AARP Movies for Grownups – Page 2

226 – The Leisure Seeker

When the 2017 Golden Globe nominations were announce, the question on everyone’s mind was “What the hell is The Leisure Seeker?!” Starring Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland as an aging couple having one last getaway in their eponymous Winnebago, the film debuted in competition at Venice before also playing a TIFF gala and went entirely under the radar. Sony Classics quietly gave the film a qualifying release, successfully netting Mirren a Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Golden Globe nomination despite so few seeing the film. The nomination was a head-scratcher to most, but was predicted by none other than our Joe Reid.

This episode, we discuss Helen Mirren’s vast history with the Golden Globes and assess the current diagnosis on the Globes and their often amusing nomination history. We also talk about Sutherland’s famously surprising lack of an acting Oscar nomination, other possible comedy leading actress contenders from 2017, and another round of Alter Egos.

Topics also include what famous festival jurors think of the movies they have to watch, the film’s half-baked look at the 2016 election, and surprise Danielle Deadwyler.

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223 – We Bought A Zoo

After the notorious failure of Elizabethtown, Cameron Crowe took a few years off and attempted to rebound with a warm-hearted family film, 2011’s We Bought A Zoo. The film starred Matt Damon in the very loose true story of a father struggling to raise his two children in the wake of his wife’s death, and finds the solution to their problems in a local zoo listed for sale with a few loyal animal wranglers (including contrived love interest Scarlett Johansson) still tied to the property. Though the film became a modest hit, its punchline title and feather-weight tone was not taken seriously by critics or awards bodies in a season filled with other stories filled with children and grief.

This episode, Matt Damon joins Meryl Streep as the only performers in our Ten Timers Club. We also discuss the varying degrees of failure in late stage Crowe films, Crowe’s AARP Movies for Grownups Best Director nomination against heavy hitters, and 2011′s many Oscar contenders featuring children.

Topics also include Diane Warren finally having her Oscar, the fake We Bought A Zoo Twitter account, and Content Creator Kits.

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222 – Away We Go

After winning Best Picture and Best Director for his zeitgeist-seizing debut feature American Beauty, Sam Mendes instantly became a director who generate awards chatter no matter the project. In 2009, he took a noticeable tonal downshift with Away We Go, a minor key comedy about a young pregnant couple on a road trip to decide where they want to grow their roots. Despite praise for Maya Rudolph’s performance as a soon-to-be mother still grieving the untimely death of her parents and John Krasinski opposite her as her jokester partner, the film didn’t succeed as summer counter-programming and mostly forgotten in the season to come.

This episode, we talk about the harsh reviews that found the film more judgmental than reflective and Rudolph’s understated and absorbing performance. We also talk about Alexi Murdoch’s soundtrack, possibly semi-autobiographical screenwriter marrieds Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, and the film’s bursting ensemble of fantastic character actors from Melanie Lynskey, Allison Janney, and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Topics also include this year’s New York Film Critics Circle award winners, Mendes’ pivot to Bond, and the lure of Montreal. Don’t forget to get submissions in for our upcoming mailbag episode!

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218 – The Meddler (with Richard Lawson)

Vanity Fair’s chief critic Richard Lawson return to us this week to talk about a piece in a trend of films about aging women self-actualizing, Lorene Scafaria’s The Meddler. Starring Susan Sarandon as a widow ingratiating herself to her writer daughter (played by Rose Byrne) and her circle of friends, The Meddler provides a hilarious and heartwarming showcase for Sarandon, all told with uncommonly holistic observation by Scafaria. The film premiered at TIFF in 2015, earning deep affection from some critics like Richard and Joe, but was ultimately held until the following late spring, leaving an uphill climb in 2016′s stacked Best Actress race.

This episode, we talk about our love of the film and Richard’s placement of it at the top of his best films of 2016. We also talk about Scafaria’s depiction of her own mother, Byrne’s underrated brilliance within a varied career, and tense Apple store Q&As. And we’ve got an update on Vulture’s Movies Fantasy League!

Topics also include J.K. Simmons’ glorious mustache, old-baiting the AARP Movies for Grownup voters, and Joe’s personal paradise, The Grove.

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215 – Beatriz at Dinner (with Jorge Molina)

On the eve of the return of The White Lotus, we’re taking a look at the Mike White oeuvre with returning guest Jorge Molina and 2017′s Beatriz at Dinner. Starring our beloved Salma Hayek as a holistic masseuse trapped at a toxic dinner party held by her wealthy clients, the film debuted at Sundance and was immediately viewed through the lens of our outrage and despair in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s election. The dark cringe comedy had a divisive finale but a brilliant ensemble including Connie Britton, John Lithgow, and Chloe Sevigny, with Hayek giving one of her finest performances. But the 2017 Best Actress race was highly competitive, and this summer release struggled to make an awards season comeback.

This episode, we talk about the Arteta/White partnership including White’s television output and Arteta as the quintessential journeyman director. Topics also include scrubbed John Early clips, our dreams for Hayek’s deserved awards future, and comparing Beatriz at Dinner to another 2017 film that succeeded with Oscar.

Topics also include the 2002 Best Actress nominees pitching grants, Mike White’s run on Survivor and The Amazing Race, and performing Salma in Snatch Game.

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200 – Gloria Bell

We’ve made it to 200 episodes! And as long-time listeners are aware, there are few THOB-eligible films as beloved as Gloria Bell. In 2013, Sebastián Lelio delivered Gloria, a delightful Chilean character study of the everyday life of a single woman entering middle age played by an incandescent Paulina García. When Julianne Moore approached Lelio about an American remake, the director decided to take over the reigns himself, remaking his own movie. The resulting Gloria Bell launched at 2018 TIFF, receiving good reviews and getting picked up by A24, leading some to see a potential Globes Comedy player. But A24 held the film until the spring, and it got lost among their already stacked awards slate.

This episode, we look back Lelio’s trifecta of films in 2017-2018, which would include an International Feature Oscar win for A Fantastic Woman and the underrated Disobedience. We also talk both Glorias perfect endings, recall our first formative friendship viewing of the film, and celebrate the 200 episode milestone with our annual look back at the past year of THOB.

Topics also include Jeanne Tripplehorn’s vape, the film’s joyous soundtrack, and (stick around after the IMDb Game) a post-credits quiz about our past post-credits song outros.

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199 – Shutter Island

This episode, we return to the work of director Martin Scorsese, with one of his very few films to receive zero Oscar nominations, 2010′s Shutter Island. The film was Scorsese’s highly anticipate follow-up to The Departed after finally securing his overdue Oscar win, and reunited him with that film’s star Leonardo DiCaprio. Adapted from Dennis Lehane’s novel about a WWII veteran investigating a woman’s disappearance from an island-bound mental institution, the film allowed Scorsese to indulge in Hitchcock and Asian horror genre tropes alike. However, Paramount’s financial woes couldn’t afford the awards campaign cost for such a behemoth in late 2009, and the film was pushed to February 2010.

Once released, critics were somewhat divided on the film and its somewhat cliche final twist, and another DiCaprio vehicle would earn higher praise and awards success that year: Christopher Nolan’s Inception. This episode, we discuss our own divided opinions over which 2010 DiCaprio performance we prefer and which overall DiCaprio performance we consider a favorite. We also talk Patricia Clarkson’s post-Oscar nomination career, the National Board of Review’s top ten of 2010, and the other few Scorsese films with no Oscar love.

Topics also include what films Paramount gave the 2009 Oscar push, the Ben Kingsley’s M4Gs nomination, and hype for next week’s massive 200th episode!

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198 – Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (with Christina Tucker)

YA-YA!! This week, Christina Tucker joins us once again to discuss popular literary adaptation and TNT staple, 2002′s Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. The directorial debut of Callie Khouri, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Thelma and Louise, the film stars Ellen Burstyn and Sandra Bullock as mother and daughter feuding over the playwright daughter’s very public interview about her very tempestuous childhood. The mother’s friends (played by Maggie Smith, Fionnula Flanagan, and Shirley Knight) then kidnap the daughter and return her to her southern home to reveal her mother’s side of the story. This made for a film of wildly conflicting tones, which critics roundly lambasted before the film became a summer disappointment.

This episode, we discuss the early 2000s for Bullock in star mode before her Oscar win and Ellen Burstyn in an unhinged mother era after her return Oscar nomination for Requiem for a Dream. We also discuss the remarkable performance by Ashley Judd as the young Burstyn, pride season, and the late career of James Garner.

Topics also include devastating Lisa Schwartzbaum pull quotes, TV’s Nashville, and the Mad Money poster.

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190 – Love and Friendship

We’ve talked before about the shaky Oscar history with Amazon Studios, and this episode we are talking about one of their unfortunate misses that happened in the year of their biggest success: 2016′s Love and Friendship. Adapted from the scabrous Jane Austen novella Lady Susan, the film had a much-ballyhooed premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and reunited Whit Stillman with his Last Days of Disco stars Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny. A perfect marriage between Austen and Stillman’s high society wits, the film sees Beckinsale in peak comedic form as the flirtatious and scheming Lady Susan opposite a cast of those caught in her web, including the uproarious breakout supporting player Tom Bennett.

This week, we discuss our love for the film and explore the Whit Stillman vibe of socially observant comedy. We also discuss Beckinsale’s career as primarily an action star, the highly competitive Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor races that made little room for Beckinsale and Bennett, and Amazon’s summer of 2016 misfires.

Topics also include the most recent AARP Movies for Grownups ceremony, Critics’ Choice ties, and which son maybe dies in “they’ll think we’re lezzos” cinema Adore.

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188 – Wild Mountain Thyme

We’re cracking the seal on our Class of 2020 films and somehow manage to do it without miring ourselves in the depression that was the first covid year! And as promised, we’re talking about Wild Mountain Thyme, the oddball romantic comedy from Moonstruck Oscar winner John Patrick Shanley, adapted from his Tony-nominated play Outside Mullingar. The film casts Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan as two Irish farm dwellers who have been dancing around a would-be romance since childhood, and was one of the several films bandied about among Oscar prognosticators in a year that saw few films released, much less pushed for Oscar.

This episode, we get into the film’s oddball twist and the ire inspired by the film’s… shall we say… questionable dialects. We also discuss Shanley’s less successful career as a film director, Blunt’s mighty precursor history that has led to zero Oscar nominations, and the current moment where Jamie Dornan sings in all of his movies.

Topics also include the 2020 Golden Globes, The Great Chipmunk Adventure, and Debra Messing’s Irish accent that must be heard to be believed.

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