January 2023 – This Had Oscar Buzz

Class of 2022

An annual ritual returns! We are here to welcome the This Had Oscar Buzz Class of 2022! Off the top of the episode, we celebrate friend and former guest (and, spoiler alert, next week’s guest) Pamela Ribon on her Best Animated Feature Short nomination for My Year of Dicks and lament the To Leslie episode that could have been. We also get into the Riseborough situation and previous nominations that were rescinded. And of course we have our returning categories for movies we’re happiest (and saddest) to have missed out on Oscar nominations, most surprising to miss, most forgettable movie to receive Oscar buzz, and our most anticipated for a future episode.

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228 – After Hours (with Mitchell Beaupre!)

Letterboxd senior editor and podcast co-host Mitchell Beaupre joins us this week and is bringing their favorite film along, and it’s our oldest film yet: Martin Scorsese’s After Hours. In the mid-80s Scorsese was rebounding from his closest call with Oscar yet in Raging Bull and a first attempt to make The Last Temptation of Christ falling apart. In a quick turnaround, he made what some may call his most atypical film and freaked some critics out with its dreamlike, absurd take on male ego. With Griffin Dunne leading a cast that includes a delightful female ensemble of Rosanna Arquette, Teri Garr, Linda Fiorentino, and Catherine O’Hara, the film remains one of Scorsese’s most fascinating.

This episode, we get into the film’s underrated status and the oddball first Independent Spirit Awards where the film took top honors. We also discuss the Globes Comedy races where Dunne was nominated for Best Actor, going long distances for rep screenings, and the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.

Topics also include Ordinary People beating Raging Bull, the Bridesmaids SAG drinking game, and the To Leslie Oscar season surprise campaign.

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227 – The Old Man and the Gun

In 2018, it was reported that Robert Redford would be making his acting swan song with David Lowery’s crime caper The Old Man and the Gun. As the film received its festival debut, those retirement statements were backtracked, but audiences were still given a thoughtful and surprising fable about a real “Redford type” of character and a convincing love story with Sissy Spacek. Reviews were largely positive but muted, and with the film’s early season release and the dismissal of Redford’s earlier claims that this would be his last performance, the film remained an awards season trifle with a few devoted fans but no Oscar love.

This episode, we talk about Lowery’s varied and interesting directorial career thus far and Redford’s surprisingly spare history of awards traction for his performances. We also look back at the 1980 Academy Awards when Redford and Spacek won their Oscars, the lingering distaste among film lovers for Ordinary People beating out Raging Bull, and a post-Globe win and SAG nomination state of the current race.

Topics also include Spacek’s Oscar dominance in the 1980s, Elisabeth Moss joining our Six Timers Club, and the National Board of Review’s Top Independent Films of 2018.

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226 – The Leisure Seeker

When the 2017 Golden Globe nominations were announce, the question on everyone’s mind was “What the hell is The Leisure Seeker?!” Starring Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland as an aging couple having one last getaway in their eponymous Winnebago, the film debuted in competition at Venice before also playing a TIFF gala and went entirely under the radar. Sony Classics quietly gave the film a qualifying release, successfully netting Mirren a Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Golden Globe nomination despite so few seeing the film. The nomination was a head-scratcher to most, but was predicted by none other than our Joe Reid.

This episode, we discuss Helen Mirren’s vast history with the Golden Globes and assess the current diagnosis on the Globes and their often amusing nomination history. We also talk about Sutherland’s famously surprising lack of an acting Oscar nomination, other possible comedy leading actress contenders from 2017, and another round of Alter Egos.

Topics also include what famous festival jurors think of the movies they have to watch, the film’s half-baked look at the 2016 election, and surprise Danielle Deadwyler.

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225 – Murder on the Orient Express

All aboard, listeners! This week, we’re looking at Kenneth Branagh’s recent attempts to take on Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot with 2017′s Murder on the Orient Express. Directed by and starring Branagh as the French investigator, the film assembled a gobsmacking assemblage of stars (from Michelle Pfeiffer to Judi Dench to Penelope Cruz to Johnny Depp) for one of Christie’s most iconic whodunits that looked to be a splashy blockbuster. Though the film was a box office success enough to launch a new franchise, the film received a ho-hum critical response and never got close to achieving the Oscar embrace received by Sidney Lumet’s 1974 version of the material.

This episode, we talk about Branagh’s underwhelming approach to the material and how the film doesn’t give us movie stars acting opposite movie stars in the way that we want. We also discuss how Death on the Nile compares to this film’s lacking sense of fun, Michelle Pfeiffer’s acting nominations, and the 2017 Saturn Awards.

Topics also include Ingrid Bergman’s Orient Express Oscar win, the film’s odd trailer punctuated by Imagine Dragons, and the mustache.

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