It’s finally here… the season when blockbuster movies finally give way to thoughtful, intelligent, emotional, dramatic films vying for critical acclaim and Oscar glory. Yes, the fall movie season is famous for being the time of year when Hollywood stuffs the multiplex with art house movies with serious themes and thoughtful comedies that tug your heartstrings. And it’s also the time of year when Dracula Untold, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies are coming out as well, but screw those movies. You already know they’re coming anyway, and you’ve probably already bought your tickets somehow. The internet is cool like that.
But the ambitious artistic films are going to overstuff the multiplexes this fall just as badly as the blockbusters did this summer, and a lot of them are destined to fall through the cracks. We here at CraveOnline are going to do our best to help you keep these movies straight and keep an eye out for the ones that you might actually want to see, since the marketing budgets for these suckers are going to be much lower than the ones for Transformers and Guardians of the Galaxy and you may not even know they’re in theaters if we don’t say something right now.
Related: Fall Blu-ray Preview: 13 Must-Own Discs
Not all of these Oscar hopefuls are going to be instant classics, and by the law of averages most of them are probably destined to be mediocre or outright awful, but they’re still the films Hollywood is banking on to win over audiences and Academy members and become major players when awards season rolls around this winter. So let’s take a look at their plots and pedigrees, mark our calendars appropriately, and see what the fall movie season brings us over the next three months. CraveOnline will be here to review them all, so keep an eye on our Film Reviews section to find out which ones really are worth your time.
(Don’t forget: release dates are subject to change, and a few festival favorites may sneak onto the schedule with last-minute distribution deals before the year is through.)
Slideshow: Fall Movie Preview – 24 Oscar Hopefuls
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
Fall Movie Preview: 24 Oscar Hopefuls
-
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (September 12)
Directed by: Ned Benson
Starring: Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), James McAvoy (Atonement), Viola Davis (The Help), William Hurt (A History of Violence)
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby isn't just a film.. it's three of them. The tale of a romance between Connor (McAvoy) and Eleanor (Chastain) is told from three perspectives: Her, Him and Them. The "Them" version hits theaters on September 12, while the "Her" and "Him" versions, each telling the same tale but only from Connor or Eleanor's perspective, arrives in select theaters on October 10. But if it really is Oscar-worthy, will the voters be able to agree on which version of Eleanor Rigby to nominate?
-
The Skeleton Twins (September 19)
Directed by: Craig Johnson (True Adolescents)
Starring: Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids), Bill Hader (Her), Luke Wilson (3:10 to Yuma), Ty Burrell (Mr. Peabody & Sherman)
The Sundance 2014 favorite finally hits theaters on September 19, with intentions to tug the Academy's heartstrings and pluck their funny bones at the same time. Wiig and Hader star as Maggie and Milo, estranged siblings who move in together after Milo's botched suicide attempt, and try to pick up the pieces of their once loving relationship.
-
This is Where I Leave You (September 19)
Directed by: Shawn Levy (Real Steel)
Starring: Jason Bateman (Juno), Tina Fey (Mean Girls), Jane Fonda (9 to 5), Adam Driver (Star Wars: Episode VII), Rose Byrne (Neighbors), Corey Stoll (Ant-Man), Kathryn Hahn (Bad Words)
An all-star cast headlines This is Where I Leave You, about a family reunion that forces every surviving Altman to live under the same roof after the death of their patriarch. But will director Shawn Levy be able to impress an audience who would probably scoff at his resumé of dopey comedies like The Internship and the Night at the Museum movies?
-
Gone Girl (October 3)
Directed by: David Fincher (The Social Network)
Starring: Ben Affleck (Argo), Rosamund Pike (Pride & Prejudice), Neil Patrick Harris ("How I Met Your Mother"), Tyler Perry (A Madea Christmas)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo director David Fincher returns with another adaptation of a best-selling potboiler, written by original author Gillian Flynn. Affleck stars as a man thrust into the spotlight after his wife (Pike) goes missing, but who may not hold up under the close scrutiny of the paparazzi. If anyone can turn a crime yarn into an Oscar contender, it's Fincher.
-
The Judge (October 10)
Directed by: David Dobkin (Clay Pigeons)
Starring: Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man 3), Robert Duvall (The Godfather), Billy Bob Thornton (Sling Blade), Vera Farmiga ("Bates Motel")
A hotshot attorney (Downey) returns home to defend his father (Duvall) from a murder charge and discovers old truths and the importance of family. It sounds like a John Grisham novel, but with the right cast those adaptations were Oscar contenders too (The Client, The Firm).
-
Whiplash (October 10)
Directed by: Damien Chazelle
Starring: Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now), J.K. Simmons (Juno), Paul Reiser (Bye Bye Love)
An aspiring jazz drummer (Teller) faces off against a tyrannical conductor (Simmons), in an award-winning breakout Sundance hit. It's a little Full Metal Jacket, a little Amadeus, and a guaranteed contender for Best Supporting Actor and probably a lot more.
-
Birdman (October 17)
Directed by: Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu (Babel)
Starring: Michael Keaton (Batman), Edward Norton (American History X), Emma Stone (The Amazing Spider-Man), Naomi Watts (21 Grams), Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone), Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover)
Perpetual downer but Oscar favorite Alejandro Gonzelaz Innaritu abandons his usual dreary melodramas for an ambitious insider drama about a former superhero actor (Keaton) trying to make good with by writing/directing/starring in a Broadway play. Innaritu stages the entire film like it's one single shot, the kind of bravura cinematic wizardry the Academy eats up.
-
Fury (October 17)
Directed by: David Ayer (End of Watch)
Starring: Brad Pitt (Moneyball), Logan Lerman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Shia LaBoeuf (Nymphomaniac), Michael Pena (Crash)
Training Day screenwriter turned director David Ayer abandons his usual cop schtick for a hard-edged World War II drama about an army sergeant named "Wardaddy" (Pitt) commanding a Sherman tank behind enemy lines. The Academy just keeps getting warmer and warmer towards Pitt, who keeps making better and better career choices.
-
St. Vincent (October 24)
Directed by: Theodore Melfi
Starring: Bill Murray (Lost in Translation), Naomi Watts (21 Grams), Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids), Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow)
Perpetual Oscar bridesmaid Bill Murray takes another stab at character-driven comedy in Theodore Melfi's film about a child of divorce who finds an unlikely mentor in Murray's cantankerous, gambling, womanizing war veteran next door. (SPOILER ALERT: They're probably both going to learn a valuable lesson.)
-
Nightcrawler (October 31)
Director: Dan Gilroy
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal (Zodiac), Rene Russo (The Thomas Crown Affair), Bill Paxton ("Big Love")
Jake Gyllenhaal goes dark again with the directorial debut of screenwriter Dan Gilroy (The Bourne Legacy), playing a young man who winds up in the world of freelance crime journalism. Nightcrawler is getting a big festival push before its release in late October, implying that there may be a bit more to this crime drama than the potboiler plot synopsis implies.
-
Interstellar (November 7)
Directed by: Christopher Nolan (Inception)
Starring: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club), Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables), Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Casey Affleck (Gone Baby Gone), Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules)
Blockbuster auteur Christopher Nolan is back with another sci-fi adventure, this time starring recent Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey as an astronaut tasked with finding a new home for humanity after we use up all our natural resources on Earth. The all-star cast and thoughtful sci-fi premise imply big things, something Nolan usually delivers in spades. But will Interstellar finally be the film that earns him the respect of his art house peers in the Academy?
-
Rosewater (November 7)
Directed by: Jon Stewart
Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries), Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog)
"Daily Show" host Jon Stewart took an extended leave from his Emmy-winning show to direct his first feature, based on the harrowing imprisonment and torture of journalist (and regular "Daily Show" guest) Maziar Bahari in Iran. Will a former Oscar host actually take the stage to accept a trophy of his very own?
-
The Theory of Everything (November 7)
Directed by: James Marsh (Man on Wire)
Starring: Eddie Redmayne (Les Miserables), Felicity Jones (Like Crazy), David Thewlis (Naked), Emily Watson (Breaking the Waves), Charlie Cox ("Daredevil")
Eddie Redmayne stars as famed physicist Stephen Hawking in a film about his romance with Jane Hawking (Jones), his wife of 30 years. Spanning Hawking's rise to fame and diagnosis with a motor neuron disease, The Theory of Everything is banking on the Academy's love of biopics mixed with romance (A Beautiful Mind anybody?), and comes with a strong Oscar pedigree already: James Marsh already won a golden man for his 2008 documentary Man on Wire.
-
Foxcatcher (November 14)
Directed by: Bennett Miller (Moneyball)
Starring: Steve Carrell (Dan in Real Life), Channing Tatum (Magic Mike), Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right), Anthony Michael Hall ("The Dead Zone")
Will Bennett Miller's third narrative feature film be his third Best Picture nominee? It could happen; he already won Best Director at Cannes for this drama about two real-life Olympic wrestling champions (Tatum and Ruffalo) whose lives are turned upside down by a paranoid schizophrenic (Carrell).
-
The Homesman (November 14)
Directed by: Tommy Lee Jones (The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada)
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby), Miranda Otto (The Return of the King), James Spader (Avengers: Age of Ultron)
Oscar-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones returns in front of and behind the camera in a new western about a claim jumper (Jones) tasked with escorting three insane women from Nebraska to Iowa. The Homesman was already nominated for this year's Palme d'Or, but will that be enough buzz to get The Homesman more attention than his previous directorial efforts?
-
The Imitation Game (November 21)
Directed by: Morten Tyldum (Headhunters)
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch ("Sherlock"), Keira Knightley (A Dangerous Method), Matthew Good (A Single Man), Mark Strong (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy)
Recent Emmy winner Benedict Cumberbatch is back with a film about another misunderstood genius that everyone's hoping turns out better than The Fifth Estate. Cumberbatch stars as Alan Turing, the mathematical genius who cracked the Enigma Code in World War II but who was persecuted for his homosexuality afterwards.
-
Wild (December 5)
Directed by: Jean-Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club)
Starring: Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line), Laura Dern (The Fault in Our Stars), Gaby Hoffman (Veronica Mars)
Reese Witherspoon puts on her walking shoes in a biopic about Cheryl Strayed, who hiked 1,100 miles to overcome a personal tragedy, directed by recent Oscar nominee Jean-Marc Vallee. Will Wild be the kind of soul-searching Oscar contender everyone hopes for, or will it turn out like another Eat, Pray, Love?
-
Exodus: Gods and Kings (December 12)
Directed by: Ridley Scott (Gladiator)
Starring: Christian Bale (The Prestige), Joel Edgerton (Animal Kingdom), Sigourney Weaver (Avatar), Ben Kingsley (Hugo), Aaron Paul ("Breaking Bad")
Ridley Scott goes back to handsome period epics with Exodus: Gods and Kings, a biblical saga starring a bunch of acclaimed white actors as ancient Africans. The controversy is already in full swing, so will Exodus: Gods and Monsters be good enough enough to get audiences and Academy voters to ignore all the bad press?
-
Inherent Vice (December 12)
Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), Josh Brolin (Milk), Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line), Benicio del Toro (Traffic), Owen Wilson (Midnight in Paris), Jena Malone (The Messenger)
Paul Thomas Anderson, another Oscar bridesmaid, returns with an adaptation of reclusive author Thomas Pynchon's 1970s detective yarn about a drugged up detective (Phoenix) investigating the disappearance of his girlfriend. If anyone can turn a crime yarn into an Oscar contender, besides David Fincher, it's Paul Thomas Anderson.
-
Mr. Turner (December 19)
Directed by: Mike Leigh (Topsy Turvy)
Starring: Timothy Spall (Vera Drake), Marion Bailey (All or Nothing), Paul Jesson (Coriolanus), Dorothy Atkinson (A Merry War)
Conversational filmmaker Mike Leigh is back with a new historical drama, this time about the last 25 years in the life of British painter J.M.W. Turner and his romantic relationships with his housekeeper (Atkinson) and landlady (Bailey). Spall already won a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, a good indicator of Oscar potential if ever there was one.
-
American Sniper (December 25)
Directed by: Clint Eastwood (Mystic River)
Starring: Bradley Cooper (American Hustle), Sienna Miller (The Girl), Luke Grimes (50 Shades of Grey)
Clint Eastwood's Jersey Boys didn't make any waves with the audiences or the critics, but he's got one more chance at greatness this year with American Sniper, starring Bradley Cooper as a real-life Navy SEAL with 160 "confirmed" kills, the late Chris Kyle. The December 25 release date implies that someone thinks American Sniper has real Oscar potential, but they're keeping it at arm's length for now: as of writing, there haven't been any stills or trailers released.
-
Big Eyes (December 25)
Directed by: Tim Burton (Big Fish)
Starring: Amy Adams (American Hustle), Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained), Terence Stamp (The Limey)
Tim Burton finally sets aside his big budget spectacles for another biopic about a misunderstood artist (hey, it worked for Ed Wood), this time about Margaret Keane (Adams), whose instantly recognizable paintings of children with "big eyes" were usurped by her husband Walter (Waltz), who took all the credit. Burton may be known for his visual stylings but it's his sensitivity to outsiders that makes people really love him. Will the Academy remember that?
-
Selma (December 25)
Directed by: Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere)
Starring: David Oyelowo (The Butler), Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton), Tim Roth (Pulp Fiction), Common (Street Kings), Carmen Ejogo (Sparkle), Oprah Winfrey (The Butler), Cuba Gooding Jr. (The Butler)
The last Civil Rights drama starring David Oyelowo, Oprah Winfrey and Cuba Gooding Jr., The Butler, was completely snubbed at the Oscars. Many claimed it was released too early in the year to be remembered. That probably won't be the case with Selma, which stars Oyelowo as Dr. Martin Luther King during the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches, and which gets an Oscar-friendly Christmas release date. Hopefully Selma will also be good enough to warrant the attention from the Academy.
-
Unbroken (December 25)
Directed by: Angelina Jolie (In the Land of Blood and Honey)
Starring: Jack O'Connell (Starred Up), Domhnall Gleeson (About Time), Jai Courtney (Jack Reacher)
Angelina Jolie goes back behind the camera for her sophomore feature, about Olympic runner Louis Zamperini (O'Connell) who became a POW in World War II. It's two triumphs of the human spirit in one film; hopefully that's not too much for one director to handle. Plus, it's written by four Oscar-nominated screenwriters, including two winners you may have heard of: The Coen Bros.
