This Had Oscar Buzz

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!)"

We’re back talking about Nicole Kidman’s post-Oscar years this week and Griffin in Summer filmmaker Nicholas Colia is here to join us! After winning her Oscar for The Hours, each of the many projects Kidman attached herself to carried some degree of pedigree and buzz. One of them just happened to be a famous disaster: 2004’s The … Continue reading "396 – The Stepford Wives (with Nicholas Colia!)"

After becoming a critical and arthouse sensation with Memento, Christopher Nolan leaped to studio filmmaking with American remake Insomnia. The film (based on the 1997 Norwegian film) stars Al Pacino as a corrupt cop sent to Alaska to solve a murder, only to be caught in the web of the killer (Robin Williams). Though a successful summer … Continue reading "395 – Insomnia"