Sunday
Aug022015
Podcast Smackdown (Pt 1) Sense & Sensibility & Mighty Aphrodite
Sunday, August 2, 2015 at 4:48PM 
You've read the Smackdown proper. Now, it's time for its podcast companion piece in which Nathaniel and his guests discuss the movies in greater detail.
Part 1: 40 Minutes
00:01 Introductions & who were we rooting for back in '95
05:45 Woody Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite and broad comic caricatures in this particular category
14:30 Mira Sorvino’s career
17:26 Apollo 13
23:30 Ang Lee’s Sense & Sensibility, editing and ensemble work
34:00 Sister movies (Supporting or Lead for Kate & Mare?)
You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes.
Reader Comments (16)
I know it's totally wishful thinking, but would there be any remote possibility of a reunion of past contributors to do podcasts for previous Smackdowns? I think 2003 would be particularly entertaining and enlightening!
It hadn't occurred to me until listening that Mighty Aphrodite came just a year after Jennifer Tilly's work in Bullets Over Broadway. Woody and Oscar were really digging the funny-talking hubba-hubba dum-dum in the early 90s. (Not complaining, fan of both.)
Back in the StinkyLulu days, there was discussion of "coaster" nominees -- Kathleen Quinlan would be an essential example of that. In this podcast, you use the term 'coattail' but it's the same sentiment. I think it was 1999, either in the Smackdown or in the Toni Collette profile, where StinkyLulu reminded everyone that a 'coaster' nomination does not necessarily demean or impugn a performance. Yet I also remember that "Entertainment Weekly" would do odds of the acting nominees Vegas-style and they had Quinlan at 25-1, which was so far gone from anybody else that it seemed mean-spirited to me.
ALSO interesting that there's a blank on Apollo 13 not getting other acting noms and someone mentions that Ed Harris was nominated. In the press I had read and can remember (at age nine!), Harris was actually the FRONT-RUNNER in that category; Kevin Spacey, as Leonard Maltin would say the next day, was the only "mild upset" in the acting categories that year.
I have never seen "Mighty Aphrodite" but looked up interviews of Mira Sorvino. She says that Woody Allen has a clause in his films when you can be fired at any time and the film is budgeted to a point where that is financially possible. It clearly didn't happen to her, but she said it happened to a different actress.
I love love the random discussion of Ang Lee and his editors/cinematographers. Something totally lost on me and why it's so great to have cinephiles discussing this stuff.
I have never seen "Sense and Sensibility" despite the fact that my best friend in high school were randomly reading it at the same time and we even wrote notes to each other as Elinor and Marianne. One of my crushes was even named Colonel Brandon in our letters.
And how great was Lynn's comments about viewing Elinor/Marianne differently between when you are in high school and how you get older? I was a Marianne then and am probably am one now, but I loved that perspective.
I saw Sense and Sensibility one time with a six year old girl. She was convinced the movie was about Margaret, the third and youngest sister. From a Margaret viewpoint, Margaret is the sensible sister, and the two older sisters can be quite silly at times.
@adri: That is hilarious! So sweet. Interestingly, I see that Emilie François, who played that youngest sister, later converted to Islam and has become quite an activist on behalf of Moslem women.
I agree Sense and Sensibility plays differently depending on your phase in life. After watching it the first time, the thing that I remembered the most was agile Elizabeth Spriggs constantly calling Colonel Brandon and deftly avoiding puddles, and Kate Winslet shouting Willoughby's name.
The movie is so generous in its love for the supporting characters. Every single one is given a chance to shine. I want to see a movie starring Imelda Staunton and Dame Harriet Walter.
Lovely discussion all.
It is strange that Sorvino hasn't had a bigger career, but she did have a good run there for a while with movies that, while maybe didn't work out commercially or even critically, you can understand why they might've seemed like good ideas at the time. But then I just read that she's had 4 kids in the past 11 years so you know, maybe she has different priorities now when it comes to choosing projects, which is understandable.
@DJDeeDay: She also does some pretty serious political work around human trafficking and recently spoke at the UN, so props to her if she's got better to do than be in the Parker Posey role in Irrational Man (though I'd have loved that casting, as much as I also liked Posey).
@nick - also a good point!
@Jakey: Indeed, Ed Harris was a slight frontrunner in that category, having won the SAG Award — I remember predicting him myself that year. But it was quite a scattered race: Kevin Spacey was a critics' pet, Brad Pitt had won the Golden Globe and even James Cromwell had the apparent underdog (underpig?) momentum of Babe going for him. I would guess Spacey won it in a squeaker.
adri, lol - that's absolutely perfect. one of the many things I loved about S&S is what a great character it makes out of Margaret (as I recall, she has next to no presence in the book) and how her camaraderie with Edward helps make him a more appealing character, too. That's what you call killing two birds with one stone!
Guy -- i hadn't thought about that but in retrospect, yep. It was not unlike the 2007 supporting actress race. God i wish there were more races like that. it should be like that every year... at least in one category. because it's pretty rare when one person is infinitely more worthy than everyone else.
@GuyLodge: That makes so much sense! I completely forgot that was the same year as Brad Pitt in "12 Monkeys"'.
but did lynn survive the earthquake that was happening in her background?