August 2023 – This Had Oscar Buzz

253 – Moby Dick (with Emily St. James!)

We’re going back further than ever before this episode and we’ve got writer/critic/author Emily St. James along for the ride! After a consecutive run as an Oscar favorite in the late 1940s to early 1950s, director John Huston gave us 1956’s Moby Dick, an adaptation of perhaps the greatest novel of all time and often seen as unadaptable. With Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab and a cameo performance by Orson Welles, the film earned Huston favor at the DGA Awards, but even with its (then) technical feats, the film did not continue Huston’s Oscar streak.

This episode, we talk about the impossible task of bringing Herman Melville’s novel to the screen and the perception of Peck as miscast. We also discuss the 1956 Oscars, Peck’s run as Academy president, and outrage over Home Alone‘s underwhelming Oscar nomination tally.

Topics also include the Grumpy Old Men blooper reel, Reba McEntire as Trish, and we also announce the return of Vulture’s Movies Fantasy League! Join the rest of the Garys with league name AllOfUsGarys!

And don’t forget to sign up for our Patreon, This Had Oscar Buzz: Turbulent Brilliance over at patreon.com/thishadoscarbuzz!!

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252 – Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool

Ahead of this season’s Nyad, we are looking back at the Oscar history of Annette Bening and 2017’s Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool. One year after missing out on a nomination for 20th Century Women, Bening returned with this film, starring as actress Gloria Grahame . Told from the perspective of actor Peter Turner (played by Jamie Bell), the film tells a love story between Turner and the Oscar winner during her final days. The film received a mild festival response and limited release during New Years, with Bening and Bell getting BAFTA nominations, but no such love from Oscar.

This episode, we talk about Bening’s four previous Oscar nominations and her notorious dual losses to Hilary Swank. We also discuss actresses who have played Oscar winners, Grahame’s Oscar win for The Bad and the Beautiful, and that other Sony Pictures Classics film from 2017 that took its time to expand.

Topics also include Bell’s leading man charisma, Bening’s potential for Nyad, and the many PG-13 f*cks of The American President.

Don’t forget to sign up for This Had Oscar Buzz: Turbulent Brilliance over at patreon.com/thishadoscarbuzz!!

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251 – Love and Mercy (with Taylor Cole!)

Are you loving our new original intro music, listeners? We’re joined this week by its composer and our friend Taylor Cole to muse on the genre musical biopic with 2015’s Love and Mercy. The film follows different chapters of Brian Wilson’s life and mental wellness journey, with Paul Dano taking on Wilson’s life as he experimented with The Beach Boys’ sound and John Cusack as the later Wilson. After a debut at the 2014 TIFF, the film launched in the summer to positive reviews and a slew of precursor nominations for Dano. But much like the Academy voted with The Fablemans this past year, Dano was left out at the last moment.

This episode, we discuss how the film’s structure appropriately tells Wilson’s story while creatively twisting the standard biopic framework. We also discuss Elizabeth Banks’ performance headlining the later portions of the film, divisive feelings about Dano’s earlier performances, and 2015 Best Supporting Actor.

Topics also include Cusack strike tweeting, presenting Chicago to Social Studies class, and our relationships with the music of The Beach Boys.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our Patreon, This Had Oscar Buzz: Turbulent Brilliance, over at patreon.com/thishadoscarbuzz!!

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250 – Her Smell

We’ve come up on another anniversary episode of This Had Oscar Buzz, and we’ve got another favorite that long-time listeners have heard us praise before: 2019’s Her Smell. Debuting on at TIFF 2018, the Alex Ross Perry film is a daring and ambitious take on the riot grrrls of the early 1990s. Starring Elisabeth Moss as Becky Something, an addict egomaniac who brings her own downfall, the film audaciously immerses us in Becky’s destruction (and later climb out of it) in ways that are exhausting and rewarding. Earning stratospheric praise for Moss by even the film’s most frustrated viewers, the film was cursed to a microrelease and stayed an Oscar outsider despite vocal critical support.

This episode, we talk about the audacity of both Perry’s film and Moss’ performance. We also get into the depressing state of independent distribution, Perry’s open comments regarding its release and support for Moss’ performance, and the Gotham Awards.

Topics also include the film’s fake album covers, our appreciation for difficult characters, and our superlatives for the past year of the podcast.

But perhaps most exciting is two bits of news right at the top: our new theme music by Taylor Cole and our newly launched Patreon!! Please consider subscribing and joining us for This Had Oscar Buzz: Turbulent Brilliance over at patreon.com/thishadoscarbuzz!!

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