June 2024 – This Had Oscar Buzz

297 – To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar

Why not derail an originally planned episode to close pride season with a beloved queer 90s film with three praised performances? In 1995, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar spun a tale of three drag queens on a road trip that get stranded in middle America. Its headliners were two macho movie stars in Patrick Swayze and Wesley Snipes and one emerging theatre actor in John Leguizamo, resulting in Globe nominations for Swayze and Leguizamo. One of a few of the 90s drag centric movie hits, To Wong Foo was ignored by the Academy for both its performances and its costumes, a category won by The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert the previous year.

This episode, we unpack how the film has stood the test of time in the queer canon and the performances from these straight performers. We also discuss the film’s divine female ensemble, how the film holds up to contemporary expectations for queer cinema, and title punctuation.

Topics also include favorite outfits from Snipes’ Noxeema Jackson, the drag road trip movie tradition, and 1995 Best Supporting Actor.

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296 – Take Shelter

We return this week to one of the Oscar years we bemoan the most, 2011, to talk about Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter. After Michael Shannon landed a surprise acting nomination for Revolutionary Road, it seemed he’d somewhat cornered the market on onscreen psychosis. In this film, he plays a rural father who begins to see apocalyptic visions that may or may not be coming to fruition. As his wife, Jessica Chastain would make her debut when the film premiered to Sundance audiences, already amassing a reputation as the next big thing due to the several films she had coming, including Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life.

This episode, we talk about Shannon’s onscreen persona and how it may shade our perceptions of this film. We also talk about how The Help became the film that Chastain was Oscar nominated for in her breakthrough year, Kathy Baker in Edward Scissorhands, and the film’s divisive ending.

Topics also include Sundance 2011 movies, the Death Becomes Her musical, and cozy culture during the apocalypse.

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295 – Let Them All Talk

Say it with us: confusion! In our episodes where we have discussed 2020, one of the major conversations we’ve yet to really tackle is the confusion around what films would be considered theatrical while most of the country’s theatres were closed. This week’s film occupied that undefined space: Steven Soderbergh’s ensemble comedy Let Them All Talk. Meryl Streep starred as a heralded author reunited on a cruise with old friends who may have inspired her work, played by Dianne Wiest and Candice Bergen. While at sea, conversations of art vs. commerce, authenticity, and inspiration play out in improvisational delight. But alas, no one knew whether Let Them All Talk was a movie or TV.

This week, we talk about Soderbergh’s films made for HBO Max and the Oscar nominated performances we would swap out this year in favor of the LTAT women. We also talk about Streep’s career post-The Devil Wears Prada, Wiest monologuing about the night sky, and Murphy Brown vs. Dan Quayle.

Topics also include the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards, this year’s Emmy race, and Angels in America.

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294 – The Notebook

The May miniseries is over and we’re kicking off June with a dose of movie monoculture with 2004’s The Notebook. Adapted from the Nicholas Sparks romance novel, the film’s journey to the screen attracted a range of huge Hollywood names from Steven Spielberg to Britney Spears. The tale of two lovers divided by class in the south, the film captured lightning in a bottle with Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as the lovers and old school Hollywood legends James Garner and Gena Rowlands as their older versions facing dementia. Though Garner would see a SAG Supporting Actor nomination, the industry didn’t recognize what would become a beloved classic.

This week, we talk about the film’s double threat appeal between teens and their moms and how Gosling and McAdams recreated the film’s iconic kiss at the MTV Movie Awards. We also talk about Gosling and McAdams’ ascendant careers in the mid aughts, Joan Allen shouting “trash!”, and the unmissable similarities between Sparks movie posters.

Topics also include Gosling at the box office, the THOB Conference agenda, and (naturally) the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards.

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