Golden Globes – Page 3 – This Had Oscar Buzz

201 – How Do You Know

While not known for their love for comedies, the Academy has often proven a fan for the works of James L. Brooks. This week, we’re talking about his (likely) final film, the 2010 flop How Do You Know. The film stars Reese Witherspoon as a softball player grappling with the end of her career while torn between romance with two men (played respectively by Owen Wilson and Paul Rudd): a Major League Baseball player and a man facing punishment for the corporate crimes of his fathers’ business. Also the final film of Jack Nicholson’s before his retirement, How Do You Know was savaged by critics, quickly dismissed by audiences in a packed holiday season, and even failed to land any Globes Comedy nominations in the year of The Tourist.

This episode, we discuss Brooks’ Oscar track record, including his previous misses between Oscar darlings and the two times he directed a Best Picture nominee without getting a directing nomination. We also discuss our desire for a new Witherspoon romcom, who is the Oscar ceremony’s new front mascot now that Nicholson doesn’t attend, and that time Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholson jokingly flirted.

Topics also include the current Searchlight/Hulu situation, Paul Rudd’s potential for a future Oscar nomination, and Kathryn Hahn hiding her pregnancy behind a Sony Vaio.

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196 – Notting Hill (EW Summer Movie Preview – Listeners’ Choice)

Whoopsie daisies, we have come to the close of our May miniseries taking a deep focus look back at Entertainment Weekly’s seasonal movie preview issues. And the closer was chosen by you, listeners! For your Listeners’ Choice, you have selected the Summer Movie Preview for Notting Hill. The film famously went head-to-head with grand behemoth Star Wars: Episode One – The Phantom Menace and still emerged victorious at the box office, thanks in part to Julia Roberts’ reemergent romcom power and the charms of Hugh Grant back in bumbling mop-haired mode. Notting Hill stars both respectively as the most famous actress in the world and a modest travel bookstore owner who fall in love against the odds, and it comes with all of the signatures of the combined powers of director Roger Michell and screenwriter Richard Curtis.

This episode, we look back at the oft-revisited 1999 movie year and unpack why it remains so fascinating to talk about. We also discuss Roberts’ double-header of romcom hits that summer with Runaway Bride, Pulp Fiction’s influence on films like Go, and South Park’s movie mission to wage war with the MPAA.

Topics also include capsizing in a boat with Tilda Swinton, Eyes Wide Shut’s veil of mystery before release, and VH1 Divas Live 1999.

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194 – Ransom (EW Fall Movie Preview)

What’s the one about a Best Director frontrunner who gets snubbed for a nomination only to have the star of his then-filming movie assume his frontrunner status all the way to a win. No joke, this is what happened with 1996′s Ransom, with director Ron Howard’s shockeroo miss for Apollo 13resulting in favor being showered upon (boo! hiss!) Mel Gibson. The actor would then delay filming to work on Braveheart’s Oscar campaign, resulting in Ransom from being pushed from summer to Thanksgiving, setting some speculation that it could serve an Oscar rebound for Howard. Instead, the film was a box office success a bit too schlocky (not to mention quite violent) thriller for Oscar.

This episode, we devour the Fall Movie Preview and its offering of THOB eligibles, but even more titles that underwhelmed with one or two nominations. We also discuss the film’s stellar ensemble, from the expect tone-setting from Delroy Linda, to the under appreciated Rene Russo, to the indie darling status of Lili Taylor.

Topics also include Candace Bushnell wearing a weirdly phallic chair, website reviews, and The First Wives Club.

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188 – Wild Mountain Thyme

We’re cracking the seal on our Class of 2020 films and somehow manage to do it without miring ourselves in the depression that was the first covid year! And as promised, we’re talking about Wild Mountain Thyme, the oddball romantic comedy from Moonstruck Oscar winner John Patrick Shanley, adapted from his Tony-nominated play Outside Mullingar. The film casts Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan as two Irish farm dwellers who have been dancing around a would-be romance since childhood, and was one of the several films bandied about among Oscar prognosticators in a year that saw few films released, much less pushed for Oscar.

This episode, we get into the film’s oddball twist and the ire inspired by the film’s… shall we say… questionable dialects. We also discuss Shanley’s less successful career as a film director, Blunt’s mighty precursor history that has led to zero Oscar nominations, and the current moment where Jamie Dornan sings in all of his movies.

Topics also include the 2020 Golden Globes, The Great Chipmunk Adventure, and Debra Messing’s Irish accent that must be heard to be believed.

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186 – Danny Collins

This week, we’re looking at another surprise Golden Globe nomination that fueled minor Oscar talk, 2015′s Danny Collins. An assemblage of fedoras, silk scarves, and one catchy original song, the film stars Al Pacino as a washed up singer in the vein of Neil Diamond who ingratiates himself to the family of his estranged son. Written and directed by Dan Fogelman, the film may have all of Fogelman’s trademark cliched, but we (along with the HFPA) were quite charmed by the Pacino performance and the film as a whole. But that Globe surprise proved to not be enough for Oscar, leaving the film to be a forgotten spring release.

This episode, we go into the Fogelman ethos and examine the long period between Pacino’s Oscar win and his next nomination for The Irishman. We also discuss the cursed 2015 Original Song race that Danny Collins could have enlivened, Pacino’s string of HBO performances, and how Jennifer Garner is a more interesting supporting player than a lead.

Topics also include Dunkaccino, hanging out at the Grove, and Movies That Star Four Old Actors.

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180 – Birth

We’re finally talking about one of our most requested films, Johnathan Glazer’s 2004 sophomore feature Birth. Starring Nicole Kidman as a woman grappling with a young boy’s assertion that he is her reincarnated dead husband, the film was initially controversial and critically maligned upon release, even with stunning work from composer Alexandre Desplat and cinematographer Harris Savides. Undoubtedly a complex and confounding film, it is perhaps most notorious for the unbroken close-up of Kidman’s face that wordlessly conveys her belief in the impossible. But in the near two decade since, Birth has been reassessed as a major achievement for Glazer, but is also seen by many as one of Kidman’s finest performances.

This episode, we discuss the film’s meaning and the controversy over the bathtub scene that overshadowed its release. We also talk about the underrated Anne Heche, Kidman’s chances to win a second Oscar this year for Being The Ricardos, and Kidman’s balancing between star roles and working with auteurs.

Topics also include Lauren Bacall lovingly calling Kidman “a beginner,” our 2004 Best Actress picks, and the upcoming 20th anniversary of The Hours.

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158 – Stepmom (with Christina Tucker)

It has to be said that we have been waiting to do Stepmom from the very beginning, and what better excuse to finally dive in to Chris Columbus’ Christmas Day weepy than this week’s special guest Christina Tucker, co-host of the podcast Wait, Is This A Date?. Uniting the 1998 powers of America’s sweetheart Julia Roberts and recent Best Actress winner Susan Sarandon as a mother diagnosed with cancer and her ex-husband’s future wife, the film earned Sarandon a Golden Globe nomination despite critics not taking to the film’s very sentimental mood.

This episode, we unpack all of the film’s silly moments, from unwieldy real estate to photoshop, from new and various house pets to snowblowing, and all of the things in between that we love about it. We also look at Julia Roberts’ swings from successes to misfires in the 90s, Jena Malone’s return to pop culture in The Hunger Games series, and Susan Sarandon joins our 6 Timers Club!

Topics also include the 1998 Best Actress race, the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, and VH1′s I Love the 80s.

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154 – Battle of the Sexes

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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152 – De-Lovely

Birds do it, bees do it; let’s do it, let’s talk De-Lovely! Reuniting Kevin Kline with his Life As A House director Irwin Winkler, the film casts Kline as the legendary songwriter Cole Porter. Also starring Ashley Judd as his devoted wife Linda, De-Lovely caught attention for its depiction of the Porters’ marriage amid his open homosexuality and also for casting a smorgasbord of adult contemporary musicians to sing the Cole Porter songbook. But the film received middling reviews despite its soundtrack success and met the end of its awards road with Globe nominations for Kline and Judd.

This episode, we discuss how De-Lovely meets all of the boring mechanics of the musical biopic genre, and compare it to another 2004 prestige film’s depiction of a marriage with gay polyamory (and another 2004 musical biopic that is even worse). We also get into the stops and starts of MGM studios over the past few decades, the trajectory of recent Bond themes, and which of the film’s musical numbers we enjoy most.

Topics also include the Lilith Fair, the Grammy soundtrack prize, and the AARP Movies for Grownups Best Time Capsule prize.

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143 – The Muse (Focus Features – Part One)

We’re kicking off our May miniseries on Focus Features with the winner of our Listeners’ Choice poll, 1999′s The Muse. To kick things off, we’re looking at how Focus was birthed from the previous companies of USA Films, October Films, Gramercy Pictures and Good Machine. Written and directed by Albert Brooks, The Muse stars Sharon Stone as the titular eccentric tasked with reviving the career of a once-celebrated Hollywood screenwriter (also played by Brooks). The antics result in a slew of cameos, Andie MacDowell baking cookies, and multiple trips to an aquarium, and it all resulted in a Golden Globe nomination for Stone before Oscar looked elsewhere.

But that Globe nomination is now remembered as one of the many bumps in the history of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s practices, namely for the watches they received as part of Stone’s FYC campaign. This episode, we look at the lineup of films from the companies that merged into Focus Features, Brooks’ surprisingly limited Oscar history, and Stone’s ascension in the 1990s.

Topics also include our other Listeners’ Choice film options, the film’s datedness even for 1999, and Elton John’s abysmal original song for the film.

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