October 2022 – This Had Oscar Buzz

217 – Mary Reilly

Happy Halloween, Garys! Get ready for lots of whispers and accents as we close spooky season with one of our oft-referenced favorites, 1996′s uberflop Mary Reilly. A riff on the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde tale starring Julia Roberts as an Irish maid who falls for both personalities of the mad scientist, the film was a bodice-ripping reunion of several Dangerous Liaisons collaborators: director Stephen Frears, screenwriter Christopher Hampton, and star John Malkovich. Despite the high pedigree and pre-production high hopes that landed Roberts a massive payday, the movie was critically lambasted and bombed at the box office.

This episode, we discuss the Frears filmography and his service to the culture of directing prestige actress vehicles. We also discuss the 1990s prestige reiterations of classic monster movies, Glenn Close’s deliciously bawdy performance as a hothouse matron, and we loop back to Julia Roberts’ Six Timers Club quiz.

Topics also include Tammie Brown makeup, how Malkovich should have been nominated in 1999 for playing himself, and Two-ster.

PLUS we are kicking off this episode with a fun announcement: we are partnering with Vulture for the new Fantasy Movie League!! Join us at moviegame.vulture.com!

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216 – Snowden

Welcome all our new CIA listeners, because this week we are talking about 2016′s Snowden. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as controversial whistleblower Edward Snowden, the film follows Snowden’s journey through exposing the surveillance state and his exile to Russia, all while maintaining his relationship with girlfriend Lindsay Mills (played by Shailene Woodley). With Oliver Stone at the helm and Laura Poitras’ Snowden doc Citizenfour having recently earned the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, the film arrived with high expectations that it immediately disappointed when this bland biopic debuted at TIFF.

This episode, Joe gives us a recap of his New York Film Festival experience this year before we dive into Stone’s misfire. We also talk about Oscar winners that have played Oscar winners, Gordon-Levitt’s distracting baritone while playing Snowden, Peter Gabriel’s film awards history, and Stone’s fall from the height of his cultural significance in the 1980s and 1990s.

Topics also include TIFF premieres that open to general audiences during the festival, the 2011 Best Supporting Actress race that Woodley narrowly missed, and Chris’ ongoing journey with Survivor.

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215 – Beatriz at Dinner (with Jorge Molina)

On the eve of the return of The White Lotus, we’re taking a look at the Mike White oeuvre with returning guest Jorge Molina and 2017′s Beatriz at Dinner. Starring our beloved Salma Hayek as a holistic masseuse trapped at a toxic dinner party held by her wealthy clients, the film debuted at Sundance and was immediately viewed through the lens of our outrage and despair in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s election. The dark cringe comedy had a divisive finale but a brilliant ensemble including Connie Britton, John Lithgow, and Chloe Sevigny, with Hayek giving one of her finest performances. But the 2017 Best Actress race was highly competitive, and this summer release struggled to make an awards season comeback.

This episode, we talk about the Arteta/White partnership including White’s television output and Arteta as the quintessential journeyman director. Topics also include scrubbed John Early clips, our dreams for Hayek’s deserved awards future, and comparing Beatriz at Dinner to another 2017 film that succeeded with Oscar.

Topics also include the 2002 Best Actress nominees pitching grants, Mike White’s run on Survivor and The Amazing Race, and performing Salma in Snatch Game.

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214 – Mud (with Roxana Hadadi)

What’s better than movies like this? Guys being dudes! This week, Vulture television critic Roxana Hadadi joins us to return to the McConaissance with Jeff Nichols’ Mud. Matthew McConaughey stars as the film’s eponymous criminal who befriends a young teenager (played by Ty Sheridan) grappling with the death of his town and his parents’ divorce. The film debuted at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival while Nichols’ star was on the rise and McConaughey was mid-ascendancy, but was mildly received on the global stage. When the film was released in stateside theaters the following spring, critics were much more enthusiastic about Nichols’ take on masculinity and myth, but the film was ultimately overshadowed by McConaughey’s other Best Actor bid, Dallas Buyers Club.

This episode, we discuss the filmography of Jeff Nichols, including the divisiveness of Take Shelter’s ending and projects that almost happened. We also get into Sheridan’s career as a young actor, Matt Damon’s macho crypto ad, and the Independent Spirit Awards Robert Altman prize.

Topics also include Chris Pine nearly playing the lead, Taylor Sheridan as Nichols’ tether, and irrational fears of snakes invading our everyday lives.

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213 – Where’d You Go, Bernadette

As Cate Blanchett inches towards a possible third acting Oscar with this week’s Tár, we look back at the quickly forgotten Where’d You Go, Bernadette. Based on the praised novel by Maria Semple about an eccentric former architect’s disappearance, the film paired Blanchett with director Richard Linklater (and reunited her with actor Billy Crudup, playing her husband) and faced numerous delays from distributor Annapurna despite its pedigree. Linklater streamlined the novel’s techno-epistolary structure, resulting in a more straightforward film that lost much of the novel’s unique comic tone and character insights. Though Blanchett would earn a Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy nomination at the Globes, the film was already long forgotten at that point of the season.

This episode, Blanchett joins our Six Timers Club and we talk about the barrier of entry to third acting Oscar wins. We also look at Crudup’s filmography and his shockingly paltry lack of awards love, Linklater as a director hard to pin down to a career narrative, and Annapurna’s bumpy and brief road from production company to distributor.

Topics also include “prepandemic” as a concept, Broadway actors telling stories at benefits, and Tyra interviewing Beyoncé.

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