Editor’s note: Deadline presents the 53rd episode of its video series Take Two, in which Pete Hammond and Todd McCarthy tackle the artistry of films just opening in theaters every weekend. Each has reviewed and written about the craft for decades and built a remarkable breadth of knowledge of films past and present. What we hoped for when we asked them to do this was a concise, mature and thoughtful conversation comparable to what we saw from Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel.
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This week we put it all on the line offering our Oscars predictions as to what will win in the major categories, what could win, and from a critical perspective from two critics who have seen every one of the nominees, what should win. In this episode there is no holding back as you will discover when hearing McCarthy’s opinion on some of the most prominent contenders, or Hammond’s hopes for a couple of upsets just to make it all interesting.
RELATED: Pete Hammond’s Final Oscar Predictions
Coming into the Oscars it is clear that in the Best Picture race all of the momentum is with Everything Everywhere All at Once, having scored across-the-board wins with all the major guilds and at the Spirit Awards, a feat that has rarely occurred but always resulted in winning at the Oscars. Can that possibly not happen here with a Best Picture category that is decided by a preferential ballot, where voters must rank their movies from 1 being favorite to 10 being least favorite? In recent years there have been some surprises. We love surprises just to shake things up, so expect some lively talk about what just might happen — or not.
RELATED: Oscar Best Picture Nominees: The Deadline Reviews
Click above to watch our discussion. And join us next week as we wrap up the long Oscar season, talk about the aftermath, and look forward to another year of movies really just ramping up.
Hammond has been Deadline’s Awards Columnist for the past decade, covering what now seemingly is the year-round Oscar and Emmy seasons. He is also Deadline’s Chief Film Critic, having previously reviewed films for MovieLine, Boxoffice magazine, Backstage, Hollywood.com and Maxim, as well as Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide, for which he was a contributing editor. In addition to writing, Hammond also hosts KCET Cinema Series and the station’s weekly series Must See Movies.
McCarthy is a veteran trade publication film critic, columnist and reporter who has also written several acclaimed books and documentary films. He served two stints on the staffs of Variety and The Hollywood Reporter and extensively covered film festivals internationally for both publications. His film Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography won the best documentary prizes from the New York Film Critics and National Society of Film Critics associations, and he won an Emmy for writing the documentary Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer. He also directed the documentaries Man of Cinema: Pierre Rissient and Forever Hollywood.
