Audio – Page 2 – This Had Oscar Buzz

238 – Mary Magdalene

We talk about awards hopes thwarted by release date pushes, and this week is the mother of all of them. Originally intended as Garth Davis’ speedy follow-up to Lion for Thanksgiving 2017, Mary Magdalene cast Rooney Mara as the biblical woman and Joaquin Phoenix as Jesus. The film reexamines Mary Magdalene role among the disciples and how history has viewed her, and attempts a feminist perspective to biblical narratives. But shortly after it wasn’t announced for any fall festival lineups, the film was pushed to Easter 2018. When the Weinstein expose arrived, the film was then caught in US distribution limbo, arriving on schedule overseas but not seeing (few) American theatres until 2019.

This episode, we talk about Davis’ success with Lion in the 2016 season and our hopes for his upcoming Satires Ronan starrer Foe. We also discuss Joe’s Catholic upbringing and knowledge, how Jesus would’ve handled social media, and the chances Mara would have had in the Best Actress race had the film arrived in its original season.

Topics also include Phoenix’s whole vibe, MANY music references, and Hot Judas.

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237 – The Last Seduction (with Karina Longworth!)

We are joined by none other than You Must Remember This’ Karina Longworth this week to talk about one of our most unique and most requested Oscar cases. In 1994, The Last Seduction gave a modern riff on classic noir with a sexually frank femme fatale played by Linda Fiorentino who pulls a game of deception on multiple men. The film initially aired on HBO, but an enthusiastic critical response built towards October Films giving the film a theatrical release. With Fiorentino’s performance earning major critics prizes and even a BAFTA nomination, October Films sued the Academy when the film was deemed ineligible thanks to its television debut. Though nothing came from the suit, the film has continued to amass its fans in recent years.

This episode, we talk about Fiorentino’s celebrated performance and some of the more troublesome aspects of the film’s politics. We also discuss You Must Remember This’ brand new season Erotic 90s, Dirty Dancing winning Best Original Song, and the film’s infamous chain link fence sex scene.

Topics also include Fiorentino’s reputation, Tom Cruise’s 1999, and buying Playboys in Serbia.

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236 – Secret In Their Eyes

After The Secret in Their Eyes won Argentina and director Juan José Campanella the 2009 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, an American remake emerged with primo screenwriter and director Billy Ray attached. Dropping the The faster than a gritty reboot, the American Secret In Their Eyes not only drew top stars but, in adaptation, turned the original’s reflection on military rule into a post-9/11 set thriller of institutional corruption. With an awards friendly cast of headliners of Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman, and And-credit Julia Roberts, the film’s grim but tepid examination of morals deflated by the search for justice met an indifferent critical response after skipping the fall festival season.

This episode, we talk about Billy Ray’s work as a franchise screenwriter and trio of directorial efforts, including his sensational, underrated debut Shattered Glass. We also talk about the original’s Oscar win over early season Cannes-certified films The White Ribbon and A Prophet, the headliner’s television misfires, and actor Joe Cole’s dual villain roles as A Nose and Marshall Mathers.

Topics also include Laura Linney in an upcoming “Catholic 80 for Brady,” the strong run of recent International Feature winners, and Julia Roberts’ bangs.

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235 – The Upside of Anger

Every prestige actress overdue for an Oscar deserves her showcase, and after three Oscar nominations in under a decade, Joan Allen got hers written and directed by her The Contender costar Mike Binder. The Upside of Anger cast Allen as a mother of four whose husband suddenly abandons her, and she finds boozy solace with the former baseball player down the street. The actress earned raves for her all-out performance, along with Kevin Costner as her new lover and compatriot. But the film was a spring release and struggled to get arrested in the awards race, despite a Critics Choice nomination and regional critics wins, despite what is largely seen as an uncompetitive Best Actress field.

This episode, we talk about Joan Allen’s three Oscar nominations and other ones we think she should have received. We also talk about Costner in Baseball Kevin mode, the National Board of Review’s 2005 “excellence in filmmaking” lineup, the film’s underwhelming portrait of siblings, and the 2005 Best Actress race.

Topics also include listeners not being able to tell Chris and Joe apart, Allen’s Tony Award and theatre history, and the maligned The Mind of the Married Man.

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234 – Dear Evan Hansen (with Adam Grosswirth!)

To settle your post-Oscar hangover, we’re cracking open the Class of 2021 films this week and we’ve invited Muppeturgy co-host Adam Grosswirth to join us. Dear Evan Hansen follows a titular teen battling severe social anxiety, who fabricates a friendship with his bully after he dies by suicide, and faces the consequences of his lie when he goes viral. After emerging victorious from the 2017 Tonys with a Best Musical win and cementing star Ben Platt’s performance into theatre legend, the musical was destined for a whole other kind of THOB legend. Once the trailer dropped, skepticism and mockery of the near-30 Platt playing a teen went rampant, and vicious reviews made the film DOA.

This episode, we unpack the many problems inherent to the material and the attempts to soften them on film that only… make more problems. We also discuss the 2017 Tony season, Julianne Moore attempting the risk of a singing role, Amy Adams disappointing recent years, and the origins of the songwriting oeuvre of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

Topics also include The Politician, director Stephen Chbosky’s association to multiple failed movie musicals, and orchard confusion.

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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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232 – Waitress

We decided to bring you a slice of joy this week with 2007′s Waitress. Starring Keri Russell as a small town waitress and inventive pie master stuck in a harmful marriage, the heartwarming film would eventually be adapted to the megabit musical with songs from Sara Bareilles. Its beginnings, however, were marked by sadness: in the months before its Sundance premiere, the film’s writer/director/costar Adrienne Shelly was tragically murdered. Waitress won over Sundance, becoming a summer hit for Fox Searchlight and generating praise for both Russell’s performance and Shelly’s delicate tone. However, the film lingered in the shadow of the previous year’s Sundance/Searchlight Oscar success of Little Miss Sunshine despite earning fans.

This episode, we talk about Keri Russell’s career and how Waitress falls between her two definitive television success: Felicity and The Americans. We also discuss the Mickey Mouse Club, the era of movies where characters don’t have abortions, and Celine Dion’s upcoming screen debut.

Topics also include various types of pie, the Sundance Houndog controversy, and the power of Felicity cutting her hair.

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231 – Force Majeure

We’re taking another dive into the Best International Feature category this week to talk about one of the biggest world cinema successes of the past year, Ruben Östlund. Though he made films before it, 2014 catapulted Östlund with the Cannes premiere of Force Majeure, a dark satire of masculinity, and relationships dynamics, and fight-or-flight impulses. The film continued on the fall festival circuit, amassing critical acclaim and advancing to the Foreign Language Film bake-off list as Sweden’s submission. However, on nomination morning, Force Majeure missed a heavily-predicted nomination.

This episode, we discuss Östlund’s reaction video to missing the Oscar nomination and the films that followed, including two Palme d’Or wins and now Picture/Director/Screenplay nominations for his Triangle of Sadness. We also discuss the immediately pre-COVID American remake Downhill, the lack of an International frontrunner in the 2014 race, and other directors who have won multiple Palmes.

Topics also include this year’s AARP Movies for Grownup awards, shading the International winner that year Ida, and sauna moshpitting.

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230 – Stage Beauty

Longtime listeners will know that a special space in our podcast lore is reserved for our first six timer, Claire Danes. This week, we return to her work in the opulent and forgotten Stage Beauty. The film cast Danes as a stage dresser who longs to be an actress in a time when women weren’t allowed on the stage, and opposite Billy Crudup as an actor celebrated for his performances in female roles. In an anemic year for Globes Comedy, it looked like the film could fall into a similar vein of the recently Best Picture awarded Shakespeare in Love, but this became a costume drama that the industry overlooked.

This episode, we get into the film’s surprisingly curious (if still dated) eye towards gender and Crudup’s playful performance, which might be his very best. We also dive into the gossip of Danes and Crudup’s onset affair in which Crudup left a pregnant Mary-Louise Parker, her winning Globes speech that very year, and the elusiveness of an Oscar nomination for Crudup.

Topics also include the unmissable Fleishman is In Trouble, the Tribeca Film Festival, and the National Board of Review’s Special Recognition for Excellence in Filmmaking catchall.

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229 – Magic Mike XXL (with Pamela Ribon!)

Listeners, are you ready to be exalted?! This week, we welcome back author, screenwriter, Listen to Sassy co-host, and now OSCAR NOMINEE Pamela Ribon. And to welcome her back we’re going on a road trip with some exotic male dancers for Magic Mike XXL. The somewhat surprising sequel to the 2012 original (previously discussed on this podcast) dispensed with the commentary on capitalism and gave us everything we wanted from Mike and the boys: more dancing, more skin, and more guys being dudes. But softer box office and softer reviews kept this totally-not-directed-by-Soderbergh-not-at-all sequel out of serious awards contention, excluding some late-year critical reassessment.

This episode, we celebrate Pam’s success with her animated short My Year of Dicks and our high hopes for Mike’s swan song, Magic Mike’s Last Dance. We also discuss Roxanne Gay’s recap, Magic Mike Live, and the film’s genius film ensemble including Jada Pinkett Smith, Andie MacDowell, and Elizabeth Banks.

Topics also include campaign rules, “going to nationals” as a concept, and Joe Manganiello causing your pants to rip.

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