Now that summer has ended, it’s time to look forward to the final four months of the year and a slate of films that will produce the majority of awards season contenders. Dozens of films are on their way to your local mulitplex, but since we don’t have space to cover them all, we’ve narrowed down the list to those we think are the most important. That, and a few others which we’re at least a little excited about.
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (September 12)
Synopsis: The difficulties of a married couple are examined through the perspectives of both the husband and the wife.
SSN Insight: Writer-director Ned Benson actually created three films—Her, told from the perspective of the wife, played by Jessica Chastain; Him, from the perspective of the husband, played by James McAvoy; and Them, which edits the two together. Them premiered at Cannes this fall, after the original pair of films screened at last year’s Toronto Film Festival. Him and Her will still be shown together, but will receive a more limited release. Either way, Chastain is getting early Oscar buzz for her performance.
The Boxtrolls (September 26)
Synopsis: Based on a popular children’s book, the Boxtrolls are a cavern-dwelling community of lovable oddballs who wear recycled cardboard boxes the way turtles wear shells. When they’re targeted by a villainous pest exterminator bent on eradicating them, the kindhearted band of tinkerers must bridge two worlds amidst the winds of change.
SSN Insight: Though the story is fairly by-the-numbers, its brilliant stop-motion work is sure to net Boxtrolls a Best Animated Feature Oscar nomination in a year that’s noticeably light on animated fare. Its studio, Laika, has previously released Coraline and ParaNorman, both of which also earned nominations.
Men, Women & Children (October 1)
Synopsis: Based on the novel by Chad Kultgen, a group of high schoolers and their parents navigate all the ways the Internet has changed their relationships, communication, self-image, and love lives.
SSN Insight: Director Jason Reitman could use a hit after two straight box office failures, as could star Adam Sandler, who turns up in dramatic mode here. With an impressive cast and a based-on-a-respected-novel pedigree, its release date was moved up for awards consideration, but still, Reitman is on a bit of a losing streak. The question is, can the director of Young Adult and Labor Day bring audiences to the theater as he did with Juno?
Gone Girl (October 3)
Synopsis: On the occasion of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne reports that his wife Amy has gone missing. Under pressure from the police and a growing media frenzy, Nick’s portrait of a blissful union begins to crumble. Soon his lies, deceits, and strange behavior have everyone asking the same question: did Nick Dunne kill his wife?
SSN Insight: The buzz on Gone Girl started over a year ago, and continues apace. With David Fincher behind the camera, Gillian Flynn adapting her own book, and a stacked cast that’s had the interwebs on fire for months, Girl has an enormous built-in audience and the kind of talent that is sure to get awards attention.
Whiplash (October 10)
Synopsis: A young musician at one of the best music schools in the country struggles under the tutelage of its fearsome maestro.
SSN Insight: One of the best reviewed films to come out of Sundance this year, Whiplash has a lot of heat behind it, especially for the stupendous performance of J.K. Simmons, who has to be an early frontrunner for a Supporting Actor nod. Lead actor Miles Teller, who appears as Reed Richards in next year’s Fantastic Four reboot, is definitely a star on the rise.
Fury (October 17)
Synopsis: As the Allies make their final push into Nazi Germany in the final months of WWII, hard-as-nails army sergeant Wardaddy leads his five-man Sherman tank crew on a dangerous mission behind enemy lines.
SSN Insight: The last time Brad Pitt played an irascible World War II officer (in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds), things turned out pretty well, and early buzz is strong for this thriller from writer-director David Ayers. Columbia had enough faith to move it from its original November release to October 17th, though that might have more to do with clearing it away from Interstellar and the third Hunger Games movie. Still, it looks like a lot of fun.
Birdman (October 17)
Synopsis: A washed up actor, who once played an iconic superhero, battles his ego as he attempts to recover his family, career, and himself in the days leading up to the opening of a Broadway play.
SSN Insight: The latest from Mexican auteur Alejandro González Iñárritu stars Michael Keaton in an inspired bit of meta-casting. Keaton is surrounded by a supporting cast that includes Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Zach Galifianakis, Amy Ryan, and Merrit Weaver, and if you’ve seen the trailer, you know it looks like seventeen kinds of awesome. Definitely high on sleeper potential.
Interstellar (November 7)
Synopsis: When global warning leads to the collapse of the Earth's ecosystem, a genius professor recruits a family farmer to join a crew of space explorers in search of a new planet suitable for human life.
SSN Insight: Sitting atop a very short list of the most highly anticipated films of the season, Interstellar serves as Christopher Nolan’s first post-Batman film. Yes, the trailer looks amazing, but will it be more like monster hit Inception, or the disappointing Prestige?
Rosewater (November 7)
Synopsis: Based on the real-life experience of British journalist Maziar Bahari, who was detained in Iran for more than 100 days following a piece he wrote on the country's presidential election.
SSN Insight: Jon Stewart took three months off from The Daily Show last summer to direct a movie, and this is it. Anytime a famous person makes his or her directorial debut, expectations should be kept fairly low, but Stewart does have a way with social commentary, so there’s that.
A Most Violent Year (November 12)
Synopsis: In the winter of 1981, a New York City immigrant and his family try to grow their business and capitalize on opportunities as rampant violence, decay, and corruption threaten to destroy all they’ve built.
SSN Insight: Writer-director J.C. Chandor’s third feature is a real departure from his first two—the Wall Street drama Margin Call, and last year’s All Is Lost. Early word is that Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain are spectacular in the leads, and should get a lot of attention come awards season.
Foxcatcher (November 14)
Synopsis: In this thriller, based on true events, wrestler Mark Schultz's strained relationship with multimillionaire sponsor John du Pont leads to jealousy, paranoia, and a bizarre murder.
SSN Insight: Initially pegged for release last year, Sony premiered it instead at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where Bennett Miller won Best Director and the film earned revelatory reviews. Singled out most especially was Steve Carrell, who will almost certainly get a Best Actor nomination for his work.
The Imitation Game (November 21)
Synopsis: Based on the real life story of legendary cryptanalyst Alan Turing, Game portrays his nail-biting race against time at Britain’s top-secret Government Code and Cypher School, during the darkest days of World War II.
SSN Insight: This project bounced around for years in search of a director, finally landing Norwegian helmer Morten Tyldum. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Turing, and is surrounded by a terrific British cast, but coming out a month after Fury, will audiences want to take another trip back in time to WWII?
Wild (December 5)
Synopsis: After the dissolution of her marriage and the death of her mother, writer Cheryl Strayed has lost all hope. After years of reckless behavior, she makes a rash decision—driven only by sheer determination, and with absolutely no experience, she hikes more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail by herself.
SSN Insight: Reese Witherspoon, who hasn’t been on the big screen of late, has an impressive season coming up, with two other films in theaters (The Good Lie and Inherent Vice), as well as Wild, which has her back in prime Oscar territory. That Wild is director Jean-Marc Vallée’s follow up to Dallas Buyers Club means there’s plenty of prestige attached.
Exodus: Gods and Kings (December 12)
Synopsis: This biblical epic follows the story of Moses, who rises up against Egyptian pharaoh Ramses, and sets 600,000 slaves on a monumental escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.
SSN Insight: A year after the train wreck that was The Counselor, director Ridley Scott is back doing mega-sized films, and here, Christian Bale does his best Charlton Heston. Early footage has been breathtaking, and the action sequences look spectacular. Will the rest of the film hold up?
Inherent Vice (December 12)
Synopsis: Inept, pot-smoking private investigator Larry 'Doc' Sportello cruises 1970s Los Angeles in search of easy money, free love, and laid-back good times. But when his ex-girlfriend goes missing, Doc takes on his most baffling case ever while journeying into the dark heart of the City of Angels to get her back.
SSN Insight: Paul Thomas Anderson returns with this adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s wild ride of a novel. The cast is an embarrassment of riches that includes Joaquin Phoenix, who earned a Best Actor nom for Anderson’s last movie, The Master, Josh Brolin, Benecio Del Toro, Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Martin Short, and Maya Rudolph. If anything, this one can’t possibly be dull.
Mr. Turner (December 19)
Synopsis: This biopic of celebrated British painter J. M. W. Turner focuses on the last 25 years of the cantankerous artist’s life as his increasingly anti-establishment work makes him the subject of ridicule among his peers.
SSN Insight: Director Mike Leigh’s latest follows in the footsteps of his highly-regarded film Topsy-Turvy, which also features regular collaborator, Timothy Spall, who’s already won raves for his performance as Turner. Many who have seen it call this Leigh’s best film in years.
Unbroken (December 25)
Synopsis: The story of Lou Zamperini, a high school track star who makes an appearance in the 1936 Olympics, and survives without food or water for 47 days after a plane crash in the Pacific. He washes ashore behind enemy lines on a Japanese island, where he was held for two years as a prisoner of war and tortured by his captors.
SSN Insight: Angelina Jolie takes her next step in what will become a full time job behind the camera with this inspiring tale based on Laura Hillenbrand’s bestseller. Relative unknown Jack O’Connell stars as Zamperini, the script was penned by Joel and Ethan Coen, and it will most certainly be a big player during Oscar season.
The Interview (December 25)
Synopsis: A talk show host and his producer land an interview with Kim Jong-un in an attempt to legitimize themselves as journalists. As they prepare to travel to Pyongyang, their plans change when the CIA recruits them, perhaps the two least-qualified men imaginable, to assassinate the North Korean leader.
SSN Insight: Any time a foreign leader calls a comedic movie “an act of war” months before its release, you can darn-well guarantee that people are going to want to see it. That it’s Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s follow up to the enormous 2013 hit, The End of the World, means it will not lack for an audience.
American Sniper (December 25)
Synopsis: The story of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, a decorated marksman who was killed by a fellow discharged military veteran at Texas shooting range.
SSN Insight: Director Clint Eastwood’s second movie of the year (after Jersey Boys) stars Bradley Cooper, for whom this has been a passion project for quite some time. Cooper has earned Oscar nominations the last two years—will this one get him his third straight?
Selma (December 25)
Synopsis: In the mid-‘60s, desperate for the U. S. government to enforce voting rights, Martin Luther King, Jr. violates court injunctions and stages protest marches in Selma, Alabama, in the hope of provoking a transformative confrontation.
SSN Insight: While not technically a biopic, the focus on Dr. King and the struggles he, his family, and followers faced; a truly remarkable cast; and having been produced by Brad Pitt and Dede Gardner’s Plan B (who just won Best Picture for 12 Years a Slave), makes this ingenious Christmas Day counter programming.
Big Eyes (December 25)
Synopsis: Walter Keane becomes a household name in the 1950s, when his oddly emotional paintings of big-eyed children make him a coveted TV talk show guest. But is the art really his or his wife’s?
SSN Insight: That Tim Burton’s returning to Ed Wood territory with the same writing team of Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewki sounds like a surefire winner, right? But scuttlebutt is that all is not well with this one. A Christmas Day release means TWC has high hopes, but Ed Wood was 20 years ago, and Burton’s work hasn’t shown anything close to the same depth since. In other words, don’t get your hopes up.