Angus Macfadyen – This Had Oscar Buzz

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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220 – The Lost City of Z (with Katey Rich)

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without a little tradition, so naturally Vanity Fair’s Katey Rich makes her annual return to us this week to discuss James Gray’s The Lost City of Z. The film had a long pre-production history, including promises of Brad Pitt in the lead, that long positioned it as the film that might finally garner Gray some awards attention. Finally produced and with Charlie Hunnam replacing Pitt, the film made its world premiere at the 2016 New York Film Festival without distribution and received strong reviews. Though Amazon picked up the film, they held its release until the spring, effectively killing its awards chances.

This episode, we discuss our shared love for the film and talk about Gray’s Oscar-elusive approach to material and his chances this season with Armageddon Time. We also talk about Sienna Miller face blindness, Robert Pattinson’s move towards auteur directors post-Twilight, and Amazon’s auteur-heavy 2017 crop of films.

Topics also include renting VCRs, Darius Khondji’s luminous Lost City cinematography, and 2017 as the best Best Picture year post-expansion.

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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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