SAG Awards – This Had Oscar Buzz

276 – Spanglish

This week, we are talking about one of the biggest THOB titles that we haven’t yet discussed: 2004’s Spanglish. James L. Brooks returned nearly a decade after his Oscar success with As Good As It Gets with this story of two disparate families thrust together: an immigrant single mother and the rich Los Angeles family she works for. With Adam Sandler headlining one year after earning his first bout of buzz for Punch-Drunk Love, this looked to be a chance for the Academy to honor him as a serious performer within the Academy-beloved Brooksian seriocomic glow. But the movie… has some issues!

This episode, we talk about Cloris Leachman’s stellar boozy performance and Téa Leoni’s work tried to wrangle an impossible character. We also discuss Paz Vega as the film’s attempted breakthrough performance to American audiences, Brooks’ Oscar history, and the many mystery middle names in Hollywood.

Topics also include Mitski fans, the film’s cringe-inducing sex scene, and the history of the Tristar logo.

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Mail Bag: Vol. 1

It’s our annual year-end tradition! You’ve sent us your questions on Oscar past and present, but this year’s mailbag brings a special surprise: you’ve asked us such fun and thoughtful questions that we’re splitting the mailbag into two instalments! [Cue “Battle Without Honor or Humanity”] This mailbag, we’ll be answering questions about what might be Glenn Close’s Oscar vehicle now that Susnet Blvd. looks unlikely, actors with the longest period between acting nominations, and our MVPs from SAG’s Best Ensemble winners. Topics also include Laura Bacall shilling for High Point Coffee, the best winners of Best Original Song, and the hubbub of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’s Best Picture nomination.

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163 – The River Wild

How do you get a studio action movie some Oscar buzz? You cast Meryl Streep in the lead role. Starring the beloved actress as a woman whose family is taken captive on a white water rafting vacation, The River Wild was a modest fall hit for director Curtis Hansen and earned Globe nominations for Streep and the film’s villain Kevin Bacon. But in a scattered Best Actress race that ultimately resulted in a steamroll for Jessica Lange for the long-shelved Blue Sky, Streep would have to continue what would become her longest period without a nomination—a whopping four years

Streep was also nominated at the first ever SAG Awards, which further compliacated the race by awarding the twice Oscared Jodie Foster for Nell. This epsiode, we dive into the film’s thrilling delights and the career of Curtis Hansen. We also discuss Bacon’s closest brushes with the awards race, David Strathairn being hot, and the most iconic movie Gails.

Topics also include which Meryl characters are tops, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and Lollapalooza hats.

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157 – Woman in Gold

Somehow we have yet to cover a film starring Helen Mirren, but this episode, we rectify that with 2015′s Woman in Gold. Mirren stars in the true story as Maria Altmann, a woman who fled the Nazis and later sought restitution of her very famous family paintings by Gustav Klimt. The film also stars Ryan Reynolds as Altmann’s lawyer with an unexamined relationship with his own Jewish lineage and was Simon Curtis’ directorial follow-up to My Week With Marilyn. A sizable counterprogramming hit in the spring, Woman in Gold was campaigned by the financially fledgling Weinstein Company, landing Mirren sual SAG nominations for this and the abysmal Trumbo.

This week, we take a long look at Helen Mirren before and after her Oscar, including her balance between awards fare staple and ironic action star. We also discuss Reynolds’ screen persona opposite his miscasting here, movies about paintings, and the difference between “overdue” and “this is their year” narratives.

Topics also include the power of being the season’s first screener, Olga Kurlyenko’s Black Widow cameo, and the best mode of transportation in which to seek leisure.

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154 – Battle of the Sexes

One year after winning Best Actress for La La Land, Emma Stone returned with an even better performance but faced even tougher competition. In Battle of the Sexes, the recent winner starred as Billie Jean King as she faced off Bobby Riggs (played by Steve Carell) in the famed titular tennis match. Directed by Little Miss Sunshine duo Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the film had a warm festival and critical reception before quickly underwhelming at the box office and hung on with mentions for Stone and Carell during the precursors.

But Battle of the Sexes was quickly put on the backburner as two of Searchlights other contenders became Best Picture (and Best Actress) heavy hitters: The Shape of Water and Three Billboards. This episode, we discuss some reservations about the film and praise the work of Stone, who go on to again outdo herself a year later with The Favourite. We also discuss Dayton/Faris’ Ruby Sparks, Billie Jean King as that Oscar season’s Real Philomena Lee, and Sarah Silverman as a stealth player.

Topics also include 2017′s Supporting Actor fifth spot in flux, the Original Song race, and hot nepotism with Louis Pullman.

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129 – When A Man Loves A Woman

For our third episode on Meg Ryan, we’re going back to 1994 with When A Man Loves a Woman. One year after her megasmash in Sleepless in Seattle, the film stars Ryan as a woman entering recovery for alcoholism and Andy Garcia as her husband struggling to find normalcy. Though the film was a critical and box office success, an early summer release and scattered Best Actress year kept Ryan from her elusive first Oscar nomination.

This episode, we talk about how the film subverts romantic drama expectations by not letting the male lead off the hook when it shouldn’t. We also talk about Tina Majorino and Mae Whitman in their child star days, Meg Ryan’s Lead Actress nomination from SAG in their inaugural awards, and Andy Garcia as eternally hot.

Topics also include the MTV Movie Awards’ Most Desirable categories, movies from the 90s that exist only as titles or posters, Lauren Tom when she broke up Ross and Rachel.

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