Gearing Up For The Oscars with 'Bugonia', 'F1', 'Train Dreams' & 'Frankenstein' | Is This Cinema?

March 5, 2026·1 hr 21 min·6 clips

Two conspiracy theorists kidnap a CEO they believe is an alien queen in Yorgos Lanthimos's latest film 'Bugonia'.

It starts messy, naturally. The host brings everyone back to the Oscars countdown, calls this batch the best of the rest, and quickly makes clear that is not an insult. Aisha is missed, loudly. Jibs arrives with weather complaints, because cold rain and wind apparently need their moment before the movie talk can start. Then Bugonia takes over. The mood turns impressed and a little rattled, with Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone treated like the obvious standouts. Emma Stone gets lifted into rare company fast. The almost-Meryl-Streep comparison plays half as a joke and half as a real prediction about how many nominations she could stack up. Bugonia also sounds like a stressful ride. The advice is simple: do not wrestle with the weirdness, let the story take you, and maybe let it lead you into Yorgos Lanthimos. That part opens the door to a fast top-three scramble, with The Killing of the Sacred Deer, Poor Things, The Favourite, The Lobster, and Bugonia all fighting for personal favorite status. The Favourite gets the warmest laughs. They treat it as an easier way into Lanthimos, while still sounding jealous of anyone who gets to meet those films for the first time. Then F1 roars in. The shift is knowingly ridiculous, with the host joking that the intro already gave away where they were headed before they buckle into the movie. Awards talk keeps sneaking back in anyway. Near the end, supporting actors become the fight, especially the host's soft spot for performers who make a short amount of screen time count. Moonlight becomes the test case. The close is pure movie-lover energy: excited for the race, excited for more films, and bluntly telling people to go to the movies.

As heard by us

Brisk Oscars chatter with sharp opinions, loose banter, and real personality.

This Is Cinema? keeps the Oscars countdown moving with a quick pass at the season's best of the rest, giving Begonia the most room before the talk moves on to F1 the movie and the other films.

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