We are now in awards pre-season and we have a lot to discuss. How are we going to get to 10 Best Picture nominees? Can James Mangold pull off A Complete Unknown? Will Nightbitch be good? (Answer: yes, it's Marielle Heller). Why are there so many horror movies about pregnancy right now, and romcoms with older women age gap relationships? (Not complaining!) Listen and find out!

Movies discussed (* indicates spoilers):

• The Brutalist
• Anora, Sing Sing, Conclave, Maria (2024), Jackie, Spencer, Dune: Part Two, Emilia Perez, Blitz, Nickel Boys, Gladiator II, A Complete Unknown, The End (2024), Mother Mary, The Governesses
• Tár, Vox Lux, The Order (2024), Bram Stoker’s Dracula
• Saturday Night, The Piano Lesson (2024), Joker: Folie à Deux, A Real Pain, Past Lives, Everything Everywhere All At Once, CODA (2021)
• Sentimental Value
• All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
• Mrs. Doubtfire, Wanted
• The Substance, The Apprentice, The Witch, A Different Man, Under the Skin, Walk the Line, Ford v Ferrari
• Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, Heretic, Babygirl, Queer, The Room Next Door, A Strange Way of Life, The Killing of a Sacred Deer
• Nightbitch, Jeanne Dielman, 23, quad du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, Honeyland, The First Omen, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Diary of a Teenage Girl, Tully
• The Godfather, Her Smell, Wildlife, Gone Girl, Pride & Prejudice (2005), Pirates of the Caribbean series, The Boston Strangler, Colette, Silent Night
• The Idea of You, Anyone But You, Eileen, Twisters, Immaculate, The Deliverance, Madame Web, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Running Man, Barbarella
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Lawrence of Arabia, The Ten Commandments, Chinatown, The Witches of Eastwick, The Bucket List, As Good As It Gets, The Shining, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, The Taste of Things, The French Connection, Easy Rider
• Presence, No Sudden Move, A Star Is Born (2018), House of Gucci, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Bikeriders, Molly’s Game, John Wick
• Red Rocket, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

The Smartest People in the Room is hosted by Rachel Casey and Maddie Weiner. It is edited by Maddie Weiner. Original theme and interstitial music is by Scott Boice - follow him on Instagram @sc00gle and find more of his work on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bandcamp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.