For our second episode of Out There in the Dark, Azed & Tom take a look at the films honoured by this year’s Academy Awards. Yeah, we know it’s months after they aired but hey, this is largely a vanity project for Azed and Tom, so shut it! 

As much as we find the Oscar’s an increasingly cringe-inducing affair, we figure if you’re going to do a movie podcast, you can’t avoid talking about them at some point. Everyone seems to have a love / hate relationship with the Oscars, and Azed & Tom are no exception. From an industry perspective, they have an incalculable effect on box office, peer recognition and they can make or break careers; from a cineaste’s perspective, they invite endless debate and controversy around the films that win, lose or are completely neglected.

Listen in and take a deep dive into why these films were honoured this year; if they deserved their awards or not; and what made them connect with audiences: the level of excess in Everything Everywhere All At Once, the pointed narcissism of the titular character of Tar, the empty pleasures of Top Gun: Maverick, the polarizing profundity of Triangle of Sadness, problematic representation in The Whale and the beauty and intelligence behind The Banshees of Inishirin - think on all of these as well as many other films and ideas. The Oscars are and always will be a cracked mirror, giving us a skewed, shattered reflection of cinema both as an industry and as an art form.

Note: Tom slapped Azed during the recording of this episode, in honour of last year’s best Oscar moment.