movies – Page 8 – This Had Oscar Buzz

247 – Breakfast on Pluto

The cementing of Cillian Murphy as a major actor has been a long time in the making, possibly coming to fruition this weekend with the release of Oppenheimer. Audiences likely most know the actor for his starring role in Peaky Blinders, but his cinematic arrival began in the early 2000s with films like 28 Days Later. However, 2005 gave us a Cillian Murphy three-peat with Batman Begins, Red Eye, and this week’s film Breakfast on Pluto. With Murphy starring as a transwoman reconciling her family history in Ireland and Britain during the 1960s and 1970s, the Neil Jordan film ran the fall festival gamut and earned strong notices for Murphy (if not the film). But Murphy faced a stacked 2005 Best Actor lineup and this smaller queer film was left in the cold.

This episode, we talk about the film’s relationship to Jordan’s Oscar success The Crying Game and the director’s wide-ranging filmography. We also talk about Murphy’s career ascent as somewhere between character actor and leading man, the film’s dated presentation of queerness, and Murphy’s Golden Globe nomination.

Topics also include our Barbenheimer plans, The Borgias, and hating David Zaslav.

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246 – First Cow

Though this episode brings talk of the gloom of covid lockdown, we still get to talk about one of our favorite films of the last several years. The story of two men who become friends in the harshness of the 19th century Pacific Northwest and start a business by stealing the milk of the area’s only cow, Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow is a delicate study of American capitalism from one of the most under-rewarded filmmakers working today. The film’s modesty (a Reichardt specialty) might have kept it away from awards talk had it not been one of the last films released prior to covid lockdowns. Though the lack of released films that year and a Best Picture win with New York critics helped keep the film in conversation, First Cow and Reichardt remained on the outside of the Academy’s tastes.

This episode, we talk about Reichardt’s filmography and the film’s long festival run ahead of its thwarted theatrical release. We also talk about the performances of John Magaro and Orion Lee, A24 putting all of its 2020 Oscar energy towards (the also great) Minari, and retired bovine actress Evie the cow.

Topics also include the Academy ratio, cow puns, and the Gotham awards.

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245 – Dolores Claiborne (with Louis Peitzman!)

In the small hall of Oscar-endorsed horror films, the centerpiece must be Kathy Bates brilliant and terrifying win for Best Actress in Misery. A few years after that win, Bates returned to Stephen King territory (though you can debate how much of a horror story it is) with Dolores Claiborne, the mystery of whether or not a woman killed not only her wealthy employer, but her husband decades prior. With Jennifer Jason Leigh as Bates’ estranged daughter and director Taylor Hackford at the helm, the film couldn’t return to that other King film’s Oscar anointing but endures as an intense melodrama and one of the best King adaptations.

This week, writer Louis Peitzman join us to unpack the history of King adaptations and each of our history with King’s work. We also discuss supporting player Judy Parfitt’s exquisite line readings, the differing takes on The Shining delivered by King and Stanley Kubrick, and this story’s connection to Gerald’s Game.

Topics also include the many 1995 Best Actress outsiders, Bates’ pre-Oscar theatre career, and Dead Like Me.

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244 – Everything is Illuminated

In the early aughts, Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything Is Illuminated was an inescapable book, launching the young author’s career (and more than a few skeptics). Naturally, the film adaptation came along, though with the unexpected pedigree of cherished actor Liev Schreiber making his director debut. Starring Elijah Wood as a fictionalized version of Foer traveling to Ukraine to discover family truths buried by the Holocaust, the novel and film are a reflection on the lost history of shetls in Eastern Europe. But when the film arrived on the fall festival scene, underwhelming reviews

This episode, we talk about Elijah Wood’s post-Lord of the Rings career and the other films that have come from Foer’s writing. We also discuss the film arriving in the year of Schreiber’s Tony win, distributor Warner Independent’s successful 2005, and the National Board of Review’s 2005 picks for Special Recognition for Excellence in Filmmaking.

Topics also include emailing Natalie Portman, trailer voiceover, and the Blockbuster vs. Netflix discs era.

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243 – Wonderstruck

We’re talking about one of our favorite filmmakers this episode and for one of his most mildly received movies. In 2017, two years after the critical success of Carol, Todd Haynes returned with a pivot to young adult literature with Wonderstruck. Based on the book by Brian Selznick, the film follows two deaf children across decades who trek into Manhattan in search of family: Rose in 1927 and Ben in 1977, respectively played by Millicent Simmonds and Oakes Fegley. With passing observations to film history and the invention of the talkie, the film takes a heady approach to a story of familial reconciliation across generations. But when the film widely disappointed viewers early on at the Cannes Film Festival, the film struggled to gain fans over the year, becoming the first of Amazon’s many awards duds over the season.

This episode, we discuss the film’s early tepid reception at the Cannes Film Festival and all of the talk of this year’s Cannes, including the debut of Haynes’ May December. We also discuss Simmonds’ work in the A Quiet Place franchise, the challenge in marketing Haynes’ films, and Julianne Moore’s dual roles in both storylines.

Topics also include Carter Burwell’s glorious score, another round of Alter Egos, and gossip from the 2017 Cannes.

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100 Years, 100… Snubs! – Part Two

Our May miniseries continues this week with 20 more of our picks for the greatest snubs of Oscar history! As we march towards our pick for the single greatest snub of all time we’re talking about early 2000s emo music, Jessica Lange and Charlize Theron as bootable nominees, Beyonce’s trio of performances for nominated songs, horny acting, the most perplexingly snubbed movie of 2022, Jim Carrey’s fast rise in the 1990s, loving musical theatre people, and horror nominations!

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100 Years, 100… Snubs! – Part One

It’s May miniseries time, Garys! And we’re doing something a little different!

In 1998, the AFI compiled a list of the 100 greatest American films of all time, and turned the list into a primetime special complete with famous faces and a schmaltzy Trisha Yearwood song. It was such a success, the AFI continued to release Top 100 lists for love stories, comedies, stars, and more. For our May miniseries, we are paying a loving tribute to the tradition by selecting our choices for the 100 greatest Oscar snubs of all time, and we have several beloved THOB guests calling in to provide their picks as well!

In part one, we’ll cover our ground rules for selection, including no double mentions for a single category in a year, or double mentions for an artist. And we’ll also be giving the boot to the nomination we would replace in our snubs’ place. Here we kick off the month of May with our first (unranked!) 20 snub selections!

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240 – Private Life

We have another movie we adore to discuss this week! Writer/director Tamara Jenkins has long gaps between films, but has nevertheless delivered an all-killer-no-filler lineup, beginning in the late 1990s with Slums of Beverly Hills and returning a decade later with the Oscar-nominated The Savages. Her next film another decade later, Private Life, starred Kathryn Hahn and Paul Giamatti as New York creatives going through every hurdle to have a baby, including considering their adrift niece (played by Kayli Carter) as a surrogate. The film was a part of Netflix’s awards slate, but didn’t receive nearly the push as some of the streamer’s other films in their awards slate, but we will always eagerly await the next Tamara Jenkins project.

This episode, we talk about Kathryn Hahn’s formidable career of praised (and sometimes undersign) television performances, and the culmination of appreciation for the actress around WandaVision. We also discuss Giamatti’s “shady record exec” period, Netflix’s emergence as an awards player, and Hahn’s appearance in the THR Actress Roundtable and swooning for Rachel Weisz.

Topics also include the AARP Movies for Grownups qualifications for Best Grownup Love Story, Applebee’s menus, and John Carroll Lynch joins our Six Timers Club.

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239 – Young Adult

After the Oscar winning success of Juno, 2011 gave us the reunited creative force of screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman, but in a different mode that that heartwarming crowdpleaser. Young Adult cast Charlize Theron, an author and former prom queen who returns to her hometown to win back her high school boyfriend, played by Patrick Wilson. After Reitman’s Up in the Air peaked early in its Oscar season, this film skipped the festival route and performed modestly, earning an immediate reputation as a mean and caustic movie. With brilliant supporting work from Patton Oswalt, Collette Wolfe, and Elizabeth Reaser, the film has earned ardent fans since, despite missing out on Oscar.

This episode, we discuss the film’s cutting observational humor and the thorny wit that makes Mavis Gary such a memorable character and performance by Theron. We also discuss the Best Actress and Original Screenplay field of 2011, the film’s use of Teenage Fanclub’s “The Concept,” and long-suffering Pomeranian, Dulce.

Topics also include KenTacoHuts, gay people liking mean women, and hating the 2011 Oscar lineup.

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238 – Mary Magdalene

We talk about awards hopes thwarted by release date pushes, and this week is the mother of all of them. Originally intended as Garth Davis’ speedy follow-up to Lion for Thanksgiving 2017, Mary Magdalene cast Rooney Mara as the biblical woman and Joaquin Phoenix as Jesus. The film reexamines Mary Magdalene role among the disciples and how history has viewed her, and attempts a feminist perspective to biblical narratives. But shortly after it wasn’t announced for any fall festival lineups, the film was pushed to Easter 2018. When the Weinstein expose arrived, the film was then caught in US distribution limbo, arriving on schedule overseas but not seeing (few) American theatres until 2019.

This episode, we talk about Davis’ success with Lion in the 2016 season and our hopes for his upcoming Satires Ronan starrer Foe. We also discuss Joe’s Catholic upbringing and knowledge, how Jesus would’ve handled social media, and the chances Mara would have had in the Best Actress race had the film arrived in its original season.

Topics also include Phoenix’s whole vibe, MANY music references, and Hot Judas.

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