John Lithgow – This Had Oscar Buzz

249 – Love is Strange

Ahead of this week’s release of Ira Sachs’ Passages, we’re discussing perhaps Sachs’ most lauded film, 2014’s Love is Strange. The film stars John Lithgow and Alfred Molina as a newly married couple forced to live apart in New York City when one of them is fired from his Catholic school job for being gay. Charting the frustrating nuances of cohabitation and the unexamined financial hardships of city life, the film is a quiet wonder filled with humane performances, including Marisa Tomei as part of the couple’s social circle. Praised at Sundance and in its late summer release, the film managed to stay in conversation due to several Independent Spirit nominations, but was shut out by Oscar.

This episode, we discuss Sachs’ underappreciated filmography and Molina’s career rise as a trustworthy supporting player. We also discuss Lithgow’s consecutive Supporting Actor nominations in the 1980s, the film’s release in the year before the Obergefell ruling, and Sony Pictures Classics’ busy 2014.

Topics also include Best Grownup Love Story, the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, and Asteroid City.

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215 – Beatriz at Dinner (with Jorge Molina)

On the eve of the return of The White Lotus, we’re taking a look at the Mike White oeuvre with returning guest Jorge Molina and 2017′s Beatriz at Dinner. Starring our beloved Salma Hayek as a holistic masseuse trapped at a toxic dinner party held by her wealthy clients, the film debuted at Sundance and was immediately viewed through the lens of our outrage and despair in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s election. The dark cringe comedy had a divisive finale but a brilliant ensemble including Connie Britton, John Lithgow, and Chloe Sevigny, with Hayek giving one of her finest performances. But the 2017 Best Actress race was highly competitive, and this summer release struggled to make an awards season comeback.

This episode, we talk about the Arteta/White partnership including White’s television output and Arteta as the quintessential journeyman director. Topics also include scrubbed John Early clips, our dreams for Hayek’s deserved awards future, and comparing Beatriz at Dinner to another 2017 film that succeeded with Oscar.

Topics also include the 2002 Best Actress nominees pitching grants, Mike White’s run on Survivor and The Amazing Race, and performing Salma in Snatch Game.

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195 – The Pelican Brief (EW Holiday Movie Preview) (with Bobby Finger)

We move forward with our May miniseries this week by looking back at the 1993 holiday season with EW’s Holiday Movie Preview and The Pelican Brief. And this week, we have returning guest and Who? Weekly cohost Bobby Finger joining us to unpack all of the John Grisham vibes. Based on Grisham’s novel and released in the same year as The Firm, The Pelican Brief stars Julia Roberts as a law student Darby Shaw caught in a political conspiracy who solicits help from Denzel Washington’s journalist Gray Grantham while on the run. Despite the presence of two Oscar caliber megastars and the great Alan J. Pakula in the director’s chair, The Pelican Brief was ultimately considered a popcorn movie by awards bodies, but remains as entertaining as ever.

This episode, we discuss Julia Roberts’ career in the early 1990s amid the tumultuous tabloid fodder about her love life and her short break between films. We also look back at Macaulay Culkin’s Nutcracker movie, EW’s underplaying of major Oscar contenders in the issue, and formative terrifying gay moments in early 1990s mainstream cinema.

Topics also include the MTV Movie Awards Most Desirable Male, holiday shopping guides, and the River Phoenix being recast in Interview with a Vampire after his untimely death.

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