10 Upcoming Movies That Will Be Serious Oscar Contenders

We've seen some truly brilliant films so far this year, but whether any of them scream "Oscar" is debatable. Out of what has hit screens so far in 2014, the only movie I really expect will be getting some serious attention on that front is Wes Anderson's whimsical period piece The Grand Budapest Hotel (for its visuals, his direction, Ralph Fiennes' performance and possibly Best Picture). The Lego Movie is a lock for Best Animated Feature, and "Everything is Awesome" should earn a nomination for Best Original Song, but I don't imagine that the Academy will honor it elsewhere. And Noah is divisive, but not in a way that has anyone claiming it will hold a place as a cinematic classic. With those films and a few others in mind, it's looking very likely that the latter half of the year will be the time when the vast majority of Oscar contenders emerge. And 2014 is shaping up to be one hell of a year for quality films when one looks at all the acclaimed actors and directors lining up projects in October, November and December. Keep in mind that I don't claim to be an expert - I'm going with my gut on a lot of these. Additionally, I've looked at each film independently, so which categories I say each film stands the best chance of being nominated in don't have anything to do with a film's competition. Because of that, you'll notice a lot more Best Cinematography contenders than there will be nominees, to give one example. Anyways, without further ado, read on for a look at the ten films we think will be the most serious Oscar contenders emerging later this year. 1. Inherent Vice Paul Thomas Anderson is basically Oscar royalty, thanks to Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood and The Master, and the cast he's lined up for this Thomas Pynchon adaptation is too good for the Academy to even consider looking the other way. Joaquin Phoenix stars in Inherent Vice as a drug-addled private investigator Larry "Doc" Sportello, who investigates the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend (Katherine Waterston). Josh Brolin, Jena Malone, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio del Toro, Owen Wilson and Maya Rudolph also have roles. With Anderson and Phoenix involved, this sounds like a major contender - on paper. Of course, Pynchon's novels are often tricky enough to read, let alone adapt, so it could wind up being a misfire like Ridley Scott's The Counselor was last year. Still, I don't see that happening with Inherent Vice. Anderson penned the script as well as directed, and he even had Pynchon's blessing. I'm predicting Best Picture, Director, Actor (for Phoenix) and Supporting Actor (for Brolin) at the very least. Best Art Direction, Adapted Screenplay and Film Editing are also strong possibilities. Inherent Vice opens in limited release on December 12th then expands wide on January 9th next year. 2. Interstellar Few things are as certain as the fact that we will be hearing the name Interstellar a lot when Oscar nominations are announced. Christopher Nolan blew voters away with Inception, and Interstellar finds him returning to science-fiction with an equally or perhaps even more ambitious mind-bender. His amazing cast for this movie, about scientists who go through a wormhole in hopes of finding a new planet that can support the human race after Earth no longer can, should also strengthen its chances of earning Oscar glory. Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Ellen Burstyn, Jessica Chastain, John Lithgow, Michael Caine and Casey Affleck have all either won or been nominated for Oscars before, and the film also stars highly respected actors like David Oyelowo, Wes Bentley and William Devane. Definitely expect Best Picture, Visual Effects, Cinematography, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Art Direction, Original Score and Original Screenplay. Acting nods for McConaughey, Hathaway and Chastain are also likely, though Burstyn and Affleck may stand a chance depending on how big their roles are. Maybe the Academy will also see fit to finally honor Nolan as a director. I understand that's a lot of credit I'm giving a movie I haven't yet seen much of, but would you even dream of betting against Nolan? Interstellar opens November 7th. Check out the trailer below and tell me that it doesn't look like something truly special. 3. Birdman Yes, this dark comedy-drama is a tricky one to predict. Hailing from Biutiful helmer Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman centers on a fading actor (Michael Keaton, in a neat bit of meta-casting) who, desperate to reclaim his fame and family, launches a Broadway show that focuses on the title character on whom the actor built his career. With the tricky, self-aware premise, it could easily be a dud - but the possibility of Birdman being brilliant is just too high for me not to have faith in it. Plus, Emmanuel Lubezki, who won the Oscar for Best Cinematography last year for Gravity, is on board as Iñárritu's cinematographer, helping him to make Birdman appear as if it was shot in one continuous take. I'm expecting Birdman to be visually stunning, for sure. The stellar supporting cast also increases its Oscar chances. Lindsay Duncan, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts co-star. I'm predicting Best Picture, Best Actor (for Keaton) and Best Cinematography (for Lubezki). Best Director and Best Editing are also strong possibilities, and it looks like Norton will stand the best chance out of any of the supporting cast members of scoring a nod. Birdman opens October 17th. 4. Foxcatcher Out of the movies that have already premiered in certain areas, Foxcatcher is the one that's come out with the most acclaim. The biographical drama, from Moneyball director Bennett Miller, tells the heartbreaking story of Olympic Wrestling Champion Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) and how paranoid schizophrenic John du Pont (Steve Carell) killed his brother, Olympic Champion Dave Schultz (Mark Ruffalo). Early buzz for the film is incredibly positive, with praise being levelled at practically every area. Foxcatcher will be one of the power players at this year's Oscars. Of this, I'm utterly convinced. Expect nods for Best Picture, Best Actor (for Tatum), Best Supporting Actor (for Carell certainly and possibly for Ruffalo), Best Adapted Screenplay (for E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman) and Best Director. Foxcatcher opens November 14th. 5. A Most Violent Year J.C. Chandor has struck Oscar gold before, receiving a Best Original Screenplay nomination for Margin Call. And his Robert Redford-powered survival drama All is Lost was considered one of the most egregiously snubbed films of last year's Oscar race. So all eyes are on the director for what's definitely his most Oscar-friendly movie yet, a period piece called A Most Violent Year. Set in New York City in the winter of 1981, statistically one of the city's worst years for crime, A Most Violent Year centers on an immigrant (Oscar Isaac), his wife (Jessica Chastain) and their family as they attempt to expand their business without getting dragged into the crime and corruption of the day. The strong supporting cast includes Albert Brooks, Alessandro Nivola and David Oyelowo. Though period pieces are nothing new on the awards circuit, I'm confident in Chandor's ability to deliver a fresh spin on the genre. He's working with a truly remarkable cast, and the costuming and sets look very promising from what we've seen so far. I'm predicting that A Most Violent Year could make the cut for Best Actor (for Isaac), Best Actress (for Chastain), Best Original Screenplay (for Chandor) and Best Cinematography (for Bradford Young) and Best Costume Design (for Kasia Walicka-Maimone). A Most Violent Year opens November 12th. 6. The Imitation Game Benedict Cumberbatch's last starring vehicle, WikiLeaks biopic The Fifth Estate, was a non-starter with critics and audiences alike, but that's no reason to count out this fall's The Imitation Game, which stars Cumberbatch as embattled British mathematician and WWII code-breaker Alan Turing. The movie focuses on Turing's life from his days unraveling Nazi codes for the British government to his persecution for the then-illegal act of homosexuality. Helping the film's Oscar prospects will be an excellent supporting cast, which includes Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Mark Strong and Charles Dance, as well as the lobbying of Harvey Weinstein, who picked up the film at the European Film Market, paying $7 million to trump five other studios, the highest recorded for a deal at that market. Expect him to really push this one in the fall. Cumberbatch will be a dark horse in the Best Actor race, and Weinstein's lobbying might just land him a nomination. Everything else is less certain, though if the film is as good as initial reports suggest, Graham Moore's screenplay could easily score a nod for Best Adapted Screenplay and the film could be in contention for Best Picture. Knightley also stands a chance in Best Supporting Actress, as might Dance for Best Supporting Actor. The Imitation Game opens November 21st. 7. Kill the Messenger This is a riskier pic than most, but I could see it shaping up to be this year's Argo. The movie centers on Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner), an American journalist who, in 1996, uncovered that the CIA had ties to a major crack cocaine smuggling operation in California and was using the profits from that operation to funnel arms to rebel fighters in Nicaragua. Webb’s investigation puts him and his family at risk, but he continues to dig, determined to bring the ugly truth to the American public. It's a compelling subject, and one that should play exceptionally well with voters. I'm predicting Best Actor for Renner (the lone actor snubbed for American Hustle, and one who is long overdue for another nomination) and Best Adapted Screenplay (for journalist Peter Landesman's script). Beyond that, it's a guessing game. Kill the Messenger might be able to swing a Best Picture nomination, but so could every movie on this list, and Kill the Messenger is far from a power player. Kill the Messenger opens October 10th. 8. Big Eyes No Tim Burton movie has ever earned a Best Picture nomination, but Big Eyes might be his best shot yet. The biopic centers on the creative awakening of famed painter Margaret Keane (Amy Adams), the success of her work in the 1950s, and her bitter relationship with her husband (Christoph Waltz), who claimed credit for her later work. This is the other major Weinstein Company release, so expect Harvey to get really active in campaigning for Big Eyes in every category. I'm predicting Best Picture, Best Actress for Adams (who is said to do some of the best work of her career) and Best Supporting Actor (for Waltz). The supporting cast includes Krysten Ritter, Jason Schwartzmann, Terence Stamp and Danny Huston, any of whom could also stand a shot at getting nominated. I'm also betting on Best Cinematography (for Bruno Delbonnel) and Best Original Score (for Danny Elfman). Big Eyes opens December 25th. 9. Gone Girl Will David Fincher be able to deliver another Oscar-worthy crime thriller in Gone Girl? Fox is surely hoping that he can - the studio has handed him the same release date that Oscar winner Gravity got last year and The Social Network got a few years back. This one may be too commercial for the Academy, but if the movie turns out to be really, really good, which it might be considering all the talent involved, it could become the popular choice for Best Picture. Gone Girl stands a chance at Best Director (for Fincher), Best Original Score (for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross), Best Cinematography (for Jeff Croneweth), Best Editing (for Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall) and Best Adapted Screenplay (for Gillian Flynn, working from her own novel). Best Picture is also a strong possibility, though neither Ben Affleck nor Rosamund Pike seem like automatic shoe-ins for acting awards. If Gone Girl is really good, though, they could ride the wave of acclaim to nominations. Gone Girl opens October 3rd. 10. Unbroken Will the Academy take Angelina Jolie seriously as a director this time around? Unbroken stands a strong chance of stealing Fury's thunder and scoring big with the Academy - it's a true story of American wartime heroism, focusing on the ordeal of Louis Zamperini (pictured above with Jolie), the Olympic runner taken prisoner by Japanese forces during WWII. Universal is pinning all its Oscar hopes of Unbroken, which is totally understandable - all the talent involved may be too massive for voters to ignore. I'm predicting nominations for Best Picture, Best Cinematography (for Roger Deakins, who could finally win the category after 11 nominations), Best Adapted Screenplay (for Joel and Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese and William Nicholson) and Best Original Score (for Alexandre Desplat). A Best Director nod for Jolie is also a strong possibility if the film is as great as early impressions suggest. I wouldn't put any money on Jack O'Connell for Best Actor, however - consider him this year's Suraj Sharma. Unbroken opens December 25th. Well, those are my picks for the ten movies opening later this year that I believe will stand the greatest chance of grasping Oscar glory. What did I miss, and what shouldn't be here? Let us know what you think in the comments!