Host – Page 3 – This Had Oscar Buzz

303 – Red Rocket

With Anora anointed with the Palme d’Or this year, one of the narratives ahead in the coming season will be whether Sean Baker’s microbudgeted cinema will be embraced by the Academy in a big way. After lots of buzz for Tangerine and an acting nom for Willem Dafoe in The Florida Project, Baker was buzzed again for Red Rocket and its showcase performance for Simon Rex. With Rex as a manipulative down-and-out porn star returning to the small town that cast him out, Red Rocket‘s moral minefield and rueful comedy was ultimately not embraced by Oscar.

This week, we talk about Rex’s dynamic performance and the film’s recreation of the 2016 election cycle. We also talk about the meta elements of Rex’s casting, Baker’s rise among the ranks of independent cinema, and the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.

Topics also include donuts, 2021 Best Actor, and READ posters.

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302 – Sliding Doors (with Bobby Finger)

We’re talking about Gwyneth Paltrow’s red hot 1998 this week and who better to join us than author and Who? Weekly co-host Bobby Finger?! With a slew of movies to aid her ascendancy, Gwyneth Paltrow wasn’t having a moment in 1998, she was the moment. It all kicked off with the Sundance debut of romcom Sliding Doors, a film that cast Paltrow as a woman whose fate is determined by whether or not she makes the subway. Showing us both what happens if she does or doesn’t make that train, the film made Paltrow a buzzy figure, but itself was usurped as an awards vehicle by Shakespeare in Love.

This week, we talk about the concept of having “a Sliding Doors moment” and how the film is much wilder than we remembered it. We also talk about Bobby’s new book Four Squares, Paltrow’s Oscar season SNL hosting duties, and the film introducing us all to “Thank You” by Dido.

Topics also include video rental store wall real estate, Miramar, and the formative vibes of Richard Curtis.

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301 – Bernie

our old friend Kevin O’Keeffe and Texas native for a very Texas movie. Debuting in 2011 but arriving in theaters, Richard Linklater’s Bernie accounts a real-life Texan wink wink bachelor Bernie Tiede (played by Jack Black), beloved by the church ladies and local community. However, he is taken in by the town villain Margie (Shirley MacLaine) and ends up convicted for her murder, but not necessarily in the court of public opinion. Though the film was recognized as comedy (especially for Black’s delicate performance), its awards history was largely left as a footnote to the McConaissance.

This episode, we talk about the different vibes of Texas cities and the film’s spectacular ensemble of real-life witnesses. We also talk about Linklater’s outsider status to the Hollywood establishment, Black’s preceding failures, and reporter Skip Hollandsworth.

Topics also include “one of them CMT girls,” Linklater’s upcoming Merrily We Roll Along, and 2012 Best Actor.

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300 – Collateral Beauty

We’ve hit another year of the podcast, arriving at our milestone 300th episode! No better way to celebrate that by finally revisiting one of the past decades most notorious bombs, 2016’s Collateral Beauty. Starring Will Smith as a grieving father, this all-star cast includes Edward Norton, Michael Peña, and Kate Winslet as his three friend who devise a plan to… oust Smith from their advertising firm by… hiring three struggling actors (Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, and Jacob Latimore) to… portray the concepts of Death, Love, and Time that he has been writing letters to, and make him appear mentally unstable. Yeah, this one goes some places!

This episode, we talk about how the film’s imbalance with magical realism makes it more deranged. We also talk about Smith’s Oscar-chasing dramatic roles pre-slap, Ann Dowd as a felony committing private investigator, and the previous talent attached to this buzzy but ill-begotten project.

Topics also include Winslet joining our 6 Timers Club, Rogue One, and our Best Of ballots for the last year of the show!

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299 – The Matrix Resurrections

This week’s film has Joe and Chris on opposite sides of a divisive reception. The Matrix not only revolutionized genre filmmaking in 1999, but it resulted in a resounding Oscar success. Reception to its first two sequels in 2003 was decidedly unappreciative, but the franchise has received some critical reassessment in the two decades since. Enter 2021’s The Matrix Resurrections, a COVID-delayed and incredibly meta revisiting of The Wachowski’s science fiction world, this time with only Lana Wachowski at the helm. The last of Warner Bros.’ films to be released simultaneously in theaters and online during the pandemic, Resurrections nearly cracked craft categories, but its timing proved unfortunate.

This episode, we talk about Oscars relationship to awarding franchises and overlooking later installments. We also talk about our opposing points of view on the film, how the film incorporates new cast members as stand-ins for the original lineup, and the film’s bold meta elements.

Topics also include the late 2021 box office, gay villainy, and doomscrolling.

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298 – A Perfect World

Early in the 1990s, two westerns emerged as Best Picture winners when the genre was first thought dead: Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves and Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. In 1993, those heralded actor-directors would unite for A Perfect World, casting Costner as an escaped convict who takes a small boy hostage and teaches him about masculinity, with Eastwood as the lawman in pursuit while also taking the directing reigns. That pedigree missed the Academy on this round, however, as the film’s downer telling was a poor fit to the holiday season to which it was launched.

This episode, we talk about the early poor reception for Costner’s new saga Horizon and our differing opinions on this film’s approach to masculinity. We also talk about Eastwood’s output in the 1990s, Laura Dern’s underserved role as a criminologist, and how the film disappointed for denying audiences an onscreen showdown between its male stars.

Topics also include Schindler’s List as the 1993 undeniable frontrunner, Costner’s sex appeal, and the Cahiers du Cinema.

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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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