Host – Page 25 – This Had Oscar Buzz

108 – A Dangerous Method

If you look at many of the bizarre and not-safe-for-work fascinations embedded in the filmography of David Cronenberg, it might be surprising that the auteur’s work ever made it close to Oscar conversations. But this week, we’re looking at one of his films that did: 2011′s Freud and Jung horny costume drama A Dangerous Method. Starring Michael Fassbender as Jung and frequent Cronenberg star Viggo Mortensen as Freud, the film looks at the relationship between the two foundational psychologists and the women caught between their ideologies, Sabina Spielrein – played by Keira Knightley, in a divisively received performance.

The film also played a major part in Fassbender’s 2011 omnipresence, though Shame would be his closest Oscar contender of his many films this year. But it was the director’s then-increasing favor with Oscar that set most early predictions’ sights on this film. This episode, we take a close look at the Cronenberg resume and all of its fascinating perversions.

Topics also include 2011 Supporting Actress, Knightley’s relationship to costume dramas, and how A History of Violence came close to a deeper embrace by Oscar.

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107 – Prime

We’re back to discussing Meryl Streep (for the SIXTH time!) this episode for a film starring the legend opposite an actress who was overlooked for a defining work. After Oscar ignored the hyperviolent Kill Bill films and its iconic star, Uma Thurman seemed poised for future Oscar success. When she was cast opposite Streep for 2005′s Prime (in addition to a few other high profile roles that year), it looked like this could be more to Oscar’s tastes. Starring Thurman as a woman who falls for a younger man who happens to be the son of her beloved therapist, Prime ultimately was a misfire romantic comedy that quickly got forgotten.

This episode, we look at how the film is unsatisfying because it focuses too much on Bryan Greenberg as the male love interest and how it almost starred Meryl’s Oscar rival in a later season: Sandra Bullock. And we welcome Meryl to the THOB Six-Timers club and look back at the previous Streep films we have discussed.

Topics also include performer spouses of Real World castmembers, the accumulation of unhinged storylines on Boston Public, and “it’s fashion!”

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106 – Dr. T and the Women

This episode, we’re returning to the career of Robert Altman for one of the most bizarre films we’ve ever discussed. With a stacked female cast surrounding Richard Gere as a beloved Texan gynecologist, 2000′s Dr. T and The Women baffled audiences straight to its well-earned F CinemaScore. Erased from our memories one year later by the Oscar success of Gosford Park, this film lacks Altman’s distinct touch and interesting characters before it (literally) drives into a bizarre conclusion.

With a cast that also includes Helen Hunt, Kate Hudson, Tara Reid, Laura Dern, and a nude Farrah Fawcett frollicking in a mall fountain, Dr. T makes good on little of its promise. We look at Richard Gere’s screen persona prior to his near-nomination for Chicago, Altman’s stint in director jail post-Popeye, and how this film factored into the year’s narratives for Hunt and Hudson.

Topics also include the brief life of Artisan Entertainment, rich lady mall culture, and assassination tours.

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105 – Somewhere (with George Civeris)

After reaching Oscar success in 2003 with Lost in Transalation, Sofia Coppola has stayed mostly on the fringes of Oscar conversations with her distinct but understated filmography. This week, comedian and StraightioLab cohost George Civeris joins us to look back at perhaps her quietest film, 2010′s Somewhere. Starring Stephen Dorff as a B-movie star and Elle Fanning as his preteen daughter visiting him at his home at the Chateau Marmont, the film received a muted release at the end of the year and has since gained more ardant fans of its subdued emotional insight.

We discuss the film’s triumph and mishegoss at the Venice Film Festival, where it was awarded the Golden Lion by a jury led by Coppola’s friend Quentin Tarantino. We also look at Coppola’s frequently revisited portraits of privilege, her exceptional taste in song choices, and her performance in The Godfather Part III.

Other topics include the 2010 Best Actor lineup, newspaper ads as a bygone Oscar campaign tool / gay recruitment tool, and Britney Spears’ “Everytime” video.

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104 – The Terminal

Soak this one up, listeners, because this episode we’re taking one of the very few opportunities for us to talk about Steven Spielberg. The beloved director has one of the best Oscar track records in history, earning nominations for all but five of his feature films – including this week’s misfire, 2004′s The Terminal. Tom Hanks stars as a traveler from the fictional eastern European country of Krakozhia who gets trapped in JFK airport when a coup erupts mid-flight. What ensues is a too-cutesy and logic-defying fairy tale that is widely regarded as one of Spielberg’s biggest creative misses.

In this episode, we unpack all of the film’s tonal imbalances and its place in Spielberg’s post-9/11 triptych. We also look at costar Catherine Zeta-Jone’s post-Oscar (and pre-Tony) career, the one category we think The Terminal should have been nominated for, and Stanley Tucci as the film’s bland bureaucrat villain.

Other topics include Casa Zeta-Jones, Broadway billboards, and an extensive dive into all of the nominations (and wins) received by Spielberg’s films.

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103 – Natural Born Killers

This week, we’re going back to the mid-90s to visit Oliver Stone’s highly controversial skewering of the muckraking, blood-thirsty media landscape. Natural Born Killers arrived in late summer 1994 and immediately started a firestorm of outraged Republicans and a number of copycat killings. While an audacious and uncompromising satire, the violence of its central Mickey and Mallory paired with the bombast of Stone’s vision proved to be too daring for the Academy that previously couldn’t resist the filmmaker.

But the film also debuted in the year of Pulp Fiction, and inspired a major grudge toward Stone from original Killers screenwriter Quentin Tarantino. This episode, we praise the performances of stars Juliette Lewis and Woody Harrelson, and look at supporting player Robert Downey Jr.’s much-storied addiction issues during the decade.

Topics also include the 1994 Best Actress race, other movies drunk on dutch angles, and Tori Amos.

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102 – The Walk

Bonjour, listeners! This week, we’re returning to the work of Robert Zemeckis for a film whose buzz was built first by an Oscar winning documentary. In 2008, Man on Wire steamrolled the documentary race with the telling of highwire artist Philippe Petit’s daring tightrope performance between the World Trade Center towers – leading Zemeckis to give Petit the biopic treatment with The Walk in 2015. Promising awe-inspiring visual effects to put audiences in Petit’s shoes, the film nevertheless plummeted to an immediate death at the box office due to audiences’ waning favor for both 3D and the film’s star Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Despite some more embarrassing elements like JGL’s French accent and a climatic visit from a CGI bird, the film does deliver a satisfying and thrilling climax. But this episode, we unpack how even the film’s visual effects couldn’t crack Oscar’s lineup in a year with a surprising result in the category. We also look at Gordon-Levitt’s rise from teen star to capital “C” Charismatic leading man.

Topics also include the early films of Rian Johnson, An American Tale, and Werner Herzog saying science things.

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101 – Flawless

Philip Seymour Hoffman had a breakout 1999, winning critics prizes for performances in two films that just missed the Best Picture cut but landed his flashier costars with Supporting Actor nominations: Magnolia and The Talented Mr. Ripley. But this week, we’re discussing another less-praised film of his that year that nevertheless landed him a Lead Actor nomination at SAG: Joel Schumacher’s Flawless.

Hoffman stars in the film as drag performer and trans woman Rusty, who starts singing lessons with his bigot ex-cop neighbor Walt (Robert DeNiro) to help him recover from a stroke that was onset by violence in their building. This episode, we talk about the Oscar momentum Hoffman built over several beloved performances before his steamroll to a win for Capote. We also discuss the recently departed Schumacher, including battling over his Batman films and looking at his remarkable range of movies (and their quality).

Topics also include the film’s spotty relationship with trans and queer representation, DeNiro’s long gap between nominations post-Cape Fear, and cufflink guns.

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100 – mother!

We have finally arrived at a major milestone – our 100th episode!! To commemorate the occasion, we’re looking back at the notoriously divisive 2017 discourse factory, Darren Aronofsky’s mother!. An environmental allegory of biblical proportions, mother! arrived after a cryptic marketing campaign with few plot details beyond the promise of a horror spectacle and megastar Jennifer Lawrence at the forefront. Loved by some critics and loudly reviled by most audiences, any Oscar hopes or predictions evaporated once we saw what the film actually was.

for our 100th episode, we’re going all in on a film bursting with talking points, from Lawrence and Aronofsky’s romantic relationship (and how that shadowed readings on the film) to Michelle Pfeiffer rude and horny stand-in for Eve. Though Aronofsky was vocal to the press after release about what the film represents, we examine multiple possible threads of interpretation in its madness. We also look at Jennifer Lawrence fatigue among audiences, the history of F Cinemascores, and the goriest swag you’ve ever seen.

And since this is such a milestone episode, we take some time to look back on our favorites from previous episodes. Thank you listeners for joining us on the journey!

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099 – Proof

We’re looking to the stage for this week’s episode! After being awarded the Pultizer Prize for Drama, a Tony success, and two years on Broadway, Oscar obsessives looked to the big screen adaptation of Proof to continue its slew of trophies. With Gwyneth Paltrow reprising her role from the London stage (along with that production’s director and Shakespeare in Love helmer, John Madden), this intimate drama on math and madness felt like the surest of bets on paper. But Proof’s release was delayed by a year as Miramax began to fizzle, arriving on screen as an afterthought even in a Best Actress year with fewer contenders.

This week, we look back at recent adaptations of Pulitzer Prize winning plays and what has gotten lost from stage to screen. We also look at how Proof has aged over years of being over-produced, Hope Davis’s era of an expected eventual nomination, and Mary Louise Parker’s Tony win.

Topics also include Anne Heche at stage doors, the God of Carnage puke scene, and next week’s 100th episode!!

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