Blockbuster Entertainment Awards – This Had Oscar Buzz

269 – Eyes Wide Shut

Listeners have been asking for this episode for years and today, Santa is bringing it to you! Happy Holidays, it’s time for Eyes Wide Shut! In 1999, the film was hotly anticipated for many reasons: it starred Hollywood’s most famous couple, it was the final film of master of masters Stanley Kubrick, its very long production was hounded by the press, and it promised lots of onscreen sex. Adapted from Arthur Schnitzler’s Traumnovelle, the film cast Tom Cruise as a doctor who goes on an odyssey of sexual obsession after his wife (a haunting Nicole Kidman) confesses to an unrequited sexual fantasy about a stranger. A ritual orgy, Todd Field playing jazz piano, and a flirty Alan Cumming followed, and baffled audiences reacted viciously.

This episode, we discuss the film’s initial negative reaction from audiences and critics alike and its contemporary reassessment. We also talk about its formative place in Kidman’s emphasis on auteurs, how the film unpacks Cruise’s screen persona, and the film’s mystery box marketing.

Topics also include Sidney Pollack barechested in suspenders, the film’s censored orgy, and the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards.

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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.

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194 – Ransom (EW Fall Movie Preview)

What’s the one about a Best Director frontrunner who gets snubbed for a nomination only to have the star of his then-filming movie assume his frontrunner status all the way to a win. No joke, this is what happened with 1996′s Ransom, with director Ron Howard’s shockeroo miss for Apollo 13resulting in favor being showered upon (boo! hiss!) Mel Gibson. The actor would then delay filming to work on Braveheart’s Oscar campaign, resulting in Ransom from being pushed from summer to Thanksgiving, setting some speculation that it could serve an Oscar rebound for Howard. Instead, the film was a box office success a bit too schlocky (not to mention quite violent) thriller for Oscar.

This episode, we devour the Fall Movie Preview and its offering of THOB eligibles, but even more titles that underwhelmed with one or two nominations. We also discuss the film’s stellar ensemble, from the expect tone-setting from Delroy Linda, to the under appreciated Rene Russo, to the indie darling status of Lili Taylor.

Topics also include Candace Bushnell wearing a weirdly phallic chair, website reviews, and The First Wives Club.

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158 – Stepmom (with Christina Tucker)

It has to be said that we have been waiting to do Stepmom from the very beginning, and what better excuse to finally dive in to Chris Columbus’ Christmas Day weepy than this week’s special guest Christina Tucker, co-host of the podcast Wait, Is This A Date?. Uniting the 1998 powers of America’s sweetheart Julia Roberts and recent Best Actress winner Susan Sarandon as a mother diagnosed with cancer and her ex-husband’s future wife, the film earned Sarandon a Golden Globe nomination despite critics not taking to the film’s very sentimental mood.

This episode, we unpack all of the film’s silly moments, from unwieldy real estate to photoshop, from new and various house pets to snowblowing, and all of the things in between that we love about it. We also look at Julia Roberts’ swings from successes to misfires in the 90s, Jena Malone’s return to pop culture in The Hunger Games series, and Susan Sarandon joins our 6 Timers Club!

Topics also include the 1998 Best Actress race, the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, and VH1′s I Love the 80s.

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066 – Bounce

This episode, we have another psychotic romance for you with 2000′s Bounce. One of Miramax’s 2000 awards-hopeful misfires (which ultimately led to the rise of Chocolat), the film stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck as two would-be lovers brought together by a plane crash – only she doesn’t know that he’s the one that gave a ticket to his now-dead husband. At the time, the film was sold almost exclusively on the former relationship between the stars and ultimately that was all it got attention for.

Bounce was also somewhat of a downshift in critical affection for writer-director Don Roos after the prickly Indie Spirits favorite The Opposite of Sex. Though this film sparks with some of his sharp dialogue, Bounce suffers from too many plot contrivances to make the love story less queasy. In the end, a heavy hitter year in the lead acting categories easily shut out the two stars out already dealing with backlash after their Oscar wins.

We also take a look back at the fits and restarts of Affleck’s career from the perfect casting of Gone Girl to the almost matinee idol days of Armageddon, discuss the era that was Brunette Gwyneth, and we return to our beloved Blockbuster Entertainment Awards.

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003 – Pay It Forward

This week we’re calling all angels as we discuss 2000’s major critical disaster and thwarted Oscar grab, Pay It Forward. That’s right, the one where a post-Sixth Sense Haley Joel Osment teaches the world to pass on one favor to three strangers. A film notorious in This Had Oscar Buzz lore, Pay It Forward‘s awards hopes were spoiled by epic failures of miscasting and egregious emotional manipulation, not to mention the ever-changing landscape of Kevin Spacey’s burn makeup.

On this episode, we look back at the beloved Entertainment Weekly Fall Movie Preview issues, Jon Bon Jovi’s emerging acting career, and composer Thomas Newman copying himself in the span of a single Oscar season. Just one of several failed awards players from the major studios in 2000 (as well as one of several Helen Hunt movies), Pay It Forward is perhaps the most infamous.

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