thing Like remember we had Howard Stern show up as ass man for the awards one year and this is back in like the the 90s. So the Academy Awards is no stranger to people doing things like this. So, you know, for the culture to turn around and be like, for a lot of these things, I mean, didn't Will Smith slap the shit out of somebody at the Oscars?

Like, was that at the Oscars or so? Yeah. So there you go. I mean, controversy follows the Oscars. Exactly. Every year and I've got to shout out Conan. Conan actually used his monologue this year to address some things currently happening in our Hells Cape of a world, Notably joking about how the UK can arrest high profile pedophiles but the US is refusing to. Fuck your life, Bing bang. I know. And it was considered controversial because quite a few celebrities could possibly be involved with said files.

Oh, no, we'll say the name, the Epstein files, release the Epstein files. Everything that is being done, everything that is being done is to avoid the fact that the Orange Mussolini in charge is in that file mentioned more times than Harry Potter in all 7 fucking books. OK, shut the fuck up. Arrest, no, deny, dispose, defy, goodbye, get out. Fuck it, I don't give a shit. This is my platform and I'll use it as I want to release the goddamn files. Oh hell yes. And I've got to say, Conan called that shit.

Out. Which I really appreciated. We do. Conan took Conan took his. Conan is Conan is Irish. Specifically. Conan is Irish, and the best thing, if you want to honor your Irish roots, is stand up to a colonizing country, stand up to the oppressors. That's what the Irish do. It's what we do best. I'm just saying it's true. And. Just saying, And Conan has never been afraid to speak his mind and I feel like that's what we need, especially with these shows that are on such a large scale. Yeah, I mean we can not not shout out the pre show host which was Tamron Hall and Jesse Palmer who also do an amazing job of covering of covering the red carpet.

She's been doing it for years, yeah, and I love her. Yeah, I mean, and and really do honestly, like even a bunch of like TikTok celebrities were there covering the. Yeah, I was really impressed. I mean, one of the people that I love the most that I've been following for years is Drew will follow. Yeah, I love them. She was at the red carpet and she was offering her, she had her not cute little box of her tackle box of snacks and she was just having a great time. And honestly, there is not a single person I, there are very few times that I sit there and I say that we've made the right people famous.

Drew happens to be one of them. Yes, I fully agree. Drew happens to be one of the people with we made the right person famous, famous. So they were there. They were covering it. Now, would you say, Lav, in your opinion, besides us being one of the biggest, if not the biggest, which we've already said night war horror genre in the Academy history, there were a lot of movies that came out in 2025 that should have gotten nominations and didn't.

I would agree. It's not just that. I feel like there were, although a lot of films that I didn't feel got enough nominations or didn't get the exposure I thought they would. Granted, this is one of the years where I've seen most of the films. I did not see the Best Picture winner. So I'm a little biased in terms of how I feel on Best Picture because I've never seen We're going to get into that. But I didn't even, I didn't see that film and it won a lot more than I was expecting it to just from what I'd heard from reviewers.

That doesn't always mean reviewers are right, right. And I've also had a lot of years where I haven't agreed with winners. As we talk about Daniel Day Lewis, I constantly talk about how I hate the movie The Revenant, and I don't understand why that was the year that Leo won, other than they just gave him a consolation prize. But in terms of missing films, I would say the one, there were a few that stood out to me, but I'm happy that there were some films I was not expecting on the docket. I was not expecting to see one of If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You, which was a phenomenal movie.

Which funnily enough, Conan O'Brien starred in that movie. I actually didn't see that nominated. It's. Fantastic. It's it's a hard watch. I will say that here for the Phoenix Nation, it is very heavily hard wash. It's all about a woman's descent into her spiraling mental health, living with a child who has a severe eating disorder. So it's tough content. OK, it is. But it's a beautifully done film. And that was actually one of the jokes Conan had on his his own musical number for the Oscars this year was oh, he he didn't get nominated, but his Co star did.

So they did a whole joke where he, like, was trying to nominate himself for the movie that he was in. I mean. And didn't get nominated. For I would. I think it was hilarious. Like I thought it was such a great like poke of fun that went into into this like big point of the Oscars. He also did a great job of representing all of the different categories. Like he actually put in like animation segments. He dressed as Amy Madigan's character and weapons. Nice. What? Did he say fantastic? But in terms of movies that didn't make it, I was really surprised about.

Good luck, have fun, don't die. But I do think it might have been too late in the game. Two have been nominated. That is true because I I. Really love that one. I was reading an article today before we while I was doing our research for tonight's show for our recording and I did find that they are talking about some of the movies that came out too late to be nominated for this year's Academy Awards are going to be nominated for next year's Academy Awards. One of them being Iron Lung. I loved Iron Lung.

I admittedly I wasn't even thinking about it as an Oscar pretender. And the reason I say that is not because it wasn't amazing, but the Oscars are very biased towards this is a producer that we all know because people need to keep in mind this is a fun fact. People might not know about the Oscars. The Oscars is just a voting contest, emotional necessarily. Who's the best now? Who ran the best Oscar campaign? And if you're a fan of Bojack Horseman like I am, they actually do a hilarious bit about this in one of the mid seasons of the show because he's in a movie that they want to get nominated for an Oscar and they make fun of the fact.

And actually, funnily enough, my partner reminded me this week when I was talking to him about we're going to do this recording for the show. He was like lavender. Do you remember that? They literally only just forced them last year to actually watch the movies that they're voting for. That's true. They actually needed to. Watch the movies. They needed to because people were complaining that they weren't being watched in movies that nobody knew about, nobody heard about, nobody that they did not do box office numbers the way that some of these fucking movies that should have won Oscars did, but yet they didn't win.

So it's like like, no, no, no, actually watch the fucking movie. Thank you, Mai. Which is why I was really impressed with this year, because it didn't feel as much like a popularity contest that oftentimes does. Yes I agree and there were a lot in my opinion. No, I no one has to. Agree with me there. No, they don't. But it's it's right. It's I think it's true and I think that's why originally I was like, oh, of course Iron Lung would be nominated because these Hollywood, because a lot of these people are people that are in SAG Astra, who are these older folks, which was another thing they talked about a few years ago with the Oscars.

So white controversy was a lot of these voters are just old men. Yeah. White men specifically. Yeah. So they did do a lot. But in the past couple of years to diversify who's allowed to vote for the Oscars. But just so everyone knows, the Oscars is technically a popularity contest, but it's been an improved popularity contest. And after I saw this year, I have hope that Iron Lung may actually be nominated next year. Yeah, they're saying that even if it doesn't get nominated as a film that's like, you know, best film or whatever, there's a lot of the technical categories that they are most likely going to be nominated for and may win.

Yeah. And I think especially with some of the different nominees we had this year that I was super surprised by, like, I personally love this film. It was the very flu under the radar film. You can watch it on Hulu called the Ugly Step Sister came out this year and all of that movie was insane body horror, practical effects. And I would have never thought in a million years that they would get nominated for an Oscar, but they did this year for best makeup and hair styling. Nice. And I've never been more excited.

I'm like, look, I don't even care that they didn't win because I do think that the the winner for best makeup did deserve it. So for like people's reference, the winner for best makeup this year was actually which to no Subs, to no surprise in my opinion, was Frankenstein. Well, why don't we wait? To see. Why don't we wait and talk about like all the Oh yeah, winners? So that way we're not jumping in nice. So yeah, but what I think is kind of nice is even though maybe the lesser known horror film didn't win one as equally, level with it, if not just as unpredictable to win actually 1.

And I think that says a lot for how the Oscar system has been improved due to all these changes that went into the system within the last 3-4 years even. Yeah, I agree. But let's talk about the star-studded event who were just presenters, not the winners. We're going to talk about just the presenters right now. I personally really love that Grogu made an appearance. I do too. I was very excited. I do too. Grogu was there even more so. That's the Gurney Weaver got to say to Kate Hudson. You don't touch him, you bitch.

Exactly so I. Appreciate that as always. We had Matt Berry, who was an announcer. Love him, absolutely adore him. What we do in the shadows and everything that man does, he did it remotely. Zoe Saldana presented the best supporting actress. We had Will Arnett and Channing Tatum, both amazing freaking comedians and actors. Love Will Arnett. They just adore him. They presented best animated Feature and best animated short film, which you know, was fun. I think works perfectly, especially for Will Arnett being in Bojack or Spain and being very involved in in a lot of animation projects.

I was very happy to see that he was. Agreed. Agreed. And Channing Tatum also definitely, you know, he's been getting more into voice acting and stuff like that. So I I'm very happy that he did that. Hello, hello at Lavender. I'm sorry you got a little you got a little lost in translation there, my friend. I said that I'm very much happy over the fact that Channing Tatum is getting into voice actor, voice acting more heavily and was able to do animated short film and animated feature. Oh, and I mean, I love Channing Tatum, so whatever he does, I'm always happy to see him, like, just completely and utterly, like, flourishing.

Yeah. And I think he truly is just such a fun person. Also do that specific bed. Yeah. And I love that they brought back Robert Downey Junior and Chris Evans to have a little bit of a Marvel reunion at the Oscars. Yes, and they did that for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay. Which was very exciting. Oh yeah. I thought that was like a very exciting piece for them to do. But even more so, like, it's, you know, let's be real. Because the Oscars is also product placement. I love that they were like, they were perfect for best adapted screenplay because look, if a Marvel movie was ever to be nominated for a script, it would be in best adapted screenplay.

So they really knew their audience, which is always really fun. Yeah, we also had Anne Hathaway and Anna Winter, who did best costume design and best makeup and hair styling. Which was perfect because we have the new Devil Wears Prada coming out. Oh yeah, I'm excited for that. I. Mean, I am so excited for the new Devil Wears Prada. Best casting was presented by Paul Miscal, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chase Infinity, Wagner Mora and Delroy Lindo. That's a lot of people for casting. Yeah, which I think is always like, I liked how they actually had big name actors for every single little category.

I thought that was really nice because they don't always do that. They kind of will just take them out or make sure that they, you know, a lot of the stuff will get cut. So they don't have the bigger stars doing a lot of the lower tier. I don't believe that, but just in terms of show. So I liked that they actually gave them like really great bits. One of my personal favorites was Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, presented for the account of the award for Best Picture, and they sang together for the first time in 25 years since Moulin Rouge.

Don't make me cry, you know that's one of my. Favorites, I know, and it made me so happy. Like it was such a sweet like I really think this year and look, this is a personal opinion. I do think some of the presenter gags are kind of silly. A lot of them, if you look back on very many of them, are very dated. One of the most famous ones was Heath Ledger refusing to do a bit because he wasn't going to make fun of the fact that his character was gay. And Brokeback Mountain. Yeah, let's not get into how I feel about Jake Gyllenhaal, that he agreed to do that, but I have very biased opinions about Jake Gyllenhaal.

Yes, you do. However, I do love that this year, I feel like they really, all of the presenter bits were very well thought out and were very meaningful and had this kind of little piece of nostalgia to them, which was has been something we've talked about on this podcast. That nostalgia has been a huge driving factor for 2026. It was just nice to see them lean into that and play into it without it feeling overly stuffed, overly awkward, or like they were shoving something down your throat. Like they even brought Bill and Lewis Pullman up together for best film editing, which was really fun.

Especially now that they're going to be in the new Spaceballs movie, which I'm super excited. About no, you have no idea. You have absolutely no idea. I'm so excited about that. We also had Kumal Nanjiani who did best live action short film, Kieran Culkin did best supporting actor and I'm I'm loving that the Culkin brothers are back. You know, more in the spotlight. We had Billy Crystal who did the Robin Michelle Reiner tribute, Rachel McAdams who did the Diane Keaton and Kathleen Catherine O'Hara tribute, and then Barbra Streisand came out and did the Robert Redford tribute, which I think is super, super fucking appropriate because the In Memoriam is always like super, very like, it's beautiful, but it's also very, very sad because we see all the amazing talent that we've lost.

That that really gave me some tears because I know that she she was very close with Robert Redford. Yeah. So it really. They did the they did the right thing. They did the right thing. They did. They did the right thing. Especially for Rob Reiner as well. Yes, I agree they made. Sure, because Billy Crystal was one of his best friends, if not long term collaborators. So getting to see that they also really thought about the In Memoriam section this year because a lot of people have criticized that the last few years.

They really, you know, they always do the montage, but they didn't really put a lot of thought in or they left people. Out. I don't know. It's a huge thing. Yeah, I, I don't know, 'cause like the there's just, we lost so many people in 2025. We did that. It's like it's so hard to keep up, you know? Like it's so hard to keep up. But you know, we'll get into the immemorium in a minute. Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver did the best production design and best visual effects. We had Jimmy Kimmel, who did best documentary, short film and best documentary feature men.

We had Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Elle Kemper, who presented for best original score and best sound, which, I'm sorry, those women right there. It had to be probably one of the funniest parts of the show. Like that is powerful. It was so fun seeing the bridesmaid reunion. Oh yeah, Hell yeah. Then we had Lynette Howell. Really liked that movie. I did too. Lynette Howell Taylor presented a speech about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which is what runs the Academy Awards.

Bill Pullman and his son Louis Pullman presented the award for best film editing. Demi Moore came for best cinematography, Javier Bardem, Priyanka Chopra Jonas presented for best international feature film, Lionel Richie did best original song, Robert Pattinson and Zendaya did best director Adrian Bro. That was so fun. I'm not sure it was. Adrian Brody did the best actor, Mikey Madison did the best actress. And of course, you already mentioned it, Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor reunited to do Best Picture.

I did also like that this year they had a lot of last year's winners presenting the awards. It just felt very like handing it off to the next person. I thought it was a really well thought out lineup because look, I may have not thought that Adrian Brody should have won last year. I'm going to be real. I don't disagree. It was like he they used AI for his accent. Let's not even get that twisted. I don't I don't like that. I didn't like that Mickey Madison one either last year. However, it was really nice to kind of see them do that passing of the Padan and I they haven't really, to my knowledge, done that as frequently or as openly in past years because it was usually just, you know, a different actor.

It was kind of nice to have them put that little touch. I love seeing Karen Culkin get up there and do Best Supporting Actor because that was one of the awards from last year that I thought truly deserved to be given to the winner. Agreed. So it was so nice to see him be the presenter and it just like really made my heart happy. Yep. And I think there's just so much that went into Lionel Richie being able to do original songs, especially because the winner was Golden from K Pop Demon Hunters. It was such a nice and.

We even got a performance of this. We did get we did get the the ACT the actresses who do K pop demon hunters to perform Golden Barbra Streisand sang obviously during the Robert Redford tribute. We got the Los Angeles master Coral doing storybook love from The Princess Bride and Amazing Grace in the immemorium segment. Then we got this amazing, amazing performance for Sinners of I Lied to You, where Misty Copeland came out of retirement to do a full ballet routine. Do you understand how insane that?

Is. Yes, that's insane. Like Misty fucking Copeland bro. Like what my my mind went? I love that and look, I love the music and centers and getting to see it performed live. So good it. Was just an absolute pleasure. So good. Love his voice. So good. Just loved it and it was just such because for those who have seen the film, that performance in the film is so integral to the direction of the film. Hell yeah. Uses music as this way to join generations of people from all different cultures, all different backgrounds.

They're all brought together by this one piece of culture that holds them together that they can reunite within. So it was amazing to see them take that song that is one of the focal points, if not the focal point of the film. Hell yeah. And only translate it on a stage for not only film's biggest night, but in a way that didn't it that didn't take away from its power in the film. Yeah. Because they could have easily just gone up there and been like, oh, we're just going to sing the song. It's happened in past years.

But they really said, no, actually, we're turning the entire Dolby Theater into the droop drawing. We're making you feel like you're inside of this movie. It was beautiful. And I loved and respected everything about it and it reminded me exactly why I loved sinners and why I was so passionate about sinners winning Yes at the Oscars. Yes, agreed. Agreed. Like you know, we obviously need to touch on one of the sadder parts of this before we go into the winners and that would be the Immemorium segment.

We did mention it briefly in the last few minutes that we were going to talk about it. We're going to talk about it now. 2025, I think was one of the like, we lost a lot of people, a lot of people, a lot of actors, screenwriters, playwrights, directors, designers, composers, you know, film makers, you know, producers, costume designers. We lost a lot of people, you know, not like obviously like a lot. The Phoenix Gate on our social media, especially on our Instagram, we do try to pay. Homage and honor and announce.

Unfortunately, when we do lose one of these great talents, we don't obviously we are a very small media company, so we don't get to everything and we don't hear about everything where so we try our best and nine times out of 10, all we get to do is report on the bigger people that we lose. So obviously when we lost Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle, we talked about it. We you know, when Isaiah Whitlock passed, we talked about it. But there are people on this in memoriam list that I missed that we didn't put that we didn't have a chance to talk about, you know, or pay honor too.

So I'm very glad that the Oscars always make sure that they do an in memoriam to pay honor to those of us that have left us. Great, and I like that they use it as a way to honor everyone within the industry. Agreed. Whether you're a huge director or you did costumes on a movie, on movies for like 1820 plus years, you're remembered to the same caliber and level, which is why people have been disappointed in the past when they've forgotten folks. Yeah. So I think because the Oscars has set itself to such a high standard of how they do their in memoriams, Yeah.

And I will say the thing that touched me the most was Billy Crystal saying, buddy, what fun we have storming the castle. It's true. It's true. I mean, we're talking about the guy that did The Princess Bride who's done countless fucking movies, you know, like he was just one of the great lights and he's gone. We lost Diane Keaton, Catherine O'Hara, we lost Michael Madsen, we lost Arthur Hamilton. You know, who's one of the greatest, I think songwriters that I that has ever known to be in the current modern age.

You know, we lost Don Zimmerman, who is an amazing film editor. We lost Val Kilmer, Robert Duvall, Robert Redford. Like these are these are people that I grew up with. These are people that have literally never not been a part of my current existence. So for these people to go, it's a lot, it's a lot the world, the world lost a lot of lights that in 2025. It really did. It really, really did, you know. But the In Memoriam section obviously was absolutely beautiful. And Rob Reiner, you know, got Kathy Bates, Annette Bening, John Cusack, Christopher Guest, Carrie Ewes, Carol Kane, Michael McKean, Demi Moore, Jerry O'Connell, Mandy Patinkin, Kevin Pollock, Meg Ryan, Fred Savage, Kiefer Sutherland, Wil Wheaton and Daffy Zuninga to come up on stage and pay respects to a man that started most of their careers.

Yeah. You know, I mean Barbra Streisand singing for Robert Redford, You know, obviously the. Way we were. I know and it this. Song gets me every time. I can hear it getting you now. Yeah. You know, I mean, this is one of, I think personally, besides the awards itself and, you know, whatever jokes and political commentary are made, I think that the immemorium is, if not one of the most important pieces of the Oscars, it is definitely the fundamental piece, and it can never go anywhere. No, I agree.

It asked to stay. And I want to say thank you to the Academy for taking notes that they received in the last year saying, hey, you know, you forgot AB and C person. They really made sure this year that they were very thorough. They didn't miss anyone this year. And it's kind of like how we talked about how much I, even just as a viewer, felt the Oscars improved because of things that the Academy took into consideration. And they listened to us and listened to our commentary and our thoughts online and really made sure to honor each and every person so that no one was left feeling, oh, well, you forgot AB and C person.

Everyone felt that there was a cohesive well done in memoriam and I feel like it's probably been the most emotional one in quite a long time. Agreed. So let's before we get into the actual winners, let's talk about the actual number of nominations that had Sinners copped everything with 16 nomination. 16 nominations. Fucking a Michael B Jordan yo. Killing it. I love him so. 16 That's a lot. That is a lot for a single film, it is. Also the most in Oscars history? Amazing. His second most being 14 in previous years which were held by Titanic, La La Land and All About.

Eve Jesus, So they are now. They are now the ones to beat. They are now the ones to beat. They are now the ones to beat. They are now the most nominated film in Oscar's history. We have 1313 nominations for one battle, after which I didn't see. I didn't even know about me. Neither my partner really wanted to see it. We just, we actually go to the movies a lot, which is really nice because he's just as big a film buff as I am. So we'd go cinephiles often as we can and we didn't even see it. And it wasn't that we didn't want to see it, it was, it was kind of like around when it came out.

It was like a busy time for both of us. You know what it? Is get to see it. It's on our list for sure because it was on streaming. So you can watch it on HBO Max now? Yeah. That's true. We had 9 nominations for three separate movies, Frankenstein, Marty Supreme, and Sentimental Value. Fuck Marty Supreme. Sorry. All right, eight for Hamnet.

I really wanted to see that one, and that was another one I surprisedly did not see. The same 4 for Begonia F1, The Secret Agent and Train Dreams. Loved Begonia. I heard begonia. I heard Begonia is fucking great. I loved it. And if you guys hear on the cast, if you're a fan of any of his other work, as you know, he actually Jorgus Lathmos, who also did quite a few other films that were nominated for Oscars, one of which one which was poor things, the 2024 Oscars. I remember poor things. That was a great fucking movie.

Beautiful freaking movie. He also won Oscars for the favorite. He's been nominated for The Lobster. I love the lobster. Me too, Begonia is fantastic. Begonia is the latest in the long line of his films. Yeah, yes. So then we have. Others, you'll love it. Then we have the last for that had multiple nominations which are two for avatar fire and ash. Blue moon. It was just an accident. K Pop, demon hunters and Sarat. Yes now. Of K pop demon hunters. Of those those those nominations that we just mentioned, six of the 13 went to 1 battle after another four of the 16 went to Sinners, three went to Frankenstein and two went to K Pop Demon Hunters, which means that the two nominations that they got, they won.

2 for 2/2 for two. Deserved. Damn right, fully deserved it. I was really happy to see that. Damn right. I will say one thing please Oscars don't play certain people off earlier than others. Yeah. I will say that was very disrespectful. That's what they always. Do that. But they played them all faster than than the other. Like that's why it kind of became a bit of a controversy than the other winners. And it was really sad to see. I'm happy that they did eventually let her finish her speech and it was viewable for us online.

Please don't do that. I know, I know they're pressed for time, but come the fuck on. I know. It was very inappropriate, very much. And I think, you know, even if it wasn't intentional, it was definitely not a great look. But I'm so proud of EJ, so proud of her. There were she. Deserves. Everything she does, she does. There were a couple of honorary awards, and the Jean Hershel Humanitarian Award was also presented. Dolly Parton took that one. That made me really happy. I love Dolly, she's an absolute queen.

We got Debbie Allen, who is a choreographer and actor who got an honorary. Tom Cruise got an honorary, and Wynn Thomas, who's a production designer who also got an honorary Academy Award. This was done on November 16th in 2025 at the 16th annual Governor's Awards. So this was not obviously a part of the Oscars, but it is in conjunction with yes. So here we go for best film editing. There were F1 was nominated Marty Supreme sentimental value and sinners. Now they were. I think it was a 1 battle after another was also nominated for this.

Yes. They're the ones that took it home. Yes. I it makes me more excited to see one battle after another, to be honest, after seeing how much they did win, just because I had heard mixed things. Like I'd heard it was pretty mid personally, which was kind of why with everything that was going on during that period when it came out for me and my partner, we're kind of like, oh, we're not going to prioritize it over some other ones you want to see. Same. I do that, I do that. I'm like, I'll wait for it on the.

Street I'm like, you know what, like after we actually talked, also talked about it this week, once we saw it won all those awards, we're like, OK, so we really missed out seeing this in theaters. We now have to watch it on streaming. Right. Valid. I do wish it went to sinners, but also. I am biased, you are. I would have given sinners every award it was nominated for. That's valid. The dash is my opinion.

F1 I did hear good things about. I personally didn't see it. I refuse to see Marty Supreme. My partner tried bringing it up and I said over my dead body. That's fine. Even before anything about Timothy Charlotte came out. I've just never been a fan of his. I don't. Think. I don't think he's a good actor. I'm sorry, I don't. I will not apologize. He's a very basic, very basic white guy dude. He's not horrible, but he's not great. No, he's he's a mid actor. Like he's one of those actors that that like, you work well, maybe as a supporting cast, but you're not the fucking main character, bro.

And even beyond that, I just think he doesn't do a lot, even for Marvi Supreme, like you refused to do the accent of the actual person he was playing, yeah. Well, either way, let's let's let we can we can do this, we can do we can do the Shamali hey later. But we're we're running low on time. So let's let's keep this moving, yes? Sentimental Value I also heard was very well done and I'm very excited to see that one on streaming as well. So that after this we got best visual effects, we had F1 nominated again, The Lost Bus, Sinners again, Jurassic World Rebirth, and of course Avatar Fire and Ash, which took it home.

Because honestly, every Avatar movie, every single Avatar movie, the visual effects are just top tier Primo. You cannot compete. I don't care if the movie's terrible. You can't. I don't care if the movie is terrible, if the writing is terrible, those visuals alone will have you hooked. They have done everything to create these beautiful worlds and honestly beside the fact I'm a big fan, I feel like even between 1-2 and three I feel like they're at the same level. Agreed. And when you think about that, there's been 10 plus years between 1:00 and 3:00, it's crazy to see that they've only gotten better and have maintained that.

Like when I watch those movies, I don't feel like I'm watching actors on a green screen. No, I don't. Either I feel like I'm watching reality and that's what they're trying to do and they gone above and beyond and I'm so excited they won this year. Agreed. Then we go on to best makeup and hair styling. We had koku koku ho, they probably butchered that Sinners, the smashing machine, the ugly step sister and Frankenstein with Frankenstein taking it home. Yes, Frankenstein. Third it hardcore Frankenstein.

I wanted it to be ugly. Step sister all. Right. Fair. Then we have best costume design, which of course we have Avatar, Fire and Ash Hamnet, Marty Supreme Again, Sinners and Frankenstein with Frankenstein taking it home. Frankenstein deserved it. It did. You all seen those dresses dude? I would like to shout out Avatar. People don't seem to know that they actually make all of those costumes. Yeah. Before it's animated, it's. True. Anyone who didn't understand why that's your explanation? Because there was a lot of pushback on it and I was like, uh, uh, you can't let them.

Go no, they actually like they design these costumes. This is not something that they put on an animated avatar. This is something that they design them and then they animate them. Yeah, like they physically create the costume, so I think they would have been a close second for me. Yep. I'm very happy Frankenstein one, which is the costumes visually stunning. I wish I would. Are you kidding me though? The dresses, the dresses alone, the dresses alone. I'm like Gimme. I want every single one. Right.

And I don't like dresses. I don't like dresses. But those dresses my problem. Is I'm a dress bitch? Hell yeah. So now we have best production design. We had sinners again, as we should. One battle after another. Marty Supreme, Hamnett and Frankenstein, with Frankenstein taking it home. Deserved it. Deserved it. Deserved it. Those sets were incredible and is a lot of the reason why if folks haven't seen it in theaters, I have really persuaded them to go because it's even more beautiful on a big. Screen it really is I I saw it in theaters it was stunning stunning best cinematography we had train dreams 1 battle after another Marty supreme Frankenstein and sinners with sinners taking it home because listen the the cinematography in Frankenstein was stunning but sinners just.

Had it. You can't like. Honestly, this was one I really believed. Either Frankenstein or Sinners deserve to win. Agreed, and I think especially now that I've watched Sinners with subtitles and that sounds silly. It doesn't. But they did a great job of making sure they captured the correct dialect within the correct time period. And someone who's hearing is not great. I didn't always hear all the things and when I heard it DVD on 4K as soon as it came out, tell you when I rewatched it and saw I just have seamlessly the cinematography moved with the sound, anything, the design above and beyond, above and beyond.

It really pulls the story together in. Just. Every aspect I agree it's one of the most beautifully crafted films ever. I agree we have best sound. With Surat being nominated, Sinners 1 battle after another Frankenstein and F1 with F1 taking it home now. I did not see, I didn't see F1. There's a chance that maybe. That does have some of the best sound work that they've ever seen. Because we are talking about a movie that involves race cars and Formula One and all that stuff. That is a very, as someone who's, you know, into NASCAR and rate car racing and stuff like that, I can understand how that might be technically some of the hardest things to do on a on a silver screen.

Agreed. So. I can. I can. I can. Understand we have best casting after that which is Sinners, the secret Agent, Marty, Supreme, Hamnet and 1 battle after another with one battle after another taking it home. I did hear the casting in that is. Phenomenal, yes. Especially just they all work very seamlessly together, especially the young woman who played Leonardo Dicaprio's daughter. Apparently she's just breathtaking in this film and I. Think they definitely. Deserved it based on everything I heard about the movie, even from folks who were like oh it's mid.

They did say oh this cast is insane. So I think that was across the board, something that everyone agreed on. OK, we have best music for an original. Score where we had one battle after another, Hamnet, Frankenstein, Begonia, and sinners, with sinners taking it home as they fucking should. We love you, Lou Vig. Hell yeah. And I. Love that you and Ryan Fugler were roommates. Our BFFS did this film together and nearly all of his films together and y'all have twin Oscars. I love this for you. Yes, best music, original song.

We had train dreams from train dreams, sweet dreams of joy from Viva Verde. I lied to you from Sinners, Dear Me from Diane Warren, Relentless and obviously golden from K Pop Demon Hunters, with K Pop Demon Hunters taking home the Oscar. I was so happy for her Hell. Yeah, I love I lied to. You, but I was. Genuinely so. Happy for EJ and team. Agreed. Like I cannot express how much her just genuine joy gave me so much genuine joy. It was just radiating. Hell yeah. Best live action short film we had?

Jane Austen's period drama A Friend of Dorothy Butcher's Stain and Two People exchanging Saliva and the Singers, with the singers and two people exchanging saliva taking home the Oscars. I unpeopular. Opinion. I don't think there should ever be a tie. At the Oscars, I agree with that. Best if there. Cannot be a tie for best picture. Silly, silly, I was so annoyed by that. That was my opinion, I don't fully agree. Best. Animated short film We have The Three Sisters Retirement Plan, Forevergreen, Butterfly and The Girl Who Cried Pearls with The Girl Who Cried Pearls taking it home I. Admittedly have not seen any of.

Them. No, I'm not sure they're all. Phenomenal. I'm sure they I I I usually do enjoy. Seeing the the animated films but it's sometimes it's very hard to find them so I will be. Making. I will be going out of my way to make. Sure that I watch that with this leads us to Yeah, I'm going to have to put it on my list. Agreed. This leads us to. The best documentary. Feature film where we had the perfect neighbor cutting through rocks. Come see me in the good light and the Alabama Solution and Mr. Nobody Against Putin, which took home the Oscar.

I heard it was. Phenomenal. Admittedly, I'm not a big. Documentary Girlie I Am needs to be something that I'm insanely interested in for me to even watch a documentary. No, I like documentaries, so this is this is my wheelhouse. Yeah, so I I take your opinion as bold, my friend. Yeah, I unfortunately did not get a chance to sit. Down and watch any of these. They have been on my list of when I have an opportunity to actually sit down and have a moment to myself to watch. So I will come back and talk about this at a later time as they are now, you know, Academy Award nominees and winners.

I would like to talk about this at a later time. So we will be revisiting that now we've come to best documentary short film perfectly a strangeness the devil is busy children no more we're and are gone armed only with a camera. The life and death of Brent Renaud and all the empty rooms which took home the Oscar. So again, that's my. Wheelhouse I will be making. A point of watching all those we have best animated feature film which was Zootopia 2 Little Amelie or the character of Rain Elio Arco and then of course K pop demon hunters who took home the Oscar.

I was so happy that. They won. I mean I love K pop demon. Hunters I love Elio. I think it was a really underrated film. And I think unfortunately Disney does suffer from that problem as as they've been trying to make new and unique films, not enough audiences are seeing it. But I think all of the unique takes they've done, they've hit home runs. I haven't seen Zootopia 2 either, but I have Disney Plus and I'm very excited to watch it. I watched it. I love Zootopia one. I watched it the other day.

I'm not going to lie, I was very underwhelmed. OK, so I can I can under you're. Just as big A. Fan as me, I can understand why. It nominated. Beautiful film, not a very good plot. That's that's OK. We're on to Best International. Feature film which was the voice of Hind Rajab Surat, the secret agent. It was just an accident and sentimental value who took home the Oscar, none of which I've seen. I heard that movie was great. I want to see them though. So me too. This comes to best writing for an original screenplay.

And here we go. Sentimental value, Marty Supreme. It was just an accident. Blue Moon and Sinners. Which sinners took it home as they fucking should. I can love you, Ryan Coogler. You deserve it. Hell. Yeah, best writing for an adapted. Screenplay Train Dreams, Hamnet, Frankenstein, Begonia and 1 Battle after another which took home the Oscar. I had no idea it was based off of a book. I made my partner. A Google it. It is based off of a book. Well, considering. Considering how? You and I are the book girlies.

Obviously we're going to have to start some readings. No, exactly and apparently. Does that. The guy who wrote it is a really famous author, and I also know nothing about him. That's fine, we'll figure it out. So I was like, what? Because it's Thomas Pinkin. Yes, we're actually I've honestly. Never read any of him. I have not either but you. Know what I going to? Make a point. I have been saying for 2026 that I would be expanding my reading because usually I'm I'm a fantasy, you know, romanticy, that alternative reading horror kind of girl.

But I would like to expand. But we're going to talk about that in our book podcast. That's going to be this episode 100% will be coming up very soon for the Phoenix gate. So now we're up to the big Mamma jam as the final six, The big boys of the night and girls, I should say boys, the big boys and the big girls of the night. We have best. Actor in a supporting role where we have Stellan Skarsgard for sentimental value, Delroy, Linder Lindo, Sorry for Sinners, Jacob Allordi for Frankenstein, Benicio Del Toro for One battle after another, and Sean Penn who took home the Oscar for one battle after another.

I didn't see one battle after another. So I really can't speak for it. But I really wanted Delroy, Linda or Jacob O Lordy to win it. I really, really did. Of course. But we're also very biased rooting for them. We're also. Very biased granted, and look like I really do enjoy. Sean Penn But this is like another case of like, because I unlike Lincoln, because I did see Lincoln. So that's why I felt so strongly about it. I do think it should have gone to someone else. But at the same time maybe I'll finally watch 1 battle after another and be like you know what, fuck it, he deserved it.

Fair. So that is to be determined. That is to be to be is a wonderful actor. TBD. We'll get back to you. And we'll talk about it on the Phoenix. Gates, Instagram and TikTok Hell yeah so. We are now up to best. Actress in a supporting. Role where we had Tiana Taylor for one battle after another, Wumi Musa Mosaku for sinners, Inga IBS daughter, Lil ES for sentimental value and Elle Fanning in sentimental value and also Amy Madigan in weapons. And Amy Madigan took it home as she fucking should. That fucking woman, I fucking hate him.

Scared the absolute. I loved her. Scared the absolute. That weapons was terrible, I fucking hated it you. Made me watch it but Amy Madigan killed it in that I'm like what the fuck no. Agreed. Like I fucking hate. Weapons. I really do. I am weapons biggest fucking hater, but I'm also that director's biggest fucking hater. Agreed, but I do. I thought Amy Madigan. Deserved it. She deserved her flowers. If someone were to go to it, if someone, if it were to go to someone that wasn't Amy, it should have gone to me just because she's so phenomenal in.

That. Film. But I'm happy that Amy got it. She's been such a staple character actress for years, for years, and she's finally getting her happy. She got not only she got her due, but it wasn't. Like a Leo DiCaprio where he finally got an Oscar but for one of his mid roles. In my opinion. Yeah. I feel like Amy deserved it for weapons which made it even more exciting. I agree for her to finally get her due. I agree. I agree. Now we are up. To the 2nd to last biggest awards of the night, Best Actor in a leading role we had Wagner Mora.

For the secret agent. Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon Leo Leonardo DiCaprio for one battle after another. Bitch ass Timothy Chalamet. For Marty Supreme. Agreed and Michael B Jordan for sinners and he took it home for playing the Twins. Smoke and stack. Best moment of the night. I was so happy for him. He. Went to in and out to celebrate I. Know and just he. Deserves it. Hell. Yeah, he's worked so hard. Hell yeah. He's an incredible actor. Agreed. He's. A fellow nerd. He spent his whole. Life being made.

Fun of for loving anime. Agreed and seeing. Him. It was a great year for seeing our fellow nerds and fellow underdogs who were picked on in school, and we're like, hey, maybe not the most popular person on the roster. Seeing them win this year, it just gave a lot of joy to my soul. And Michael B Jordan deserves everything that he gets, in my opinion. Hell yeah. So that brings us to Best Actress in a Leading. Role Emma Stone for Begonia, Renee Rensvi for Sentimental Value, Kate Hudson for Song Sung Blue, Rose Byrne for If I Had Legs I'd Kick You and Jessie Buckley for Hamnet.

And she took it home. She's a sweetie Patiti I love. Her. I've never seen Hamnet. But I love her. I was so happy to see her win. So the people who I did watch, I did really want Rose Byrne to win. Agreed because I love, I think she was just phenomenal and if I had said kick you, she gave an insane performance. But I'm so happy it went to Jessie because she's an absolute sweetheart and I feel like her and I would be BFFS in like 5 minutes probably. So that brings us. To best directing, which we had Ryan Coogler.

For sinners. Joachim Trier for sentimental value, Josh Safdie for Marty Supreme, Chloe Zhao for Hamnet and Paul Thomas Anderson. Anderson for one battle after another, with him taking home the Oscar, as I said. Just makes me more excited to finally. Watch a battle after another. While I refuse to watch Marty Supreme, I do love Josh Safdie, so I hope this is not going to be like the last time we see him at the Oscars. He was also nominated for Uncut Gems with his brother, so I'm really hoping we'll see even more work from Josh Safdie.

We'll see. He's an incredible director, movie, films and television, so I really think he eventually really deserves an Oscar. I agree. Now it brings us to the final. And biggest award of the night? Best Picture where train dreams, sinners, sentimental value, the secret agent, Marty, supreme, Hamnet, Frankenstein, F1 and Begonia and of course 1 battle after another who took home the Oscar, which I'm sorry. I think Sinners was robbed. I agree, I feel like. I would have loved to see. Sinners get the best picture.

I would have also loved to see Frankenstein, even though I knew it wasn't going to happen. We could dream. We could dream, but we can dream. Exactly. I would have really. I really think it should have gone to sinners. But also, I haven't seen one battle after another. And I've heard that one battle after another does touch upon some really interesting things. Yeah. So I wanted it to go to Sinners. I do believe Sinners should have won it. I agree. I am open to seeing as we all know I've been talking about, I am going to see one battle after another on streaming.

Yep. I am very open minded to take in what a lot of people saw in one battle after another. Yeah. So All in all. Minus a couple that I'm just like with the winning. I'm not dissatisfied with the 98th Academy Awards. I'm not dissatisfied. I'm not satisfied. Better year. Not satisfied, I mean. Then again, whoever. Is. But honestly, I definitely think that this was one of the better years for films. It was a lot fucking better. Than last year? Oh hell yeah. I'm like, I mean, come. On and the fact that.

Amelia fucking Perez even won anything was a disgrace to film even like it was just a bad movie like it was horrible. So I I was reeling last year. So I was really happy to see that there was just some really great winners in this grouping. There were a lot of great nominations. There were a lot of records broken. That matters to me. Is Marty's. Supreme won nothing. Yeah, I mean, Even so, Chalamet's. 30 apparently he became the youngest actor to earn 3 acting nominations since Brando. He's also the youngest person to be nominated for both acting and producer in the same year, which surpassed Warren Beatty apparently.

And Wagner Mora became the first Brazilian nominated for a best actor in a leading role. Stellan Skarsgard became the first actor nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for a non-english language international feature film and. There's a 40 year span. Do you? Realize that it's been 40 years since Amy. Madigan's first. Nomination. Yeah, and she won that for twice in a. She was. Nominated for her supporting role in Twice in a Lifetime in 1985, and then her recent for Weapons set the record for the longest gap between Oscar nominations for an actress.

That's crazy and a great thing that I'm. So happy to be able to say is Michael D Jordan has now joined the Echelon. He is one of only six African American actors to win an Academy Award for best actor. Nice. And that includes previous winners Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington and Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker and Will Smith. That's amazing. Ruth E Carter. So. Happy he's there. Hell. Yeah, and Ruth E Carter became the most nominated black woman across. Any category with her 5th nomination for Best Costume Design.

That's amazing. Yep, the autumn Durald. Arcopa. Became the fourth woman and first woman of color nominated for Best Cinematography. Yes, and she literally. Was actually denied from one of the largest film schools in the entire world. And now she just won the Oscar. Yeah, first woman and first black. Must feel real fucking good. Yeah, first woman and first black. Person to win the award as well.

And I think we should. Shout out Oscar's number one. Loser. Fuck you, Diane. Warren, maybe one day you. Will win? I doubt it. Chloe's Zhao you received the most. Oscar nominations of. Anyone and still has never won. Chloe Zhao became the second woman, following Jane Campion. And the first woman of color to be nominated for the best director twice, as well as the first woman who previously won and Dee Dee Gardner. With 9 nominations for best. Picture has become the most nominated female producer, breaking her tie with Kathleen Kennedy because fuck you, Kathleen Kennedy, we don't like you.

I'm so happy. Because she deserves it. She's such an incredible filmmaker and. I've just, it's been really. Nice to see everyone that's gone into the Oscars and really brought home awards. I feel like they deserved or. Now get to add to their get to add to their repertoire that they've finally been nominated for an Oscar or have gotten a certain amount of Oscar nominations. It's always a really exciting thing to see. Yeah. Yep, Sean. Penn became the 4th male actor and 8th overall to win three acting Oscars.

Ryan Cooglers became the second black filmmaker to win Best Original Screenplay after Jordan Peele did it for Get Out in 2018. Yeah, that was a great year. Yep, Jessie Buckley wouldn't get out one. Love Jessie Buckley became the 1st. Irish actress. To win best actress in a leading role. I love this for her. Yep. So in all honesty, this. Academy Awards had a lot of fucking milestones, man. So I'm I'm and the 99th is only going to be better because obviously we're coming out. It's 2026. A lot of great movies have been coming out.

I can't wait to see what else because we got some bangers that are supposedly coming out. We got the new Spider Man trailer dropped today. We got a whole bunch of shit coming out. The new Mario movies coming out in a couple of weeks. So we have a year of film and cinema that is possibly going to be seen in the auction Oscars next year. So who the fuck knows exactly. I'm so excited to see The Bride. That's on my list. Oh that is on my list to. Tell Mary on. Sunday. Oh, please tell me how. Please tell me how it is dying.

To see it, I want to see it. Andy Weir as a writer. And I. Love the film. And Anatomy of the Fall, and it's actually the same director who did Anatomy of the Fall, love it, who is also won an Oscar. So very excited to see their take on Andy Weir's special brand of science fiction. Love it. So on that note, any closing thoughts? I think it was a very exciting. Year for me. I love being able to see a number of people win that I never thought would win, whether it be because of genre biases within the Academy, whether it be, you know, the fact like Oscars, so white.

Like years. Of this very stagnant set of winners, I think the last time I was this excited about a winner was Guillermo del Toro for Shape of Water. Yeah, that's true. And that was. Almost. Oh God, is that almost? 10 years ago now, yeah, that's fucking nuts. That's nuts anyway. That was the last. Time. I've been excited by an Oscars. So to really feel that this year felt so much more, so much less like a popularity contest, especially after last year's train wreck, it was so refreshing as a film lover and a film admirer and like a casual film student in a lot of ways, to just see that there is hope.

There are great things that are being nominated that are winning. And I'm pretty excited for next year, especially with the lineup of films that have already come out for 2026. Yeah, I agree. I agree. So. Honestly, All in all, the 98th Academy Awards in a lot of ways was much better obviously, than the 97th. And I can't wait to see the 99th. So here's to it. And honestly, stay tuned on all of our social media for us to be doing any of those reviews of the movies that we did not get a chance to see.

And I'm going to say bye because honestly, there's really nothing else to say. So play that music off OK, Bye.

The Feinics Gate Podcast - Issue 162 - The 98th Academy Awards

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