2015 Oscar Contenders - Best Picture

Director: Clint Eastwood
Writers: Jason Dean Hall
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller
Release Date: December 25th
Plot Synopsis: A Navy SEAL recounts his military career, which includes more than 150 confirmed kills.

Pros: Cooper's coming off of back-to-back nominations, and Eastwood's last late December release was Million Dollar Baby, which went on the win him Best Picture and Director. Add in timely subject matter, and the fact that it's a biopic, it could do some damage.

Cons: Clint's been off his game for a while, and it's late release could deter it in favor of already screened competition.

Director: Tim Burton
Writers: Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski
Cast: Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Krysten Ritter, Jason Schwartzman
Release Date: December 25th
Plot Synopsis: A drama centered on the awakening of the painter Margaret Keane, her phenomenal success in the 1950s, and the subsequent legal difficulties she had with her husband, who claimed credit for her works in the 1960s.

Pros: It's plot is pretty awards friendly, and so are it's two leads. Plus, the Weinsteins are backing it.

Cons: Tim Burton's never had a movie make it into the BP race, and his last few films have been some of his weakest.

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Writers: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo
Cast: Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Zach Galifianakis
Release Date: October 17th
Plot Synopsis: A washed-up actor who once played an iconic superhero must overcome his ego and family trouble as he mounts a Broadway play in a bid to reclaim his past glory.

Pros: Alejandro González Iñárritu is very well liked by the Academy, almost all of his films have been nominated with Babel managing to get seven in 2006. His films are usually divisive because of their darkness, but with a lighter story here he could clean up.

Cons: Iñárritu is an unknown with comedy, so the film's tone is in question. And even if he does nail the comedy, the Oscars are notorious with comedy.

Post Release Report: It's a lock.

Director: Richard Linklater
Writer: Richard Linklater
Cast: Ellar Coltrane, Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette
Release Date: July 11th
Plot Synopsis: The film tells a story of a divorced couple trying to raise their young son. The story follows the boy for twelve years, from first grade at age 6 through 12th grade at age 17-18, and examines his relationship with his parents as he grows.

Pros: Linklater is on the Oscar radar, two screenplay nods for the Before series, and I've heard nothing negative about this one so far.

Cons: May be too small or too ambitious. Magnolia Pictures, the distributor, isn't known for it's awards campaigns, and this is likely to be divisive.

Post Release Report: It's being called one of the best movies ever made, so it's looking like a lock.

Director: Thomas McCarthy
Writers: Thomas McCarthy, Paul Sado
Cast: Adam Sandler, Dustin Hoffman, Steve Buscemi, Ellen Barkin, Dan Stevens
Release Date: N/A
Plot Synopsis: ???

Pros: McCarthy has been knocking at the door for a while. The Station Agent and Win Win were in the conversation, and The Visitor scored a nod. With this one, he'll be getting help from Sandler's star power. And to his credit, when Sandler goes beyond his "comedy" films, he does pretty well.

Cons: Couldn't find any plot details, so we'll see.

TIFF Report: Awful reviews, no shot.

Director: Ridley Scott
Writers: Bill Collage, Adam Cooper, Steven Zaillian
Cast: Christian Bale, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Joel Edgerton, Aaron Paul
Release Date: December 12th
Plot Synopsis: An account of Moses' hand in leading the Israelite slaves out of Egypt.

Pros: The second of this years biblical blockbusters, this one has the advantage of being released later in the year. Plus, Scott usually does pretty well with his sand-and-sandals pics, Gladiator anyone. (Forget Kingdom of Heaven)

Cons: Scott's been off his game for a while now, with his last several movies being mainly disappointing. Will this be just another let down?

Director: Bennett Miller
Writers: E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman
Cast: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Vanessa Redgrave, Sienna Miller
Release Date: November 14th
Plot Synopsis: The story of John du Pont, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and killed Olympic wrestler David Schultz.

Pros: Bennett Miller's last two films both made it into the Best Picture race, and from the teaser trailer that was released, it appears he's got another contender on his hands.

Cons: It was pushed back from 2013 to this year meaning that it may not be shaping the way they had hoped. A press release stated that it was pushed back for editing purposes, but the same was said of The Monuments Men, and we all know how that turned out.

Cannes Report: It's very early, but many who saw it said that it was already a lock to make the cut.

Director: David Ayer
Writer: David Ayer
Cast: Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Jon Bernthal, Michael Pena
Release Date: November 14th
Plot Synopsis: April, 1945. A battle-hardened army sergeant named Wardaddy commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Wardaddy and his men face odds in their attempts to strike at Nazi Germany.

Pros: The Academy has always had a soft spot for war films, especially WWII ones. While Ayer isn't a prominent awards fixture, Pitt's coming off his first win (12 Years a Slave), and will definitely have some leverage come campaign time.

Cons: It's possible that it ends up being more of an action flick than awards contender.

Post Release Report: Okay reviews, but unlikely to make it in.

Director: Tate Taylor
Writers: Steven Baigelman, Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth
Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Jill Scott, Dan Aykroyd
Release Date: August 1st
Plot Synopsis: A chronicle of James Brown's rise from extreme poverty to become one of the most influential musicians in history.

Pros: Taylor's last movie, The Help, was a critical and commercial hit, and was a major player at the Oscars. Here he tackles the academy's favorite genre, biopic. The film also opens in August, around the same time The Help hit in 2011.

Cons: It's been a while since the heyday of the musical-biography flick, meaning the academy has probably grown tired of them.

Post Release Report: It got good reviews, but it hasn't really set the box office ablaze, so it looks unlikely.

Director: Phillip Noyce
Writer: Michael Mitnick
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Alexander Skarsgård, Taylor Swift, Katie Holmes
Release Date: August 15th
Plot Synopsis: In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.

Pros Of all of the "Young Adult" film adaptations, this one seems the most award ready. i.e. least action, more existential. Add in Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep, and you've got a contender.

Cons: It still is Y/A, meaning it may not be taken as seriously.

Post Release Report: Weak reviews; doubtful.

Director: David Fincher
Writer: Gillian Flynn
Cast: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Scoot McNairy
Release Date: October 3rd
Plot Synopsis: A woman mysteriously disappears on the day of her wedding anniversary. Based on the novel, "Gone Girl."

Pros: Fincher's last three movies have a combined 26 nominations, and he's starting to get a reputation as being "due." Also, the book was a hit with audiences and critics alike, which bodes well for the adaptation scripted by the author herself.

Cons: Like most Fincher films, it could be too dark for the academy.

Post Release Report: It's getting strong reviews, and will definitely be a contender.

Director: Wes Anderson
Writers: Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton
Release Date: March 7th
Plot Synopsis: The adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend.

Pros: It's gotten highly positive reviews, and Anderson's gotta be due right?

Cons: The March release date. Moonrise Kingdom's summer release killed it, but it'll be a full ten months from the film's release to nomination day. It would take a hell of a campaign to keep it on the academy's mind.

Post Release Report: Everyone seems to love it, so if anything could somehow bypass the limitations of its release date, it's this.

Director: Morten Tyldum
Writer: Graham Moore
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch , Keira Knightley, Mark Strong, Matthew Goode
Release Date: November 21st
Plot Synopsis: English mathematician and logician, Alan Turing, helps crack the Enigma code during World War II, and who was later criminally prosecuted for his homosexuality.

Pros: The Weinstein Co. shelled out $7 mil. for, implying that it may be the centerpiece of their awards campaigning in 2014. It's also got a premise that just screams OSCAR!!!

Cons: Nothing that I can see yet.

Post Release Report It's a lock.

Director: James Gray
Writers: James Gray, Ric Menello
Cast: Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix, Jeremy Renner
Release Date: April
Plot Synopsis: On the mean streets of Manhattan, Ewa falls prey to Bruno, a charming but wicked man who takes her in and forces her into prostitution.

Pros: It's been screening at festivals for what seems like forevor, and picking up positive notices. Also, an awards-friendly cast and a period setting.

Cons: It might not the backing it would need to make a run. From all I've read, it might be more likely in some acting categories than the best film overall.

Post Release Report: Came and went very quietly, highly unlikely.

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Writer: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, Owen Wilson
Release Date: December 12th
Plot Synopsis: In Los Angeles in 1970, drug-fueled detective Larry "Doc" Sportello investigates the disappearance of a former girlfriend.

Pros: Anderson is an academy favorite, and an all-star, darkly funny 70s set crime film seems like the type to attract voters.

Cons: With inspirations from Airplane and other oddball comedies, this one could be too odd for the Academy.

Director: Rob Marshall
Writer: James Lapine
Cast: Anna Kendrick, Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Chris Pine.
Release Date: December 25th
Plot Synopsis: A witch conspires to teach important lessons to various characters of popular children's stories including Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel.

Pros: A big budget fantasy-musical featuring an all-star cast and directed by the man who helmed Chicago, the only recent musical to win Best Picture. That enough?

Cons: Rob Marshall also directed the musical mess Nine and Pirates of the Caribbean 4. If they turned out closer to either of those, it's cooked.

Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Casey Affleck, Michael Caine
Release Date: November 7th
Plot Synopsis: A group of explorers make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.

Pros: Christopher Nolan's last non-Batman film (Inception) did very well at the Oscars, picking up four and nominated for best picture. From all that's been released about the film, which isn't much, it appears to be Nolan's most ambitious work yet.

Cons: Even with Inception, Nolan failed to pick up a director nod, and even though Gravity broke through the sci/fi chains, it wasn't really all that science-fiction, and they have a pretty spotty record with sci-fi.

Post Release Report: A polarizing response for critics makes this one iffy, but there always seems to be at least one populist film that makes it in (though that could very well be Gone Girl).

Director: Clint Eastwood
Writer: John Logan
Cast: Christopher Walken, John Lloyd Young, Vincent Piazza, Freya Tingley
Release Date: June 20th
Plot Synopsis: Jersey Boys is a musical biography of the Four Seasons-the rise, the tough times and personal clashes, and the ultimate triumph of a group of friends whose music became symbolic of a generation. Far from a mere tribute concert (though it does include numbers from the popular Four Seasons songbook), Jersey Boys gets to the heart of the relationships at the center of the group-with a special focus on frontman Frankie Valli, the small kid with the big falsetto. In addition to following the quartet's coming of age as performers, the core of the show is how an allegiance to a code of honor learned in the streets of their native New Jersey got them through a multitude of challenges: gambling debts, Mafia threats and family disasters. Jersey Boys is a glimpse at the people behind a sound that has managed to endure for over four decades in the hearts of the public.

Pros: The academy loves musicals, and they love Clint Eastwood.

Cons: Eastwood's last few films were pretty weak, and it's summer release date suggests more commercial prospects than critical ones.

Post Release Report: Mixed reviews and poor box office make it improbable.

Director: David Dobkin
Writers: Bill Dubuque, Nick Schenk, David Seidler
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga, Billy Bob Thornton, Melissa Leo, Vincent D'Onofrio
Release Date: October 10th
Plot Synopsis: A successful lawyer returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral only to discover that his estranged father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder.

Pros: A strong cast with what sounds like a solid mystery premise. The King's Speech's David Seidler being part of the scripting team also inspires confidence.

Cons: After Wedding Crashers, Dobkins resume is pretty rough, and Crahers wasn't exactly oscar bait.

Post Release Report: Mixed reviews; no shot.

Director: Michael Cuesta
Writer: Peter Landesman
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Michael Sheen, Ray Liotta, Andy Garcia, Barry Pepper
Release Date: October 10th
Plot Synopsis: A reporter becomes the target of a vicious smear campaign that drives him to the point of suicide after he exposes the CIA's role in arming Contra rebels in Nicaragua and importing cocaine into California. Based on the true story of journalist Gary Webb.

Pros: Timely subject matter and an awards-friendly star. Focus Features is backing it, which bodes fairly well for a campiagn

Cons: Possibly too controversial, but it might also be forgotten in favor of bigger projects.

Post Release Report: Okay reviews, but way too small to be even considered.

Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Cast: Emma Stone, Colin Firth, Marcia Gay Harden, Jacki Weaver
Release Date: N/A
Plot Synopsis: A romantic comedy about an Englishman brought in to help unmask a possible swindle. Personal and professional complications ensue.

Pros: Two of Allen's last three have been big hits with voters, and the cast here suggests another

Cons: Allen rarely does two good ones in a row, and his personal drama may muddy things up.

Post Release Report: Mixed reviews and so-so box office sinks it's chances.

Director: Mike Leigh
Writer: Mike Leigh
Cast: Timothy Spall
Release Date: December 19th
Plot Synopsis: An exploration of the last quarter century of the great, if eccentric, British painter J.M.W. Turner's life.

Pros: Great reviews out of Cannes, winning Best Actor and competing for other top prizes.

Cons: May end up being too small, and overlooked for other movies.

Director: J.C. Chandor
Writer: J.C. Chandor
Cast: Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo, Albert Brooks
Release Date: December 31st
Plot Synopsis: A thriller set in New York City during the winter of 1981, statistically one of the most violent years in the city's history, and centered on a the lives of an immigrant and his family trying to expand their business and capitalize on opportunities as the rampant violence, decay, and corruption of the day drag them in and threaten to destroy all they have built.

Pros: It checks off several Oscar boxes; period piece, violence, American dream, and comes from a director (J.C. Chandor) who has been knocking on the door for a couple of years now.

Cons: It's distributor A24 isn't really a major awards player, at least not yet. It may just get lost in the crowd.

Director: Jason Reitman
Writers: Jason Reitman, Erin Cressida Wilson
Cast: Adam Sandler, Emma Thompson, Jennifer Garner, Rosemarie DeWitt, J.K. Simmons
Release Date: October 3rd
Plot Synopsis: A look at the sexual frustrations that young teenagers and adults face in today's world.

Pros: It's timely, and when Reitman does timely, Juno, Up in the Air, he's been nominated.

Cons: His last two movies bounced and it's been five years since he got a nod. He may have fallen of the academy's radar.

Post Release Report: Very bad reviews.

Director: Darren Aronofsky
Writers: Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel
Cast: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins
Release Date: March 28th
Plot Synopsis: The Biblical Noah suffers visions of an apocalyptic deluge and takes measures to protect his family from the coming flood.

Pros: The film's director, Darren Aronofsky, is coming off of his first Oscar nod with Black Swan in 2010, so he's on their radar. And there's always at least one hit among the nominees.

Cons: It may be too controversial for the Academy, as well as possibly being more of a box office draw than a critical darling (which may account for it's March opening).

Post Release Report: It was too controversial. I won't rule it out because it did get solid reviews from critics, but it would take a hell of a campaign.

Director: James Marsh
Writer: Anthony McCarten
Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, David Thewlis, Emily Watson
Release Date: November 7th
Plot Synopsis: A look at the relationship between the famous physicist Stephen Hawking and his first wife.

Pros: It just screams Oscar, doesn't it?

Cons: May be more of a performance piece than a whole film.

Post Release Report: Good reviews and a solid backer make this a likely nominee.

Director: Angelina Jolie
Writer: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese, William Nicholson
Cast: Jack O'Connell, Garrett Hedlund, Jai Courtney, Domhnall Gleeson
Release Date: December 25th
Plot Synopsis: A chronicle of the life of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who was taken prisoner by Japanese forces during World War II.

Pros: Read the synopsis.

Cons: None. If it's any good, it's a lock.

Director: Damien Chazelle
Writer: Damien Chazelle
Cast: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons
Release Date: November 14th
Plot Synopsis: Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.

Pros: It was the biggest hit at Sundance this year, and recieved mountains of critical praise.

Cons: Could be too small and float under the radar.

Post Release Report: Strong reviews, and the fact that it's stayed relevant this long make this look like a strong contender.

Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Writer: Nick Hornby
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Gaby Hoffmann, Laura Dern
Release Date: December 5th
Plot Synopsis: A chronicle of one woman's 1,100-mile solo hike undertaken as a way to recover from a recent catastrophe.

Pros: Witherspoon appears to be on a comeback trail, and who better to help her get there than the man who directed Matthew McConaughey's Oscar winner Dallas Buyers Club. Another plus is the film's writer, Nick Hornby, who's last script An Education did quite well.

Cons: Could be more a character-piece rather than real contender (but I did say the same of Buyers)

Post Release Report: Witherspoon's a lock, but it's doubtful for a best picture.

As of March 10th.

*Birdman +
*Big Eyes -
*Foxcatcher -
*Get on Up -
*Gone Girl -
*The Imitation Game +
*Inherent Vice -
*Interstellar -
*Unbroken -