As you by no doubt have seen on our social media, this one of the biggest nights of the year for The CineBoiz and Korked Bats. We get to hang out live, with you, on Twitch and enjoy the festivities together. All of you who joined us last year got to live the Will Smith slap-debacle with us in real time. In all honesty, we’re still a bit shook.

To make things a bit more interesting for this year, we’ve created a fun competition amongst us CineBoiz for the night-of. If you listened to our podcast a few weeks back we had ourselves an Oscar Nominee Draft. Essentially we each made seven picks among the acting and best picture categories. Here were our results:

For every category one of our nominees wins, that CineBoi will get 2 points. The CineBoi with the most accurate Oscar Ballot will receive an additional 5 points. Whoever has the most points will be declared “King of All Boiz”.

Be sure to tune in this Sunday to the CineBoiz Twitch Page at 6:45 PM CST to keep track and find out who wins.

You can also join in on the fun by entering our Korked Bats/CineBoiz Oscar Pick ‘Em group! It’s absolutely FREE and the winner will receive a $25 Gift Card to Amazon!

You can also check out our OSCAR NOMINATION DRAFT here:

The post Who Will Win The CineBoiz Oscar Nominee Draft?! appeared first on Korked Bats.

The Academy Awards are less than two weeks away!

This year, we’re opening up our ESPN/ABC Pick’em group to EVERYONE!

Just follow the link below, create an entry, and make your picks before Oscar night on March 12th!

https://abc.com/games/oscars-pickem-2023/group?id=b86f2ff9-de67-42ed-b270-f60b68a5fa5c&joining=true

If your entry wins the group, I, Kenny of The CineBoiz, will present you with a $25 Amazon Gift Card. I plan on running away with this though, so don’t get your hopes up.

Also, be sure to tune in to The CineBoiz Oscar LIVESTREAM on Twitch on Oscar Night (More Details to Come)

The post Join the Korked Bats/CineBoiz Oscar Pick’em! You Could Win a Prize! appeared first on Korked Bats.

Wow, what a ride it’s been. 20 years since CHICAGO won Best Picture at the 2003 Academy Awards. Think about everything that’s changed since then. We’ve traded in our Motorola Razrs for iPhones. We’ve stopped using Netflix to get discs in the mail (unless you’re my old roommate Jordan…shout-out, Jordan). Blockbuster, Bin Laden and the McRib have all died—but just as sure as the Cowboys spectacularly implode out of the playoffs each year, we still have great movies to watch.

19 other films have won Best Picture at the Oscars since then. Some of them were great, some were fine, and some unfortunately were GREEN BOOK.

In celebration of Oscar Nominations coming out on Tuesday, we here at Korked Bats/The CineBoiz Podcast took the liberty of putting all 20 Best Picture winners of the last 2 decades into a Tier Ranking List. It took about 45 minutes of debate and hurting each other’s feelings to come up with what we to believe (as of 2022) to be the DEFINITIVE tier ranking on the last 20 Best Picture winners below.

Keep in mind, this is DEFINITIVE until we re-tier in 2024. We are professional film watchers, and you are not.

You can watch us reason and debate this list here:

So what do you think? Be sure to let us know how you feel on Twitter (@korkedbats; @thecineboiz) and Instagram (@korkedbats2; @thecineboiz). Also, be sure to follow Korked Bats on YouTube and The Cineboiz on Twitch to catch us live, and subscribe to The CineBoiz Podcast wherever podcasts are found!

The post 20 Years of Best Picture: A DEFINITIVE Tier-Ranking appeared first on Korked Bats.

Movies this good should be illegal. Not necessarily for the general population, but for middle-class, millenial, movie-nerds such as myself. It’s just too much of a good thing and that’s just dangerous for a boy like me. If you’re my age you grew up in the hay-day of Steven Spielberg’s career. He has directed 24 feature-length films since 1989–a massive catalog for any director and only about half of his.

Spielberg is also a master of every genre of movie. Action, Comedy, Tragedy, Horror, Drama, Science Fiction. There’s nothing he hasn’t touched as a filmmaker. It seems like the only subject he hasn’t touched, is himself…probably could’ve worded that better, but let’s roll with it.

‘The Fabelmans’ is a semi-autobiographical film. While it isn’t directly about the man himself, it follows the adolescent years of Sammy Fabelman (played by Gabriel LaBelle). We’ll call him a “Spielberg-Adjacent” main character. It primarily focuses on his discovery of the art of filmmaking, and his family. I thought I knew what I was getting myself into with this film. Turns out I was wrong, but it the best way possible.

The film centers around the Fabelman family as they live and grow-up in middle-century America…primarily Arizona. Sammy is raised by two parents (Paul Dano and Michelle Williams) who support his passion in the midst of their own rocky relationship. He learns to use the gifts he is given to create a safe space from his parents marriage and the discomfort of growing up.

While there is much to love about ‘The Fabelmans’, there is perhaps no brighter spot than it’s performances. Gabriel LaBelle is fantastic in his role as Sammy. Paul Dano, Seth Rogen and Judd Hirsch are also great additions to the cast. However, nothing holds a candle to Michelle Williams and her performance as the family matriarch Mitzi Fabelman. Personally, I’ve been waiting for her to get out of the shadow of being Jen from ‘Dawson’s Creek’. I think she has finally done it here. (That was a joke. Please do not crucify me, internet). It is perhaps her most fluid performance to-date. Mitzi is a such a beautifully complex character and Williams plays it without the slightest hint of melodrama. This is a TOMMY AWARD winning performance if I’ve ever seen one. We’ll see if the voters agree come January.

The story that Spielberg has crafted is so grand that you forget how microscopic the subject matter really is. It’s not about a once-in-a-lifetime filmmaker’s meteoric rise. Instead it gives us a glimpse, at least I think so anyways, into the depths of his soul. This is what makes him tick. It’s so profoundly beautiful because it’s so relatable. Sammy Fabelman isn’t a freak of nature filmmaker who attains god-like status, he’s a kid who fucking loves movies…like me.

Is it the best Spielberg movie ever? Who’s to say? I think I can say it’s my favorite though. Steven got inside of me with this one–ok, again, probably a better way to phrase it but I’m still gonna roll with it.

Verdict: 4.5/5 Stars…and yes, I went back and added a half-star to my Letterboxd rating. We’ll say it gets an extra half-star for David Lynch…IYKYK.

So what do you think? Be sure to holler at us on Twitter (@korkedbats; @thecineboiz) and Instagram (@korkedbats2; @thecineboiz) and let us know how you feel.Also, be sure to follow Korked Bats on YouTube and The Cineboiz on Twitch to catch us live, and subscribe to The CineBoiz Podcast wherever podcasts are found!

The post Best Spielberg Movie Ever? A SPOILER-FREE Review of ‘The Fabelmans’ appeared first on Korked Bats.

We’ve all witnessed the slap heard round the world by now, but few of us had the luxury of actually filming ourselves when it happened. We just happened to be live-streaming during the Oscars and were lucky enough to watch Bagge Vance slap the face off of the Zebra from Madagascar.

MOB’S REACTION

So I’m just sitting there, right? Chris Rock comes out with his normal Chris Rock vibes. Loud, abrasive, but also funny. You know what I’m talking about. He cracks a joke about husbands and wives. It’s funny. I laugh. He says something about Jada Pinkett Smith. I don’t catch it. I do see Will laughing while Jada rolls her eyes. You know. A classic reaction to a Chris Rock joke. Next thing I know, I see the Fresh Prince on stage, winding up, and laying full-fledged, open-handed wallop on Chris Rock’s cheek. I do what any immature boy would do on a classic slapstick stunt. I laugh. But it’s a nervous laugh. Like, just a reaction to that kind of humor. Then, the sound cuts out. It’s like a horror movie. I’m thinking, “Oh look at Chris being Chris. Using some off-color language. He’s so unhinged, that Chris Rock is.” But then, the camera cuts to a Will Smith. It’s a silent film though. All I can do is read lips. And boy did I read his lips. “Keep my wife’s name out your f***kin’ mouth.” Instant panic ensues. And here are the thoughts that begin to race through my head:

“Was that not a bit? Was that real? Man, Chris Rock can really take a slap. This can’t be the first time he’s taken a slap. Wait, did that just happen? Oh my goodness. Are we in the Matrix? I need to hug my wife. I really hope I remembered to put the toilet seat down. Wait. Did Will Smith just actually hitch-slap Chris Rock? WHAT IS GOING ON? Am I dead? This can’t be heaven. Patrick Mahomes isn’t here and I know he’s an angel, so this can’t be heaven. I just want this to end. Wait. Will could end up winning the best actor and have to do a talking thing later. I can’t believe this just happened. I need to call my mom. Is that Questlove? What award is this? Did he win it at Army? SNAP OUT OF IT MOB! Wait. Did Will Smith, world-known singer of the classic song “Switch” where only he could famously rhyme the word ‘club’ with ‘club,’ just lay hands on Chris Rock? I should probably say something now…”

And I still feel awkward about it.

KENNY’S REACTION

If Will Smith sits back down and doesn’t yell at Chris Rock you don’t convince me this wasn’t staged. My initial thought was “Man, Chris really sold that well. How did the sound guy time that perfectly?” Once our audio went out for more than a few seconds I knew something was way off. From there we all realized what was happening. If you look closely at me you can see what “fight-or-flight” looks like; That is if you’ve never chosen fight in your life and unfortunately have nowhere to run. I was living out a beta-boy nightmare. Go ahead, go back, and watch the full VOD of our Oscar stream. You’ll notice a stark decline in content quality from this point forward. I think we were all preoccupied with trying to investigate the situation via our Twitter feeds.

Be sure to holler at us on Twitter (@thecineboiz) and Instagram (@thecineboiz) and let us know how you feel. Also, be sure to follow Korked Bats on YouTube and The Cineboiz on Twitch to catch us live, and subscribe to The CineBoiz Podcast wherever podcasts are found!

The post Our LIVE Reaction To Will Smith Slapping The Absolute Pootie-Tang Out Of Chris Rock appeared first on Korked Bats.

Alright, we’ve come to the end of our journey together. With less than a week from the big-night, we have saved the best of our 4-part series for last. So far we’ve taken a look at The Fan Favorites, the Oscar-Bait, and the head-scratchers. Now let’s take a look at the three nominees that seem to be universally loved by everyone who saw them (movie-snobs and filthy-casuals alike). These are the Best of the Best Best Picture Nominees for 2022.

Licorice Pizza

Now let’s go ahead and make something clear upfront before we dig into this one. We understand that some of the subject material and content of this film has caught some heat over the past few months and that’s understandable. It’s hard to justify a relationship between an adult and a minor as well as seemingly over-the-top racial stereotyping. With that being said though, LICORICE PIZZA is an unmistakably fantastic entry from Paul Thomas Anderson. Perhaps his best in years.

The story, direction, and characters all make this film accessible to just about everyone. Bradley Cooper as a maniacal yet (from what we understand) very true to life version of uber-producer Jon Peters is perhaps my favorite part of this film. If you thought that was a made-up character, I highly recommend viewing 2002’s AN EVENING WITH KEVIN SMITH in which Kevin Smith describes his interaction with Peters when he was brought on to do re-writes for a failed 1990’s Superman movie produced by Peters. It’s not hard to separate Bradley Cooper’s character from the man Kevin Smith describes.

Of these three nominees, it’s hard to imagine that LICORICE PIZZA will actually walk away with the top-prize (especially given some of the controversial material) but it is a truly enjoyable movie for just about any movie goer.

Coda

If you’ve been listening to The CineBoiz Podcast the past few weeks, you’ve heard nothing but unanimous praise from all of us in regards to CODA. This movie seemingly snuck out of nowhere to not just blow us away, but also pretty much everyone who has seen it. It also has been cleaning up in the recent awards circuit, taking home the top prizes at the SAG and PGA awards. Now this by no means makes this film a lock, but if we were to bet on it we’d say the likely favorites this year are this and POWER OF THE DOG. Both excellent films, but truly we have not heard anyone have anything bad to say about this one–POWER OF THE DOG seems to have people a bit more split.

Also, if Troy Kotsur does not win Best Supporting Actor…we riot. I think just about everyone can agree that among his fellow nominees, he absolutely steals the show as Frank Rossi. Frank is the father to Ruby who is the main protagonist in the film. No spoilers here, but he is going to make you cry…a lot. So go ahead and spend the $5 to get Apple TV+ for a month to watch this one, or you can just steal your in-laws login.

Belfast

So I know that I’m only one of the four CineBoiz, so I shouldn’t speak for them in regards to ranking the top films of the past year, but I can confidently say the BELFAST is the best picture amongst all of this year’s nominees. There you go, bold, italicized and underlined. This film is absolutely perfect from direction to story to acting as well as score and soundtrack (which is all Van Morrison).

There’s something about this movie that sucked me in straight from the start. It’s just so heartfelt, and so brilliantly told from the eyes of an 8 year-old boy. It takes place in Northern Ireland during the riots of the late 60’s, but has such a timeless feel much like STAND BY ME or PORKY’S. It is hard for me to see this winning over CODA or POWER OF THE DOG, but If I were an Oscar voter it would definitely have mine.

Did we mention that everyone in the movie is amazing? Jamie Dornan, Ciaran Hands, Judi Dench? The list goes on-and-on! My recommendation to everyone, if you’re only going to watch one Best Picture nominee this year, make it BELFAST. I speak for all of The CineBoiz.

So what do you think?  Do you desperately want to see one of these three movies take home Best Picture on Sunday? Do you think another nominee fits into this category? Be sure to holler at us on Twitter (@korkedbats; @thecineboiz) and Instagram (@korkedbats2; @thecineboiz) and let us know how you feel.

Also, be sure to follow Korked Bats on YouTube and The Cineboiz on Twitch to catch us live, and subscribe to The CineBoiz Podcast wherever podcasts are found!

The post The 2022 Oscar Best Picture Nominees (Part 4: Best of the Best) appeared first on Korked Bats.

So, here we are. Part 3 of our 4-part Oscar Blog. So far we’ve talked about the Fan-Favorite and the Oscar-Bait Best Picture Nominees. This time, we’re gonna take a look at the reaaaaaal head-scratchers of this year’s crop of films. Now we do apologize if you really liked either or both of these films (I actually loved one of them myself) but if we’re being honest, they probably shouldn’t be here.

This isn’t an uncommon occurrence, there tends to be at least one of this films that shows up every year. The unfortunate part is that we could probably name a few films that also deserved to be here if these two films are. So without further a-do, here are the two Best Picture Nominees which fall under the category “Who Invited These Guys?”

Don’t Look Up

Certainly not the worst movie ever made, but quite possible the worst in this year’s group of Best Picture nominees. It’s also one of my favorite director’s (Adam McKay) weakest films–and I’m including his earlier works such as Anchorman & Step Brothers as well. We definitely don’t want to say that he squandered such a terrific cast and interesting story, but it definitely didn’t live up to many people’s (including our) expectations.

Now this isn’t to say that this movie doesn’t have it’s moments. The dynamic of the Meryl Streep/Jonah Hill as Mother-President/Son-Chief-of-Staff is quite fun to watch. I personally love the concept of a military general charging un-witting scientists for free White House office snacks and it bugging Jennifer Lawrence’s character for the entirety of the movie. In the end though, a handful of laugh-out-loud moments and intriguing story just doesn’t keep this movie from feeling kind-of flat.

The good news, if you’re trying to watch all of the Best-Picture nominees before next Sunday’s Oscar ceremony, you can pop this one on Netflix while you’re cleaning or doing laundry.

Nightmare Alley

Alright, I’m gonna go ahead and expose myself here. I really enjoyed this movie. I didn’t expect to after the bad taste that SHAPE OF WATER left in my mouth, but Guillermo Del Toro’s follow-up was such a pleasant surprise in my opinion. So you may be asking, “Yo Kenny, why do you have it in this category if you like it so much…nerd?” My answer would start with “That last part was unnecessary and hurtful.” and then I would explain my reasoning to you–which is as follows:

Other than a few technical ones, Nightmare Alley hardly has any other nominations. It’s only other nominations are for cinematography (which SLAPS) and Costume Design (which makes sense). None of the actors were nominated and Guillermo Del Toro was not nominated for Best Director. Nightmare Alley feels like it somehow snuck in to this spot.

I think an argument could be made for SPENCER or THE LOST DAUGHTER taking this 10th and final spot over NIGHTMARE ALLEY.

So what do you think? Do you think these movies deserve to be Best Picture nominees? Do you think another nominee fits into this category? Be sure to holler at us on Twitter (@korkedbats; @thecineboiz) and Instagram (@korkedbats2; @thecineboiz) and let us know how you feel.

Also, be sure to follow Korked Bats on YouTube and The Cineboiz on Twitch to catch us live, and subscribe to The CineBoiz Podcast wherever podcasts are found!

The post The 2022 Oscar Best Picture Nominees (Part 3: Who Invited These Guys?) appeared first on Korked Bats.

It’s now mid-March, and we’re officially deep in the bowels of Oscar-season. In fact, we’re less than two weeks away from the big night!

You still have some time if you haven’t seen a few of the Best Picture nominees to fit them in. Hell, you probably even have enough time to get ALL of them in at this point if you’re that far behind.

If you’re like me you’ve seen most of these films already and you just need a quick refresher on them to better cast your Oscar Ballot come Sunday March 27th. As “Head-Boi” of The CineBoiz Podcast, I have yet to get the best of my cohorts in our ballot competitions. So this series of posts will be as much for me as they are for you.

I’ve separtaed all 10 of this year’s Best Picture nominees into four categories. This post is dedicated to the nominees that I consider to be the Fan Favorites. These are the nominees that have the most appeal to all movie-goers.

With a few exceptions, films in this category don’t take home the top prize, but the casual Oscar viewers are pulling for them because they’re likely the only ones they’ve actually seen. So without any more delay, here are the Best-Picture, Fan-Favorite, Nominees.

Dune

It’s a movie that could best be described as “just like your life, but with big-ass worms and sh!t.” Perhaps that’s why it has such widespread appeal? It’s more likely because of the fact that this movie SLAPS on every level.

Visuals, Sound, Score, Story, Acting, you name it.

It was able to take such dense source material and make it accessible and, more importantly, extremely entertaining for small-brained people like myself. Not to mention, every single person in this film is the most beautiful person alive. I thought the heat was supposed to come from the desert, not from Timothee Chala-Mother-May-I’s beautiful eyes or Oscar Isaac’s luscious daddy-beard.

Dune is easily my most recommended “See-It-In-A-Theater” film of 2021, but typically those movies get the short-end of the stick come Oscar night.

West Side Story

If your day-to-day routine does not contain a few song and dance numbers, are you really living? You can find me any given day dancing up and down the aisles of Whole Foods singing about the best brands of non-GMO brown rice.

However, if you’re not as much as a f**king baller as me, there is still a lot to like about West Side Story. When this movie was first announced, it very much had “take-it or leave-it” vibes attached. Didn’t feel needed or even really wanted. Plus, Ansel Elgort is a living/breathing version of that Sleep Sounds app that you have on your phone.

I think what worked for this movie was having Steven Spielberg direct. It was his first musical, and it had the same kind of energy as his more action-packed big-concept films. It made the song and dance numbers pack more of a punch–almost as if they were chase scenes or fight sequences. The broad appeal of this version is hard to escape.

King Richard

Certainly, not as action-packed or visually stunning as the previous two nominees, but easily one of the more “feel-good” entries this year. If you would’ve told us a year ago that a movie starring Will Smith would be nominated for Best Picture and he would be nominated for Actor in a Lead Role, we’d ask you if we had accidentally taken a time machine back to 2007.

Everything about this movie is made in an effort to entertain and inspire an audience. It’s the movie version of seeing Celine Dion in concert–I stand by this analogy. This movie gives a look at the mindset of a father with an unshakable vision for his daughters, a front-row seat to the development of two of the worlds greatest athletes, as well as John Bernthal with a sick mustache.

The most important thing about this movie is that it is very palatable. It goes down easy without being too challenging and/or crushingly sad. That’s where it gets is widespread appeal, but likely loses out on the top prize.

So what do you think? Do you have your hopes set on one of these films winning Best Picture? Is there another nominee you think should’ve been in this category? Be sure to holler at us on Twitter (@korkedbats; @thecineboiz) and Instagram (@korkedbats2; @thecineboiz) and let us know how you feel.

Also, be sure to follow Korked Bats on YouTube and The Cineboiz on Twitch to catch us live, and subscribe to The CineBoiz Podcast wherever podcasts are found!

The post The 2022 Oscar Best-Picture Nominees (Part 1: The Fan Favorites) appeared first on Korked Bats.

If you watched the Oscars tonight (or flipped back and forth between it and Dodgers-Padres like I did), then you’re probably just as confused as I am. This year, for what might be the first year ever, they made Best Picture the third to last award given out followed by Best Actress and concluded with Best Actor. Now, the common man might assume, oh they’re setting this up to end this year’s show by giving a posthumous Oscar to the late great Chadwick Boseman for his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix).

That would be dope as hell, right? Of course.

Instead, they gave the award to Anthony Hopkins. Who – wait for it – wasn’t even THERE! So there was no acceptance speech. The show just ended. Over. Caput. Done cakes. That was it. If it sounds awkward, that’s because it was. Very. Why did they not end with Best Picture like they have for almost an entire century? WE DON’T KNOW! They ended with an award for a guy who wasn’t even there.

And look, no one outside of two people know who the winners are until the envelopes are opened, so it’s not like anyone knew Anthony Hopkins was going to pull off the upset. (Chadwick Boseman was a heavy favorite to win: -1667 odds with 94.3% implied probability per Action Network) But even if you knew Chadwick was going to win, no one would’ve cared if the show ended with Best Picture. But this way, you set it up to make everyone believe it’s going to end with a touching tribute to Chadwick and then when we don’t get it, everyone’s kinda bummed. It was the biggest bummer of an ending since Cool Runnings, to be honest.

And the worst part is it didn’t need to be.

Anyway, old man Tony Hopkins is gonna be hella confused when he wakes up tomorrow morning to find out he won a damn Oscar. Just like the rest of us are.

[divider][/divider]

Check out the live reaction to the ending from myself and The Cineboiz here:

The post What The Hell Did They Do With That Oscars Ending? appeared first on Korked Bats.

Watch till the end. Trust me.

This bit went from pointing out the unintentional gayest moments in film to just being a Laura Dern tribute, and rightfully so. Laura Dern is BAE.

The post This Video Tribute From The Spirit Awards Is The Funniest Moment of Award Season appeared first on Korked Bats.