Ellen Burstyn – This Had Oscar Buzz

198 – Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (with Christina Tucker)

YA-YA!! This week, Christina Tucker joins us once again to discuss popular literary adaptation and TNT staple, 2002′s Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. The directorial debut of Callie Khouri, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Thelma and Louise, the film stars Ellen Burstyn and Sandra Bullock as mother and daughter feuding over the playwright daughter’s very public interview about her very tempestuous childhood. The mother’s friends (played by Maggie Smith, Fionnula Flanagan, and Shirley Knight) then kidnap the daughter and return her to her southern home to reveal her mother’s side of the story. This made for a film of wildly conflicting tones, which critics roundly lambasted before the film became a summer disappointment.

This episode, we discuss the early 2000s for Bullock in star mode before her Oscar win and Ellen Burstyn in an unhinged mother era after her return Oscar nomination for Requiem for a Dream. We also discuss the remarkable performance by Ashley Judd as the young Burstyn, pride season, and the late career of James Garner.

Topics also include devastating Lisa Schwartzbaum pull quotes, TV’s Nashville, and the Mad Money poster.

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151 – Lucy in the Sky

We’ve got another long anticipated episode this week! In 2019, Natalie Portman teamed up with Fargo creator Noah Hawley to bring to the screen a highly fictionalized account of a NASA astronaut who suffered a psychotic break and stalked her lover and co-worker across the country. The more salacious details (namely the urban legend diaper that she wore to prevent stopping her car) were ommitted and a ceaseless slew of aspect ratio shifts were added, resulting in a film that critics and audiences immediately dismissed.

But the film was dead on arrival not only because of its quality, it also released in the immediate takeover of Fox and Fox Searchlight by Disney’s acquisition. With little effort put behind the film, it was gone from theatres faster than jokes could be made about it. This episode, we talk discuss Portman’s boldness as a performer and look back at her previous episodes as she joins our 6 Timers Club! We also discuss Hawley’s flat approach to material, Jon Hamm’s lack of charisma in his movie roles, and Ellen Burstyn talking about “astronaut dick.”

Topics also include the 4DX Experience, the film’s late TIFF premiere burief at the end of the festival, and the still unawarded Saturn Awards.

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031 – How to Make an American Quilt

Coming off of two successive Oscar nominations, Winona Ryder led an immaculate female ensemble for Jocelyn Moorhouse’s How to Make an American Quilt. But instead of furthering Ryder’s mounting Oscar narrative, the film wound up as a surprise SAG Ensemble nominee – and, as Joe and Chris argue, a welcome one. This week, we take a look back at SAG Ensemble’s history, including most and least favorite nominees that didn’t translate to Best Picture nominations.

The film itself is a (however delightful) mixed bag of infidelity narratives that don’t always serve a top notch ensemble of Ellen Burstyn, Anne Bancroft, Kate Nelligan, Alfre Woodard, Lois Smith, 90s mega hottie Johnathon Schaech – and yep, even Maya Angelou. It may be too many plot threads for a 60-Second Plot Description, but also for one modest movie as well. Topics also include underrated Snatch Game performances, SAG’s silly title card rule for its Ensemble prize, and the reason the MTV Movie Awards should exist: the Best Kiss category.

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