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Cannonball with Wesley Morris

The Complicated Oscars Night Feelings Over ‘One Battle After Another’

Cannonball with Wesley Morris

The New York Times

News, News Commentary, Arts, Society & Culture

4.79.4K Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2026

⏱️ 44 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This is one of those “who knows what’s going to happen” years at the Oscars. And maybe the biggest question of the night is which movie will dominate: “Sinners,” with its record 16 nominations, or “One Battle After Another,” which is right behind with 13. One is a vampire movie set in the Jim Crow South, featuring not one but two Michael B. Jordans. The other imagines a leftist revolutionary outfit led by Black women — Teyana Taylor! — facing off against a racist, sexist, authoritarian government. No matter what, we’re talking about a pretty exciting night — including for many Black people. But you know how it is with race and the Oscars. It is never that simple. Because there are some people who are not rooting for Paul Thomas Anderson’s version of Black feminist-driven revolution. And a lot of those people are Black feminists themselves. Including Wesley’s dear friend, the scholar Daphne A. Brooks. After leaving the theater, she sent him a text calling it “a Black feminist 911 emergency.” So before the biggest awards of the industry are handed out, Wesley invites Daphne on the show to ask her, “What’s the 911 situation here?” Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript

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0:00.0

I'm Wesley Morris and this is Cannonball today.

0:08.0

My baby's a runner. You are a stone.

0:16.6

It's Oscars Week, everybody.

0:26.1

And I got to say, I am actually excited about that.

0:30.0

It's one of those who knows what's going to happen years,

0:33.1

Timothy Shalame or Michael B. Jordan, or my man Wagner Moore, for Best Actor.

0:40.1

But, you know, for months,

0:44.6

it has been feeling like the biggest question is who's going to dominate the night.

0:51.2

Ryan Coogler's Sinners, which has 16 nominations. That's a record, by the way. Or Paul Thomas Anderson's one battle after another, which is right behind it with 13.

0:56.5

Sinners comes with this great story.

0:59.0

Ryan Coogler took the Jim Crow South and the Delta Blues and turned him into a popcorn

1:03.8

movie that's got two Michael B. Jordans and a bunch of ideas.

1:08.0

And all last spring, all anybody was talking about was sinners. Sometimes, all they

1:14.4

were talking about was one scene from sinners. Conjuring spirits from the past.

1:23.1

And the future. But, you know, one battle after another,

1:29.9

a whole movie you could boil down

1:31.6

to being about a leftist revolutionary outfit

1:34.1

led by black women.

1:35.2

This is an announcement of a motherfucking revolution.

1:38.0

Make it good.

1:39.2

Make it bright.

1:40.6

Impress me.

...

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