barefootspider: August 2010

I originally had my list narrowed down to 20, and then at the last minute a film that I’ve had my eye on got picked up for distribution with a December release date. I couldn’t find a film to take out for the new addition, so….
Here is my list of the 21 films I’m looking to for Awards Season 2011

In order of release date

Never Let Me Go
September 15
It’s not often that a book you love is handled properly when it becomes film. There is a lot of optimism however that on this occasion they’ve done a great job.

Adapted from one of the best books I’ve read this year, Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go”. The film tells the story of Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Tommy (Andrew Garfield) and Ruth (Keira Knightley) who grow up at Halisham, a seemingly idyllic English boarding school, with no contact or knowledge of the outside world until they discover a dark reality about their past and future.

The film is playing at the Toronto Film Festival, so I am expecting lots of good buzz leading up to its release on the 15th.

The Social Network
October 1
After opening the New York Film Festival Rolling Stone's Peter Travers had this to say: "David Fincher's Social Network is the 1st film I've given **** in 2010. It's the movie of the year that also brilliantly defines the decade".

The film is based on the Ben Mezrich novel "The Accidental Billionaires," focusing on the evolution of Facebook from its 2004 creation on the Harvard campus by sophomore Mark Zuckerberg to a juggernaut with more than 200 million members.

Director David Fincher's Zodiac was loved by critics but ignored by the Academy and audiences. His next film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, received mixed reviews from critics but earned 13 Oscar nominations from the Academy winning three. So, what will happen with his Facebook project The Social Network, which doesn't have a Brad Pitt sized star but does have plenty of reason to be a great film? The script by Aaron Sorkin is already earning a lot of praise, plus rising stars Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield make up the young cast.

Secretariat
October 8
It’s a Walt Disney Pictures production, so it could be awesome. Or it could totally suck

One good thing going for it right out of the gate? Oscar nominated screenwriter Randall Wallace (Braveheart) is in the director's chair. The film tells the story of Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich), the former jockey who became the trainer of the 1973 Triple Crown-winning racehorse Secretariat and the owner Penny Chenery (Diane Lane) a housewife who knew little about horse racing when she took over her ailing father’s Virginia horse farm.

Hereafter
October 22
It's Clint Eastwood directing Matt Damon. Of course Hereafter is a potential Oscar contender.

Hereafter tells the story of three people who are touched by death in different ways. George (Matt Damon) is a blue-collar American who has a special connection to the afterlife. On the other side of the world, Marie (Cecile De France), a French journalist, has a near-death experience that shakes her reality. And when Marcus, a London schoolboy, loses the person closest to him, he desperately needs answers. Each on a path in search of the truth, their lives will intersect, forever changed by what they believe might--or must--exist in the hereafter.

Despite early reports calling it a supernatural film in the vein of The Sixth Sense Warner Bros. is referring to it strictly as a drama.

With only this still of Damon & Bryce Dallas Howard out and no trailer release it is Warner Bros. most guarded film of year. However, it’s playing at the Toronto Film Festival, so looking forward to more news very soon. It’s also closing out the New York Film Festival in early October.

127 Hours
November 5
At the top of every “must see” list at the Toronto & London Film Festivals

Directed by Danny Boyle (of Slumdog Millionaire fame who racked up the little golden statues in ’09) comes 127 Hours, which tells the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston (James Franco) and his five day ordeal to save himself after a boulder crashes on his arm and traps him. If you've ever watched the news, you remember what happens next, as Ralston is forced to cut off his arm to survive.

With Fox Searchlight handling this film I would expect they will know exactly what to do with it should it live up to the billing. Just look what they did at the end of last season with the late run for Crazy Heart and Jeff Bridges sweeping the major awards

But beyond all of that, I'm most interested because I've heard the first 30 minutes of the film pass by without a word of dialogue. Now that's some gutsy filmmaking.

Fair Game
November 5
A fast-paced political thriller

The film features Naomi Watts as outed CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson and focuses on the story as told in Plames' 2007 book of the same name, which derived from a statement Karl Rove made to MSNBC's Chris Matthews in July of 2003 saying, "Wilson's wife is fair game." Sean Penn stars as Joe Wilson, Valerie's husband.

Summit Entertainment is the studio behind the film, and as evidenced by last year’s Hurt Locker run, they are more than capable of putting up a great campaign come awards time. The film premiered in May at Cannes to great reviews.

Love and Other Drugs
November 24
This could be the one that gets Hathaway her Oscar

Adapted from Janie Reidy’s “Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman”, this film centers on Reidy (Jake Gyllenhaal), a drug rep for Pfizer in the late 1990s who eventually wrote a memoir that shined a light on the practices of the pharmaceutical industry. Reidy begins a relationship with Maggie (Anne Hathaway) while on one of his sales calls.

The King’s Speech
November 26
This one has got Oscar writer all over it

Based on the true story of King George VI’s (Colin Firth) effort to overcoming his nervous stammer with the assistance of Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush).

Not only does the film have the Weinstein Co. in its corner and a major 2010 Best Actor contender in Colin Firth, it’s full of an all-star supporting cast.

No stills or trailer releases yet. However, it is playing at TIFF. So, news should be coming out on this one soon as well.

Black Swan
December 1
A Toronto & Venice Film Festival entry that struts its stuff

This film follows the story of Nina (Natalie Portman), a ballerina in the New York City Ballet who gets the opportunity of a lifetime when the director decides to replace the prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder) with her as his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Mila Kunis), who impresses the director as well.

Black Swan is described as a supernatural thriller, which isn't typically up the Academy's alleyway, but with Darren Aronofsky directing and the talented cast it becomes something a little bit more than just another thriller and something I will definitely being paying attention to come awards season.

Miral
December 3
A busy September hopes for a payoff come awards season
Helmed by Oscar nominated Julian Schnabel Miral is an adaptation of Rula Jebreal’s book about the real-life Palestinian woman Hind Husseini who started the Dar Al-Tifl orphanage in Jerusalem in the wake of the 1948 division of Palestine and creation of the state of Israel. It follows the story of Miral (Freido Pinto), who at the age of 7 is sent to the orphanage by her father following her mother's death. At the age of 17 she is assigned to teach at a refugee camp where she is awakened to the reality of her peoples struggle.

The Weinstein Co. picked the film up in June and following it’s run on the festival circuit in September (at both the Toronto & Venice Film Festivals) will release it in December for an awards season push.

The Fighter
December 10
Will this be David O. Russell’s knock-out?

A drama about boxer “Irish” Micky Ward’s (Mark Wahlberg) unlikely road to the world lightweight title.

The cast on this one is pretty stellar. Joining Wahlberg is Christian Bale, Melissa Leo and Amy Adams and with a major studio behind it (Paramount Pictures) I except a nice For Your Consideration campaign if the all the hype holds.

Somewhere
December 22
After four years Sofia Coppola is back. And it’s never looked better.

Debuting in September at the Venice Film Festival Somewhere is the intimate story of Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff). Set in contemporary Los Angles; Johnny is a bad-boy actor stumbling through a life of excess at the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Hollywood. He has a Ferrari to drive around in, and a constant stream of girls and pills to stay in with. Comfortably numbed, Johnny drifts along. Until an unexpected visit from his 11-year-old daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning).

Not only is the incomparable Sofia Coppola directing and writing the original screenplay, she’s got a cast that boasts the likes of Dorff, Fanning, Benicio del Toro and Michelle Monaghan. With a release by Focus Features in late December it’s an obvious attempt at Oscar nominations.

True Grit
December 25
A re-imagining of the iconic 1969 John Wayne western

Following the murder of her father by hired hand Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), 14-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross (newcomer Hailee Steinfeld who beat out more than 15,000 girls for the part) sets out to capture the killer. She hires the toughest U.S. Marshal she can find: Reuben Cogburn (Jeff Bridges).

When the Coen brothers make a movie you take notice. The thought of the Coen brothers making a western raises the eyebrows even higher. That western is a remake of True Grit staring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin? That pretty much makes it a must see.

Blue Valentine
December 31
My personal “must see”

The film follows Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams) whose marriage is failing, and as their relationship hits the rocks, they recall better days.

This film first premiered at Sundance in January (where it earned a Grand Jury Prize nomination), and again in May at Cannes and will complete its festival run in September at Toronto. Many critics who have seen it are calling it the stand-out of 2010.

Both Gosling & Williams have been nominated for Oscars and I would not be surprised to see them nominated again for their work in this film.

All Good Things
December 2010
A last minute awards season addition?

Inspired by the most notorious missing person's case in New York history, All Good Things is a love story and murder mystery set against the backdrop of a New York real estate dynasty in the 1980s. The drama portrayed in the film was inspired by the real-life story of Robert Durst, who was suspected but never tried for killing his wife Kathie who disappeared in 1982 and was never found.

The Weinstein Co. originally bought the film and then never released it. Director Andrew Jarecki spent several million dollars to regain the U.S. rights back in March and Tuesday night it was announced that Magnolia Pictures has acquired all rights to the drama and will release the film sometime this December.

The cast is solid: Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, Jeffery Dean Morgan, Kristen Wiig & Frank Langella. And the film has always been considered a possible contender, but without festival showings or a distributor it was hard to take it too seriously. Of course, I'd say a pick-up by Magnolia doesn't give it much of a shot at Best Picture considering they aren't exactly a studio with enough money for a massive For Your Consideration campaign, but this could certainly do something for Gosling, though it's more likely his role in Blue Valentine with the backing of the Weinsteins would get a nod before his part here.

The Tree of Life
Possibly Late December
The question is just when will it happen?

Directed and penned by one of the world’s greatest living filmmakers, Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life is the story of three brothers in the 1950s. Starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain it seems a slam dunk for an Oscar nod. If it gets released this year that is. Malick is notorious for the length of time he spends in post production and the rumor is that he is still trying to cut the movie down from 3 hours to 2.5. Some insiders predict we will see the movie hit theaters sometime this December while others say we may have to wait until Cannes of 2011 for it to make its debut. It’s a waiting game at this point.

Winter’s Bone
June 11
Has played every festival under the sun with a current count of 16 festivals under its belt.

This film tells the story of 17 year-old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) who sets out to track down her father, who put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared.

After a solid showing at Sundance (where it won the Festival’s Grand Jury Prize) the film was picked up by Roadside Attractions. But the unfamiliar names of the cast and a June release date may make for a hard Oscar sell. The critics love it though, and many are singling out Lawrence for her “starmaking performance”.

Toy Story 3
June 18
Good Lord, I loved this film

Pixar re-opens the toy box and brings moviegoers back to the delightful world of Woody, Buzz and our favorite gang of toy characters.

With a near perfect score at Rotten Tomatoes (99%) it seems likely this movie will follow in the footsteps of 2009s Up with not only a nod as Best Animated Film but Best Picture as well. I think Peter Travers from Rolling Stone put it best when in his review he said: “It hits every button from laughter to tears and lifts you up on waves of visual dazzlement. Tag it as one of the year's best.”

Inception
July 16
Does the top stop spinning?

Acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending thriller about getting inside our dreams. With an all-star cast and stunning visuals I could see it getting a Best Picture nod. Plus I think Nolan has built up some serious cache after The Dark Knight snub, so we could be looking at a Best Director nod as well.

The Kids Are All Right
July 30
A surefire Sundance hit, but can it stand up to all the other contenders out there?

The Kids Are All Right is a heartfelt film about two teenaged children (Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson) who get the notion to seek out their biological father (Mark Ruffalo) and introduce him into the family life that their two mothers (Annette Bening, Julianne Moore) have built for them.

The film was released right in the middle of summer blockbuster season and will probably fall to the way-side as the field gets narrowed down to the final 10 Best Picture nominations. However, I’m still calling Annette Bening getting a Best Actress nod.

Get Low
July 30
Robert Duvall is the current frontrunner for the Best Actor Oscar

Based on a true story Get Low is the story of Felix Bush (Duvall) and his funeral party. An event that will draw all his friends and enemies to his shack in the woods for a final reckoning – and he wants to throw the party while he’s still alive.

Complemented by a first-rate cast that includes Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek and Lucas Black this one seems to have Best Picture written all over it.

Originally premiering at last year’s Toronto Film Festival it has since played 12 additional festivals with the Deauville American Film Festival in France still left.