Leigh Paatsch | 2026 Oscars Wrap (17.03.26)

0:00President Barack Obama. Virginia, we are counting on you. Republicans want to steal enough seats in Congress to raid the next election and wield unchecked power for two more years. But you can stop them by voting yes by April 21st. Help put our elections back on a level playing field and let voters decide not politicians. Vote yes by April 21st. Paid for by Virginians for fair elections. Two good and co-coffee creamers are made with farm fresh cream, real milk, and contain three grams of sugar per serving. That's 40% less than the five grams per serving in leading traditional coffee creamers for a rich, delicious experience. Whether you enjoy your coffee hot, cold, bold, or frothy, two good coffee creamers make every sip a good one. Two good coffee creamers, real goodness in every sip. Find them at your local croaker in the creamer aisle. America leads the world in medicine development. It matters. We get new medicines first, nearly three

1:04years faster. Five million Americans go to work because we make medicines here at home, and not relying on other countries keeps us safe. But China is racing to overtake us. Will we let them or will we choose to stay ahead? When America leads, America cures. Let's tell Washington to keep us in the lead. Learn how at americacures.com. Paid for by Farmer. Now back to Waitley. The Oscar goes to one battle after another. Best picture, one battle after another. Dwayne Russell and I were in furious agreement here that that was the best movie of the year. Lee patches the long time movie writer at the Harold son of great friend. Lee, great to have you on the program. Jared, after extended contract negotiations, we finally speak. Finally, we're together. Hey, so I haven't agreed with best picture terribly often in the last 10 or so years, but did they get this one right? Look, they absolutely did.

2:05The two movies that dominated nominations wise at the Oscars this year were, of course, one battle after another with 14 nominations and tenants with 16 nominations. Now what those two films share in common is that they are works of original storytelling. They're not read, they're not read sequels, remakes, rehashes, prequels. They're original stories built from the ground up and like you, I believe the awards shows have kind of like lost their way over the past decades or so, but this is the most encouraging sign I've seen in a long, long time. What made one battle after another great in your eye? The sheer bravery of, you know, we know what a cop case America is right now and to release a $200 million movie about urban terrorists running a mark in American society where people are too scared to say anything or do anything right now. And for that film to be a box office success is nothing short of extraordinary and it is a great

3:08film. It's one of those films you're sitting there. You do not know what direction it is heading in, but you're going to follow it every step of the way. That's the most startling performance in it is Sean Penn and he won Best Supporting Actor quite rightly is it reminds me of Harvia Bedemps character in no country for old man is how good is the Sean Penn performance? It is completely unhinged. By the way, he didn't show up at the Oscars, which is the form for Sean Penn because he is a serial co-mudge and but Colonel Lockjaw who is the character played by Sean Penn in the movie is a character who was, yeah, it was completely fearful to look at the extraordinary thing and people who have seen the film will realize this he effectively is killed twice in the movie, which again is an extraordinary gesture. If you haven't seen the film, I would jump on HBO Max or it is in cinemas for another week or two. Have a look at what they do with the Sean Penn character.

4:12I've never seen the light. Sinners got its gong certainly for Michael B. Jordan. So I take it. Timothy Charlemay lost his momentum during the as it were, the campaigning for the Oscars and by the time we got there as Michael B. Jordan was going to win. Yeah, so Timothy Charlemay way back in December when the awards circuit started decided he was pretty much going to campaign in character. Now those who have seen Marty Supreme, which is the story of a ping pong champion from the 1950s, will know that that character was quite arrogant, quite eccentric and prone to speak his mind. So Charlemay hit the awards circuit where you're supposed to kiss babies and shake hands, your fluffy bunnies, and he was just a little bit muddy and I think that did count against him. Because Michael B. Jordan is a very traditional movie star. He says all the right things. He does all the right things. So if anything, I think the Charlemay performance was superior to Michael B.

5:13Jordan. Marty Supreme is a magnificent motion picture, but it goes to show sometimes how you can duck yourself even on something as meaningless as an award show. So we'll bring the chicken time to Ros. The best actress was Jesse Buckley from Hamnet. Now, this is the one I'm slow on. This is my gap in the Oscar suite, but that felt like a unanimous choice to it. Yeah, absolutely. And look, I'll say just from a personal standpoint, I think her performance in Hamnet is the best performance I've seen from a male or a female in Iraq and possibly the last 10 years. The film is not everybody's cup of tea. It's about a figure who the history books know a little about, which is the wife of William Shakespeare. But what she does in that movie, particularly when she's not talking and just using her facial expression, I've never seen the likes of it. She is an all caps G-U-N. You and I love movies, Lee. And the movies are in a peculiar place, I think. And then

6:18the Oscars, it feels like it's a relic of the past. How relevant do the Oscars remain in the modern world? Look, I think the Oscars are due a revamp. I actually think they come too late in the life cycle of the movie business. So all the most important awards, they all happen in kind of like January in the first half of said. And then the Oscars come along in mid-March. It's like playing all your semis in the AFL in September and then playing the grand final after the Melbourne Cup. It doesn't make sense. The movies as a whole, I think, are just moving away from the Oscars. I think they are. They remain in trouble because of their reliance on existing brands, existing IP and proven commodities from the past. And the way forward is to take the lead of sinners one battle after another and Marty Supreme and Hamlet and go where storytelling hasn't gone before show us something new. And we have said as a public, we will still come out and watch them if

7:20they're good enough. Have you got something that Dwayne and I should be heading off to in the next couple of weeks? Yes. Okay, three words. It comes out Thursday. See it on the biggest screen you can find. Project Hail Mary. This is all you need to know. Don't read anything about this film. It's Ryan Gosling. He is lost in space. That's all you need to know. And this film is cinematically quite awesome to look at. But the story it tells and you might remember Matt Damon in the Martian. Well, what Ryan Gosling faces in his version of being stranded in space? You can multiply the variables by a hundred. But this is a movie that people are definitely going to want to see in the coming month. And after that, I have to say there isn't much that's flash. So this is a movie to put on your dance card. All right, Project Hail Mary. Lee, great to have you on the program. Good on you. Thanks. Pleasure, Derek. Lee Patch, movie writer at the Harold Sun. Long time he's been in that position. He's a great guide publicly

8:20and a little bit privately as well. So I'm glad to be able to bring that to one battle after another one best picture yesterday. I did see the sinners. People were asking up about that. The fans of sinners. It was the right choice. I haven't agreed with the Academy much over the past 10 years, but that one felt like they got it right. We will set you up for some midday madness next and tidy up.