Bobby Canavale – This Had Oscar Buzz

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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For this episode, we’re returning to 2003 with the film that almost won the Listeners’ Choice for our previous 2003 miniseries: Tom McCarthy’s The Station Agent. Starring Peter Dinklage in his breakout role as Finn, a loner who inherits a vacant train station in rural New Jersey and reluctantly makes a small circle of friends with a grieving artist and food truck operator, respectively played by Patricia Clarkson and Bobby Canavale. Though a critical darling and major Sundance prize winner, scattered Oscar priorities for the film’s distriutor Miramax likely kept this one from Oscar success.

This week, we look at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and the triptych of prized Patricia Clarkson performances that were launched there, including this film, Pieces of April, and All the Real Girls. We also explore how Clarkson was nominated for the less beloved Pieces, the film’s three nominations with SAG, and the work of Tom McCarthy.

Topics also include Michelle Williams breaking out from the Dawson’s Creek mold, early 00s independent cinema as a comforting vibe, and another round of playing Alter Egos.

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Tag: Bobby Canavale

186 – Danny Collins

130 – The Station Agent