e-mail, what a pain that ended up in, remember that friend that writes a really long e-mails
you open them up you feel like you got homework, can't read this dissertation now, I'm gonna
keep that as new, I never even read them half the time as you reply sounds good, don't
write back ever, this is amazing how e-mails changed our lives, you ever get a handwritten
letter in the mail you're like what the hell, has someone been kidnapped, well I'm not
open it's probably filled with anthrax, e-mails definitely made sending regular mail
at your, you know like when I stuck in them bloke now I gotta go outside, what am I a
triathlete here, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, I do love how informal
e-mails miss but then when I have to write an e-mail to a smart person I get all tense, great
now to be sure this is a complete sentence, I guess I'll capitalize a letter or two, that's
a symptom of being lazy when you can't quite reach the shift key, eh, eh, niggit the idea
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, seven on seven at WRJ and I'm Don Rosen,
thanks for joining us home, can radio, refresh, a civic media station, Nell Minneau of the
Movie Mom is joining me right now. It's use a movie critic. You can watch your reviews on Facebook,
and I guess your website, what's the website called? Is it moviemom.com? It certainly is,
it's easy to remember. I read them on Facebook when you post them there, and you've been doing that
movie critic for how long now, many, many years, huh? It's in 1995, yeah. Wow, but you've been a
movie fan all your life, I assume. I was, I was the movie critic for my high school and college
papers, and then I went to law school, did other things for a while, and when the internet started,
you know, I do think I was really like the Fred Flintstone era for the internet. I was one of the
first people ever to write a movie review online, and soon enough, by the year 2000, the internet
happened, and Yahoo asked me to be their movie critic, and I started writing books about movies,
and going on the radio. So yeah, it's been, it's been a blast. That's so good, it's like the Fred
Flintstone era. That's good, the good analogy. And so we're going to talk about the Academy Awards,
and here's something the Oscars woke up to a couple of years ago. Their viewership was going down
because they used to nominate five movies, four of which nobody ever heard of before, because
they didn't play it local theaters. They were more art house films, and they got there run in maybe
New York City, Chicago, LA, but the rest of the country never got a chance to see them. So then
someone came up with the brilliant idea if we make it 10 movies, we'll get some popular movies
in there too, which won't get the Oscars anyway, so it doesn't matter. But at least we'll get people
rooting for their movies when it's on television that can watch the Academy Awards. Kind of a smart idea
when you think about it. So that's why we have certain movies in this list here, but it's still a
list of major unknown movies. Well, that's because the movies come out a lot of them at the very,
very end of the year, in order to qualify for Oscars, and they hope that the Oscar nominations
will get people interested in them. So movies like The Holdovers, maybe you might have said,
well, I don't know, but once you see that Paul Jamati's been nominated, and the film has been
nominated, the screenplay's been nominated, maybe that will get you to go see it in theaters.
But fortunately, it's already streaming. I think just about everything that's been nominated
is already streaming, and so you can stay in your house and watch them all.
What do you think about movies that appear from, they don't play in theaters originally.
I think you have to stick them in a theater in New York and LA for what a week or two.
Yeah, that's right. You know, those rules were made for a different era.
And I have to say, as I always do when we talk about awards, that remember,
the Oscars are nobody's idea of the ultimate arbiter of quality. That's the industry voting
for themselves. And that's why a lot of movies that employ a lot of people in Hollywood,
like the Lord of the Rigs movies, get awards because they're big. And they often say the Oscar
doesn't go for the best acting. It goes for the most acting. So I think you have to just take
it with a grain of salt. Look at some of the other awards. Of course, the Golden Globes are always
fun. They've had some controversies over the years. I'm a voter on the Critics Choice Awards.
Now, I think the one advantage of those awards is that we actually see everything,
which the Oscar voters don't. And it's not our industry. So we vote, I think, more objectively.
But even at the Critics Choice Awards, in order to engage the audience, they added a separate
category of, you know, best film that everybody actually likes. And Barbie won this year.
You know, it's funny. You mentioned it's people basically pat of themselves on the back with
the Academy Awards. It's kind of like Congress voting themselves a pay raise.
Or a teacher grating their own exams. We don't watch the Oscars. We watch sort of the way we watch
the Super Bowl. It's sort of fun of it. And then the next day, I think everybody sort of
forgets who won. Let's talk about some of these best pictures because I know you like the movie
American Fiction. I do. That was my favorite movie of last year. I read that. So what's that about?
It's based on a book that came out around 2000. And it's about a black professor who's very,
very frustrated because he wants to write about classical literature. And they keep putting
his books in the black part of the bookstore. And he says, I'm reading about ancient Greece.
You know, this is not, I'm trying to write about different things. And you're just really a very
reductionist. And he gets so angry that he writes a parody of a terrible book. And it becomes a
huge success. Jeffrey Wright, one of the best actors ever, is just tremendous in the role. It is
the sharpest of satires, but it laughs at itself as well as everybody else. And just a powerhouse
ensemble cast, including Tracy Ellis Ross and Sri Lanka Brown, who got his first Oscar
nomination for it. And first time writer director, who just really knocked it out of the park.
I read the book when it came out almost 25 years ago. And I couldn't imagine how they would make
it into a movie, but they did a great job. Okay, going down in Lafabetic order, anatomy of a fall.
Now this one I never even heard of. Well, that's because it's not an American film. I'm going to
say that I didn't love it as much as everybody else. So keep that in mind. But it's about a woman
who's accused of her husband's death. And the only witness is their child who is visually impaired.
So that makes him not the most reliable of witnesses aside from the fact that of course he's
emotionally very involved. And the movie I'm just going to tell you right up front, even though
there's a long courtroom scene. This is not Perry Mason. You're not going to find out. I have my own
views about what really happened. But a lot of people really like that movie. I have to say
it did not work for me all that well. Sounds good though. Sounds like a good premise. Yeah, I
again, you know, things that sound good aren't always good. Yeah, it's good on the list here. Barbie.
Now one of the most popular movies of the year. And I didn't see the movie. It's not my cup of tea.
But I heard it was fantastic. The people who saw it wanted to see it again and again.
I loved it. And I thought it was very funny, very smart. I think it was a hundred percent true
what the marketing slogan was for the movie said if you love Barbie, this movie for you,
if you don't love Barbie, this movie is for you. Ryan Gosling, I know everybody, you know,
is mad that Margaret Robbie didn't get nominated. But Ryan Gosling is amazing as he always is in
this movie as Ken. And in a way, Ken is the most interesting character in the movie because he's
so frustrated at not having anything to do except sort of be around whenever Barbie wants them.
And I thought it was fun to look at and entertaining, very smart, really interested to see what
writer director Greta Gerwig is going to do with the Narnia series, which she's taking on next.
So now in a way, Margot Robbie did get nominated because she's the one of the producers of the movie.
So if it does win best picture, she will definitely get an Oscar. And by the way,
she's when they, you know, sometimes as you know, when producer doesn't mean anything in Hollywood,
but sometimes it means everything. And in her case, it really does because it was her idea.
She negotiated the deal with Mattel. She's the one who brought in Greta Gerwig and know a bomb
back to write it. And of course, she plays Barbie. So it really is her movie.
You know, sometimes you'll see the credits. You'll see like 50 executive producers.
And there's like a nonstop list. And that's everybody who gave 50 cents to make the movie.
Well, not only that, I mean, it's, you know, it's somebody's cousin that they just want to get a
credit. It's ridiculous. The producer credits are absolutely nuts. But in this case, she really did
bring, you know, bring this one in. And it's not fair to the people who actually doing the work.
Yes, you're absolutely right. Okay, the next one is a favorite. I'm hearing nothing but good
things about this, the holdovers. I just loved it. And if you saw sideways, it's the same director
and the same star. Paul Jimati gives one of the great performances of all time as an angry,
bitter professor of classics at a, at a boy school, a boarding school, where the kids are entitled
wealthy white kids from 1970. And, um, and it's about what happens when he is required to stay
there over the Christmas holidays with the boys that are not able to go home. And it goes somewhat
in the way you might think. And somewhat it will surprise you. And I just loved it. And as I
said, that one is streaming now. And so you can watch it at home. Paul Jimati will always be Howard
Stern's boss to me in private parts. We won't, we won't say what they call him in that movie,
but he is fantastic at that movie. When he, when he finally unloads on Howard's turn,
that's that is, that is one for, that's one for the record was losing his temper at him.
And he's so great. Of course, the side was I am not drinking Merlot. He also was in a movie
about magicians. And I forget that there were two movies that came out at the time. And he was
yeah, he was. And I forget which was with myself. But yeah, he, no, he, if you, if you look back over
his career, you can just see how many great performances he's given. He's in a movie that no
one's ever heard of that I absolutely love called Cold Souls about an actor who is having a hard
time with his role. And so he puts his soul, uh, it has it removed. And it's about what,
it's when he has to work without a soul. And it's very smart and very funny, very offbeat movie.
Let's see if we can get this in before we have to break here. Uh, one of my favorite films
of the year, I know it's long, but it felt like it was just a half hour. It was that good.
Killers of the flower moon. Excellent movie. Brilliant film. And, and you know, a lot of times you
just don't think of movie ends well. I've got the ending one of the all time best up there with
Godfather too. Brilliant acting, you know, Lily Gladstone for sure, gonna get the Oscar.
Fabulous. Fabulous performance. Yeah, just, and, and tremendous, just the production design.
I want to point out that was also nominated for an Oscar, uh, Jack Fisk, who's happens to be married
to an Oscar winner, uh, is, uh, I hope going to get the Oscar for that because the way they created
that town, um, uh, is incredible. So yeah, he met Sosu Spacec when she was working on a movie
with him and they've been happily married for many years. You know, and, uh, performance is great
all around. It's a murder mystery is what it is. And, yeah, the opportunity to lean out of the
caprio, but Lily Gladstone, yeah, is just, I mean, I'm not, I can't tell you too much because I don't
want to ruin the picture for people, but it's like, it's a long movie. Killers of the flower moon,
but it's X on hold on. We're talking to Nell Menno, the movie mom, we're talking the Oscars,
the nominations, movies, everything. It's all customers. It's all right here. WRJ and radio.
It gets so excited when I talk about movies. And we'll talk about the first movie I ever saw.
And I want to ask Nell if she remembers the first movie she ever saw. It's coming up shortly
right here. WRJ and hometown radio refreshed. A civic media station at 7.19 on Wednesday morning.
7.20. I'm Don Rose and Nell Menno, the movie mom. As you were talking about the Academy Award
and nominations, our next one on the list now is a film that was actually made for streaming.
And I don't think it had a wide release. It's my strobe starring Bradley Cooper, who also,
I think, produced the film. It's about let it, and wrote it. And wrote it. Linda Bernstein.
He directed it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He did everything. I mean, he's one of those people now that it's
just took off. It's like the guy from the TV show, The Office, who played Jim on The Office.
Now he's one of the great directors of suspense horror movies. Yeah. Yeah. So tell me about the
my strobe. Well, it's the story of Linda Bernstein, one of the towering figures of the 20th century.
And it's interesting to me that we had three movies come out at the same time about figures who
were real life major, major figures in the 20th century. And all three movies focused on their
love life. And that's really what's true with my strobe. Now, Linda Bernstein was gay,
but he also was very, very deeply in love with his wife, a woman, played by Carrie Mulligan.
And it's about the ups and downs of their relationship. And I thought it was, I thought there were
moments of absolute brilliance in it. I thought it was uneven, but the opening scene,
there are a couple of scenes in the middle of a fight, a marital fight that they have in their
apartment. Well, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade is going on outside. You can see the balloons
going by as they're fighting with each other. Some of the, you know, great performances. Of course,
every note of the music by Leonard Bernstein. There's a scene where that Bradley Cooper studied for
six years to conduct a Mueller piece. And it's just tremendous. So there's a lot of great stuff.
It's on Netflix. You definitely give it a watch. Yeah. How do you feel about that? I was going to
ask you. How do you feel about Netflix movies and Amazon movies being thrown into the Academy Awards?
You know, I think the pandemic really accelerated it, but I think it was going in that direction.
Anyway, those movies are great movies. And I think they should be considered. I love to see a movie
in the theater. I would always rather see it in the theater. But in fact, some of the best movies out
there are being produced for streaming. You know, I was shocked the other day. I went to go see
the boys in the boat. Oh, yeah. Which I really love. And but when the MGM logo came on at the
beginning with the roaring lion, it said an Amazon company underneath it. I know. I mean, I know.
I was like, now I couldn't concentrate on the beginning of the movie. Yeah. I know. Well,
I used to feel that way when they was was it Columbia that said a Gulf and Western company. And
I mean, you know, and for a while, one of the big studios is owned by Japanese company. That's
just the way of the world. I'm afraid. I think Columbia came on as a Coca-Cola company at one time.
Yeah. Coca-Cola owned Columbia. Yeah. It just it just makes no sense. That's why, you know,
you want to look for things like 824, which is an independent studio. And they just keep,
you know, knocking it out of the park. It was great. And what was the other one? Oh, it was
Warner Brothers, an AOL company. Yeah. Yeah. But when I saw an Amazon company, I was,
and you know, my wife is watching probably couldn't care less about it. But it shocked me when
I saw that. And I know what would Louis V. Mayer say. And I even said on the air the next day
after I saw the movie, I said, he's probably doing summer solts in his grave right now. I know.
But it's a great movie. Boy's the boat director by George Clooney. I highly recommended.
Excellent movie. By the way, before you leave my straw, I've told the story on the air before
my dad stood on Lennon Bernstein's toilet seat. Okay. He was fixing a pipe in the building. He
worked for a company at a repaired pumps for skyscrapers. And the problem was in his apartment
right above the ceiling. So my father was standing on his toilet bowl. Lennon Bernstein was sitting
on the rim of the bathtub talking to my father for about 25 minutes about my brother's band. This
is back in the 60s. That's amazing. And he said the guy was white pants, white sweater. He had a
white grand piano. It is a apartment. It was magnificent. And this guy sat on the,
sat on the rim of his bathtub talking to my father for 25 minutes while my father was in the
ceiling working on some stuff. I love that. My father stood on his toilet bowl. How many people
can claim that? All right. The next movie is probably the one that might probably could possibly
will win the Oscar for Best Picture. Oppenheimer. Yeah. I think you're right. I think that's where
the smart money is betting right now. Hollywood loves to make everybody think that they're very
intellectual and that they're very serious. And I think that this is an intellectual and
serious movie, of course, based on, again, another movie about a great man spends a lot of time
on his love life. And it's, I thought it was a brilliant film. But I will say I think Christopher
Nolan, the director, his films always have kind of a chilly feeling to me. They're very cerebral.
They don't have a lot of heart. And he's terrible with his women characters. But so is Oppenheimer.
So that works well for this movie. I'll tell you what I didn't like about the film. And this
got eroded for me. They didn't stop with the music. The music was underneath the entire film.
Yeah. And I don't know. It was intrusive. And it was very
intrusive. It was loud. So much so. I had to cover my ears at one point because the music was
bothering me so much that it just I couldn't deal with it anymore. And it ruined the movie for me.
Otherwise, you know, how does it have a guy like Killian Murphy loses accent for this film?
How do they do that? Isn't that funny? Well, I won't, I won't let you say lose
with accent. He switched accent. That's switch accent. Yes. Everybody's got some kind of an accent.
But that, you know, those British people and Irish, I have to say for Killian Murphy.
I mean, Calum Turner, you just saw him and boys in the boat. He's English. I interviewed him.
And he just did a terrific American accent. I'm just, I love accents. And I'm always just so impressed
by how well they do. Well, I have a thick New York accent when I, when I'm not on the radio.
And some people say, well, do you sound kind of East Coastish? How did you lose it? I can't tell you
how. Yeah. You know, when I'm talking to people, my friends in New York, it comes out like
newspaper. I'm reading the newspaper. And I found this thing the other day. But when I'm on
the radio, you don't do that. You don't hear it, right? That Oppenheimer, it's a great movie.
And Hollywood loves these big, epic type films. They do. As I said, they like to, they like
people to think that they're serious and intellectual. And so I think Oppenheimer were probably
going to win this picture. We talked about, before we went on the air, that Godzilla minus one,
the monster movie from Japan. The Oscar nominated Godzilla minus one. And it's prequel Oppenheimer.
Because we feel that on the background of Godzilla, that's how he was formed. The buddy
timing. And the prequel. I love that past lives. Never heard of this movie before.
Well, that's a little independent film that is about a happily married woman of Korean heritage
who meets up with her first love. And even though she's happily married, she wonders what her
life might have been like if she had stayed in Korea. And it's just sort of what I call a mood
piece. And beautiful performances by everybody. And again, the Hollywood likes to nominate some of
these little movies to show that they've got some range. But I don't think it has a prayer of
getting any kind of awards. Just nice to be nominated though. That's what they always say.
Yeah, you want to watch the independent spirit awards. And you'll see, I bet it'll pick up an
award or two there. And when we come back, I'm going to tell you about a movie that won the
Academy Award for Best Picture that I had never heard of before. But I've seen it four times since
because I can't stop watching it. It's that good. Okay. And I'll tell you about that coming up.
No, no. The movie mom is here. We're talking about the Academy Award nominations. She's seen
them all. You have to pay to go to the movies. No. Just curious. I get paid to go to the movie.
That's good. That's that's even better. No, no. We're more coming up here at WRJ. And I'm
Don Rose. And it is 729. Civic Media's WRJN hometown radio refreshed.
And I'm waiting on the 1205. Over and it'll take me just a little farther down the line.
The moonlight. You're just a heartache in this night. Won't you keep my heart from breaking in
it's only for a very short time.
It's 735. I'm Don Rose and Elmino. The movie mom is here at moviemom.com also check
her out on Facebook. That's why I see her movie reviews there. And we're talking about the Academy
Award nominations. Next one on the list now is a movie that I'm hearing nothing but great
things about. A regular movie guy that comes in every Friday morning, Brett Hoffman from Marcus
Theater's talked about this film before. It was even nominated. Poor things.
Yeah. That's not for everybody. Okay. This is our, our, our, our, our, our, rated,
Rezazy movie. Think about sort of a Frankenstein story. A pregnant woman commits suicide.
The mad doctor and plants the brain of her fetus into her head. So she's a grown woman with
the brain of a baby and learning about life very, very quickly and immediately discovering physical
pleasure which becomes a big issue over the rest of the movie. You will not guess from one scene
to the next. What is happening? Emma Stone gives an insanely good performance. As I said, not
for everybody. A lot of people are going to be offended by it, but in terms of just being
outrageously creative and imaginative. This is definitely at the top of the list.
That's really the plot to the movie. That's just the beginning. It gets really crazy after that.
Whoa. The zone of interest like film I never heard of.
Zone of interest. Again, Hollywood likes to pat itself on the back for being
sophisticated and serious. And it's a Holocaust movie where you never see the concentration camp.
It is about the life, the very, very lush, luxurious life of the commander of the concentration
camp and their beautiful home on the other side of the wall. And occasionally, you'll see smoke
going up on the other side of the wall or you'll get intimations of what's really happening on
the other side. But it's about the nature of evil, really. And our inability to compartmentalize
ourselves, no matter how hard we try. So that's a tough one to watch.
You know, I mentioned off the air to you that the best picture of the year, a couple of years
ago during COVID was no madland. I never heard of it before. And I watched it four times. That's
how much I loved that movie. And there's a movie nobody's ever heard of no madland.
Nobody's heard of it before. Yeah. It's a small movie and a very, very, very, very touching one.
And Frances McDormand is amazing in it. It's got such a natural feeling. You almost feel like
you're in the room where it's all happening. Now, you had some disappointments this year.
Disappointments don't mean the worst picture of the year. It just means you hoped for more and you
got less. So what were your disappointments this year? Well, there were movies that, you know,
look like they were going to be great on paper. And really, I thought we're just terrible. One was,
I'm hoping you've never even heard of any of them. One was paint with Owen Wilson playing a
Bob Ross type TV art. I did hear about. He had the wig. He had the Afro wig and everything.
Yeah. It was just terrible. Mafia Mama with Tony Collette was just so disappointing. I love
Tony Collette. Strays with the talking dogs it had Will Farrell and Jamie Foxx. And the entire
movie was just dog talk and dirty. Really? Yeah. And then there were two science fiction movies that
I was really hoping for good things from one was called FOE. And the other was called Creator.
And interestingly, they were both set in the same year of 2065. And both of them, I thought were
very, very disappointing. FOE had an incredible cast. There are only three characters in the movie.
But shirts are Ronan and Paul Mescal to amazing actors. And the script just completely
let them down. Paul Mescal, by the way, in all of us strangers with Andrew Scott and Claire Foy
from the from the crown. And it's just an extraordinary film that did not get any Oscar animations.
But definitely worth seeing. It's about a lonely writer whose parents were killed in a car accident
when he was just 11 years old. And he has an impulse to go and see his old house, the house that
he lived in with his parents. And he goes and there they are exactly as they were the last time he saw
them. And he gets to have a conversation with them as an adult about his life. And it's very touching.
Whether it's really happening or all in his head, the movie doesn't worry about that too much. But
it's very, very touching. And this all happens as he's starting to fall in love with another man who
lives in his apartment building. And yeah, it's that Paul Mescal definitely watch him as he's
going to be one of the biggest stars of the year anytime now. Every time we have the Academy
Award nominations come out. They talk about the biggest snubs. Yeah. So what's the biggest snub
you can think of from this year? Well, I think most people are mad that Margot Robbie did not get
an acting nomination and Greta Gerwig did not get a directing nomination. I would love to
have seen that. But there are only so many places on there. And it's hard to say who you would
knock off to put them on. You know what? Margot Robbie was very good in. And I don't think she got
an nomination for it was once upon a time in Hollywood, the movie about the Manson. He was great
playing Sharon Tade. Yeah. He was terrific in that. And I suggest it's a Quentin Tarantino film.
It's one of my favorites. Leonardo DiCaprio's in there. It's about the Manson murders. But it's
not what you think. No, it's about the era of the Manson murder really. And remember the
Quentin Tarantino is not a historian. But yeah, I thought that was a terrific film. And of course,
Brad Pitt deservedly got an Oscar for that one. And what's really good is if you're into movies,
it is it is a very good movie lovers film because they kept you into the world of movies.
Well, and it takes place in the year where I was in my high school paper and it really brought
back a lot of memories. Was it the seven fifths of McCluskey? That film. So that's a good movie.
One of my big disappointments this year was Priscilla. After you get the Austin Butler Elvis movie,
which is very good. Yeah. Then you get Priscilla, the story from Priscilla Presley's point of view,
just horrible. Yeah, I agree with you. You know, I've given up on Sophia Coppola. I feel like
she makes these very claustrophobic films about young women who don't have any control over their
lives. And I just don't get it. I don't. I really, it's too bad because I thought she had such
an auspicious debut with lust and translation. And I just haven't connected any of her films since.
What's the first movie you ever saw? No white, the Disney Snow White, which is now out on 4K
believe or not. Yeah, I know. And I still love it. And I remember very well. And my father
wrote a letter to his father to my grandfather. And he said, we just took Nelder, her first movie,
and now she wants to go to movies every day. So see, nothing has changed. A monster was created.
And of course, whistle while you work. Yeah, that's right. The seven dwarves. Yeah, that was a good
movie. I can remember every single movie I've seen ever. Wow. And the theaters that I saw in. Wow.
How do you like that? That's pretty great. The first movie ever saw when I was a little kid was
Tammy in the bachelor. Was it a drive in movie? I didn't pick the movie as a little kid. I was in
the car. Tammy in the bachelor with Debbie Reynolds playing Tammy. That was the first movie. And the
classic song. I see the cut. Yeah. Tammy. Which led to a bunch of bad Tammy movies after that.
Yeah. With Tammy in the doctor. Tammy goes to surf and get it. Yeah. Yeah. But that's the first
one I ever saw. But my favorite movies, my mom used to, I lived in New York. And we used to go
to the cinema theater all the time. I'm broadly. And we saw some of the, I remember we saw it's a
mad, mad, mad, mad world at the cinema. I'm a theater. I thought it wanted a drive in. It was,
I still love that movie. I got the criterion edition on blue. Good for you. It was a fabulous
movie. And people knocked it like it was, it was, it was. I love that movie. Yeah. We saw
a crocodile east of Java. It's a high station zebra, 2001, a space odyssey. I remember when we
said 2000, want a space odyssey in cinema. My dad went to the lobby and we're looking at the
movie poster they had. He said, what was this all about? And it, it was an interesting movie.
I read the Roger Ebert review and, uh, and when he analyzed 2001 and now it started to make some
sense to me. Yeah. But it's not. Yeah. Some sense. But it's an interesting movie to watch 2001.
And of course, how the West was won and wonderful world of the brothers and grandma. Of course,
the. Yes. I, my dad took me just, just me, just dad and just me to see the wonderful world of
the brothers. Grim. And I still love it with Russ Tamplin and, uh, he's at Mimeo and, yeah,
which really interesting when Turner classic movies shows how the West was won and the wonderful
world of the brothers grim. They showed in that smile box format. Yeah. Which replicated the big
Sinerama screen and the three projectors showing it on that big 150 degree curved screen. Yeah.
And it brings back a lot of memories seeing those big Sinerama movies. I have all the travel
logs. I'm blue ray too. All the ones. Wow. This is Sinerama. Yeah. I love watching those movies.
Let's talk about some actors here in the category Bradley Cooper Coleman Domingo. I never heard of
him. I never heard of the film Rustin either. Got Paul Giamatti, uh, Killian Murphy for Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright who you love for American fiction. What is Rustin? I never heard of that movie.
Well, Rustin is the story. It was produced by, I haven't heard of the movie. You've heard of
the producers. The producers are Barack and Michelle Obama. And it's the true story of one of the
great civil rights leaders whose story has kind of been forgotten because he was gay. And so he got
pushed to the side of history, but he was the guy who came up with the idea of the March on
Washington, the one where Martin Luther King made his famous speech. And, uh, and Coleman Domingo,
who's also in the color purple, which I wish had gotten some nominations, more nominations.
It only got one. Um, uh, is just terrific in the lead role here. You're talking about the
Broadway musical version of the color purple. Right. Exactly. Which is now moving in. Okay. So
in that category, there's a lot of good actors in there. Yeah. A lot of good people. Uh, Cooper,
you've got your money, Murphy, and you picking Jeffrey Wright.
If it was up to me, it'd be Jeffrey Wright, but I think it will go, uh, to fill in,
killing Murphy. And I think that's fine. He did a great job.
All right. In that bending for Naya, there's a film I never heard of before.
You also got Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower of Moon, Sandra Holler for Anatomy of a Fall,
Carrie Mulligan for Maestro and Emma Stone for poor things. I, you know, I didn't see the other
films, but just Lily Gladstone was just so good in that film. I think, I think she's a sure bet.
I want to point out that Sandra Holler, who you never heard of, is in two of the films nominated
for Best Picture because she's also in Zone of Interest. Uh, and, uh, so she's somebody to keep
an eye on. Um, and, uh, I would love to see Emma Stone win, but she's already gotten Oscar,
and I think this is Lily Gladstone's year. And I do want to recommend Naya. Naya is, again,
a true story. It's on streaming about Diane Naya, who in her, the swimmer was in her 50s,
decided she was going to swim from Florida to Cuba. Right. Best supporting actor got Sterling
K Brown for American fiction, Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower of Moon, Robert Downey,
Junior for Oppenheimer, Ryan Gosling for Barbie and Mark Ruffalo, who's from Kenosha,
right down the block from this year for poor things. So who's your pick there?
Uh, I got to go with Robert Downey, Junior. I thought he was absolutely terrific in Oppenheimer.
He's in the black and white scenes. Yeah. Yeah. The, the newsreel footage is Oppenheimer playing,
playing kind of the nemesis of Oppenheimer. I thought he was just terrific. I didn't even realize
it was him at first. Yes. He's unrecognizable in that film. Yeah. Best supporting actress Emily
Blunt for Oppenheimer, Danielle Brooks for the color purple, uh, America Ferreira for Barbie,
Jody Foster, who I didn't know was back in acting again for Niant and Divine Joy Randolph for
the Holdovers. Definitely. Divine Joy Randolph. Definitely. I ran it. All of that is of course
a very, very, very good group. Uh, I think I'm, I think I'm losing, I think I'm losing your phone
there for a second. Yeah. I'm not sure. But then you can act. So I'm hoping you can hear me. Yeah,
you're all breaking up there first. I'm going to have to call you back during the break,
which is coming up. Yeah, because it's, it's all breaking up now. And that's the technology of
phones, I guess. All right. We're talking to Nell Minow, the movie mom. And we've got another
category, Best Director, which is really important. We'll talk about Best Director coming up
in just a moment. And I want to talk about her dad, Newton Minow in just a moment here at WRJN.
Home town radio refreshed. A civic media station at 7.48. Stay right where you are.
Hey, Nell, you remember what movie that was featured in? That was Working Girl. Working Girl,
played at the end of the movie. That was a great movie. That was too. That was a great movie.
Every time I think about these films, I said, I got to watch that again. Yeah. And God bless
Turner Classic movies for running those movies, commercial free, unedited, uh, 747. I mean, I can't
believe that discovery was thinking of doing away with it in some way.
Well, but he Hollywood stepped in. It's been time. The biggest director stepped in and say,
you're not touching this. Yeah, they did get rid of one of my favorite, my favorite things,
where they ran the crazy movies on, uh, Friday, Saturday night. Yeah. Yeah, the underground films.
Yeah, they would have kept that. Let's talk about Best Director here. We got some good ones here.
I don't know how to pronounce his name for anatomy of a falls. It's pronounced just, is it
justine that the woman's name, justine triet? Is that he's saying it? I think that's right. Yeah.
Okay. I'll see you don't know. That's good. Martin Scorsese, he killed her to the flower moon,
Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer. Your goals, land feebles. Is that anything for poor things?
That'll do. And Jonathan Glazer for, uh, the zone of interest, uh, looking for Scorsese, he just
made the record for the most nominations of any director ever, right? Yeah. And, uh, you know,
he deserves it every time. But I think they're going to give it to Christopher Nolan. Yeah.
And I'll tell you how you'll know where it's going to go. When the, uh, director's killed,
gives out their awards is always the same one because it's the same people who vote. So, uh,
so watch, watch that space. I want to talk for a moment about your dad, Newton Minneau.
Now he, he just passed away last year. I think it was right. Yes. He left me. How old was he?
97 97. Whoa. He's seen a lot in his lifetime. Yeah. Now Newton Minneau for a lot of people that don't
know the name may sound familiar. He has a very famous quoted tribute to him. But he was appointed
by president John F. Kennedy to be the commissioner for the federal communications commission,
which is the highest job you can have in communications. I mean, you control basically how
TV radio and back then, especially in the, in the early 60s, TV and radio are going to behave
themselves. And we've had, since I've been here at WRJN, we've had two inspections by the FCC.
And it's, yeah, it's kind of nerve wracking when they come in because they come in with their clipboard.
And they don't smile. They don't talk. They just show up at your door. And they come during
business hours and you walk them around and blah, blah, blah. But your dad was made commissioner of
the FCC. How did John F. Kennedy come to know your dad? Well, they've known each other for many years.
My father, twice in his life, uh, befriended a young man who later became president because
Barack Obama actually met Michelle and when Barack Obama was an intern, a summer intern in my
dad's office, and they assigned Michelle to be a supervisor. And my parents ran into the
Obama's on their first date when they were at the movies. They went to say do the right thing,
the Spike Lee movie. But he met Kennedy of when he was working in the presidential campaign of
Adley Stevenson. And, uh, and liked him very much. And he actually was Bobby Kennedy's roommate
on that campaign. Bobby Kennedy was also working on the campaign for Adley Stevenson and they got
very close. And, uh, dad was like 34 years old when he was made chairman of the FCC and gave his
famous speech. Briefed for that, everybody at the FCC had always been very cozy with the broadcast
industry. He had always gone to work in that industry afterward. And my dad told the broadcasters
if they didn't do better, he was getting inked their licenses. And, uh, he was responsible for
the launch of the first telecommunication satellite for the creation of PBS and the funding for Sesame
Street and the presidential debates among many, many other things that he did. And we're very
proud of him. And he was the world's best dad. But he is known for a very famous quote. And when
people think of Newton Minno, they think of his quote is saying TV is a vast wasteland, which is true,
which is true. He did say when television is good, nothing is better, but when it's bad, nothing
is worse. And, and much of it is a vast wasteland. And he is known for that. And sure,
which words, the television producer was so angry that my dad said that that he named the sinking
ship on Gilligan's Island. Minno. Minno would be lost. The SS Minno on Gilligan's Island. That
was named after your dad, huh? It was. We're very proud of it. Look at that. That is great trivia.
Here's something else interesting about the opening of Gilligan's Island for the first season.
If you watch carefully, there's a flag and half staff in the background because it was filmed
right after John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Oh my goodness. And there's an American flag and
half staff. And you don't really look and not looking at it, but it's there. Here's something else
I saw. They filmed the movie Baby the Rain Most Fall in Texas with Steve McQueen and Lee Remick.
And when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, they were in the middle of filming. And there's a still shot
of them gathered around a car radio. And you can see the look of horror on Lee Remick's face.
And Steve McQueen, like holding his chin, they can't believe what he just heard. And it was
that moment when they snapped a picture. But Lee Remick has this look up with her eyes wide open
and she's gasping for air. You could see it once a year. But that's, you know, they captured
that moment right there. Somebody had they wear with all to take a picture of it and now it's
preserved. So how long was your dad commissioner of the FCC chairman two and a half years?
Boy, he got a lot done in two and a half years. He got a lot done. He had three goals and he got
them all done creation of PBS. The launch of the telecommunications satellite and the requirement
that all televisions had to have full spectrum. So UHF and VHS. They did all of that. And then we
went back to Chicago. My dad was from Wisconsin. He grew up in Milwaukee. Yeah, it's born in Milwaukee.
That's right. That 15 minutes. Actually, the station broadcast in Milwaukee. So how old were you?
You you were around when your dad was nine when he was appointed and it was an extremely exciting
time I got to meet President Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy and even Eleanor Roosevelt. And it was very
exciting time to be in Washington as a child. You know, in our lobby, just not more than 25 steps
or where I'm standing right sitting right now is a picture of Eleanor Roosevelt in front of a
WRJ and microphone with the mic flag right underneath the picture is the actual mic flag we have
on display in our lobby. Unfortunately, somebody threw out the microphone. It was here a couple of
years ago, but they threw it out. But there she is in front of the WRJ and my flag and you can
actually touch that mic flag in our lobby. We actually have the original document of when this
station went on the air as WRRS, I think it was back in 1926. And the original document,
there was no federal communications commission that it was the Department of Commerce. Right.
It actually was responsible for radio stations. And that's kind of interesting. The original
documents sitting right there. We turned a hundred in two years. So we're gathering all these
documents. Nell Mano, the movie mom, moviemom.com follower on Facebook. I like when you do the A plus
and B minuses of movies. I think that's great. And you recommend the ages for children as well
what they could say. I need you back here after the Oscars. All right. Tell me now I wrote down
exactly what you said. Who's going to hold you to it. Now hold on. Don't go anywhere. Stay
right. We are a second. All right. What a great hour. I could do six hours with Nell Mano
because I love movies so much. You keep it right here. WRJ and radio hometown radio
refreshed a civic media station at 7.50 and I'll catch you tomorrow morning at 6 a.m.
But right in early end, we have more tickets to get away tomorrow to the Wisconsin State Fair
Concentred of Lauren Dagel appearing live on Friday, August 9th through chance to win tickets
again tomorrow morning right here. WRJM.