December 2018 – This Had Oscar Buzz

027 – The Family Stone (with Tara Ariano)

This week, we invited over Extra Hot Great co-host Tara Ariano to discuss our problematic Christmas fav, 2005′s The Family Stone. It may be one of several love-it-or-hate it holiday movies, but spoiler alert the three of us are super fans. Oscar and critics however, were a different story. Once thought a potential play for the goodwill lingering from Diane Keaton’s Something’s Gotta Give nomination, the awards tally for the Thomas Bezucha film made its largest dent with a Globe nomination for Sarah Jessica Parker – not to mention playing into the ascendancy of Rachel McAdams.

Topics include the 2005 Supporting Actress lineup that introduced several Oscar favorites, the film’s cozy/prickly authenticity in depicting family dynamics, and the return of our favorite random movie award: the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards!

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026 – Crazy, Stupid, Love.

In many ways, 2011 was the year of Ryan Gosling. This was the peak “Hey Girl” era, and this year alone gave us the critical darling hotness of Drive and what we thought would suit the more traditional Academy tastes with The Ides of March. He was so omnipresent that a weak Best Actor field had us thinking for a moment that Oscar could make room for his most charming work in the trifecta, Crazy, Stupid, Love. Add him in to a cast of other beloved performers like Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, and Emma Stone, and you have a recipe for a real guilty pleasure.

Though Gosling did nab a Globe nomination for his ab-flashing work, this one might have been wishful thinking anyway with Oscar, but then again: there’s that pesky comedy bias. And while CSL has its champions (particularly programmers of cable television networks), the film also has all the trademark contrivances in screenwriter Dan Fogelman’s wheelhouse. This week we discuss Gosling’s ascent as a major leading man, the film’s creepy sexual politics, and how romantic comedies have failed Marisa Tomei.

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025 – Alexander (with David Sims)

Grab some snakes and prep that Dionysus monologue, because this week we are taking it back to 2004′s Alexander. Starring Colin Farrell filling the historic shoes of Alexander the Great, this film was a passion project for Oliver Stone that defeated a rival biopic from Baz Luhrman and Leonardo DiCaprio – but lost the war to critics and audiences alike. And we’ve brought along another special guest to help us on the journey: staff writer for The Atlantic and co-host of the Blank Check podcast, David Sims.

Alexander was a notorious bomb that failed to walk the road that Gladiator had paved for it, but was initially thought of for Oscar almost on Oliver Stone’s name alone. But that hasn’t stopped the director for making several extended cuts of this already very long film. This episode will go into Stone’s diminishing Oscar returns after his heyday in the 80s and 90s, Colin Farrell’s Hollywood explosion, and take our first look at the Razzies.

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024 – Anywhere But Here

This week’s episode is a tale of two actresses at the opposite ends of their respective Oscar stories: 1999′s Anywhere But Here, with Natalie Portman’s kicking off her Oscar trajectory and Susan Surandon struggling to get the nomination that has eluded her since her win for Dead Man Walking. This is a mother-daughter film stooped in mid-90s adult contemporary songs and cozy cliches, so naturally we kind of loved it – even if Oscar forgot it.

This week we look at the career of director Wayne Wang, including showering some love on his other (also Oscar ignored) mother-daughter saga The Joy Luck Club. Also discussed: the much beloved film year that was 1999, what happens after Overdue Oscars, and a full dive into Fumbling Toward Ecstasy era Sarah McLachlan.

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