Episode 33 — Wicked: The Film and Performances the Oscars Undervalued | Fork Rating

In this episode of Movies I Give a Fork About, AJ revisits Wicked: Part One — a film that delivers scale, emotion, and elite-level performances… but didn’t receive the recognition it arguably deserved where it mattered most.

From Cynthia Erivo’s powerhouse dual performance — blending emotional depth with technically demanding вокals — to Ariana Grande’s surprising precision and comedic control, this is a film firing on all cylinders.

So why did the Academy stop short?

AJ breaks down the disconnect between nominations and wins, challenges the idea of “first-time narratives” in awards voting, and examines how factors like momentum, legacy, and industry politics shape outcomes more than pure performance.

This episode also dives into:

• The overlooked direction of Jon M. Chu
• Why Paul Tazewell’s win was undeniable
• And whether the Oscars reward merit… or just the moment

🎧 Final verdict: This is a complete film — and one the Academy didn’t fully meet at its level.

🍴 Movies I Give a Fork About  

Movies don’t get stars — they get forks.

Hosted by AJ Jones, this podcast cuts through hype, marketing, and awards buzz to answer one simple question:

Is this movie actually worth your time?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Movies I Give a Fork About, the podcast where we don't use stars, we use forks. Because not every movie deserves your time. Not every movie earns your emotion. But when one truly does, that's when you give a fork. I'm AJ and today's movie is Wicked. Okay, I'm revisiting some of last year's movies and weighing in. And before we get even into this movie, let me say this very clearly. John Chu not being nominated for Best Director in last year's Oscars is a massive miss. And when you look at the bigger picture, this is not happening in isolation. Because across nearly one century, one hundred years of the Oscars, only a small handful of best picture nominees have been directed by people of color. That's not a coincidence. That's a fucking pattern. And when someone takes the daunting task of converting one of the most beloved plays in Broadway that still runs today, Wicked, and transforming it onto screen and delivering at the level that he did at the scale with the kind of execution, and the director is still left out of the conversation that tells you something about how recognition is still being handed out at the Oscars. Anyway, let's talk about the film. So if you somehow magically, unimaginably do not know the premise of the story of Wicked, it is the story of two young women. One Alphaba, born with green skin and an outsider from the start. And the other, Glinda, privileged, popular, and initially a little insufferable. The two characters meet at school, and what unfolds is an unlikely friendship that becomes the emotional foundation of this story. And that's why it works. At its core, this is a story about female friendship, identity, and perspective. It explores how two people can experience the same world very differently and still deeply impact each other's lives. And this film is beautifully done. The scale of this film is massive, but it never loses that emotional core. And what makes it even more impressive is what is required of the performers. This is not just acting. They are delivering emotional performances while singing live and doing both at an optimum level. That is not easy. That is fucking elite. Now I know there was a lot of noise around the film and the press for all the junkets and all the interviews and the memes and the interviews getting picked apart and holding space jokes and people questioning the chemistry and the tone. All of it. But here's what matters. These actors did not just show up for a quick shoot. They spent years in this world, filming part one and part two simultaneously. And that kind of time invested linked to being those characters changes the performances. It deepens the relationships. And you feel that on screen. Not my generation, was a huge surprise. Her comedic timing, sharp and fucking funny. I laughed out loud a number of times. For instance, the toss-toss, uh, or during the song Popular. I mean, get out of here. Her performance controlled, not over the top. And she shows us what the wickedness of being a mean girl can look like, unlike the real world, notices the impacts that she's having and actually starts to take some accountability. And vocally, she adapted her voice to match Glinda's range. That's seriously impressive. And that's not popularity casting, that was earned. And Cynthia Revo, fucking incredible. And again, the dual demand acting and singing in a lead performance and at that level and making it look effortless. Come on. That is the kind of performance that should be winning awards. So before I give my fork rating, we need to talk about what this film was recognized/nominated for just in the Oscars alone. So Best Picture. This film belongs here full stop. This is not just a spectacle, it is a complete, emotionally grounded cinematic experience. And the Academy does award best pictures to musicals: West Side Story, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, and Chicago. And Wicked stands on its own in terms of its scale, execution, and performance. And it holds place alongside the most iconic films in the genre. Okay, next nomination: Best Female Actor in a Lead Role, Cynthia Arrivo. Her performance here is insane. What she is doing here is not just acting, it's endurance, it's control, its vulnerability layered together. She carries the emotional weight of the entire film while delivering some of the most technically demanding vocal work in any category. And she never lets you see the effort. And I'll say this, I have watched the film multiple times now, and I still cannot get through that ballroom scene without absolutely losing it. Because what she taps into there, that feeling of being othered, of being seen, but not accepted. It is so raw, it's honest, and so deeply human. There's no exaggeration, no melodrama. She doesn't push the emotion, she lets it sit. And because of that, it lands harder. And that level of restraint paired with the level of emotional access, that's not great acting, that is elite. And it's worth saying, this is not new for her. Cynthia Revo was previously nominated for two Academy Awards for Harriet in 2020 for Best Female Actor in a Lead Role and Best Original Song as she co-wrote the original song Stand Up from that same film. And before that, she won a Tony Award for the color purple and a Grammy for the cast recording, as well as a daytime Emmy connected to that same performance. That is not hype, that is a body of work. And she would have been the youngest person to win an Egot, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony, if she had won the Oscar last year. So again, this was a massive fucking miss on the part of the Academy. Next nomination to talk about female actor in a supporting role, Ariana Grande as Glinda. She brings her own style and take to this well-known and somewhat loved, somewhat despised character, depending who you talk to. Grande understood and genuinely embodied the role and executed it with discipline. And I get it, this was Grande's first nomination for an Oscar. But that argument doesn't fucking hold water with me. Because the Academy has already shown that they are willing to award first-time nominees. Case in point, the female actor in a lead role that was up against Cynthia Revo, Mickey Madison, won for Honora. So the first-time nomination bullshit is not a defense here. So as a first-time nominee Grande, what she did in this film, acting and singing at that level, at the emotional level as well, is not easier. And it's certainly not easier than what won for her category. If anything, the role demanded more from her, and she fucking delivered. This film was also nominated for Best Sound, which was complex, layered, and executed cleanly. This film did win for Best Costume Design, and Paul Tazewell, the recipient of that award, also made history at the 97th Academy Awards by becoming the first black man to win Best Oscar in the costume design category. A massive accomplishment with over 1,000 costume pieces in this film alone. Tazewell is also the first black man to win this category and the second black designer to win overall following Ruth E. Carter for Black Panther. So the bottom line here is there's 10 nominations for this film. This was a complete film, and yet it still didn't get the level of recognition that it deserved at the top. That's the disconnect for me. And this is where the inconsistency of the Academy starts to show. Because I just don't understand how Enora wins best picture and best female actor in a lead role. The rationale is not there for me. It's about experience, then Cynthia Revo with the control, the range, the technical precision. If it's about legacy, then Demi Moore brings the weight of the career meets moment energy that the Academy loves. And if it's about international recognition and gravitas, then Fernanda Torres is right there with I'm Still Here for this category. But that is not what happened. So clearly there is no standard. It's not about resume, it's not about paying your dues, it's about timing, narrative, and what the Academy decides matters most in the moment. And that's what really didn't add up for me last year. And that's when I start to question what's actually being rewarded. And this is when I get frustrated as an audience member and a movie lover. Wicked should have been recognized more broadly and more seriously by the Academy. It was technically demanding, emotionally grounded, and an incredibly well-executed film. And what I learned this year that they changed the rules. At the time, last year, when Wicked was nominated, there was not a rule requiring Academy voters to watch all of the nominated films for the entire category it was nominated for before the Academy members could cast a vote. So, in my opinion, that is not only flawed, it's bullshit. So, in the absence of this reasonable basic requirement, what happens? It becomes about visibility and fucking campaigning, and in its simplest terms, a fucking popularity contest or a PR campaigning exercise. And when that happens, films like Wicked, led by a diverse cast directed by a filmmaker of color, telling a story centered on women, they don't always get valuated on merit, and that's a huge fucking problem. This film deserved way more. And look to be clear, Wicked did win. It took home Oscars for costume design, production design, and both were definitely deserved. But that's the point. It gets recognized for the visuals, while everything else it's doing, performance, scale, technical execution, gets treated like secondary. And when you compare that to a Nora, where recognition is concentrated in the top categories, it creates an imbalance. And this is where it starts to feel less like merit and more like preference. So my fork rating for Wicked Part 1 is Five Forks. This is a fully immersive, emotionally resonant, technically impressive film with standout performances and world-class production design. And Paul Tazewell's costumes off the fucking charts. This is a movie that delivers on all levels, and it proves that the Academy sometimes gets it 100% fucking wrong. And that's today's fork. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show, share it with someone who gives a fork about movies. Until next time, watch boldly, judge honestly, and never be afraid to give a fork.