Emily Mortimer – This Had Oscar Buzz

Emmy winner Jeff Hiller joins us this week to talk about one of our beloved Nicole Holofcener’s earliest films. Lovely and Amazing follows a Los Angeles family of women burdened by insecurities, from the mother (Oscar nominee Brenda Blethyn) opting in to liposuction to her two adult daughters who help her with a preteen adopted sister. Debuting at festivals in 2001, the film released the next summer to strong reviews for Holofcener muse Catherine Keener and earned an Indie Spirit win for Emily Mortimer.

This episode, we talk about Holofcener’s style of funny and bracing brutal honesty and this film’s depiction of actor insecurities. We also discuss Mortimer’s showcase scene mentioned in many reviews, Raven Goodwin’s terrific child performance, and some of the forgotten titles from that year’s Independent Spirit awards.

Topics also include Apple Trailers, news bloopers, and tackling Isabelle Huppert.

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This episode, we return to the work of director Martin Scorsese, with one of his very few films to receive zero Oscar nominations, 2010′s Shutter Island. The film was Scorsese’s highly anticipate follow-up to The Departed after finally securing his overdue Oscar win, and reunited him with that film’s star Leonardo DiCaprio. Adapted from Dennis Lehane’s novel about a WWII veteran investigating a woman’s disappearance from an island-bound mental institution, the film allowed Scorsese to indulge in Hitchcock and Asian horror genre tropes alike. However, Paramount’s financial woes couldn’t afford the awards campaign cost for such a behemoth in late 2009, and the film was pushed to February 2010.

Once released, critics were somewhat divided on the film and its somewhat cliche final twist, and another DiCaprio vehicle would earn higher praise and awards success that year: Christopher Nolan’s Inception. This episode, we discuss our own divided opinions over which 2010 DiCaprio performance we prefer and which overall DiCaprio performance we consider a favorite. We also talk Patricia Clarkson’s post-Oscar nomination career, the National Board of Review’s top ten of 2010, and the other few Scorsese films with no Oscar love.

Topics also include what films Paramount gave the 2009 Oscar push, the Ben Kingsley’s M4Gs nomination, and hype for next week’s massive 200th episode!

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Tag: Emily Mortimer

399 – Lovely And Amazing (with Jeff Hiller!)

199 – Shutter Island