2011 Oscar Possibilities

[Emperor]

Yes it is early. I also know that most of you do not have this insane need to see every movie nominated for best picture each year. I do. So I turn on my radar early to get an idea of what I need to see. Below are the movies with early oscar buzz...

 

A Dangerous Method

 

Set on the eve of World War I, A Dangerous Method is based on the turbulent relationships between fledgling psychiatrist Carl Jung, his mentor Sigmund Freud, and Sabina Spielrein, the troubled but beautiful young woman who comes between them.

 

 

 

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

 

The exhaustive casting of Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s adaptation of Stieg Larson’s book was one of the biggest film stories of last year, with the role going to the a breakout actress in Fincher’s The Social Network, Rooney Mara. If Fincher’s version of the film measures up to the Swedish one, which starred a searing Noomi Rapace, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is destined to be a box office and critical hit.

 

Release date: December 21

 

On The Road

 

Jack Kerouac’s seminal 1957 book, largely based on the road trips he took with his friends, is considered the defining work of the Beat Generation. An energetic tale of sex, jazz, and the search for “it,” the upcoming film version of On the Road stars past Oscar nominees Amy Adams and Viggo Mortensen, as well as bright young Hollywood talents Garrett Hedlund, Sam Riley, and Kristen Stewart. Given the novel’s legacy, it’s one of the most-anticipated book-to-film adaptations in recent years. Walter Salles (Central Station, The Motorcycle Diaries) directs.

 

Release date: November 25

 

Hugo Cabret

 

Based on Brian Selznick’s genre-bending visual novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Martin Scorsese’s follow-up to 2010’s hit thriller Shutter Island will be his first movie filmed in 3D. Set in 1930s Paris, Hugo Cabret is about an orphan boy living in a train station who continues his late father’s quest to solve the mystery of a broken toy robot. Jude Law, Ben Kingsley, and Sacha Baron Cohen—in a rare serious role—are on board along with Asa Butterfield as the young Hugo Cabret and Hollywood’s most prolific child actress, Chloe Moretz, as an eccentric girl he meets in the train station.

 

Release date: November 23

 

The Ides of March

 

Written by, directed by, and starring George Clooney, The Ides of March is based on the hit Broadway play Farragut North. Clooney plays a Democratic presidential candidate and Ryan Gosling portrays a young, idealistic campaign staffer who gets swallowed up by the corrupt backroom politics. It’s the kind of political thriller—The Insider, JFK, Frost/Nixon—that the Academy loves. Oscar winners Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Marisa Tomei, along with Paul Giamatti and Evan Rachel Wood, are also on board.

 

Release date: December TBD

 

Moneyball

 

2009’s film adaptation of Michael Lewis’s book The Blind Side shocked everyone by skyrocketing to a $250 million box office and an unlikely Best Picture nomination. Another one of Lewis’s hit books, Moneyball, about Oakland A’s manager Billy Beane’s revolutionary use of statistics to revamp his underdog baseball squad, is getting the big screen treatment this year. The screenplay is being adapted by Aaron Sorkin, who, fresh off of his Oscar win for The Social Network, has proved himself adept at making seemingly mundane topics like statistics captivating on screen. (Anyone’s who’s seen his cult-classic TV series Sports Night knows he boasts the same talent when it comes to sports.) Two-time Oscar-nominee Brad Pitt will play Beane opposite Oscar-winner Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Wright.

 

Release date: September 23

 

The Tree of Life

 

Acclaimed writer-director Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line) hasn’t come out with a new film since 2005’s The New World. Details of The Tree of Life have been kept closely guarded since the project was announced back in 2005, but is vaguely described as a radical period piece, set in 1950, that centers on a family of three boys and the loss of innocence. The trailer that premiered before Black Swan was equally ambiguous, but managed to increase anticipation for the film even more. Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and Jessica Chastain star.

 

Release date: May 18

 

War Horse

 

Based on Michael Morpurgo’s novel—which also became a stage play—Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of the World War I story marks his first directing gig since 2008’s Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (and, really, his first Oscar contender since 2005’s Munich). It’s a story about the bond between a British boy and his horse, which is broken when the horse is sold to the cavalry. Too young to enlist himself, the boy, played by newcomer Jeremy Irvine, embarks on a treacherous mission through France and Germany to reunite with his horse. The scope and grandeur of the World War I setting and the character-driven nature of the story fit perfectly into Spielberg’s wheelhouse, in the vein of Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan.

 

Release date: December 28

 

Young Adult

 

Oscar-winning writer Diablo Cody re-teams with Juno director Jason Reitman for Young Adult, about an author struck with an identity crisis who stalks her old high school sweetheart in an attempt to rediscover herself. Charlize Theron and Patrick Wilson play the leads in the film, which has been called most mature script by Cody—who’s head writer for Showtime’s United States of Tara—to date.

 

Release date: TBD

 

The Help

 

The best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett chronicles a budding writer who returns from college to her home in Jackson, MS, in 1965, and begins collecting stories about the country club women in the prim town and the black maids who raise their children. Rising star Emma Stone plays the young journalist, Oscar-winner Sissy Spacek and Allison Janney are among the southern women who run the town, and Oscar nominees Viola Davis and Cicely Tyson portray “the help” that drive the story.

 

Release date: August 12

 

The Iron Lady

 

Meryl Streep, with 16 previous Academy Award nominations under her belt, could finally secure her elusive third win for playing former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. Set in the weeks before the Falklands war, the film could allow Streep to follow the successes of Helen Mirren in The Queen and Colin Firth in The King’s Speech, who steamrolled the awards circuit for their portrayals of historical British figures. The first promotional photo of Streep in costume and make up already has critics in awe for her continued ability to transform herself completely.

 

Release date: TBD