Academy Awards – Page 13 – This Had Oscar Buzz

207 – Life Itself (with Billy Ray Brewton)

We don’t know if we’re equipped to episode this much, but here we are. A bomb so fiery, we brought host of The Incinerator podcast host Billy Ray Brewton to help us unpack it all: 2018′s Life Itself. From This Is Us’ Dan Fogelman, the film assembles a large ensemble including Oscar Isaac, Olivia Wilde, Olivia Cooke, and Antonio Banderas to tell a tale of big emotions, intergenerational heartache, and unreliable narrators. The film arrived as a TIFF gala with big weepy expectations, and like a rogue MTA bus right out of the film, critics brought on a brutal and well-earned drubbing.

After partnering with other distributors for previous releases, this film was Amazon’s widest solo release and quickly became as big of a bomb for audiences as it was for critics. This episode, we unpack what makes it such a mess and how Amazon succeeded that year with Cold War instead. We also talk about the umpteen versions of “Make You Feel My Love,” This is Us’ Emmy flub this season, and Amazon’s purchase of United Artists.

Topics also include Annette Bening “I don’t know her”-ing Natalie Portman, Deuxmoi culture, and the Grammys of Soy Bomb and “Sonny Came Home”.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

206 – Infamous

Before Bennett Miller’s Capote even arrived and made a steamroll Best Actor winner out of Philip Seymour Hoffman, there was an entire other Truman Capote biopic in the can. Charting the same portion of the legendary and controversial writer’s life as he wrote In Cold Blood, 2006′s Infamous cast Toby Jones as Capote along with a cast of more recognizable faces than the previous year’s version, including Sandra Bullock as Capote’s friend and confidante Harper Lee and new James Bond Daniel Craig. Despite Capote having played some of the very same film festivals, Infamous was welcomed into the fall festival season anyway. But this film’s emphasis on the high society gossip that was integral to the author’s persona wasn’t enough to distinguish this film from what came before, quickly dissolving from the season.

This episode, we unpack the unavoidable comparison’s between this biopic depiction and Miller’s film. We also have our first double Six Timers Club between Infamous supporting players Sigourney Weaver and Gwyneth Paltrow, and discuss Paltrow’s role as Not Peggy Lee, and Warner Independent’s other awards hopeful in 2006: For Your Consideration.

Topics also include Raja’s Diana Vreeland Snatch Game performance, “James Blonde”, and Parker Posey in The Staircase.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

205 – The Four Feathers

Long-time listeners of the podcast will recognize this week’s episode as one promised from the very beginning! In 2002, The Four Feathers arrived with major Oscar follow-up and star-on-the-rise pedigree. The film was Shekhar Kapur’s directorial follow-up to the Oscar anointed (and Cate Blanchett launching) Elizabeth, and starred three of the biggest young would-be megastars in its love triangle: Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley, and Kate Hudson. But on top of being one of many cinematic versions of A.E.W. Mason’s, the film bored critics and audiences when it world premiered as a TIFF gala, and fizzled entirely upon release a few weeks later.

This week, we talk about its three headliners at critical points of their careers: Ledger being foisted onto traditional leading man roles, Hudson following her Almost Famous Oscar nomination, and Bentley trying to escape that floating plastic bag. We also talk about Kapur’s dual Elizabeth films, the film’s supporting male cast of recognizable faces, and the film’s apolitical stance post-9/11.

Topics also include sideburns, the film’s brownface makeup, and Ledger’s final stretch of roles.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

204 – A Prairie Home Companion (with Clay Keller)

An episode long teased has finally arrived. Screen Drafts co-host (and proud Minnesotan) Clay Keller joins us to discuss the final film from beloved auteur Robert Altman, 2006′s A Prairie Home Companion. Based on and set within the eponymous radio show, the film follows the backstage goings-on during the show’s fictionalized final live recording, with a sprawling cast of Altman regulars and newbies including Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, Maya Rudolph, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, Lindsay Lohan, and Virginia Madsen as an angel of death. Altman would pass the November after its release, but sadly did not receive posthumous recognition for the film due to its somewhat divided reception.

This episode, we’re discussing the dual summer roles for Streep between this and The Devil Wears Prada, and we’re celebrating our tenth Streep episode! We also discuss Lohan’s turmoil at the time, Paul Thomas Anderson as a contractually obligated backup director, and Clay brings us stories from his experience as an extra on the set of the film.

Topics also include the Streep/Tomlin tribute to Altman at the previous ceremony, bad jokes, and a Screen Drafts-style ranking of the film’s best performances.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

203 – Martha Marcy May Marlene

One of the major stories out of 2011′s Sundance Film Festival was the arrival of Elizabeth Olsen, a new actress who just happened to be the younger sibling of the Olsen twins. In Sean Durkin’s debut Martha Marcy May Marlene, Olsen stars as a young woman who escapes a cult and copes with her fractured identity in the wary arms of her estranged older sister, played by Sarah Paulson. The film earned rave reviews, a Directing prize for Durkin, and distribution with Fox Searchlight. The film would be sold in the shadow of the previous year’s Oscar success Winter’s Bone: a Sundance launch, a star-making debut performance, and a chilling supporting performance from John Hawkes. But the film was significantly less audience friendly thriller by comparison, and paired with Searchlight’s stacked lineup of films, Martha didn’t fit the Oscar mold.

However, Martha Marcy May Marlene remains a movie we are still haunted by. This episode, we talk about the film and its associated network of stars and directors that would become Sundance staples. We also discuss the stiff competition faced by Olsen in the Best Actress race, Paulson’s career prior to becoming a Ryan Murphy staple, and Hawkes’ run of awards-buzzed roles in the early 2010s.

Topics also include our love of Durkin’s The Nest, thoughts on The Staircase, and ugly QR code posters.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

202 – Us

Few filmmaking ascents have been as exciting and heralded as Jordan Peele’s with the arrival of Get Out in 2017. After creating lasting cultural importance and winning the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, Peele’s follow-up was one of the most eagerly awaited films before it was even announced. And in early 2019, the follow-up would be Us, a sci-fi/horror film with American societal divides on its mind and a daring performance by Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o at its center. The film was an equal box office success to Peele’s debut, though it received a less unanimous response in terms of how well he pulls off its metaphors. What kept the film in awards discussion was Nyong’o performance, including SAG and Critics’ Choice nominations, but missing out on the Oscar lineup.

This episode, we discuss our feverish anticipation of Jordan Peele’s upcoming Nope and unpack the layers of Us’ allegory. We also look at the brilliant and less recognized performances from Winston Duke and Elisabeth Moss, the 2017 Oscars where Get Out faced stiff competition, and the 2019 Best Actress race.

Topics also include supposed genre bias against other actresses, critics groups as awards influencers, and our 2019 Best Actress ballots.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

201 – How Do You Know

While not known for their love for comedies, the Academy has often proven a fan for the works of James L. Brooks. This week, we’re talking about his (likely) final film, the 2010 flop How Do You Know. The film stars Reese Witherspoon as a softball player grappling with the end of her career while torn between romance with two men (played respectively by Owen Wilson and Paul Rudd): a Major League Baseball player and a man facing punishment for the corporate crimes of his fathers’ business. Also the final film of Jack Nicholson’s before his retirement, How Do You Know was savaged by critics, quickly dismissed by audiences in a packed holiday season, and even failed to land any Globes Comedy nominations in the year of The Tourist.

This episode, we discuss Brooks’ Oscar track record, including his previous misses between Oscar darlings and the two times he directed a Best Picture nominee without getting a directing nomination. We also discuss our desire for a new Witherspoon romcom, who is the Oscar ceremony’s new front mascot now that Nicholson doesn’t attend, and that time Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholson jokingly flirted.

Topics also include the current Searchlight/Hulu situation, Paul Rudd’s potential for a future Oscar nomination, and Kathryn Hahn hiding her pregnancy behind a Sony Vaio.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

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!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

196 – Notting Hill (EW Summer Movie Preview – Listeners’ Choice)

Whoopsie daisies, we have come to the close of our May miniseries taking a deep focus look back at Entertainment Weekly’s seasonal movie preview issues. And the closer was chosen by you, listeners! For your Listeners’ Choice, you have selected the Summer Movie Preview for Notting Hill. The film famously went head-to-head with grand behemoth Star Wars: Episode One – The Phantom Menace and still emerged victorious at the box office, thanks in part to Julia Roberts’ reemergent romcom power and the charms of Hugh Grant back in bumbling mop-haired mode. Notting Hill stars both respectively as the most famous actress in the world and a modest travel bookstore owner who fall in love against the odds, and it comes with all of the signatures of the combined powers of director Roger Michell and screenwriter Richard Curtis.

This episode, we look back at the oft-revisited 1999 movie year and unpack why it remains so fascinating to talk about. We also discuss Roberts’ double-header of romcom hits that summer with Runaway Bride, Pulp Fiction’s influence on films like Go, and South Park’s movie mission to wage war with the MPAA.

Topics also include capsizing in a boat with Tilda Swinton, Eyes Wide Shut’s veil of mystery before release, and VH1 Divas Live 1999.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS