emma stone – This Had Oscar Buzz

One year after winning Best Actress for La La Land, Emma Stone returned with an even better performance but faced even tougher competition. In Battle of the Sexes, the recent winner starred as Billie Jean King as she faced off Bobby Riggs (played by Steve Carell) in the famed titular tennis match. Directed by Little Miss Sunshine duo Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the film had a warm festival and critical reception before quickly underwhelming at the box office and hung on with mentions for Stone and Carell during the precursors.

But Battle of the Sexes was quickly put on the backburner as two of Searchlights other contenders became Best Picture (and Best Actress) heavy hitters: The Shape of Water and Three Billboards. This episode, we discuss some reservations about the film and praise the work of Stone, who go on to again outdo herself a year later with The Favourite. We also discuss Dayton/Faris’ Ruby Sparks, Billie Jean King as that Oscar season’s Real Philomena Lee, and Sarah Silverman as a stealth player.

Topics also include 2017′s Supporting Actor fifth spot in flux, the Original Song race, and hot nepotism with Louis Pullman.

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In many ways, 2011 was the year of Ryan Gosling. This was the peak “Hey Girl” era, and this year alone gave us the critical darling hotness of Drive and what we thought would suit the more traditional Academy tastes with The Ides of March. He was so omnipresent that a weak Best Actor field had us thinking for a moment that Oscar could make room for his most charming work in the trifecta, Crazy, Stupid, Love. Add him in to a cast of other beloved performers like Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, and Emma Stone, and you have a recipe for a real guilty pleasure.

Though Gosling did nab a Globe nomination for his ab-flashing work, this one might have been wishful thinking anyway with Oscar, but then again: there’s that pesky comedy bias. And while CSL has its champions (particularly programmers of cable television networks), the film also has all the trademark contrivances in screenwriter Dan Fogelman’s wheelhouse. This week we discuss Gosling’s ascent as a major leading man, the film’s creepy sexual politics, and how romantic comedies have failed Marisa Tomei.

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Tag: emma stone

154 – Battle of the Sexes

026 – Crazy, Stupid, Love.