An Education (October 16)
This British drama wasn't on anyone's radar -- until it finally played at Sundance, Telluride and other festivals and earned raves for Carey Mulligan's performance and crowned her the first dead-solid Best Actress Oscar Nomination lock of the year. Mulligan's that good, but it's also a great film, as Mulligan's '60s-era student gets unexpectedly tough lessons in life and love from her relationship with the older Peter Sarsgaard. The whole cast (including Alfred Molina and Emma Thompson) is excellent, and the script -- with High Fidelity and About a Boy author Nick Hornby adapting Lynn Barber's memoir -- is also impressively smart and soulful.
Amelia (October 23)
One of the biggest wild cards of Oscar season -- will audiences want to see two-time Best Actress Oscar-winner Hilary Swank as '30s aviatrix Amelia Earhart, in a drama directed by Monsoon Wedding director Mira Nair? The cast is ridiculous -- including Swank, Ewan McGregor, Richard Gere, and more -- but will the fact we kinda know how the story ends keep audiences away, or draw them in? The script is by Ron Bass -- who also gave us Stepmom and My Best Friend's Wedding -- and Anna Hamilton Phelan of Mask and Gorillas in the Mist, so the film may very well wind up having a mix of history and drama audience respond to -- if they make it to the theaters; at the same time, Amelia has that broccoli-for-dinner, so-good-it's-good-for-you feel to it already, like it's a film you'd watch for extra credit when your 12th grade history teacher had a hangover and wanted to take it easy in class that day. ...
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire (Nov. 6)
With Oprah's blessing, Tyler Perry's backing and the unprecedented honor of earning the Audience Awards at both the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals (and also earning raves at Cannes, where I reviewed it), this rough and raw urban drama about a abused teen (Gabourey Sidibe) trying to turn her life around through faith, hope and charity looks poised to be a big player come this Oscar season -- and also has a near-certain guarantee of a best Supporting Actress nomination for comedian-turned-actress Mo'nique as Precious' monster-mother, whose nightmarish cruelty culminates in a searing scene of confession and atonement. It remains to be seen if audiences will eagerly seek out a story that, while it comes around to a heartfelt and earned happy (or happier, at least) ending, involves some very tough stuff involving abuse, poverty and hopelessness ...Up in the Air (Dec. 25)
Another big winner after bowing at Telluride and Toronto (see my Toronto review here), Up in the Air's tale of a corporate downsizing gunslinger (George Clooney) who suddenly has to fight to preserve his own job -- and his soul -- has been earning raves for a nicely-calibrated mix of deft comedy and, yes, real drama. Look for director Jason Reitman to get a nod for Best Director (his second after the breakthrough success of Juno), but if there's any justice, we'll see Clooney and Vera Farmiga (playing a fellow road-warrior who begins a hotels-and-airports romance with Clooney's traveling man) get Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress nods as well. Combine the excellent acting with a great story that makes honest, but never easy, points about our economic crisis and Up in the Air seems to be floating above the pack in the Oscar race already. ...Nine (Nov. 25)
If any film looks like an Oscar contender at first blush this year, it's Nine -- the big-screen version of a musical that is, itself, an adaptation of a movie. (Confused yet?) Based on Fellini's classic 8 1/2, 9 follows a director (Daniel Day-Lewis) dealing with life, love and art - and the 9 women who have shaped him as lovers, friends and more. Daniel Day-Lewis alone makes this worth watching, but the cast gets even more impressive when you look at the leading ladies playing his lovers and family -- including Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren, Kate Hudson and Penelope Cruz. (Normally, the complaint is that there aren't enough good roles for female actresses in Hollywood; expect the joke this year to be that there are good roles for actresses in 20009, but they're all in one film. ...) Directed by Rob Marshall of Chicago, it remains to be seen if Nine will earn a Chicago-style reception at the Oscars ... or a Dreamgirls-style snub. ...(Which of these are you most looking forward to? And come back next week for the Fall Preview Part 2, with The Road, Brothers, and other Oscar contenders. ... )