Rafe Spall – This Had Oscar Buzz

391 – The BFG (with Kyle Amato!)

With Steven Spielberg returning to theatres with this week’s Disclosure Day, we’re taking the rare opportunity to discuss one of his films! Kyle Amato returns to talk about Spielberg’s take on Roald Dahl’s classic children’s fable The BFG. The film was a reuniting of Spielberg with his recent Oscar winning actor Mark Rylance in the role, all brought to life through ever-evolving motion capture technology. While Spielberg has found some of his greatest successes in family friendly fare, The BFG was one of his most underwhelming at the box office and went quickly forgotten.

This episode, we’re talking about Spielberg’s less well-received films and the many flaws that make this film feel like one of his weakest. We also talk about Rylance’s Tony tally prior to his Oscar win, motion capture discourse, and the dire summer offerings from 2016.

Topics also include Penelope Wilton as a Queen Elizabeth stand-in, Dahl adaptations, and Backrooms.

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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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263 – A Good Year

After the Oscar and box office success of Gladiator, director/star duo of Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe decided to reunite in 2006 for a very different kind of film, A Good Year. Starring Crowe as a finance bro who returns to the French vineyard of his beloved but estranged and now deceased uncle (played by Albert Finney), the film offered Scott the chance to shoot a film close to home and stretch himself into comedy. With Marion Cotillard as Crowe’s love interest and Abbie Cornish as the uncle’s rightful heir, Scott’s fledgling comedy chops resulted in a misfire and one of the biggest bombs of his career.

This episode, we discuss the Ridley Scott post-Best Picture filmography and the 2006 Best Actor race. We also look at Cotillard’s Oscar win during a strike year, Cornish’s world-traveling dialects, and the 2006 TIFF Galas.

Topics also include Industry, a former lost episode, and Buffalo voice.

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