Tag: Golden Globes

385 – Billy Bathgate

We’re journeying back to the early 1990s this week to discuss the forgotten failure Billy Bathgate. Adapted from E.L. Doctorow’s Pulitzer finalist, the film cast Dustin Hoffman as real-life mobster Dutch Schultz opposite a Loren Dean as the fictionalized street kid who falls under his wing. With Bruce Willis in a supporting role at the peak of his fame and Oscar-winning director Robert Benton at the helm, the film ultimately bombed at the box office but earned Nicole Kidman her first Golden Globe nomination.

This episode, we talk about the much publicized clashing between Hoffman’s ego and his reunited director and we have a (gasp) triple Six Timers quiz for Hoffman, Dean, and Stanley Tucci. We also talk about the film’s mild approach to crime material, the 1991 Supporting Actress race, and Benton’s somewhat forgotten Oscar comeback Places in the Heart.

Topics also include Highlander 2: The Quickening, Hook‘s surprising Oscar nominations, and surprise Frances Conroy.

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382 – Get Low

We keep losing movie legends, but this week we wanted to memorialize the great Robert Duvall. In 2010, the actor entered the race with Get Low, a tale (based on regional legend) of a town outcast who decides to throw his own funeral. With Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek, and Lucas Black filling out the ensemble, the film is a forgiveness and guilt fable that has its humble charms, but ultimately was unable to net the career honors for Duvall that would come a few years later with (eek) The Judge.

This episode, we talk about Duvall’s Oscar history and his place in some of the most important films of the 1970s. We also discuss Spacek’s post-2000s run of brilliant supporting turns, hostile Today Show appearances, and Sony Classics many 2010 Oscar nominees.

Topics also include Murray Six Timers, video games, and the 2010 Best Actor race.

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374 – Booksmart

Happy New Year, Garys! We’re kicking off 2026 with something more bubbly and light-hearted, 2019’s Booksmart. Sold as an ultra-modern and female take on boy-led high school raunch comedies, the film stars Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein as best friends who decide to live it up after spending their entire high school experience stuck in books. After debuting at SXSW, the film generated a mountain of discussion that yielded disappointing box office results, but managed to stick around in the precursor race until the last minute.

This episode, we talk about the film’s delightful ensemble of faces of the future and Olivia Wilde’s debut directing duties that earned her a number of first film prizes that season. We also talk about Feldstein’s drubbing during the Funny Girl run on Broadway, Dever joins our Six Timers Club, and the shadow of Lady Bird unfairly set expectations for this film.

Topics also include Forte vs. Arnett, the 2019 Globe Musical/Comedy Best Actress nominees, and “I wish you luck with your trees.”

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362 – Used People

We love talking forgotten awardsy films here on This Had Oscar Buzz and this week’s episode is a doozy. In 1992, Todd Graff’s off-Broadway play The Grandma Plays was adapted into the film Used People with both a high Oscar and theatre pedigree. The Beeban Kidron film starred Shirley MacLaine as a new widow finding love (in Oscar nominee Marcello Mastroianni, no less) and repairing her strained relationship with her daughters. With brief turns from the Jessica Tandy and Sylvia Sidney, the film didn’t get much further than stray nominations for MacLaine and Mastroianni.

This episode, we make up for our forgotten Shirley MacLaine six Timers quiz. We also talk about why it might be our Most Best Actress movie ever, Marcia Gay Harden dressed up in Barbra Streisand’s Oscar win, and how mean movies are to Kathy Bates.

Topics also include the 1992 Golden Globes, “Queen of the Night,” and Camp.

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360 – The Boxer

We’ve got Daniel Day-Lewis back in theaters this week with Anemone, so we’re looking back at one of his few failed Oscar bids. In 1997, Day-Lewis paired up with director Jim Sheridan for the third time in a decade for The Boxer, the tale of an IRA member and boxer released from prison in the waning days of the The Troubles. With Emily Watson as his former lover and Brian Cox as her high-ranking IRA father, the film arrived into theaters with a modest response as the world was being swept away with Titanic fever.

This episode, we talk about the Day-Lewis/Sheridan partnership and Day-Lewis’ breakout roles in the 80s before his My Left Foot Oscar. We also discuss Watson’s powerful screen presence, Cox with a full head of not-white hair, and Sheridan’s diminishing directorial returns.

Topics also include the 1997 Golden Globes, acting nominations we forget happened, and Bella Mafia.

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356 – The Fountain

After an indie one-two punch of Pi and Requiem for a Dream, Darren Aronofsky was riding high as one of the major emerging directors at the turn of the century. For his next film, he would graduate to big budget studio fare with The Fountain, an ambitious and era-spanning science fiction tale of love and death. The scaled-down version that reached 2006 cinemas starred Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz and remains a love-it-or-hate-it head-scratcher that nevertheless fits perfectly within Aronofsky’s continued themes of the body and soul.

This episode, we talk about all that went down with the canceled version of the film set to star Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. We also talk where we stand with Aronofsky’s work pre-Caught Stealing, Jackman breaking away from Wolverine, and our deep affection for Clint Mansell’s score.

Topics also include Eddington, tree sap, and Donna Murphy doing science.

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355 – Punch-Drunk Love (with Katie Walsh!)

We are so excited to welcome back Tribune News Service film critic Katie Walsh to discuss one of the most beloved American filmmakers! When will “Oscar for Sandman” happen? Well, in 2002, Adam Sandler had his first attempt at the Gold with an esoteric, anxious romantic comedy by Paul Thomas Anderson, Punch-Drunk Love. While the film perfectly matches Anderson’s sensibility with Sandler’s manic comedic chops, this bittersweet and left-of-center romance was ultimately more of a (still not unanimous) critical darling, too odd for the Academy’s tastes.

This week, we talk about PTA’s pivot into the film’s small-scale specificity after the sprawl of Magnolia and Boogie Nights. We also discuss how past brushes with Oscar-friendly fare position Sandler for this year’s Jay Kelly, Jack Nicholson as Sandler’s champion at the Cannes Film Festival, and the MTV Movie Awards Best Kiss.

Topics also include Jon Brion’s score, supermarket movies, and the former green color of Healthy Choice.

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354 – Best in Show

Grab your half-butter-half-salt popcorn because this week, we’ve got something to make you howl! After the critically-hailed success of Waiting for Guffman, Christopher Guest returned with another improvisational comedy set in a world of deeply specific eccentrics played by an ensemble of geniuses. Best in Show is set in a world of competitive dog shows, with all the beloved pooches mirrored in their idiosyncratic owners. The film helped cement Guest’s brand of humor and earn an ever-expanding devoted fanbase, but Oscar was just out of reach.

This episode, we talk about how the film’s precursor run was more robust than you think and the Guest films’ increasing Oscar pedigree. We also talk about the film’s endless quotability, how Fred Willard became the performance to be singled out from the ensemble, and the bittersweetness that runs through Guest’s work.

Topics also include the 2000 Best Original Song race, lingering misunderstandings around improvisational vs. scripted, and Almost Famous.

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353 – Mamma Mia! (w/ Jorge Molina!)

With Meryl currently on her first film set in years, what better time than to dance, jive, and generally speaking have the time of our lives. We’ve invited our friend, writer and programmer Jorge Molina to discuss the Meryl movie that didn’t get her an Oscar nomination in 2008. A post 9/11 hit on the stage, Mamma Mia! tells the story of a bride who invites three men to her wedding who might be her father, all set to the music of ABBA. The film showed off against Batman himself to become a global smash (if not one with critics), and it remains a rewatch classic.

This episode, we discuss our origins with the musical and Meryl’s other 2008 performance. We also talk about the film’s ensemble including the divine Amanda Seyfried, our favorite numbers from the film, and whose voice fares the worst when singing.

Topics also include Chris Klein’s bad audition, Tom and Rita, and downloading Oscar medleys to an iPhone.

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352 – Freaky Friday

You might not expect a family-friendly live action Disney movie to draw awards attention, but not all of those types of films star Jamie Lee Curtis. In 2003, JLC starred in a Freaky Friday remake starring then ascendant teen star Lindsay Lohan. The two spin comedy gold as a tenuous mother and daughter who wake one morning to find they’ve been body swapped. Lohan show smart comedy chops as the square mother, but it was Curtis in rebellious teenage mode that earned high praise, including a Golden Globe nomination.

This episode, we talk about Lohan’s fast rise of films in the aughts and Curtis’ place in the 2003 Best Actress race. We also discuss director Mark Waters, Curtis’ prestige road to a Supporting Actress Oscar win, and the film’s aughts fashion.

Topics also include Kept, Lois Duncan books, and The Hives vs. The Vines.

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