300 episodes

Every week on This Had Oscar Buzz, film and entertainment writers Joe Reid and Chris Feil are going to be talking about a different movie that once upon a time had big-time Academy Award aspirations, and for one reason or another, it all went wrong.

This Had Oscar Buzz Joe and Chris

    • TV & Film
    • 4.8 • 1K Ratings

Every week on This Had Oscar Buzz, film and entertainment writers Joe Reid and Chris Feil are going to be talking about a different movie that once upon a time had big-time Academy Award aspirations, and for one reason or another, it all went wrong.

    281 – Fair Game

    281 – Fair Game

    We return to the work of Naomi Watts this week for a discussion on 2010’s Fair Game. Costarring with Sean Penn for the third time in a decade, Watts starred as outed CIA agent Valerie Plame with the film detailing the leaking of Plame’s identity amidst her husband Joseph C. Wilson’s criticisms of the Bush administration. With Doug Liman taking the director’s chair after a series of action films, the film is a surprisingly sober recounting of the Plame story and one of Hollywood’s better offerings deconstructing that era of American culture. But despite launching the film at Cannes and Watts’ solid performance, the film became yet another disappointment among the many political dramas of the period.







    This week, we talk about the career of Liman, including the fraught production of The Bourne Identity. We also discuss Watts’ period between her two Oscar nominations, the general landscape of Bush era politics and how few films successfully unpacked it well, and the relative box office disappointment of Edge of Tomorrow.







    Topics also include Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, Bush administration names like “Scooter,” and the National Board of Review’s Freedom of Expression award.







    Follow Us on Twitter!@Had_Oscar_BuzzJoe: @joereidChris: @chrisvfeil

    • 2 hr 11 min
    280 – State and Main

    280 – State and Main

    Forgotten cinema, you ask? This week, we’re coming to you with 2000’s State and Main, a Hollywood satire and ensemble comedy from lauded playwright David Mamet. A farce about a film production wreaking havoc on small town America, the film featured a very Mametian cast of Alec Baldwin and William H. Macy along with of-the-moment stars on the rise like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Julia Stiles. An ensemble win from the National Board of Review helped coast the film through the season, but it managed little other award mentions despite strong reviews.







    This episode, we talk about David Mamet’s high (but waning) regard in the American theatre in contrast to his more under-the-radar film reputation. We also talk about PSH’s late-90s breakthrough years, SJP’s reign over the Globes for Sex and the City, and WHM’s surprising lack of an Oscar nomination since Fargo.







    Topics also include “so that happened” as a punchline, Fine Line Features, and NBR giving Best Picture to Quills.







    Follow Us on Twitter!@Had_Oscar_BuzzJoe: @joereidChris: @chrisvfeil

    • 2 hr 2 min
    279 – Nope

    279 – Nope

    With another Oscar ceremony coming to a close, it’s time to crack the seal on the Class of 2022 movies and we couldn’t wait to talk about Jordan Peele’s Nope! Priming audiences for a big summer alien invasion film, Peele also delivered a film with a lot on its mind about society’s relationship to witnessing and capturing violent spectacle, the film industry’s history of disregard for Black artists, and how we package our own traumas. With a terrific ensemble led by Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as siblings who discover an unexplainable phenomena in the skies, Nope is perhaps 2022’s biggest head-scratcher among films not recognized by the Academy.







    This episode, we talk about the 2022 box office dynamic that unfairly tainted Nope as a box office disappointment and its many, rich avenues for narrative interpretation. We also talk about Kaluuya’s underrated performance, Palmer’s contrasting performance that was campaigned in supporting, and what makes the movie a monster movie vs. an alien movie.







    Topics also include Gordy going off, Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography, and breakthrough star Jean Jacket.







    Follow Us on Twitter!@Had_Oscar_BuzzJoe: @joereidChris: @chrisvfeil

    • 2 hr 23 min
    278 – Annette

    278 – Annette

    Coming out of the COVID-led doldrums of 2020, the Cannes Film Festival loomed large as a “movies are back!!” starting gate for global cinema. Its opening film, Annette, was a long-in-development rock opera with music by cult fave Sparks and directed by visionary auteur Leos Carax, returning to the Croisette with his first film in nearly a decade. With Adam Driver at the helm as a batboy shock jock comedian who falls in love with opera star Marion Cotillard to disastrous results, the film is a bizarre fantasia about destructive creative ego and features a puppet as the titular baby singer. Though the film drew raves and buzz around Driver and Sparks’ score, Annette was alas too freaky for the Academy.







    This week, we talk about Driver’s career and how his unique physicality makes him a worthy successor to Carax’s usual collaborator Denis Lavant. We also talk about the other famous castings while the film sat in development, the 2021 Original Song contenders, and Simon Helberg’s supporting performance.







    Topics also include Baby Annette in the gay stan wars, Carax’s filmography, and the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.







    Follow Us on Twitter!@Had_Oscar_BuzzJoe: @joereidChris: @chrisvfeil

    • 2 hr 6 min
    277 – Beautiful Boy

    277 – Beautiful Boy

    Attention, Dune-heads, we’re talking about Timothee Chalamet this week! In 2018, fresh off of his first Oscar nomination, Chalamet joined Steve Carell for Beautiful Boy, an adaptation of David and Nic Sheff’s memoirs about a young man’s addiction and his father’s attempts to help him. Directed by Felix van Groeningen (who’d directed nominated international feature The Broken Circle Breakdown), the film is a somewhat scattered and ineffective weepie that strains Carell’s limitations but nevertheless earned Chalamet Best Supporting Actor nominations at all the major precursors.







    This week, we talk about Carell’s career starting with The Daily Show and his more tricky dramatic work. We also talk about Chalamet’s quick ascent following his Call Me By Your Name success, Maura Tierney’s impactful but too brief role, and 2018 Best Supporting Actor.







    Topics also include Dune Part 2, TIFF 2018 galas, and the Beautiful Boy Erased is Back vibes of 2018.







    Follow Us on Twitter!@Had_Oscar_BuzzJoe: @joereidChris: @chrisvfeil

    • 2 hr 53 min
    276 – Spanglish

    276 – Spanglish

    This week, we are talking about one of the biggest THOB titles that we haven’t yet discussed: 2004’s Spanglish. James L. Brooks returned nearly a decade after his Oscar success with As Good As It Gets with this story of two disparate families thrust together: an immigrant single mother and the rich Los Angeles family she works for. With Adam Sandler headlining one year after earning his first bout of buzz for Punch-Drunk Love, this looked to be a chance for the Academy to honor him as a serious performer within the Academy-beloved Brooksian seriocomic glow. But the movie… has some issues!







    This episode, we talk about Cloris Leachman’s stellar boozy performance and Téa Leoni’s work tried to wrangle an impossible character. We also discuss Paz Vega as the film’s attempted breakthrough performance to American audiences, Brooks’ Oscar history, and the many mystery middle names in Hollywood.







    Topics also include Mitski fans, the film’s cringe-inducing sex scene, and the history of the Tristar logo.







    Follow Us on Twitter!@Had_Oscar_BuzzJoe: @joereidChris: @chrisvfeil

    • 2 hr 28 min

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5
1K Ratings

1K Ratings

cliobc ,

Must-Listen Show but please don’t guess on Irish names!

I love you guys, and I appreciate that you have always been upfront on your pronunciation failings, and I get your instinct to sidestep by going for what seem like a safe nickname…. but ‘Dom Gleeson’ is beyond the pale! It sounds like DOUGH nul.

Yendorrivere ,

Great chemistry

So good!

Elfherbie ,

Fantasy Oscars - Please stop

I had to stop listening because most of the episode is an advertisement for the fantasy Oscar pool. Was it a full third of the Beautiful Boy episode? I’ll probably add it back into my feed after Oscar season.

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