We’ve finally made it to this year’s crop of Oscar nominations, which means we have come to our annual tradition of welcoming a new class of would-be awards hopefuls to the ranks of This Had Oscar Buzz. This week, we go long on everything that stirred some Oscar chatter between now and pre-production, with categories we deem our most surprising films to miss, films we’re happiest got snubbed, and much, much more!!

As Lee-ver comes to a close (maybe?!), we decided to revisit a recent Kate Winslet vehicle that’s also a fun antidote to tHesE tiMeS. In 2015, Jocelyn Moorhouse (a director we love talking about here on THOB) returned with the TIFF premiere of The Dressmaker. Adapted from the Rosalie Ham novel, the film stars Winslet as a woman returning to her small Australian town – and bringing couture and a spirit of vengeance with her. With Judy Davis as her town outcast mother and Hugo Weaving as the town’s queer cop, the film got a little lost in the shuffle when Amazon released it the next year.

This episode, we talk about Davis’ two Oscar nominations and her legendary performance in Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. We also discuss Sarah Snook’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo audition, Liam Hemsworth as Winslet’s love interest of unclear age, and 2016 Supporting Actress.

Topics also include the 2016 Costume Design nominations, small town outsiders, and Winslet as movie star.

And we’ve made our way to “movies that exist only as a title” royalty, We Don’t Live Here Anymore. In 2004, this marital drama arrived at Sundance boasting several indie aughts heatseekers: a post-You Can Count On Me Mark Ruffalo, a post-Oscar nom Naomi Watts, Six Feet Under‘s Peter Krause, and the always buzzy Laura Dern, all wrapped up in an adaptation of Andre Dubus. This grim look at two literary-adjacent married couples facing the abyss of infidelity earned especially strong notices for Dern, but never caught fire in a year where Sideways dominated the independent scene.

This episode, we look back at the first year of Warner Independent and Laura Dern joins our Six Timers Club. We also discuss Dern’s place in the 2004 Supporting Actress race, the work of cinematographer Maryse Alberti, and the 2004 Sundance lineup.

Topics also include director John Curran, the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, and photoshop marketing.

This week’s episode is a callback to our beloved 100 Years, 100 Snubs May miniseries: Mitchell Beaupre joins us to talk about 1995’s Devil in a Blue Dress! Carl Franklin emerged with the indie success of crime thriller One False Move and moved onto studio filmmaking with Devil in a Blue Dress, starring Denzel Washington as a veteran hired to find a missing woman. The film was a smart noir exercise that nevertheless didn’t quite catch on with audiences, though critics were taken with an unpredictable supporting player, Don Cheadle.

This episode, we discuss the controversy over 1995’s all white acting nominees and the origin story quality of the film’s story. We also talk about Franklin’s unique awards haul for One False Move, Washington’s atypical lack of love interest costars, and how Cheadle’s performance feels like it has more screen time than it does.

Topics also include 1995 Best Supporting Actor, 2003 Entertainment Weekly as Oscar gateway, and Jennifer Beals as anti-femme female.

For New Years week, the auld acquaintance that won’t be forgot on our show is… a grim French drama about broken bodies. In 2012, Jacques Audiard returned to Cannes with Rust and Bone starring Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts as reluctant lovers healing through personal tragedies. The film left Cannes with no prizes but with a lot of buzz for Cotillard, which came on strong throughout the precursor season. But with a Best Actress field in flux, a few surprise ascendant nominations left an early contender like Cotillard in the dust.

This episode, we talk about our experience of liking the film less on rewatch and the trend of Cannes films becoming Oscar players in the past decade. We also talk about our issues with Emilia Perez, the film missing out on being the French International Feature submission, and the season that led to Cotillard’s Best Actress win for La Vie En Rose.

Topics also include Katy Perry, the 2012 Cannes lineup, and Audiard’s Palme for Dheepan.

Just in time for Christmas, we’re covering a seasonal favorite… or one you love to hate, depending on the corner of the internet you occupy. In 2003, Richard Curtis decked the halls of the ensemble romantic comedy mold with Love Actually. Telling several stories of love and heartache among Londoners during the holidays, Love Actually has since achieved a cult status of fans along with a myriad of thinkpieces about several of its subplot. But at the time, it was a surprisingly devastating supporting turn from Emma Thompson and a star-making turn from Bill Nighy that earned the film its buzz.

This episode, we unpack each of the romantic subplots of the film and Richard Curtis’ recent honorary Oscar. We also talk about other Christmas classics, how the film time capsules post-9/11 culture between America and the UK, and 2003 supporting contender musical chairs.

Topics also include ugly jewelry, the film’s needle drops, and Oscar nominations for Christmas movies.

Guess who’s back in the house?! We finally close the loop on the 2018 troubled son trifecta of films with Ben is Back, a grim Christmas tale of a family in the throws of addiction recovery. Lucas Hedges stars as the titular Ben, who returns home from a recovery center for the holiday, and against the advice of his sponsor. Ben’s presence is somewhat unwelcome, even with the complicated feelings of his doting mother (played by Julia Roberts), and it’s not long before the demons of his addiction come to haunt. The film lingered just outside of predictions in a competitive year before an unceremonious and short-lived December release.

This episode, we talk about the film’s portrait of the opioid crisis and the career of writer/director Peter Hedges. We also talk about the 2018 Best Actress race, the film’s very quiet TIFF premiere, and the unfulfilled potential of the August: Osage County adaptation.

Topics also include “that’s Ben,” being an uncle, and the AARP’s Best Intergenerational Film.

After his comeback stretch of high grossers Gladiator, Hannibal, and Black Hawk Down, Ridley Scott returned in 2003 with a downshift into the character focused Matchstick Men. The film starred Nicolas Cage as a conman with compounding mental health issues who is then reunited with his daughter, played by Alison Lohman. With Sam Rockwell as Cage’s partner in con, the film played both Venice and TIFF to a positive critical reception, but was ultimately forgotten by awards voters by the end of the year.

This episode, we discuss Scott’s waning Oscar chances this year for Gladiator 2 and Scott is our first director to get a Six Timers quiz. We also discuss Cage’s stretch between his Oscar win and the Adaptation nomination, Lohman’s transformation into a teenager, and Rockwell’s emergence into a beloved character actor in the early 2000s.

Topics also include the audience response to City of Angels, local bakeries, and Nutcracker and the Four Realms.

We have another episode from one of our beloved sponsor tier patrons from Patreon, this time returning us to our beloved movie year 2003! After becoming a 2002 British megahit, Bend It Like Beckham launched in the US at Sundance before becoming an early 2003 summer crowdpleaser. Directed by Gurinder Chadha, the film follows Jess (Parminder Nagra) as she secretly joins a soccer team against the wishes of her traditional Indian family. With nominations from the WGA and the Golden Globes, Bend It Like Beckham ultimately did not manage an Oscar nomination for its upbeat look at teenage womanhood.

This episode, we talk about Fox Searchlight’s 2003 lineup and 28 Days Later as a fellow UK crossover hit. We also discuss the film’s shoehorned romantic subplot, Parminder Agra’s run of prominent television roles, and costar Keira Knightley’s trio of breakthrough 2003 roles.

Topics also include international nominee Lagaan, the film’s soundtrack, and sports movies.

As is our Thanksgiving week tradition, The Ankler’s Katey Rich returns to talk about another film with indistinguishable young actors. In 2022, fans and awards prognosticators were hyped for Harry Styles to make the leap to movies and leading man stardom. Amidst the gossip for Don’t Worry Darling, literary adaptation My Policeman loomed, with Styles cast as a man caught in a bisexual love triangle between his wife (Emma Corbin) and the art curator (David Dawson) he secretly loves. The film flashes forward to their older selves as they grapple with the consequences of their actions. All that hype amounted to a film quickly forgotten between its world premiere and its Prime debut.

This episode, we talk about Styles’ disappointing and brief jaunt into films including Dunkirk and Eternals. We also talk about DWD Watch 2022, the film’s TIFF Acting Tribute honor for its ensemble, and the film’s much ballyhooed gay sex scenes.

Topics also include Brokeback Mountain, Emma Corrin’s other 2022 contender Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and the spit.