Al Pacino – This Had Oscar Buzz

267 – Heat (with Roxana Hadadi!) (Patreon Selects)

This week, our first film selected by one of our sponsor-tier Patreon subscribers arrives, and we brought back Vulture’s Roxana Hadadi to celebrate. In 1995, audiences were hyped to finally see an onscreen showdown between Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in Michael Mann’s Heat. But what promised to be a standard actioner on paper (on top of a battle of titans) was in actuality an existential tone poem on masculinity, with audiences feeling let down by the lack of fireworks in Pacino and DeNiro’s brief but mighty scene. The film has since been reassessed, earning a vocal and devoted fanbase that hail the film as Mann’s masterpiece.

This week, we talk about Mann’s work studying the masculine mind and Pacino and DeNiro’s 1990s periods. We also talk about Val Kilmer’s Batman year, how the 1995 Oscars largely rejected darker material, and our thoughts on Mann’s Ferrari.

Topics also include bisexual eyebrow piercings, our diner orders, and the Nyad towel.

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186 – Danny Collins

This week, we’re looking at another surprise Golden Globe nomination that fueled minor Oscar talk, 2015′s Danny Collins. An assemblage of fedoras, silk scarves, and one catchy original song, the film stars Al Pacino as a washed up singer in the vein of Neil Diamond who ingratiates himself to the family of his estranged son. Written and directed by Dan Fogelman, the film may have all of Fogelman’s trademark cliched, but we (along with the HFPA) were quite charmed by the Pacino performance and the film as a whole. But that Globe surprise proved to not be enough for Oscar, leaving the film to be a forgotten spring release.

This episode, we go into the Fogelman ethos and examine the long period between Pacino’s Oscar win and his next nomination for The Irishman. We also discuss the cursed 2015 Original Song race that Danny Collins could have enlivened, Pacino’s string of HBO performances, and how Jennifer Garner is a more interesting supporting player than a lead.

Topics also include Dunkaccino, hanging out at the Grove, and Movies That Star Four Old Actors.

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141 – Carlito’s Way

We return to the filmography of Brian DePalma this week with 1993′s Carlito’s Way. The film reunited DePalma with his Scarface star Al Pacino as Carlito Brigante, a former criminal struggling to go straight after his release from prison and his shady circle that keeps pulling him back in. Released the year after Pacino’s long-awaited Oscar win for Scent of a Woman, the film and Pacino received mixed reviews and was ultimately buried in Universal’s mighty awards slate that included Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park, and In the Name of the Father.

This week, we discuss Al Pacino’s Oscar draught between his win and The Irishman and some of the troublesome spots in DePalma’s filmography. We also look at John Leguizamo’s cinematic breakout in the early ‘90s, Penelope Ann Miller’s filmography of female roles in male-centered movies, and an “unrecognizable” Sean Penn returning from a three year movie break.

Topics also include the Cahiers du Cinema, Carole Bayer Sager’s Oscar nominations in Original Song, and iconic ghost cinema Heart and Souls. And we also announce our upcoming May miniseries!

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052 – Frankie and Johnny

We’re going all the way back to 1991 for this week’s episode on Gary Marshall’s take on the Terrence McNally two-hander Frankie and Johnny. Here is a film that was a convergence of several Oscar narratives: Al Pacino’s lengthy overdue status, Michelle Pfeiffer’s prestige ascent, and Marshall’s follow-up to the success of Pretty Woman. The film works overtime to open up the play’s text, and results in a film about two lonely New Yorkers that we kind of actually like.

But despite the pedigree and an Academy willing to even nominate Pacino for Dick Tracy the previous year, Oscar looked elsewhere. Pfeiffer was also criticized for being too glamorous for the character, and notably turned down the role that would win Best Actress this year: The Silence of the Lambs’ Clarice Starling. And the film has further hooks on the fringes of the ‘91 Oscar year: Kate Nelligan shared a few notable critics prizes with this and The Prince of Tides, the film she would ultimately be nominated for.

This week, we also discuss the last days of Johnny Carson, Pfeiffer and Pacino’s lack of nominations past the early 90s, and Terence Trent D’Arby.

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