Hey, Academy. Don’t forget about Vanessa Kirby & Ellen Burstyn! Our review Pieces of a Woman is loaded with heavy subject matter. But we also get the chance to praise some incredible filmmaking. What is This Episode? - Top of Show PIECES OF A WOMAN 2020 OSP: SPOILER-FREE REVIEW: Plot Premise/Expectations, Review Scores, + Crew - 2:18 Performances: Vanessa Kirby - 9:03 Ellen Burstyn - 12:03 Molly Parker - 14:38 Everything About Shia - 16:44 Script Thoughts/Direction - 22:26 Production Values: Cinematography - 26:13 Score/Sound - 28:44 How Many Total Noms? - 30:09 SPOILER WARNING - 31:44 SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW: Stunning Story Structure/What Eva Knew - 32:53 Gut-punch After Gut-punch - 36:27 Kirby vs Burstyn - 42:02 The Big Speech - 48:45 The Audacity - 55:00 FINAL GRADES - 1:00:14 Where To Find Us/LEAVE US A 5* REVIEW! - 1:04:33 Words of Wisdom/What’s Coming Next - 1:05:24 As we’ve been saying for weeks, Vanessa Kirby and Ellen Burstyn are bonafide contenders in this year’s awards season. So we begin our non-spoilers discussion with an Oscar Lens on these two performances and how they stack up in the lead & supporting actress races. Then we also have a lot of praise for Molly Parker before we regrettably must have a talk about Shia Lebeouf. Our non-spoiler first half does follow the lead of the film’s trailer and marketed premise, and we’ll outline more of this story in our first half hour than perhaps we usually do. But we do think it’s necessary in this instance, and we explain why in our script thoughts section before we each gush about our favorite production values. The spoiler section begins with our thoughts on the plot structure from the 30 minute cold opening to how the characters must reckon with it. Our glowing reviews of the performances, script & direction carry through into a list of our best scenes before we footnote a few of our issues and layout how Pieces of a Woman stacks up to the rest of the 2020/21 film year. As always, and especially with this episode, we want to hear your thoughts. We’re at MMandOscar on Twitter, and we are at Mike, Mike, and Oscar on Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Gmail. You can subscribe / rate / review / like / share / & hear us on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Google Play, Tune In, Spotify, and just about wherever you might listen. We’re Mike, Mike, & Oscar, and we’re making awards season year round, without the stuffiness. Thank you! And do stay safe, everybody.