Academy Awards – Page 28 – This Had Oscar Buzz

063 – Morning Glory

What was it that placed a light comedy like Morning Glory on early Oscar predictions in 2010? Was it the potential for a morning news riff on Broadcast News brilliance? The ascendancy of Rachel McAdams that we knew would eventually pay off with an acting nomination? Or the late career turn as journalist curmudgeon from Harrison Ford, who in recent years has generated Oscar talk for even The Force Awakens? Turns out it was a little bit of all of those things.

However, Morning Glory quickly faded from Oscar prognosticators radar when it opened to quite disappointing box office and middling reviews. Unfortunately, the film never quite satisfies on its promise, even with a winning cast that also includes an underserved Diane Keaton and pre-uberhip era Jeff Goldblum. For McAdams, it would take being in a Best Picture frontrunner to land that first nomination we had been expecting, but Morning Glory at least has a few vocal fans.

This week, we feel the rain on our skin as we talk about the specific brand of pop optimism given to us by Natasha Bedingfield, the genius of screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna, and Diane Keaton open-mouth kissing a frog.

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062 – Miss Potter

Certainly one of the biggest Oscar narratives this season will be Renée Zellweger’s return to the big screen, starring as the timeless Judy Garland in Judy. So to mark the occasion (with Chris highly anticipatory and Joe more hesitant in how far Judy can go), we’re discussing one of the actress’ few attempts at Oscar that didn’t register with the Academy in some way: the Beatrix Potter biopic Miss Potter.

The film thrust into Oscar late in 2006 as the newly established Weinstein Company was struggling with its awards fare. Perhaps too gentle of a film to register in a season that rewarded much grimmer subjects, the film’s awards hopes ended at Zellweger’s Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy at the Globes. This week, look back at Zellweger’s trajectory from Oscar shutout to Oscar perennial to the arrival of her comeback.

We also discuss director Chris Noonan and the legacy of Babe, the wildly underrated Emily Watson, and the highly thirstable Patrick Wilson in Little Children.

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061 – Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

A title that became a punchline all its own, this week we are discussing 2012′s Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. A light romantic drama about project management and Western relationships with the Middle East, Lasse Hallström’s film accidentally stumbled into the Oscar race when the Golden Globes decided the film was a comedy and gave the spring release three surprise nominations.

This episode, we discuss the career and outsider awards trajectory for Salmon Fishing star Ewan McGregor and how the film’s Globes nomination tally ultimately meant nothing for the film as an awards player. Get ready for lots of Globes talk as we spotlight 2012′s most glaring comedy omission by the Globes and recall perhaps the greatest presenter duo of all time: Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell. You get outta here, listeners!

Topics also include movies narrated by dogs, left-field Globes Comedy picks both good and bad, and assassination attempts thwarted by fishing hooks.

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And From Canada MAILBAG!

You asked for it and it’s finally here! While Joe and Chris are away at TIFF, we are bringing you our first ever MAILBAG EPISODE!

We have been taking your questions in the recent weeks and are so excited to bring you this jumbo sized episode devoted just to the Oscar obsessive minutiae that you all are curious about. Right off the bat, we focus on most asked questions such as the origins of our theme music and whether or not we would ever talk about a film from before the 90s. Topics also include beloved precursor outliers that made no dent in their Oscar race, Cher as Oscar presenter, and THOB actors still awaiting their first nomination.

Thank you again for all of your questions and support! Listen listeners, we love you guys!

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059 – Vanity Fair

This week, we’re looking back at a film that arrived too early in 2004′s Oscar season and received too mild of a response to eventually make Oscar’s lineup. From the classic William Makepeace Thackeray classic novel, Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair arrived corseted into Labor Day weekend and quickly disappeared from theatres and the conversation at large despite the presence of Reese Witherspoon at its center.

But Witherspoon and Nair’s take on the heroine Becky Sharp was also what many critics took issue with – in making a more “likeable” protagonist, many thought Vanity Fair had lost much of what defined it. This episode, we look back at the 2004 Oscar race and the ceremony that embarrassingly lined up below-the-line nominees onstage for their categories. We also discuss Witherspoon’s pre-Oscar trajectory, Nair’s filmography, baby bumps and Eileen Atkins’ rump.

Costume drama fans, soak it up because this is one of the rare times we can discuss one that hasn’t gotten a Costume Design nomination.

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058 – Men, Women & Children

A film that uses Pale Blue Dot as a quasi-pickup line and features a couple aligning their sex life with 9/11, Men, Women & Children is likely one of the most maligned films we’ve ever discussed. Directed by Jason Reitman and adapted from the novel by Chad Kultgen, the film stars a large ensemble of familiar faces as several families coping with love, sex, and identity in the age of Pornhub and Ashley Madison. Debuting at TIFF in 2014, the film faced an immediate death of scathing reviews and minimal box office, further diminishing Reitman’s once redhot Oscar profile.

This week, we discuss the film’s dated perspective and lack of nuance in its characterizations that make the film such a misfire, and whether or not we love Reitman only when Diablo Cody’s name is attached. We also take a look at the film’s ensemble of likely future nominees such as Ansel Elgort and Kaitlyn Dever, another 2014 film’s crass Oscar campaign, and Adam Sandler’s closest attempt at an Oscar-chasing role (and another performance that we both consider his best).

Last call for Mailbag questions, listeners! Send us your questions to @Had_Oscar_Buzz or [email protected]!

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057 – Truth

Not only are we Oscar historians here on This Had Oscar Buzz, we are also the Illuminati of Vanderbilts. This week, we look at the directorial debut of Zodiac screenwriter James Vanderbilt Truth. Detailing 60 Minutes’ expose on President George W. Bush’s military service that ended in Dan Rather’s demise, the film starred Cate Blanchett as producer Mary Mapes and Robert Redford as Rather and died a quick death at the box office despite being a great on-paper Oscar prospect.

Also the film’s best chance at Oscar was overshadowed by herself – Blanchett (though great in Truth) also had a little movie that year called Carol that she ultimately was nominated for and earned even higher praise. But perhaps Truth was also compared against Spotlight, another true journalism story and the eventual Best Picture winner.

This week, we discuss the 2015 Oscar race at large, Redford’s late-career Oscar close calls, and how Zodiac was underappreciated in its initial release. Last call for Mailbag episode questions! Send us your questions to [email protected] and @Had_Oscar_Buzz on Twitter!

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056 – All The Pretty Horses

This week, we have a deceptively titled film that was also sold deceptively to audiences in 2000. Billy Bob Thornton’s Cormac McCarthy adaptation All The Pretty Horses was supposed to be an old-fashioned romantic epic filled with sweeping landscapes and big emotions – but what audiences got on Christmas morning was a bleak western about cowboys who just wanna cowboy. Famously, the film was cut down from a 3.5 hour epic into two hours by Harvey Weinstein and it still makes for a very scattered and lethargic movie.

For this episode, we take a look back at both Matt Damon and Penelope Cruz’s star personas, his as a go-to leading man with a string of pre-Bourne bombs and hers as an unfairly treated tabloid figure. We also look at the back stage stories that were depicted in Peter Biskind’s Down and Dirty Pictures, Lasse Hallström as unexpected benefitor of Horses’ failure, and the Oscar year that was capped brilliantly by Björk’s swan dress.

And for listeners clamoring for our thoughts on the beginning of the TIFF lineup, we spend the beginning of the episode discussing what we’re most excited for, including Harriet, Marriage Story, and Meryl in a Blossom hat.

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055 – The Majestic

This episode we arrive at two inevitable discussion points for Joe and Chris. First, a fifteen minute discussion of the Cats trailer. Second, a look at an essential This Had Oscar Buzz title: Frank Darabont’s 2001 melodrama The Majestic.

The film arrived in theatres during the Christmas holiday with most of its awards hype trailing its star Jim Carrey. Here he would be playing the everyman in this Frank Capra-inspired look at Hollywood dreams and small town America – could this be the film that finally would land him an Oscar nomination after two Golden Globe victories for The Truman Show and Man on the Moon got shut out by Oscar? As the bad reviews and even worse box office would quickly show, the answer was no, leaving Carrey still waiting for that first dance with Oscar.

This week, we take a look at Carrey’s fast rise and what might have kept him out of Oscar’s club. We also take a look at Frank Darabont and his relationship with Stephen King, the film’s major missteps in chasing Frank Capra, and directors with multiple snubs in recent years despite their films making it to Best Picture.

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054 – J. Edgar

We’re taking a trip back this week to some of the darkest days in the “Get Leo an Oscar” saga: Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar. The film starred Leonardo DiCaprio and detailed the many political exploits of J. Edgar Hoover and his efforts to stomp out communism. The actor would get close to a nomination (after showing up for the precursor triple crown of Globes, SAG, and Critics’ Choice) but this prestigious biopic was not meant to be for Leo and his eventual Oscar.

What didn’t help the film’s case were many unfortunate elements aside its anemic box office: a wishy-washy take on Hoover’s tyranny, DiCaprio sobbing in a muumuu, and most notoriously, its laughable old age makeup. This episode, we discuss Eastwood’s overly expeditious tendencies, screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, and the film as a turning point for supporting costar Armie Hammer.

And to spread some goodwill, this week we also discuss favorite performances from J. Edgar’s most cast-aside ensemble member: the one and only Naomi Watts.

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