patrick wilson – This Had Oscar Buzz

371 – The Founder

This week, we got one of the most requested episodes finally on the feed. In 2016, Michael Keaton had already had two comeback seasons on the Oscar trail with both Birdman and Spotlight. Neither earned him Oscar gold but our sights were on The Founder, a retelling of the story of McDonalds and the man the made it into American ubiquity. But released in the end days of the Weinstein Company, the film lingered in a purgatory of a qualifying release and never found a spot in a season dominated by Moonlight and La La Land.

This episode, we talk about the return of Keaton after a time away from major movies and his streak in the 1990s. We also talk about Laura Dern in an underserved wife role, another film by John Lee Hancock that better balances its biographical subject, and Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch playing brothers.

Topics also include the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards, qualifying release strategies, and Hot Ice Cream.

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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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042 – Evening (with Richard Lawson)

This Had Oscar Buzz has always been a long day’s journey into Evening! In 2007, the film strangely opened in the summer and quickly became the poster child for the “Oscar bait” moniker. Starring a massive female ensemble including [inhales sharply] Claire Danes, Toni Collette, Vanessa Redgrave, Natasha Richardson, Glenn Close, Mamie Gummer, Eileen Atkins and Meryl Streep, the film is an unfortunately vague journey through one dying woman’s regretful memories of a fateful wedding weekend on the coast.

Joining us for this episode is Vanity Fair’s chief critic Richard Lawson to help unpack the many, many things that make Evening such a disappointment and a dreary, sex-negative enterprise. We also discuss our accidental obsession with Claire Danes (here discussed in her fifth episode), how the film borrowed heavily from our relationship with The Hours, and the 2007 era of Focus Features. Get ready to howl like Close and chase some moths!

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