Hey, what's up? It's Gustavo.

And today in The Times, we have a special episode from our sister podcast, The Envelope.

They've assembled the LA Times experts for film criticism because, well, the Oscars are this Sunday.

So get your streaming services ready to queue up because these folks have some analysis, criticism, and predictions for Usteads.

Enjoy.

Music. criticism and predictions for Usteadis. Enjoy. Hi there.

I'm Mark Olson, co-host of The Envelope.

And with the 2022 Oscars ceremony, just a few days away, we're switching things up a bit here with a special episode.

So with me today, I'm joined by some of my brilliant colleagues on the entertainment desk,

and we're going to be discussing the state of affairs at the Academy,

which includes those recently announced changes to the show

and sharing some thoughts about the nominated films and talent.

So to get started, you can all introduce yourselves.

Justin.

Hello, Justin Chang, a film critic. Mary McNamara, culture critic. I'm Glenn Whip. I cover award season for The Times and a bunch of other stuff. And I, of course, thank the three of you for making the time to talk. I couldn't think of three people. I was more excited to kind of get into this kind of strange and wonderful season that we're

having. Now, before we get into some of the recent controversies about the show itself, I'd maybe

like to set the scene a little bit for this year's award season. It's been less than a full calendar year

since the 2021 Oscar ceremony. And yet, to me, at least this has felt like one of the longest award seasons that I can recall.

The fall festivals, Venice, Telluride, Toronto, New York, AFI, AFI, gave us a number of our

sort of nominated and top contending films.

But at least to me, that just seems like forever ago.

Glenn, do you feel that way?

...