This Had Oscar Buzz

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 … Continue reading "050 – Bobby"

This Pride season honors the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots – and here on This Had Oscar Buzz, we are taking a look at the film that only did so in lip service. From director Roland Emmerich, Stonewall is a cautionary case against the kind of year-ahead Oscar predictions that are made without much … Continue reading "049 – Stonewall"

With the return of Big Little Lies to our television screens, we’re taking a look at a film starring one of the Monterey Five’s key players and her newly arrived nemesis. No, that outdoor coffee shop wasn’t the first time someone demanded answers between Reese Witherspoon and Meryl Streep – they first squared off in … Continue reading "048 – Rendition"

To wrap up our 2003 miniseries, Joe and Chris take a final look at the Oscar year that was 2003 in this special episode! We take a guess at what the remaining five films would be in a year of ten Best Picture nominees, share our personal ballots, and hint at what future This Had … Continue reading "BONUS – A Kiss At The End of 2003’s Rainbow"

For our fourth of four films in our 2003 miniseries, we placed the responsibility squarely on you: the listener. (Please try to disregard  that Joe repeatedly refers to “readers” in this episode; to him, podcasts are books you read with your ears.) Out of a poll that included The Company, Shattered Glass, and The Station Agent, you chose director … Continue reading "047 – In The Cut (2003 – Part Four)"

This week we bring you the Stefon of the 2003 Oscar race: Anthony Hopkins inadvertently saying racial slurs, Nicole Kidman with curly hair, a cringeworthy adaptation of Philip Roth, holdover from the Monica Lewinsky scandal, cast members from The Real World London. It was only inevitable that we would eventually discuss The Human Stain, but … Continue reading "046 – The Human Stain (2003 – Part Three)"

We continue our month-long look at the 2003 Oscar year with what could be the poster child for bland biopics: Sylvia. Starring Gwyneth Paltrow as poet Sylvia Plath, the film paint-by-numbered its way to box office and critical failure that inappropriately obsessed over the artist’s untimely death rather than the impact of her work. A … Continue reading "045 – Sylvia (2003 – Part Two)"

With this episode, we officially begin our month-long miniseries on the 2003 Oscar year! We are beginning with a high profile failure from a major director: Ron Howard’s The Missing starring Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones. After winning the Oscar in 2001 for A Beautiful Mind, Ron Howard aimed to cash in on that … Continue reading "044 – The Missing (2003 – Part One)"

To kick off our 2003 miniseries, we are bringing you this special bonus episode! Here we will lay the groundwork for what the expectations were for the Oscar season before we discuss our four chosen films – The Missing, Sylvia, The Human Stain, and our first Listeners’ Choice In The Cut! Joe and Chris also … Continue reading "BONUS – A 2003 Rendezvous"

The Girl on the Train will likely be remembered for following in the mold that Gone Girl had previously set for it, thanks to both books literary phenomenon status. However when it came time for a movie adaptation, The Girl on the Train chased that would-be spiritual predecessor’s formula without achieving its critical success. But … Continue reading "043 – The Girl on the Train"