2013 Awards Preview - Postscript: Predictions

     Of course, nobody knows anything yet, but I can't resist doing this just for fun.  I haven't even started tracking 86th Oscar Buzz in any significant way yet.  This is just going with my gut. That being said, five of the eventual Best Picture nominees from last year were in my preview series predictions top ten and I made those a couple of weeks earlier.  Three of the other four were in my alternates.  Amour is the only possibility that seemed to really escape me, but how often does a non-English language film actually crack the Best Picture category?  Let's see if I can do any better this year.  Bear in mind, the last couple of alternate slots in any category are usually going to be things I would LIKE to see happen.  Some are a little wild...

  Best Picture
1. The Wolf of Wall Street
2. Twelve Years a Slave
3. Inside Llewyn Davis
4. Nebraska
5. Fruitvale Station
6. The Monuments Men
7. Elysium
8. Before Midnight (ala Toy Story 3 and the expanded field effect)
9. The Butler
10. The Counselor

11. American Hustle
12. The Zero Theorem
13. The Immigrant
14. The Great Gatsby
15. Labor Day
16. The Rover
17. The Young and Prodigious Spivet
18. To The Wonder
19. Ain't Them Bodies Saints
20. The East
  But don't rule out: All Is Lost, August: Osage County, Captain Phillips, The Fifth Estate, Foxcatcher, Grace of Monico, Gravity, Her, Kill Your Darlings, Midnight's Children, Mud, Only God Forgives, The Place Beyond the Pines, Serena, Snowpiercer, Trance, World War Z

  Best Director
1. Steve McQueen - Twelve Years a Slave
2. Martin Scorcese - The Wolf of Wall Street
3. Alexander Payne - Nebraska
4. Ryan Coogler - Fruitvale Station'
5. The Coen Brothers - Inside Llewyn Davis

6. Neil Blomkamp - Elysium
7. Lee Daniels - The Butler
8. George Clooney - The Monuments Men
9. Richard Linklater - Before Midnight
10. Terence Malick - To The Wonder
  Other possibilities: David O Russell - American Hustle, Paul Greengrass - Captain Phillips, Ridley Scott - The Couselor, Bill Condon - The Fifth Estate, Bennett Miller - Foxcatcher, Baz Luhrman - The Great Gatsby, James Grey - The Immigrant, Jason Reitman - Labor Day, Deepa Mehta - Midnight's Children, Jeff Nichols - Mud, Nicholas Winding Refn - Only God Forgives, David Michod - The Rover, Susanne Bier - Serena, Jean-Pierre Juenet - The Young and Prodigious Spivet, Terry Gillem - The Zero Theorem

  Best Actor
1. Michael B. Jordan - Fruitvale Station
2. Michael Fassbender - The Counselor
3. Chiawatel Ejiofor - Twelve Years a Slave
4. Robert Redford - All Is Lost
5. Bruce Dern - Nebraska

6. Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street
7. Oscar Isaac - Inside Llewyn Davis
8. Forest Whitaker - The Butler
9. Matthew MacConaughey - Mud
10. Christoph Waltz - The Zero Theorem
  Or...Casey Affleck - Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Bradley Cooper - American Hustle, Dennis Quaid - At Any Price, Ethan Hawke - Before Midnight, Toby Jones - Berberian Sound Studio, Tom Hanks - Captain Phillips, Matt Damon - Elysium, Bradley Cooper - The Fifth Estate, Mads Mickelson - The Hunt, Jeremy Renner - The Immigrant, Daniel Radcliffe - Kill Your Darlings, Ryan Gosling - Only God Forgives, Leonardo DiCaprio - The Great Gatsby, Joaquin Phoenix - Her, Idris Elba - Mandela: TheLong Walk To Freedom, Ryan Gosling - The Place Beyond the Pines, Christian Bale - Out of the Furnace, Colin Firth - The Railway Man, Guy Pearce - The Rover, Tom Hanks - Saving Mr. Banks

  Best Actress
1. Nicole Kidman - Grace of Monaco
2. Jessica Chastain - The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Hers
3. Oprah Winfrey - The Butler
4. Carey Mulligan - The Great Gatsby
5. Rooney Mara - Ain't Them Bodies Saints

6. Naomie Watts - Diana
7. Sandra Bullock - Gravity
8. Marion Cotillard - The Immigrant
9. Julie Delpy - Before Midnight
10. Susan Sarandan - The Company You Keep
     I also thought about: Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle, Meryl Streep - August: Osage County, Rooney Mara - Her, Saoirse Ronan - How I Live Now, Mia Wasikowska - Madame Bovary, Naomi Harris - Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, Shaillene Woodley - The Spectacular Now

  Best Supporting Actor
1. John Goodman - Inside Llewyn Davis
2. Robert DeNiro - American Hustle
3. Brad Pitt - The Counselor
4. Steve Carrell - Foxcatcher
5. Ewan McGregor - August: Osage County

6. Michael Fassbender - Twelve Years a Slave
7. Robin Williams - The Butler
8. Matthew MacConaughey - The Wolf of Wall Street
9. Will Forte - Nebraska
10. Ezra Miller - Madame Bovary
  Also: Ben Foster - Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Jeremy Renner - American Hustle, Chris Cooper - August: Osage County, Benedict Cumberbatch - August: Osage County, John Cusack - The Butler, Michael Fassbender - Frank, Tim Roth - Grace of Monaco, Tobey McGuire - The Great Gatsby, Joachin Phoenix - The Immigrant, Justin Timberlake - Inside Llewyn Davis, Matt Damon - The Monuments Men, Jean Dujardin - The Monuments Men, John Goodman - The Monuments Men, Casey Affleck - Out of the Furnace, Bradley Cooper - The Place Beyond the Pines, Scoot McNairy - The Rover, Robert Pattinson - The Rover, Paul Giamatti - Twelve Years a Slave, Brad Pitt - Twelve Years a Slave, Ben Whishaw - The Zero Theorem

  Best Supporting Actress
1. Jane Fonda - The Butler
2. Viola Davis - The Disappearence of Eleanor Rigby: Hers or His, not sure which
3. Julia Roberts - August: Osage County
4. Cate Blanchett - The Monuments Men
5. Alfre Woodard - Twelve Years a Slave

6. Amy Adams - American Hustle
7. Octavia Spencer - Fruitvale Station
8. Catherine Keener - Captain Phillips
9. Carey Mulligan - Inside Llewyn Davis
10. Ellen Page - The East
  And then you have: Juliette Lewis - August: Osage County, Melissa Leo - The Butler, Parker Posey - Grace of Monaco, Samantha Morten - Her, Michelle Pfeiffer - Malavita, Kristen Scott Thomas - Only God Forgives, Zoe Saldana - Out of the Furnace, Quvenzhane Wallis - Twelve Years a Slave, Judy Davis - The Young and Prodigious Spivet

  Adapted Screenplay
1. The Wolf of Wall Street
2. Before Midnight
3. The Butler
4. The Monuments Men
5. Much Ado About Nothing

6. The Great Gatsby
7. Prince Avalanche
8. Midnight's Children
9. Snowpiercer
10. Man of Steel
  In the running: The Fifth Estate, The Spectacular Now, Two Faces of January

  Original Screenplay
1. Inside Llewyn Davis
2. Twelve Years a Slave
3. Fruitvale Station
4. Nebraska
5. The Immigrant

6. The Counselor
7. Elysium
8. American Hustler
9. The Zero Theorem
10. Ain't Them Bodies Saints
  Also keeping an eye on: All Is Lost, Captain Phillips, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: His and/or Hers, The East, Foxcatcher, Frank, Grace of Monaco, Kill Your Darlings, Mud, Only God Forgives, Her, The Place Beyond the Pines, The Rover, Trance, The Young and Prodigious Spivet, World War Z

  Best Cinematography
1. The Monuments Men
2. The Great Gatsby
3. Ain't Them Bodies Saints
4. Nebraska
5. To The Wonder

6. Elysium
7. The Zero Theorem
8. The Wolf of Wall Street
9. All Is Lost
10. Only God Forgives

  Best Editing
1. The Wolf of Wall Street
2. Twelve Years a Slave
3. Inside Llewyn Davis
4. Elysium
5. The Monuments Men

6. Fruitvale Station
7. The Butler
8. Man of Steel
9. The East
10. The Counselor

  Best Production Design
1. The Monuments Men
2. The Great Gatsby
3. Elysium
4. Twelve Years a Slave
5. The Butler

6. Oblivion
7. Grace of Monaco
8. Kill Your Darlings
9. The Young and Prodigious Spivet
10. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

  Best Costume Design
1. The Great Gatsby
2. Grace of Monaco
3. The Butler
4. Oz the Great and Powerful
5. The Immigrant

6. Diana
7. Inside Llewyn Davis
8. Twelve Years a Slave
9. The Monuments Men
10. The Rover

  Best Make-Up and Hairstyling
1. The Butler
2. Oz the Great and Powerful
3. World War Z

4. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
5. Grace of Monaco
6. Only God Forgives

  Best Original Score
1. The Wolf of Wall Street
2. Man of Steel
3. The Monuments Men
4. World War Z
5. Oldboy

6. Oz the Great and Powerful
7. Snowpiercer
8. The Young and Prodigious Spivet
9. Elysium
10. The Zero Theorem

  Best Original Song
1. Was there an Original Song in Sapphires?
2. Planes
3. Inside Llewyn Davis
4. Oz the Great and Powerful
5. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

  Best Sound Editing
1. Elysium
2. Man of Steel
3. The Monuments Men
4. All is Lost
5. Only God Forgives

6. World War Z
7. Oz the Great and Powerful
8. Snowpiercer
9. Twelve Years a Slave
10. Captain Phillips

  Best Sound Mixing
1. The Monuments Men
2. Man of Steel
3. Inside Llewyn Davis
4. Elysium
5. World War Z

6. Only God Forgives
7. All is Lost
8. Twelve Years a Slave
9. The Wolf of Wall Street
10. Captain Phillips

  Best Visual Effects
1. Elysium
2. Man of Steel
3. World War Z
4. Snowpiercer
5. The Europa Report

6. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
7. Gravity
8. The Great Gatsby
9. All is Lost
10. Oblivion

  Best Documentary Feature
1. Stories We Tell
2. The Act of Killing
3. Blood Brother
4. We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks
5. Room 237

  Best Foreign Language Film
1. Child's Pose
2. The Hunt
3. Gloria
4. The Past
5. Le Grande Bellazza

6. Closed Curtain
7. Venus in Fur
8. Goodbye to Language
9. Attilla Marcel
10. Mood Indigo

  Best Animated Feature
1. Frozen
2. Planes
3. The Wind Rises
4. Monsters University
5. Hell and Back

6. Epic
7. Ernest and Celestine
8. Leo the Lion
9. Despicable Me Too
10. The Croods

     Related Articles:  Upcoming 2013 Award Season Preview: Part One: Pulpy Players, Part Two: Specialties That Might Spellbind, Part Three: Little Pics That Might Could, Part Four: The Usual Suspects, Part 5 - Because I Said So, 2012 Preview Postscript - Predictions

2013 Awards Season Preview - Part 5: Because I Said So

     Below is my fifth and final set of films for the 2013-2014 Awards season, titled Because I Said So.  Each article in this series has presented a group of upcoming releases that are currently on my watch list.  I divided the articles up to each represent the strengths found in cinema in one of the last four years (with 2013 as an unknown wild card for this fifth post). We have no idea what 2013 will bring.  In its honor, I present this set of films that don't fit any of the other four categories that Oscar usually draws from (and a few that I just forgot in those categories).  This category can contain any genre, but comedies, super hero fare and fantasy form the majority.
     On a side note, no awards season will ever be mostly about these kinds of films.  Generally speaking, the Academy ignores them almost entirely.  Maybe an odd tech, acting or screenplay nod, but that's it.  It is almost certain that none of these films will make the Best Picture list.  However, that doesn't mean that there are no films in this group that SHOULD.
      The movies that already have release dates are presented in chronological order.  The films that have not received such dates are listed alphabetically afterward.  The fifteen films (that have not already been released) that I am most excited about seeing appear in bold with short descriptions of why.  Do not be surprised if we see some of these get pushed back until 2014.  I will be surprised if we don't.  Still, for now, the films I'm covering in 2013 just Because I Said So are...

  01/11 - Gangster Squad (yeah, rough reviews, but Gosling & Penn keep it in my DVD que anyway)
               Struck By Lightning (Glee's Chris Colfer wrote and stars in this high school comedy)
  01/25 - Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
  02/01 - Warm Bodies (zombie in love story from writer/director Jonathen Levine)
  02/14 - Beautiful Creatures (Emma Thompson, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis & teen witches)
  03/01 - Jack the Giant Slayer (directed by Bryan Singer)
  03/08 - Oz, the Great and Powerful (James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz & Michelle Williams)
  03/15 - The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (Magicians #1: Carrell, Buscemi, Carrey, Arkin, Gandolfini...)
  04/05 - Upstream Color
  04/12 - The Angel's Share (directed by Ken Loach)
  05/03 - Iron Man 3
  06/07 - Much Ado About Nothing: Joss Whedon follows up Marvel's Avengers with...a Shakespeare adaptation?  No, seriously, and the trailer looks fantastic.  Stars Whedon mainstays Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof.
               Now You See Me: Director Louis Letterier brings us magicians #2 (and this one looks much better).  Stars Jesse Eisenberg, Morgan Freeman, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Caine, Dave Franco & Melanie Laurent
  06/14 - Man of Steel: Zack Snyder may be directing, but Christopher Nolan is producing and contributing on the story, so I'm hoping it's going to do for Superman what The Dark Knight trilogy did for Batman. Early promotionals are VERY promising.  Even the casting of Kevin Costner as Pa Kent couldn't chase me away from this.  Also stars Henry Cavill (Clark), Amy Adams (Lois), Russel Crowe (Jor-El), Dianne Lane (Martha Kent), Michael Shannon (Zod) & Laurence Fishburne (Perry White).
               This Is The End:  Fourth wall bending apocalypse comedy about a party at James Franco's house from directors Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg.  If that isn't bizarre enough to get your attention, the film stars the three gentlemen listed above as well as Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Paul Rudd, Emma Watson, Jason Segal, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Rihanna, and Kevin Hart.
  06/21 - World War Z: What can be done with zombie flicks that hasn't already been done?  THIS!!!  Marc Forster (Finding Neverland) directs, Brad Pitt stars, and the effects team is probably going to the Oscars!!!
  06/28 - White House Down (stars Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx & Maggie Gyllenhall)
  07/05 - The Way, Way Back (written & directed by Nat Faxon & Jim Rash with Carell & Collette)
  07/19 - R.I.P.D. (undead cops starring Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Bacon & Mary Louise Parker)
  07/26 - Wolverine (Hugh Jackman returns, hopefully the second time is the charm)
  08/02 - The Spectacular Now: Director James Ponsoldt's follow up to Smashed is an off-beat high school romance about living in the present versus living in the future.  Stars Shaillene Woodley, Miles Teller, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Brie Larson, Bob Odenkirk, Jennifer Jason Leigh & Kyle Chandler.
  08/16 - Kick-Ass 2 (the first chapter survived Cage, can this one survive Carey?)
               Thanks For Sharing (stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Mark Ruffalo & Tim Robbins)
  08/23 - The Grandmaster (directed by Kar Wai Wong)
               Mortal Instruments: The City of Bone: This might be terrible, but the trailer looks like GREAT fun.  Director Harold Zwart DID manage to exceed my expectations roundly with the Karate Kid remake, so who knows how he'll handle a movie about teen-age demon hunters?  Stars Lena Headey, Lily Collins & Aiden Turner with Jonathen Rhys-Meyers and Jean-Pierre Jeunet mainstay Robert Maillet in supporting.
               World's End (Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright with Martin Freeman & Rosamund Pike)
  10/04 - Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For (would be highlighted if it weren't a sequel)
  10/18 - Don Jon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut)
              Seventh Son (Family fantasy starring Julianne Moore and Jeff Bridges)
  11/08 - Thor: The Dark World (no Branagh direction, but Hemsworth and Portman return)
  11/22 - Hunger Games: Catching Fire
  11/27 - Black Nativity: Ok, so an all black musical version of the Christmas story sounds like it could be uber-cheesy, BUT...the film stars Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassette, Jennifer Hudson & Mary J. Blige...so it could also be brilliant...or at least have some brilliant acting.
  TBA -   Almost Christmas (comedy starring Paul Rudd, Paul Giamatti & Sally Hawkins)
               Big Wedding: Ok, so a comedy of errors about two families coming together for a wedding has been done to DEATH as a story concept, I admit.  Debut director Justin Zackham is completely untried, I grant you.  However, I WILL be watching any film that stars Susan Sarandan, Dianne Keaton, Robert DeNiro, Robin Williams, Amanda Seyfried, Katherine Heigl & Topher Grace.  This one does.
               Drinking Buddies (with Anna Kendrick & Olivia Wilde)
               Filth (crime drama with McAvoy, Bell & Poots)
               Frank: Michael Fassbender plays a mysterious band leader in a comedy that also features Domhnall Gleeson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, & Scoot McNairy.
               The Harvest (horror flick with Michael Shannon, Samantha Morton & Peter Fonda)
               The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman: This debut feature from director Fredrik Bond is a twisted tale of love and crime.  It stars Shia LaBeouf, Mads Mickelson, Melissa Leo, John Hurt, Rupert Grint, Evan Rachel Wood & Vincent D'Onofrio.
               Prince Avalanche: The latest comedy from director David Gordon Green tells a story of two highway workers played by Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch.
               The Rover: Animal Kingdom director David Michod brings us a Western with an Australian accent starring Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson & Scoot McNairy.  Michod co-wrote the script with Joel Edgerton.
                Tar (James Franco, Mila Kunis, Henry Hopper, Jessica Chastain, Zach Braff, Bruce Campbell...)
                Third Person: Paul Haggis directs a tale of three interlocking love stories starring James Franco, Mila Kunis, Olivia Wilde, Kim Bassinger, Maria Bello, Adrien Brody & Liam Neeson.
                 Two Mothers (reviews from the festival circuit were not great, but I can't resist)
                 Untitled Nicole Holofcener Project
                 Winter's Tale: Director Akiva Goldsman bring high concept fantasy starring Russell Crowe, Will Smith, Jennifer Connelly, Colin Farrell & William Hurt.
                 Zulu (Orlando Bloom & Forrest Whitaker)

     And that concludes The Movie Frog's viewing agenda (as of now) for 2013 releases.  I can't resist doing a post script edition where I make some totally unsubstantiated stabs in the dark about possible Oscar nominations.  Look for it in a couple of days.  Until then...
                                                               Froggy

     Related Articles: Upcoming 2013 Award Season Preview: Part One: Pulpy Players, Part Two: Specialties That Might Spellbind, Part Three: Little Pics That Might Could, Part Four: The Usual Suspects, The Dark Knight Transcends
  

2013 Awards Preview - Part 4: The Usual Suspects

    Below is my fourth set of films for the 2013-2014 Awards season, titled The Usual Suspects.  Each article in this series will present a group of upcoming releases that are currently on my watch list.  I divided the articles up to each represent the strengths found in cinema in one of the last four years (with 2013 as an unknown wild card for the fifth post). This post is in honor of the year 2012, when the movies that were SUPPOSED to be the big awards players mostly lived up to the hype.  In its honor, I present this set of films that due to their director, stars and/or subject matter, can truly be termed pure Oscar Bait.  This category can contain many genres, but epics, costume dramas, and war films often make up the bulk.
     On a side note, any year can turn out to be a year in which The Usual Suspects shine through.  It all depends on how satisfactorily the talent involved lives up to the high expectations that come with their names.  A year like 2013, that has new films from Scorcese, Soderburgh, Payne, Miller, Reitman, Howard, Cianfrance, Daniels, McQueen, and Russell on the horizon (just to name a few, honestly) is rife with opportunity to do just that.  However things pan out, expect at least five of your Best Picture nominees to come from this bunch of choices.
      The movies that already have release dates are presented in chronological order.  The films that have not received such dates are listed alphabetically afterward.  The twenty films (that have not already been released, and that I did not cover last year, ahem, Gatsby and Gravity, ahem) that I am most excited about seeing appear in bold with short descriptions of why.  Do not be surprised if we see some of these get pushed back until 2014.  I will be surprised if we don't.  Still, for now, the Usual Suspects of 2013 are...

  01/07 - Great Expectations (Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham!!!)
  02/08 - Side Effects (Soderburgh's final film? With Mara, Law, Zeta-Jones & Tatum)
  03/29 - The Place Beyond the Pines (Dir: Derek Cianfrance, starring Gosling, Cooper & Mendes)
  04/05 - The Company You Keep (Dir: Robert Redford, starring Redford, Marling, Sarandan, LaBouf...)
               Trance (this might be too trippy for Oscar, but Slumdog and 127 Hours leave Boyle 2 for 2)
  04/12 - 42 (now holds the honor of having the top Box Office premiere ever for a baseball flick)
               To The Wonder (Dir: Terence Malick, stars Ben Affleck, Benecio del Toro & Rachel McAdams)
  04/26 - At Any Price (with Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron)
              Midnight's Children (Directed by Deepa Mehta)
  05/10 - The Great Gatsby (Luhrman in 3D!!! Stars DiCaprio, Mulligan, McGuire & Edgerton)
  05/24 - Before Midnight: I normally avoid threequels at all costs but this is director Richard Linklater's next episode in the Before series (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset) and the quality didn't slide from Part 1 to Part 2, so...stars Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke.
  08/30 - Diana: The latest from director Oliver Hirschbiegel (who's been too busy with TV's the Borgias to come out with a new film for the last couple of years) chronicles the last two years in the life of Princess Diana.  Oscar loves biopics about the British royals and Naomi Watts (in the title role) seems well primed to be a Best Actress contender.
  09/20 - Rush (car racing drama from Ron Howard starring Chris Hemsworth)
  09/27 - Serena: Susanne Bier (director of the Foreign Language Film Oscar winner In a Better World) tries her hand at English language cinema with this depression era drama about a barren woman.  Stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence (deja vu part 1).
  10/04 - Gravity (I covered this in last year's preview. Cuaron directs Bullock in one woman spacewalk.)
               Out of the Furnace: Director Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart, Get Low) returns with a crime drama about two brothers.  Stars Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, Zoe Saldana, Willem Dafoe, Forrest Whitaker, Casey Affleck & Sam Shepard.
  10/18 - The Butler: Lee Daniels (Precious) directs this true story of a White House butler who served under every administration from Kennedy to Reagan!  Stars (prepare yourself) Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, Robin Williams, John Cusack, Jane Fonda, Melissa Leo, Alex Petyfer, James Marsden, Alan Rickman, Liev Shrieber, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Vanessa Redrave, Lenny Kravitz & Mariah Carey.
              Her: The always creative Spike Jonze (Where the Wild Things Are, Being John Malkovich) returns with this story of man and machine starring Olivia Wilde, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Joaquin Phoenix and Samantha Morten.
  11/08 - August: Osage County: It's hard to go wrong with a cast starring Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ewan McGregor, Abigail Breslin, Juliette Lewis, Dermot Mulroney, Chris Cooper, Sam Shepard & Margo Martindale.  The picture is adapted by Tracy Letts from her own play and directed by John Wells (The Company Men).
              Inside Llewyn Davis: NEVER discount the Coen Brothers.  This tale of the 1960's New York music scene stars Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund and F. Murray Abraham.
  11/15 - The Fifth Estate: Bill Condon goes from directing teen-age vampires to the story of the founding of WikiLeaks.  Stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Stanley Tucci, Anthony Mackie, Carice van Houten, Daniel Bruhl, Laura Linney, David Thewliss & Alicia Vikander.
               The Wolf of Wall Street: The legendary Martin Scorcese reteams with star Leonardo DiCaprio for this tale of stock market intrigue.  Also stars Matthew MacConaughey, Jonah Hill, John Bernthal, Jon Favreau, Kyle Chandler, Julie Andrews, Rob Reiner & Jean Dujardin.
  11/29 - A Most Wanted Man: Director Anton Corbjin (The American) directs this tale of an innocent Muslim who gets caught up in the War on Terror.  The cast includes Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Willem Dafoe & Daniel Bruhl.
  12/13 - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
  12/18 - The Monuments Men: George Clooney wrote, directed and stars in this film of art historians trying to save timeless works from the Nazis.  Maybe the most Oscar-baity film of the year also stars Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, John Goodman & Jean Dujardin.
  12/20 - Saving Mr. Banks (The Blind Side's John Lee Hancock directs Hanks, Thompson, Giamatti...)
  12/25 - Untitled David O Russell Abscam Project: It may not have a title yet, but it surely has buzz.  Can Russell make it three Picture and Director nominations in a row (after The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook)?  The cast reunites Cooper, Lawrence & DeNiro (deja vu part 2) and also includes Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Louis CK & Michael Pena.
  12/27 - Grace of Monaco: Director Olivier Dahan's La Vie en Rose won Marion Cotillard an Oscar and it wasn't even in English.  Can the Academy possibly ignore him directing Nicole Kidman as Grace Kelly during her transition from movie star to royalty?  I have my doubts.  The movie also stars Milo Ventimiglia (Peter from TV's Heroes), Tim Roth, Parker Posey, Frank Langella & Derek Jacobi.
               Twelve Years a Slave: Shame was a true masterpiece but a little too edgy for Oscar.  Writer/director Steve McQueen's follow up should be a little more palatable to the AMPAS.  Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Fassbender, Paul Giamatti, Scoot McNairy, Paul Dano, Quvenzhane Wallis, Sarah Paulson, Alfre Woodard & Dwight Henry.
  TBA - All is Lost (writer/director JC Chandor's follow up to Margin Call stars Redford in one man show)
             Foxcatcher: Moneyball got Bennett Miller into the Best Picture race last time at bat.  Can he repeat with this true story of a paranoid schizophrenic starring Channing Tatum, Steve Carrell, Sienna Miller, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Michael Hall & Vanessa Redgrave?  At this point, I'm not going to bet AGAINST it.
             Hedda Gabler
             How I Live Now: Director Kevin MacDonald (Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void) tells a story of young girl caught up in war.  Stars Saoirse Ronan and The Impossible's Tom Holland.
             Labor Day: Jason Reitman has a great track record with the Academy and he adapted and directed this picture which should show the film maker's more serious side.  It stars Josh Brolin, Kate Winslet & Tobey Maguire.
             Last of Robin Hood (probably 2014, but this could pull a Hitchcock)
             Maps to the Stars (ditto)
             Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight: Director Stephen Frears brings you the story of the epic Supreme Court case.  Starring Christopher Plummer, Danny Glover, Frank Langella, Barry Levinson, Bob Balaban & Ed Begley, Jr.
             Nebraska: It seems appropriate to wind down an article on the year's Oscar bait with a film from Alexandre Payne who is usually quirkier than one should be when trying to catch the Academy's eye but does so anyway.  Could this year be the Scorcese/Payne show down that The Artist prevented from happening in 2011?  Bruce Dern and Will Forte star in a father/son cross country road trip.
             Untitled Terence Malick Project (2013?  I'll believe it when I see it.)


     Related Articles: Upcoming 2013 Award Season Preview: Part One: Pulpy Players, Part Two: Specialties That Might Spellbind, Part Three: Little Pics That Might Could, Dark Clouds Beautify "Silver Linings", Innkeepers of Blood and Shame (Shame review), "Impossible"y Well Crafted

2013 Awards Preview - Part 3: Little Pics That Might Could

    Below is my third list of films for the 2013-2014 Awards season, titled Little Pics That Might Could.  Each article in this series will present a group of upcoming releases that are currently on my watch list.  I divided the articles up to each represent the strengths found in cinema in one of the last four years (with 2013 as an unknown wild card for the fifth post). This post is in honor of the year 2011, when the little art house film (most too small for Oscar to notice) ruled the day.  In its honor, I present this set of films destined for limited release and crossed fingers.  This category can contain many genres, but it is mainly the stomping ground of dramas and dramedies.
     On a side note, 2013 is showing early signs of a strong art house year already.  Films like Mud, Fruitvale & Ain't Them Bodies Saints are already tearing up the festival circuit and we still have films from Jeunet and Gillam coming down the pike.
      The movies that already have release dates are presented in chronological order.  The films that have not received such dates are listed alphabetically afterward.  The fifteen films (that have not already been released) that I am most excited about seeing appear in bold with short descriptions of why.  Do not be surprised if we see some of these get pushed back until 2014.  I will be surprised if we don't.  Still, for now, the Little Pics That Might Could in 2013 are...

  01/11 - Quartet (stars Maggie Smith)
  03/15 - Better Mus Come
              Ginger & Rosa (Elle Fanning is supposed to be amazing)
  03/22 - My Brother the Devil (gay themes and Islam collide in Great Britain)
               The Sapphires (the 2012 festival sensation finally makes it stateside)
  04/26 - Mud: So, director Jeff Nichols blew me away with Take Shelter in 2011 and Michael Shannon (my #1 lead male performance of 2011 for Shelter) is reunited with the film maker for this picture.  This film has received almost universal praise on the festival circuit.  Oh, and for those who feel Matthew McConaughey was unduly snubbed for his work in Magic Mike last year, this is supposedly the best work of his career.  Also features Reese Witherspoon.
               The Reluctant Fundamentalist
  05/03 - What Maisie Knew (Julianne Moore & Alexander Skarsgard & the trailer looks GREAT)
  05/17 - The English Teacher (Julianne Moore again)
  05/31 - Shadow Dancer (Andrea Riseborough's lead performance has received near universal acclaim)
  06/07 - Passion (Brian De Palma directs a sapphic thriller starring Noomi Rapace and Rachel McAdams)
  06/14 - Bling Ring (director Sophia Coppola's follow up to Somewhere looks far less drowsy)
  06/21 - Unfinished Song (Terrence Stamp and Vanessa Redgrave)
  07/19 - Girl Most Likely (Kristen Wiig and Matt Damon)
  07/26 - Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen's latest)
               Fruitvale: This film already won writer/director Ryan Coogler both the Grand Jury Prize and an Audience Award at Sundance before being picked up for distribution by The Weinstein Co.  I don't know how your math adds up, but that sounds like a potential awards player to me.  Star Michael B. Jordan is also generating buzz.  Octavia Spencer supports.
  08/16 - Ain't Them Bodies Saints: This one won the Cinematography award at Sundance and David Lowery won the Directors To Watch award at the Palm Springs Film Festival.  With a cast that includes Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, and Ben Foster, this one could also be a major player.
  TBA -   Austenland
               Berberian Sound Studio: This little horror film cleaned up at last year's British Independent Film Awards as well as with the London Film Critics Circle last year.  Lead actor Toby Jones (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) has also won a lot of acclaim. Now if it would just get a U.S. release date...
               Bluebird
               Breathe In (writer/director Drake Doremus's follow up to Martha Marcy Mae Marlene)
               Calvary (writer/director John Michael McDonaugh's follow up to The Guard)
               Concussion
               Dallas Buyer's Club: Matthew McConaughey may have the best year ever in 2013.  He stars in this tale of a homophobic man infected with HIV in the mid-80's who founds a smuggling ring to get unapproved meds into this country.  Jean-Marc Vallee (The Young Victoria, Cafe de Flore) directs and Jennifer Garner co-stars.
               The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Hers
                                             and
               The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: His: Two films that tell the same story from two different perspectives.  This will be the debut feature from writer/director Ned Benson but he managed to attract a cast that includes Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Ciaran Hinds, William Hurt and Viola Davis.
               Effie:  Emma Thompson penned this one and has a meaty supporting turn.  Oh, and it stars Dakota Fanning.
               Francis Ha (Noah Brumbaugh and Greta Gerwig's follow up to Greenberg)
               Gambit (script by the Coen Brothers)
               Jayne Mansfield's Car (written & directed by Billy Bob Thornton)
               Kill Your Darlings: Writer/director John Krokidas's debut feature is a thriller set in the world of the beat generation.  The film stars (get ready) Daniel Radcliffe, Michael C. Hall, Elizabeth Olsen, Ben Foster, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kyra Sedgewick & Dane Dehaan.  Krokidas was cited as a director to watch at the Palm Springs film festival.
               Laurence Anyways: Winner of the Queer Palme at 2012 Cannes, this film from director Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother) follows a transexual's relationship with her lover as she changes.  Actress Suzanne Clement also was awarded Un Certain Regard.
               The Look of Love (from Michael Winterbottom, director of 24 Hour Party People)
               Madame Bovary: This latest adaptation from director Sophie Barthes (Cold Souls) is being kept fairly quiet at the moment.  However, any film that stars Ezra Miller, Mia Wasikowska & Paul Giamatti has my interest.
               Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom: The Weinstein Company has already picked up this latest from director Justin Chadwick (The Other Boleyn Girl), which always boosts a film's chances at recognition. The film stars Idris Elba and Naomie Harris as the Mandelas.
                Mother of George
                Night Moves (Jesse Eisenberg & Dakota Fanning)
                Nightingale
                Nymphomaniac: Writer/director Lars von Trier is both a genius and a madman, his films both amazing and disturbing.  This follow up to the masterpiece Melancholia stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgard, Shia LaBeouf, Jamie Bell, Christian Slater, and Willem Dafoe.
                Parkland (Zac Efron, Paul Giamatti, Tom Welling, Billy Bob Thornton, Jackie Earle Hayley...)
                The Railway Man: Oscar loves movies tied to World War II and true stories and this is both.  More than that it stars Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgard, and War Horse star Jeremy Irvine.
                Sunlight, Jr. (Naomi Watts & Matt Dillon)
                Touchy Feely
                You Can't Win
                The Young and Prodigious Spivet: Writer/director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's work (Amelie, City of Lost Children, Micmacs) is always creative, playful, dark and wondrous simultaneously.  This time he's working in English with Helena Bonham Carter, Rober Maillet (a usual suspect), Callum Keith Rennie and Judy Davis.
                Zero Theorem: Terry Gillam has got to be one of the most pivotal directors of the last several decades to have never received a Best Director nomination (although he did get a screenwriting nod for Brazil).  Granted, his work is usually VERY bizarre, but surely the Academy has to recognize what a unique cinematic voice the man has.  Oh, well, they'll probably ignore this one too, and I'll probably love it.  The cast features Christoph Waltz, Matt Damon, Ben Whishaw, Tilda Swinton, David Thewliss & Melanie Thierry.
             
        And that does it for the Little Pics That Might Could in the coming year.  Two more sets of films remain.  Next up: "The Usual Suspects" covers the true Oscar Bait.  Hop aboard my lily pad and take a look.
                                                                                             Froggy

  Related Articles: Upcoming 2013 Award Season Preview: Part One: Pulpy Players, Part Two: Specialties That Might Spellbind, Senna, Take 13 (Take Shelter review), Where Did the Magic Spider Go? (Magic Mike review), Martha's Certified Method (Martha Marcy Mae Marlene review), WE Guard Rum (The
Guard review), Beautiful Melancholy Conspirator (Melancholia review)

2013 Awards Preview - Part 2: Specialties That Might Spellbind

    Below is my second list of films for the 2013-2014 Awards season, titled Specialties That Might Spellbind.  Each article in this series will present a group of upcoming releases that are currently on my watch list.  I divided the articles up to each represent the strengths found in cinema in one of the last four years (with 2013 as an unknown wild card for the fifth post). This post is in honor of the year 2010, perhaps the most innovative year for documentaries ever.  In its honor, I present films in the genres that Oscar divides off into their own categories: Documentaries, Foreign Language Films and Animated Features.
     On a side note, 2013 seems poised to be a real banner year for Foreign Films.  With offerings from Almodovar, Goddard, Panahi, Vallee, Vinterburg, Farhadi and Polanski in the mix, there have to be a few gems hidden in this soil.
      The movies that already have release dates are presented in chronological order.  The films that have not received such dates are listed alphabetically afterward.  The fifteen films (that have not already been released) that I am most excited about seeing appear in bold with short descriptions of why.  Do not be surprised if we see some of these get pushed back until 2014.  I will be surprised if we don't.  Still, for now, the Specialties That Might Spellbind in 2013 are...

  01/04 - 56 Up (now the kids from the early 60's doc 7 Up are 56)
  01/25 - Yossi (the sequel to the gay classic Yossi and Jagger)
  02/08 - Lore (Australia's celebrated submission to last year's Oscars)
  03/08 - Beyond the Hills (and Romania's)
  03/15 - From Up On Poppy Hill (from Japan's Studio Ghibli animation house)
  03/25 - Blancanieves (Spain's silent black and white Snow White adaptation, trailer looks great!)
               Room 237 (Documentary than ruminates on hidden meanings in Kubrick's The Shining)
  05/12 - Epic
  05/17 - Populaire
               Stories We Tell: Director Sarah Polley (Take This Waltz) brings us a very personal story of subjectivity and family secrets.   The movie won Best Documentary and Best Canadian Film at Toronto in 2012.
  05/24 - Fill the Void (Israel's submission to last year's Oscars)
              We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks (from director Alex Gibney of Taxi to the Dark Side)
  06/21 - Monsters University
  06/28 - I'm So Excited: Celebrated Spanish director Pedro Almodovar (The Skin I Live In, All About My Mother) assembles a host of classic characters from his films on a plane.  Cast includes Antonio Banderes and Penelope Cruz.
  07/03 - Despicable Me 2
  07/12 - The Hunt: Director Thomas Vinterburg won glory at Cannes with this film LAST year but it was released in Denmark too late to compete with A Royal Affair to be last year's Oscar submission.  It now seems like a likely choice for this year.  Can Denmark go two for two?  Stars international sensation Mads Mickelson.
  08/16 - Haute Cuisine
  TBA - Abus de Fablesse (stars Isabelle Huppert)
             The Act of Killing: This unusual documentary won critics over in droves at Sundance this year.  In it leaders of Indonesian death squads are invited to re-enact their real life mass killings in whatever movie genre they wish.  One is even a musical.  It's a macabre and fascinating concept to say the least.
             After Lucia (Mexico's submission to last year's Oscars)
             Atilla Marcel:  Director Sylvain Chomet (The Illusionist, The Triplets of Bellevue) has delighted us for years with his French language ANIMATED pieces.  This will be his first attempt at crafting a live-action feature.
             Bambi (NOT the Disney cartoon)
             Blood Brother: Documentary that follows Rocky Braat (an American tourist in India) on a journey that changes his life when he meets a group of HIV positive children.  The film premiered at Sundance where it won an Audience Award and the documentary Grande Jury Prize.
             Blue Is The Warmest Color
             Bwakaw (The Phillipines 2012 Oscar submission, still awaiting US release)
             Call Me Kuchu (documentary about the first openly gay man in Uganda)
             Camille Claudel, 1915 (stars the amazing Juliette Binoche)
             Child's Pose: This film won multiple prizes at Berlin, putting it in an excellent position to secure a slot as Romania's submission to the Oscars this year.  Only time will tell...
              Closed Curtain: Jafar Panahi's follow up to This Is Not a Film returns the director to narrative fiction.  The film won a screenplay award at Sundance and MIGHT be a contender for the Oscars if the temperamental Iranians choose to submit this year.
              Continental (A documentary about the infamous NYC bath house)
              Dau (Biographical film about the scientist Lev Landau)
              The Deep (Iceland's submission to last year's Oscars)
              Ernest & Celestine (well reviewed French animated feature about a bear and a mouse)
              Gloria: Can Chile get two nominations in a row?  The film already won three prizes at Berlin including a Silver Bear for actress Pauline Garcia.
              Goodbye to Language:  It seems like every year now some "serious" director tries their hand at 3-D.  This year we appear to have two: Baz Luhrman gives us Great Gatsby and living legend Jaques Godard gives us Goodbye to Language.  Will this be a major comeback by a master film maker?
              Le Grande Belazza (Il Divo director Paolo Sorrentino's return to Italian cinema)
              Gulf Stream Under the Iceberg (this Latvian film got weak reviews, but the premise still has me)
              Hell & Back: A modern animated riff on the Orpheus legend from the creators of Robot Chicken?  Starring the voice talents of Susan Sarandan, Mila Kunis, Danny McBride, Michael Pena and Jennifer Coolidge?  I'm so in.
              Irwin & Fran (Biographical documentary of Professor Irwin Corey and his wife)
              Jaures
              Jeune et Jolie (stars Charlotte Rampling & Frederic Pierrot)
              Jimmy Picard (stars Benicio del Toro)
              Manto Acuifero
              Mixed Kebab: Gay drama from Israel, looks fantastic!
              Mood Indigo (Belgian production from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind director Gondry)
              Paradise: Hope
              Paris-Manhattan (French ode to all things Woody Allen)
              The Past: Iranian film maker Asghar Farhadi follows up Oscar winner A Separation with another story of a troubled family.  Stars Berenice Bejo (The Artist) and Tahar Rahim (A Prophet)
              Praia do Futuro (Could this be Brazil's submission this year?)
              Les Salauds
              Les Tableau (this French animated flick got a qualifying run last year but is still awaiting US release)
              Twice Born (stars Penelope Cruz and Emile Hirsch)
              Venus in Fur: It's been a little while since master director Roman Polanski (I know, I know, but the man is UBER-talented) made a film not in the English language.  This play has been adapted for film a few times already, but with Polanski at the helm, it's sure to be something special.
              Waste Land (stars Matthias Schoenaerts)\
              The Wind Rises: Legendary animator and director Hayao Miyazaki tackles a very serious subject for a cartoon: the biography of the man who designed the World War II fighter planes for Japan.

       And that does it for the Specialties that might Spellbind you in the coming year.  Only three sets of films left to go.  Next up: "Little Pics That Might Could" covering mostly indie dramas and dramedies with a chance to break through into the big time.  Join us here in the cinematic swamp for Part Three, and watch out for quicksand. Okay?
                                                                                  Froggy

     Related Articles:  Upcoming 2013 Awards Season Preview, 2013 Awards Preview Part One: Pulpy Players, Immortal Skin, Forgotten Dreams (The Skin I Live In review), To Royal Effect (A Royal Affair review), These Are Not the Loneliest Word (This Is Not a Film review)

2013 Awards Preview - Part One: Pulpy Players

     Below is my first list of films for the 2013-2014 Awards season, titled Pulpy Players.  Each article in this series will present a group of upcoming releases that are currently on my watch list.  I divided them up to each represent the strengths found in cinema in each of the last four years (with 2013 as an unknown wild card for the fifth post). This post is in honor of the year 2009, which was one of the best years in science-fiction ever.  In its honor, I present films in the genres that Oscar flirts with occasionally, but hardly ever follows home: Horror, Science Fiction, Action flicks, Thrillers, Mysteries & Westerns.
     On a side note, this might be the year that unseats 2009 as the best year for sci-fi in the twenty-first century.  There are no less than nine pictures in that genre on my watch list.  If even half of them live up to their hype, it would be a banner year indeed.
      The movies that already have release dates are presented in chronological order.  The films that have not received such dates are listed alphabetically afterward.  The fifteen films (that have not already been released) that I am most excited about seeing appear in bold with short descriptions of why.  Do not be surprised if we see some of these get pushed back until 2014.  I will be surprised if we don't.  Still, for now, the Pulpy Players of 2013 are...

  01/18 - Mama (stars Jessica Chastain)

  03/01 - Stoker (Kidman and Wasikowska)

  03/08 - Dead Man Down

  03/15 - The Call
              Upside Down (mixed reviews, but Kirsten Dunst!)

  04/05 - 6 Souls (stars Julianne Moore)

  04/19 - Oblivion (Cruise and Freeman, maybe cheese, maybe more)

  05/03 - The Iceman:  This picture may have gotten mixed reviews on the festival circuit, but Michael Shannon's performance was universally lauded.  Films like Take Shelter have proven what kind of tour-de-force work the man is capable of delivering.  The movie is directed by Ariel Vromen, and stars Shannon as a family man who must become a hired killer to provide for his loved ones. Along the way, he discovers he has a real talent for his vocation.  James Franco, Winona Ryder, Chris Evans, Ray Liotta, David Schwimmer & Stephan Dorff round out the cast.

  05/15 - Star Trek: Into Darkness (would have been highlighted, if I thought you needed a preview)

  05/31 - The East:  This will be the third film written by and starring Brit Marling.  She had a great start with Another Earth, took it to a whole other level with Sound of My Voice, and it looks like (going on the trailer, early critical response and my own hopes) she may surpass herself again with The East. The films stars writer Marling as an agent trying to track down a terrorist group called The East who have set out to punish the corporate giants who are sucking America dry.  Ellen Page and Alexander Skarsgard also star. Sound of My Voice director/co-writer Zal Batmanglij returns. I can't wait.

  06/07 - After Earth (surely Shyamalan will get it right again one day???)

  06/28 - Byzantium: This little quasi-horror flick is directed by Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) and adapted by Moira Buffini from her own stage play.  It tells of two mysterious women (Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton) who settle in a small town that quickly becomes curious about what the pair are hiding.  Sam Riley and Jonny Lee Miller round out the cast, but they had me at Saoirse.

  08/09 - Elysium: Back in 2009, South African writer/director Neil Blomkamp's District 9 raised the bar on low-budget science fiction forevermore.  Now it's 2013, he's got a much bigger budget, and he's returning with Elysium, a futuristic tale in which the 1% live in a lavish space station while the 99% inhabit a ruined planet Earth.  Class conflict with a sci-fi twist seems to be the man's forte.  Let's see if he can do it again.  Matt Damon, Jodie Foster and District 9 star Sharlto Copley lead the cast.

  09/13 - I, Frankenstein (I'm dubious, but it stars Aaron Eckhart & Bill Nighy)

  09/20 - Prisoners: French Canadian director Denis Villeneuve blew me away a couple of years ago with Foreign Language film nominee Incendies.  Now he's been recruited by Hollywood for English language films beginning with Prisoners: the story of a man trying to locate his missing daughter by any means necessary.  The AMAZING cast includes Hugh Jackman, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello, Paul Dano and Terrence Howard.

  10/04 - Paranoia (Hemsworth, Oldman, and Ford)

  10/11 - Oldboy: Intrigue, mystery and suspense are the keywords in this remake of the Korean classic.  Director Spike Lee may have failed to "wow" with last year's Red Hook Summer, but I know he still has genius within him.  Perhaps something way outside of his normal wheelhouse is just the sort of palate cleanser needed to let it shine through again.  Josh Brolin, Samuel L. Jackson, Elizabeth Olsen, Michael Imperioli, Richard Portnow, Sharlto Copley, and Lance Reddick star.
               Captain Phillips: Director Paul Greengrass has already managed to pull one unlikely Best Director nod out of the action thriller genre with United 93.  Can he snag another one for this biopic about the captain who faced the hijacking of the first U.S. cargo ship by Somali pirates?  Having Tom Hanks in the title role with Catherine Keener as his wife can't hurt.

  10/18 - Carrie (I'm not sure we need another either, but it stars Moretz with Julianne Moore as Mom)
               Malavita: Leon, The Professional (one of the best action flicks EVER, for this Movie Frog's money) certainly proved that Luc Besson can direct a taut thriller and having a cast led by two of last year's Best Supporting Actor nominees (DeNiro and Jones) is certainly a step in the right direction.  Michelle Pfeiffer also stars, and if anyone needs/deserves a career relaunch, it's her.

  11/01 - Ender's Game (another one I almost highlighted, starring Hugo's Asa Butterfield)

  11/15 - The Counselor: A thriller about a lawyer who end up on the wrong side of the law doesn't sound THAT exciting.  If it's directed by Ridley Scott, I'll give it a chance.  If it stars Pitt, Fassbender, Bardem, Dormer, Diaz, Cruz, and Leguizamo, I'm stoked.  This one does.  Just saying.

  12/25 - Jack Ryan (If Pine can fill Shatner's shoes, why not Ford's?)

  TBA - Blood Ties: This crime family story set in 1970's New York is from talented French director Guillaume Canet (Little White Lies) and has a fantastic cast.  After Rust and Bone, I'd watch Cotillard and Schoenaerts team up in a Smurfs sequel.  Also stars Mila Kunis, Zoe Saldana, Clive Owen, Billy Crudup, James Caan, Noah Emmerich and nineties indie queen Lili Taylor.
             Blue Caprice
             The Congress (more sci-fi with Wright, Giamatti & Keitel)
             Dead Man's Burden (might be the only 2013 Western of note)
             Devil's Knot (dramatization of West Memphis 3 from Atom Egoyan with Firth and Witherspoon)
             Empire State (fairly standard sounding actioner, but Hemsworth & Johnson might make good team)
             Ends of the Earth
             Europa Report (sci-fi with Sharlto Copley of District 9 & Michael Nyqvist of Millennium Trilogy)
             Horns (considered highlighting this one: Daniel Radcliffe in a bizarre horror tale)
             Kissing Darkness (in a twist on traditional horror set-up group of gay college pals go camping)
             Last Days On Mars
             The Loft
             Lowlife: Director James Gray has a highly unique mystery premise to work with and a STELLAR cast involved: Jeremy Renner, Marion Cotillard, and Joaquin Phoenix.  Believe me, this is one to WATCH!
             Non-Stop (stars Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore)
             Only God Fogives: Drive (directed by Nicholas Winding Refn and starring Ryan Gosling) made #2 on my Best Picture list for 2011.  Only God Forgives is Refn's follow-up...also starring Gosling...hmmm. I had to watch the recently dropped trailer three times before I stopped drooling.
             Only Lovers Left Alive: Quirky director Jim Jarmusch tries his hand at a vampire flick.  Good news.  Better news?  It stars Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska and John Hurt.  Sometimes my inner fan-boy gets a little gift from the universe and the kind of movies I loved as a pre-teen actually get made well.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
             Simple Moves
             A Single Shot (crime thriller with William H Macy and Sam Rockwell)
             Snowpiercer: The director of 5 star Korean thriller Madeo (Joon-ho Bong) tries his hand at English language science fiction in this piece about a train that carries the last living humans across the planet.  Starring...wait for it...Tilda Swinton, Chris Evans, John Hurt, Jamie Bell, Ed Harris and Octavia Spencer.
             Spiritismes
             Still of Night (starring Susan Sarandan)
             Therese (between Jessica Lange and Elizabeth Olsen the scenery should be chewed to bits)
             Two Faces of January: Hossein Amini, scribe of such diverse fare as Drive, Wings of the Dove, and Snow White and the Huntsman brings this thriller of escape to the table for his first directing gig.  With Amini also handling the adaptation and stars Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen and Oscar Isaac on board, my anticipation is running high.
             Under the Skin
             Violet & Daisy (Precious penner Geoffrey Fletcher debuts as a director, starring Sasirse Ronan)
             White Bird in a Blizzard (Doom Generation director Gregg Araki is sure to make an odd thriller)

     And that, my friends, is your list of Pulpy pics for 2013.  We covered a lot of ground today, but we have four more sets of films still to come.  Look for Part 2: Specialties That Might Spellbound later this week.  In it, we'll be covering Documentaries, Animated Features, and non English language movies that MIGHT (and it's more iffy in this category than most) make it to U.S. theaters in the coming year.  We'll be watching for you (and flies, always watching for flies).
                                                                Froggy


     Related Articles: Senna, Take 13 (Take Shelter review), Another Young Project (Another Earth review),
The Sound Hope Sparks (Sound of My Voice review), Sister's Summer Sleepwalk (Red Hook Summer review), Down With Sinister Lies (Little White Lies review), Rent and Honed (Rust and Bone review), Best of 2011 - Best Picture (concluded), 

Upcoming 2013 Awards Season Preview

     Now, I know it seems like we just put the 2012-2013 Awards Season to bed, but Sundance is behind us and Cannes is right around the corner (not to mention the release of To The Wonder and Before Midnight in the theaters).  With this in mind, I am left with no choice but to dive right into a new Awards Season and check out what 2013 has to offer us.  In this series I will also be revealing what films are on my viewing/reviewing itinerary for the coming year.  Please feel free with each upcoming installment to let me know which pictures I missed in the comments section.
     The Movie Frog's online coverage of the Oscar race only really got going full throttle about this time last year.  However, it was in 2009, when I saw Precious in the theater, that my love affair with Oscar in particular and the cinema in general was really rekindled.   I didn't know it at the time, but it was while I was carefully watching and predicting (to anyone who would sit still and listen) that year's race that The Movie Frog was first conceived.  In the meantime, I've seen four very different seasons come and go, and I've decided to honor each of those years (and this coming one, sort of) in one of five sections I'll be dividing this year's previews into.

Part One - Pulpy Players
     During 2009, Precious was my horse in the Oscar race (although I was quite satisfied with The Hurt Locker's win), but the year was most memorable as the greatest year for science fiction so far in the twenty-first century (maybe ever).  We were treated to five really good to great movies in the genre: District 9 (which also would have been a good choice for the Best Picture win), Avatar, Star Trek, Moon and (at least in my opinion) Splice.  But that was just the cream of a crop that included such high profile (and in many cases high-grossing) selections as 2012, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Terminator: Salvation, Pandorum, Surrogates and The Fourth Kind.  2013 is also stocked with a bumper crop of heavy hitting sci-fi possibilities.  In honor of 2009, the first bunch of 2013 selections will be called Pulpy Players and will cover an array of genres that often don't get the respect that they deserve from the Academy including science-fiction, action thrillers, mysteries, westerns and horror films.  In recent years this section would have covered the above mentioned 2009 films as well as The Lovely Bones, Shutter Island, The Book of Eli, Inception, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (English version), The Ghost Writer, Winter's Bone, The Town, Black Swan, True Grit, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Hannah, Red State, Attack the Block, Drive, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Another Earth, The Cabin in the Woods, Looper, Killing Them Softly, The Impossible, Cloud Atlas, Skyfall and Django Unchained.

Part Two - Specialties That Might Spellbound
     2010 was certainly notable for having a great Best Picture line-up. I was personally rooting for Inception to win, but would have picked several of the other possibilities over Best Picture winner The King's Speech. The REALLY exceptional thing about 2010, however, was that it was The Year of the Documentary as films such as The Oath, The Lottery, Restrepo, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, Catfish, Gasland, Waiting For Superman, Inside Job, Waste Land, The Tillman Story, Precious Life, and especially Exit Through the Gift Shop popularized, expanded, and changed the genre like never before.  In honor of 2010, the second set of 2013 previews will be called Specialties That Might Spellbound and will include Documentaries, Foreign Language Films, and Animated Features.  Obviously, this category would have recently covered such films as the docs listed above, Up, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Coraline, The Cove, Food, Inc. The White Ribbon, A Prophet, Il Divo, Madeo, the swedish versions of The Millenium Trilogy, How To Train Your Dragon, Toy Story 3, Mary and Max, Micmacs, Biutiful, White Material, Incendies, Undertow, In a Better World, Carlos, Chico and Rita, A Separation, Pina, Rango, Senna, Bullhead, 13 Assassins, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, The Skin I Live In, Certified Copy, The Adventures of Tin-Tin: The Secret of the Unicorn, 3, Nostalgia For the Light, We Were Here, Miss Bala, Arthur Christmas, Monsieur Lazhar, Project Nim, Footnote, A Cat in Paris, Undefeated, Marley, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Oslo August 31rst, The Queen of Versailles, Wreck-It Ralph, How To Survive a Plague, Alps, Ai Wei-Wei: Never Sorry, Paranorman, Rust and Bone, Elena, Brave, Frankenweenie, Searching For Sugar Man, 5 Broken Cameras, The Kid With the Bike, A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman, Samsara, Holy Motors, Amour and A Simple Life, and A Royal Affair.

Part 3 - Little Pics That "Might Could"
     The thing that really set 2011 apart (besides the worst Best Picture line-up in recent memory) was that most of the best films were too little to even make Oscar's radar.  Even The Artist, which won Best Picture (my second choice for the win, after The Tree of Life), started out this way on the festival circuit.  That was just the tip of 2011's indie iceberg with films like Margin Call, 50/50, A Better Life, Beginners, Albert Nobbs, Take Shelter, Melancholia, Martha Marcy Mae Marlene, Tyrannosaur, Shame, In the Land of Blood and Honey, We Need To Talk About Kevin and Margaret all just beneath the surface.  In honor of 2011's nineties-like "Indie Spirit", the third set of 2013 previews will be call "Little Pics That 'Might Could'" and will cover all the potential under dog contenders particularly independant dramas and dramedies (its a word and genre now, live with it).  In other recent years it would have highlighted such movies as Precious, The Messenger, A Single Man, In the Loop, Crazy Heart, An Education, The Young Victoria, Please Give, The Kids Are Alright, Easy A, Buried, The King's Speech, Animal Kingdom, Blue Valentine, Another Year, Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Sessions, Natural Selection, Sound of My Voice, Ruby Sparks, Arbitrage, Cosmopolis, Liberal Arts, Compliance, Keep the Lights On, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Celeste and Jesse Forever, Robot & Frank, Middle of Nowhere, and On the Road

Part 4 - The Usual Suspects
     2012 was perhaps the most unusual sort of film year of them all: one in which most of the obvious "Oscar-bait" type movies lived up to the hype.  This resulted in a year which had a fantastic Best Picture slate.  I was really rooting for Beasts of the Southern Wild, but wouldn't have been enraged by seeing any of them win.  Pictures in this vein that didn't disappoint (at least TOO much) included: Moonrise Kingdom, Life of Pi, Anna Karenina, Hope Springs, Lincoln, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Zero Dark Thirty, Les Miserables, The Master and Silver Linings Playbook. In honor of 2012, part 4 of my 2013 preview will be titled "The Usual Suspects" and cover all the movies we EXPECT big things from sight unseen.  This will mostly include films with actors, writers and/or directors attached who are "always in the mix".  It is primarily the home turf of epics, dramas based on best sellers, costume dramas, and war films but exceptions are sometimes made if the director is big enough. Steven Spielberg could direct a porno and I'd probably cover it in this section.  Other recent films of note that would have appeared in this category include: Inglorious Basterds, A Serious Man, Up in the Air, Nine, 127 Hours, The Social Network, The American, The Fighter, Rabbit Hole, Jane Eyre, Midnight In Paris, The Ides of March, Moneyball, War Horse, The Descendants, Hugo, and Young Adult.

Part 5 - Because I Said So
     Who knows what 2013 will be?  At this point it is still a BIG question mark.  So in honor of 2013 I am closing out this series of posts with a group of films whose article will be titled "Because I Said So" which will basically cover everything that doesn't quite fit into the other categories.  This will include super-hero fare, comedies, fantasies not directed by Peter Jackson, and things too weird to categorize.  You know, the stuff the Academy REALLY ignores.  Films of this type that failed (almost or completely) to get their due in the past few years include: 500 Days of Summer, The Hangover (Part ONE), The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Where the Wild Things Are, Sherlock Holmes, Ondine, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts One and Two, RED, Love and Other Drugs, The Help, Captain America, Bridesmaids, The Hunger Games, 21 Jump Street, The Dark Knight Rises, God Bless America, Snow White and the Huntsman, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Magic Mike.

     And that's basically that.  Look for Part 1 - Pulpy Players in a couple of days (after a few reviews) and look below for links to reviews of many of the numerous blasts from the past that I mentioned above.

  Related Articles: Upcoming 2012 Awards Season Preview, Rise of the Planet of the Apes review, Another Young Project (Another Earth, Young Adult, and Project Nim reviews), The Cabin With the Goods (The Cabin in the Woods review), Killing Them Affordably (Killing Them Softly review), "Impossible"y Well Crafted, Arantino Explained (The T is Invisible) (Django Unchained review), Senna, Take 13 (Senna, 13 Assassins & Take Shelter reviews), Immortal Skin, Forgotten Dreams (The Skin I Live In & Cave of Forgotten Dreams reviews), Martha's Certified Method (Certified Method and Martha Marcy Mae Marlene reviews), Cloudy Connections (Cloud Atlas review), 23? You Don't Play Like a Sequel Over 2! (Skyfall review), 3 Future Adventures of Tin-Tin (Adventures of Tin-Tin: The Secret of the Unicorn & 3 reviews), 21 Chronicled Footnotes (Footnote and 21 Jump Street review), Restless Nostalgia is the Key (Nostalgia For the Light review), Pariah's Were Here On The Rampart (We Were Here, Pariah & Rampart reviews), We Need To Interrupt Miss Bala (Miss Bala and We Need To Talk About Kevin reviews), Monsieur Cat-Hunter (Monsieur Lazhar and A Cat In Paris reviews), Breaking the Undefeated Motors (Undefeated and Holy Motors reviews), Perks of Being Samsara's Impostor (Samsara & Perks of Being a Wallflower reviews), Promarlius Kingdom (Marley & Moonrise Kingdom reviews), Jiro Waltzes With Vampires (Jiro Dreams of Sushi review), Savage Men In Oslo (Oslo August 31rst review), Seeking the Queen Raven (The Queen of Versailles review), If It Ain't "Wrecked" (Wreck-It Ralph review), Surviving the Alps is a Rush (How To Survive a Plague & Alps reviews), Never Trouble With the Cosmopolitans (Ai Wei-Wei: Never Sorry and Cosmopolis reviews), The Perfect Para-Killer (Paranorman & Killer Joe reviews), Rent and Honed (Rust and Bone review), Elena's Brave Law (Elena and Brave reviews), To Rome, Sugarweenie! (Frankenweenie and Searching For Sugar Man reviews), The Kid With Broken Compliance (Compliance, The Kid With the Bike & 5 Broken Cameras reviews), Keep the Liars at the End of the Street (A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story on Monty Python's Graham Chapman and Keep the Lights On reviews), Above All, Like a Bullheaded Man (Bullhead review), Twist Until You Are Loopey (Looper review), To Royal Effect (A Royal Affair review), Beautiful Melancholy Conspirator (Melancholia review), Edgar, the Mysterious Tyrant (Tyrannosaur review), Innkeepers of Blood and Shame (Shame and In the Land of Blood and Honey), Being Margaret's Mirror (Margaret review), Best That the Summer Wields? (Beasts of the Southern Wild review), The Best Huntsman's Shadow (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Snow White and the Huntsman reviews), 360 Horse Selection (Natural Selection review), The Sound That Hope Sparks (Sound of My Voice, Ruby Sparks, and Hope Springs reviews), Henry's Invisible Arbitrage (Arbitrage review), The Great Zac Efron Film Festival of 2012 (Liberal Arts review), Hello, Celestial Robots (Celeste & Jesse Forever and Robot & Frank reviews), Fantasy "Life of Pi"? (Life of Pi review), Anna Conundruma (Anna Karenina review), "Lincoln" Perks, Can You "Master" Your Nature?, The Habit: A Much Expected Returning (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey review), Zeroing in On a Dark Decade (Zero Dark Thirty review), Les Mostlyables (Les Miserables review), Dark Clouds Beautify "Silver Linings", The Help review, Feeding the Public Hunger (Hunger Games review), The Dark Knight Transcends, Haywire Gods Blessed Le Havre (God Bless America review), Where Did the Magic Spider Go? (Amazing Spider-Man and Magic Mike reviews)

Awards Season Hits the Next Leg

     I'm a little late on this changing of the season post as the Telluride and Venice film festivals are already wrapping up.  We've left summer tent pole season behind and entered the time of fall film festivals and early Oscar movies.  So what have we learned since I last posted on the awards race?  Well...
     The first eight months of the year are unlikely to produce as many Oscar contenders as the early months of the last two years did.  The only really great bet to release during this time period was Behn Zeitlan's Beasts of the Southern Wild, which is almost a shoo-in for Best Picture and Best Actress and a serious contender in at least a half a dozen other categories.
      Moonrise Kingdom has also done very well, although its Best Picture prospects seem less certain.  I think Original Screenplay seems pretty likely, though, and that could lead to a few other nods, maybe even Picture depending on how the question marks resolve themselves.
     The Dark Knight Rises will probably make a lot of top ten lists when the year is said and done.  As for the AMPAS, they may very well shy away from above the line love for this film in the wake of the Aurora tragedy.  When you add that into the Academy's built in aversion to both super heroes and action flicks and the chances look even slimmer.  Its a shame, but that's how it is.
     The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is still a long shot for a Best Picture nod, despite its impressive box office, but it could happen.  More likely would be recognition for one member of its great ensemble cast, but which one?
      No other released film seems like even an outside shot for Best Picture, but Brave and possibly The Lorax should be strong possibilities in Animated.  Avengers should be a shoo-in for tech recognition with Snow White and the Huntsman, Amazing Spider-Man, and Prometheus also good below the line possibilities.  Bernie could give Jack Black an outside Best Actor shot, while Magic Mike has a shot in Supporting Actor (McConaughey) and Original Screenplay.  Safety Not Guaranteed also has a shot at screenplay and Lawless is going to be pushed heavily in Original Song with an outside shot at Best Supporting Actress (Chastain).

      That is pretty much it for January through August.  Of course, several films have already screened at festivals....
     Although still a dark horse for Best Picture (although you never know), The Sessions (formerly Six Sessions, formerly The Surrogate) seems to still hold excellent acting nomination prospects for Helen Hunt, William H Macy, and especially John Hawkes.  Adapted Screenplay also seems highly possible.
     Argo has had deafening buzz since its Telluride premiere, and The Master has similar love coming out of Venice.  Look for both to be major contenders in multiple categories.
     Terrence Malick's To The Wonder met with a mixed reception (as expected).  Malick's built in fan base could still land this film in the Picture race, but it is unlikely to attract enough new fans to win.
     Hyde Park on Hudson is looking very iffy after its luke warm reception in Telluride, but Murray could still wind up in the Best Actor race pretty easily.
     Amour continues to dominate the Foreign Language film conversation while both it and Rust and Bone are considered likely to break out of that category for consideration in other categories.
     The Impossible could nab some tech nods and a Best Actress bid for Naomi Watts.  The Iceman has an OUTSIDE shot at landing Michael Shannon some notice, and Killing Them Softly COULD put Pitt back in the Best Actor conversation.

     Still to come:  Les Miserables, Lincoln, Hobbit, Promised Land, Flight, Anna Karenina, Great Expectations, Inside Llewyn Davis, Place Beyond the Pines, and a host of other films.  Awards season is still wide open, although things continue to narrow as films like Great Gatsby, Gangster Squad, Mud, etc. get pushed back to 2013 release.  Join us back here at The Movie Frog shortly for updates on buzz (and my predictions) in each category individually, starting with the Techs.
                                                         
                                                                            Is that Oscar buzzing, or just dinner?
                                                                            Froggy

Related Posts:  The Dark Knight Rises, At the Changing of the Season, June Oscar Buzz and Prediction - The Techs, June Oscar Buzz and Prediction - The Genres, June Oscar Buzz and Predictions - Supporting Contenders, June Oscar Buzz and Predictions - Leading Contenders, June Oscar Buzz and Predictions - The Big Two

Fantasy Casting - The Justice League Part 2: Villainous Intents

     Of course, as soon as I get the first JLA Fantasy Casting post up featuring the heroes, I think of two casting options that I like better than my original choices.  No offense to Kaley Cuoco, but I was never all that satisfied with my choice to cast her as Wonder Woman.  I feel much more confident with Olivia Wilde (House) playing the Amazing Amazon.  She looks more like her and she's a little more seasoned as a dramatic actresss.  Matt Damon (who I had cast as Green Arrow) is certainly a seasoned actor, and I like to imagine actors in roles that I think they can pull off, but that would stretch them in a brand new direction.  However, these leaps of faith must go out the window when someone occurs to you who was born to play the role.  Such is the case here, as Steve Zahn (Treme) might never find another part he is more perfect for.
    
     Now that our heroic revisions are out of the way, it is time to move on to this post's main topic, casting possible Justice League villain choices.  With the heroes, we had a pretty good idea exactly who some of the characters would be, and a reasonable sized pool from which to select the other possible inclusions.  Not so with the villains:  there are literally dozens of options to choose from, and the likelihood is that only five to eight (or less) characters will be utilized per film.  So, I'll just take a fairly wide selection of some of the most likely choices, or interesting ones, or those that I just had a great casting choice for.  I promise not to say as much about MOST of these characters as I did the heroes.  I apologize that those of you who were too cool to read comics growing up will not recognize all of these characters.  I regret if being so cool when you were younger has made you feel excluded today...a little bit.

General JLA Rogues Gallery
     1.  Despero - Despero was the very first foe that the League faced as a team.  He is an alien telepath who has grown in power and mania as the years rolled on.  He feels a particular rivalry and a certain feeling of kinship with fellow telepath The Martian Manhunter.  Despero is a giant hulking tank of a being that would definitely best be represented by motion capture animation.  Despero is a giant boiling mass of determination and madness that must come across as both unimaginably intelligent and inhumanly savage simultaneously.  Sounds like an excellent opportunity for the great Andy Serkis to upstage himself again.

     2. T.O. Morrow and The Red Tornado - T.O. Morrow is perhaps the most respected (and feared) of all the DCU (DC Comics Universe) "mad scientist" villains.  Able to glimpse visions of the future that helped him to perfect technologies that were light years ahead of what anyone else was working with.  It even allowed him to create the sentient artificial intelligence known as The Red Tornado, who eventually broke free of his control, later joining the Justice League, an Android Trying To Be A Real Boy years before Star Trek:TNG.  I think that Phillip Seymour Hoffman would be unbelievable as Morrow, and Michael C. Hall (Dexter) would be almost perfect as Tornado.

      3. The Key - The Key is a man who became fascinated with opening all the world's doors, literal and figurative, most especially the doors to perception.  He gained the power of perception, but the sheer amount of input that his brain processes at a time has driven him quite mad.  Much more potentially dangerous than he sounds.  Walton Goggins (Justified) could not only play the insight and madness stew brilliantly, he even looks a lot like The Key.

     4.  Dr. Destiny - This tortured maniac obtained a magical stone that allowed him to enter the dimension of the Dreaming, transport others there, and sculpt reality within his immediate surroundings inside the Dreaming.  Waking mortals are not meant to interact with the Dreaming, and the whole thing has driven him mad and steadily compounded his insanity.  It's rare that a role comes along that seems so precisely suited to highlight actor Crispin Glover's many peculiar eccentricities.

    5. The Queen Bee - It seems that the JLA has always had SOME foe calling herself The Queen Bee, but my favorite version by far is the Grant Morrison era Queen.  She flew around in an extra dimensional hive/ship with an army of drones, searching for worlds to colonize.  Very creepy.  Actress Summer Glau (Dollhouse, Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles) could easily turn this into a breakout Hollywood role.

     6. Prof. Ivo & Amazo - One of the few scientists T.O. Morrow deems worthy of teaming up with from time to time Professor Ivo was a brilliant cyberneticist and crazed seeker of immortality who ended up turning himself into a hideous monster.  His greatest creation was Amazo, a combat android that could replicate the powers, abilities, and weaponry of the entire Justice League.  I'm interested in what Ewan McGregor might pull off as Ivo, and Armee Hammer would be a good choice for Amazo.

     7. Prometheus - After watching his outlaw parents gunned down by the police as a small child, this sociopath devoted his young life to bringing down the forces of injustice.  A brilliant, if twisted, tactician, armed to the teeth, this Bizarro Batman of sorts has taken on the whole League singlehandedly...and almost won.  I think I saw enough in actor Alex Schaffer's debut performance in Win Win to gladly pick him here, hopefully in the second or third film in the franchise to let him age JUST a bit.

     8. Darkseid & Granny Goodness - Evil New God Darkseid is the lord of the planet Apokalypse and only The Joker rivals him as the DCU's prime personification of evil.  Near omnipotent and invulnerable, he is far more powerful than any individual Leaguer.  Darkseid has hordes of lackeys and underlings, so you have to figure at least one would be along for the movie.  Granny Goodness is one of the highest ranking and most respected members of his organization, and I have a great casting choice for her.  Darkseid is another character that would work best in mo-cap animation (although not the horrible CGI from when he appeared on Smallville) and I think Dennis Haysbert (24) would be a great choice to portray him thusly.  And as for dear old Granny?  Jackie Weaver.


     Then there is The Injustice League.  The membership is almost always different, and made up primarily of individual JLA member's foes who have banded together so as to take down the League as a whole.  Some possibilities include.

Batman Foes
     We'll start with Batman because his foes are both the most plentiful and the most interesting, with the most consistantly and extensively developed personalities.  Just sayin...
  1. Scarecrow - Well, Ciaran Hinds already portrayed the master of fear in a uniquely captivating way, but if they break with that continuity in this film, well, they probably wouldn't use the Scarecrow.  Too soon.
  2. Mr. Freeze - I know that those of you who know these characters mostly through film and television just groaned a little.  But the character can be quite heartbreaking and, well, chilling.  Freeze deserves some redemption, and Christolph Waltz's version would surely blow Ah-nold's (poorly cast) version of years ago, out of the proverbial water.
  3. Poison Ivy - Along those lines...Poison Ivy is an ecoterrorist, who has given up on humanity, quite frankly thinking that most of them should go for the sake of the rest of the planet.  She has experimented on her own physiology to the point  that she is now more plant than human, utterly toxic on cotact to people.  Jessica Chastain has the look, and the seeming range to play anything.  This would be a great chance for her to show us yet another entirely different side of what she is capable.
  4. Clayface  - An aged, washed up horror film actor becomes his greatest role and eventually
becomes a true monster, body, mind, and soul.  John Lithgow (in motion capture) would serve both the old time melodrama and the terrifying mania of the role well.

Superman Foes
  1. Lex Luthor - The most frequent leader of the Injustice League by a mile, Luthor is the quintessential DC mastermind.  I didn't expect to get to make a choice here, but evidently Man of Steel is going to be the first Superman film ever to not use the character.  That's fine with me, because now I get to make the suggestion that they cast Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, Drive) in the role.
  2. Brainiac - Brainiac, the sentient computer that used to rule the planet Colu, is actually featured in the early Man of Steel promotionals, but I can't find a credit in the cast list.  Certainly it's not all CGI, with a computer generated voice...maybe it is, we'll have to see.
  3. Toyman - So, I might not have even included the mad toy maker if not for the acting range that Jonah Hill has been demonstrating in the last year, but he would be SO great in this role.

Wonder Woman
  1. Circe - Enemy of the Amazons for centuries, this Greek sorceress of yore will do literally anything to attain her goals.  Angelina Jolie would be ideal.
  2. Cheetah - Feminist archaeologist turned bloodthirsty cat goddess.  Swedish actress Noomi Rapace (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Prometheus) would rip this to shreds with six inch claws.
  3.  Dr. Psycho - Yes, a powerful, psychotic, telepathic dwarf is sort of the perfect vehicle for Peter Dinklage's (Game of Thrones) big film breakthrough.

Others
  1. Grodd - This hyper intelligent gorilla has battled almost every major DC hero at one point and time but his primary foe has always been the Flash.  Arrogant and savage, I think that a motion capture Grodd performed by Mickey Rourke could be brilliant.
  2. Zoom - Flash's evil mirror image used to be a psychologist, but after completely losing his mind, he became obsessed with being Flash's perfect foil in an effort to teach him to be a better hero.  John Leguizamo would be great as this manic madman.
  3. Sinestro - Even if they don't go with Hal Jordan for the League's GL, they could still use Mark Strong as Sinestro.  He was easily the best thing about the new Green Lantern film.
  4. Deathstroke - The immortal ultimate mercenary for hire has been at odds with any number of heroes, but lately his attentions seem particularly attuned to Green Arrow.  I think John Hawkes would be perfect.
  5. Solomon Grundy - This gigantic, elemental/mysticl undead swamp monster has been bouncing around the DCU since the 1940's.  Ron Perlman with motion capture.

     And that's it.  Thanks for indulging my inner geek.  I promise not to go QUITE there for a while.
                                                                         Froggy


Related articles:  Fantasy Casting: The Justice League, Part 2 - Heroic Choices, The Dark Knight Transcends, Merchandisers Assemble (Avengers review), Beauty Wins Ground (Win Win Review)