This Had Oscar Buzz

Ahead of this week’s release of Ira Sachs’ Passages, we’re discussing perhaps Sachs’ most lauded film, 2014’s Love is Strange. The film stars John Lithgow and Alfred Molina as a newly married couple forced to live apart in New York City when one of them is fired from his Catholic school job for being gay. … Continue reading "249 – Love is Strange"

We are returning to the work of Jennifer Jason Leigh this week, and Jourdain Searles is joining us once again with an underrated and underseen gem. Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle takes on the life of indelible writer Dorothy Parker, capturing her days with the insular Algonquin Circle and her later dissolution with the … Continue reading "248 – Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (with Jourdain...

The cementing of Cillian Murphy as a major actor has been a long time in the making, possibly coming to fruition this weekend with the release of Oppenheimer. Audiences likely most know the actor for his starring role in Peaky Blinders, but his cinematic arrival began in the early 2000s with films like 28 Days Later. However, 2005 … Continue reading "247 – Breakfast on Pluto"

Though this episode brings talk of the gloom of covid lockdown, we still get to talk about one of our favorite films of the last several years. The story of two men who become friends in the harshness of the 19th century Pacific Northwest and start a business by stealing the milk of the area’s … Continue reading "246 – First Cow"

In the small hall of Oscar-endorsed horror films, the centerpiece must be Kathy Bates brilliant and terrifying win for Best Actress in Misery. A few years after that win, Bates returned to Stephen King territory (though you can debate how much of a horror story it is) with Dolores Claiborne, the mystery of whether or not a … Continue reading "245 – Dolores Claiborne (with Louis Peitzman!)"

In the early aughts, Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything Is Illuminated was an inescapable book, launching the young author’s career (and more than a few skeptics). Naturally, the film adaptation came along, though with the unexpected pedigree of cherished actor Liev Schreiber making his director debut. Starring Elijah Wood as a fictionalized version of Foer traveling to Ukraine … Continue reading "...

We’re talking about one of our favorite filmmakers this episode and for one of his most mildly received movies. In 2017, two years after the critical success of Carol, Todd Haynes returned with a pivot to young adult literature with Wonderstruck. Based on the book by Brian Selznick, the film follows two deaf children across decades … Continue reading "243 – Wonderstruck"

This week’s episode is one we have promised for some time: 2014′s Pride. The film tells the true story of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, a queer activist group that partnered with a Welsh town in the 1980s during the mining strike under Thatcher’s rule. Following the lives of both the straight townsfolk and … Continue reading "242 – Pride"

And we’re back! We hope you all enjoyed the 100 YEARS, 100… SNUBS! May miniseries, but regular episodes are returning and did we come back with a special one! The Mixed Reviews co-host and journalist Luis Rendon joins us to talk about one of the most beloved musical biopics of all time, 1997′s Selena. The … Continue reading "241 – Selena (with Luis Rendon!)"

We’ve arrived at the grand finale of our blowout May miniseries 100 Years, 100… Snubs! It’s all been leading up to this Red and Wild strawberry social with guests arriving, boots handed out with abandon, and our picks for the biggest Oscar snub of all time! We also dive into a feast of topics including … Continue reading "100 Years, 100… Snubs! – Part Five"

The penultimate episode of our May miniseries is here! And this week, we are returning to a few repeat boot victims and some of our favorite oft-discussed films and performances. This round of snubs and boots includes terrifying bundles of sticks (cough), being 4′8″ and dying, codpieces, visions of the afterlife, lump twins, Mike Leigh … Continue reading "100 Years, 100… Snubs! – Part Four"

We’ve got 20 more snubs (plus guest appearances!) on deck for another installment of 100 YEARS, 100… SNUBS!, and this episode is out for blood! We dive into the much discussed 1999 Best Original Song category, two very famous snubs that DON’T make our list, Chris’ early stumping for one highly anticipated performance this year, … Continue reading "100 Years, 100… Snubs! – Part Three"

Our May miniseries continues this week with 20 more of our picks for the greatest snubs of Oscar history! As we march towards our pick for the single greatest snub of all time we’re talking about early 2000s emo music, Jessica Lange and Charlize Theron as bootable nominees, Beyonce’s trio of performances for nominated songs, … Continue reading "100 Years, 100… Snubs! – Part Two"

It’s May miniseries time, Garys! And we’re doing something a little different! In 1998, the AFI compiled a list of the 100 greatest American films of all time, and turned the list into a primetime special complete with famous faces and a schmaltzy Trisha Yearwood song. It was such a success, the AFI continued to … Continue reading "100 Years, 100… Snubs! – Part One"

We have another movie we adore to discuss this week! Writer/director Tamara Jenkins has long gaps between films, but has nevertheless delivered an all-killer-no-filler lineup, beginning in the late 1990s with Slums of Beverly Hills and returning a decade later with the Oscar-nominated The Savages. Her next film another decade later, Private Life, starred Kathryn … Continue reading "240 – Private L...

After the Oscar winning success of Juno, 2011 gave us the reunited creative force of screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman, but in a different mode that that heartwarming crowdpleaser. Young Adult cast Charlize Theron, an author and former prom queen who returns to her hometown to win back her high school boyfriend, played … Continue reading "239 – Young Adult"

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 … Continue reading "238 – Mary Magdalene"

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 … Continue reading "237 – The Last Seduction (with Karina Longworth!)"

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 … Continue reading "236 – Secret In Their Eyes"

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 … Continue reading "235 – The Upside of Anger"

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 … Continue reading "234 – Dear Evan Hansen (with Adam Grosswirth!)...

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, … Continue reading "233 – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"

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 … Continue reading "232 – Waitress"

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 … Continue reading "231 – Force Ma...

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 … Continue reading "230 – Stage Beauty"