The Smartest People in the Room

We're joined this week by Smartest People in the Room Awards Correspondent Aaron Hartley! We discuss the Screen Actors Guild nominations and likely Academy Awards contenders, David Ehrlich's annual Top 25 Movies supercut which you can find here, and our tentative top films of the year! Movies mentioned (* indicates possible spoilers): Belfast, CODA, Don’t Look Up, House of Gucci, King Richard, C’m...

Happy New Year! We recorded this episode before Rachel went on a trip to LA and after she saw several films - the new West Side Story , tick, tick... BOOM! , Belfast , and House of Gucci . Maddie only wants to talk about Joaquin Phoenix, as usual. And we discuss Christmas movies - are they bad? Are they good? The Santa Clause hot cocoa theory (courtesy of Hannah Priest) It’s A Wonderful Life, Chri...

Sorry in advance for the bad sound quality on Maddie's end! There were a LOT of technical difficulties with recording and editing this episode so please bear with us! This episode we discuss mainly two big releases, Spencer and The Power of the Dog , and jump from there to discussions about actors disappearing into roles and auteur theory. Small correction: Maddie said the comic From Hell featured...

This week we're joined by beloved recurring guest Irene Mudd!! Our topics include Bond movies and Bond theme songs, the new Uncharted trailer, how we got into film, our controversial opinions on Method acting, our hopefully-uncontroversial opinions on J*red L*to, Memoria 's distribution plan and the importance of seeing movies in theaters, and our thoughts on the Gotham Awards nominees! The V...

This week's topics include Villeneuve's Dune and Timothee Chalamet in general, the Best International Feature submissions to the Oscars, the tragic events on the set of Rust (R.I.P. Halyna Hutchins), the IATSE union issues and possible strike, and The Last Duel. Movies mentioned (* indicates possible spoilers): Dune (2021) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Wonka Titane The Last Duel* The Velvet Under...

A grand introduction to Rachel and Maddie's most important and controversial opinions, i.e. how they feel about a certain director and a certain franchise. Movies mentioned (* indicates possible spoilers): Dark Waters (2019) The Card Counter* Everybody Wants Some!! Molly’s Game* Drive Richard Jewell The Aristocats Homeward Bound, The Incredible Journey, An American Tail Petite Maman Shiva Baby Mot...

The Smartest People in the Room with Rachel Casey and Maddie Weiner is coming soon!