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093 – The Painted Veil (Naomi Watts – Part Two)

Our second episode on the Oscar trajectory of Naomi Watts brings us to 2006’s The Painted Veil, a W. Somerset Maugham adaptation set during a cholera outbreak in 1920s China. Watts starred opposite Edward Norton as a combative English couple whose love rekindles after an affair, with the actress’s then-boyfriend Liev Schreiber as the other man. The film reminds of similar period costume dramas that once was thought to be prime Oscar fodder, but became another example of how that tide has turned in recent years.

However, The Painted Veil was moreso plagued by an Oscar campaign that started far too late, despite lingering in predictions throughout the season. Distributed by Warner Independent, delays in post-production meant the film was forced to skip the fall festivals and arrived late to the screener pile that was crucial to Oscar campaigns in the mid-00s. This episode, we look back at the short-lived run of Warner Independent and the Best Picture winner that was almost theirs.

We also discuss Diana Rigg in a mirror opposite to her Game of Thrones character, composer Alexandre Desplat, and cult musical Chess.

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092 – Le Divorce (with Bobby Finger) (Naomi Watts – Part One)

We kick off our Nao-May miniseries this week with contemporary Merchant Ivory misfire Le Divorce. After missing out on a nomination for Mulholland Drive, Naomi Watts’ first foray with prestige filmmaking was this literary adaptation about two American sisters in Paris caught in the cultural crossfires of French perspectives on love and legality. Opposite the shared Oscar potential of Kate Hudson, the film’s marketing promised a fun and sexy romp and delivered a dull and fangless mild satire. Watts would go on to earn her first Oscar nomination later in the year for 21 Grams, leaving this film as a footnote to her success.

Returning guest and Who Weekly co-host Bobby Finger joins us to discuss how Le Divorce fails to serve Watts’ growing screen career and how her work in The Ring is underrated. We also look back at the career of Kate Hudson and the 2003 Best Actress race that had two heavy-hitting frontrunners that likely left Watts in a distant third place.

Topics also include handbags with history, recommendations while working at Blockbuster, and “Cinema Italiano”.

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BONUS – We Like Her With The Bonnet

This May, we are kicking off our second ever miniseries by taking a month-long dive into the filmography and Oscar history of Naomi Watts. Coming this month: we’re talking Le Divorce, The Painted Veil, Diana, and St. Vincent. And to kick things off, we are bringing you a special mini episode to set the stage for the discussion.

In 2001, Watts emerged on the scene in a big way with David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, but missed out on a Best Actress nomination against very mighty competition. In this episode, we discuss that genius performance and how it would set the stage for Watts as a performer who was owed a follow-up nomination after the snub. Topics also include perfect American dialects, other THOB-eligible movies starring Watts, and her track record of working with great directors.

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091 – Zodiac

2007 was a stacked year for the major names in cinema offering bleak masterpieces and one that got left in the dust was David Fincher’s Zodiac. The film meticulously details the notorious serial killer’s exploits and aftermath with a large ensemble and the obsessive attention to detail that has become synonymous with the auteur. Arriving before The Curious Case of Benjamin Button would finally thrust Fincher into the Oscar fold, Zodiac was originally intended for the 2006 Oscar race before jettisoned off to the following March only to be forgotten at the end of the Oscar year.

We make no qualms with gushing about this one – among our favorites of that decade, the film is a flawless epic of paranoia and sustained tension. This episode, we are talking about Fincher’s rise from Alien 3 failure to current Oscar staple, Robert Downey Jr.’s MCU comeback, and songs that can be both horny songs and scary songs.

Topics also include our Fincher rankings, Zodiac‘s internal competition for a Supporting Actor nod, and the film’s impressive visual effects that create a San Francisco of the past.

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090 – Magic Mike

Based loosely on star Channing Tatum’s experience as an exotic dancer, 2012’s Magic Mike lured director Steven Soderbergh out of his ongoing “retirement” and became a summer smash. Women loved it, men loved, the critics loved it – except the Academy did not. Though released during the full swing of the McConnaissance, it would take another year for Oscar to honor Matthew McConaughey, overlooking his charming, thong-clad villain performance here, despite love from some major precursors.

This episode, we fire up the Ginuwine to discuss Tatum’s rising movie star career from beefcake to surprising comedic talent to his current downshift in visibility. We also look at Soderbergh’s career post-Oscar, including his reticence to play the Oscar game that might leave films like this (and Contagion) out of the running.

Topics also include the 2012 Best Supporting Actor field of all previous nominees (and who we think might have had sixth place), the forgotten Alex Pettyfer, and the multiple onscreen appearances of Channing Tatum’s bumbum.

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089 – The Rainmaker

Francis Ford Coppola is a legendary director among Oscar lore thanks to the Corleone family, and this week’s episode pairs him with a name that resulted in much ‘90s cinematic prestige: John Grisham. After a string of hit adaptations that danced with major Oscar consideration, Coppola took his shot at Grisham’s The Rainmaker. But despite good reviews (and a Globe nomination for supporting actor Jon Voight), the film earned mild box office that halted the Grisham hot streak. Led by an emerging Matt Damon, the film was also overshadowed just one month later by the release of Good Will Hunting.

This episode, we revisit the box office success and Oscar near-success of films adapted by the mega-popular works of the legal thriller / airport staple John Grisham. We also discuss Coppola’s late career phase of largely unseen and unheralded films, the stacked 1997 Best Actor field, and The Rainmaker’s bursting cast list of glorified cameos and supporting players.

And this episode brings the return of two of our favorite topics: Claire Danes and the Entertainment Weekly Fall Movie Preview.

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088 – Alfie (with Griffin Newman)

We’re taking it back to Jude Law’s infamously busy 2004 this week and we’ve got a special guest to help dissect it. Actor and cohost of the Blank Check with Griffin and David podcast Griffin Newman joins us to discuss Alfie, the modernized remake of the 1966 Best Picture nominee with Law filling Michael Caine’s previously star-making shoes.

In a 2004 that also filled his resume with Closer, I Heart Huckabees, and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Alfie was was one that was most bent on turning Law into a bonafide movie star – and the biggest bomb with audiences and critics. Not helped by an updated take that is significantly more shallow than the original, this film suffered from a star overexposed to audiences both onscreen and in the tabloids. This episode, we look at Law’s quick turnaround from omnipresence to punchline, and his eventual reemergence as a character actor.

We also take a look back at the career of director Charles Shyer and his quality drop-off after the end of his personal and creative partnership with Nancy Meyers, and the one-two punch of Chris Rock and Sean Penn commenting on Law at the Oscars. Topics also include the era of metrosexuality, London as a terrible stand-in for New York City, and Beyoncé performing three Original Song nominees at the Oscars.

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087 – The Bucket List

This week, we’re crossing a big one off our list. Arriving at the tail end of a very serious-minded 2007, Rob Reiner gave us The Bucket List, a globetrotting buddy comedy about two eldery men with cancer starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Thanks to its two major stars and an early Best Of mention from the National Board of Review, this one arrived in Oscar consideration but was ultimately never taken seriously due to a slate of poor reviews and its punchline status.

This episode, we take a look at Reiner’s directorial career that has been defined by the low points (such as North) while his best films often get attributed moreso to his collaborators. We also discuss our personal choices for the Best Actor of 2007, a field so competitive that Nicholson and Freeman were never likely to crack.

Topics also include epic pans from Roger Ebert, A Few Good Men as a formative cinematic experience, and Himalayan mountaineer Sean Hayes.

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086 – The Bonfire of the Vanities

We’ve got our oldest movie yet this week and it’s a doozy! In 1990, auteur Brian DePalma gave us a prestige adaptation of the most lauded novel of the 80s and faceplanted to notorious depths. This week, we’re talking about a bomb of era-defining proportions – brace yourself for The Bonfire of the Vanities!

Headlined by three of the biggest names of 1988 – Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith, and Bruce Willis – DePalma’s adaptation was riding on major buzz beyond even Oscar’s consideration. The film aims to satirize class inequity and hypocrisy among Wall Street’s Manhattan, but was critically drubbed for its atonal swings and those misbegotten casting choices. As detailed in Julie Salamon’s behind-the-scenes book “The Devil’s Candy”, Bonfire was also a very troubled production plagued with producer exits, star egos, and an intense level of scrutiny.

This episode, we discuss this legendary flop and the trajectories of both director Brian DePalma and star Melanie Griffith. Topics also include “with, and” starring screen credits, the 1990 Oscar nominees, and teen heartthrob Devon Sawa.

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085 – Exodus: Gods and Kings

We as Oscar watchers can’t quit predicting Ridley Scott just like Ridley Scott can’t stop making historical epics that end up underwhelming. In 2014, he gave us one of them – a retelling of Moses story (minus all that religion) called Exodus: Gods and Kings. With Christian Bale at the forefront, the film stirred controversy for casting all white actors led to a tepid box office, with the film becoming one of many late year disappointments in 2014.

This week, we unpack how this film stands up against previous versions of the exodus story, The Ten Commandments and The Prince of Egypt. We also lament some of Scott’s big budget habits (that he might be returning to later this year with The Last Duel) and the many ways that Exodus: Gods and Kings’ does not stand up to his best work.

Topics also include Joel Edgerton’s rising Oscar trajectory, our top ten films of 2014, and the Oscar-winning dueling divas of “When You Believe”.

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