Tag: Best Actress

Class of 2025

It’s the biggest This Had Oscar Buzz episode every year! Now that we have this year’s crop of Oscar nominations, that means it’s time to welcome a whole year’s worth of films to the THOB fold. We unpack the Class of 2025 in all its glory, from the films that deserved better to the ones that didn’t, from the narratives we fell for and didn’t, from the most forgotten to the close calls. And, of course, we call it for the Valedictorian, the film that will get the first THOB episode from 2025.

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374 – Booksmart

Happy New Year, Garys! We’re kicking off 2026 with something more bubbly and light-hearted, 2019’s Booksmart. Sold as an ultra-modern and female take on boy-led high school raunch comedies, the film stars Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein as best friends who decide to live it up after spending their entire high school experience stuck in books. After debuting at SXSW, the film generated a mountain of discussion that yielded disappointing box office results, but managed to stick around in the precursor race until the last minute.

This episode, we talk about the film’s delightful ensemble of faces of the future and Olivia Wilde’s debut directing duties that earned her a number of first film prizes that season. We also talk about Feldstein’s drubbing during the Funny Girl run on Broadway, Dever joins our Six Timers Club, and the shadow of Lady Bird unfairly set expectations for this film.

Topics also include Forte vs. Arnett, the 2019 Globe Musical/Comedy Best Actress nominees, and “I wish you luck with your trees.”

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369 – i’m thinking of ending things

This week, we are talking about Charlie Kaufman in the director’s chair and how our thoughts have settled on what’s probably his most divisive film. In 2020, Kaufman returned to directing by adapting Iain Reid’s psychologically intense i’m thinking of ending things, told from the perspective of an unnamed woman visiting her new boyfriend’s rural home. With Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons at the forefront, the film folds in on itself for daring look at male dissociation.

This episode, we talk about our shifting thoughts on the film and the pricklier reception to Kaufman’s directorial efforts vs. his screenwriting credits. We also talk about Buckley’s swift rise after Wild Rose, Plemons’ television credits, and the film’s use of Pauline Kael.

Topics also include hot Oklahoma!, media consumption, and Toni Collette gets her Six Timers.

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362 – Used People

We love talking forgotten awardsy films here on This Had Oscar Buzz and this week’s episode is a doozy. In 1992, Todd Graff’s off-Broadway play The Grandma Plays was adapted into the film Used People with both a high Oscar and theatre pedigree. The Beeban Kidron film starred Shirley MacLaine as a new widow finding love (in Oscar nominee Marcello Mastroianni, no less) and repairing her strained relationship with her daughters. With brief turns from the Jessica Tandy and Sylvia Sidney, the film didn’t get much further than stray nominations for MacLaine and Mastroianni.

This episode, we make up for our forgotten Shirley MacLaine six Timers quiz. We also talk about why it might be our Most Best Actress movie ever, Marcia Gay Harden dressed up in Barbra Streisand’s Oscar win, and how mean movies are to Kathy Bates.

Topics also include the 1992 Golden Globes, “Queen of the Night,” and Camp.

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359 – The Last Thing He Wanted

Pair the rising star director Dee Rees with a Joan Didion adaptation and the Oscar-winning Anne Hathaway and you have the kind of on-paper buzz we love talking about here on THOB. But The Last Thing He Wanted, following Hathaway as a journalist whose wayward father mires her in South American arms conflict, ended up being anything but a success. Anticipated heavily on the 2019 fall festival circuit, Netflix ultimately quietly premiered the film at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and dumped it shortly after.

This episode, we talk about the film’s narrative issues and how its timely exactly pre-COVID and Netflix’s 2020 lineup allowed the film to be quickly forgotten. We also talk about Hathaway as a steadfast committed performer, Rees’ ascendancy with Mudbound and Pariah, and both Willem Dafoe and Toby Jones enter our Six Timers.

We also discuss The Witches, Ben Affleck era of exiting Batman, and Rosie Perez as Co-Worker On Phone.

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THOB does TIFF-ty

Joe and Chris are back from the Toronto International Film Festival and it’s time to unpack everything we saw. Though we recorded prior to the announcement of this year’s People’s Choice Award winner, we talk at length about this year’s triumphant Hamnet and the word on the ground about the runners up as well. We discuss our favorites of the festival (neither of which world premiered at the festival), our mutual least favorite film Rental Family, and standout performances from the likes of Amanda Seyfried, Sir Ian McKellen, Josh O’Connor, Ethan Hawke, and many more!

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357 – The Deep End of the Ocean

Michelle Pfeiffer is a favorite to discuss on This Had Oscar Buzz and this week we’re throwing it back to one of her late 1990s melodramas. In The Deep End of the Ocean, Pfeiffer starts as a mother whose young child goes missing. After years of traumatic aftermath, the child reappears in her family’s life, forcing the fractured family to reckon with the dysfunctional coping methods that have kept them afloat. Originally planned as a fall 1998 awards season release, reshoots pushed this one into 1999 and the movie bombed anyway.

This episode, we talk about how the film misfired by repelling the very audience it appealed to and Pfeiffer’s late 1990s output. We also talk about the assumed prestige that followed Oprah’s Book Club adaptations, director Ulu Grosbard, and Jonathan Jackson’s run on General Hospital.

Topics also include YoungStar Awards, high school reunions, and Oprah playing gay.

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352 – Freaky Friday

You might not expect a family-friendly live action Disney movie to draw awards attention, but not all of those types of films star Jamie Lee Curtis. In 2003, JLC starred in a Freaky Friday remake starring then ascendant teen star Lindsay Lohan. The two spin comedy gold as a tenuous mother and daughter who wake one morning to find they’ve been body swapped. Lohan show smart comedy chops as the square mother, but it was Curtis in rebellious teenage mode that earned high praise, including a Golden Globe nomination.

This episode, we talk about Lohan’s fast rise of films in the aughts and Curtis’ place in the 2003 Best Actress race. We also discuss director Mark Waters, Curtis’ prestige road to a Supporting Actress Oscar win, and the film’s aughts fashion.

Topics also include Kept, Lois Duncan books, and The Hives vs. The Vines.

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349 – The Deep End (with Bobby Finger!)

We’re thrilled to welcome back author and Who? Weekly co-host Bobby Finger this week to talk about a fun modest thriller that helped turn one of our favorites into an industry darling. In 2001, director duo Scott McGehee and David Siegel brought thriller adaptation The Deep End to Sundance starring queer art cinema icon Tilda Swinton. As a mother who goes to great lengths to protect her closeted teenage son who she suspects of murdering his older lover, Swinton is a revelation and perhaps gave the first signs that she was at home in traditional fare as she was in the avant garde.

This episode, we talk about our love for Swinton and she joins our Six Timers Club. We also talk about the wide-reaching but under-discussed filmography of McGehee/Siegel, Goran Visnjic’s moment in time, and Lake Tahoe as a thriller vibe.

Topics also include Joe’s ABC era, our favorite Tilda performances, and the 2001 Best Actress race.

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346 – Madame Sousatzka (w/ Taylor Cole!)

Our friend and theme music composer Taylor Cole returns to us this week to talk about one of our most beloved stars on This Had Oscar Buzz, Shirley MacLaine. After finally winning her Oscar for Terms of Endearment, MacLaine took a few well-earned years off. Her return was this tale of a hardened piano teacher and the young Indian student, Manek (Navin Chowdhry), that she takes on. But even with a showcase for MacLaine at the head of an ensemble that also included Dame Peggy Ashcroft, this chamber drama didn’t garner enough attention to land in the Academy’s graces.

This week, we talk about director John Schlesinger and MacLaine’s late 1980s run of iconic roles. We also discuss music teacher philosophies, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala working outside of Merchant/Ivory, and the 1988 Best Actress race including the famous three-way tie at the Golden Globes.

Topics also include Twiggy, MacLaine sparring with Letterman, and other awards show ties.

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