April 2021 – This Had Oscar Buzz

142 – Friends with Money

This episode, we are returning to the career of the great Nicole Holofcener with 2006′s enesemble comedy Friends With Money. The film stars Jennifer Aniston as the housemaid friend to three wealthy women played by Joan Cusack, Catherine Keener, and Frances McDormand, and studies class and friendship with the kind of wit and grace that’s made Holofcener’s films so special. But despite strong notices for Aniston’s off-type performance and rising appreciation for Holofcener’s work, the film peaked with a Supporting Actress win for McDormand at the Independent Spirit Awards.

Once again, we praise the Holofcener ouevre and exhalt the Holofcener/Keener partnership. We also look at Cusack’s rare multiple comedy Oscar nominations, Aniston’s love of working with comedic actors like Adam Sandler, and McDormand going off in an Old Navy.

Topics include creative differences between Holofcener and Julianne Moore attempting to make Can You Ever Forgive Me?, films that might have overshadowed her work in their Oscar seasons, and our Holofcener rankings.

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141 – Carlito’s Way

We return to the filmography of Brian DePalma this week with 1993′s Carlito’s Way. The film reunited DePalma with his Scarface star Al Pacino as Carlito Brigante, a former criminal struggling to go straight after his release from prison and his shady circle that keeps pulling him back in. Released the year after Pacino’s long-awaited Oscar win for Scent of a Woman, the film and Pacino received mixed reviews and was ultimately buried in Universal’s mighty awards slate that included Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park, and In the Name of the Father.

This week, we discuss Al Pacino’s Oscar draught between his win and The Irishman and some of the troublesome spots in DePalma’s filmography. We also look at John Leguizamo’s cinematic breakout in the early ‘90s, Penelope Ann Miller’s filmography of female roles in male-centered movies, and an “unrecognizable” Sean Penn returning from a three year movie break.

Topics also include the Cahiers du Cinema, Carole Bayer Sager’s Oscar nominations in Original Song, and iconic ghost cinema Heart and Souls. And we also announce our upcoming May miniseries!

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140 – A Home At The End Of The World

After the success of The Hours in 2002, author Michael Cunningham was a hot commodity in prestige cinema. At the same time, Colin Farrell emerged as the next big thing and was seemingly inescapable at the movies. The two converged in 2004 for A Home at the End of the World, an adaptation of Cunningham’s novel delivered by celebrated stage director Michael Mayer. Also starring Robin Wright, Sissy Spacek, and a breakthrough Dallas Roberts, the film follows a bisexual throuple that forms their own unique family unit outside the societal norms and their struggles to maintain their delicate balance.

Released in the summer and met with lukewarm reviews, A Home… was mostly forgotten by year’s end despite the strong work of its cast. This episode, we revisit an early THOB bet about Colin Farrell’s long-term Oscar prospects and discuss the beginning days of both Warner Independent and Farrell’s career.

Topics also include Oscar’s recent history of straight actors in LGBTQ roles, Sissy Spacek smashing plates in the aughts, Michael Mayer’s Broadway directing credits, and “pentathalon bangs”. And we tease this year’s May miniseries!

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139 – Carnage

After becoming a Broadway sensation, landing the Tony Award for Best Play and lead acting nominations for each member of its acting quartet (including a win for Marcia Gay Harden), Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage looked primed to become yet another stage-to-screen adaptation with Oscar in its sights. But when the movie version arrived, it eschewed the play’s lauded, starry Broadway cast (not to mention the many famous names that starred in hit productions around the globe) for a miscast foursome: Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Christoph Waltz, and Kate Winslet. The film, abreviated to simply Carnage, failed to capture the play’s humor and precise bourgeois target, on top of being directed by Roman Polanski.

This episode, we compare the missteps of the film to the successes of its stage version, including one major mistake that bookends the film. We also discuss Marcia Gay Harden’s Tony speech, map Winslet’s long road to Oscar starting with Sense and Sensibility to the category maneuvering of The Reader, and play another round of Alter Egos.

Topics also include American Express commercials, Broadway bootlegs, and the infamous barf scene.

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