Honored to be Nominated

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode discusses potentially triggering subjects such as sexual assault, mental health, and eating disorders. 

Today we discuss, in honor of Ezra's birthday this past week, the 2010 psychological thriller Black Swan. It makes complete sense that this is one of Ezra's favorite films because it brilliantly blurs the line between beautiful and horrific. As artists, we can relate to Academy Award winner Natalie Portman's character being tortured by herself and her art, only with the intention of being perfect. With the exception of some critiques about the dancing from our resident dancer, Claudia, we all agree that this film is pretty close to that... perfect. 

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Since the first day of 2021 fell on a Friday, we figured it was appropriate to do a special 2020 in Review episode! This episode is broken down into three segments, starting with some of our favorites of 2020! We briefly discuss some 2021 Oscar predictions, and are looking forward to when we get to record our official predictions episode! Stay tuned! 

Be sure to follow Honored to be Nominated on Instagram @htbn.podcast!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Today we discuss the 1946 heartwarming Christmas classic, It's a Wonderful Life, starring Jimmy Stewart. We thought this was the perfect movie for our Christmas special, as it stands for everything we at HTBN believe Christmas should be about: people over things. We want to wish all of our listeners a happy and safe holiday season! We'll talk to you in 2021!

Today we discuss the 1990 Christmas classic, Home Alone, starring Macaulay Culkin, Catherine O'Hara, and HTBN's favorite actor, Joe Pesci! This movie is just all around fun and puts you right into the holiday spirit! John Williams was nominated for Best Original Score and Best Original Song, even though you might not be able to hum the tune. 

Today we discuss the 2002 dramedy "About a Boy" starring Hugh Grant, Toni Collette, and Nicholas Holt. This film was sadly only nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, but that didn't stop us from gushing over Hugh Grant and marveling at several of the other actors' performances, which in our opinion, definitely earned a nomination. While the only thing "Christmas-y" about this movie is a Christmas song plot point and that it ends on Christmas day, it does have a nice message that in order to truly live a full and happy life, you must fill it with people that care for you. No one man is an island. 

Today we discuss the 1992 courtroom comedy, My Cousin Vinny, starring Joe Pesci, Ralph Macchio, and Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei. We go into depth about the other actresses nominated for Best Supporting Actress, as that is the only nomination/win for this film, and a find some questionable discography from Mr. Pesci. To kick off the holiday season, we also give our review on the new holiday film Happiest Season, starring Kristen Steward, Mackenzie Davis, Dan Levy, and Aubrey Plaza, during our "What Have We Been Watching?" segment!  

In honor of Thanksgiving yesterday, a holiday centered around food, we thought it would be appropriate to cover Ratatouille, about a young rat who loves food! This is the second animated film we have covered and our first Pixar film! We discussed what shorts of animation appeal to each of us most, our favorite Pixar films and why, and what we are grateful for when it comes to movies! We hope everyone had happy and safe holiday! 

Today we discuss the 2017 Best Picture nominee, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, written and directed by Martin McDonagh. This film, shockingly, received several nominations with two of the actors, Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell, taking home wins. We all agree that the weakest part of this film is the screenplay. It's not only unrealistic and doesn't follow through on any of its stylistic choices, it's also incredibly racist and offensive.  We are stunned that anyone could possibly enjoy this movie, let alone nominate it for Academy Awards. 

We're back! Today we discuss the second adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Two Towers, written and directed by Peter Jackson. We talk about what this movie means to us personally as well as what it is saying about the world in general, and specifically discuss it through the lens of nostalgia. While the three of us may disagree about some of the choices thematically and narratively, we do agree that this movie does have a bit of middle child syndrome, and a lot of the answers and things we crave come in the final film! Stay tuned! 

Today we discuss Alfred Hitchcock's classic horror film, Psycho. This movie created many waves during its release. It was the first slasher film, the first movie to ever show a toilet flushing on the big screen, and certainly set a precedent for the genre as to what or who audiences find scary. While this film certainly hasn't aged as well as we would have liked, and definitely has its problems, you cannot take away the fact that it is a visual masterpiece with an immaculate score. Hitchcock, one of the greats, unfortunately has never won an Oscar. 

Today we cover the 1973 horror "classic", The Exorcist. While Ezra was very affected and moved by this film, Claudia and Chandler might want to have the title changed to Exorsnooze. This started a nice conversation about what types of horror we prefer, what we find scary, and what is considered to be "timeless" in horror films. We also discussed how where one might be in their personal life can affect the way we receive films, since Ezra had seen this movie before and was virtually unaffected the first time. While we all agree that on paper this film hits most of the marks, for better or for worse, it just didn't resonate with all of us. 

Today we discuss the 2017 Jordan Peele film Get Out. This film, containing much controversy during awards season, was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Daniel Kaluuya for Best Actor, and wins for Best Original Screenplay. We all agree that this film should have been nominated at the least for much more, if not taking home more wins. However, as we discuss in our "Should it Have Won?" segment, this awards season was a weird one. Regardless, we all agree that this film is a masterpiece and sets the bar quite high for horror (or according to the Golden Globes) "comedies" to follow. 

Today we discuss the 1968 classic psychological horror Rosemary's Baby. This film is extremely unsettling, yet still didn't quite itch Claudia's ~realllly scary~ scratch. This movie was nominated for Best Screenplay and Ruth Gordon wins for Best Supporting Actress. As many horror/thriller films are, we believe it was snubbed of some others, including Mia Farrow for her performance as Rosemary.  

Happy Spooky Season!!! For the month of October, we will be covering horror/thriller movies nominated for Academy Awards! Today we discuss the 1991 Big 5 winner, Silence of the Lambs. We all agree that this is the quintessential thriller, and has influenced modern spooky films! From every acting performance, to the compelling and unique camerawork, this film is a masterpiece, and once again, we found it very hard to critique!  

Last night, the 72nd Emmy Awards took place, complete with some deeply sanitized/problematic COVID and political bits, an alpaca, and most importantly, HTBN's first in person recording session! Join us as we debrief the Emmys during each commercial break, as Ezra progressively gets more drunk and angry, to get a real sense of our relationship not only as co-hosts, but as friends!

We are so excited to have our first guest on the podcast, Drew Norris (@drewlockholmes), to discuss the 1961 movie musical West Side Story. Drew and Ezra are writing partners and co-authored a play about the making of West Side Story entitled "Something's Coming", which has been workshopped and performed over the country. Our conversation bounces all over, which includes but is not limited to, the use of color and eventual removal of color and its impact on this film, the disappointing casting decisions that went into the movie and how the 2020 Broadway revival and the upcoming Steven Spielberg remake have adjusted accordingly, and a very detailed comparison of Jerome Robbins' work as a director/choreographer on this film to working at Panera Bread. Interested? Then sit back, relax, and enjoy some serious Musical Theatre nerding out! 

Today we discuss Black Panther, in honor of the late Chadwick Boseman. Boseman passed peacefully in his Los Angeles home on August 28, 2020 after a four year battle with colon cancer. Boseman portrayed the titular character in the Marvel film, and his performance, as well as several others, is one to be recognized. His presence will be missed on the screen, and we at HTBN want to extend our condolences to his family. Rest in power. 

Today we (but mostly Chandler) discuss the first adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, written and directed by Peter Jackson. We (but, again, mostly Chandler) talk about how the world of The Lord of the Rings is iconic, and what that impact means for future fantasy storytellers. This movie received eleven nominations, winning four of them, and though Chandler might disagree, we feel that The Lord of the Rings films were more than recognized and decorated when you include their wins from the following films.