40 Potential 2014 Oscar Contenders: Part Two – ‘The Fifth Estate’ to ‘Labor Day’

Frozen

DIR. Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee / November 27

I felt I should pick at least one animated film with a shot at Best Picture and with Pixar going the sequel route with Monsters University and the original not exactly being of Toy Story caliber, I’m going with Disney’s Frozen. Granted, this will most likely be just one of the Best Animated Feature contenders, but it never hurts to keep your options open.

POTENTIAL OSCAR CATEGORIES: Best Picture, Best Animated Feature

STUDIO: Walt Disney Pictures

VOICE CAST: Kristen Bell

SYNOPSIS: When Anna is cursed by her estranged sister, the cold-hearted Snow Queen, Anna’s only hope of reversing the curse is to survive a perilous but thrilling journey across an icy and unforgiving landscape. Joined by a rugged, thrill-seeking outdoorsman, his one-antlered reindeer and a hapless snowman, Anna must race against time, conquer the elements and battle an army of menacing snowmen if she ever hopes to melt her frozen heart.

Fruitvale

DIR. Ryan Coogler / October 18

If there’s a film coming out of Sundance with a lot of heat it’s Ryan Coogler‘s Fruitvale and with The Weinstein Co. picking it up you better believe people will be thinking Oscar for this one. Based on a true story and with high marks for up-and-comer Michael B. Jordan the sky is the limit for this one.

POTENTIAL OSCAR CATEGORIES: Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay (Ryan Coogler), Best Actor (Michael B. Jordan)

STUDIO: The Weinstein Co.

CAST: Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Ahna O’Reilly, Chad Michael Murray, Kevin Durand and Octavia Spencer

SYNOPSIS: Oscar Grant was a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who loved his friends, was generous to strangers, and had a hard time telling the truth to the mother of his beautiful daughter. He was scared and courageous and charming and raw, and as human as the community he was part of. That community paid attention to him, shouted on his behalf, and filmed him with their cell phones when BART officers, who were strong, intimidated, and acting in the way they thought they were supposed to behave around people like Oscar, shot him in cold blood at the Fruitvale subway stop on New Year’s Day in 2009.

Grace of Monaco

DIR. Olivier Dahan / December 27

From La Vie en Rose director Olivie Dahan we have another Weinstein acquisition in Grace of Monaco in which Nicole Kidman stars as Grace Kelly, which is to say we instantly have a Best Actress contender. I do have a feeling this one may go the way of The Iron Lady and largely be looked at as an acting contender with Tim Roth playing Kelly’s husband, Monaco’s Prince Rainier III, as another potential nominee, but I won’t count out additional categories just yet.

POTENTIAL OSCAR CATEGORIES: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Nicole Kidman), Best Supporting Actor (Tim Roth and Frank Langella), Original Screenplay (Arash Amel), Cinematography (Eric Gautier), Costumes (Gigi Lepage), Production Design

STUDIO: The Weinstein Co.

CAST: Nicole Kidman, Tim Roth, Frank Langella, Parker Posey and Derek Jacobi

SYNOPSIS: Grace Kelly (Kidman), a former Oscar winner and mother of two, had already spent six years as the monarch of a European nation when the retired starlet was called upon to save Monaco from an escalating situation regarding its standing as a tax haven, with French leader Charles de Gaulle giving her husband, Monaco’s Prince Rainier III (Roth), six months to reform its tax laws.

Gravity

DIR. Alfonso Cuaron / October 4

This one could go either way. The delays have me wary, but it’s impossible not to anticipate Alfonso Cuaron‘s Gravity given the anticipation throughout the years. Biggest problem is the lack of knowledge on just what exactly we’re going to get.

POTENTIAL OSCAR CATEGORIES: Best Picture, Director, Actress (Sandra Bullock), Supporting Actor (George Clooney), Original Screenplay (Alfonso Cuarón and Jonás Cuarón), Original Score (Steven Price), Cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezki), Film Editing, Visual Effects, Production Design, Costume Design (Jany Temime)

STUDIO: Warner Bros.

CAST: Sandra Bullock and George Clooney

SYNOPSIS: Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone–tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth…and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.

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