Take Two on Oscar nominations: Hammond and McCarthy on what the Academy did right and wrong

Note: Deadline presents the 44th episode of its video series Second try, in which Pete Hammond and Todd McCarthy explore the artistry of movies that hit theaters every weekend. Each of them has spent decades reviewing and writing about the craft, and has built up a remarkably broad knowledge of films past and present. When we asked them, we were hoping for a concise, mature and thoughtful conversation similar to what we saw from Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel.

With the anticipation of the Oscar nominations for the 95th Academy Awards in the rearview mirror, we at Deadline took a critical look at what went well and what didn’t go so well from this year’s class. With a mix of films refreshing the box office, from $2 billion (Avatar: The Way of Water) up to $27,000 (To Lesley) and everything in between – the nominations seem to be “everywhere at once” – there really is something for everyone. Spoken of everything everywhere at once Now, with its 11 top nominations and plenty of momentum, can this film be considered a solid front-runner, or are there big challengers and challenges to the A24’s little engine that can?

The Fables Started the season early, faltered a bit and now seems to be on the way back. Steven Spielberg on his way to a third statuette for Best Director? What movie out there can upset the Apple bandwagon here and finally take over the race? We offer some ideas and talk about this remarkable grassroots campaign that took Andrea Riseborough (for the $27,000 box office mentioned above) all the way to the Dolby Theater in March. Is there another surprise in store for you?

Click the link above to watch our conversation.

Hammond has been a columnist for Deadline’s Awards for the past decade, covering the Oscar and Emmy seasons year-round. He is also Deadline’s chief film critic, having previously reviewed films for MovieLine, box office Magazine, BackstageHollywood.com and maximumlike Film Guide by Leonard Maltin, for which he was an editor. In addition to writing, Hammond also hosts the KCET Cinema Series and the network’s weekly series Must see movies.

McCarthy is a veteran film critic, columnist and reporter who has also written several award-winning books and documentaries. He served two terms on staff diversity and The Hollywood Reporter and internationally acclaimed film festivals for both publications. his video Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography won the best documentary award from the New York Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics Associations and won an Emmy for writing the documentary Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer. He also directed the documentaries Filmmaker: Pierre Rissient and Forever Hollywood.