This Had Oscar Buzz

After a career as an actress, Sarah Polley made her directorial debut with Away From Her, landing Oscar nominations for both her screenplay and Julie Christie's performance. Her follow-up would be a slight gear shift: the intimate character study of infidelity, Take This Waltz. The film stars Michelle Williams as a writer who begins to feel … Continue reading "347 – Take This Waltz"

Our friend and theme music composer Taylor Cole returns to us this week to talk about one of our most beloved stars on This Had Oscar Buzz, Shirley MacLaine. After finally winning her Oscar for Terms of Endearment, MacLaine took a few well-earned years off. Her return was this tale of a hardened piano teacher … Continue reading "346 – Madame Sousatzka (w/ Taylor Cole!)"

After his A Little Princess adaptation earned a duo of Oscar nominations, Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón followed that up with another literary adaptation, a modernization of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. With hot young stars Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow as the central lovers and Oscar winners Anne Bancroft and Robert De Niro in support, the film transplanted Dickens' … Continue reading "345 – Great Expectations"

At the beginning of the aughts, both Halle Berry and Benicia Del Toro were riding high on Oscar wins. In 2007, they both paired up for Things We Lost in the Fire, a melodrama from Danish director Susanne Bier. From a script by Collateral Beauty scribe Allan Loeb, the film cast Berry as a grieving wife … Continue reading "344 – Things We Lost in the Fire"

Festival Fever comes to an end this week with a look at the last major film festival of the year, the New York Film Festival. In 2022, Noah Baumbach follow-up up his biggest Oscar success, Marriage Story, by tackling Don DeLillo's unadaptable novel White Noise. The satire stars Adam Driver as the leading professor in … Continue reading "343 – White Noise (Festival Fever!)"

This week, Festival Fever gives us our first Baz! Strictly Ballroom gave then-stage director Baz Luhrman his debut film, one of a number of Australian comedies that would achieve cult followings in the US. But this tale of young ballroom dancers who take artistic license and fall in love on the way also became a … Continue reading "342 – Strictly Ballroom (Festival Fever!)"

estival Fever continues this week with a forgotten adaptation and the Venice Film Festival. Tom Stoppard earned his first Tony Award for Best Play for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, an absurdist spoof of Hamlet and various theatre tropes from the perspective of two of the Bard's minor characters. A film version was long delayed … Continue reading "341 – Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead (Festival Fever!)"

We're kicking off this year's May Miniseries this week! Introducing: Festival Fever!! We're spending all month discussing the ethos around some of the most important film festivals–and if you subscribe to our Patreon, the mini has already begun! After the COVID year shut down the Cannes Film Festival for the first time in decades, 2021 … Continue reading "340 – Titane (Festival Fever!)"

2014 fall festivals saw the debut of Ramen Bahrain's 99 Homes, a dark crime saga centered around the housing crisis of the previous decade. Andrew Garfield (fresh off of his mildly received run of Spider-Man movies) stars as a father who tries to rebound from his eviction by taking up work with the slick real estate … Continue reading "339 – 99 Homes"

After passing off the reins of Veep, Armando Iannucci returned to movie screens with another political satire. Based on the graphic novel, The Death of Stalin farcically recounts the last days of the dictator and the scramble for power in the days after. With stars like Steve Buscemi, Jason Isaacs, and Simon Russell Beale, the film received … Continue reading "338 – The Death of Stalin"

With the whispers and rumors that Terrence Malick's Jesus film The Way of the Wind maybe possibly perhaps who knows could finally premiere this year after filming in 2019, we thought it was time to discuss his work. One year after The Tree of Life earned Oscar nominations and the Palme d'Or, Malick had perhaps … Continue reading "337 – To the Wonder"

As we begin to get hyped for a new Kelly Reichardt film on the horizon with The Mastermind, The Atlantic staff writer Shirley Li joins us to discuss her 2016 triptych Certain Women. The film adapts three Maile Meloy stories into one film, with each following a different woman whose voice is stifled in their Montana circumstances. … Continue reading "336 – Certain Women (with Shirley Li!)"

Ooh wee ee ooh ooh ooh ooh wah, Gary! It's about time we talked about another musical and we've got a first time guest this week to join us! Writer Tyler Coates is here to talk about 2014's Jersey Boys, the screen adaptation of the Tony winning jukebox musical charting the rise of Frankie Valli and … Continue reading "335 – Jersey Boys (with Tyler Coates!)"

We've got a new Wes Anderson movie on the horizon, so why not revisit one of his more divisive films: 2021's The French Dispatch. The film features a bursting murderer's row of cast members to fill out Anderson's ode to journalism, a triptych of stories all set within the world of a fictional magazine. Originally promised … Continue reading "334 – The French Dispatch"

Perhaps the only silver lining in 2025 is that we have been given a Steven Soderbergh double dip, with both Presence and Black Bag in theatres. Among Soderbergh's less discussed films is King of the Hill, a Depression-set drama of a boy living on his own in a St. Louis hotel. The film is a gem that showcases a … Continue reading "333 – King of the Hill"

The beloved Bong Joon-ho is finally back in cinemas after his global success with Parasite, and to help us celebrate Mickey 17, we invited Vulture film critic Bilge Ebiri to discuss director Bong's divisive Snowpiercer. Based on a French graphic novel, the film casts a global set of stars as the occupants of a train in the future … Continue reading "332 – Snowpiercer (with Bilge Ebiri!)"

We're here with your Oscar hangover cure to break the seal on the THOB Class of 2023 and we brought Louis Peitzman along for the chaos. It's Saltburn time! After the COVID-era Oscar success of Promising Young Woman, all eyes were on Emerald Fennell to deliver again with her follow-up. Barry Keoghan stars in the film as a … Continue reading "331 – Saltburn (with Louis Peitzman!)"

Oh, the quaint economic anxieties of 20 years ago! We're tackling 2004's seriocomic tale of “what if your much younger boss slept with your newly adult daughter” and Paul Weitz film In Good Company, and writer Emily St. James returns to the show to help us unpack it. Modest lighthearted fare, the movie pits dad-mode Dennis … Continue reading "330 – In Good Company (with Emily St. James!)"

What a delight to have not one but TWO pals join us this week, The B-Side hosts Dan Mecca and Conor O'Donnell! Naturally, we're going back to forgotten films from the 1990s with director Alan Pakula's final film, The Devil's Own. The film starred Brad Pitt as an IRA member hiding out in America opposite Harrison … Continue reading "329 – The Devil's Own (with Dan Mecca and Conor O'Donnell!)"

It's been a minute since we talked about Meryl Streep, so we decided what better time than Valentine's Day and her 2012 romantic drama Hope Springs. Streep stars alongside Tommy Lee Jones as a sexually frustrated older couple who submits to a couples therapy retreat (led by Steve Carell) hoping to rekindle their spark. Summer counterprogramming … Continue reading "328 – Hope Springs"

We're breaking a little bonus episode recounting our thoughts from this year's Sundance Film Festival! We've closed out another year of virtual screenings, and what perhaps might be the last year to do so after piracy of festival films such as Twinless and Selena y Los Dinos. Topics include our mutual dislike for the US Dramatic Grand … Continue reading "BONUS – Sundance '25"

With I'm Still Here garnering praise in this year's awards race, we thought it would be a great time to talk about Walter Salles – and, well, things turned out great with a surprise Best Picture nomination for Salles and company. After earning stateside honors with films like The Motorcycle Diaries and Central Station, Salles took on an ambitious and … Continue reading "327 – On the Road"

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 … Continue reading "Class of 2024"

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 … Continue reading "326 – The Dressmaker"

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 … Continue reading "325 – We Don't Live Here Anymore"

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 … Continue reading "324 – Devil in a Blue Dress (with Mitchell Beaupre!)"

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 … Continue reading "323 – Rust and Bone"

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 … Continue reading "322 – Love Actually"

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 … Continue reading "321 – Ben Is Back"

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 … Continue reading "320 – Matchstick Men"

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) … Continue reading "319 – Bend It Like Beckham (Patreon Selects)"

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 … Continue reading "318 – My Policeman"

SURPRISE! By now, you've heard that Joe has launched Demi, Myself, & I, a film-by-film trip through the career of Demi Moore. As a special bonus, we're giving you a sneak preview of the pod's new episode on one of Moore's most popular films, Ghost! And along for the ride is beloved former THOB guest, … Continue reading "BONUS – A sneak peek at Demi, Myself, & I – GHOST (with Bobby Finger!)"

This week's episode comes selected by one of our sponsor tier patrons over at our Patreon! The 2017 festival season brought us Chappaquiddick, director John Curran's recounting of the titular incident where Senator Ted Kennedy was responsible in the accidental death of party secretary Mary Jo Kopechne. With Jason Clarke as Kennedy and Kate Mara … Continue reading "317 – Chappaquiddick (Patreon Selects)"

After Diner earned an Oscar nomination for its screenplay and the hearts of dads everywhere, writer/director Barry Levinson's star quickly rose in Hollywood, culminating in Rain Man sweeping the Oscars. In the 1990s, Levinson had his share of hits and misses, but ended the decade with the final entry of his Baltimore films, Liberty Heights. The film tackles antisemitism and … Continue reading "316 – Liberty Heights"

Michelle Pfeiffer is a screen legend whose return always feels like an occasion–even if we're all stuck at home. In 2020, Azazel Jacobs' French Exit debuted at the New York Film Festival with Pfeiffer starring as a wealthy New York eccentric who loses her fortune and absconds to France, all while perhaps haunted by her dead husband … Continue reading "315 – French Exit"

After the smash box office success and surprise Oscar nominations of The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan delivered a follow-up in short order. With a mysterious trailer, Unbreakable reunited Shyamalan with Bruce Willis for another genre exercise, this time involving a man who survives a train crash without any injuries. Samuel L. Jackson co-headlines as a frail man … Continue reading "314 – Unbreakable"

Keeping things horror adjacent for your October viewing schedule, this week we are discussing 2022's The Menu. Originally announced as a collaboration for director Alexander Payne with Emma Stone, The Menu centers on a psycho chef and his high end clientele, who all take part in a super exclusive dining experience from Hell. The film ultimately lost that … Continue reading "313 – The Menu"

With Saturday Night currently in theaters, we are revisiting the films of Jason Reitman for one of his biggest flops. Adapted from the novel by Joyce Maynard, 2013's Labor Day casts Kate Winslet as a grieving mother who falls in love with the escaped convict (played by Josh Brolin) who hides out in her and her son's home. The … Continue reading "312 – Labor Day"

We wanted to take this week's episode to tribute the recently departed Dame Maggie Smith and finally take a look at one of her final awards contenders, 2015's The Lady in the Van. Reprising the role she played on the stage, Smith stars as the titular lady, who lives in a van that just so happens … Continue reading "311 – The Lady in the Van"

In 1999, director Milos Forman reunited with his People Vs. Larry Flynt screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski for another biopic of an iconoclast, Man on the Moon. Rebounding from the Oscar snub for The Truman Show, Jim Carrey took on the role of Andy Kaufman and according to history, took it a bit too seriously. The film received … Continue reading "310 – Man on the Moon"

We're back again with another episode chosen by one of our sponsor-tier subscribers from Patreon, this time with a bit of 1990s gay cinema! Thank you Lance for bringing us all to 1995's Jeffrey! Adapted from Paul Rudnick's Off-Broadway smash play, the concept of an “AIDS comedy” made it difficult to get produced, but ultimately … Continue reading "309 – Jeffrey (Patreon Selects)"

We're back from our annual trip to TIFF and we're giving you another exhaustive episode on all the films we saw! Topics include the newly minted People's Choice winner The Life of Chuck, Oscar nominations we are anticipating from the lineup, the muted-mixed response to Saturday Night, Nicole Kidman back in full force in Babygirl, the rapturous response … Continue reading "THOB Returns to TIFF!"

With another George Clooney film on the horizon with Wolfs, it's time to revisit the diminishing returns of his directorial career. In the 2013 season, his WWII quasi-comedy true story ensemble film The Monuments Men was an on-paper awards magnet. With a cast that included Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, and Bill Murray as a team … Continue reading "308 – The Monuments Men"

Underdiscussed in the Mike White oeuvre is 2017's Brad's Status, the story of a father reflecting on his own formative college years while taking his son on a college visit. With Ben Stiller center stage, the film examines privilege and maleness with White's exacting but humane eye for detail, resulting one of the most emotionally affecting … Continue reading "307 – Brad's Status"

A film with strong festival reviews that gets dumped to cable television because its commercial prospects appear slim? Sounds like something ripped from today's cinema headlines, but it's the case for this week's film, Rodrigo Garcia's Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her. Led by a prestigious cast of awards show mainstays, the film … Continue reading "306 – Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her"

With the upcoming return of Mike Leigh to cinemas with Hard Truths, we invited writer and Fran Mag creator Fran Hoepfner to join us to talk about his last theatrical effort, 2019's Peterloo. The film tells the story of the buildup to the Peterloo massacre, in which years of political movement to get parliamentary representation for the … Continue reading "305 – Peterloo (with Fran Hoepfner)"

Time to get controversh with with one of the most argued about films of the century, 2000's American Psycho. Based on Bret Easton Ellis' lightning rod novel, the film passed through multiple directors before landing in the inspired hands of Mary Harron. The independent director struck the right satirical note on Ellis' difficult blend of consumerism … Continue reading "304 – American Psycho"

With Anora anointed with the Palme d'Or this year, one of the narratives ahead in the coming season will be whether Sean Baker's microbudgeted cinema will be embraced by the Academy in a big way. After lots of buzz for Tangerine and an acting nom for Willem Dafoe in The Florida Project, Baker was buzzed again for Red Rocket and its showcase … Continue reading "303 – Red Rocket"

We're talking about Gwyneth Paltrow's red hot 1998 this week and who better to join us than author and Who? Weekly co-host Bobby Finger?! With a slew of movies to aid her ascendancy, Gwyneth Paltrow wasn't having a moment in 1998, she was the moment. It all kicked off with the Sundance debut of romcom … Continue reading "302 – Sliding Doors (with Bobby Finger)"

our old friend Kevin O'Keeffe and Texas native for a very Texas movie. Debuting in 2011 but arriving in theaters, Richard Linklater's Bernie accounts a real-life Texan wink wink bachelor Bernie Tiede (played by Jack Black), beloved by the church ladies and local community. However, he is taken in by the town villain Margie (Shirley MacLaine) and … Continue reading "301 – Bernie"