2026 Oscars Guide and What's Making Us Happy

We've watched all the nominees in the major categories for the Oscars including Sinners, One Battle After Another, Hamnet, and Marty Supreme. So we’ve got opinions about what will win and what should win. (And yes, we’ll talk about Timothée Chalamet.) For a list of our favorite Oscar nominated films, check out our list at Letterboxd https://boxd.it/T1l9c$LzB0QNbFWPJEM9e4— at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture http://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture. https://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture/list/our-favorite-book-to-film-adaptations/ See pcm.adswizz.com https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This message comes from Rosetta Stone, offering an alternative approach to language learning. Without relying on traditional memorization, the platform guides users to intuitively think in a second language. More information at rosettastone.com.

• 0:19Linda Holmes?

  The 2026 Oscars have something for everyone. Vampires, car chases, show tunes, ping pong, Shakespeare, and we're ready to talk about all of it.

• 0:29Stephen Thompson?

  As always, some categories seem like locks, but there are also some real toss ups. And as always, we'll be rooting for some upsets. I'm Stephen Thompson.

• 0:38Linda Holmes?

  And I'm Linda Holmes. On this episode of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, we're offering up a guide to this year's Oscars. Joining us today are our fellow Pop Culture Happy Hour hosts, Glen Weldon. Hello, Glenn.

• 0:50Speaker 03

  Hey, Lynda. It's that time of year when I start worrying about my friend Oscar Gold. You know why? Because everyone starts chasing him, chasing the poor guy. First they give him all kinds of nods. There's all kinds of Oscar nods. And then they start chasing him. It's weird. Weird, I tell some.

• 1:02Linda Holmes?

  We are off to a great start. And also, welcome to Aisha Harris. Hello, my friend.

• 1:09Aisha Harris?

  Lynda, it's been 84 years of this award season. We finally made it.

• 1:17Linda Holmes?

  Well, I am so glad to be here with all of you for our big Oscars show. As we always do, we've checked out all the nominees in the major categories. And we've all got opinions about what will win and what should win. So let's get directly to it. We are going to start at the top with Best Picture. Stephen, kick us off.

• 1:34Stephen Thompson?

  All right. Well, first up, we've got two very different sports movies. Marty Supreme: Timothy Chalamet Plays A Working Class Heel, aiming to become a table tennis champion in the 1950s.

• 1:46Speaker 05

  And I have tremendous respect for your money. And I know it's hard to believe, but I'm telling you, this game that fills stadiums overseas. And it's only a matter of time before it fills stadiums in the United States, too, before I'm staring at you from the cover of a Wheaties box.

• 1:57Stephen Thompson?

  And F1: Brad Pitt Plays A Veteran F1 Driver, Who Clashes With A Young Hotshot.

• 2:03Speaker 06

  When was the last time you won a race? Sunday, Daytona? Oh, I'm sorry. I meant Formula One. Oh, I'm sorry. Then same as you.

• 2:12Linda Holmes?

  All right. Next up, we've got two films from directors who have earned their fair share of Oscar nominations. We've got Begonia, Yorgos Lanthimos's movie, where Emma Stone's high-powered CEO is kidnapped by conspiracy theorists and accused of being an alien.

• 2:27Speaker 07

  My hair? Your hair has been destroyed. You shaved off my hair? Yes, we've shaved off your hair. Why have you shaved off my hair? To prevent you from contacting your ship.

• 2:38Linda Holmes?

  And then we've got Frankenstein, Guillermo del Toro's take on the Mary Shelley classic. Jacob Elordi plays the creature and Oscar Isaac is the scientist. You knew I have created something truly horrible?

• 2:51Speaker 03

  Not something, someone. You made someone me. And for the past several years, we've seen international features nominated in the Best Picture category. This year, we've got The Secret Agent from Brazil. A former researcher is caught up in the political turmoil of the military dictatorship in 1977. Eu não sou uma pessoa violenta, mas esse cara, eu matava ele com martelo. And sentimental value from Norway. Stellan Skarsgård is a filmmaker attempting to reconnect with his estranged daughters, and it proves that, at the very least, the tension between art and parenthood is complicated.

• 3:33Speaker 05

  Well, he's a very difficult person.

• 3:40Speaker 05

  But he is a really good director, and he sees something in you.

• 3:43Speaker 03

  We've also got two movies about grief. There's Hamnet. A young English couple meets, falls in love, has children, and suffers an unspeakable tragedy. One of them happens to be William Shakespeare, who goes on to write Hamlet.

• 3:57Speaker 05

  I see you grown and very strong. And I see you in London, working with your father. In the theater? At the playhouse.

• 4:07Speaker 03

  And then Train Dreams, which follows the life of a logger and railroad worker in a rapidly changing America of the early 20th century.

• 4:16Stephen Thompson?

  These trees are really that old? My son's older even.

• 4:20Linda Holmes?

  This world is intricately stitched together, boys. Every thread we pull, we know not how it affects the design of things. And then we've got the two presumed frontrunners in the category. Sinners, Ryan Coogler's movie, finds Michael B. Jordan playing twin brothers who open a 1930s juke joint. And opening night does not go as planned when a bloodthirsty menace appears outside. It's vampires. We're talking about vampires. We was never gonna be free. We been running around everywhere looking for freedom. You know, Dan will. He's never gonna find it. Until it is. This is the way. And one battle after another.

• 5:01Linda Holmes?

  Paul Thomas Anderson's action thriller stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a washed up ex-revolutionary whose past comes back to haunt him. Steve Lockjaw just attacked my home. I lost my daughter. This is Bob Ferguson, you understand? I don't remember any more of this. I don't remember any more of this code speak, all right? Let's just get on. All right, a real upbeat bunch of movies. Real laugh riot, up one side and down the other. Glenn, I'm gonna go to you first. What do you think will win the Best Picture race? How do you see this race kind of shaping up?

• 5:32Speaker 03

  Well, let's talk, let's do a little big picture on the Best Picture. I mean, not too many years ago, this field would have looked a lot different because the kind of films that used to get nominated for Best Picture looked a lot different. They conformed to these very received notions of what is important and what is serious, which tended to overrepresent historical dramas and biopics. This year is a genre fest. Sports movies, sci-fi, horror, action thriller, political thriller, and a couple of historical dramas in there because that's also a genre. You can call that change. I call that progress. And I was gonna say, oh, but we're still missing comedy. But we're not. I mean, Begonia is a very funny film until it isn't anymore. And One Battle is a satire, so progress.

• 6:11Linda Holmes?

  Oh, that's fair. I think I feel more traditional Best Picture-ness from some of these than you do, but I absolutely understand what you're saying. And given all of these entries, what movie do you think is gonna win?

• 6:23Speaker 03

  Well, this goes to your point. I think One Battle's gonna win because it is the traditional pick of the two frontrunners. It's filled with actors the Academy loves. It's been the frontrunner for a long time for a reason, because you have to remember that the way Best Picture votes work is by ranked choice voting. A film needs to get over 50% of voters to win, and if that criteria is not met, they eliminate the lowest ranked film and redistribute those votes to the next choices until they hit that 50% mark.

• 6:47Stephen Thompson?

  And that's how we get F1.

• 6:49Speaker 03

  And that's how we get F1, people. But in that environment, what you need is a film that everyone's seen, but also a film that everyone likes. It's not enough for there to be like a small base of very vocal supporters. You need everyone to kind of like. Your movie and I suspect that there are voters, let's call them old school, very traditional academy voters, who will not vibe with the horror elements of sinners. They're going to be like, wait, I thought I was watching historical drama. How did vampire peanut butter get in my historical drama chocolate? And also, there's a more meta reason here. I think one battle, what it's satirizing at its heart is right wing extremism. It's poking much gentler fun at left wing idealism extremism. That is the kind of thing that a certain kind of academy voter will vote for and feel

• 7:33Speaker 03

  very good about themselves for doing it. I'm not equating one battle with the crashes and the green books of the world, but I'm just saying, there is a kind of Oscar voter, a traditional film snob who dismisses genre stuff, who will think that voting for one battle is a political act. I mean, if they think that, they should vote for sinners, but they're going to vote for one battle. That's why I think it's going to take it.

• 7:52Aisha Harris?

  Yes, to everything Glenn said, but I think the shorter version that I would argue is it's time for Paul Thomas Anderson. Do I think it's time? No, but I do think a lot of Hollywood thinks it's time because he has yet to win a best picture. He has yet to win, you know, best director. But like, I do think that there is a sense, and we should never underestimate the power of it's time historically, the way that has worked across all the major categories for filmmakers. I think of Spike Lee finally winning for a screenplay award. Like, these things happen, and I think because Paul Thomas Anderson has so much goodwill, and he's like, a director's director, he is the the Letterboxd king, all these things.

• 8:37Aisha Harris?

  And so, I also just think sinners, as Glenn said, it is political in a different way, but there's a difference between the way Paul Thomas Anderson satirizes right wing extremism and the fact that sinners ends in part with a black character gunning down the KKK. And I think that that's like a step too far for certain people. That's why I think one battle after another is probably going to win and eke out.

• 9:01Linda Holmes?

  This is sort of one of those years where I have a movie that I wish would win, and I have a movie that I suspect is going to win, and some years I've actually managed to. Kind of go with my heart and say that I think that the movie that I love, which in this case is Sinners, will win. But I think for all the reasons that you've talked about, that's probably not in the cards. I think the most interesting win that kind of got people going, huh? You know, for Sinners was that it won the Best Cast Award at the Actor Awards, formerly known as the SAG Awards. Like, that's a big body of voters, right? However, you know, Producers Guild, no. Their big award went to one battle after another. And producers are also a big group. And I think when Glenn was talking about the kind of more sort of

• 9:44Linda Holmes?

  old school, heavy use of quotation marks, people who kind of you envision when you think about why the Oscars tend to be kind of a little bit stuck. It's more producers.

• 9:55Stephen Thompson?

  I'm erring on the side of optimism.

• 9:58Linda Holmes?

  Aw, good for you, bud.

• 9:59Speaker 03

  You fool.

• 10:00Stephen Thompson?

  At some point in this process, as I was going through these films, as I was watching, or in some cases, rewatching these films, I found myself breaking all ties in favor of Sinners. I feel like Sinners has an extraordinary amount of momentum right now for a movie that came out very early in the year. And I see a lot of parallels between its Oscar campaign and the Oscar campaign of the movie Everything Everywhere All at Once several years ago. Both films came out in the first half of the year, which is unusual for Oscar movies. Both films made an enormous amount of money when they weren't necessarily expected to. Both of those films maintained awards buzz for the better part of a year.

• 10:45Stephen Thompson?

  Both of those films contain largely non-white casts. Both of those films are outside of conventional Oscar historical drama slash biopic genres, as Glenn alluded to earlier. The last one that I'm going to mention is that they both received a greater-than-expected number of nominations, which suggests a pretty extreme breadth of support within the Academy. I think there is more support for this film within the Academy. I think you all are a little too pessimistic. I think the Oscars have made real headway in this regard, not only in terms of what films get nominated, but in terms of what films win. And man, I just sat down with this film a few days ago and just...

• 11:30Stephen Thompson?

  Revelled in how gorgeous it looks, how beautifully it's acted, how fun it is, how exciting it is. The musical centerpiece of this film is one of my favorite scenes in a movie in years. And if I have any rooting interest, any strong rooting interest besides a general love of the movie Sinners, it's for the cinematographer Autumn Derald Arcapah, whose work in this film is jaw dropping. Like I said, I'm breaking all ties in favor of Sinners. So I am saying it not only should win, I think it will win.

• 12:03Speaker 03

  It's my pick for should, because I mean, I just watched it the other night. I have gone back to it more than any other film that's nominated. And the first shot of this film after the prelude is a shot of the sun with a lens flare. So it looks like there's twin suns in the sky, which is just so smart. And it just made me clap there on the couch. So yeah, it's my pick too.

• 12:23Aisha Harris?

  Look, I've talked about this movie a lot and I love it. And while I don't think it's a perfect movie, I do think it is kind of a perfect movie for our times. And I wish I had your optimism, Stephen. But also, we don't know, really. We're saying all these things and we can predict that. And sometimes the Oscars does surprise us. So maybe it will turn out that it does win. I just think it is such a stunning feat of artistry and clearly the work of someone who needed to get everything out there. Because perhaps he thought, maybe I might not ever be able to do something like this again, even though he is one of our most consistent filmmakers and, and he's done so many great blockbusters, Ryan Coogler. But he just throws it all out there, leaves it on the floor. And I love

• 13:08Aisha Harris?

  this movie so much. So that's what I think should win.

• 13:12Linda Holmes?

  I do too. I think, as we've alluded to, the breadth of achievements in this film, like, it's hard for me to argue against a movie that I believe is nominated in every category, which it was eligible at all.

• 13:25Aisha Harris?

  Sixteen.

• 13:26Linda Holmes?

  And on the one hand, that's just counting up nominations and you don't want to get too wrapped up in that. But the reason for that in this case is that the music is great, the visual effects are great, the costumes are amazing, the cinematography is amazing, the acting is amazing, across a bunch of different roles. And every one of those nominations, I think, is fully defensible and understandable on its own. You don't just get the sense of like, they just voted for everything Sinners, the way that you sometimes might get that with other films. So to me, you look at that and you say, that's a very good argument for something being the best picture of the year, as is the fact that I simply think it is the most enjoyable of these movies for me personally, as a combination of entertainment, but also really thoughtful.

• 14:10Linda Holmes?

  You know, I had really thoughtful conversations about this movie. I learned a lot from talking to people about this movie and from sort of thinking through my own reactions to certain things in it. And yet, it's a really fun, really exciting, really scary vampire movie. So, I mean, how cool is that? I don't know. I love it. I think it's great. We're going to move on from best picture to actor in a leading role. All right, Stephen, you're going to take this one as well.

• 14:33Stephen Thompson?

  All right. So our nominees are Leonardo DiCaprio for One Battle After Another. DiCaprio plays a washed up ex-revolutionary whose past catches up with him. Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon. Hawke plays songwriter Lorenz Hart on the worst night of his life, the opening of Oklahoma on Broadway. Wagner Mora for The Secret Agent. Mora plays a researcher who goes into hiding during Brazil's military dictatorship. Timothy Chalamet for Marty Supreme. He plays Marty Mauser, a scoundrel, a hustler, and an aspiring world champion in table tennis.

• 15:05Speaker 05

  Well, I live with the confidence, if I believe in myself, the money will follow. Ultimately, my struggle isn't even about money. How do you pay rent? I don't. You're avoiding the question. No, I'm not avoiding anything. How do you plan on eating food today? Honestly, I was going to order room service the second you leave.

• 15:20Stephen Thompson?

  And Michael B. Jordan for Sinners. He plays twins Smoke and Stack, who face off against vampires when they open a juke joint. I ain't never saw no roots, no demons, no ghosts, no magic, just power. And only

• 15:36Linda Holmes?

  money can give you that. So once again, we are going to start with, who do you think will win? Aisha, who do you think will win actor in a leading role?

• 15:45Aisha Harris?

  You know, I made this choice a little while before we taped this episode. And the more I think about it, I'm going to keep it. But I do think his juice has waned a little bit.

• 15:54Stephen Thompson?

  I know who you're going to say.

• 15:56Aisha Harris?

  Look, I'm going to stick by it. Our boy, Timmy Chalamet, who I think is actually very well cast in. His role as Marty Supreme, as we've seen from his very, very chaotic campaign throughout this entire award season. I do think that he's probably rubbed some people a little bit the wrong way. I'm going to put my money on Timmy for Marty Supreme.

• 16:17Speaker 03

  Yes, same. I mean, to say it's a showier performance than a guy who's playing twins is saying something. But it is, it's a bigger performance. It's more in your face. It's the most acting. And, you know, I talked to some people who find that performance charismatic. I could not be casual friends with somebody who finds that performance charismatic because I find him repellent. But I believed him. Also, to Ayesha's point, he's campaigning hard. And there is this notion that Oscar doesn't like tryhards. And that is provably false. And tryhards win all the time. I think he's going to take it.

• 16:45Linda Holmes?

  I would agree with what Ayesha said, that I think his juice has waned a bit. I think the persona that he took on in promoting this film has worn thin with people. As we record this, this clip is going around of this town hall interview he did with Matthew McConaughey, where he says he wants to keep movie theaters alive and he doesn't want to be working in something like ballet or opera, the kind of thing that he says, no one cares about this anymore.

• 17:09Aisha Harris?

  Oh, my God. People are taking that way to like, what?

• 17:14Linda Holmes?

  No, I don't think so. I think that is a thing that it is rude to say. And for an artist to say it about other people's art forms is the kind of thing. I'm talking here in terms of Oscar campaigning. I think that's the kind of thing that can make people feel like you're a pill. Do I think that's going to tip it? No, I don't.

• 17:30Stephen Thompson?

  I think people are exhausted by this performance, by this movie, and by not only this Oscar campaign, but last year's Timothy Chalamet Oscar campaign for a complete unknown. First of all, I want to echo something Linda said, where I think this is such a strong field. I think this is DiCaprio's best performance in ages. I love Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon. I love Wagner Mora in The Secret Agent. But I think it is as much Michael B. Jordan's time as it is Timothy Chalamet's time. The Michael B. Jordan performance is plenty showy. He's playing twins and he's great at it. And he gives them distinct personalities where you can tell them apart. I think the Chalamet Oscar campaign has been a little too tryhard.

• 18:15Stephen Thompson?

  I think people are less fond of Marty Supreme than they are of Sinners. And I do think that's a factor. I'm going with Michael B. Jordan for not only will win, but should win.

• 18:25Speaker 03

  Sweet summer child.

• 18:26Linda Holmes?

  Good for you, buddy.

• 18:27Stephen Thompson?

  Optimism.

• 18:28Aisha Harris?

  Someone has to be optimistic here. I want to give it to Michael B. Jordan. And again, I really do like this category overall. And it was hard for me to choose. And I think if I'm being totally honest about it, like I'm picking Michael B. Jordan in part because I worry that he might not ever have a chance like this again. And look, the awards in the grand scheme of things, they don't really make any sense. So my, my choice is going to be one that doesn't necessarily come from logic or like you can't, there's no scientific way to game this out. But I, I would love to see Michael B. Jordan win because I do think that this is his best performance. And Ryan Coogler is quite literally the only film director who has known what to do with him as a performer.

• 19:10Aisha Harris?

  And this is such a, I rewatched Sinners again the other night. My goodness, just the fact that he's really kind of playing not just twins, but then he has to play a twin who has turned into a vampire. So there's, there's lots of layers. It's not quite three characters, but it's like two and a half. And so the way that those roles so seamlessly work off of each other. And this is also just based off of, you know, 20 plus years of watching this guy grow up and grow into the man he is. So that's my pick for should win.

• 19:40Linda Holmes?

  Agreed, agreed. And I agree with you. I would pick him also. I double, triple echo how good this field is. I really have a soft spot for this Ethan Hawke performance in Moon. I didn't care for one battle, but I think that DiCaprio is good in it.

• 19:56Aisha Harris?

  He's so funny.

• 19:57Stephen Thompson?

  He really is.

• 19:57Linda Holmes?

  So there's no wrong way here in terms of, of should even, you know, I don't want to make it sound like boo hoo, I think Chalamet is going to win. I think he's really good in it. And I said that coming out of the movie. But boy, Michael B. Jordan, everything Ayesha said is so true. I would love to see him win. If I could only have one thing on the night, that might actually be my pick. Maybe best picture, but you know, that might actually be my pick. I don't know. Glenn, do you disagree with us or do you agree?

• 20:24Speaker 03

  No, man. I mean, I could sit here and make the case for Wagner Morra, who holds the center of that film.

• 20:29Aisha Harris?

  So good.

• 20:29Stephen Thompson?

  He really does.

• 20:30Speaker 03

  In a film that could easily fly away into separate chunks. But I mean, what Jordan does is he finds distinct ways of exposing the vulnerability in two characters who are each in different ways performing the utter lack of vulnerability. He creates two distinct characters. You know which when you're looking at the moment the camera hits them. Before you process any of the visual cues of costume or anything, you know who you're looking at, which becomes hugely important in the film when the poop hits the fan later on. So, yeah, it's Jordan all the way for me.

• 20:57Stephen Thompson?

  It's a remarkable performance.

• 20:59Linda Holmes?

  Really wonderful. All right. We're going to move on to actress in a leading role. Ayesha, who are the nominees in this category?

• 21:04Aisha Harris?

  Yeah, so we have Emma Stone for Begonia. Stone plays a high-powered CEO who is kidnapped by conspiracy theorists who think she's an alien. Wow, what a movie that was.

• 21:14Linda Holmes?

  What a movie.

• 21:16Aisha Harris?

  Kate Hudson for Song Sung Blue. Hudson is playing a down-on-her-luck musician who teams up with Hugh Jackman to form a Neil Diamond tribute band. Okay. Rose Byrne for If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You. Byrne plays a therapist shouldering all the responsibility of caring for her ill daughter while her emotionally absent husband is away for work. And Renata Reinsberg for Sentimental Value. She plays a stage actress who reunites with her estranged father when he offers her the lead role in his next film. And then I think we all are going to predict that this final actor, Jessie Buckley, will win for Hamlet. She plays a witchy young free spirit named Anias who falls in love with William Shakespeare.

• 21:58Linda Holmes?

  So Stephen, why do you think Jessie Buckley both will, and as I understand it, should win here?

• 22:07Stephen Thompson?

  Well, I think it is a perfect confluence of events in her career and in this particular Oscars campaign. I think Jessie Buckley is one of those actors who is great in everything she does. She's extremely committed in everything she does. She's willing to take things over the top in much of what she does, but does it extremely well. This is a best acting performance. This is a most act- Performance, she's given an extraordinary amount to work with here. You get deep emotion, deep pathos, but also kind of quiet face and eyes acting. She does it all, I think extraordinarily well. She she is the the giant concrete beam holding up this film.

• 22:53Stephen Thompson?

  And I think this is also a cumulative award because she has been really good for a long time in basically everything she's done. Now, I don't want to dismiss the rest of this field. I think there are other extremely strong performances here. As much as I never want to see if I had legs, I'd kick you ever again in my life. I think Rose Byrne is terrific in it. I think Kate Hudson is way better in the Neil Diamond movie than I could have expected. For one thing, she's just about the only person in that film who pulls off the accent. And I am from Wisconsin and I always love Renata Reinsva and everything she does and she's terrific in sentimental value. And I, you know, and of course, Emma Stone, you never want to discount Emma Stone. It's a strong field, but to me, Jessie Buckley runs away with this.

• 23:38Speaker 03

  Because she's been putting in the work, she makes weird choices and she doesn't make Anya's grief traditionally Oscar baity. She makes it something spiky and difficult and real. And if this film works on you, didn't for me, but if it works on you, it's because of those last 10 minutes or so. The movie needs us to go on the emotional arc that she goes on in those last 10 minutes. That's a really, really heavy lift and for the people who it worked for, it worked really well. So yeah, I think that's all on her.

• 24:05Aisha Harris?

  I just keep going back to seeing this in the theater in a packed house. And literally everyone around me, except for myself, bawling and sniffling. And while this didn't work for me, she's quite good in it. And I also think that that is where that power lies in getting people to vote for her. If you have a heart and apparently I don't, or mine is cold and frigid and and frozen.

• 24:29Speaker 03

  Sit by me.

• 24:30Aisha Harris?

  There are mothers in this category as well, Rose Byrne, for if I had legs, I'd kick you. But that movie, I think, is so, so difficult to sit through that I wonder how many people actually were. Able to make it through. And again, we don't know how many voters are actually watching all of these movies. So I'm gonna, I'm thinking it's gonna be Jessie Buckley for those reasons.

• 24:51Linda Holmes?

  Yeah, I think it's gonna be Jessie Buckley too. I think she's very well liked. She's been in a lot of other things. Women Talking for one and

• 25:00Speaker 03

  Lost Daughter.

• 25:01Aisha Harris?

  So good on Lost Daughter.

• 25:02Linda Holmes?

  You know, I think sometimes when people, including me, sort of talk about very Oscars-y performances, which this is, right? It's easy to discount the fact that it is hard to do them really well, even if you consider them to be traditional Oscars-y type of performances, right? I think she will probably win. She's been on a great run of precursor awards now. As far as should win, my pick would be Rose Byrne. I think Rose Byrne is doing such interesting work. In If I Had Legs I'd Kick You and really is the whole movie. I mean, there are little bits of other people, including, by the way, Conan O'Brien,

• 25:43Linda Holmes?

  who's quite good and strange in this film, doing something very different from what I'm used to from him. But for the most part, she is the movie. It tends to stay very close on her face through the entire movie. It kind of forces you to look at this woman very closely. You have to believe both that she loves her daughter and that she's incredibly frustrated and angry at her situation. And that's a really hard balance. Like, listen, we were talking about Jessie Buckley and all the good things she's done. I also love Rose Byrne and a bunch of wonderful things that she has done. So I would pick Rose Byrne.

• 26:17Speaker 03

  Same. I mean, I pick Rose Byrne. I mean, like, just in terms of heavy lifting, she's in every scene of that film. She's often isolated in the frame. As you say, it's often a tight shot of her face. Just we watch her reacting for most of the film. And that's an example of the script and the performance lining up to make you feel empathy, if not sympathy. You're experiencing what's going on in your guts.

• 26:37Linda Holmes?

  Yeah.

• 26:37Speaker 03

  And it's raw, it's visceral, it's completely unforgettable, which is good, because as other people have mentioned, I'm never gonna see the movie again, but I don't need to. It's in there.

• 26:45Aisha Harris?

  I'm going with Renata Rinesvad. Look, this is a pretty stacked category. There's some people in here, I'm not sure why they're there, but like, I think, like, Rhys Vett is very, very good here. I really appreciate the fact that her character both has to deal with her father, played by Stellan Skarsgård, coming back into her life, but also she's, like, struggling as a performer. And there are just some really great scenes of her having to act being an actor. And I just find myself drawn to that sort of characterization and that sort of excavation of emotion and creative processes. And so for me, I would love to see her win. But also, like, if Jessie Buckley wins, she's really good.

• 27:30Aisha Harris?

  Like, everything you've said, she, her body of work is so impressive. And I am always looking forward to whatever she is in. But give me Renata Rhys Vett, I will be, I will be happy.

• 27:42Speaker 03

  Yeah, can I just say a quick word about the Kate Hudson of it all? I mean, I just want to address something. When the nominations came out, I'll just speak for me, I was surprised by that nomination. And in the episode we did about it, I was kind of glib about it. I can't change that, that's just my operating system. But I was commenting from a position of ignorance, having not seen the movie in question. And I really wish I hadn't done that. If I've since seen it, and it's a solid performance, and she's easily the best thing about that movie, doesn't change my pick. But I really wish I hadn't shot my mouth off without seeing the damn movie. That's, that's not the job.

• 28:10Aisha Harris?

  Hang at it, bud. I was in the same boat as you, Glenn, and I agree, I admit that as well. I also think, I'm sorry, but the material is not there. And I can give points for being great in not great stuff. But again, I do think there are other actors from last year that I would have preferred to see there instead. But anyway, yes.

• 28:29Linda Holmes?

  I think a lot of good performances in this field. Up next, we're going to talk about more Oscar nominees, including supporting actor, actress, and directing. Grab your cheat sheets and come right back.

• 28:41Speaker 00

  Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors. This message comes from ProLon. With their five-day fasting-mimicking diet, a clinically-developed nutrition program with the goal of promoting fat loss while protecting lean body mass. Learn more at prolonlife.com/NPR.

• 28:59Speaker 00

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• 29:43Speaker 00

  your way with Schwab.

• 29:46Linda Holmes?

  All right, welcome back. We're going to move on to actress in a supporting role. Glenn, who is up in this category?

• 29:52Speaker 03

  All right, first up, we've got Elle Fanning for Sentimental Value. Fanning plays an American actress who is cast as the star of a Norwegian filmmaker's passion project. We've got Inga Ibsdottir-Lilos for Sentimental Value. Alilos plays the estranged daughter of that Norwegian filmmaker. We've got Amy Madigan for Weapons. Madigan plays Aunt Gladys, who plays a certain role in The Disappearance of Seventeen Children. We've got Wummi Mosaku for Sinners. Mosaku plays a hoodoo conjurer and healer who has a deep relationship with Michael B. Jordan's character, Smoke. But we have tabulated the results, and it turns out that all four of us think it's going to be Tiana Taylor. For One Battle After Another, she plays an ex-revolutionary named Perfidia Beverly Hills who goes into hiding.

• 30:35Speaker 05

  You didn't count on me. You didn't count on my fight. The message is clear. Free borders, free bodies, free choices, and free from [BLEEP] there.

• 30:43Linda Holmes?

  I have such complicated feelings about this character and performance. Aisha, you have written very eloquently, I think, about this character within the context of One Battle. Why do you think she's going to win?

• 30:58Aisha Harris?

  Well, I mean, there's the high vision version of why, and you can go into the character and how Hollywood sometimes likes to see Black women and what kind of characters they like to nominate them for. I've seen people try to compare this to Halle Berry getting nominated and winning Best Actress for Monsters Ball and the fact that she had to... Have sex with Billy Bob Thornton's character in that movie. Like, there's so many things going on here, and I think that you could point to that. But I just think overall, Tiana Taylor has, to a less grating extent than Timmy Chalamet, has really been out there, like pounding the pavement, doing the campaigning thing.

• 31:41Speaker 03

  Turning looks.

• 31:41Aisha Harris?

  Oh, my goodness. She, I mean, she knows what she's doing, and she's charming. She's funny. This is hers to lose at this point. But this is also, again, this is kind of a stacked category. So it's hard, who knows how this will turn out. But I do think Tiana has had that energy going for most of this award season. And I don't think she's really relinquished it, but we'll see.

• 32:05Stephen Thompson?

  Well, this is a category where I really thought a lot about one of my own personal tiebreakers, which is, can you imagine anyone else in this role? By that metric, I'm happy, basically, with either Tiana Taylor or Amy Madigan, kind of both of whom passed that test. Where I really can't imagine anyone else occupying that role, not only in terms of acting ability and what the performance and the character brings to the movie, but the kind of physical presence. And Tiana Taylor, you know, she disappears for a really long stretch of this movie, but you never forget her face and you never forget her presence. And so I think she is a really strong way to honor this film

• 32:47Stephen Thompson?

  if things go in the direction that I and none of you think will happen and centers takes most of the other major awards. I think she is a way for the Academy to honor one battle after another. I do think she's going to win, but I would not be shocked if there was a different winner.

• 33:02Speaker 03

  Yeah, Tiana's not in the film much, but her absence hangs over everything, which is important. The film doesn't work without it because, like, it motivates. That absence motivates several of the characters. And when she is in the film, she's incredible. So, yeah.

• 33:14Linda Holmes?

  Yeah, I agree. Those are my thoughts, too. I think she's very good when she's in it. I think it's been one of the more well-received performances of, like I said, a really complicated character who's provoked a lot of spiky conversation. But I also think that she will win. Now, Glenn and Stephen and I all think that Amy Madigan should win. My personal feeling about that is that I, first of all, I think she's great in it, and the performance is so strange. And I really love the idea of a performance that I just would not have even been able to conceive of until I saw it winning an award. I also love the idea of a straight up horror movie.

• 33:58Linda Holmes?

  Even Sinners, although it is a horror movie, Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan are both sort of like prestige.

• 34:03Aisha Harris?

  Yeah, it's very different.

• 34:05Linda Holmes?

  They both come with a little more cachet that makes Sinners a kind of like, as much as I hate this expression, would never use it myself, people who say elevated horror, Weapons is straight up horror. And I love the fact that it really embraces its horror-ness and its weirdness and its grossness. I love that idea. And I think she really, Gladys is just such an invention. And for me, the last like, few minutes of her performance are so funny and strange and the lack of vanity.

• 34:40Stephen Thompson?

  How often is the climatic action set piece of a movie?

• 34:45Speaker 03

  The best part.

• 34:45Stephen Thompson?

  Something you will never forget watching.

• 34:47Aisha Harris?

  It's pretty great.

• 34:48Stephen Thompson?

  There is no category fraud here. That is a true supporting performance. She doesn't really show up in any real way until about an hour and 15 minutes into this movie, at which point, oh, boy.

• 34:59Linda Holmes?

  Well, and if by supporting you mean could not exist without her.

• 35:02Speaker 03

  Exactly.

• 35:03Stephen Thompson?

  Right.

• 35:03Speaker 03

  And when she does show up, we talked about this before, the physicality of that role, the makeup, the wigs, is so potentially distracting that for the movie to work, you need the menace to establish. The menace needs to be not something you can just put in a box and say, well, that's otherworldly, that's comical. You need to feel the hatred, you need to feel the need, you need to feel it in your bones. And she nails that part of it.

• 35:22Linda Holmes?

  As I understand it, Aisha, you have a different pick for who you think should win supporting actress. Tell me who you picked.

• 35:27Aisha Harris?

  Yeah, I'm out all alone on this island. I'm going with Elle Fanning for sentimental value.

• 35:34Stephen Thompson?

  Oh, interesting.

• 35:35Linda Holmes?

  Interesting.

• 35:36Aisha Harris?

  I keep coming back to, not that I didn't know that Elle Fanning was a very good actress before this, because I have seen her in other things and been really taken by just how

• 35:49Aisha Harris?

  How she can make like a quote unquote small role or small performance feel bigger and full and breathe life into it. And I think that this character in Sentimental Value is a really tricky one to play because she is kind of the outsider within this world. She's an American actress who is like cast in this film project and she's, it becomes very clear that Stellan Skarsgård's character wants to sort of make a movie about his own life and use her as a stand-in for like various people in his life. And the way she's able to carry that, and this also goes to the writing as well, but like she could have been some snively, like annoying, irritable actress from America who doesn't like respect

• 36:34Aisha Harris?

  the craft, but she, that whole creative process, again, she's just really trying to understand why she was even cast in this role. And there's just a lot of layers to it that I really, really love.

• 36:47Speaker 05

  Is it just me? It just, it just doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel right for you either, does it? Me doing this film? Of course it does. I don't think it does.

• 36:58Aisha Harris?

  I don't think she's going to win. And maybe this seems like a contrarian POV, but I just keep going back to that performance. And I think everyone in this category is really, really good.

• 37:08Linda Holmes?

  Yes. Another one with no bad choices, I don't think.

• 37:11Stephen Thompson?

  You mentioned Elle Fanning in Sentimental Value. I think that Inga Ibsdorri-Lemos performance is just gorgeous. And Wumi Musaku, I mean, it is a great category.

• 37:20Linda Holmes?

  I agree with you, Aish. I think the Elle Fanning performance, it is not the showiest performance in it. Not that it's a particularly showy movie, but it's maybe not the biggest performance in it. But I think in some ways it's the hardest to get right.

• 37:31Aisha Harris?

  Yeah.

• 37:32Linda Holmes?

  Because it's not necessarily naturally sympathetic. And yet it is, she is meant to be a sympathetic character. And some of the realizations that she comes to over the course of that movie are really emotionally complicated. I think it is a beautiful performance. Again, no bad choices. Stephen, we are moving on to actor in a supporting role. So run us through some nominees.

• 37:54Stephen Thompson?

  All right. We've got Benicio del Toro for One Battle After Another. He plays a karate Instructor who aids Leonardo DiCaprio's ex-revolutionary. We've got Jacob Elordi for Frankenstein. He plays the creature in this adaptation of the Mary Shelley classic. Delroy Lindo for Sinners. Lindo plays a harmonica player at a juke joint whose opening night doesn't go as planned. Sean Penn for One Battle After Another. Penn plays Colonel Lockjaw, who is seeking revenge against a group of ex-revolutionaries. And Stellan Skarsgård for Sentimental Value. Skarsgård plays a filmmaker who is working on his next film while trying to reconnect with his daughters.

• 38:33Linda Holmes?

  All right, I have been told that we are firmly divided in this case on who we think is going to win. So I'm gonna let, not my team, I'm gonna let Team Stellan Skarsgård go first. Ayesha, the floor is yours.

• 38:46Aisha Harris?

  Let me start by saying, I don't think he should be in this category. He should be in Best Actor. He's not a supporting actor in Sentimental Value. But I think what makes me think he will win is just a feeling, if I'm being honest. Like, I just, I don't know. I don't know. I just, I feel as though he is a respected vet and I think that can go a long way. And this is a movie that is very deeply emotional. And I think it might connect, especially since he's playing a film director in this movie. Like, I think there's all these little factors. So again, just a gut, just a feeling. I think it could be him. But honestly, it could go any way. This is just where I'm taking my claim.

• 39:27Stephen Thompson?

  Yeah, this was a tough one to predict. I could certainly see them going with Sean Penn, which is a showier performance and the Academy loves Sean Penn. I went with Skarsgård in part because looking at the nominations, it's clear that the Academy loves Sentimental Value, relates to it deeply. Its themes of balancing art and life, I think, are extremely resonant for a lot of Academy voters. And I think they relate to no one in this film quite the way they relate to Stellan Skarsgård's character. And the fact that you have, as Ayesha mentioned, a little bit of category fraud here. Shades of Kieran Culkin last year in a film that doesn't really feel like a true supporting performance gives him a lot of opportunities to shine.

• 40:11Stephen Thompson?

  So that's the direction I went in terms of predicting who I think will win.

• 40:15Linda Holmes?

  All right, well Glenn, you, like I, chose Sean Penn as the person who is going to win. Why did you make that choice?

• 40:24Speaker 03

  Yeah, I went with Stephen's first thought, first draft thought.

• 40:28Stephen Thompson?

  Uh, look, Oscar's gonna Oscar. I don't think it's deserving. I think it's a fun performance, but it is a cartoon. Character's name is Lockjaw. But as Stephen mentioned, they love nominating Sean.

• 40:37Linda Holmes?

  I get that. I get that. I picked it for basically when I heard Stephen say, you know, they love Sean Penn and it's a very big showy performance. I was like, yep, that's why. I don't think that the Oscars have a history of rewarding subtlety, perhaps as much as I would like. You know, even in that same movie, the Benicio del Toro performance is a little bit funnier, more low key performance, shall we say?

• 41:00Stephen Thompson?

  More nuanced.

• 41:01Linda Holmes?

  I think it's gonna be Sean Penn. But Aisha, I'm curious, who did you pick for should win?

• 41:05Aisha Harris?

  I mean, give Delroy Lindo an Oscar, please. Again, I keep going back to these moments where all the performers find in this movie, but especially Delroy Lindo, when we first were introduced to him at that train station, he has to play a drunkard. But he's a drunkard who also has moments of clarity and is quick witted and is sympathetic. And he's just so good. He also has like a few lines in there that are actually like genuinely funny.

• 41:35Speaker 06

  I got socks over in this here, boy. What the hell you know about the blues?

• 41:43Aisha Harris?

  I also keep just thinking, again, to the body of work and what he's been able to do. And I'm still mad about The Five Bloods and how like his, his role in that movie.

• 41:53Stephen Thompson?

  He's so great in that.

• 41:54Aisha Harris?

  So great in that, so great in this. And, you know, I, Jacob Elordi, fantastic. Benicio del Toro, yes, love it. But I, I would be very happy to see Delroy Lindo here.

• 42:06Stephen Thompson?

  Pretty much the same as, as Aisha. Delroy Lindo is a sentimental favorite for me. I also think he's just magnificent in this film. He pops off the screen every time he shows up, which is what you want from a supporting performance. I'm glad Aisha mentioned Jacob Elordi, who I think is kind of a revelation in Frankenstein. I think he brings a physicality to that performance and kind of a grace to that performance that it could easily not have had. And I think he really deepens the effect of that film. And though he does a fair bit of bellowing, brings A tiny bit of subtlety to a film that otherwise contains it almost not at all. There are certainly elements of these other performances that I admire. I mean, Sean Penn, if

• 42:48Stephen Thompson?

  nothing else, it's a very committed performance. But for me, Lindo is who I think should win.

• 42:53Speaker 03

  Same. It's such a small role, but he gets to play a lot of different notes, a lot of different aspects of him, and they all feel true. He's been out here putting in the work. And if he wins, they're just gonna say Oscars was trying to make up for it to Five Bloods, which would be fine. So. Exactly.

• 43:08Linda Holmes?

  You know, as I hear all of you advocate for Delroy Lindo, that sounds right to me. I cannot disagree with anything that you said. I did go with Jacob Elordi just because I think that performance is so odd. That character is often presented in a very physically blunt way, and I did appreciate the specificity of the kind of take that he chose with Del Toro. So I went with Elordi. Now, Ayesha, bring us home. Best Director nominations.

• 43:37Aisha Harris?

  Baby, we're going home. All right. First up, Josh Safdie for Marty Supreme, Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value, Chloe Zhao for Hamlet, and now we have the presumed frontrunners, Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another and Ryan Coogler for Sinners.

• 43:53Linda Holmes?

  All right, Glenn, you think that Paul Thomas Anderson is gonna take it. Tell me why.

• 43:58Speaker 03

  Because again, Oscar's gonna Oscar. I think there's some old school, established Academy voters who are gonna see this as their opportunity to finally give Paul Thomas Anderson the Oscar he has not gotten. If there is a sense among those people that Coogler, you know, just hasn't earned it yet, baby, it's gonna manifest here.

• 44:13Aisha Harris?

  Yeah, I mean, I said a similar thing when we were talking about Best Picture, and I think that it's time is really what's working in Paul Thomas Anderson's favor right now. And also just the fact that it has, that movie has done relatively well at the box office. People are happy about it, and we cannot, you know, undersell how much like people who are voting on these things really still care about movies being seen in theaters and people being excited about seeing movies in theaters. And so I think that this is Paul Thomas Anderson's moment, and he will win.

• 44:44Stephen Thompson?

  Replace everything Ayesha just said. Just replace the words. Paul Thomas Anderson with Ryan Coogler.

• 44:50Aisha Harris?

  From your lips to the voters' ears.

• 44:53Stephen Thompson?

  In part because like, don't count out the fact that Sinners made a boatload of money. It made a lot more money than one battle after another. Maybe I'm, I'm speaking to you with my heart and not my head, maybe. For a while I had really been thinking like, maybe Sinners wins best picture and Paul Thomas Anderson wins best director. But as I said, kind of at the top of this show, I'm breaking all ties in favor of Sinners. This feels like a neck and neck race and in a neck and neck race, I'm going with Sinners.

• 45:21Linda Holmes?

  I love a hunch, buddy. I absolutely love a hunch. And, uh, and I went with Ryan Coogler too, basically for the same reasons. I think it's between Paul Thomas Anderson and Ryan Coogler. And I just think everything that Ryan Coogler is doing right now is so cool and interesting. And there is to me, an opportunity to actually say, hey, he's like, one of the most interesting directors we currently have. Plus he's incredibly commercially successful. Maybe we should give him an Oscar. Do I think that's always what's gonna happen? You know, but I also think that he should win, which it sounds like Stephen does also. It sounds like Stephen and I are both going with will and should for Ryan Coogler.

• 46:00Stephen Thompson?

  100%.

• 46:00Linda Holmes?

  And I will admit that like Stephen, it's a little bit listening to heart more than head. But Ayesha, where do you come down on should win? Are you Coogler for should win?

• 46:09Aisha Harris?

  Yes, definitely. I am such a pessimist when it comes to these things. And I've also seen the way the academy has treated black art over the years. And for every moonlight, there's a, you know, a green book and, or multiple green books. I also think that if Ryan Coogler does win, he would be the first black director to win in this category. This is almost 100 years of this now, and I, I don't know if we've come that far. I do think that if he does win, it will be in part, or in large part because of that video that he made explaining all the formats and the way he did it, which is just like. Chef's kiss, director's catnip.

• 46:54Aisha Harris?

  And that alone should be why he wins? I mean, obviously sinners, but like, yes to that as well. Because it's just like a brilliant piece of explaining why film is important. And so, yeah, give it to Ryan Coogler.

• 47:08Speaker 03

  Same. If we're going to make long overdue history with this win, this is the film to do it with because it's kind of commenting on that history. It's also using genre elements to comment on something real. It's not elevating horror. What it's doing is it's revealing what horror has always done, which is the power of metaphor to communicate something, all the stuff that's essential and elemental and true. So let it happen.

• 47:32Stephen Thompson?

  Everything that has ever happened has at some point never happened. This is my optimism talking. It's never happened until it happens. Beyonce never won Album of the Year until she won Album of the Year. These awards shows used to be a lot more embarrassing than they are now. And again, I don't think it would be embarrassing if Paul Thomas Anderson won. He's a great director, but I'm going with my heart, man. I think it's Ryan Coogler.

• 47:58Linda Holmes?

  OK, we have talked about will win. We have talked about should win. Make sure to check your feed on Monday morning. We will have a recap of the Oscars telecast right here in your podcast feed. You will not want to miss it. And of course, we want to know what you think about this year's Oscar nominees. Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/PCHH. And on Letterboxd, we'll have a list of our favorite movies across all the categories this year. You can find that at letterboxd.com/NPRPopCulture. Up next, what's making us happy this week.

• 48:29Speaker 00

  Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors. This message comes from ProLon. With their five-day fasting-mimicking diet, a clinically-developed nutrition program with the goal of promoting fat loss while protecting lean body mass. Learn more at prolonlife.com/NPR. This message comes from iXL, a learning platform for helping kids build confidence and get up to speed fast. One subscription covers math, science, and reading for all children in a household. Receive 20% off at ixl.com/NPR. This message comes from Schwab. At Schwab, you can get everything from self-directed investing to full-service wealth management, all in one place.

• 49:12Speaker 00

  No matter your investing goal, life stage, amount to invest, or know-how, you can invest your way with Schwab.

• 49:21Linda Holmes?

  All right, now it is time for our favorite segment of this week and every week. What's making us happy this week? Glenn, kick us off. What's making you happy this week?

• 49:28Speaker 03

  Arco is one of the animated features up for an Academy Award this year. It's French. It owes a lot to Miyazaki. It's about a little kid who goes back in time from the far future to an Earth that is in the throes of climate change. Put it that way. And makes friends with a little girl and they have adventures. I'm usually a sub, not dub guy, but the version of this film that I saw was dubbed. And the three kind of wacky sort of villains are voiced by Flea, Eddie Sandberg, and Will Ferrell. And I'm not going to turn up my nose at that. It's a lot of fun. Arco is available streaming on demand. I think it's going to get creamed by K-pop demon hunters, but that doesn't mean it's not a fun movie to watch.

• 50:09Linda Holmes?

  All right. Thank you very much, Glen Weldon. Aisha Harris, what is making you happy this week?

• 50:13Aisha Harris?

  I am going to keep it in the Oscars realm. And I'm going to say that it is Buddy Guy performing a Tiny Desk Concert. It's such a lovely little moment. He performs, you know, some classics, Hoochie Coochie Man.

• 50:37Aisha Harris?

  But then he brings out Miles Keaton, played Sammy in Sinners. And they perform a couple of songs together, including I Lied To You. And it's just magic. And there's just something lovely about it. It's amazing. I'm so glad Buddy Guy is still with us. He's still, he's still got the like, the verb and the viv and the charisma. I am recommending the Buddy Guy Tiny Desk Concert. Go check it out. It's so good.

• 51:05Linda Holmes?

  Excellent. Excellent pick. Thank you very much, Aisha Harris. Stephen Thompson, what is making you happy this week?

• 51:10Stephen Thompson?

  So mine is not Oscars adjacent. Last week, a new benefit compilation album dropped called Help 2. It's a fundraiser for a group called War Child UK, which raises money for children affected by conflicts around the world. The first Help album came out 30 years ago and included some of the biggest names in British music. This one is similarly ambitious, but expands its list of contributors to include artists like Olivia Rodrigo, who does a lovely cover of "The Book of Love" by The Magnetic Fields, one of the greatest songs ever written. There are tons of great covers here, but the one I've been kind of living in for the last few days is a version of the song "Lilac

• 51:51Stephen Thompson?

  Wine." That song has been recorded by Eartha Kitt, Nina Simone, and Jeff Buckley, among many others. Here, it is performed by Aruj Afthab, who's one of my favorites, and Beck. (singing) Was hypnotized by the strange delight under that lilac tree.

• 52:22Stephen Thompson?

  It's a beautiful set of music that is help to a benefit from War Child Records.

• 52:29Linda Holmes?

  All right. Thank you very much, Stephen Thompson. Okay. We've talked about a gazillion wonderful, excellent Oscar movies. Now I'm going to provide balance by telling you about a very bad movie that I enjoyed watching a great deal, which is Mercy, starring Chris Pratt as a person being tried by an AI judge, played by Rebecca Ferguson. Now, when I tell you that this movie is bad, it is very bad. It is what my buddies over at The Flophouse would call a good-bad movie, which is, I could not stop giggling at some of the dialogue, some of the efforts by Chris Pratt to play a very serious police officer who spends

• 53:13Linda Holmes?

  most of the movie sitting in a chair, searching the internet. The setup being that he is trying to defend himself against an allegation that he has killed his wife. This is not a due process-heavy setup that they have going on here. The question isn't, what was the best thing you saw this week? The question was, what made you happy this week? And everyone who has talked to me about Mercy knows that I had a great time.

• 53:40Stephen Thompson?

  Is Mercy our new trap?

• 53:42Linda Holmes?

  Oh, trap is much better than mercy.

• 53:44Aisha Harris?

  Oh, wow.

• 53:46Linda Holmes?

  Oh, trap is much better than mercy. Mercy wishes it was trap. So at any rate, that is what is making me happy this week. You can find it streaming. I paid to rent it. If you want links for what we recommended, plus some additional recommendations, sign up for our newsletter at npr.org/popculturenewsletter. That brings us to the end of our show. Aisha Harris, Glen Weldon, Stephen Thompson, thank you so much for being here to talk about the Oscars.

• 54:12Stephen Thompson?

  Woo, thank you.

• 54:13Linda Holmes?

  Yeah, thank you.

• 54:14Stephen Thompson?

  Thank you.

• 54:15Linda Holmes?

  This episode is produced by Liz Metzger and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. They work very hard on this episode. Thank you so much. Hello Come In provides our theme music. Thanks for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Linda Holmes, and we will see you bright and early for our Oscars wrap up next week.

• 54:38Speaker 00

  Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors. This message comes from Rosetta Stone, offering an alternative approach to language learning. The app guides users to intuitively think in a second language using images and contextual audio, mimicking how people acquire speech as children. The platform also includes advanced speech recognition technology that compares a learner's pronunciation directly with native speakers to refine accent precision. Learn more about their immersion method and the new Rosetta Stone Sapphire app at rosettastone.com.

• 55:11Stephen Thompson?

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