Rage Whale · Movie Podcast: Interviews, Reviews and Recommendations

142: Oscars Review with Jas of @churchofcinema

·2 hr 13 min·5 clips

The special opens with Jess from Church of Cinema joining the Oscars chat. The hosts have all stayed up too late watching the ceremony, and they immediately start comparing pre-show predictions with what actually happened on the night. It is basically a scoreboard with jokes. That frame keeps the conversation moving, because every opinion gets a before-and-after check on who called the winners, who missed badly, and who still wants to argue about the choices. Nobody sounds fully awake. They joke about feeling hung over from staying up late, and that tired energy gives the conversation its shape. Jess fits right in, and the whole thing has the easy feel of friends who already know the films and are happy to interrupt when a better line lands. One thread lands on the narration, which they call a cop-out because it tells the audience too much. Their complaint is simple: show, don't tell, and trust the images more. That criticism sticks. The conversation then swings to Hamnet, which one host says made them cry publicly in the cinema, and the others treat that reaction as embarrassing, relatable, and entirely understandable. They clearly think the film is amazing, even if it is a brutal watch and not easy to sit through. There is some disagreement too. A few reactions in the film feel a bit too extreme, but nobody gets precious about it, and the disagreement stays funny rather than fussy. That is the sweet spot. The episode works because it can move from mock outrage to genuine feeling without losing its footing, which is exactly the kind of chaos a good Oscars recap needs. The prediction hook helps. By the end, the special feels less like a polished awards summary and more like a post-ceremony sofa rant that still has enough thought behind it to be worth hearing again.

As heard by us

A lively Oscars debrief that tracks predictions and keeps the reactions delightfully messy.

Rage Whale turns its 2026 Oscars chat into a lively post-ceremony hangover, with three hosts and Jess from Church of Cinema revisiting how the predictions landed and unpacking what the night stirred up.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

For when you want an Oscars debrief that checks pre-show predictions and keeps the conversation moving.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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