It's the start of Oscar season, so what better time to rank the contenders coming out before the end of the year. I’m ranking these in order of how much I want to see them, not necessarily how good I think they’ll be. All I know of these movies is from a trailer and reading about them. This list is all about expectation, and personal taste.1. 'Milk' -- Even if this wasn’t about a man whose murder was a local story I still remember from my youth, I’d be excited. I’m a sucker for anything with Sean Penn in it, and Gus Van Sant is one my favorites -– especially when he plays it straight (a la ’To Die For’), as he reportedly does here. And the supporting cast includes Emile Hirsch, James Franco, and Josh Brolin.
2. 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' -- I’m a huge David Fincher fan, and his two best movies starred Brad Pitt, who plays the title role here. It’s a great idea from a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, adapted by Eric Roth. And the trailer looks amazing. What’s not to like?
3. 'Frost/Nixon' -- Another true story from my youth, though I was a little young to comprehend. It was a hit play, and is adapted by playwright Peter Morgan. Ron Howard directs, and people are predicting an Oscar nomination for Frank Langella as Nixon.
4. 'The Wrestler' -- Darren Arnofsky. Mickey Rourke’s big comeback -– maybe an Oscar nod. I’m so there. And that’s before I knew personal favorite Marissa Tomei was in it.
5. 'Revolutionary Road' -- Sam Mendes directs an adaptation of a Richard Yates novel, reuniting Kate Winslet (his real-life wife) with her ’Titanic’ co-star Leonardo DiCaprio.
6. 'Valkyrie' -- Director Bryan Singer and screenwriter – the team which brought us ’The Usual Suspects’ -- reunites to relay yet another real life story about the German soldier (played by Tom Cruise) who tried to kill Hitler.
7. 'Defiance' -- Ed Zwick co-writes and directs this tale of bad ass Jews kicking Nazi ass. It stars Live Schreiber and Daniel Craig (who’s already been in one Jews-kicking-Nazi-ass movie, ’Munich’).
8. 'Doubt' -- The underrated John Patrick Shanley adapts and directs his Pulitzer prize-winning play about a priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who’s accused of molestation by a bitter old nun (Meryl Streep).
9. 'Australia' -- Baz Luhrmann can get a little fanciful for me, but he can create a spectacle with any filmmaker. Plus, I love Australia (I was there for my marriage/honeymoon). But if at any point Hugh Jackman breaks into song, all bets are off.
10. 'Seven Pounds' -- This Will Smith Oscar bait looks a little sappy/weepy for my tastes, but I needed to round out the 10.
3 comments:
Hey. Great list of Oscar potentials! I personally have been waiting for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for over a year and hope it lives up to its enormous expectation. But your inclusion of Milk, Frost/Nixon, and Revolutionary Road at the top of your list is very similar to how excited I am for those same films.
One film that I'm totally pumped to see that you didn't list is Slumdog Millionaire. Fox Searchlight is already pushing this film to run for Best Picture and that would simply add to what they've done in the past few years with independents like Juno and Little Miss Sunshine. So I believe that makes Slumdog Millionaire a very important movie to look out for.
Again... great post!
Yeah, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE almost definitely belongs on a list of the best movies yet to come out this year, based solely of the hype/word-of-mouth. But this list was based on my excitement, and for some reason, I'm just not looking forward to it as much as most are. I even turned down the opportunity to see it at a free screening last week (though that was more due to bad timing than anything else). The synopsis doesn't really grab me, and the fact it has no recognizable stars in it probably has something to so with my lack of excitement.
But that being said, it still could've easily slid into the #10 spot on my list, and I wouldn't be surprised if it beats out a few of these films for my year-end Top 10 list.
what about "the reader?" thats coming out this year right?
dave
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