Dianne Wiest – This Had Oscar Buzz

Say it with us: confusion! In our episodes where we have discussed 2020, one of the major conversations we’ve yet to really tackle is the confusion around what films would be considered theatrical while most of the country’s theatres were closed. This week’s film occupied that undefined space: Steven Soderbergh’s ensemble comedy Let Them All Talk. Meryl Streep starred as a heralded author reunited on a cruise with old friends who may have inspired her work, played by Dianne Wiest and Candice Bergen. While at sea, conversations of art vs. commerce, authenticity, and inspiration play out in improvisational delight. But alas, no one knew whether Let Them All Talk was a movie or TV.

This week, we talk about Soderbergh’s films made for HBO Max and the Oscar nominated performances we would swap out this year in favor of the LTAT women. We also talk about Streep’s career post-The Devil Wears Prada, Wiest monologuing about the night sky, and Murphy Brown vs. Dan Quayle.

Topics also include the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards, this year’s Emmy race, and Angels in America.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

Many of Clint Eastwood’s most recent films have arrived in quick turnaround, going from announcement to filming to release in a head-spinningly short amount of time. In 2018, he had one of his fastest productions ever with The Mule, a story of an 80-year-old man estranged from his family who takes on a job hauling drugs across the border in his pickup truck. Inspired partly by a true story, the film’s sprint to theatres set expectations that it might be another of Eastwood’s successful late season arrivals like Million Dollar Baby. The result was a Christmas season box office success, but a film that ultimately didn’t attempt much of an awards campaign to make voters take notice.

This episode, we don’t mince words about how we feel about the film’s offensive stereotypes and clunky pseudo-comic character study. We get into Bradley Cooper reuniting with Eastwood for a thankless role here in the same season as his triumph with A Star Is Born, and how Cooper shockingly missed out on becoming the season’s frontrunner. And we discuss the film’s trolling tactics, the work of screenwriter Nick Schenk, and the free pass the film received by critics.

Topics also include an egregiously underused Dianne Wiest, flirting at flower conventions, and Eastwood grumbling the word “internet.”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

Tag: Dianne Wiest

295 – Let Them All Talk

161 – The Mule