A Dangerous Method – This Had Oscar Buzz

We’ll get you a red cap and a speedo for this week’s episode, becuase we’re talking about Wes Anderson for the first time with The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. The follow-up to Anderson’s first Oscar-nominated film The Royal Tenenbaums put Bill Murray front and center in the year after Murray almost won Best Actor for Lost in Translation. But critics were far less kind to this film than Anderson’s previous efforts (it remains his only rotten movie on RT), and voters looking to reward Murray for his previous loss were met with a more caustic and off-putting character than hid lauded “sad Murray” era.

This episode, we look back at how Murray was shockingly snubbed for Anderson’s Rushmore and the ebbs and flows of Anderson’s career in relation to audience/critic perceptions. And since no performance in a Wes Anderson film has ever landed an Oscar nomination, we pick our top 5 performances in his films we think are most deserving.

Topics also include Seu Jorge’s David Bowie covers in Portuguese, whether or not Ray is appropriately categorized as a musical, and which performance in The French Dispatch has the best chance at a nomination.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

Tag: A Dangerous Method

167 – The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

108 – A Dangerous Method