262 - Arrival (with Grammar Girl)

Guest: Mignon Fogarty (aka Grammar Girl)

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We're joined by Grammar Girl herself, Mignon Fogarty, for a look at Denis Villeneuve's Oscar-nominated, language-based sci-fi movie in which Amy Adams attempts to communicate with space aliens against a ticking clock.

Will the show ever get the phrase "cinema unawarité" added to the dictionary? Is the video game Fortnite a pun? Do Allen and Sol like the film more than back when they covered it as part of 2017's Oscar season? All this a more in this edition of Diminishing Returns!

This year is the 15th anniversary of the Grammar Girl podcast, so it's an extremely proven entity at this point. Head here to give it a listen.

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Films covered in this episode:
Arrival
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Mignon: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 77%

38 - Oscars 2017

Released 20/02/2017

This classic episode is in the Diminishing Returns vault. Sign up to our Patreon for as little as £1 to access our back-catalogue episodes!

The 89th Academy Awards take place in a week, so it seemed like a good time to explore all nine of this year's Oscar Best Picture nominees (Arrival, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, La La Land, Lion, Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight).

Also included in this episode:
- discussion and exploration of Oscars (and other film awards like the BAFTAs) in general, including years past
- the hosts predict this year's Oscar winners in various categories
- The 1st Annual Dimmy Awards
- instead of the usual sequel pitches, Oscar-bait pitches
- James Bond and Frasier for some reason

Films covered in this episode:

Arrival
Allen: ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 60%

Fences
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 75%

Hacksaw Ridge
Allen: ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 40%

Hell or High Water
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 70%

Hidden Figures
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 70%

La La Land
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 77%

Lion
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 55%

Manchester By the Sea
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ½
Calvin: ✰ ✰ ½
Sol: ✰ ✰ ✰
Overall score: 60%

Moonlight
Allen: ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Calvin: n/s
Sol: ✰ ✰ ½
Overall score: 65%

 

The First Annual Dimmy Awards

The Allen Turing Award for Best Vince Vaughn Performance

Awarded to Ellen Degeneres for her performance in Finding Dory

The Calvin Dyson Award for Best James Bond Movie

Awarded to Pierce Brosnan's Instagram account

The Señor Sevens Award for Best 7/10

Awarded to Prevenge

We discuss the outcome of the awards in:
"Review of the Year 2017: Part 1"