Preliminary 2011 Oscar Contenders: The Complete List
We have our starting point, but where will it take us?
Quick Thoughts: Hilary Swank as a high school drop out, single mother putting herself through law school? Come on, she nails these roles and with Sam Rockwell playing the wrongfully accused brother facing a murder conviction just adds to the film's likelihood of being a serious award contender. Oh, and it's based on a true story, which checks off another box and with Fox Searchlight taking the distribution lead you can pretty much guarantee we'll be hearing more from this one later on… that is, unless it's another case of Amelia. Tony Goldwyn is working with Spirit Award-nominated cinematographer Adriano Goldman (Sin Nombre) and Oscar-nominated editor Jay Cassidy (Into the Wild).
Quick Thoughts: It seems we've been waiting years for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Biutiful starring Javier Bardem and I don't see any way Focus can keep it out of theaters this year unless it just isn't worth releasing. Based on the names involved it has to be considered a contender, and outside the obvious contenders Inarritu is again working with two-time Oscar winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla (Babel and Brokeback Mountain), Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (Brokeback Mountain), Oscar-winning editor Stephen Mirrione (Traffic) and Oscar-winning production designer Brigitte Broch (Moulin Rouge!). It's a stacked deck.
Quick Thoughts: Black Swan is described as a supernatural thriller, which isn't typically up the Academy's alleyway, but with Darren Aronofsky directing and Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder and Barbara Hershey making up the cast it becomes something a little bit more than just another thriller. With the Academy's expanded list of Best Picture nominees this has got to be on the year's short list for Best Picture and Director consideration and it will also be an interesting test to see Kunis taking on a role with a director with an impressive artistic eye. Portman also will be up for consideration. Aronofsky is also working with The Fountain cinematographer Matthew Libatique and The Wrestler editor Andrew Weisblum.
Quick Thoughts: Ryan Gosling's name will be mentioned twice in the early list of predictions, we begin with the 2010 Sundance stand out Blue Valentine, which was picked up by the Weinstein Co. after it earned good reviews and a Grand Jury Prize nomination at Sundance. Starring opposite Gosling is Michelle Williams who seems to earn some kind of buzz since being nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Brokeback Mountain and perhaps it's time she earned a second nomination.
Quick Thoughts: There seems to be some confusion with this film as Carey Mulligan was once part of the cast, but I believe had to drop out, deciding to star in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps instead. However, she was replaced by Andrea Riseborough who will star opposite Sam Riley (Control). The film is a big-screen remake of Graham Greene's classic 1939 novel and Helen Mirren is instantly the name to look at in terms of major Oscar consideration. First time feature film director Rowan Joffe wrote and directed the feature. Two-time Oscar nominated cinematographer John Mathieson (Gladiator and The Phantom of the Opera) is also aboard.
Quick Thoughts: Atom Egoyan's Chloe is getting an early year release, but good word of mouth out of festival screenings, the rise of Amanda Seyfried and co-stars Julianne Moore and Liam Neeson make this one to watch.
Quick Thoughts: "ER" producer/writer/director John Wells is taking a stab at his first feature film with The Company Men of which he will direct and wrote the original screenplay. Unfortunately, while the film debuted at Sundance to solid reviews it's also being compared to Up in the Air, which coincidentally mimicked the current economic situation while The Company Men specifically discusses the impact corporate downsizing has on both its casualties and survivors. However perhaps the cast made up of Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Rosemarie DeWitt, Chris Cooper, Maria Bello and Craig T. Nelson will be able to overcome the comparison, but it's going to need to find distribution first. This is the second film utilizing eight-time Oscar nominee Roger Deakins as director of photography.
Quick Thoughts: Robert Redford's Lions for Lambs was disappointing to say the least, but I am still looking forward to The Conspirator with great anticipation. The film tells the story of story of Mary Surratt, an alleged conspirator of Abraham Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth. Robin Wright Penn plays Surratt with a strong cast made up of James McAvoy, Justin Long, Evan Rachel Wood, Toby Kebbell, Tom Wilkinson, Kevin Kline, Alexis Bledel and Toby Kebbell rounding things out. Redford has Newton Thomas Sigel (Three Kings) as director of photography, two-time Oscar nominated Craig McKay editing the picture, Louise Frogley (Traffic) on costumes and Kalina Ivanov and Melissa M. Levander on art direction. As a period piece plenty more categories open up. Redford has also brought on Mark Isham to score the project. Isham handled Lions for Lambs and was nominated for his score for A River Runs Through It.
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As for animated films, what about The Illusionist, from the creator of The Triplets of Belleville? It had a great showing at the Berlin film festival, if I'm not mistaken.
For Best Documentary you need to add Waiting for Superman. I saw it at Sundance and it was great and won the Sundance Audience Award for Best Documentary. Also what about Restrepo, didnt see that but got great reviews at Sundance and won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance for best docuemtary. And it seems like alot of the best documentaries nominations at the Acadamy Awards come from movies at Sundance. Just look at this years the Cove.
Would still like to see Jack Goes Boating on this list with Phillip Seymour Hoffman. It is being distrusted by overture ,is based on a stage play, and was received pretty well at Sundance.
I would've liked to have seen Edge of Darkness on there; sure, the fact that it's Mel Gibson kills its chances, but Ray Winstone was great, and Howard Shore's score was one of his best.
Agora was such a disappointment. I would rate it a C.
Seven from your list are on my list:
Animal Kingdom
The Conspirator
Inception
London Blvd
The Tempest
Tree of Life
Winter's Bone
It looks like 2010 may turn out to be a very good year.
Well, I liked it, at least more than The Hurt Locker or Crazy Heart.
Good list, even though you have put nearly any rasonable notable film coming out in 2010, only problem is the ones coming out before around about July to August cant get nominated, films put into the acadmy for selection must come out between a certian date, which sucks for films like Shutter Island
Not sure who told you the films coming out before July aren't eligible, but that's not true, not in the slightest. I'll use the June release date of The Hurt Locker as the most recent example.
I think what they meant was that most of the movies that get oscar attention are usually released between summertime and christmastime. And I sort of agree. Unless the film receives predominantly positive reviews, then they'll probably be forgotten if they're released sometime during the beginning of the year.
What makes Salt a potential nominee for Best Screenplay?
Aren't you forgetting A Prophet? That didn't hit theaters until this year which is when it's eligibility for the general categories begins even though it was nominated last year for Foreign Language Film. That used to happen all the time back in the 70's and 80's.
I think that Sandra's win opened doors for more mainstream actors (particularly female). Few saw Bullock's victory in the tea leaves so expect the unexpected.
¡gracias,mil gracias por la lista preliminar a los premios oscar; y incluir entre aquellas cintas la peli donde actua mi actriz favorita: elle fanning. se los agradesco mucho!!!!!!espero que continue asi hasta el proximo año (donde se eligiran y se nombrar oficialmente a los nominados y nomidadas!!
would add At Swim Two Birds. Brendan Gleeson directing and writing a stacked Irish cast
Geoffrey Rush for supporting actor in The King' Speech. Secretariat is a better and more popular story than Seabiscuit and that earned a Best Pictue nomintion.
True Grit, is said by the Coen's themselves, will be more faithfull to the book, that the 1969 film was.
In The Way Back, Sturgess is the lead and Harris, is 2nd co-lead and Farrell support. Sturgess gets the most screen time. Could he be this year's Jeremy Renner ? He's right on the cusp.
Other films I am looking forward to are, Leaves Of Grass, with Edward Norton playing two totally opposite twin brothers.
Hemingway and Fuentes, with Anthony Hopkins to play the revered author Ernest Hemingway with Andy Garcia directing.
The Beaver, in the very steady and good hands of Jodie Foster, might do for Mel Gibson what Harvey did for Jimmy Stewart. It's just so quriky of a premise and Gibson has natural comedic quality, you just never know. It was a much sought after script.
Also seing Paul Gimatti as a warrior/king will definitely be somthing different in Ironclad.
I have a question about to films that are not on your list. Are they ineligible for some reason, or do you just not think so or did not think of them?
1st Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland", while I don't think it will get nods in any of the top six oscar categories that are usually the only ones I really care for (acting, directing, picture – well picture is not as not-possible as the others), it could surely be a major contender in technicals.
2nd "The Runaways" – yeah I know, it was released a few weeks ago and is probably not impressive enough to last until Oscar season. But maybe again something like music, costume? And something makes me want to believe Michael Shannon could be a supporting actor nominee. And while I definitely don't see Kristen and/or Dakota at the Oscars, I want to believe it could be possible to see them at the Globes.
By the way I haven't seen either movie (yet).
Because someone mentioned the cast of "The Way Back", does anyone know how big Saoirse Ronan's role is? Thx
Tony Stark may beat Alice Kingsleigh in the technical catergories.
What about "Accidents Happen" directed by Andrew Lancaster?
They all seem like good choices of films to watch out for i guess.. but i also agree about "The Runaways" with that last guy. The film overall wasnt a very in depth biopic and ended too soon but Michael Shannon was AMAZING Kim Fowley and to the surprise of twilight haters everywhere, Kristen Stewart really did became Joan Jett. It was believable. I fear that her good performances will get overlooked now because of the twlight crap. Shes good in other stuff so that sucks. Hopefully theyll at least get to the globes..
oh yeah and what about alice?
The Runaways will most likely earn Golden Globe and Independent Spirit attention. Not sure about Oscar. This upcoming year is very competitive.
Actor- performances to look out for.
Johnny Depp- The Rum Diary, Jim Sturgess- The Way Back, Mel Gibson- The Beaver- Leonardo DiCaprio- Inception ( I'd have him for Shutter Island though ) Colin Firth- The King's Speech, Paul Giamatti- Barney's Version, Mark Wahlberg- The Fighter, Sean Penn- Fair Game, Robert Duvall- Get Low, James Franco- 127 Hours, Jake Gyllenhaal- Love and Other Drugs, Jim Broadbent- Mike Leigh project, Matt Damon- Hereafter, James McAvoy- The Conspirator, Stephen Dorff- Somewhere, Ryan Gosling- Blue Valentine, Anthony Hopkins- Hemingway and Fuentes, Ray Stevenson- The Irishman.
Critics have been raving about Dakota Fanning in The Runaways, so maybe a nomination but I doubt an Oscar nomination. I think Anne Hathaway will finally be given the recognition for an Oscar.
documentary: checkl out "waste land" by Lucy walker; fascinating, unique documentary from Brazil
http://www.wastelandmovie.com
For documentaries, "The Red Chapel" should be on the list. It won the World Cinema Grand Prize at Sundance. It is an incredible documentary. "The Red Chapel" and "Animal Kingdom" were my two favorite films at Sundance! I am looking forward to seeing "Winter's Bone", it was at the top of my list, but I did not get a chance to see it at the festival. I did wait in line for "Catfish" but did not get in. In fact, the movie was oversold.
I cannot think of any other better performance than Robert Duvall's in Get Low. The dramatic final of the story rely so much on his excellent performance. And considering the final scenes of the movie, the bravura close up speech scene ultimately proves that he has done its job at its best. He should get the Oscar period
What about foreign filmes?
Waiting for Forever, James Keach (dir): Tom Sturridge, Blythe Danner, Rachel Bilson, Richard Jenkins.
Okay, Brad, I have to mention Remember Me, which is the best film of 2010 thus far. I'm fed up with ignorant, arrogant, irrelevant reviewers–and thanks for your great interview with Will Fetters by the way–who are just out to get 'vampire boy' and who used the ending of the film as an excuse to diss it.
This film is a tour de force.
It hits all the right notes and everything, from the story, acting, music, directing, sublte layers of meaning and spectacular emotional wallop (which has less to do with the ending and everything to do with how the audience becomes emotionally invested in the characters.
It is a genuine story with nuanced performances.
Better than anything at the Oscars last year.
The reaction from audiences is stunning. They can't get it out of their heads–in a significant and good way–and they find it haunting, calling up important things in their personal lives. Rarely does a film do what Remember Me does for, to and with audiences.
This is the one.
I am with Jessegirl on this one. Remember Me was sadly underrated and wrongly slammed by many critics before it had a chance. There are a number of Remember Me fans out there to include myself who are deeply devoted to this remarkable film. A movie as meaningful as this one doesn't come along often; when it does we should recognize the hard work and talent that went into such a unique and powerful film.
I totally agree with Jessegirl and Heidi. I've always liked movies about values in life, made in a realistic way without heroes or supernatural beings. Movies who often haven't a happy ending, because life is like that: fate isn't always kind to people. For a long time already I lost interest in the film world: too many action movies, too many predictable romantic comedies. So I got intrigued by Remember me and read as much comments everywhere as I could until I finally saw the film myself. It is beyond me that critics have been so harsh for this little movie. Remember me is a tribute to those ordinary people who lost their future and their lives that day. It doesn't take that high level of intelligence to understand what the motives of the filmmakers were. But prejudices kept people away from the theatre, at least in America. In Europe Remember me is quite successful.
Brad, I hope you read the countless comments after your interview with Will Fetters, so you know how moving they were. Some came from people who were directly affected by the events. These kind of comments were posted everywhere on the net, where articles about Remember me appeared. How many films provoke such a solidarity? Next year it'll be 10 years after 9/11. Wouldn't it be nice that this indie film, made with honesty by a great cast, could get recognition by winning an Oscar? To end: my daughter (here in Europe) had to see documentaries about 9/11 in school but it's now, after seeing Remember me that she really realized the emotional impact on the lives of thousands of people. She told me this film has to be seen in high schools and I think she's right.
Sorry for my mistakes as English isn't my native language.
Wow! Great minds think alike!
There is some grass roots buzz about Remember Me, because, I'm with jessegirl, Heidi and Anne. I bet there are many more of us out there who agree.
Let's leave out the critics, not waste our breath on them.
Remember Me is so unusual, so honest and authentic a movie which leaves a lasting impact on audiences, who leave the theatre either crying or discussing it at length with their friends.
Robert Pattinson gives a subtle performance and the rest of the cast is outstanding. The music is perfect throughout, not overwhelming or intrusive, but underscores the action with the right tone and feeling. The directing is also great, giving us a layered work.
This movie works. It has meaning, feeling and substance. That's it. And it's rare in film-making these days.
Brad, this is the one, the one which, in the future, will be called a classic. Yup.
Anne has a wonderful thought. Wouldn't it be nice if this film wins in 2011, the 10th anniversary of 9/11?
How about Oceans for best documentary. & I think The Runaways & Alice in Wonderland will score at least some nominations.
why are you even talking about ANY of these films until someone at least sees them!!!! jeez, everyone had 'nine' on the list all year until it came out and was an absolute stinker. get a grip. it's like deciding what you want for next christmas in january.
Talking about them for the same reason you're reading and commenting about them… it's fun. Thanks for reading
I think you have missed a few… Particularly "Welcome to the Riley's". Saw it at LAFF and James Gandolfini, Melissa Leo and Kristen Stewart all turned in incredible performances. I think all three have a chance of being nominated!
what abut alice in wonderland &johnny depp he true actor i think this filme greatest
How is TWO ESCOBARS not a pick for Best Documentary?! It was a hit at Cannes and played Sundance and Tribeca and LA film festivals and has received the craziest rave reviews for a documentary. It's the best documentary I've ever seen and I heard it's opening in theaters in major cities this month.
The Tempest must be there.
Black swan, Oscar worthy??
definitely for makeup.
I agree with The Runaways. I loved that movie, but I doubt it will win an Oscar.
but it should. :)
there are a lot of movies that did better & were advertised & more raved about, but honestly this movie was better, to me, than a lot of them. I'd really like to see it get nominated!
well I would have really liked to see Harry Potter 7 part 1
on that list, that`s why i checked it over and over.
but i still have hope that at least one categorie it will be.
and i still hepe next year harry potter 7 parte 2 will be on that list
There are so many blockbusting films coming out for oscars 2012 that Harry potter might just be over looked, but fingers crossed it's not!! I'm so excited to see black swan, Vincent cassel- Frances finest and an oscar worthy performance from Nat Portman??
Lets just hope that the winner of best film has a better outcome than last year…Hurt locker?! Please Avatar was awesome… Here is to Leo for best actor!!
Hereafter….amazing combination of powerful acting, great plot, stunning stories, the best Director there is, Clint Eastwood, just a great, grate film. Matt Daemon, Cecíl de France acting. Perfecto!!
where is my name is khan shahrukh khan shopuld be nominated for sure
Went to see 127 hours and it was rele good… I'm sure it will win something but I know it is not going to be seeing alot better ones!!! Well worth the price of a cinema ticket and your time, anything dany boyle does is worth it in my opinion! I forgot I saw my name is khan- so far removed from the "normal" and "typical" bollywood applause to SRK for going outside the box… Defo worth a nod bollywood is always overlooked and there has been alot of good stuff since devdas!
colin firth doesnt deserve the golden globe thisvyear his acting is overtop so overacting i hope that they wont give him the oscar i think shahrukh an deseves it all the way for his swashbucking awesome acting in my name is khan
oh my God no can like him oh that church scene no actor made me cry by laughing like he did
they sdhoud give the award to him otherwise they should stop giving such fake awards