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.

Sorry for the delay between episodes! A lot has happened - Maddie went to Cannes! We hate the suburbs! Maddie and Rachel saw Challengers!

Links:

Maddie's Cannes ranking on Letterboxd

The article about pop music's "middle class" that Rachel mentioned

Maddie's Seed & Spark campaign for the short film she's producing, Always Were - or if you'd like to make a tax-deductible donation, the Louisville Film Society fiscal sponsorship page

Maddie's newsletter

Movies discussed (* indicates spoilers):

• Megalopolis*, Anora, Bird, Red Road, American Honey, Cow, Passages
• The Hyperboreans (Los Hiperbóreos), The Wolf House (La casa lobo), Beau Is Afraid
• Rumours, Oh Canada*, The Substance
• Honey Boy, Hereditary, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, It's Not Me(C’est pas moi), Titane
• Inside Out 2, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Vrse, Flee, The Boy and the Heron, Coraline, Paranorman, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Inside Out
• Love Lies Bleeding, I Saw the TV Glow*, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Top Gun: Maverick, The Lion King (2019), Twin Peaks: The Return
• Challengers*
• Twisters, Joker: Folie à Deux, Wicked, Gone Girl, Maxxxine, Janet Planet, Thelma, Kinds of Kindness, The Bikeriders, Cora Bora, The Favourite, Poor Things, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Lobster, Dunkirk, American Animals, The Batman - Part II, The Master, Eileen, Godzilla Minus One, Inside Man, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Twister

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.

It's time for the Smartest People Oscar Predictions! Hopefully we are of some help to your ballots this weekend 🙏🏻 we also discuss the releases we're looking forward to in 2024.

Movies discussed (* indicates spoilers):

• Oppenheimer*, Everything Everywhere All At Once
• Poor Things*, Nyad
• Eileen
• The Boy and the Heron, Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse
• Barbie
• The Zone of Interest*, Killers of the Flower Moon*
• 20 Days in Mariupol
• Anatomy of a Fall
• Maestro*, Society of the Snow
• A Star Is Born (2018)
• Green Book
• Asteroid City, Napoleon (2023)
• The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
• Godzilla Minus One
• American Fiction
• Following, The Prestige, Tenet, Vice
• Dune: Part 2, The Taste of Things, Drive-Away Dolls, Love Lies Bleeding, La Chimera
• Civil War (2024), Ex Machina, Annihilation, Inside Llewyn Davis, Drive, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, MEN*
• The First Omen, Challengers, Hit Man, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Mad Max: Fury Road, Three Thousand Years of Longing, Nosferatu (2024)
• Longlegs, Joker: Folie à Deux, Joker, Faces of Death (2024), The End (upcoming), Nightbitch, Gasoline Rainbow, I Saw the TV Glow, Maxxxine, Mickey 17, Megalopolis, The Way of the Wind, They Follow, It Follows
• Margaret

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.

Okay, so, we recorded this emergency podcast the Saturday after the Oscar nominees were announced, and then Maddie got too busy and is only just now uploading it. This episode is no longer topical, nor a hot take. Please forgive us but please listen anyway! (Also, Maddie knows the song is called "What Was I Made For?" but was too worked up to remember the title).

"Barbie Has Cellulite (But You Don't Have To)" from Jessica DeFino's newsletter The Unpublishable

Movies discussed (* indicates spoilers):

• Barbie*
• Priscilla
• May December
• Past Lives, Eileen
• Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody, Crash, Forrest Gump, Shakespeare In Love
• Nyad, Asteroid City
• Singin’ in the Rain, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
• The Eternals, Hamnet

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.

Things are getting back on track in 2024. We discuss awards season (recorded before the Oscar nominees were announce so don't @ us!), our Barbie's box office success, our favorite movies of 2023, and May December.

Movies discussed (* indicates spoilers):

• Anatomy of a Fall, The Boy and the Heron
• Thelma (June Squibb’s film)
• Barbie, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, Oppenheimer, The Lego Movie

• The Zone of Interest, Birth (2004), Sexy Beast, The Fall (2019 short), Under the Skin, La Chimera, Saltburn, Promising Young Woman, All of Us Strangers, A Thousand and One
• Killers of the Flower Moon*, Eileen, Beau Is Afraid*, Certain Women, The Holdovers, Dolemite Is My Name
• May December*, Napoleon (2023), Ferrari, Priscilla, Hustlers, The Go-Between, Babylon (2022), La La Land
• Asteroid City*, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch, Waves (2019), The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
• Past Lives*, Poor Things*, Sanctuary (2022), The Tragedy of Macbeth
• The Iron Claw*, Bottoms, How to Blow Up a Pipeline

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.

I know last time we said we were gettin' it together but, well, a lot has been going on! Maddie co-produced a movie, Rachel is a damn city planner, but we're here now to talk about festival buzz, actor-directors, stage-to-screen adaptations, and we pour one out for one of the greatest directors of our time, the late Terence Davies.

The Private Eye, the graphic novel we discussed

Passing Time, Terence Davies's final film, a short he did in collaboration with composer Florence Di Concilio for Film Fest Gent's 2x25 project.

Movies discussed (* indicates spoilers):

• Wildcat, Fire Island
• The Exorcist: Believer, Bottoms, Stop Making Sense, Oppenheimer, Barbie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, David Gordon Green's Halloween trilogy (Halloween (2018), Halloween Kills, Halloween Ends), Jojo Rabbit, Next Goal Wins, Bend It Like Beckham
• Twilight*, The Twilight Saga: New Moon*, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2*
• Woman of the Hour, Gonzo Girl, Ezra, Poolman
• Kundun, Silence (2016), Phantom Thread, Hacksaw Ridge, 2010 Star Wars trilogy, Ferrari, Megalopolis, Killers of the Flower Moon
• The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence, Benediction*, The Deep Blue Sea, The Long Day Closes, The Boys in the Band (1970)
• Fences, One Night in Miami, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Drive-Away Dolls, Challengers, Sanctuary, May December, Scream, Priscilla
• A Star Is Born (2018), Maestro, A Star Is Born (1954), A Star Is Born (1976), Wildlife, Joker: Folie à Deux, Joker, The Master, The Revenant, The Last Temptation of Christ

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.

We're gettin' it together, folks. This week we talk a lot about Matt Damon, Lily Gladstone, Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Sofia Coppola, plus Killers of the Flower Moon and Beau Is Afraid.

Movies discussed (* indicates spoilers):

• Air, BlackBerry, The Martian, The Last Duel, Hustlers, Erin Brockovich, The Departed*, Promised Land, Downsizing, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
• The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Terminator: Dark Fate
• Beau Is Afraid, Hilma, Showing Up, First Cow
• Killers of the Flower Moon*, Uncharted, The Whale, Certain Women
• Body Double, Phantom of the Paradise, The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• The Wolf of Wall Street, Romeo + Juliet, Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood
• The Night of the Hunter, Far from Heaven, All That Heaven Allows, Days of Heaven, Heaven’s Gate
• Hereditary, Midsommar, Babylon
• The Virgin Suicides, Marie Antoinette, The Bling Ring, Priscilla, The Sweet East, Saltburn, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, American Animals
• May December, The Holdovers, Sideways, You Hurt My Feelings, Master Gardener, Occupied City, Small Axe: Mangrove, Small Axe: Lovers Rock, Small Axe: Education, Bad Education (2019), La mala educación (Bad Education) (2004), An Education, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, The Starling Girl, White Men Can’t Jump (2023)
• Of An Age, Before Sunset, Ghosted, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Little Mermaid (2023), The Lure
• Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Book Club: The Next Chapter

Deadline's viral Martin Scorsese interview

Sofia Coppola: The Politics of Visual Pleasure by Anna Backman Rogers

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.

This week we talk about Rachel's problem with Mia Goth, touch on the films of Kelly Reichardt, and share the upcoming films we're excited about. Plus, Maddie details her recent experience working on an indie film production which shall not be named.

Movies discussed (* indicates spoilers):

• MaXXXine, Emma., Suspiria (2017), X, Pearl, Infinity Pool*
• Resurrection (2022), Call of the Wild (1935), Hail, Caesar!, Air, Moneyball, Showing Up
• River of Grass, Night Moves, Wendy & Lucy, Meek’s Cutoff, Strictly Ballroom, Poison, Carol, Dark Waters, Wonderstruck
• Barbie, Killers of the Flower Moon, Armageddon Time, Eileen
• John Wick: Chapter 4, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, 80 for Brady, Book Club 2, Predator, High Hopes, Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Beau Is Afraid, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

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.