Screen Thoughts - Movie & Tv Reviews

In honor of Brooklyn's 3 Oscar noms (Best Picture, Best Actress - Saoirse Ronan, Best Adapted Screenplay - Nick Hornby), Hollister & O'Toole dedicate this week's podcast to the movie-based-on-the-novel - a dream team of cast and script. Also discussed: #OscarsSoWhite, SHOwtime's new series Billions, and which actor's voice is most like the cello. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this month's LitLovers selection, Hollister & O'Toole discuss Brooklyn - based on Colm Tóibín's acclaimed novel - and currently nominated for 3 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actress (Saoirse Ronan) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Nick Hornby). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Breaking news from this morning: the 2016 Oscar noms, as well as the sad news of the passing of the great Alan Rickman - who we love Truly Madly Deeply. Hollister & O'Toole also discuss Sunday night's Golden Globe winners, as well as the much-discussed Netflix docu-series Making a Murderer - with a shoutout to the perspective-bending The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby series (Him/Her/and Them). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Hollister & O'Toole discuss Amazon Prime's Mozart in the Jungle, recently nominated for 2 Golden Globes: Best Comedy/Musical and Best Actor, Gael García Bernal (Y Tu Mamá También; The Motorcycle Diaries). The cast alone is music to our ears: Broadway legend Bernadette Peters, Lola Kirke, Saffron Burrows, Malcolm McDowell, Debra Monk... Also, hear what Hollister has to say about Will Smith's new movie Concussion, while O'Toole pays homage to the late, great Elaine Stritch, truly one of the Grande Dames of American Theatre (the self-proclaimed "existential problem in tights") with the doco Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me. Fun fact: Alec Baldwin appears in both movies (Concussion and Shoot Me)! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week's podcast, Hollister & O'Toole take a look at the latest David O. Russell-Jennifer Lawrence-Bradley Cooper-Robert De Niro offering: Joy. Learn who loved Silver Linings Playbook, who didn't like Silver Linings Playbook, and who was willing to take the Joy out of Christmas. (Clue: O'Toole says she's always tonally suspect when a movie's gone through 4 editors.) Hollister does her best to enlighten O'Toole, claiming the movie was about much more than the Miracle Mop. Also discussed: The Big Short and Le Week-End. With some New Year's Resolutions thrown in for good measure. Auld lang syne! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this month’s LitLovers’ selection, Screen Thoughts sends its crew to review The Martian – based on the bestselling book by Andy Weir and the acclaimed movie by Ridley Scott. Starring Golden Globe nominee Matt Damon as astronaut Mark Watney (which is more impressive – his scientific wherewithal or his gallows humor?); co-starring Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, and Jeff Daniels. Hear what Hollister and O’Toole have to say about survival skills – especially on a planet where the desert is “so old it’s literally rusting”. (It’s pretty safe to say a typical day at Screen Thoughts does not entail thinking about the fact that we could save ourselves by cutting off an arm and eating it. O.K., O.K., we know that might not have been normal commentary, but “Normal was a long time ago…”) Screen Thoughts to Book Clubs: Let us know how your conversations rove! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Screen Thoughts spends this week in Space, reviewing both The Martian as well as the 7th installment in the storied 38-year Star Wars Franchise: The Force Awakens. We’ll also take a look at Jessica Jones, superhero turned P.I. on Netflix. Podcast extras include a snippet from Carrie Fisher’s Emmy-nominated one-woman show Wishful Drinking (on what it’s like when you’ve sold your likeness to George Lucas) as well as a very special podcaster: O’Toole cedes the floor to her nephew Connor on his 9th birthday – hear what lessons he’s learned from Star Wars, his recipe for water on Mars, and whether he’ll be applying to NASA’s space program anytime soon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Hollister and O’Toole cover a lot of territory: Robert Loggia. Carol. The documentary shortlist for the Academy Awards. The Golden Globe nominations. Comments from our listeners – including some great news shared by director Joseph Castelo (The Preppie Connection). The Peanuts Movie (O.K., O.K., O’Toole snuck that one in there). And, in honor of this week’s annual awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize, our feature review: The Letters – starring Juliet Stevenson as Mother Teresa – who once told us “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” (We’re really hoping Mother Teresa would have exempted movie reviewers.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

O'Toole got to live out a fantasy: a trip to Tasmania to have coffee and Tim Tams with creative powerhouse Posie Graeme-Evans - producer of countless award-winning T.V. shows, author of 6 bestselling novels, and, of course, the mastermind behind the beloved, long-running Australian T.V. series McLeod's Daughters. Tune in to discover what Posie has to say about cows, composers, Claire and the cliff - and, of course, what she's dreaming up next. Trust us, you'll want to live in any world PGE creates. For O'Toole's video of her visit, click here: https://vimeo.com/154381319 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the last of our podcasts from the Hamptons International Film Festival, Hollister and O'Toole - along with guests Bill Harts and Melissa Cohn - take a look at the delightful A Royal Night Out, a reimagining of a real-life event: V.E. Day, 1945. Winston Churchill has just declared the war in Europe over. In this "reverse Cinderella" story, a young Princess Elizabeth (wearing her wartime uniform) and Princess Margaret sneak out of Buckingham Palace to join all of London in a night of celebrating and revelry (incognito, of course). Starring Sarah Gadon and Bel Powley. Co-starring Rupert Everett and Emily Watson. Directed by Julian Jarrold (Becoming Jane, Kinky Boots). It's a fresh take on the world's longest reigning monarch (click here to see photos of Queen Elizabeth II with 12 US Presidents over her 63-year reign). Podcast extra: in a rare interview, hear in the Queen's own words about that actual night - taken from the Channel 4 documentary The Queen's Big Night Out. Whether the real QE2 really did

53 years and 24 films. That's, of course, Bond, James Bond. Hollister and O'Toole discuss Spectre, the latest offering in the storied franchise. Find out who says Daniel Craig is their favorite Bond ever; and who was neither shaken nor stirred. Bond films wouldn't be Bond films without the iconic music. Features clips from the title song "Writing’s on the Wall" by Sam Smith (the first Englishman to solo a Bond song in over 50 years); "Goldeneye" by Tina Turner; and "Goldfinger" by the legendary Shirley Bassey (who holds the record for most Bond themes). One thing's for sure (the credits assure us): Bond shall return. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this month's LitLovers' selection, Screen Thoughts shines its spotlight on the bestselling book and acclaimed movie Room - both penned by Irish writer Emma Donoghue. Movie adaptation directed by Lenny Abrahamson; starring Brie Larson (in a role that is a far cry from Trainwreck!) and the astounding child actor Jacob Tremblay as the 5-year-old Jack. Hear Hollister and O'Toole's points of view on, well, points of view. Disturbing? Fascinating? Let us know how your book club weighs in! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hollister and O’Toole (and, later, special guests Bill Harts and Melissa Cohn, who very generously hosted us at the 23rd annual Hamptons International Film Festival) turn the spotlight on Spotlight - the much-touted film about the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning coverage of two terrible evils: the child molestation scandal - and the subsequent cover-up of the same - within the local Catholic Archdiocese. O’Toole would like to give a special shout-out to the journalists who actually broke the story before the Globe - including Kristen Lombardi of the now-defunct Boston Phoenix - who broke the story 9 months before the Spotlight series ran. To read her story Cardinal sin click here. Spotlight stars Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Brian d'Arcy James, and Stanley Tucci. Directed by Tom McCarthy; co-written by McCarthy and Josh Singer. Filmed at the Boston Globe offices and in Toronto. Tell us: what's your favorite Boston movie? Learn more about your ad choice

Hollister and O’Toole cast their ballots on Our Brand Is Crisis, inspired by Rachel Boynton’s 2005 documentary of the same name. One thinks it’s the best of Sandra Bullock to date; the other thinks the screenplay (written by Oscar nominee Peter Straughan, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) hit an Act II speed bump. Starring Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton, Ann Dowd, Anthony Mackie, Joaquim de Almeida, and Zoe Kazan. Produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov (who brought us the Oscar-winning Argo). Incidentally, Happy Election Day. Don’t forget to vote. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here are 10 Things We Learned from Emily Blunt at the 2015 Hamptons International Film Festival. Photo: #emilyblunt gracing the #stepandrepeat @hamptonsfilm before heading in for her fascinating #Q&A with @jenelleriley @variety. What she learned from #judidench and her reaction to #merylstreep claiming #emilyblunt saved her life on set of #intothewoods. @hamptonsfilm can really pick 'em: festival named #emilyblunt one of its Rising Stars 10 years ago. #HIFF2015 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hollister and O’Toole discuss Sicario (which, as we know from the trailer, means “hitman” in Mexico). Directed by Québec native Denis Villeneuve; written by Taylor Sheridan; starring Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, and Benicio Del Toro. Cinematography by Roger Deakins (a 12x Oscar nominee). The cross-border drug cartel theme leads to comparisons with Steven Soderbergh’s film Traffic and the FX series The Bridge (which starred Diane Kruger and Demian Bichir). Hollister loved the acting, the script, the direction, the cinematography. For her part, O’Toole can’t help but wonder how Sicario would have turned out had it been edited by long-time Martin Scorsese collaborator (and 3x Oscar winner) Thelma Schoonmaker (Raging Bull). Hollister and O’Toole can both agree: Sicario would not have been Sicario without Emily Blunt. Kudos to writer Taylor Sheridan for turning down the backers who offered a bigger budget if he would only replace Emily Blunt’s character (really, the only female character in the movie) with another

Screen Thoughts is thrilled to announce a special collaboration with LitLovers.com: each month, Hollister and O'Toole will review one movie inspired by a book. To start us off, the no. 1 book on LitLovers.com: I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban (by Malala Yousafzai and journalist Christina Lamb) and the newly-released documentary He Named Me Malala by Oscar-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth). Hollister and O'Toole saw the documentary last week at the 23rd annual Hamptons International Film Festival - where they were joined in the audience by many fans of the book, and one Pakistani princess - a close family friend of Malala's, and the woman who inspired Malala's own mother to learn to read. Malala and her incredibly inspiring, courageous, and humorous voice are certainly a multimedia feast - an incredibly brave blogger at the age of 11, and by age 17, the youngest-ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. As Malala herself says: "Let us pic

Broadcasting from the 23rd annual Hamptons International Film Festival, Hollister and O’Toole welcome special guests Bill Harts and Melissa Cohn, film aficionados and Hampton denizens – to join in their discussion of this year’s opening night film. "Truth" tells the story (or at least one version of it) of the 2004 CBS 60 Minutes report on President George W. Bush’s military service – that ultimately cost anchor Dan Rather and producer Mary Mapes their careers. Starring Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Dennis Quaid, Elisabeth Moss, Topher Grace, Stacy Keach, Bruce Greenwood, and Noni Hazlehurst. Based on Mary Mapes’ memoir "Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hollister & O'Toole discuss "Jane the Virgin" - the first show in the history of The CW to earn a Golden Globe nomination. As O'Toole puts it: it's as though "Gilmore Girls" and "Ugly Betty" had a love child. Based on the Venezuelan Telenovela "Juana la Virgen" (don't be deterred by the title's English translation). The Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical (2015) did go home with shining star Gina Rodriguez, who deserved every ounce of it. And now, go Meet Jane. Who believes in Family. God. And grilled cheese sandwiches. What a delight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Screen Thoughts takes a look at "The Intern" - starring Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway - in which writer-director Nancy Meyers offers us yet another signature twist on the rom-com genre. As Hollister puts it: "She's like that kid in class who never disappoints." O'Toole cheers her on for being so successful in a landscape where only 6% of directors are women. Ageism. Sexism. Househusbands. And those Nancy Meyers sets. As Robert De Niro's character Ben would put it: "Good times!" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices