Audio – Page 27 – This Had Oscar Buzz

010 – Hyde Park on Hudson

Lend us a hand and listen along as we discuss this week’s case of failed Oscar buzz: 2012’s Hyde Park on Hudson.

Opening with the burden of Bill Murray’s mounting Oscar hopes but in the shadow of The King’s Speech success handling a shared historical figure, Hyde Park on Hudson couldn’t charm its way into Oscar’s good graces. Even with Murray playing beloved American president FDR, this film couldn’t get past its odd business of picnic food and expositional handjobs.

This week we discuss another ephemeral awards season organization, director Roger Michell’s fascinating and underacknowledged career, and the beloved ensemble of actresses including Laura Linney and the Olivias Colman and Williams – not to mention Dr. Pinder-Schloss herself, Elizabeth Wilson.

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009 – Serena

Grab your snake-catchin’ eagle and buckle up for this week’s Oscar misstep: Susanne Bier’s literary adaptation Serena.

Set during the Great Depression, this lumber baron romantic thriller starred Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper and became a question mark lingering over multiple Oscar seasons. After a beleaguered post-production process and its struggles to find a distributor, the film immediately disappeared when it finally arrived in theatres, after both stars had delivered multiple blockbusters and two Oscar successes with David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle.

Listen in as we unpack a movie that asks “how much animal symbolism is too much?” and “what would happen if Lady Macbeth and the Monopoly guy fell in love?” The answers: “never enough” and failed Oscar buzz.

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008 – Double Jeopardy

Before this year’s Oscar season kicks off, we have a cautionary tale for your early predictions: 1999′s revenge thriller smash hit Double Jeopardy!

That’s right, you may have forgotten, but leading actress Ashley Judd started pulling Oscar buzz when Double Jeopardy opened and started raking in the cash. But this blockbuster (which opened opposite eventual Best Picture winner American Beauty) was never meant to be with Oscar, even though it also starred Tommy Lee Jones in the same vein as his Oscar winning role in The Fugitive.

This week we discussed Judd’s underappreciated career, 1999′s many breakout actresses, and the badass maven of the crime procedural, Roma Maffia.

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007 – Lions For Lambs

In 2007, the movies went hard on the War in Iraq. But what happened when that righteous roar, bolstered by some of the biggest names in Oscar and cinema history, gave the weakest bleat in the barnyard?

This week we are looking at Lions for Lambs, one of several politically motivated films of its year and the one that thudded the loudest. With Robert Redford directing and starring alongside Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise, our immediately assembled Oscar expectations were dismantled even faster once its empty talking head preachiness hit movie screens. Topic also include: a pre-Social Network Andrew Garfield, the thwarted hopes of resurrecting a flailing United Artists, and the joy of a perfect Kevin Dunn line reading.

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BONUS – If Queen Street Could Talk

We’re going to TIFF! If you haven’t seen, the first titles for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival lineup have been revealed. Joe and Chris couldn’t wait to talk about it, so we are treating you to a special bonus episode to discuss what’s to come from what many people consider the official start of the Oscar season. We’ll be discussing the films and performances we’re most anticipating, those that make us nervous, and what we hope will be announced at a later date!

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006 – 1492: Conquest of Paradise

Brace yourselves for some slow motion colonialism set to the dramatics of Vangelis – this week, we are discussing 1992′s Christopher Columbus epic 1492: Conquest of Paradise. With star Gerard Depardieu having a moment in American cinema and director Ridley Scott fresh off of his first nomination for Thelma and Louise, what could possibly go wrong?

Listen as Joe and Chris remember Sigourney Weaver’s costumes, trailer packages on VHS tapes, and how the film is the prototype for Ridley Scott’s slew of historical epics.

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005 – Courage Under Fire

This week, we are taking you back to 1996 for Edward Zwick’s Rashomon-esque half-examination of the Gulf War and sexism in the military, Courage Under Fire. While most of the praise on release was granted to star Denzel Washington and supporting player Lou Diamond Phillips, we take a look at the case for Meg Ryan and how an Oscar nomination eluded her career.

Other discussion points include Zwick filmography as consistently mild Oscar success, Matt Damon “getting” thin for his breakout role, and the constantly shifting landcape of Meg Ryan’s southern dialect. And we change up the format and add a closing trivia showdown: The IMDb Game, AKA Known 4.

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002 – Tulip Fever

This week’s piece of failed awards bait is the 2017 costume drama/romantic “thriller” Tulip Fever, and by “2017,” we mean “filmed in 2014 and originally intended to be released at various times over the course of the next three years, only to finally limp into theaters after several waves of frantic test screenings, horrid buzz and derisive jokes.” From the director of The Other Boleyn Girl, people! How could it have all gone so very wrong?

Topics include: Dane DeHaan and baby pandas, Judi Dench running Goldman-Sachs-for-flowers, whether we’re living in a post-costume-drama world, whether this would have been Alicia Vikander’s Norbit, and how much would have been different if DreamWorks had been able to make this movie in 2004 as originally intended.

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001 – Mona Lisa Smile

Our first episode of This Had Oscar Buzz is about 2003’s Mona Lisa Smile, director Mike Newell’s Wellesley College period melodrama, starring Julia Roberts and all of the It Girls of the early Aughts. Come for the art history lesson, stay for the dashed awards hopes.

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It Didn’t Come True

Joe Reid and Chris Feil discuss the origins of This Had Oscar Buzz, their first experiences with Oscar failures, and give a sneak peek at episodes to come…

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