Connie Britton – This Had Oscar Buzz

215 – Beatriz at Dinner (with Jorge Molina)

On the eve of the return of The White Lotus, we’re taking a look at the Mike White oeuvre with returning guest Jorge Molina and 2017′s Beatriz at Dinner. Starring our beloved Salma Hayek as a holistic masseuse trapped at a toxic dinner party held by her wealthy clients, the film debuted at Sundance and was immediately viewed through the lens of our outrage and despair in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s election. The dark cringe comedy had a divisive finale but a brilliant ensemble including Connie Britton, John Lithgow, and Chloe Sevigny, with Hayek giving one of her finest performances. But the 2017 Best Actress race was highly competitive, and this summer release struggled to make an awards season comeback.

This episode, we talk about the Arteta/White partnership including White’s television output and Arteta as the quintessential journeyman director. Topics also include scrubbed John Early clips, our dreams for Hayek’s deserved awards future, and comparing Beatriz at Dinner to another 2017 film that succeeded with Oscar.

Topics also include the 2002 Best Actress nominees pitching grants, Mike White’s run on Survivor and The Amazing Race, and performing Salma in Snatch Game.

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208 – This Is Where I Leave You

It’s time to sit shiva with a slew of stars and 2014′s This Is Where I Leave You. Adapted from Jonathan Tropper from his own novel and directed by Night at the Museum’s Shawn Levy, the film casts Jason Bateman as a man whose life falls apart at the hour of his father’s death. His mother, played by Jane Fonda, then tasks the entire family to sit shiva in his honor and seriocomic hijinks ensue. Levy would cast a feast of famous and noteworthy names to fill out the friends and family (including Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Rose Byrne, Kathryn Hahn, Corey Stoll, and more), but their combined skills were not enough to lift the film’s dated humor and stuck-in-neutral emotions off the ground.

The film debuted as a TIFF gala and was critically dismissed, with audiences feeling similarly underwhelmed upon release a few weeks later. This week, we talk about how the film sidesteps around a quite non-Jewish cast and where it places in the Fonda’s late-career era. We also discuss Fey’s limitations with her many crying scenes, our favorite performances from the Girls, and the 2014 TIFF lineup.

Topics also include Fonda’s most recent Oscar nomination for The Morning After, Tonys being awarded to movie stars, and the Wine Country Film Festival.

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