SAG Ensemble – This Had Oscar Buzz

233 – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

From Shakespeare in Love director John Madden and with a bursting prestige-y ensemble, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is one we have been saving. Led by Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, who both had other films in the race in this season, the film follows several seniors who seek fulfillment and romance in India, including Tom Wilkenson as a man seeking reconciliation with a former gay lover. With Dev Patel as a young hotelier, the film was a global box office success that showed up throughout the precursor season, but Oscar did not come calling.

This episode, we take a look at the 2012′s wide-spread acting races, with all previous winners in Supporting Actor and Jennifer Lawrence winning Best Actress. We also talk about Smith’s two Oscar wins, Dench’s near nomination this year for Skyfall, and the Ol Parker franchise ethos.

Topics also include our winner predictions for this year, “The Quartet,” and Dev Patel going from twink to hunk.

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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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130 – The Station Agent

For this episode, we’re returning to 2003 with the film that almost won the Listeners’ Choice for our previous 2003 miniseries: Tom McCarthy’s The Station Agent. Starring Peter Dinklage in his breakout role as Finn, a loner who inherits a vacant train station in rural New Jersey and reluctantly makes a small circle of friends with a grieving artist and food truck operator, respectively played by Patricia Clarkson and Bobby Canavale. Though a critical darling and major Sundance prize winner, scattered Oscar priorities for the film’s distriutor Miramax likely kept this one from Oscar success.

This week, we look at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and the triptych of prized Patricia Clarkson performances that were launched there, including this film, Pieces of April, and All the Real Girls. We also explore how Clarkson was nominated for the less beloved Pieces, the film’s three nominations with SAG, and the work of Tom McCarthy.

Topics also include Michelle Williams breaking out from the Dawson’s Creek mold, early 00s independent cinema as a comforting vibe, and another round of playing Alter Egos.

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050 – Bobby

Can you believe we have made it to our 50TH EPISODE?! And for the occasion, we’ve allowed you the listeners to pick the film we are discussing – and you’ve chosen Bobby, Emilio Estevez’s 2006 film about the day Robert Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassdor Hotel during the 1968 Democratic presidential primary!

The film stars a smorgasbord of famous faces and called-in-favors, including Sharon Stone, Martin Sheen, Anthony Hopkins, Elijah Wood, Laurence Fishburne, and many many more. But the cast is so sprawling that the film struggles to make any of its ensemble all that interesting and never really settles on what Bobby’s assassination means for mid-00s Americans. Perhaps its Golden Globe Best Drama and SAG Ensemble nominations were always the ceiling for Bobby’s awards prospects.

This episode we talk about stylistically chasing Robert Altman’s Nashville (and a certain reviled Best Picture winner), lounge singer and hairstylist meet-cutes, and, of course, the thwarted prestige legacy of Lindsay Lohan.

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031 – How to Make an American Quilt

Coming off of two successive Oscar nominations, Winona Ryder led an immaculate female ensemble for Jocelyn Moorhouse’s How to Make an American Quilt. But instead of furthering Ryder’s mounting Oscar narrative, the film wound up as a surprise SAG Ensemble nominee – and, as Joe and Chris argue, a welcome one. This week, we take a look back at SAG Ensemble’s history, including most and least favorite nominees that didn’t translate to Best Picture nominations.

The film itself is a (however delightful) mixed bag of infidelity narratives that don’t always serve a top notch ensemble of Ellen Burstyn, Anne Bancroft, Kate Nelligan, Alfre Woodard, Lois Smith, 90s mega hottie Johnathon Schaech – and yep, even Maya Angelou. It may be too many plot threads for a 60-Second Plot Description, but also for one modest movie as well. Topics also include underrated Snatch Game performances, SAG’s silly title card rule for its Ensemble prize, and the reason the MTV Movie Awards should exist: the Best Kiss category.

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