Oscars – Page 2 – This Had Oscar Buzz

307 – Brad’s Status

Underdiscussed in the Mike White oeuvre is 2017’s Brad’s Status, the story of a father reflecting on his own formative college years while taking his son on a college visit. With Ben Stiller center stage, the film examines privilege and maleness with White’s exacting but humane eye for detail, resulting one of the most emotionally affecting works of his career without sacrificing his penchant for characters who aren’t always likable. Arriving the same year as both the White-scripted Beatriz at Dinner and the Stiller-starring The Meyerowitz Stories, this dramedy was yet another victim of Amazon’s mishandled marketing.

This week, we talk about Stiller’s recent years without of major acting roles and what makes this performance one of his best. We also talk about Austin Abrams’ performance as Brad’s son Troy, White’s other portraits of class, Stiller’s upcoming return in TIFF opener Nutcrackers.

Topics also include daydreams, Annapurna Pictures, and 2017 Original Screenplay.

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306 – Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her

A film with strong festival reviews that gets dumped to cable television because its commercial prospects appear slim? Sounds like something ripped from today’s cinema headlines, but it’s the case for this week’s film, Rodrigo Garcia’s Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her. Led by a prestigious cast of awards show mainstays, the film is a tapestry of loosely interconnected stories that detail the inner lives of women living in the San Fernando valley. After successful trips to both Sundance and Cannes, the film’s distributor sold the film to Showtime when even its good reviews weren’t considered enough to merit a theatrical release.

This episode, we talk about the understated work of writer/director Garcia and the critical community’s reaction at the time to the film’s punting to cable. We also talk about Calista Flockhart’s run on Ally McBeal, Kathy Baker and Valeria Golino’s absence from the film’s marketing, and how Glenn Close and Holly Hunter went from Oscar beloveds to Emmy perennials.

Topics also include the Emmys, MGM’s then-looming bankruptcy, and the Tyra Banks game.

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305 – Peterloo (with Fran Hoepfner)

With the upcoming return of Mike Leigh to cinemas with Hard Truths, we invited writer and Fran Mag creator Fran Hoepfner to join us to talk about his last theatrical effort, 2019’s Peterloo. The film tells the story of the buildup to the Peterloo massacre, in which years of political movement to get parliamentary representation for the people of Manchester resulted in bloodshed. Told with the attention to detail that has long been Leigh’s trademark, the film had a cold fall festival response in 2018, which led American distributor Amazon to punt the film to an unceremonious 2019 release.

This week, we dive into the film’s underrated and underexamined merits and what contributed to its unfair reception. We also talk about our anticipation for Hard Truths, this film’s lack of marquee Leigh players, and some of Leigh’s other undervalued films.

Topics also include the film’s political timeliness, Amy Raphael’s Mike Leigh on Mike Leigh, and Leigh on the THR Director Roundtable.

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304 – American Psycho

Time to get controversh with with one of the most argued about films of the century, 2000’s American Psycho. Based on Bret Easton Ellis’ lightning rod novel, the film passed through multiple directors before landing in the inspired hands of Mary Harron. The independent director struck the right satirical note on Ellis’ difficult blend of consumerism and masculinity, and found a flawless muse as the titular psycho Patrick Bateman in Christian Bale. But the film’s sex, violence, and dark humor incited its own controversies and was too much for the Academy despite the praise for Bale’s performance.

This episode, we talk about the film as a launchpad for Bale’s adult career and how his lesser known status at the time almost lost him the role. We also talk about Bateman’s musical obsessions, the other casting choices for Bateman, and Reese Witherspoon joins our Six Timers Club.

Topics also include the Broadway musical version, the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, and 2000 Best Actor.

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303 – Red Rocket

With Anora anointed with the Palme d’Or this year, one of the narratives ahead in the coming season will be whether Sean Baker’s microbudgeted cinema will be embraced by the Academy in a big way. After lots of buzz for Tangerine and an acting nom for Willem Dafoe in The Florida Project, Baker was buzzed again for Red Rocket and its showcase performance for Simon Rex. With Rex as a manipulative down-and-out porn star returning to the small town that cast him out, Red Rocket‘s moral minefield and rueful comedy was ultimately not embraced by Oscar.

This week, we talk about Rex’s dynamic performance and the film’s recreation of the 2016 election cycle. We also talk about the meta elements of Rex’s casting, Baker’s rise among the ranks of independent cinema, and the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.

Topics also include donuts, 2021 Best Actor, and READ posters.

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302 – Sliding Doors (with Bobby Finger)

We’re talking about Gwyneth Paltrow’s red hot 1998 this week and who better to join us than author and Who? Weekly co-host Bobby Finger?! With a slew of movies to aid her ascendancy, Gwyneth Paltrow wasn’t having a moment in 1998, she was the moment. It all kicked off with the Sundance debut of romcom Sliding Doors, a film that cast Paltrow as a woman whose fate is determined by whether or not she makes the subway. Showing us both what happens if she does or doesn’t make that train, the film made Paltrow a buzzy figure, but itself was usurped as an awards vehicle by Shakespeare in Love.

This week, we talk about the concept of having “a Sliding Doors moment” and how the film is much wilder than we remembered it. We also talk about Bobby’s new book Four Squares, Paltrow’s Oscar season SNL hosting duties, and the film introducing us all to “Thank You” by Dido.

Topics also include video rental store wall real estate, Miramar, and the formative vibes of Richard Curtis.

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301 – Bernie

our old friend Kevin O’Keeffe and Texas native for a very Texas movie. Debuting in 2011 but arriving in theaters, Richard Linklater’s Bernie accounts a real-life Texan wink wink bachelor Bernie Tiede (played by Jack Black), beloved by the church ladies and local community. However, he is taken in by the town villain Margie (Shirley MacLaine) and ends up convicted for her murder, but not necessarily in the court of public opinion. Though the film was recognized as comedy (especially for Black’s delicate performance), its awards history was largely left as a footnote to the McConaissance.

This episode, we talk about the different vibes of Texas cities and the film’s spectacular ensemble of real-life witnesses. We also talk about Linklater’s outsider status to the Hollywood establishment, Black’s preceding failures, and reporter Skip Hollandsworth.

Topics also include “one of them CMT girls,” Linklater’s upcoming Merrily We Roll Along, and 2012 Best Actor.

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300 – Collateral Beauty

We’ve hit another year of the podcast, arriving at our milestone 300th episode! No better way to celebrate that by finally revisiting one of the past decades most notorious bombs, 2016’s Collateral Beauty. Starring Will Smith as a grieving father, this all-star cast includes Edward Norton, Michael Peña, and Kate Winslet as his three friend who devise a plan to… oust Smith from their advertising firm by… hiring three struggling actors (Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, and Jacob Latimore) to… portray the concepts of Death, Love, and Time that he has been writing letters to, and make him appear mentally unstable. Yeah, this one goes some places!

This episode, we talk about how the film’s imbalance with magical realism makes it more deranged. We also talk about Smith’s Oscar-chasing dramatic roles pre-slap, Ann Dowd as a felony committing private investigator, and the previous talent attached to this buzzy but ill-begotten project.

Topics also include Winslet joining our 6 Timers Club, Rogue One, and our Best Of ballots for the last year of the show!

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299 – The Matrix Resurrections

This week’s film has Joe and Chris on opposite sides of a divisive reception. The Matrix not only revolutionized genre filmmaking in 1999, but it resulted in a resounding Oscar success. Reception to its first two sequels in 2003 was decidedly unappreciative, but the franchise has received some critical reassessment in the two decades since. Enter 2021’s The Matrix Resurrections, a COVID-delayed and incredibly meta revisiting of The Wachowski’s science fiction world, this time with only Lana Wachowski at the helm. The last of Warner Bros.’ films to be released simultaneously in theaters and online during the pandemic, Resurrections nearly cracked craft categories, but its timing proved unfortunate.

This episode, we talk about Oscars relationship to awarding franchises and overlooking later installments. We also talk about our opposing points of view on the film, how the film incorporates new cast members as stand-ins for the original lineup, and the film’s bold meta elements.

Topics also include the late 2021 box office, gay villainy, and doomscrolling.

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298 – A Perfect World

Early in the 1990s, two westerns emerged as Best Picture winners when the genre was first thought dead: Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves and Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. In 1993, those heralded actor-directors would unite for A Perfect World, casting Costner as an escaped convict who takes a small boy hostage and teaches him about masculinity, with Eastwood as the lawman in pursuit while also taking the directing reigns. That pedigree missed the Academy on this round, however, as the film’s downer telling was a poor fit to the holiday season to which it was launched.

This episode, we talk about the early poor reception for Costner’s new saga Horizon and our differing opinions on this film’s approach to masculinity. We also talk about Eastwood’s output in the 1990s, Laura Dern’s underserved role as a criminologist, and how the film disappointed for denying audiences an onscreen showdown between its male stars.

Topics also include Schindler’s List as the 1993 undeniable frontrunner, Costner’s sex appeal, and the Cahiers du Cinema.

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