Critical Darlings: Train Dreams, And Netflix’s Quest For Best Picture

Blank Check with Griffin & David

Blank Check Productions / Talkhouse

Tv & Film, Film Reviews, Society & Culture, Comedy

4.7 • 6.6K Ratings

🗓️ 29 January 2026

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On today’s show, Richard and Alison hop on a boxcar and stare wistfully as the 20th century passes them by with Best Picture nominee Train Dreams. They discuss director Clint Bentley’s lush, if somewhat sanded-down take on Denis Johnson’s novella about a lumberman haunted by his past, starring a very quiet Joel Edgerton. Train Dreams is one of Netflix’s Best Picture nominees this year, but the film was not an original production. It was acquired by the streamer at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. On the occasion of this year’s festival (which is happening as we speak) we also discuss how Sundance works, and what, exactly gives a movie that ineffable Sundance flavor we have come to associate with small-scale American indies like Little Miss Sunshine. We also discuss Netflix’s seemingly endless quest to win Best Picture, why the Academy is so resistant to giving them the big prize, and why the most popular streamer in the world is so desperate for Academy validation in the first place. Sign up for Check Book, the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook! Buy some real nerdy merch Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit or Discord For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Critical Darling's, a conversation about the award season conversation.
0:13.0	One contender at a time.
0:17.0	Please welcome to this stage, your hosts, Richard Lawson and Alison Wilmore.
0:26.0	Thank you, as ever, Marie, for that lovely introduction.
0:29.9	Although, I feel like this whole episode should be voiceover.
0:34.2	Yeah, we can just sit here quietly.
0:36.6	Ma'Marie and very poetic lilting. Yeah. It explains just sit here quietly. Monmarie and very poetic lilting.
0:39.3	Yeah.
0:39.5	Our lives and our interior.
0:41.7	But, you know, in a way that's, it's touching.
0:44.0	It feels poetic.
0:45.3	Yeah, that's podcast magic, I think, is when the host just don't talk.
0:49.8	Yeah, well, so we're going to talk about train dreams this week because, you know, it is a Best Picture nominee.
0:57.2	It's the other surprise, I would say.
0:59.6	Like, not totally unexpected, but like the kind of – it was a long shot for Best Picture.
1:04.1	I think so.
1:05.1	I think that one thing that about this movie that is worth getting into is, like, its arc from its premiere at Sundance almost a year ago
1:14.2	to a Best Picture nomination and a couple other nominations
1:18.8	because that's not a unique story.
1:23.4	Sundance has had a presence in awards for a long time,
1:26.7	but you also add the Netflix of it all and, like, Netflix bought this movie and it wasn't one, you know, they had a bunch of like homegrown movies that, one of which performed well at nominations last week.
1:39.5	But Train Dreams, I don't know, it seems to represent a certain kind of best picture nominee that
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