ReelBlend #33: Huge Changes At The Oscars, The Meg Reactions, And EndingBlend

Shortly before the ReelBlend hosts hopped on the line to record this week's episode, the Academy dropped a few bombshells. In addition to attempting to make its annual Oscars telecast shorter (three hours now), and to move the date of the show earlier (February 9 by 2020), the Academy announced a new category honoring Achievement in Popular Film. Wow. How will they define "Popular"? What exactly does "Achievement" mean? And doesn't this decision water down the eventual Best Picture winner?

The guys have a lot to discuss this week, so press play on the player above and dive right in.

Speaking of "dive," Jon Turteltaub's The Meg opens in theaters, and the guys are giving it a SPOILER-FREE reaction. Basically, two of the ReelBlend hosts had a lot of fun with The Meg, while one of us really hated it. OK, he says it's "Fine." But it was a begrudging "fine," and we're not sure we really believe him.

By the end of the episode, the guys had circled around to this week's #Blend game, and it is a winner. They chose #EndingBlend, which had the hosts debating their FAVORITE movie endings of all time. The choices were bleak -- and we're not sure what that says about the hosts (or about movie endings, in general). Also, Morgan Freeman was involved in more than one choice, so buckle in for that conversation!

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Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. Having been with the site since 2011, Sean interviewed myriad directors, actors and producers, and created ReelBlend, which he proudly cohosts with Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. And he's the author of RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT, the Spider-Man history book WITH GREAT POWER, and an upcoming book about Bruce Willis.