Nine
Ok so yesterday we started looking at the movies that could be in contention for Best Picture at next month's Oscars in the second part we add the likes of An Education and Invictus to that list.
Nine: Back in 2003, Chicago shocked the world by walking away with the best movie Oscar, much to the surprise of those watching, wooing the judges with its catchy tunes and distinctive style.
Now director Rob Marshall is back with Nine, based off the musical about Italian filmmaker’s autobiographical movie 8 ½. Starring the mercurial Daniel Day-Lewis as frustrated director Guido, a man in the middle of a mid life crisis as he careers through his forties.
Struggling for ideas for his newest film Italia, he finds himself having to balance all the women in his life, ranging from his long suffering wife (Marion Cotillard) to his mother (Sophia Loren) by the way of his mistress (Penelope Cruz) and a prostitute from his youth (Fergie).
With the always bankable Daniel Day-Lewis and a cast that has between it more Oscars than the Academy itself, Nine has enough momentum this year to make a real case for inclusion.
A Serious Man: Coen Brothers, they love a clever comedy every now and again. After huge critical success with No Country For Old Men, the Coen brothers have decided to go back to their comedic roots. Following up on last year’s Burn After Reading, the Coen’s bring us A Serious Man, a pitch-black comedy about on man’s struggle against life.
A Serious Man finds us taking a look at the life of physics professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) who’s living in a troubled home but is on the brink of tenure from the university he works for.
His wife wants a divorce to be with another man, his son is constantly smoking marijuana, his daughter appears to be stealing from him to fund plastic surgery and his brother is in meltdown.
After being made penniless by his wife when she withdraws the couple’s savings, Larry turns to his faith for help, but finds little from the nearby Jewish community.
Forced to re-assess his life, Larry must decide whether or not to take a bribe and risk his tenure and how to live his life now his wife has forced him into a local hotel.
Taking hints from comedies such as The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm, A Serious Man brings laughs from the lowest of lows, as Larry’s life takes one dive after another.
With the Coen’s credentials and the film’s critical success, this may just sneak up on the rails into the ten shorlisted films for the big prize. Don’t put any bets on it winning though.
Invictus: Clint Eastwod has a relationship with the Academy that most directors would kill for. The iconic movie star-turned director has won both the best film and best director Oscars for Million Dollar Baby and Unforgiven, as well as being nominated for Letters From Iwo Jima and Mystic River.
His latest movie Invictus recounts the events of the 1995 rugby world cup, and how the newly elected South African president Nelson Mandela used the competition to unite the struggling national team, and the team to unite a nation still recovering from years of racial segregation.
Teaming up yet again with his old friend, Morgan Freeman takes on the role many think he was born to play in Mandela, and is ably backed up by Matt Damon as the rugby team’s captain Francois Pienaar.
Despite mixed reviews from critics in the US, it’s yet to come out over here yet, the subject matter alone, as well as the invlvment of old favourites Eastwood and Freeman are sure to give Invictus more than a fair shot at the title of best motion picture.
An Education: It’s a coming of age flick, Carey Mulligan’s got a lot of love.Based of the memoirs of journalist Lynn Barber, An Education hit screens this year with great expectations after impressing hugely at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.
Set in 1961, An Education opens with Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a beautiful school girl being given a lift home by David (Peter Sarsgaard), a charming older man with a dark secret.
Jenny becomes smitten with David and the two strike up a whirlwind romance, with him taking her to concerts, jazz clubs and even abroad to Paris.
After dropping out of school before finishing her A-Levels, she learns the truth behind David and here hopes of studying English at Oxford are put in jeapody.
After receiving outstanding reviews throughout its release and enormous expectations around Carey Mulligan’s first leading feature role, An Education definataly has the grades to make it when the Oscars role around this year.
Star Trek: Perhaps the only time the star ship Enterprise could be described as a dark horse, this year’s reboot of the classic sci-fi drama could go where no Trek has gone before.
Director J.J. Abrams brought us his version of the venerable sci-fi series is an origins story of how the classic characters of Captain Kirk, Spock, Uhura and the rest all became the crew of the Enterprise.
Despite the Academy’s usual allergic reaction to anything closely resembling a summer blockbuster, Star Trek really could be in with a shot of an Oscar nomination as after nearly universal praise, it clearly made itself the film of the summer.
With the reaction to last year’s ‘cold shoulder’ approach to the collectively loved Dark Knight, the Oscars may run toward the adventures of Spock and co in order to improve their image and make sure that they don’t become too ‘artsy’ for everybody’s taste.
Star Trek would not be an undeserving nomination either, as the great script, cracking performances and explosive action were a clear cut above anything else offered by the ‘popcorn’ crowd this year.
Crazy Heart: Music and Hollywood have never been two far apart, and the musical biopic has been a genre that has great success in the past.
Based off the 1987 novel by Thomas Cobb, Crazy Heart gives us Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges), a washed up country singer, battling alcoholism who’s experienced one divorce too many.
Enter Maggie Gyllenhaal as journalist Jean, who while doing a profile piece on him for a music magazine, helps him re-discover himself and get back in his feet.
Jeff Bridges is described to have given the performance of a life time in the role, and is defiantly being used ass the spear-head for the movie’s assault on the awards ceremonies.
Despite most of the buzz around this film being based on Jeff Bridge’s performance, Crazy Heart has all the ingredients needed for a traditional ‘Oscar film’. Biographical nature, even though the character is fictional, based off a novel and tells a story of redemption.
An outsider for sure, but keep your eye on Crazy Heart, it could just strum its way onto the shortlist of ten required.
Inglourious Basterds: After its shock nomination at the Golden Globes, no-one’s really too sure how the latest movies from the enigmatic Quentin Tarantino will fair when the Academy make their choices.
Set in World War 2, the film tells two stories at once. The first is that of the Basterds, a fictional team of crack Jewish commandos whose sole purpose is to terrify the Nazi troopers occupying France led by the Southern drawl of Lt Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt).
The second is a traditional Tarantino tale of revenge centring on Shosanna, who escaped the clutches of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (the fantastic Christoph Waltz), a man ominously called ‘The Jew Hunter’ as a young girl and wants blood after the death of her family.
A remake of the 1978 film of the same, if differently spelt, named film, Inglorious Basterds has gathered steady praise from both critics and audiences, but nay nomination will be more than any could have predicted it.
With Christoph Waltz is still expected to bag an Oscar nomination to add to his Golden Globe nomination and Palm D’or triumph in a for his supporting role, this could be a very successful awards season for the Spaghetti Western in France.
With ten nominations for the big prize this year though, the timing could be just right for the film Tarantino claims to have taken more than a decade to make.
Young Victoria: Period movies always seem to have a specific place in the hearts of the academy. Following the success of Sense and Sensibility, Pride And Prejudice and The Duchess, The Young Victoria hopes to capitalise on the Academy’s love of corsets and sneak it’s way into contention for a best movie nomination.
Based around the ascent to the throne of Queen Victoria and the first few years of her reign, The Young Victoria focuses on Victoria’s (Emily Blunt) romance of the young Prince Albert during the 1830s.
With Emily Blunt given a Golden Globe nomination for her work and the film garnering positive reviews, it may just be in with a shot of an Oscar nomination or two.
Broken Embraces: The latest film from Spanish maestro Pedro Almodóvar is an ensemble piece, with strings of drama coming together to form a whole story about love, desire, jealousy and an old, blind filmmaker.
The main story centres on Lena, a beautiful secretary and part time call-girl played by Almodóvar favourite Penelope Cruz. She gets involved with Ernesto, a millionaire business man in order to help her sick father, becoming the man’s mistress.
She still holds dreams of becoming an actress though, and wins a part in a film directed by a man named Mateo, with the two quickly falling in love. Ernesto, green with jealousy, pursues the pair, wanting Lena back.
After the Academy honoured Almodóvar with an Oscar for his script in his 2002 movie Talk To Her, and if not selected for the ten film shortlist, will no doubt be included on to the selection for Best Foreign Language film, a category it could easily win.