Wesley Morris

5 sketches, 88 claims, and 32 fun items attributed to them. What was said about them.

Personality, episode by episode

Showing 1–5 of 5 sketches.

The Rewatchables: ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris (host)

Loves Marisa Tomei, the grits scene, and the clothes; is a sucker for Fran Drescher. Dislikes car-driving-away endings and thinks the film has done harm by encouraging self-representation.

Stances

  • Tomei deserved the Oscar
  • Race in courtroom movies matters, and this one is warmly integrated
  • The Nanny is basically Mona Lisa Vito

Humor: Theatrical enthusiasm that turns into pointed critical hot takes.

In their words

  • “I have a scorching hot take.” (0:59:32)
  • “Fran Dresher. Basically doing Mona Lisa Vito in my cousin Vinny.” (0:46:17)

The Rewatchables: 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris (guest)

Brings theory and cultural reading: Altman's improvisation and ensemble, Godardian male gaze, how Japan is used in 80s and 90s movies. He's a sucker for Popeye, Whoopi's scenes, and the Underground Railroad. Skeptical of studio stewardship of art.

Stances

  • The Player marks the start of appetite for fourth-wall-breaking self-satire
  • Altman's iconoclasm is his legacy
  • Greta Scacchi's artist is a cliche that is about to harden
  • Movies and TV: the biggest risks are on TV

Humor: Self-deprecating riffs (young gay Wesley) and theoretical asides delivered with comic escalation.

In their words

  • “there's just something incredibly erotic to a young, to young gay Wesley.” (0:13:52)
  • “this is the same year that Wayne's world came out.” (0:04:48)
  • “it's very Godartian, that, that kind of frustration of the, of, I mean, let's just go there for 12nd.” (1:24:23)

The Rewatchables: ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan (guest)

Reads the film through race, stardom and Hollywood history, loving how Eddie is present and generous with other actors. He cannot stand critics who missed the sophistication of the film's racial comedy, and is a sucker for the film's subtext. He offers the gay-subtext reading of Axel and Mikey with delight.

Stances

  • Eddie's stardom makes him impervious in the movie the way racism would not be in life
  • Pauline Kael and other critics misread the film as a joke on white people
  • The movie contains a gay subtext in Axel and Mikey

Humor: Deadpan academic delivery that turns into a pointed, funny aside when making a big claim.

In their words

  • “Eddie is very present and very aware of what's going on around him” (0:04:06)
  • “the Beverly Hills Cop is essentially in the heat of the night meets Beverly Hills” (0:27:42)
  • “I can't believe I watched this movie for 26 years” (1:29:53)

The Rewatchables: ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris (host)

Critic who loves Do the Right Thing as his favorite film, adores Rosie Perez and Spike's Clockers, and values moral nuance and dialectic. Bristles at critics who demand racial resolution. A sucker for Pino/Mookie conversation, Turturro, and Philadelphia.

Stances

  • Nobody does the right thing; the film is a dialectic
  • Do the Right Thing is a perfect movie, not just signature
  • Critics who read the ending as endorsing Malcolm X missed the point
  • Casting De Niro would have changed the movie morally

Humor: Dry and self-aware, sparring with Sean (steel magnolias, pizza) and teasing him about his habits.

In their words

  • “It is almost a perfect philosophical text in that way.” (0:11:17)
  • “I think it's perfect.” (0:30:26)
  • “which is make a perfect movie about an imperfect problem.” (1:39:00)

The Big Picture: Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show (guest)

Champions performances overlooked by awards: Rob Morgan, Lupita Nyong'o, Jonathan Majors, Paul Walter Hauser, Lee Jung-eun. Defends Waves and Trey Edward Shults against race-politics critics. Bored by this year's uniformly white, past-set Best Picture class; picky and a self-described 'originalist' about categories; cool on Midsommar, The Lighthouse, Ad Astra, Pain and Glory.

Stances

  • The best-picture slate is monotonous and mostly white
  • Nominate the best performer in a movie, not an ensemble member
  • Cameos should be brief
  • Waves was misread because of what white-director empathy signals

Humor: Deadpan lawyerly pedantry, rule-enforcing a made-up awards show with an eye on the Grammys.

In their words

  • “I feel like I'm a little contract lawyer about this only because I want it to be as airtightly official as humanly possible.” (0:20:03)
  • “It's what I call the Helena Bonham Carter on Howard's End question.” (1:03:51)
  • “He's so good that he calls into question the entire framework of this movie.” (0:24:10)

Their shows' recurring bits

Running bits, not opinions; a critic read aloud is cited, not present.

The Big Picture

The Rewatchables

Their claims

Showing 1–88 of 88 claims.

  1. industry (industry): Marisa Tomei → Howards End. Her category was four British ladies; Alfre Woodard and Helena Bonham Carter were missing, and the nominees canceled each other out.
    “I think they canceled each other out.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:14:30 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. industry (industry): Marisa Tomei → La La Land. Her surprise win was doubted as something that would never happen, then Moonlight/La La Land happened 25 years later.
    “And then it fucking happens 25 years later.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:16:22 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. career (career): Marisa Tomei → Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. Her later work vindicated the win; fearless in the Hoffman movie.
    “Pretty fearless actor.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:18:11 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  4. what-if (what-if): Marisa Tomei → Godfather 3. Would have been a great Sofia Coppola.
    “I think she would have been a great, Sophia Coppola, for Godfather 3.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:20:12 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  5. career (career): Marisa Tomei → Rosie Perez. Both risk being pigeonholed by one defining ethnic character: Mona Lisa for Tomei, White Men Can't Jump for Perez.
    “that happened with Rosie with white men can't jump, but definitely Marissa”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:21:38 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
  6. career (career): Marisa Tomei → In the Bedroom. The slap scene from Sissy Spacek earned her a later nomination.
    “Her reaction to being slapped like that is what gets her that Oscar nomination.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:22:05 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  7. industry (industry): Marisa Tomei → Annabella Sciorra. The two may have competed for the same parts and canceled each other out.
    “might have been competing for the same parts and canceling each other out.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:24:26 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  8. lineage (lineage): Marisa Tomei → The Nanny. The Nanny came a year later and Fran Drescher is basically doing Mona Lisa Vito.
    “Fran Dresher. Basically doing Mona Lisa Vito in my cousin Vinny.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:46:17 · Wesley Morris (0.90 sure it was them)
  9. industry (industry): Fran Drescher → My Cousin Vinny. Easy to rip off Tomei because ethnic comic performers with timing and sex appeal knew what to do with such a part.
    “there's a whole world of so-called ethnics out there who have great comic timing are really sexy”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:48:38 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  10. theme (theme): My Cousin Vinny → Groundhog Day. The whole town seems to attend the trial each day.
    “Groundhog Day is a thing that came out for me watching this too.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:50:19 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  11. theme (theme): My Cousin Vinny → Primal Fear. Race functions in courtroom movies, and here the town is warmly integrated, unlike other courtroom films.
    “race is an element in most of these movies, right?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:50:23 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
  12. craft (craft): My Cousin Vinny → Alfred Hitchcock. A Dutch-angle shot of James Rebhorn is called supposed to be out of Hitchcock, offered while saying the film has no truly cinematic shot.
    “I guess like there's a shot at James Rehorn that's supposed to be out of like Hitchcock or something where it's like a Dutch angle”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:51:35 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  13. contrast (contrast): My Cousin Vinny → Good Will Hunting. Hates movies that end on a car driving away; Good Will Hunting is the lazy example, but Vinny's car ending works.
    “I don't love a movie that ends with a shot of anybody doing anything in a car.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 1:15:32 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  14. craft (craft): My Cousin Vinny → Suspect. Suspect has a great jury selection scene; jury selection is a pleasure in these films.
    “had a great jury selection scene as a suspect.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 1:20:37 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  15. theme (theme): My Cousin Vinny → Legally Blonde. Legally Blonde is another legal comedy with a rookie winning a case, and the trial scenes are very funny.
    “I think legally blonde is one of the funniest movies.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 1:24:18 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  16. lineage (lineage): My Cousin Vinny → I'm No Angel. Early legal comedy: Mae West cross-examines her own maid.
    “I think at some point she cross-examines her own maid”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 1:25:34 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
  17. contrast (contrast): The Player → Wayne's World. Wesley pairs the two 1992 releases as opposite poles of fourth-wall-breaking commentary on the thing you are watching.
    “this is the same year that Wayne's world came out.”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:04:48 · Wesley Morris (0.85 sure it was them)
  18. people (people): Harry Nilsson → Popeye. Wesley marvels that one of the greatest pop musicians, Harry Nilsson, made the music for the live-action Popeye musical, a production the hosts describe as fueled by cocaine and craziness.
    “one of the greatest pop musicians ever is making the music for this, for this musical live action Popeye movie.”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:14:42 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  19. craft (craft): The Player → Nashville. Wesley says the tricks Altman uses in The Player, like famous people dropping into a space, are ones he used in Nashville.
    “a lot of the tricks that he's using in the player, I mean, he uses in Nashville, right?”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:17:32 · Wesley Morris (0.85 sure it was them)
  20. lineage (lineage): Popeye → Punch-Drunk Love. Wesley says PTA's debt to Altman runs deep, down to the Shelley Duvall Popeye song used in Punch-Drunk Love.
    “the way that that Shelley Duval song from Popeye functions in punch trunk love”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:21:58 · Wesley Morris (0.85 sure it was them)
  21. career (career): Robert Altman → Vincent & Theo. Wesley says Vincent & Theo got critics paying attention again and set the table for The Player.
    “it sets the table for some kind of, um, you know, thunder striking from a god on high when you get to the player.”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:28:53 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  22. craft (craft): The Player → Freaks. Wesley notes Griffin knows his movies, citing him talking Freaks with Lyle Lovett's detective.
    “he's like conversant in freaks enough to like, you know, talk to Freaky Lyle Lovett.”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:37:01 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
  23. people (people): Julia Roberts → Lyle Lovett. Wesley asks a gossip question about whether Julia Roberts met Lyle Lovett on The Player.
    “Did Julia Roberts meet Lyle Lovett on the set of this movie?”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:59:31 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  24. lineage (lineage): The Player → The Long Goodbye. Wesley reads Greta Scacchi's character as an echo of Nina van Pallandt's ice queen in The Long Goodbye, itself a riff on noir femmes fatales.
    “that character is a an echo of another Altman character, the Nina Van Palant character in the longabai”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:07:08 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  25. theme (theme): Greta Scacchi → The Player. Wesley says the 'quirky artist' love-interest type in The Player is a cliche that will soon be replaced by teachers and gallerists.
    “But that character is soon going to be like in movies.”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:10:45 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
  26. career (career): Fred Ward → Tremors. Bill remembers a stretch where he did not know Fred Ward's name, which changed around Tremors.
    “Tremors, but I forget what year that was.”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:17:50 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  27. contrast (contrast): Robert De Niro → Robert Altman. The hosts debate whether De Niro's preparation-heavy method fits Altman's improvisational process.
    “I think that something about the way Altman works, I think, is probably counterproductive for De Niro for the way De Niro works.”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:19:34 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  28. theme (theme): The Player → Jean-Luc Godard. Wesley says withholding the nudity you paid to see is a Godardian frustration of the male gaze.
    “it's very Godartian, that, that kind of frustration of the, of, I mean, let's just go there for 12nd.”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:24:23 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  29. career (career): Peter Gallagher → Sex, Lies, and Videotape. Wesley says Gallagher is both corporate and dad, which is why he was good in Sex, Lies, and Videotape.
    “he's simultaneously so corporate and so dad.”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:30:27 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
  30. industry (industry): Tanner '88 → Vincent & Theo. Both made for TV and little seen at the time, now praised 30 years later; Underground Railroad may follow the same path.
    “We talked about 10 or 88, and we talked about Vincent and Theo, both of which were made for TV”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:41:41 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  31. contrast (contrast): Eddie Murphy → Richard Pryor. Pryor and Bill Murray visibly wait for their moment to steal a scene; Eddie is present and connected instead.
    “Richard Pryor was like this and Bill Murray can be like this where you can tell that they're waiting for their moment to do the thing that they're going to do that steals the scene.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:04:18 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  32. contrast (contrast): Eddie Murphy → Bill Murray. Murray is calculating about when to pull the rug out from scene partners; Eddie trusts his comedy and does not need to win every moment.
    “You can see Bill Murray calculating sometimes when he's gonna pull the rug out from under the people in the scene with him.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:04:31 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  33. theme (theme): Eddie Murphy → Michael Douglas. Like Michael Douglas, Eddie trusts the movie to be on his side, which lets him take risks.
    “he trusts his comedy enough to know that he doesn't have to win all the time”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:04:38 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  34. career (career): Coming to America → Eddie Murphy. After this film Eddie leans back into Gumby-style comedy even in Coming to America, which the speaker loves.
    “even coming to America, which I love, you could sense him leaning back into like, I'm the guy who does Gumby”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:10:32 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
  35. career (career): Beverly Hills Cop → The Golden Child. After Axel Foley, The Golden Child was a disappointment.
    “Golden Child, uh, which was which was definitely a disappointment.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:12:13 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  36. contrast (contrast): Eddie Murphy → Will Ferrell. Eddie's comedy does not evaporate when a joke fails; Ferrell's and Carrey's depend on the laugh.
    “He's not gonna evaporate if the joke doesn't work.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:20:16 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
  37. contrast (contrast): Eddie Murphy → Jim Carrey. Carrey and Ferrell put themselves in the hospital for your laugh; Eddie does not need you to laugh.
    “I mean, they are really putting themselves in the hospital for your laugh.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:20:31 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
  38. lineage (lineage): Beverly Hills Cop → The French Connection. Recast Popeye Doyle as Axel Foley and the movie barely changes; the apartments are essentially the same.
    “Like you take the French connection and you recast Dean Hackman's, you make Popeye Doyle, Axel Foley.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:23:34 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
  39. craft (craft): Gene Hackman → Eddie Murphy. Popeye Doyle's apartment is essentially Axel's apartment.
    “I mean, it's literally, like, the apartment, Popeye's apartment is the same as Axl's apartment, essentially.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:23:52 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
  40. career (career): Sidney Poitier → In the Heat of the Night. Poitier's 1967 run of three films is cited as one of the great movie-star years of all time.
    “one of the great movie star years of all time in 1967 with those 3 movies in the heat of the night.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:25:43 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  41. lineage (lineage): Sidney Poitier → Eddie Murphy. Eddie's fight in 1984 is just to be in a movie with white people without facing the blatant racism Poitier had to face.
    “the fight that a person like Eddie Murphy has to have in 1984 to just be in a movie with white people where he doesn't have to face racism.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:26:32 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  42. lineage (lineage): Gilbert Hill → 48 Hrs.. Giving Black actors the most powerful job in a nearly all-white movie with 30 seconds of screen time started with 48 Hrs.
    “giving black people in a movie with no black people the most powerful job”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:08:38 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
  43. what-if (what-if): Top Gun → Eddie Murphy. Asked which 80s movie they wish Eddie had starred in, the answer is Top Gun, though everything changes if he does.
    “everything changes if Eddie Murphy's the star of Top Gun, right?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:11:43 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  44. verdict (verdict): Beverly Hills Cop → Pauline Kael. Kael disliked the film because she saw Eddie's competence as a joke on white people.
    “his stardom was was offensive to her because he was using it in her opinion as a joke on white people and how dumb they were”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:18:06 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  45. verdict (verdict): The French Connection → Pauline Kael. Kael has an interesting take on how black audiences respond to The French Connection, brought up to explain her BHC reaction.
    “she's got a really interesting take on, on, on French Connection, for instance”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:19:52 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
  46. industry (release-weekend memory): Do the Right Thing → Weekend at Bernie's. Wesley, 13, was far more interested in seeing Weekend at Bernie's that same stretch than Do the Right Thing.
    “That was the weekend that weekend at Bernie's.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:05:29 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  47. theme (thematic follow-up): Jungle Fever → Do the Right Thing. Jungle Fever explored the Bensonhurst setting a couple of years later, rehearsing part of that story.
    “which I think is explored in jungle fever a couple years later”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:14:34 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
  48. unmapped (dedication): Jungle Fever → Yusuf Hawkins. Jungle Fever is dedicated to Yusuf Hawkins, killed in 1989.
    “jungle fever is dedicated to Yusuf Falkins”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:22:58 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
  49. career (career critique): Do the Right Thing → Mo' Better Blues. Critics bring up Spike's money and commercial work even when judging unrelated films like Mo' Better Blues.
    “Nothing to do about Better Blues, whether Mo Better Blues is a good movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:26:18 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
  50. contrast (pretension contrast): Do the Right Thing → Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Naming Uncle Boonmee as a favorite sounds pretentious; naming Do the Right Thing gets you labeled a black critic.
    “If you said Uncle Boone me, people would say you're pretentious, but if you say, do the right thing, people say, oh, he's a black critic.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:32:10 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  51. unmapped (pop answer): Do the Right Thing → Die Hard. Die Hard is the pop answer to best American movie of the 80s but would not make Wesley's top ten.
    “I wouldn't put die hard in my top 10.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:32:50 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
  52. unmapped (discovery): Spike Lee → Rosie Perez. Spike met Rosie Perez in a Brooklyn club and cast her though she said she was not an actress.
    “he says you want to be in my movie, and she says, I'm not an actress, and he says, yes, you are.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:35:27 · Wesley Morris (0.65 sure it was them)
  53. unmapped (choreographer): Rosie Perez → Jennifer Lopez. Rosie was choreographing the Fly Girls at the time, including a then-unknown J-Lo.
    “Rosie was working with J-Lo.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:36:17 · Wesley Morris (0.55 sure it was them)
  54. unmapped (Spike repertory): Ossie Davis → School Daze. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee recur in Spike's films; Ossie was in School Daze, both in Jungle Fever.
    “But they were in jungle fever together.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:52:46 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  55. craft (craft): Public Enemy → The Bomb Squad. Chuck D was unreproducible, and working with the Shocklees, Eric Sadler and the rest of the Bomb Squad made Public Enemy's miracle music.
    “being able to work with the Shockleys and Eric Sadler and that whole crew from the bomb squad.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:54:05 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
  56. career (career run): Rosie Perez → White Men Can't Jump. Soon after this movie Rosie Perez had a great run through White Men Can't Jump, Fearless, and Untamed Heart.
    “I mean, white men can't jump. It's not that it's pretty soon after this, and she's amazing in that movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:57:53 · Wesley Morris (0.75 sure it was them)
  57. unmapped (that-guy résumé): Danny Aiello → Moonstruck. Before this, Danny Aiello was that guy in Moonstruck and a small Godfather 2 role.
    “to me, he was that guy in Moonstruck.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:01:43 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
  58. theme (moral-panic parallel): Do the Right Thing → The Matrix. Sean offers The Matrix as a film that attracted retroactive concern about violence, unlike the contemporaneous panic over Do the Right Thing.
    “I think there's been a lot of retroactive energy on the Matrix.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:13:36 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
  59. programming (dystopia pairing): The Matrix → WALL-E. Between The Matrix and WALL-E, Wesley says humanity's fate is already depicted, seen in airport travelers sunk into phones.
    “between that movie and Wali, I'm like, we're set for life”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:14:25 · Wesley Morris (0.65 sure it was them)
  60. contrast (screenplay contrast): BlacKkKlansman → Do the Right Thing. Spike's screenwriting is sometimes the problem, as with BlacKkKlansman, whereas Do the Right Thing's screenplay is perfect.
    “This is a Black Lansman thing too.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:17:31 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  61. programming (perfection pairing): Inside Man → Do the Right Thing. Sometimes perfection happens, and Inside Man is cited as another.
    “I mean, sometimes there's perfection like inside man is perfection.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:17:39 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  62. verdict (career apex): John Turturro → Jungle Fever. Turturro is also so good in Jungle Fever.
    “He so good in jungle fever.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:18:54 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  63. verdict (career apex): John Turturro → Barton Fink. Discussing Turturro's apex: Jungle Fever, Barton Fink, Miller's Crossing, Transformers, Gloria Bell.
    “I mean, but come on, Barton Fink.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:18:58 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  64. unmapped (sneaker culture): Spike Lee → Michael Jordan. Spike is credited with inventing sneakerhead cult and the rockstarification of NBA players.
    “In many ways responsible for inventing that cult of sneakerhead.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:23:16 · Wesley Morris (0.55 sure it was them)
  65. verdict (peer ranking): Do the Right Thing → Clockers. Clockers is Wesley's second favorite Spike Lee film, with the greatest ending of any of his movies, with Spike solving Richard Price script problems.
    “Clockers, my 2nd favorite Spike Lee movie has the greatest ending of all Spike Lee's movies.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:38:05 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  66. unmapped (moral clarity): Spike Lee → Katrina documentary (When the Levees Broke). When Spike can see things morally clearly, as in the Katrina documentary and 4 Little Girls, he is at his best.
    “That's why the Katrina documentary is so effective and the 4 little girls are so effective”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:38:35 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  67. unmapped (breakthrough eligibility): Captain Phillips → Barkhad Abdi. Abdi is the test case for why a breakthrough category helps someone who could never win supporting actor.
    “I honestly think it's better for someone like Barkhot Abdi, who didn't stand a chance to win the best supporting actor”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 0:23:17 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  68. people (performance): The Last Black Man in San Francisco → Jonathan Majors. Majors is so good he calls into question the entire framework of the movie.
    “He's so good that he calls into question the entire framework of this movie.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 0:24:10 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  69. unmapped (script-critique): Hobbs & Shaw → Hobbs & Shaw. The helicopter drag race is great as action but there is a missing scene where the brothers reconcile and get on board.
    “There's a whole scene missing where the brothers get on board.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 0:36:39 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  70. unmapped (ending shape): Parasite → 25th Hour. Parasite ends on an ellipsis rather than a period, the way 25th Hour does, as a speculative dream of what could be.
    “I thought of it as an ellipsis and not a period in the same way that 25th hour has an ellipsis and not a period.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 0:48:38 · Wesley Morris (0.45 sure it was them)
  71. what-if (swap): Spider-Man: Far From Home → Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Amanda swaps Spider-Man's post-credits twist in for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in the best ending category, then Sean declares the Hollywood ending the right choice.
    “I think foolishly the answer is once upon a time in Hollywood, which is weird, but that probably was the right choice.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 0:49:28 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  72. unmapped (trailer vs movie): The Lighthouse → Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Sean says watch the Godzilla trailer three times rather than the movie, and Lighthouse over any of it.
    “This is a very good trailer for a very bad movie.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 0:52:11 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  73. unmapped (sophomore film): Us → Get Out. Us was held against Get Out and feels like an unfinished second feature full of ideas not yet coagulated.
    “it feels to me like a slightly unfinished 2nd feature, which a lot of great artist 2nd features feel that way”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 0:57:21 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  74. industry (award for the screenplay): Marriage Story → Laura Dern. Dern's win is really the Oscar the screenplay wants, delivered through the flashiest speech in the movie.
    “they're giving an Oscar to the screenplay, but they want to give the screenplay Oscar to someone else, so they're just giving it to Laura Dern”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:01:00 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  75. verdict (better work): Laura Dern → Wild at Heart. Dern deserved Oscars for her more adventurous work (Rambling Rose, Wild at Heart, Inland Empire, Jurassic Park).
    “She should get like 6 Oscars for that.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:01:42 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  76. theme (voting parallel): Just Mercy → Howards End. Nominating one member of an ensemble and not its best performer is the Helena Bonham Carter on Howards End question; Rob Morgan and Jamie Foxx nearly replayed it.
    “It's what I call the Helena Bonham Carter on Howard's End question.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:03:51 · Wesley Morris (0.45 sure it was them)
  77. people (performance): Parasite → Yeo-jeong Jo. The mother is a hard comic performance that is easy to overlook because she is blithe and unself-aware with no showy moment.
    “she's essentially playing like a nothing part, but there's so much comedy involved in her performance.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:08:29 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  78. people (director): Richard Jewell → Clint Eastwood. Hauser's performance keeps Eastwood's corrective from becoming a caricature or a false hero.
    “I guess you have to have a person give a performance and not a caricature.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:16:14 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  79. verdict (head-to-head): Uncut Gems → Richard Jewell. Hauser gets best actor over Sandler because Sandler does the most with one note while Hauser's role carries shading the Uncut Gems part can't.
    “Part of the achievement is that like he finds a way to do the most with with one note.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:18:07 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  80. unmapped (elevates co-star): Long Shot → Charlize Theron. Theron changes the properties of everyone around her and drew the best Seth Rogen performance ever.
    “She brought, that was the best Seth Rogan I've ever seen and I think it's entirely, she's entirely responsible for that.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:20:19 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  81. theme (snub comparison): Us → Harriet. Lupita's invented two-character performance was overlooked for Erivo playing a familiar enslaved figure, the lone nominated actor of color for a slavery role.
    “They nominated one actor of color and is for playing a slave.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:24:07 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  82. verdict (better Erivo): Widows → Harriet. Erivo was more interesting in Widows (and The Outsider) than as Harriet Tubman.
    “She's a great actor, but she was more interesting in Widow.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:24:14 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  83. unmapped (defense): Waves → Trey Edward Shults. Waves was divisive because a white director empathizing with black characters doesn't compute for viewers.
    “the idea of a white director expressing empathy for black people ... doesn't compute”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:27:00 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  84. craft (tone comparison): The Souvenir → Less Than Zero. The Souvenir is a John Hughes movie sucked of all color, only the pain side of coming of age, like Less Than Zero.
    “It's like a John Hughes movie sucked of all the color or something.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:32:38 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  85. people (same director): Knives Out → Looper. Brick, Brothers Bloom, and Looper are variations on a theme told in different tones.
    “variations on a theme, told in different tones that are hugely influenced”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:36:51 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  86. unmapped (sampler): Knives Out → Rian Johnson. Johnson is a genre island hopper and good sampler whose references inform rather than annoy, like DJ Premier.
    “He's a good sampler.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:37:02 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  87. contrast (tonal contrast): Pain and Glory → Matador. After rewatching Matador before interviewing Banderas, Pain and Glory looks completely different in tone.
    “It's like him unplugged and I feel like he's an electric director, not an acoustic director.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:37:50 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  88. career (career payoff): American Factory → Julia Reichert. The film could only have been made by two people who spent 15 years embedded in that world and thinking about globalization.
    “a movie that could only have been made by those 2 people because they had spent the previous 15 years, entrenched in that world”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:40:06 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)

Their fun items

Showing 1–32 of 32 fun items.

  1. fun, about My Cousin Vinny: Grits are the cultural unifying factor: Vinny realizes Italians eat polenta, and the breakfast scene sets up the cross-exam.
    “Somebody realized that the grits are the unif- the cultural unifying factor here.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:39:06 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Marisa Tomei: Her Oscar-winning courtroom scene is so good it reads like choreographed silent-movie dance with the sound off.
    “It looks like a dance sequence.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:41:21 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Fran Drescher: Wesley is rewatching The Nanny, sees Fran Drescher as doing Mona Lisa Vito with better writing.
    “It's better for her on that show than it is for Marissa Tome in this movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:46:27 · Wesley Morris (0.90 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about Marisa Tomei: The clothes aged best: jumpsuit in the biological clock scene, shoulder pads, no-makeup wet-hair moments.
    “Just the clothes in this movie, I think, have aged the best.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:47:08 · Wesley Morris (0.90 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about Joe Pesci: Wears Ewings the whole movie, with cowboy boots; hosts debate aged-best versus aged-worst.
    “He's wearing Ewings.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:57:35 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about My Cousin Vinny: Scorching hot take: the movie is why people think they can defend themselves in court and has done more harm than good.
    “this movie's actually done more harm than good.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 0:59:42 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about My Cousin Vinny: Dress code, no sleep, murder case: Tomei's biological clock rant as the quote of the movie.
    “Is there any more shit we could pile on to the top of the outcome of this case?”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 1:05:22 · Wesley Morris (0.30 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about My Cousin Vinny: Simmons would rather the film ends on the car than get a wedding; Wesley dislikes car endings in general.
    “I don't love a movie that ends with a shot of anybody doing anything in a car.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 1:15:32 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about My Cousin Vinny: Closing joke: Chris's replies will be full of Fran Drescher.
    “a lot of us out there.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris · 1:27:10 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about Popeye: Wesley's first erotic movie memory is Popeye: the biceps, a real flesh-and-blood cartoon character, drunk and depressed cartoons somehow sexual.
    “I can remember that movie being like an erotic experience for me.”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:13:25 · Wesley Morris (0.95 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about Robert Altman: A love-boat joke: an Altman movie is a deluxe Love Boat or Fantasy Island where the director is the cruise director.
    “I mean, it's a deluxe love boat, right?”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:03:34 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  12. fun, about Eddie Murphy: Eddie's first reaction rewatch: he is soft and present, not the macho guy people remember; critics of the time were 'scared of Eddie Murphy'.
    “People were really scared of Eddie Murphy.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 0:05:31 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
  13. fun, about Beverly Hills Cop: The original ending, as relayed: Axel hangs up his jacket in Detroit, opens the closet, finds Mikey's shirt, and sniffs it.
    “and he sniffs it and then it ends.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ With Bill Simmons, Wesley Morris, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan · 1:25:41 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
  14. fun, about Wesley's WPVI aside: Wesley grew up in Philadelphia, where WPVI is the best local news in the country, and says the news story overwhelmed his memory of going to see it; he also watched it in social studies class.
    “We have, by the way, Philadelphia, WPVI, best local news in the country.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:07:32 · Wesley Morris (0.70 sure it was them)
  15. fun, about Rosie Perez / Do the Right Thing: Spike met Rosie Perez at a Wednesday-night Brooklyn club; she said she wasn't an actress and he said yes, you are. Wesley points out almost everything in the movie was an accident.
    “he says you want to be in my movie, and she says, I'm not an actress, and he says, yes, you are.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:35:27 · Wesley Morris (0.65 sure it was them)
  16. fun, about Rosie Perez / Jennifer Lopez: Rosie was choreographing the Fly Girls then, including J-Lo, before Money Train.
    “Rosie was working with J-Lo.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:36:17 · Wesley Morris (0.55 sure it was them)
  17. fun, about John Turturro: Turturro after watching dailies of his rant asked Spike to put him on the cover of Ebony with an arm around him, because he rides the subway.
    “get on the cover of Ebony Magazine with your arm around me.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:46:45 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
  18. fun, about Chuck D: Wesley: nobody can mimic Chuck D, whose voice was muscular and off-kilter, and the Bomb Squad plus Public Enemy's five-year run was a miracle like the movie.
    “there is no way to mimic Chuck D.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 0:53:47 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  19. fun, about Robert De Niro: Spike wanted De Niro for Sal but he declined; Wesley says De Niro's baggage would have tipped the film's equal balance and made Sal someone to root for.
    “It becomes the movie about how Robert De Niro is a racist or something.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:00:08 · Wesley Morris (0.65 sure it was them)
  20. fun, about Robin Harris: Robin Harris is not in the plot at all, a bay leaf thrown in the pot because it makes it taste better.
    “He's a bay leaf.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:01:43 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
  21. fun, about Original ending: The original script had a stronger Sal-Mookie reconciliation; Wesley says changing it was obviously right because it would have been more Hollywood.
    “It is not as nuanced. It's more Hollywood.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:07:05 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
  22. fun, about Radio Raheem's love/hate speech: The best-quote category includes the love/hate right hand left hand monologue, Sweet Dick Willie's barber line, Stay black, and Senor Love Daddy's roll call, a mini history of black music.
    “It's a little mini history of black music.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:26:48 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
  23. fun, about Mookie and Pino conversation: The 'who's your favorite basketball player / movie star / rock star' exchange is called the best conversation in the movie, an exchange black people have had with non-black friends ('you don't count').
    “that is the best conversation in the movie I would say.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:29:21 · Wesley Morris (0.60 sure it was them)
  24. fun, about Unanswerable questions: Did Mookie throw the trash can to save Sal or to vent his rage? Wesley says both, and that Mookie and Sal probably just needed a job and a delivery guy; Mother Sister and the Mayor boned.
    “I think you're right. I think it can be both”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:31:39 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  25. fun, about Who won the movie: Wesley: Spike Lee won; made a perfect movie about an imperfect problem America will never solve.
    “which is make a perfect movie about an imperfect problem.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Do The Right Thing’ With Sean Fennessey and Wesley Morris · 1:39:00 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)
  26. fun, about The Departed: The Departed is cited as the Oscar-winner test: with Guy Ritchie directing it would have had no chance; only the Scorseseiness won it.
    “It was only the Scorseseiness that did that.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 0:10:48 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  27. fun, about Julia Butters: Wesley moderated a panel with the Once Upon a Time cast, and Butters spent her time dunking on Tarantino and Pitt.
    “Julia Butters just spent the whole time when she spoke dunking on Quentin Tarantino and Brad Pitt.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 0:31:57 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  28. fun, about Parasite: Lee Jung-eun's first scene as the original housekeeper is the funniest bit: the new tutor arrives and the mother is sleeping on the table.
    “can't overstate how funny it is when, you know, they 1st he 1st arrives at the house as the new tutor”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:08:01 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  29. fun, about Ad Astra: Wesley's take: why is it set in outer space and not a therapist's office; the dad-message scene is the only $18 reason to see it.
    “Why is it set in outer space and not a therapist's office?”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:11:53 · Wesley Morris (0.50 sure it was them)
  30. fun, about Long Shot: The end of Long Shot: Seth Rogen looks at Theron with an ardor Wesley's never seen from anyone, while she speaks to a documentary crew.
    “I have never seen anybody look at somebody like that with such ardor.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:20:00 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  31. fun, about Knives Out: The Sweet Virginia needle drop at the end, with the heroine looking out over the family from the balcony, is Wesley's satisfaction peak.
    “when the sweet Virginia needle drop hits at the end of the movie and she's looking out over them on the balcony, I was like, that's a fucking movie.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:35:52 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)
  32. fun, about Pain and Glory: Wesley compares Almodovar and Banderas going acoustic: they decided not to pay the electric bill and went for a ballad.
    “they've both like just decided not to pay the electric bill on this one and to just go for something, something else, like a ballad.”
    The Big Picture · Our Alternative Academy Awards | The Oscars Show · 1:38:14 · Wesley Morris (0.40 sure it was them)