Brad Pitt – This Had Oscar Buzz

165 – The Counselor

There are few names in modern literature with more prestige than Cormac McCarthy, and his work has been adapted into the likes of Best Picture winner No Country for Old Men. For his first produced original screenplay, he partnered with one of the most prestigious names in movies and our most discussed director, Ridley Scott. Together they brought an all-star cast led by Michael Fassbender for a tale of violence and hubris called The Counselor. With scenes of Cameron Diaz humping a car and Brad Pitt being slowly beheaded by a mechanized wire lasso, The Counselor was immediately dismissed by (most) critics and audiences for its interminable plot and excessive violence.

This episode, we talk about film adaptations of Cormac McCarthy’s work and Ridley Scott’s upcoming twofer Oscar hopefuls this season in House of Gucci and The Last Duel. We also discuss offensive onscreen representations of Mexico, Fassbender’s hard-to-place screen persona, and bastardization of the MTV Movie Awards.

Topics also include Ridley Scott trailers, Bardem’s styling in the movie, and “The Continental.”

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120 – Burn After Reading

After steamrolling in the previous season with No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers quickly returned to movie theatres with the brilliantly silly Burn After Reading. Though financially successful, the film proved divisive over the high dosage of standard Coen misanthropy despite brilliant, off-type casting for Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, and George Clooney. A veiled satire of the Bush administration, the film had a decent showing among precursors from the Golden Globes to the AARP Movies for Grownups, but still was shown no love by Oscar.

This episode, we look broadly at the odd particulars that kept Burn After Reading from nominations, from Pitt being overshadowed by Benjamin Button and an Original Screenplay field that proved surprisingly competitive even for the Oscar-favored Coens. We also look at McDormand’s evolution into “salt of the earth” roles and the 2007 Oscar ceremony as the launch pad for this film.

Topics also include Kate Winslet competing with herself, WGA ineligibilities, and what constitutes a “buddy drama”.

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077 – Seven Years in Tibet

As Brad Pitt cements his status as a frontrunner in this year’s Oscar race for his performance in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, we decided to take another look back at his reign as prestige hottie in the 90s. After nearly missing a win on his first nomination for 12 Monkeys, Brad Pitt’s red hot persona yielded an Oscar expectation that was met with disappointing projects before Fight Club reignited. But one of his most prominent misfires of that era was the misguided and milquetoast Seven Years in Tibet.

The film follows Pitt as mountaineer Heinrich Harrer, who becomes tutor to the young Dalai Lama before and during the invasion of Tibet. While the film fumbles in trying to generate the kind of epic period sweep that Oscar often rewards, its biggest issues lie in a narrative that indulges in cultural tourism, pacifies its true-life protagonist’s Nazi associations, and offers one of the most underwhelming uses of Pitt’s star persona. This week, we’re looking at Pitt’s ascension as 90s peak sexpot, and the Oscar year that favored another epic (you know, the boat one) and a different handsome blond actor.

Topics also include the 90s pop culture obsession with the Dalai Lama (including Scorsese’s Kundun in the same year), the 1997 Toronto International Film Festival, and Pitt’s shaky abilities with dialects.

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035 – Meet Joe Black (with Bobby Finger)

Can anyone today compare to how red hot of an actor Brad Pitt was in the 90s? After following his Oscar nomination for Twelve Monkeys with dual failed Oscar bait (The Devil’s Own and Seven Years in Tibet, for those keeping score at home), Pitt’s next headlining gig was a prestige fiasco: 1998′s Meet Joe Black.

Directed by a pre-Gigli Martin Brest, a pre-Lecter redundancy Anthony Hopkins stars as a publishing billionaire visited by Death (played to full frosted tip capacity by Pitt). Audiences who left the theatre after catching a glimpse of The Phantom Menace’s hotly awaited trailer were the lucky ones, because this failed Oscar hopeful was categorically a disaster.

This week, Bobby Finger joins us to dig through this very long and very strange film and its accidental slapstick car crash, weird sex scene, and outlandish fireworks display. However, a brilliant score from Thomas Newman inspires us to quiz eachother on composers with multiple nominations in the 90s. And yet all roads lead back to Freddie Prinze, Jr…

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