Gravity
The 2014 Oscars are months away and yet we are already taking a look at the movies and the performances that could well be battling it out for major gongs at the beginning of next year.
The autumn festival season is in full swing and there are already a handful of movies that are whipping just about everyone up into a frenzy.
So we take a look at some of the movies that we expect to be there or there abouts when the nominations are revealed in January - this could be one of the most outstanding Best Picture line-ups ever!!
Gravity
There is no movie that has been raved about more in the last few weeks than Gravity, as Alfonso Cuaron returns to the director’s chair.
We have already been treated to some great sci-fi movies already in 2013, but Gravity promises to be the film not to miss in this genre as Sandra Bullock teams up with George Clooney.
This may be a sci-fi film but it is really a character study about the two central characters as Bullock and Clooney carry the entire film; they are the only two actors on the cast list.
On top of all that you have a film that just looks magnificent - director James Cameron is already calling it the best space movie ever made; a ringing endorsement indeed.
Gravity has really lit up the festival circuit over the last few weeks and is already a major frontrunner for possible Oscar glory.
12 Years A Slave
12 Years A Slave is another film that has seemingly got critics punching the air with delight; what is even more exciting is the fact that it is a British movie.
12 Years A Slave sees the fantastic Steve McQueen return to the director’s chair for what will be his third film; he has already grabbed everyone’s attention with Hunger and Shame in recent years.
The movie is based on the memoir by Solomon Northup; a free black man who was kidnapped in New York and sold into slavery.
Steve McQueen is such an exciting filmmaker and he delivers films that have rich stories and multi-layered and fascinating characters - that is something that looks set to continue.
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt and Benedict Cumberbatch are all on board and so this movie could well be in the battle for acting gongs as well.
Prisoners
Hugh Jackman could find himself in another Oscar nominated film just a years after Les Miserables as he returns to the big screen with Prisoners.
The movie lit up both the Toronto and Telluride Film Festival, with the central performances from Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Prisoners is set to be a powerful drama about the kidnap of a young girl. Jackman takes on the role of the girl’s father, who must decide whether to break the law in an attempt to find answers. Gyllenhaal will play the police officer on the case.
Denis Villeneuve is in the director’s chair while Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Viola Davis and Melissa Leo make up an incredibly impressive and talented cast list.
Prisoners looks set to be one of the most powerful films that will be hitting the big screen this autumn, and it could be an awards contender.
The Monuments Men
George Clooney has been behind some great movies during his directing career, and he is set to return with his new film The Monuments Men.
Clooney has had a hand in penning the screenplay and will also lead an all star cast; the cast list includes Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Bill Murray and John Goodman.
The movie will follow a group of arts historians and museum curators as they unite to recover works of art stolen by Nazis before they are destroyed by Hitler.
Clooney has a great eye behind the camera and it is fantastic to see him back in the director’s chair; this is his first film since The Ides of March.
In recent years Clooney has had a great relationship with the Academy with Best Actor, Best Director nominations as well as a Best Supporting Actor win; not to mention he served as producer on this year’s Best Picture winner Argo. Will The Monuments Men be the film that will see him scoop a director prize?
Inside Llewyn Davis
Joel and Ethan Coen have also had a great relationship with the Academy with No Country For Old Men being a huge success.
The directing brothers are back with their new film Inside Llewyn Davis, which received its premiere in Cannes earlier this year.
Inside Llewyn Davis follows a young singer as he tries to navigate the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961.
Oscar Isaac will take on the title character, while Carey mulligan, John Goodman and Justin Timberlake are all also on board.
Inside Llewyn Davis is much closer to films such as Barton Fink and A Serious Man as the brothers have delivered a film that is both melancholic and funny.
American Hustle
American Hustle sees David O. Russell back in the director’s chair as he aims to bag another clutch of Oscar nominations.
Silver Linings Playbook was a major player on the award’s circuit at the beginning of this year, and now he brings us a very different project.
The film sees him reunite with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, while Christian Bale, Jeremy Renner and Amy Adams are all on board; Bale and Adams worked with the director on The Fighter.
The movie followsa con artist and his partner in crime, who were forced to work with a federal agent to turn the tables on other cons, mobsters, and politicians - namely, the volatile mayor of impoverished Camden, New Jersey.
Other movies to watch out for include Saving Mr Banks, All Is Lost, Captain Phillips, Blue Jasmine, The Fifth Estate, The Wolf of Wall Street and Buyers Dallas Club.
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