Preliminary 2011 Oscar Contenders: Part Four

Quick Thoughts: Oscar winner Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation) returns for the first time since 2006's Marie Antoinette with Somewhere from her own original script. Her cast includes Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, Chris Pontius, Benicio del Toro and Michelle Monaghan and it's assumed the film will try to get an Oscar jump start with a Cannes Film Festival debut in May.

Quick Thoughts: I have no idea what to expect from Julie Taymor's The Tempest, but once again we run into another film that falls into the category of "what will happen with the Miramax films?" The film was originally thought to be arriving in 2009, but moved into 2010 as a lot of special effects work needed to be completed in post. The film serves as Taymor's follow-up to 2007's Across the Universe of which the troubles Taymor had with the studio were widely reported yet it still earned an Oscar nomination for costumes. Of course, Taymor's bigger Oscar success story was 2002's Frida, which was nominated for six Oscars and won two (makeup and score).

For The Tempest she has an all-star cast made up of Helen Mirren, Djimon Hounsou, Russell Brand, Alfred Molina, Ben Whishaw, Felicity Jones, David Strathairn, Alan Cumming, Chris Cooper and Tom Conti. Taymor adapted the script and has with her the Oscar-nominated cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh, Oscar winner Elliot Goldenthal provides the score, Oscar winning Françoise Bonnot (Z) edited the film, three-time Oscar winner Sandy Powell (The Young Victoria, The Aviator and Shakespeare in Love) provides costumes and as with any Shakespeare feature the production team must be considered for art direction.

Quick Thoughts: Ben Affleck's follow-up to his Oscar-nominated directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, is The Town, an adaptation of Chuck Hogan's novel which he co-wrote with Peter Craig and Sheldon Turner (Up In the Air). Affleck stars in the film as a bank robber who becomes smitten with the teller (Rebecca Hall) of a bank he held up. Co-starring in the film are Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner and Blake Lively. This film gives Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Elswit a second chance at an Oscar nom along with Salt.

Quick Thoughts: I currently list ten films as potential candidates for Oscar's Best Animated Feature, but of those ten films only Toy Story 3 looks like it has a chance to break out and make some waves elsewhere. The question is, Where? Lee Unkrich for director? Randy Newman for music? Sound? Effects? Best Picture?

Quick Thoughts: Terrence Malick's new film The Tree of Life will finally hit theaters in 2010 thanks to Apparition, now the question remains whether or not it will be worth the wait. Starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, it already has the acting and directing requirements and on top of receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Director with The Thin Red Line, his script was also nominated and Malick penned this script as well. Malick's films are cinematography nominee locks and with The New World director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki with him again here I would say the same is almost a certainty. Pitt's performance has already been compared to Robert DeNiro in This Boy's Life with Apparition's chief Bob Berney saying people are going to see a side of Pitt they haven't seen before. Co-star Jessica Chastain is also said to make an impression as the film is likely to find its way into the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Quick Thoughts: I can't help but wonder if Oliver Stone's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps will be as needless as it sounds or if there will be some way for Stone and Michael Douglas to return to the glory of the first Wall Street, which is firmly supplanted in the '80s from which it came, but still watchable today. The casting of Shia LaBeouf scares some, but critical favorite Carey Mulligan as Gekko's daughter inspires others. Oscar nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto is working the lights and lens and Oscar-winning David Brenner (Born on the Fourth of July) and Julie Monroe are editing.