This Had Oscar Buzz

In the bygone moviegoing trend of “interconnected stories of Angelenos,” this week’s episode is a forgotten entry with a loaded cast. Playing By Heart from writer/director Willard Carroll follows multiple stories of romantic struggles, with Gena Rowlands and Sean Connery as a TV chef and her producer husband as the film’s epicenter. With themes of … Continue reading "401 – Playing By Heart"

It’s our 400th episode this week, so we had to go big. What could be more fitting than a notorious bomb with major star pedigree?! No stranger to misfires, Warren Beatty nevertheless was one of the biggest names in Hollywood that could generate buzz with any project – and more prophetically in this case – … Continue reading "400 – Town and Country"

Emmy winner Jeff Hiller joins us this week to talk about one of our beloved Nicole Holofcener’s earliest films. Lovely and Amazing follows a Los Angeles family of women burdened by insecurities, from the mother (Oscar nominee Brenda Blethyn) opting in to liposuction to her two adult daughters who help her with a preteen adopted sister. Debuting … Continue reading "399 – Lovely And Amazing (with Jeff Hiller!)"

With Spider-Man: Brand New Day arriving in theatres this week, we’re looking back at director Destin Daniel Cretton’s 2013 debut, Short Term 12. Launched at SXSW and distributed in late summer by micro-indie Cinedigm, the film earned major critical support for its portrait of a child group home populated with compelling characters, both among its residents and the … Continue reading "398 – Short Term 12"

We welcome back Oscar-nominated My Year of Dicks filmmaker Pamela Ribon this week for [gasp] our very first documentary episode! In 1988, Errol Morris made a documentary hit out of The Thin Blue Line. Detailing police corruption and bias that led to the wrongful conviction of Robert W. Wood for a police shooting, the film became a non-fiction … Continue reading "397 – The Thin Blue Line (w/ Pamela Ribon!)"