Six…months…’til Oscars

Yes, that is correct. It really is only six months until the Oscars shoves it’s fat, obnoxious (yet massively fun, right?) face in to our filmgoing faces. So I’ve taken precious time out of MY schedule to let YOU know ten films that could be competing for the biggest prize of all next February…nope, not the Anglo-Italian Cup, but the 76th Academy Awards Best Picture statue.

It’s rather a mixed bag, don’t you think? We already know how superb Boyhood is, Foxcatcher and Mr. Turner were received in astronomically fawning regard at Cannes and the prospect of films from Paul Thomas Anderson, Christopher Nolan and Iñárritu is always going to be pant-soiliningly exciting.

But fairy tales from Chicago’s Rob Marshall and a City of God rip-off from Stephen Daldry (last seen dodging critical bullets after that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close monstrosity) leave a sourly premature taste in the mouth.

Compare this year’s batch to last time’s for example, and the gulf in quality appears great. Whatever your thoughts were about Gravity and The Wolf of Wall Street (and maybe you’d like to explain why they weren’t exactly the same as mine), it would be obdurate to deny that their respective releases were awaited with breath that was baited and wallets that were profligate. While nor does there appear to be a bonafide classic-in-the-making among this bunch in the ilk of last year’s Best Picture winner, 12 Years a Slave.

But, for once, I’ll let you be the judge. Watch some trailers and tell me how these early front runners look to you…?

 

Birdman: Dir: Alejandro González Iñárritu; Stars: Michael Keaton; Emma Stone; Ed Norton

 

Boyhood: Dir: Rickard Linklater; Stars: Ellar Coltrane; Patricia Arquette; Ethan Hawke

 

Foxcatcher: Dir: Bennett Miller; Stars: Channing Tatum; Steve Carell; Mark Ruffalo

 

The Imitation Game: Dir: Morten Tyldum; Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch; Keira Knightley; Matthew Goode

 

Inherent Vice: Dir: Paul Thomas Anderson; Stars: Joaquin Phoenix; Josh Brolin; Reese Witherspoon

[Insert trailer video here, once the studio has the bloody manners to publicise one]

 

Interstellar: Dir: Christopher Nolan; Stars: Matthew McConaughey; Mackenzie Foy; Jessica Chastain

 

Into the Woods: Dir: Rob Marshall; Stars: Anna Kendrick; Emily Blunt; Meryl Streep

 

Mr. Turner: Dir: Mike Leigh; Stars: Timothy Spall; Paul Jesson; Dorothy Atkinson

 

Trash: Dir: Stephen Daldry; Stars: Wagner Moura; Selton Mello; Martin Sheen

 

Unbroken: Dir: Angelina Jolie; Stars: Jack O’Connell; Domhnall Gleeson; Jai Courtney