This Had Oscar Buzz - 339 – 99 Homes

Episode Date: April 28, 2025

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"

Oh, oh, wrong house. No, the right house. I didn't get that. We want to talk to Melan Hack, Millen Hack and French. I'm from Canada water. Dick Pooh. Sheriff's are here. My name's Rick Carver.

I'm a licensed real estate broker. This home has been foreclosed on. No, this is not happening. Did you, your mom and your son, to step off the property? This is not your home. Mr. Carver, please don't. Sir, you have two minutes. Pack whatever belongings you need.

Oh, my God. Does he have to stand there? while she packs off. Is that right? Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Do you plan on staying for a while? Just a couple nights. You've got to get him out of here. I'm going to figure it out. I got no choice. You kicked me out yesterday? I didn't kick you out. The bank did it. Did you do construction? I'll pay $50. Cash. Are you kidding me? $50 shouldn't be a joke to you, son.

Hello and welcome to the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast, the only podcast once called a clattering Fanny by the son of an evil dictator. Every week on this had Oscar Buzz, we'll be talking about a different movie that once upon a time had lofty Academy Award aspirations. But for some reason or another, it all went wrong. The Oscar hopes died and we're here to perform the autopsy. I am your host, Chris Fyle, and I'm here, as always, with my Andrew Garfield pit enthusiast Joe Reed, ducks for flying objects. Real and true. I said, I said Chris, a... A screenshot of Andrew Garfield...

Flushing Pit in this movie. Flashing Pit amid like mucking out a shit-covered house. So like literally, like there is nothing sexy about that environment. And yeah, there he is in a tank top. Flash and Pit being like, come work for me. And I'm like, Joe said absolutely. What am I doing? Wait, never mind.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, Joe, Joe don't do shovel and shit, I'll say. We all have our limits. We all have our limits indeed. Um, yeah, 99 Homes, a movie that much like our last episode, uh, premiered at festivals one year and then it was eligible for American awards the next year. And, um, I sometimes forget that because this was my first TIF. This was one of the movies I saw at my first TIF. And I hadn't really heard much about it. And so it was sort of like one of those, it wasn't this like totally unknown thing, but it was definitely not like, a movie I had known about. I really only saw it on spec because of Laura Dern and Andrew Garfield. And I was really happy that I did. So I was going to ask, tell me the vibe on the ground for this movie at that Toronto. Well, it was definitely not one of the, you know,

more prominent movies that year. This was the 2014 festival. So this was the one where the imitation game wins the People's Choice Award. What are some of the other ones in this theory of everything was at this Toronto? Still Alice. Yes, this was the Still Alice is discovered at this Toronto, right? There was a bunch of... Set under his breath, also cake. Well, I didn't see cake at this one, but yes.

There were a bunch of movies that... because this was the one where I didn't have a press pass. So there was a bunch of movies that I wanted to be able to see there, but couldn't. Although I did pretty well for myself. Foxcatcher was at this one. I saw that there. Maps to the Stars was at that one, and I wasn't able to see it there. But like Clouds of Sils Maria was at this one, I wasn't able to see Beyond the Lights.

I wasn't able to see Force Majure. But those were other sort of big, buzzy ones there. certainly forced to show. But she would classify the reception around 99 homes as muted. Muted, but not silent. I would say that. Like, there was definitely a sort of low, you know, low rumble of buzz around it being like, no, this is like, this is a good movie. But nothing where, obviously, it was, you know, loud enough that it would get, you know, pressed into service for award season right away. as some of these other ones were.

And it had also done Venice and Telluride before this Toronto to, so, you know, maybe expectations were kind of set for this movie versus some of the larger premieres that would have happened. Right. There were a few movies, actually, at this Toronto that sort of were held until the last year, Noah Baumbach's while we're young being one of those. What were some of the other ones? That was the one certainly for, well, even like Clouds of Sils Maria doesn't end up as eligible for American awards until the following year.

So it goes, so it goes. I was curious to hear about your festival reaction to this movie because revisiting this movie, I was like, oh boy, hated this movie when I first saw it. Oh, wow. Okay, that's interesting. Watch it again. Surprise, surprise. I still hate this movie. Do you still hate this movie? I still hate this movie. Is it because it's just incredibly straightforward and didactic in its messaging? Some of that, I think it's really, really repetitive. I think it is kind of just rubbing our faces and shit. I think it's also just kind of doing base. Lysline, obvious movie plotting things. Like, I don't think this really takes you anywhere that you don't expect it to go. And it's pretty contrived in a few places. Like, there's some stuff that I just don't buy. Like, and some of it, like, watching a movie, you sign up for a movie.

No, but I understand what you're talking about. You gotta get on board with movie logic. But there's a few things in here that I'm like, this only functions in a movie. This is not real life. Yeah, there's at least one thing that I wrote down that, like, affects the plot pretty significantly, that I'm like, this didn't, on a realistic level, this wouldn't have happened. I think it's, like, morality play aspect of it, for a lack of a better term, but I think you'll understand what I'm saying. It's a little crashy, like the, the dramatic impulses of this movie, and the, like, thrust of it is not out of the sphere of Paul Higgis' crash in my mind.

Interesting. I don't see, to me, one of the signatures of crash is it's so over-the-top emotionally manipulative between the music and the, you know, the peril put in children, you know, peril that children are in in the movie and the sort of heightening of these kind of operatic stakes. And 99 homes, I will grant that because I will watch, I definitely do like this movie quite a bit. And I think I probably cut it a lot more slack than I would another movie because I do feel like on a socio-political level, it is

particularly valuable. I agree. I mean, like, its virtues are in the right place. I think, you know, it's politics, but as far as, like, it's dramatic tactics, that's where I have an issue. Yeah. I think I would definitely stop short of crash. I think there are, there are emotional manipulations in crash that I just don't feel like are present in 99 homes? I can hear you there.

I can hear you there. I guess that's the closest comparison I have because it's like so much of this movie is a sledgehammer telling you that these are real. But then, you know, it's so dramatically demonstrative while also insisting on its sense of realism that it's like, this is not realistic at all. in my mind in my mind i i i think yes i'll i'd be willing to to grant that while also at the same time saying that it gets to some sort of larger truths that i do feel like are both valuable and honest and we can maybe get into that stuff on the other side of the plot description i also feel like just on a very very basic level i think it features two incredibly good performance Yeah, this is...

Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon. The thing I was going to say is that, like, I don't begrudge anybody finding value in this movie because, like, the performances are really solid. Yeah. Yeah. And the performances, I think... The things that I kind of found... find narratively ludicrous about this movie...

Yeah. I think they go down easy on the audience because the performances make you believe it. Yeah. I was... I sort of kind of expected... to maybe like this movie, at least on a level of it being on the other side of the spectrum from something like The Big Short. See, I don't think it's actually that far from something like The Big Short, to be honest.

And it's like, again, politics are in the right place. I think its intentions are there, but, like, there gets to be a certain, like, preaching to the quireness of it. I think that's true. but I also feel like we as, and we're not critics, obviously, but like we in these sort of, you know, professionally writing about film community, can sometimes demand of movies a degree of subtlety that works for us,

but maybe is a little too subtle to be effective as, you know, mass, you know, mass entertainment. I think sometimes we really, really value, and I'm certainly not exempting myself from this at all. We really value subtlety. We really value a movie that doesn't knock you over the head with it or isn't, you know, too unsubtle. We talk about movies that are like, I do at least talk about movies that are like ham-fisted or that seem very, very blunt in their um you know in their depiction of things of you know social of uh issues and and messaging and that kind of a thing and sometimes i think and this was certainly not like mass entertainment obviously but like you you know i feel like every filmmaker hopes that

their movie finds an audience and i think of this movie i think of i i often think of like if my parents saw this, or if, like, you know, my, my siblings saw this? Would this be effectively, you know, would, would there be an urgency to what this movie is talking about? And I feel like there is a place for this kind of like, listen, like, we're going to, we're not going to be, we're not going to be subtle about this one. We're just kind of like, this is, you know, the kind of, insane villain shit that happened during this, you know, mortgage crisis period. Yeah, yeah, I mean, like the villainy of it, I think is unquestionable. But I also, I mean, like, I don't, I guess I'm not coming at it from, like, I see myself or, like, I think my perspective is all that highfalutin, you know, I think. Sure. I wonder what a mainstream viewer would get out of this that I don't get out of it. And I think they would come away with the same.

I assume they would come away with the same perspective that it's like, even if you're already on board with what it's saying, it's just kind of like, you know? Sure. I understand what you're saying. I get it. I also have like, just like, I'll say it and we can put it aside because it's not all that relevant to the conversation.

I also just think aesthetically this movie looks like crap. It's just an ugly. You're always more attuned. to that kind of a thing than I am. But I will take your word for it. What is your familiarity with Marine Barani's Uvra, I guess? Output, basically. Yeah.

Rameen Barani is interesting. Starts with these like micro-budget movies like Man Pushkart and Goodbye Solo that, you know, have in closer to like actual art house cinema. Right. appreciation, and then he... To the point where, like, before I really looked into any of these movies, I assumed he was a documentarian, because, you know, all of these things sort of, like,

I look at the poster and whatever, and it was just like, oh, that seems like a documentary about a man, you know, pushing a car. With a food cart in Manhattan or whatever, yeah. And it's like he, in the aughts, like nudges himself towards the mainstream with this and the, like, car racing movie at any price with Zach Efron. But those are still, you know, movies that played

festivals and, you know, got, at any price, I think, got more of a mixed response than this ultimately did. This received, its Rotten Tomato score for 99 Holmes is in the 90s, but then you look at the Metacritic and it's in the 70s, which is like, kind of tells the story that it's like broadly, everyone's like, it's good, but no one's super enthusiastic about it. Yeah. And certainly on an awards level, it really hyper focuses down to Michael Shannon. Like, that is the awards thrust of it. I will say for a movie that, you know, premiered at festivals a full year before, you know, it ends up in precursor season, I think that's, that speaks well of at least people's esteem for Michael Shannon's performance, if nothing else. Yeah. And we've talked about

What an odd sort of supporting actor race that was that year because we talked about the Beach Boys movie. Love and Mercy. Love and Mercy. Because Paul Dano also sort of had a similar arc to Michael Shannon there where getting a bunch of precursors and then ultimately they both get snipped at the end by the likes of Tom Hardy and Mark Ruffalo who get, if not shocker Oscar nominations, then certainly... ones that were not as predicated on the precursors that year. Barani, though, was one of those COVID-era Netflix films, The White Tiger, which I thought was pretty good. I thought it was better than this.

This is the thing about his more, like, micro-budget indie features before this movie is, this movie I dislike enough, and it was my first of his movies seeing that it hasn't, it's kind of kept me from going back and seeing like, Man, Push Cart and Goodbye, solo, because I'm like, God, but I hated 99 Holmes. I liked the White Tiger during COVID, and he gets that adapted screenplay nomination that some people thought was a surprise, but it was predicted by other people. It was pretty supported by the precursors. I think it's a surprise in and of the fact that a year, a year ahead of time, you wouldn't have seen this movie coming. Like, it was not a movie that was really on a lot of people's long lead radar for award season. But, Yeah, I thought that movie was pretty good. It's not anything that I, like, remember very strongly today, but... I remember thinking there were absolutely worse nominees next to him, and that his was one of the better ones. So that was 2021?

Well, it was early 2021, because that year... So it was the COVID. Okay, so, yes, loses to the father. Oh, right, it's nominated alongside Borat's subsequent movie film, and it's 25 nominees, Nomad Land, and One Night in Miami. One Night in Miami, a movie that has completely gone by the wayside in terms of, like, and like a lot of movies from that year have kind of, you know, been forgotten, but I feel like nobody talks about that movie, even just a few years later. Respect to Leslie Odom, Jr., they nominated the wrong performance from that movie. Well, and respect to Regina King, like, are they going to let her direct another movie? Like, it was pretty well received.

I mean, that was an independent production. It got Oscar nominations. Like, what's the holdup in letting her, you know, direct something else? I think that's life stuff going on. I mean, I will certainly grant that. I will certainly grant that. But I would hope that should she want to, you know, direct something again in the future that she gets afforded that opportunity.

One Night in Miami, not a movie that I loved, but like, not a movie that I hated, you know, it was, I thought it was, I thought it was pretty all right. I loved Aldous Hodge in that movie. I remember. I remember you being a big fan of Aldous Hodge in that. Aldous Hodge, great actor. Barani's also done some TV. He's, most specifically, the Fahrenheit 451 HBO movie with Michael B. Jordan that no one talked about. I didn't see it. I know. I'm sorry.

That thing even played Cannes out of competition and no one talked about it. I forgot that there was a Jason Bourne TV show called Treadstone. Wow. Talk about things that like didn't exist. Yeah. That's a Jason Born show? Yes. How did I never hear this? From the world of Jason Bourne, Treadstone, with your best friend Jeremy Irvine in the lead role. That's maybe why you didn't.

You've blocked this out. What network was this on? USA. Well, there you go. Yeah. And then, oh, the last days of Ptolemy Gray, which was a Samuel L. Jackson, the miniseries on Apple TV Plus from a few years ago that I didn't see, but I remember hearing about it. Samuel Jackson, Dominique Fishback. I remember it being sort of in the larger Emmys conversation.

You weren't wrong that Barani has worked in documentaries because his latest feature film is this documentary I've always wanted to catch up to called Second Chance about a man who developed basically bulletproof vest technology and in the process of doing so has shot himself almost 200 times. Great. Amazing. Sounds fantastic. I mean, is that not a great logline for a documentary? I just never caught up to it because I saw positive people. on it, just never enthusiastic responses. He's an, he's an, he's an, he's an interesting filmmaker and that he exists in what I imagine to be an ever-shinking sort of middle class of filmmakers, right? And I would not be surprised if he sort of ends up more and more in television, you know, I mean, his sort of type of

filmmaking. You either go to like, you know, micro budget, stay in that micro budget range or you decide to make a living for yourself and go to TV. And... But also, like, he'd worked both in

art cinema world and with enough Hollywood talent, too, that it ultimately makes his Oscar nomination unsurprising, you know, because it's kind of Yes. You know, you're appealing to, you're appealing to and have worked with a lot of different people in all different kinds of realms. I think that's right.

I think that's right. And for, you know, the, the weirdness of that 2020, 2020, 2021 year that it does make some sense. It makes some sense for sure. Joseph. Let's get into it. You mentioned that, you talked a little bit about the TIF, though. this movie came from and we mentioned this movie played other festivals as well this movie played it premiered at venice in competition then played telluride then played toronto picked up distribution

with broad green we'll get into it's one of those movies that sort of like truly makes the rounds at the festival and it even goes to sundance you know sundance has that small section where they'll play movies that have played other festivals and are just waiting their usual thing but they'll do that for for a small fraction of movies, yeah. But it's definitely a not, it does not happen now that a movie that played to like multiple continents, you know, in large premieres that with movie stars. Usually it's the other way around that it'll premiere at Sundance and then it will sort of re-enter the season in Toronto and or New York or something like that. I feel like this is a fortuitous film. chosen purely by accident.

This was not intentional to announce that, Joe, this is the last episode of April. That's right. Which means starting next week, we got a May miniseries. It is coming. It is here. It is on your doorstep. Ready to go. What are we bringing to you?

It's this had Oscar buzz festival fever. This had Oscar buzz festival fever. Now we'll say right off the top, we are intending this May miniseries as a slight down shift from years past, just because life things has not allowed us to do the amount of preparation that we've had to do the past few years for May miniser. We don't have to make excuses. This is going to be a banger miniseries. It's still going to be great. And it's going to be focused. We love talking about film festivals on this. And what are we going to be doing? We're going to be taking you through a calendar year of film, well, not, we're not focusing on a single year. Let me rephrase that. We're going to be taking you from the beginning of the calendar towards the end of the calendar in the month of May, both here on this had Oscar buzz and over on our Patreon turbulent brilliance. That's right. What that means is that with each episode, we will be covering a different film festival. We're going to get into. the nitty gritty of it. And for

flagship this at Oscar Buzz, that means that we will be covering one sort of emblematic film of that festival for each week. So do we want to say which of our four festivals we're covering? We can say the festivals, but let's leave the movies for a tiny little bit as a mystery. But yes. So our first, sorry, go ahead. Coming up first, this Friday over on turbulent brilliance will be talking about Sundance and the

Grand Jury Prize of the Sundance Film Festival. Get your little clickety clacks out. You can maybe go figure out what movie we might be covering on turbulent brilliance that allows us to talk about the grand jury prize. But, you know, we'll be talking about the history of the prize, what it has meant for Oscar, what it means in terms of the festival, and then that festival itself and its place in the awards ecosystem. Yes.

And in the film festival ecosystem, I suppose, as well. then what is next on the calendar the first on the main feed you'll be getting the can film festival and the palm door joe what excellent timing because can is about to happen i'm going to say yes the film that we have chosen for can uh perhaps very fitting to this year's can i'm excited to be wringing my hands and very nervous when we record that episode uh it'll be a fun one it'll be a fun one for sure the next Next week will be the Venice Film Festival and the Golden Lion. Yes. Be talking about Venice and all of that, the history of the golden lion, yada, yada, yada. Oh, wait. What happens after that? The excursion episode over on Turbulent Brilliance.

Like we like to do for excursion episodes, we're going to get a little crazy. What are we going to be doing? What falls in the calendar for what is next on the calendar in the festival year? not Toronto it's telluride it's telluride maybe but wait a minute joe telluride doesn't have prizes it doesn't have juries so what's going to mean what could that possibly mean for our experience we are going to pick a telluride year and we are going to be the jury for that prize we'll get into the granularness of how that's going to work who else might be on the jury who between joe and i is going to be the jury president. What movies are we going to be eligible? A lot of questions hanging in the air. That's going to be a fun one.

Yes. Hopefully we'll get a little wild. I'm excited for it. But then back on the main feed, what do we have next? Obviously, it's Toronto. We'll be talking about the people's choice. Very Oscar-e award. Very, uh, that history of the TIPS people's choice goes back further with Oscar

than people like to say. They say that it starts with American Beauty and it did not. We'll get into it that episode. Yes. And then we'll be wrapping up with New York. New York doesn't have any prizes, but they do have an interesting history with their opening night films. That's the thing.

So we'll be talking New York and opening night. Yes. It's going to be four really, really interesting movies just on their own. I think even divorced of the film festival stuff, I think we're going to be talking about four really interesting movies. But I think also we talk so much about how, you know, the festivals impact the Oscar race. Obviously, this past year at the Oscars, well, a lot of the discussion became about how the Cannes film festival is becoming as influential over the Oscar race as it's ever been. So we're going to talk about a little bit of the history of these festivals and how they have functioned on their own versus as a, you know,

Steppingstone on the road to the Oscars. We'll be talking about some particularly notable movies through that history. And then, of course, we'll be funneling that discussion through the four movies that we have chosen. I'm also incredibly excited for the exception episode we've chosen for Turbulent Brilliance. It's a movie I've been eager for us to do for a while. And then Lord knows what this Tell Your Ride jury thing is going to be. I'm very excited for it. You know, I love to gamify pop culture, so this will scratch that edge. You know I love to talk shit about Telluride, so I'm sure that that is going to be a rascally hour clocking, episode clocking in at four hours. Joe and I will end our friendship and maybe the show fighting over various

movies. Listen, once, we say, we say as always, if Telleride would like to, you know, force us to have a first person in in-depth perspective on the festival, we are open to airfare and accommodations. Exactly, exactly. And I will be amenable. I will be completely amenable. That's right. We will be blank slates and we will, we will be fair in our assessment. No, festival fever, we're catching it.

You're catching it. We are unvaccinated for festival fever. I don't like this. I don't like this. where this is going. We have dismantled, we have, make this head Oscar buzz healthy again by not vaccinating yourselves against festival fever. RFK Jr. approved me mini-series right here at this head Oscar buzz.

I'm so excited. I have a fever and the fevers for more festival. We should clip that. I got a fever. And the only prescription is four movie festivals and four weeks on this head Oscar buzz. Actually, six movie festivals in four weeks. If you sign up for Turbulent Brilliant. That's right.

Which you should. Yeah. Any new listeners we caught this week for those Garfield, Peter Parkerheads, explain what turbulent brilliance is for our listeners. Much like Lazzania is for Garfield, the cat. Andrew Garfield is a meal. I will, I will eagerly. Are there any photos of Andrew Garfield?

I think if you're a magazine that has done a profile on Andrew Garfield and has not done a photo shoot of him eating lasagna, I feel like you're leaving money on the table, is all I'm saying. Yes. So it is incumbent upon me to tell you why this head Oscar buzz, turbulent brilliance is something you should be signed up for. For one thing, do you like getting bang for your buck? Because let me tell you, for $5 a month, you get a treasure trove of movies that we have already done episodes on. We give you two new episodes every single month, one of which is what we call an exception, which is a movie that follows the traditional, this had Oscar buzz rubric,

great expectations, disappointing results. But it maybe got a nomination or two, so we can't do it on the flagship show. But oh, can we ever do it on the Patreon? And having done the Patreon for as long as we've done, there is a giant vault of episodes for you to listen to on this. So everything from Mulholland Drive to House of Gucci, to Molly's Game, to the Lovely Bones. We did an episode on the film Australia with our friend Katie Rich,

on Knives Out with our friend Jorge Molina, on Phantom of the Opera, with our friend Natalie Walker. It's just a ton of movies earlier this month. We did The Cohen Brothers Inside Lewin Davis. That was a really fun episode to do. Just, again, every month that goes by, that $5 gets you more, it gets you more for your money. The second bonus episode of every month we call an excursion where we take a break from talking about a specific movie and instead sort of delve into the weird Oscar nerdery that makes up our particular DNA old movie awards. We've talked about like the 9980 spirits, the 1996 MTV Movie Awards. the 2003 Golden Globes.

We talked about old Entertainment Weekly Fall Movie Preview issues, which we are probably due for another one of those, I would think. Yeah, let's do it soon. Maybe in June. This month's excursion was the Oscars' greatest moments, VHS, that I am certain came as a free gift with a Time magazine subscription. Carl Malden treating you to the best of the Oscars from the 1970s and 80s from his his library in what I imagine in my mind, in my head canon to be his vacation home in Vermont.

Something to that effect. Really good time. We had a good time talking about Oscar moments of the 70s and 80s. It was great. And Carl Maldon's home. And Carl Maldon's home. Yeah, half of that episode is essentially fanfic about Carl Maldon's fireplace and study. So truly for that alone, you should check.

it out. If you would like to sign up and if you were not already signed up for This Had Oscar Buzz, Turbulent Brilliance, you can go to our Patreon page at patreon.com slash this had Oscar buzz. Joe, 99 home. Yes. Not 100 homes. In France, it's 99 men.

A very different movie were this movie to be made in France. But yes, 99. That's a movie where Andrew Garfield goes speed dating. straight through 99 men's. That's my screenplay that I'm shopping around town

is 99 H-O-M-M-E-S where Andrew Garfield goes to Paris and goes on a speed dating adventure and it's very cute. And he ends up with, who does he end up with? Who's a good francophalic

French-tinged actor? I don't know. What French haughty do I? Yeah, who's a good French haughty? I mean, for me, Denny Menacee, but for him, it's probably like Louis Gorell. Sure. Yes, you end up with Andrew Garfield and Louis Garrell.

I'm into it. I'm down with that. Show me, Ron. Yeah. All right. Yes. Get your stop, watch out, Chris, and let me cook. So, 99 Holmes, directed by Ramin Barani, written by Rameen Barani and Amir Naderi,

starring one Andrew Garfield still, well, I mean, at the end of his Peter Parker days, Michael Shannon at the beginning and end of his Zod days. Saut's who he played, right? He played Sot. Yes. Laura Dern, always eternally in her queen of all media and gay. This is a big year for her. Well, this is the year when it premiered at the festival, so it was a big year for us.

This is wild. Yes. Also starring Kim Guinea and Clancy Brown can't believe that we are going to, we are inching closer to a Clancy Brown six-timers. Slowly we turn, inch by inch, step by step. The film premiered. World premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2014, then played telluride, Toronto, and Sundance 2015, opened limited September 25th, 2015,

made $1.4 million at the box office. Thank you, broad green pictures. We salute you and we'll talk about you later. Joe, are you ready to give a 60-second. plot description for 99 homes. 99 homes. Yeah, how many homes is that per second? That's, uh, we're, one and a half, a little bit more than one and a half, uh, yes, per second.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, if you're ready, you're 90, are you ready? Are you? Yes, I am ready. Your 60 second plot description for 99 homes starts now. American voice Andrew Garfield plays an unemployed construction worker in Orlando living in his

childhood home with his son and his mom who is Lauren its mortgage crisis times and they can't keep up in the payments, so their house gets foreclosed upon by the bank and bought up by real estate vulture Michael Shannon, who oversees the eviction. When Garfield thinks one of the men on Shannon's crew stole some of his belongings, he goes to confront them, only for Shannon to give him some much-needed work, mucking out a defiled abandoned home. Garfield ends up working for Shannon and becoming kind of his right hand as they go about predatorily acquiring homes from people who are in foreclosure or buying up the properties once the bank has seized them. Garfield ends up on the other side of numerous highly emotional evictions, forcing people out of their

homes on the worst day of their lives. His reward for this, besides ever increasing sums of money on his checks, is that he'll get his home back, albeit at a shitty rate from Michael Shannon directly. Garfield keeps his job secret from his mom and son until one of the people he evicted ends up moving into the motel Garfield is staying at. There's a huge confrontation, and his mom and son are horrified at who he's been working for. And then in his urgency to get out of the motel, he sells the family home and buys a McMansion with a pool, which only drives his mom further away. Everything comes to ahead when Shannon asks Garfield to place a forge document into a file of an evicti so they can close on a real estate deal, and then the man whose home gets foreclosed upon.

As a result, stage is an armed standoff with the cops in order to de-escalate the standoff and besieged by his guilt over the job he's been doing. Garfield confesses to the crime, talks the man down and gets himself and Shannon both sent to jail. Another fine job done by American capitalism, the end. 18 seconds over. Good job. We're doing better at this.

We are. Maybe, just maybe, our goal, I feel like I've said this before. Our goal in 2025 will be to get to 60 seconds. to be to ultimately become truthful when we say a 60 second plot description that is her goal um okay one thing that we've not mentioned even though it is the basically the first image we see in the movie is like the first thing that we see is some home evicti has committed suicide and we see like their bloody remains spattered on the yeah the movie opens with, you know, the impact of violence.

And to me, that is, that's writing a, like, hefty check for the rest of the movie. And, like, it's a hard image to shake, but I don't think we need that kind of extremity. I think that's probably true. I think... It sets a tone, but, like, at least for an American audience, I don't know, like, how this was received globally, but like we know that people are like losing their homes, losing their lives over the housing crisis. Like, you know, like we, we already are coming into this thing with an understanding of the terms of this movie. Yeah. I think that that is, that's a lot to spring

off the audience. What's illuminating about the movie isn't the fact that people, you know, are killing themselves over, you know, the situations that they found themselves in. It's the inner workings of this machine of predation, of capitalist predation. I think that's what is ultimately the virtue of the movie is, for me at least, it's the fact that, you know, the banks, you know, the banks are the predators, but there are individuals working in this system that have, you know, that play their part as well. And what this movie sort of shows is that within a fundamentally immoral system, it then forces the people within that system to make these decisions to, you know, become immoral themselves in order to stay afloat or, you know, to, you know, get crushed under the wheel, essentially. And so that's ultimately the choice that we see Andrew Garfield making.

And we can, there's a moral streak through this movie. This movie is never really making the case that what he's doing is right. But the movie does, you know, show at every step of the way why somebody would make this choice. It didn't, you know, it's, you know, it's a paycheck. It is, you know, money that his family needs. We see the way that he is sort of justifying it to himself while also at the same time being very clearly, like having to hide his shame. We see the one part where the one woman who he approaches with the sale offer pulls out her phone, which is in many ways sort of... I'm going to put this on Facebook, she says.

Yes. And he turns, he literally turns his back because he does not want to, you know, be on camera. and I think that is, you know... But you do also see the lure of money and capitalist sentiment to him, too. Like, I think of that house party where he's in that, like, shitty, but to him, like, slicked up black suit, you know, enjoying, you know, booze and women. That, to me, is almost... After getting his check. That, to me, is almost like a hat on a hat, though, because I, what I think, what I find to be really appealing about this, movie is that it shows Michael Shannon.

Like, yes, Michael Shannon in that scene is sort of tempting and, you know, he's the devil with, you know, the harem full of women and the sort of like the big parties with, you know, booze and pools and whatever. But I think what ultimately is interesting about this movie is that Andrew Garfield is sort of pulled to the dark side by these very sort of. upstanding American ideals. He's somebody who wants to put in a hard day's work to earn money for his family.

He ends up falling in with Michael Shannon because he's the only person who will step up and put on, you know, put the bandana over his mouth and go and muck out this shit-covered house, right? Like the other workers won't do it. And that's ultimately how he gets his foot in the door. And he's doing this like he's doing manual labor, right? He's, you know, he's going and he's removing the AC units and the HVX and all this sort of stuff.

And he's, he's a construction worker. He is somebody who I think takes a lot of pride in putting in, you know, a day's work to feed his family, these very American ideals, these things that we have, you know, raised generations of Americans to believe that this is not only the path to prosperity. that this is, if you do, you know, if you work hard and if you are a good upstanding person, you will be able to support a family. But not only that, but then it makes you morally virtuous, right? Like putting in, you know, a day's work makes you a good person. And I think Michael Shannon represents somebody, represents both an individual in this movie, but also represents a system which uses that, has, so it has evolved to a place that it's

going to use people's, you know, desire to do that in a way that pits them against each other or that it, you know, in this case, it uses Andrew Garfield's work ethic against other, you know, and it uses that work ethic in order to better, you know, remove people so that the capitalist, you know, structure can maintain its dominance. And that, to me, is what is valuable about this movie. And that, to me, is what separates this movie from something like Crash, because I don't think Crash has any ideas that are nearly that complex in its head. Well, and I guess for me, like, I do think that that's valuable in this movie and, like, the movie's hearts in the right place. But we get all of that, like, maybe in the first 20, 30 minutes of the

movie. And it then just kind of spends an hour. repeating itself until it can get to the third act. You're not wrong about that. You're not wrong about that. And to me, what I actually think is most interesting, because, yes, all of that is true. But, like, the most interesting, I guess, turn in this movie is because we're placed in Andrew Garfield's shoes and, like, Andrew Garfield as a character, you know, his position in the economic food chain, he doesn't see the whole system.

So a lot of the time, you know, Michael Shannon shows up with, like, looking at the way. more slicked out than Michael Shannon has ever been. We'll talk about Michael Shannon and Michael Shannon in this role specifically, but like Michael Shannon with like a blonde wave and his hair. It really does show his versatility. It's, you know,

we believe probably as Andrew Garfield believes that, you know, if we're looking at the capitalistic system within this movie and the degradation, the exploitation that's happening in it, it's like this change.

of lampreys or like a chain of barnacles right you know of other people exploiting other people within a system and then they you know have their own flunkies that exploit people and blah blah blah blah blah and the money just keeps flowing downhill and it's less and less money for each barnacle but every barnacle uh knows what they're doing and the whole time we think that big barnacle is michael shannon and that's not true right michael shannon is a barnacle to clancy brown who is a barnacle to probably not just the government, but somebody between the government and Plancy Brown. You know, like, it's a constant cycle of everybody profiting off of systems of exploitation, you know? Yes. Yeah.

That, to me, was the most interesting, like, kind of turn in the movie. Michael Shannon gets this great monologue about halfway through the movie, the sort of, you know, I wasn't born into money, right? He was somebody, it's the monologue that I think, it's the same monologue, I think, that begins with, you know, I didn't start out in real estate looking to take people's homes. I wanted to, you know, you don't think I would rather be, you know, putting people in homes than taking them out of. But, you know, because of, you know, X, Y, and Z and, you know, every ingredient that went into the mortgage crisis, now all of a sudden he's evicting people. And of course, it's self-justification, but he gets into, and again, this is maybe, you know, Ramin Barani, again, not feeling the need to not just say the thing, where he says, America doesn't bail out the losers, America was built by bailing out winners, by rigging a nation of the winners for the winners by the winners, which, again, unsubtle. It couldn't be more timely.

Right, but, like, incredibly timely. That's the thing. What I think is funny is we're watching all of these, you know, movies from the 2010s that were, you know, very pertinent at the time. And now of everything, we're being like, well, now all of a sudden this is, you know, once again, it's really pertinent. But I think it's effective, you know what I mean? I think it's, I think you put this movie in tandem with something like killing them softly, which is, is a movie that is no less sort of on front street with sort of a very similar message. Also kind of a blunt instrument.

Kind of a blunt instrument. But I think that movie, first of all, is aesthetically a much more sort of accomplished piece. And there's some wit to that movie. You know, I think about that final monologue and where that final monologue ends. Yeah. Yeah. There definitely is, there's no room, there's no air in this movie for things like, you know, wit or humor. It's kind of an airless movie. And I think a lot of it is pretty contrived. Like, the idea that Michael Shannon says thank you to Andrew Garfield at the end of this movie.

Oh, do you, did you not feel like that was just, um, uh, sinister? Did you not think that was just like instead of, that was him saying, fuck you, but him. I don't think I felt like that was supposed to be a genuine. Oh, fascinating. Thank you, but because it's so like screenwriting class, I just didn't. Oh, see, maybe it's just me interpreting everything that Michael Shannon says in the most sinister and threatening way possible at all time. I think some people would argue that Andrew Garfield getting wrapped up in Michael Shannon's business is contrived, but I actually think that it's Michael Shannon picking somebody that he evicted to join his business is the thing that's contrived. Oh, interesting. It's not that I don't buy, I still question it. It's not like I fully buy it that Andrew Garfield would agree to get money this way.

It's that I don't believe Michael Shannon would trust, that Michael Shannon would ask that person. I think Michael Shannon is conceivably cocky enough in this movie to think that, you know, money wins out and everything. and my money ultimately will force this once moral man to conform to my... I think so much of the movie is him, you know, trying to get Andrew Garfield to buy into his world, right? His worldview for whatever reason. And maybe there really isn't enough of a reason behind it to make it realistic. but that to me was sort of the the

that's how I kind of viewed it was it was a sort of a domination move the thing that I found to be a bridge too far contrivancy wise is and it's one of those things where you could see it coming a mile away right where one of the people

he evicts ends up at the motel that he's staying at which this is weeks hate that scene this is weeks into his job, right? He's pulling in money. He's not just like, we know that, like, it's going to take a while for them to move into their house because there's... And we've already been told multiple times, everybody who lives here has been evicted from their home. Right. But it's also, it's just like they're still living there because they have to wait a two week, whatever period before

they can move into the house, which, by the way, Michael Shannon, like, breaks every other law, but this is the law that he has to, like, stand by in order to, for the plot to move forward. But, like, Why are they still at this particular shitty motel? Why are they not at the very least, now that they have money to do so, renting out a storage facility for their stuff and staying at, like, a hotel, a nicer place? You know what I mean? You're telling me that now that they're, because he's been pulling in. Well, he's saving up money for the, like, over large, ugly Floridian home. But, like, he's been pulling in these paychecks for a while.

It's just, it, it, um, it, to me felt like. Oh, so they stayed in the motel so that they could have this confrontation. And then once they have the confrontation, that it so motivates him to get the family out of there that he jumps on buying the McMansion and giving up the thing that he had worked so hard for to buy their house back, just to get them away from his shame. But once again, I say, like, just go to another hotel. You know what I mean? Just like, just go somewhere else. There are many in the state of Florida. Yeah, exactly.

It's just like, just go to like a, you know, for two weeks, you know, rent out a different hotel. I do think one of the good, maybe contrivances, maybe just excellent choices of this movie is setting it in Orlando, the most depressing place in the world. This is, what's the, what's the Orlando canon of like, the Orlando as shorthand for America's. economic, moral bankruptcy between this, the Florida project, I feel like there's like, I feel like there's a few more movies like that, where it's just like it's, it's a good short time. Much respect to the residents of Orlando. It's just also such an ugly city. Well, I just think in general, I think Florida has become kind of ground zero for the failure

of the American experiment, both morally, economically, spiritually. I mean, it's ground zero for the service industry, too. Like, you know, and like where else does, like, employment exploitation happen, but the service industry. Sure, sure, sure, sure. I want to talk about Andrew Garfield's career for a second because I forgot that there were so few movies between the Social Network and his Oscar nomination. He's only does, this is the only non-Spiter Man movie between the Social Network and Hacksaw Ridge, and that's a six-year span, which is kind of crazy. And you'd think, oh, well, was he doing television at the time? No. I think he did some theater. I think that's when

he did Death of a Salesman on Broadway with, he was in the production with Philip Sumer Hoffman, I would imagine, right? Yes, he was. I believe he was Tony. Was Andrew Garfield Tony nominated for that? I think so. I think everybody was in that cast. But he's also just like on a constant loop of reshoots for those Spider-Man movies. Right. It takes a lot of his career because it's one of those things where, again, I bring up, you know, working on making Cinematrix puzzles

now. I have a much better eye now and memory for people whose filmographies are not as robust as you would think they would be. Andrew Garfield just has not made as many movies as you would think he's made and has not made and a lot of those movies

are things like breathe. You know what I mean? The Andy circus movie Breathe, which like nobody's seen, or... I've seen it. It's not a whole lot going on. I would push back that he's not pro, that he's not had as many jobs as you would think, because it's after this. It's post-Spiderman.

It's once he gets that Hacksaw Ridge nomination. When you're considering he's making movies, he's in theater, and he's doing TV in all of this time, he really does not stop working. And granted, there are things like, mainstream that no one ever sees, but, like, he's actually one of our more prolific people, I would argue. Well, I don't know, though, because for somebody who has worked, who has been in movies for almost two decades now, it's just, it's, I think for somebody with that kind of a stature, it's just on a purely volume level. It's, it's not as many as you would think. what was the first thing you remember ever seeing him in? That I, like, took stock of his name.

Yes. It would have been social network. And then never let me go was right after that. Is that same year? Yes. For me, it was the year before. It was an imaginarium of Dr. Parnassas. I remember sort of clocking him and taking note.

But he was previously in things like Lions for Lambs and the other Berlin Girl. He was also, if you are British, you probably have a stand a good chance of knowing him from the 2007 movie Boy A, which was a movie about there was that famous, it's not about the specific person, but it is, I believe, inspired by the very sort of infamous case in Britain of these two young boys who, who murder a younger kid. It's like children killing children. And I believe this is, he plays one of the two who then later on in life gets released from, you know, juvenile custody and has to reenter, you know, the world as this sort of, you know, scandalized person. He was also in a mini-series of films in 2009 in the UK, the Red Riding Trilogy, which was this like trilogy of crime films. And I think had a limited release here in theaters.

Yeah. And but other than that, he's in Lions for Lambs where he's sort of engaging in Socratic debate with Robert Redford in his office about the war. Dr. Parnassas, he's sort of like the young, you know, apprentice of this, you know, little, this ring of con artist and whatever. And of course, that movie becomes so famous for the movie that Heath Ledger was making when he died and his role is completed by Johnny Depp and Jude Law and Colin Farrell. A very interesting movie.

doing exceptions on it, maybe at some point. I know Terry Gilliam is not somebody that we would relish talking about, but I think of the movie, and Johnny Depp too, but I think the movie in and of itself is kind of a fascinating object in terms of everything that was going on with that at the time. Sure, sure. Very storied film. Yeah. Did you ever see Under the Silver Lake?

I did. I really wanted to be one of the people who liked it. Oh, damn. Because I was like, as soon as I saw that, more so than I could even like assess my own thoughts on it, I was like, Joe is going to love this movie. I really thought I was going to. I am a huge fan of It Follows. So I really wanted to be the sort of David Robert Mitchell, die hard. And I think maybe the, I'm not, I'm not one of those people who's going to sit here and say that that's a great movie. But I do think that maybe the people who went home. on hating that movie need to lighten up. Oh, I don't know if I would necessarily go hard on hating it just because it's so unusual and it's so particular. And maybe I'll try it again. I just found it to be a decently tedious experience. And at 139 minutes, sort of...

Andrew Garfield's great in it, though. He is. And... It's maybe the quintessential Andrew Garfield performance for me. Oh, that's interesting. I'm interested to see his, uh, David Robert Mitchell's movie that is supposedly coming out later this year. Flower Vale Street. That, I think, got pushed to next year. Did it? Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Masey Stella's in that movie.

Science fiction, but it's a studio movie, so you can imagine it's going to be at some type of scale. Yeah, it's a J.J. Abrams, a production. And then, of course, he's supposedly working on doing a sequel to It Follows, of which I have mixed emotions, because I'm hopeful

that David Robert Mitchell can rebound though because it was so clearly just not a good decision to take a sophomore like swing for the fences yeah to the can competition yeah i mean like it it i think this is a better movie than southland tales but like it's southland tales all over again see i like southland tales quite a bit um i mean i like southland tales it's fun but it's just like it there's just no there's no uh parallel universe where that movie ever gets a fair shake being launched into the world that way, which is, I guess we've had this conversation. But like, this is kind of how I feel about Ariaster. Though, like, Ariaster is more established than, you know, Richard Kelly or David

Robert Mitchell were before going. I think Ariaster has weathered that storm in a way that those other two filmmakers weren't able to. And I think you're right to say the knives are going to be sharpened for Ariaster no matter what. Forever. Forever. Yeah. Yes. But so the, back to Garfield, though, because so you mentioned the fact that between the social network and Hacksaw Ridge, there's just the two Spider-Man movies and 99 homes. I think the other thing about- those Spider-Man movies. And the other thing about the Spider-Man movies, and like, I don't think he's the problem in those movies, but there is the thing about like his version of Peter Parker, his version of Spider-Man, is this kind of like, sort of sarcastic. cocky, you know, I'm going to, you know, talk shit to you while I'm, like, wrapping you up in webs and whatnot. He's also dating Emma Stone at the time, which is a thing I think we've all sort of forgotten

about, is that relationship. I don't think they ever confirmed it, but it's like it was always... Really? Did they never confirm that they were dating? I don't know if it was confirmed. Come on. I think they refer to each other as friends now, but... That's crazy. to me. They were one million percent dating. My memory does not say that it was ever officially

confirmed. Though it's like the type of thing that in profiles, it's like, they have been speculated to be dating forever, but Garfield slash Stone remained well. And he was with Shannon Woodward for a while. And I think he like ended that relationship to be with Emma Stone. So I understand why they wanted to sort of keep things quiet with that. Anyway, regardless, after Hacksaw Ridge, which, you know, whatever, the Mel Gibson of it all, but he does get an Oscar nomination for that, after having gotten the big sort of snubberoo for social network, after having gotten a bunch of precursors for that. I think Andrew Garfield has a lot to do with the success of that movie because he makes that not good movie palatable enough. Yes. But that same year, he's in silence with the Scorsese movie about priests, missionary priests. Which is maybe his best performance.

He's really, really good in that. And that is a movie that, like, understandably, is the Scorsese movie that people were just like, you know, I'm sorry for you or congratulations or I'm sorry that happened. Yeah, I'm not reading all that. I'm not reading all that. Yeah. Which is too bad because I think it's a tremendous movie. Incredible movie. And, like, it was basically in and out of theaters. And I remember going to see it opening weekend when it went wide-ish.

Yeah. Just, like, seeing it on the biggest screen that I could because I was, like, this thing is going to die. And it was, like, us and two other people in the theater. And for a Scorsese movie, that's wild. Yeah. But so, again, here's, here I say. And again, he follows up this, that movie, that Oscar nomination for Hacksaw Ridge, with Andy Circus's Breathe, David Robert Mitchells Under the Silver Lake, which we just sort of talked about, Giacopal is mainstream, which are three movies that for the average person don't exist. And then, also then, this is when he does Angels in America, which is its own particular divisive object.

which I've sort of gone on an interesting journey with, I think, wanting to like his performance in that so much. And ultimately, I just don't think I can defend it. What do you think of his... Did you... I've only seen small clips. I never got to see the whole thing. It's a lot.

It's sort of... He's playing... gay young gay New Yorker in like quotes sort of um he's he's he's feeling all the emotions he's doing all the like he's playing a character but like there's an affect to it that i don't think is necessary and i wonder if you know with the accent you know the american accent and also like wanting to come across as, and Prior Walter is sort of definitionally, you know, refers to himself, you know, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as feminine, effeminence, effeminacy. Yes, God. Is, like, text in that, you know, in that play, which I also feel like

maybe is throwing the performance where he feels like he really needs to. to do justice to that in a way that, like, just comes across as a burlesque in a way that I think just doesn't serve the character, as well as, say, Justin Kirk, who in the Mike Nichols movie is able to communicate that side of Pryor without making it feel like it's a show. You know what I mean? So anyway, but again, like, this is how he follows up his Oscar nomination. And I'll Ultimately, Angels in America, despite my and other people's reservations about the performances, I think is ultimately a career win for him. I think ultimately that does a good thing for his career. I mean, he literally gets a Tony Award for it. And then back to the movies for a frankly tremendous 2021. I remember thinking like this, like Andrew Garfield is back in such a way. He's in the eyes of Tammy Fay playing Jim Baker. He does not get awards attention for that. Obviously, all of that goes to Jessica Chast. Though he's good in that movie.

I think he's very good in that movie. He's frankly stupendously good in Tick, Tick Boom. That is a movie I did not think was going to work. You're cringing right now. You disagree with me. I'm not cringing. I'm smiling really hard. Why?

I don't know. That movie, I love Jonathan Larson. Uh-huh. I do think that movie, the female performances in that movie I love. Andrew Garfield, I think is... Such a weird way to enter that movie, loving the female performance. is in that movie. You are a Jessica Hudgens fan when it comes to Tick-Tick-T-Poo? You know what? Good for Jessica Hudgens

or Vanessa Hutchins. Jessica Hudgens. Sorry, I was thinking of Jessica Justin. Good for her. Good for her getting that performance and being good and sounding amazing. Andrew Garfield is good in Tick-Tick-Pum. I have just like a small undercurrent. Like just a hum underneath everything in that movie at a frequency only dogs can hear of just like mild annoyance, just I mildly annoyed watching loved that movie.

I thought Lin-Manuel Miranda does a phenomenal job directing that movie. I think Garfield is tremendously good in that. I was so glad he got an Oscar nomination for it. Like I said, I think he's good. Is this because I never saw? Is this because I had such a limited relation to this production before seeing the movie?

No, because like there's diehards who love that show that love that movie. Okay, okay. And I also, to close out the year, I think he's so much better than he needs to be in Spider-Man No Way Home, like genuinely phenomenal performance in a movie that does

not require it. I think he's so good. Both comedically, but also, like, he gets a dramatic moment in that movie that, like, lands in a way that... I mean, again, my initial reaction was Andrew Garfield

did not need to go that hard and he really did and it was great. Andrew Garfield did not need to go that hard for We Live in Time. He and Florence Pugh are working their ass off. Still haven't seen it. For a movie that I think is low-grade evil. I don't have any desire to see it and once it didn't get any Oscar nominations, I'm like,

I'm going to take a pass. The more distance I get from that movie, I'm like that was evil, right? Like, that movie is a force for bad in this world. Expand upon that, though, because this is a movie ultimately about... I mean, the movie, we're six months out from this movie coming out. I can say it without saying spoilers. Basically, the movie forces Florence Pugh into a situation of you can have a baby and a family,

but your cancer is going to come back and kill you at some point. It's what's your face? It's Steele Magnolias. It's Julia Roberts and Steele Magnolia. But, like, to the 11th degree. Yeah. And it's like she's also a character who would probably... I think it's so funny that people treated her dying in that movie as a spoiler.

Like, that kind of feels like the point of her. Sure, sure. But it's more so like the circumstances of like, and then it's just like it's degrading her through this whole process. Like, yeah. Can I tell you, the advanced buzz on Luca Guadonino's after the hunt is becoming. I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready to see Andrew Garfield play someone who's not a good person. He's essentially, he's the object of a accusation, a serious accusation, as the plot description says. But who is also, it sounds like, a smarmy, not good guy, even without the accusation, you know?

I think this could be, I think if this movie is as good as some of the people I'm hearing talk about it say it is. I think you could be looking at Oscar nomination number three. I think he would probably be pushed and supporting. I think Julia Roberts is probably going to be the thrust of, you know, this Oscar push. Always happy to see her on screen again. People are talking about it as Julia Roberts' tar, which I think is very interesting. I also think Iowa Debris could stand a very good chance for Oscar attention and supporting. And just like Andrew Garfield.

in a Luca Guadino movie. It's like, well, yes, obviously. Obviously, like, of course. How concerned are we about the Amazon MGM studios? Very. Because it's like, they set a release date for it. And it's like, okay, so you're going to change that six times. Yeah.

And it's going to remove all the air from the balloon of your movie, just like you did with Nickel Boys and just like you've done with other movies. It's currently set for October? Yes. Okay. We'll see. Um, I feel like Nickel Boys, I think that was an attempt to, I think they, they perhaps correctly judged that you would have to sell that movie, you know, in a very particular way. You know what I mean? That ultimately, Nickel Boys doesn't have a ton of marketable, you know, stuff to it. But I think in. So then you jettison it to a time when, like, you have most competition for screens and people's attention. No, they should have left that. I think. I think ultimately they fumbled the bag on that.

And I think the thing with challengers was obviously the strike really impacted. I would have really been interested to see what the plan was for challengers if they would have been allowed to proceed without the strike happening. The other thing about challengers, too, is like, I'm really interested in seeing Zendaya get a vacation because, like, she wasn't really available to campaign. She did the roundtable, but, like, beyond that, like, she's been constantly working. She's got a Christopher Borgly movie coming. They finally got, you know, Euphoria Season 3 to be rolling in front of cameras. She was shooting a Dune movie.

She's shooting. Well, and like, how soon is Dune 3 going to be happening? Like... I think they're filming this year. That's crazy to me. Crazy to me. All right. We are back. Do you want to, should we start talking about Michael Shannon a little bit? Because he's the real, like, buzzy thing for this movie. Yeah, he's one of the rare people who gets nominated for, one of the rare actors, who gets nominated for a Golden Globe, a SAG, a critic's choice, and then throw in the Independent Spirit Award nomination to boot and doesn't get the Oscar nomination. I guess BAFTA was the Canary.

in the coal mine for Michael Shannon. Which at this point is very interesting, considering it's the exact opposite of his Oscar nomination at this point. Right. Because Revolutionary Road, that nomination happens with absolutely no precursor. As does, the second nomination he gets, which comes the year after 99 Homes, which is Nocturnal-I. I thought he got like a BAFTA nomination or something for that. Did he? Interesting.

Hold, please. Yeah, look that up. I hate that nomination. I hate that movie. Well, yeah, but I mean, like, that nomination in particular, I was like, we didn't need to do this. It could be worse. It could have been Aaron Taylor Johnson. At least Aaron Taylor Johnson had the Golden Globes thing, though, where it's just like, I understand that, like, they went out of their way to be like, no, not this person from nocturnal animals, this person from nocturnal animals.

Like, I would have felt better if it seemed like they were just sort of like blindly following the herd or whatever. Michael Shannon was Critics' Choice nominated for... Boo! Boo! Critics' Choice, boo. Anyway, so I do think it's interesting that the precursor season sort of came back around to 99 homes. It's an interesting supporting actor year kind of in general. So your Globe nominees that year were, as we said, Michael Shannon, but also, So Stallone, that's Stallone wins the globe and got everybody thinking he was going to win the Oscar.

Paul Dano for Love and Mercy, as we've talked about, Idris Elba for Beasts of No Nation, Michael Shannon for 99 Holmes. None of them make the Oscar cut. Mark Rylance was sort of like the tortoise running this Oscar race versus the hair, where it's just sort of like, still there, still Mark Rylance, just plugging away. He wins BAFTA. where... Which makes sense, because he...

Idriselba is nominated, but Sylvester Stallone is not. Right. Stallone is also not nominated for SAAG. Yes. Sag goes to Idraselba for Beasts of No Nation. Does nominate Christian Bale for the Big Short, who does end up getting an Oscar nomination. They still nominate Rylance, of course.

And then Michael Shannon. And then SAG nominated Jacob Tromblay for Room, which feels very, very sad. For a lead performance from a child. Right, right. Still a lead. Still a lead. But kind of gets, you know, Jacob Tromblay on the cusp of a lot of people sort of predicting that he was going to maybe get that fifth best actor nomination, or best supporting actor nomination at the Oscars, rather.

Critics' choice did Stallone, Ryleance, Shannon, and then. then Dano, and then they were the ones, actually, this is why Critics' Choice gets to, like, puff their chest, because they nominated Tom Hardy for the Revenant and Mark Ruffalo for Spotlight, both of whom come back around at the end and get into the Oscar conversation. And then... Ruffalo's BAFTA nomination, but Hardy isn't. Right. And then Independent Spirit Award, Michael Shannon is nominated.

Paul Dano is nominated. Idris Elba wins for Beasts of No Nation. Where do you come down on Beasts of No Nation? So at this point, Iters-Elba is winning multiple, you know, precursor awards. He's basically the big Netflix sort of hope for a nomination. And this is the first real year that Netflix is kind of going for it. Netflix was also part... They partnered with Bleaker Street on getting that movie in, like, a few theaters, basically.

Right. This is a Carrie Joji Fukenaga movie. Mm-hmm. As you said, Netflix and Bleaker Street. It is about a sort of warlord in West Africa and a child who sort of gets caught up in the sort of child soldier issue, for lack of a better term, in West Africa. It didn't grab me, I will say. I think it's a good movie. If that was released four years later, Idriselbo would probably have an Oscar.

Probably. But because this is the first year of Netflix trying to, you know, play in the movie awards sandbox, basically. Yeah. I think that's the only real thing that you can pin against it. You know, Idriselbo wins two major precursor awards for that movie and, like, has a better, like, run of nomination. than at least three of those Oscar nominees. Did you get the sense, though, during that Idris Elba precursor run, that it was people sort of voting for his performance without bothering to see the movie?

I don't ever remember feeling that. Because I just feel like there was no drumbeat for the movie whatsoever, and it just felt like a movie that nobody wanted to walk. Pin that on Netflix. Because, like, 2015 Netflix, it's not that long. It's a decade ago now, but, like, it's, it is a whole different ballgame with how. And I think this is probably the movie that they learned a lot from, in terms of, like, how to do this, how to keep attention. Sure.

I mean, Netflix has proven that, you know, their main strategy is just spending money. Right. To keep attention on their movies. Yeah, it's interesting. I do feel like ultimately not enough people watched it. I have no real evidence for that, but that's always been my thought. If we're talking about the three supporting actor nominees that were on the outs of that category initially and then ended up being nominees, like those are probably the three biggest best picture nominees, too, is the other thing to talk about.

The Revenant, you're pulling from Spotlight, you're pulling from The Big Short, which I would maybe argue being third place. Well, Fury Road. Even over Fury Road. I don't know about that, but we can argue about that at a different date. It did lead to the very, very adorable Oscar night moment of Abraham Atta and Jacob Tromblay presenting together. That was at the Oscars, right? Were they presented together? Yes.

They were adorable. They were very cute. Anyway. The gentleman's Oscars. So, yeah, so all of a sudden, this supporting actor race gets kind of upended. By the way, the other two Independent Spirit Award nominees were Richard Jenkins for Bone Tomahawk, a movie that... No, thank you. People keep telling me that I should watch.

I think it's a hit on Netflix with a lot of men and a lot of agro men and a lot of, I don't know, rhino horn types. Oh, God. So, again, no, thank you. If you are somebody who is friends with us and like Bone Tomahawk, and would like to get in touch with Chris about your rhino horn. If you are a friend that likes Bone Tomahawk, I support, love, and trust you. Do not talk to me about that movie.

Talk to me about anything else. And then Kevin Corrigan is nominated for Andrew Bujalski's results, the movie that sort of made me realize that the films of Andrew Bajelski are probably not for me. I didn't not like this movie, but so many people were like, results, it's so great. And then I watched it, and I was just like, yeah, it's all right. I've never connected to an Andrew Bajelski movie in my life, except for Support the Girls, which to me is like the actresses are doing a lot of that work for me. I don't know. I shouldn't say that.

Support the Girls is a very good movie. That's a great screenplay. It's a great screenplay. It's great. But like nothing else he has done has come close to making me in any way interested. Talk about capitalism in the service industry. Support the girls. Great, smart, fun.

Did you know that Andrew Burjelsky co-wrote the screenplay for The Lady and the Tramp Live Action remake, and I use Scare Quotes for Live Action? Scare Quotes as a thing that exists in the world? Well, in general. When did that movie even come out? November 2019. What a great question. Once again, I said this to somebody.

I've made this comment before. From like mid-2019 until early 2022, it's just one giant lump of time for me. Like, it's just, just absolutely, it just, it's like, um, an event horizon. You know how when you see an event horizon depicted where it's like, it just like it, it flattens out at the middle. It's like you can't even see it as a circle because it just sort of like flattens out at the middle. That to me is, is Disney Plus, the morass of Disney Plus. Well, but specifically, yes. But like, also just like anything that happened between me. mid-2019 and early 2022, where it's just sort of like, okay, absolutely.

That was... Another significant supporting actor nominee in this season got BAFTA nominated and nothing else is Benicio del Toro for Sicario. Which I'm surprised didn't do better. Well, like, people kind of kept predicting it all season and it just materialized at BAFTA and nowhere else. And I remember people even predicting it as a surprise Oscar nominee and... Yeah. That's a movie that played TIF 2015. A handful of people that I know were negative on it. And then I just assumed that that was everybody's opinion on it.

And then I found out that like, oh, no, like, Sicario got like a really good reception, essentially. And this is, of course, Dinneville-Nove directs it, but it's a Taylor Sheridan screenplay. And to me, it's always seemed like more of a Taylor-Sharradon movie than a Dinneville-Nove movie anyway. It felt like at the time a Denis Villeneuve movie more so than a Taylor Sheridan, and I think I've done the flip-flop on that since. At the time, I was like, wow, the absolute immaculate craft of this movie. And I think what Villeneuve is doing is actually working at odds with what Taylor Sheridan is doing. And I think it's who ultimately prevails. And at the time, I thought that Villeneuve, who was saying something very.

different than what I think Taylor Sheridan is saying in that movie. Yeah. Well, and I think once the sequel came up, and now I'm like, I don't know. I think the sequel to that movie sort of, like, gave a lot of hindsight to the first Sicario. And that sequel is pure dog shit. The cast of Sicario, though, was incredible. Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio del Toro, John Bernthal, Daniel Kaluya, Victor Garber.

Three nominations for that movie, though. It ultimately gets in craft's categories. It gets a cinematography nomination for Roger Deacons. It gets a original score nomination for Johann Johansson. And then it gets a sound editing nomination. But I thought, I always figured Emily Blunt would be more in that conversation for Best Actress that year. She's great in the movie. I thought Del Toro would be more in the conversation.

I thought the screenplay, because I remember at the time, people were like very like Taylor Sheridan and was. like an ascending talent. So like I was surprised that that didn't get more traction. Um, we can, you know, debate whether that would have been regrettable or not. Josh Rowland, shoving both of his fingers through John Bernthal's nostrils is just like, oh, yeah. God. See, it's, it's exactly the kind of movie that I'm like past, but I just feel like there were so many good actors in it that I saw. And I did, I felt the same way as you. I felt like the craft of it really impressed me.

But I think the more you sort of linger on that movie is, and again, you don't want to judge a film by its politics. And it ends up being like amazing craft in service of what? Well, sure, sure. So anyway, ultimately Shannon does not end up with the Oscar nomination. As you mentioned, the supporting actor category ends up veering very, very hard towards the best picture race. Stallone ends up being the only person not from a Best Picture nominee to get a nomination. He loses in what was at the time, I think, a pretty big surprise. I think in hindsight, everybody is sort of like, well, we knew that Stallone couldn't win.

It's like, did we? Did we know that? Or was everybody predicting? I mean, him not getting SAG nominated, I think is pretty significant. I don't think it was all sewn up. but I do think him losing is indicative of... Most people were predicting him to win, though. Oh, yeah, I was too.

Yeah. Like, I think a lot of people pretend they weren't. I think it's fair to say that it was somewhat of a surprise, but not the most surprising thing in the world. Well, that was an interesting Oscars, right? So Rialant's winning is a surprise. I think Spotlight winning, even though I was hedging towards, like, this could happen because they had just won SAG ensemble,

which, and had kind of a, you know, a moment with the speech, sort of like crusading for the victims of, you know, Catholic Church, sex abuse cases and whatnot. I remember thinking, I was very sort of like, fuck, Revenant, fine, Revenant's going to win, fuck all. And because I was riding the spotlight thing hard all that season. Tiff being like this movie could win I remember when the Oscar nominations came out and I think it only had gotten I think it only was like no well it has

two supporting I don't think it did it get an editing nomination hold on I'm about to bring this up because like the ceiling is probably six it got six exactly six nominations the exact same number of nominations as what Carol

which I always think it's funny when people are like The Oscar voters hated Carol, and it's like, six nominations. To get that many nominations and not a Best Picture nomination just kind of doesn't happen anymore, though. So, like, I understand positioning that as an Oscar snub. The Oscars were never going to get it on that level. But the point was, the Revenant got 12 nominations, and Fury Road got 10. And so Spotlight was, like, in a three-way tie for fourth-most nominations that year. So I think a lot of people at that point was like, well, it's over for spotlight.

And I'm like, not really. And I sort of, this is when I started my theory of like the way that things are going these days where best picture can win with six nominations, best director can win with 12. You know what I mean? Like it's it's been that kind of a thing. Well, and Mad Max winning its Oscars was the bad. Mad Max winning all those Oscars was the sign. that it was going to be spotlight, in my opinion, because, like, Mad Max, as much as we would have wanted it to do well, I don't think it was going to get that best director, best picture.

I would love to know how close George Miller came to winning best director that year. With Iniarity two coming off of, you don't think so. No. With In Yari 2 coming off of an Oscar win. And with Mad Max winning all of those crafts. It was such an uphill, like, nine-month-long campaign to get people to take Mad Max that seriously. But by the time Oscar nominations happened, that had already been accomplished. Accomplished enough to be a Best Picture winner?

No, not Best Picture. I'm not so sure. Not Best Picture. Best Director. I'm still not so sure. Okay. I don't think it was of one Best Picture. I think Spotlight was the perfectly positioned film to win Best Picture.

Absolutely. In fact, if you told me that the big short was second place in Best Picture, I wouldn't have a problem believing that. but I do feel like it is my... I just said that that movie was third place and you were like, no, it wasn't. Oh, well, yeah, you're right. Wow, I do kind of like change the tune, don't I? I think it was mostly because... I'm not angry at you. I'm just giving you shit.

No, as you should. You should give me shit because that's very funny. But anyway... It's okay. You got there. You got there. You had to argue yourself. I did have to argue with myself into it, but you know... I have to do that sometimes, too. But here is what I will say is I will plant my... flag and the fact that I think George Miller is closer than people think for to have come to I think Thomas McCarthy is closer than people oh I disagree with that they don't give best

director to those kinds of movies they just don't but it is a best picture winner so that so was Coda that it was closer than people think so was Coda you know what I mean Cota won if Cota had had more time it might have been a best director nominee no no maybe a nominee but like Sean Hader was never going to come close to winning best director. And I'm not saying Tom McCarthy would have won best director. I'm just saying he probably got way more votes than people think he got. But not second place. There's only one way to end these arguments, folks, and that is to open up the vaults of voting totals just to...

Just to us, we won't tell anybody. We won't tell anybody. But we will settle these arguments. I would happily sign every NDA. NDAs are bad and evil. And a force for bad, but, like, I would sign every NDA. The visual of this is the two of us walking out of that vault and just exchanging sums of money to each other, paying off bets that we had made to each other.

I know. We would just look at each other and be like, 20 to you, and you'd be like 20 back to you. And we'd just be passing the same $20 back and forth to each other. I just think we would have a knowing glance and be like, Helena Bonham Carter. Geraldine Paid. Perfect. All right. What else do we want to talk about with regard to 99 homes? 99 men. I mean, I can see why, you know, Michael Shannon, as odd as his Oscar nominations are and how not emblematic of his best work, I think they are, you could see how there would be a lack of urgency.

see, you know, if you're an academy voter, not putting him on your ballot for this. Sure. Or, you know, maybe not even watching this because it always feels like Michael Shannon is one of those actors who will eventually get their due. And I think the unfortunate thing is Michael Shannon probably won't get his due for his best work, but it's just like he's worked with everybody, everybody loves him, but he's consistently putting out good performances. And my favorite Michael Shannon performances are in things that ultimately were never going to become close to the Oscar race. What do you, what do you think those are my two favorite Michael Shannon performances? I mean, probably a comedy of some kind. Actually, no, not a comedy. I don't like comedy. Comedy Michael Shannon is real hit or miss with me. People, what are we thinking of when we say comedy, Michael Shannon? Like, where they like really use the intensity of Michael Shannon.

I think his natural self is very funny. I think of his criterion closet video where he ends it by saying, Thank you. I'm a very happy boy. I'm ready to go home. You know what? Honestly, we're coming off of actually a really good year for Michael Shannon because I think his cameo and his sort of beefed up cameo in the bike riders, I think he's very good. He has that one really good scene.

I think his true cameo as himself in a different man is a hoot and a half. Like, it's very funny. A scream. And then I think he's quite good in the end, actually, and Joshua Oppenheimer's the end. But, like, when he shows up in, like, bullet train or whatever, I think that's, that kind of thing to me is obnoxious. I didn't see that. I can believe that something in that movie was obnoxious. I see what you mean, though, comedy-wise, though.

about, like, I do like him in Knives Out, but it's maybe not like my favorite. Are you a night before person? I've never seen the night before. I know Griffin. I think you would have fun of them. That was a big Griffin Newman in the blankies that one year. Griffin, I think Michael Shannon is his winner, Michael Shannon, from the night before for supporting actor.

I mean, are you going to say Bug is his best performance? Bug and the runaways are my two favorites for Michael Shannon. Yeah. I think he's tremendous in Bug. Everybody should see that movie. Really, really great. I'm just going to say All of his performances are his best performance

And then his other best performance Is any appearance on any red carpet Well, you love him in like Take Shelter Have you seen the Werner Herzog movie? Actually, yeah, Take Shelter is my favorite performance of his Have you seen the Werner Herzog movie? I have not No, that title is too much

Actually, there's two of them Because Verner also directed Badly Tennant Port of Call New Orleans, and I think he's in that as well. My son, my son, what have you done? It's like, you tell me the title and that Michael Shannon's in it. I'm like, I got it. It does, I do want to hear Werner pronounce that title just once.

Also, if you look at that poster, he's, of course he cast Michael Shannon because he looks so much like Klaus Kinski on this poster. It's kind of insane. My son, my son, what have you? even a good Werner Herzog, but I cannot wait for this movie Bucking Fastered with Rooney and Kate Mara because I just want to hear him say the words Rooney and Kate Mara in his Werner Hertzhog voice. Is that coming out this year? I doubt it at this point. If they just started filming, it's probably next year. Okay. Ruini Mara and Kate Mara. He's the funniest

person. Very, very interesting. Anyway. Michael Shannon. Michael Shannon. Yeah. So, yeah, I think he's an interesting performer. I don't, I used to, like, make a big show about, like, I hate Michael Shannon. And now that's, like, not the case. I just feel like there's a lot of movies that really lean on the sort of bug-eyed crazy person thing with him. And, you know, do your own work, filmmakers. Don't rely on Michael Shannon to get you there. He's in Machine Gun Preacher. He's in so many.

Okay, this is what I mean by Andrew Garfield. In the span of time that Andrew Garfield makes like three movies, Michael Shannon has been in like 20. Do you know how many movies he's credited for in 2016 alone? I'm looking at it now and it's a little wild. Granted, some of these were delayed. And some of them are very small roles, obviously. But like, yeah, like Midnight Special. That thing was supposed to come out for a while.

Sure. But like, it's every year. It's crazy how much of this guy. This guy stays working. Like Michael Shannon has, you know, I don't know, man. Good for you, I guess. But it's a lot of movies. A lot, lot, lot of movies.

And he's directing now, too. This independent movie that just now is, like, hitting theaters that stars Judy Greer called Eric LaRue that he directed sounds grim. Huh? Eric Larue. Yeah. It sounds grim, but I'm going to take it out because obviously love Judy Greer, but I want to support Michael Shannon. I'm now super, super, super interested in this ever since we did our year-ahead, year look-ahad movie episode with Katie Rich on the Ancler's podcast. I'm so into everything that I'm hearing.

Not everything that I'm hearing because I'm hearing nothing. But I'm keeping my ears peeled for this Nuremberg movie with James Vanderbilt, writing and directing it. with apparently Rami Mollock is I think of the lead but like Russell Crowe playing Herman Goring and Michael Shannon playing I believe an American prosecutor

but like Leo Woodall's in this movie Richard E. Grant, Colin Hanks, John Slattery and as I said on Prestige Junkie I just feel like we might all be at a very Nuremberg kind of a place mentally for a while, so it might not be a bad idea. So, yeah, what else do we want to talk about 99 homes?

Talk about broad green pictures. Oh, yes, broad green pictures. The short life of broad green pictures, they start releasing films in 2015, and they released their last film in 2018. They were one of those that got set up later on in their life, you know, two years after they started. They were doing the, they were handling the distribution of a lot of the Amazon movies, like our previously discussed, The Dressmaker.

They handled the Neon Demon, a movie I like and no one else in this world likes. But before then, like they have 99 homes. They release a couple movies. You are a fan of Mia Hansen Loves. Eden, correct? I am. Good movie. Very good movie. That's their first movie. Another movie I saw at the 2014 TIF. They did Terrence Malick's Night of Cups. But like, as the, as they were kind of winding down as a distribution house, they, you know, they're doing partnerships with like whatever Miramax is now and Amazon. Yeah.

before quickly shutting down. This very season that we're talking about, they have another this ad Oscar Buzz title that we keep threatening our listeners to do and never do it, the Sarah Silverman starring, I Smile Back. Yeah, one of these days we are going to do that. Yeah, I think we covered it.

I think we covered the gamut of this, a movie I like better than you, and that's okay. That's okay. Sometimes that happens. I think that's been, no, it's just been our past two weeks because to the wonder I like more than you do. That's right. That's right.

There you go. I bet you will be on the same page with some of these May miniseries movies. We'll definitely be on the same page with the first main feed movie for the May Mani series. We'll see. I haven't seen it. That one I definitely know we're on the same page with. I've never seen it before. I'm also struggling to remember some of the other movies we agreed to do.

but it's going to be a fun month. It will be a very fun month. I'm very excited for it. Love talking about festivals. We always talk about festivals, but it will be a time to just deep dive into various different festivals. You hear us talking about all the time, but may not, you know, if you're not,

as enmeshed in these things, you may not understand the significance of those. So we'll be talking about it. Yeah, very exciting. All right. Should we move on to the IMDB game? Yes, I guess I'm the one who explains it this time. Every week, we end our episodes with the IMDB game.

a game where we challenge each other with the name of an actor or actress and then try and guess the top four titles that the IMDB says they are most known for. If any of those titles are television shows, voice only performances, or non-acting credits like producer or director or anything like that, we mentioned that up front. After two wrong guesses, we get the remaining titles release years as a clue. And if that is not enough, it just becomes a free for all of hints. That is the IMDB game, Joe. how are we playing this week? Are you giving or guessing first? What's happening? I'll give first. All right. Who do you have for me? So we made glancing mention of Ramin Barani's At Any Price, which was a movie that hit the festival

circuit in 2012. I'm looking at the, it's a, it's, I've never seen this movie. The logline talks of a farming family who is going through a crisis and a conflict between father. I imagine And Dennis Quaid is the father and Zach Afron is the son. I imagine that's where I'm looking at the poster of this, which features just a banger of a quote from Roger Ebert. A Sony classics release could not be a more vague poster of what this movie is. Roger Ebert not only called this a great film, but that called Ramin Barani the best new American director of recent years and said that Dennis Quaid gives the performance

of a lifetime. I don't even remember hearing people talk about this movie. That is how much this movie was off of my radar. Anyway, among this cast, which includes Dennis Quaid, Zach Ephron, Kim Dickens, Clancy Brown aforementioned in this episode. We also get one Heather Graham. Okay, so I also pulled someone from at any price, but not. Oh, I was wondering why you were looking so nervous. Because I was like, shit, we did it.

This never happens, but sometimes we pulled the same person. Yeah. Okay, Heather Graham. Hockey Nights. Yes, correct. The Spy Who Shagged Me? Yes, correct. That erotic thriller she did, killing me softly.

She's not in Killing Me Softly. Or killing them softly? She was in one like that with Joseph Fines. No, not that movie. Okay. She did a Farrely Brothers movie. It's not going to be that. Um, two girls and a guy?

Not two girls and a guy. Okay. Although I remember seeing that movie and having, um, elevated expectations for what that ended up being, I will say. Um, all right. So those are your two strikes. Your two remaining movies are 1998 and 1999. Okay. So the era we're talking about. The era of Heather Graham. Did she do a horror movie? around then.

Because what else did she do the year of Spy Who Shagged Me? Sorry, but Spy Who Shagged Me, one of the funniest movies of my lifetime, unfortunately. I really have fond, fond memories of Spy Who Shagged Me. The night I got really stoned and watched the first two Asken Powers movies. I mean, peak night.

Can we get Super Stoned and watch Airplane next time we're hanging out together? We've already watched Airplane together. No, we haven't. Yes, we have. No, we have. We watched airplane together at one Tiff year because we were like, oh, neither of us have something going on. We're going to watch airplane.

I don't remember that at all. We did. Okay, 98, 99, Heather Graham was. So it's... It was called Killing Me Softly. That's so funny. I've never heard of that. Her Joseph finds in one of those erotic posters that's just like him kissing her neck and her cringing her head away.

It's like for herbal essences or genie fruptease or something. Crazy. I know it's right there. I'm just not... She did other rom-coms, but I don't think she was starring in rom-coms at that point. I'm going to need some hints. Okay. One is a comedy.

one is a IP extension Um One of them holds a very sort of interesting Asterisk in movie history Is 98 Lost in Space? Yes

Yeah The asterix being it's the first movie To beat Titanic to number one Yes Okay so 99 is a comedy Is it like a raunchy comedy Because that's the era No. It was one of those, it was a comedy that critics really liked. There was some Oscar buzz on this, but ultimately did not make it. Excuse me, I've got the hiccups.

Ensemble comedy. No. No, two big comedy stars as your stars. But a critical favorite and vaguely Oscar buzzy. Yeah. One of the stars definitely had some sort of Oscar buzz for it. We could, we could, we could. We could. could end up doing this. A director who we have talked about before as being a particularly beleaguered director who always sort of ends up on these... Alexander Payne. Troubled productions? No.

David O. Russell? No, not... The director himself is not problematic, but he always ends up on these movies that end up being... Having issues. Some sort of, yes, behind the scenes, strife. It's not David O. Russell. Ram's third build.

Did this movie have strife? I think so, but not as much as his other ones. But I do feel like there was something behind the scenes with this one, but I can't remember what flavor it took. It does, like, its stars are, certainly one of the two stars is somewhat infamous for being, I mean, we talked about Sylvester Stallone, infamous for not endearing very many people to him over the course of his career.

That would have been in a comedy in 1999. That sounds to me like, who are the assholes? Two big comedy stars of the 80s. Oh, Bill Murray. No. But you're in the right sort of... Chevy. No, but like you're in the ballpark.

An S&L performer. Uh-huh. Maybe multi. Oh, this is Bofinger. Yeah, there we go. It's Bofinger. Was there supposedly behind-the-scenes stuff on Bofinger? I feel like there was, right?

I don't remember. Who's the director of that? Frank Oz. The director of the Stepford Wives and what about Bob? The Con is on is the tagline for Bofinger. And then it's Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, and then it's together for the first time. I would never have put Bowfinger on her known for. Though, I mean, if she's third build.

She's third build. I think that's one of her more prominent roles in her career. Yeah. All right. Who do you got for me from the cast of what's... At any price. I went way more. I did not dig deep into the cast list at all.

We have never done Zach Ephron, apparently. Okay. Interesting. Zachary Ephron. High school musical three. Correct. Hairspray. Correct. Hairspray don't miss.

Huh. 17 again? What is wrong with you? Who remembers 17? Shout out. Tara Ariano for seeing that movie in the theater with me. We were on a kick of just seeing

whatever was playing that week. It's just that you're naming 17 again before you're naming some other things that I'm a little aghast. There are other things that I'm less sure are going to make it onto his known for. I'm not even going to hype you to get a perfect score because you're not

going to get a perfect score. Okay, so what are my options? My options are stuff like that he's got a lead roll in, stuff like Charlie St. Cloud or the lucky one or Iron Claw, obviously, but I don't think Iron Claw is either popular enough or has been around enough. Zach Ephron. And I don't think it's like, we are your friends, or Mike and Dave need wedding dates. You're naming a lot of movies, is what I'll say.

Is it Neighbors? Neighbors is incorrect. I'm so glad that you missed it on neighbors. Fuck, he's so good in neighbors. You should be saying ahead of 17 again. Well, he's the lead in 17 again. He's only the third lead in Neighbors. All right.

Yeah, but he's in like every production still for Neighbors. I know, I know. But it's wrong. So who's who's the fool now? Not me. All right. Yeah, but I want you to get the wrong guesses. I'm going to guess the lucky one.

The lucky one is also incorrect. Fuck. Okay. What's my year? 2019. 2019. Is it? No.

Wait, what's 2019 for Zach Efron? It's not Charlie St. Cloud. It's not the Iron Claw. Once again, 2019, completely memory hold. Absolutely a vast pit of whatever. We Are Your Friends? It is not We Are Your Friends. That was earlier than 2019.

You're, it's not in the same ballpark of movie, but it is at least one of the movies. Like, there's ample movies now that are not about Zach Efron is hot. This movie is about how Zach Efron is hot, much like we are your friends. Is it Baywatch? It is not Baywatch. Is it, um, uh, oh, that awkward. feeling? It is not that awkward feeling.

Kind of a lot of movies are about how Zach Aferon is hot, TBAH. Yeah, but I mean, this movie I think yes, ands. Zach Aferon is hot in an unexpected way. 17 again is a movie that's about how Zach Aferon is hot, speaking of which. It's about, wouldn't it be cool

if you, as a middle-aged person? That awkward feeling is not about how Zach Efron is hot. That's what if Zach Efron had friends. Which is also what we are your friends is. Um, Zach Ephron in 2019, a movie that spotlights his hotness. In an interesting way. People do not like this movie. I have only ever seen people angry about this movie.

Is he the lead? He is the lead. He is first build. Is it IP? It's not IP, but it is a true story. Oh, it's the, um, is it the Ted Bundy? movie? I'm going to need a title. Extremely bad, naughty as heck.

Evil as fuck. It's like extremely wicked, shockingly vile, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever it is. Extremely wicked, shockingly evil and vile. And vile, yes. Why is that on his? Why is that on his? It's barely a movie. That's crazy to me.

It's essentially, it is IP extension because it's an I. extension of Netflix's true crime vast empire. Neighbors not being on his known for is confirmation to me of the hunt that I've had that people are forgetting about neighbors, and we need to correct that because Neighbors is great. Movies that are canonically about how hot Zach Efron is. A family affair? We are your friends.

We are your friends. But like it is about that and it's about nothing else. Oh, I forgot the greatest showman. should have guessed the greatest showman. That's kind of crazy that's not on there. I don't think the greatest showman shows up for anybody. For how profitable that movie was, that's crazy to me. Baywatch is about how hot Zek-Effron is. Both of the neighbors movies are about how hot Zac-Fron is. Those are about other things, too. Sure, but they are both definitely about how hot he is. There's a whole scene in which he's, like, working out in front of a Hollister,

and he's just taking his shirt off. The Ted Bundy movie, which I have not seen, is definitely just about, like, Zach Ephron being so hot, you would fuck him, even if he was a... The Paperboy is a movie about how hot Zech Ephron is, the lucky ones, the movie about how hot Zec Ephron is. Presumably Scoob is a movie about how hot Zach Efron. I imagine Zach Efron's pool party is a movie about how hot Zach Ephron is. 17, again, certainly is. All of the high school musicals, hairspray is a movie about how hot Zechafron is. Like, we are not in... This is not a shallow pool.

Yeah, but those movies are about other things. We Are Your Friends is about nothing but how hot Zach Efron is. That's the one where he's the DJ, right? Yes. Stupid. I don't think Mike and Dave need wedding... I'm sure there is a plot to that movie,

but like the whole marketing campaign is like Zach Efron's hot. I don't think that Mike and Dave need wedding dates. It's a movie about how hot Zach Ephron is, but he is shirtless on the poster with like a dragon shown coming out of his underwear or his waistband. So you make the call, is all I'm saying. Um, what a cursed object.

Adam Devine also shirtless next to G-A-Fron. All right, take us home. Take us away. All right. Uh, that is our episode. If you want more, This Had Oscar Buzz. You can check out the Tumblr at this had oscarbuzz.com. You can also follow us on Instagram at This Head Oscar Buzz and on Patreon at patreon.com

slash This Had Oscar Buzz. Joe, where can the listeners find more of you? I am on Letterboxed and Blue Sky at Joe Reed, read spelled R-E-I-I-D. I am also doing the Patreon exclusive podcast called Demi, myself, and I, about the films of Demi Moore. You can find that on Patreon.com slash Demi Pod. That's D-E-M-I-P-O-D. And you can find me on Letterbox and Blue Sky at Chris V-File. That's F-E-I-L.

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