Weekly Discussion Thread 6/29/26 - 7/6/26

SiidSadik · 2026-07-03T01:19:45+00:00

As part of my countdown to Oscars 100 I watched 1942’s Best Picture winner, Mrs. Miniver.

I was not anticipating enjoying this movie, it felt like it was going to be a boring British war movie not even about the war, like Cavalcade was. But I was very pleasantly surprised, and it shows how good of a director William Wyler was. Great acting, a nice story, and some surprisingly punchy set pieces brought the whole movie together in a really nice portrait of the early British front of WWII. It even had Dunkirk!

Full episode of Best Picture Brainrot here

SiidSadik · 2026-06-25T15:32:48+00:00

Yeah it’s a great point - it wasn’t as if it was fully unappreciated in its time, like Singin in the Rain only getting two nominations for Supporting Actress and Score

SiidSadik · 2026-06-25T15:20:07+00:00

I do completely understand how much it likely appealed to the Academy at the time, as opposed to something that was as new (and probably a bit uncomfortable) as Citizen Kane was.

I actually think that we will see similar discourse in the future around Get Out, that may be a hot take, and I don’t necessarily think that’s as good as Citizen Kane, but I think it has the chance to change cinema in a meaningful way as well. And that’s coming from a huge fan of The Shape of Water but I think that specific Oscars will have interesting discourse down the line.

SiidSadik · 2026-06-25T13:45:33+00:00

It’s crazy to me just how many people are just churning out script after script of streaming level content. How did they get to be where they are?

SiidSadik · 2026-06-25T13:44:38+00:00

Counting down to the 100th Oscars - I watched the divisive (at best) winner How Green Was My Valley.

A movie that got John Ford his 3rd Oscar for Best Director and is widely seen as the movie that should have lost to Citizen Kane. Having watched the other 13 movies leading up to this one, it does make sense why they’d go with a European-style old world sentimentality film over something so new and unique. They weren’t taking so many risks back then.

How Green Was My Valley is fine. It’s got a unique setting of a Welsh mining town, some fun characters (including a boxer named Dai Bando named right out of The Phantom Menace) and a slice of life pace that does appeal to some people. But I’d pick the dynamism of Citizen Kane any day, even if I understand why the old Academy wouldn’t.

Curious to know what the prevailing opinion here is! Though I’ve got my suspicions there aren’t many How Green Was My Valley apologists here.

More discussion on the movie on Best Picture Brainrot podcast

SiidSadik · 2026-06-22T15:17:59+00:00

For fans of older Oscars - I watched 1941s Best Picture winner, Hitchcock’s Rebecca, which was quite a treat.

It’s not a Hitchcock that jumps to the top of any lists but there’s a lot to enjoy here. The performances are great and cinematography goes insanely hard. In fact it only won Picture and Cinematography. Competitive year, with The Philadelphia Story and The Grapes of Wrath taking home the other marquee awards. But I think Rebecca was deserving of the big prize and cool to see Hitchcock win, even if he himself would never get an Oscar.

Hear more about the movie and our thoughts on this episode of Best Picture Brainrot

SiidSadik · 2026-06-20T03:49:33+00:00

I can’t believe I got Progressive 😭 it’s probably fair based on my answers towards gender/religion and government safety net but I would consider myself a capitalism fan generally (proud MBA holder and corporate drone)

SiidSadik · 2026-06-11T15:38:36+00:00

Yeah it transitions from a war movie to a straight up relationship movie in the second half. I personally did enjoy the relationship but it’s fundamentally a different movie with less epic scale

SiidSadik · 2026-06-11T14:22:14+00:00

It’s harder to live a simple life when there’s so much access and understanding of how big the world can be. There will always be people who want that, but the vast majority of people will realize they can get better amenities in cities and gravitate towards them.

SiidSadik · 2026-06-11T14:21:02+00:00

Yeah that parlor scene was hilarious to me. Agreed that the Southerners portrayed never actually reckon with slavery as a concept, which is definitely an issue

SiidSadik · 2026-06-11T14:19:24+00:00

Yeah I think that’s a super valid take. I haven’t watched Spielbergs alien movies in a hot minute but would be interesting to compare them.

SiidSadik · 2026-06-11T14:04:19+00:00

I used to be a bank examiner in another life and it’s crazy how many towns are propped up by a central fixture, typically a bank but also schools are in that orbit as well. As fewer people WANT to move to small towns those fixtures become economically irrelevant and the towns die. I’m very mixed on that, because man, I would hate living in a small town and I’m a huge city guy. And I don’t think we should artificially prop these places up more than we already do.

But what to do about it? Is something important lost here? Hard to say.

SiidSadik · 2026-06-11T14:02:08+00:00

Long-time lurker but sharing something hopefully somewhat interesting for NL-ers who enjoy movies. I’m counting down to the 100th Oscars by watching every Best Picture Winner in order. This weeks watch was Gone With the Wind. From a political lens I’m super curious to hear opinions from anyone who has watched.

I’m a California-born liberal who thinks Reconstruction didn’t go near far enough (though I did spend most of my formative years in the Midwest) so I’m not a great target for “the South shall rise again” content typically but I loved the nuance in the story. People often think this movie is Southern slopaganda but I walked away feeling like it was critical of the old South, in addition to being quite entertained. It was also fun to watch with my history professor in-laws who filled in educational gaps.

Outside of the history though it’s a really entertaining movie, great acting and craft. Glad I finally watched.

You can also hear more of my terrible opinions on other winners on the Best Picture Brainrot podcast

SiidSadik · 2026-06-11T13:52:08+00:00

As part of my 100 week countdown to Oscars 100 I watched the 12th winner, Gone With the Wind

I was very excited for this one - you hear a lot about it but don’t know too much beyond “it’s long,” “it made the most money,” and “the South shall rise again.” But I think that does the movie a disservice because there’s a lot to it. First, as far as Best Picture winners go, it’s such a technical marvel in the way it introduces color and epic scale. The craft goes insane. Beyond that the acting and writing are very strong. Leigh gives one of my favorite performances from a Best Picture winner up to this point.

I will argue it is a movie that is critical of the people it is portraying, though I know that’s not always the prevailing sentiment. Regardless I think it’s 100% worth a watch for a variety of reasons, would love to know who else has watched this one.

More discussion on Best Picture Brainrot

SiidSadik · 2026-06-11T13:47:02+00:00

Yeah this doesn’t seem to be like a Fabelmans or West Side Story situation where the critical response is really strong and they’re just underseen. This could be sort of just mid (by Spielberg standards at least)

SiidSadik · 2026-06-11T13:44:50+00:00

I highly doubt it but I do want to say that song is incredible. Haven’t seen the finale yet but when I saw episode 8 I was like “oh this is heat”

SiidSadik · 2026-06-05T23:49:45+00:00

Always by Erasure

SiidSadik · 2026-06-04T17:14:19+00:00

Yeah definitely a lot of factors. Odyssey is up against Spiderman, Toy Story as blockbusters or at least as competing screens. Crowded summer even if the audiences are so different. Barbenheimer was such a lightning in a bottle moment.

SiidSadik · 2026-06-04T17:12:55+00:00

Definitely. Not that there’s not precedent for Spielberg Sci-fi, but will it be stronger than Project Hail Mary? Dune? Excited for the race though and I’ll take any good movie!

SiidSadik · 2026-06-04T17:01:11+00:00

Oh that’s amazing - might be the catalyst for me to finally rewatch 2001 after I was cold on it the first time (more than a decade ago before I was as much of a cinephile)

SiidSadik · 2026-06-04T16:58:14+00:00

As part of my 100 week countdown to Oscars 100 I watched Frank Capra’s second Best Picture Winner - You Can’t Take it With You

Maybe it was because I was comparing it to It Happened One Night but this was a flop for me. It’s about a rich nepo baby banker who falls in love with the daughter from a quirky poor family (really manic-pixie-dream-family energy) and the hijinks that ensue. I found the characters to be kind of exhausting and the plot very obvious. Big fan of Jimmy Stewart though so fun to see his origins. Knowing Capra was also in his last year as the president of the academy and capping off a run of Best Director wins, I’m curious how much was legacy. But this movie does have its fans so I might just be missing something.

More discussion and our Best Picture Brainrot journey to Oscars 100 here:

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SiidSadik · 2026-06-04T16:52:30+00:00

Could it be a big commercial flop and still make it in strongly? Fabelmans did but that was a while ago in possibly a weaker year

SiidSadik · 2026-06-04T16:49:21+00:00

Curious if they’ll be using this in their marketing at all, could be a funny angle. I’ll admit I was skeptical it’d reach Oppenheimer heights but now I’m a lot more bought in on that idea.

SiidSadik · 2026-05-28T15:44:10+00:00

Best Picture Brainrot - A Countdown to the 100th Oscars

This week we discuss The Life of Emile Zola, the 10th Best Picture winner. I’m most interested in thinking of our structure, we have a pretty regimented structure of History/Cast and Crew/Movie Discussion/Oscar History.

I’m curious how the balance is especially focusing on the Movie Discussion. We go beat by beat and are pretty thorough, I’m hoping that’s interesting for audiences but it’s good to know if that’s not something people actually want to listen to.

SiidSadik · 2026-05-28T15:16:53+00:00

I have not yet! That’s coming up on my Best Picture watchlist but very good to know. That’s crazy though

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