The Race for Best Film is On – Awards Season 2013-2014

For Your Consideration – That Coveted Phrase for All Filmmakers.

Kill-Your-Darlings-PosterNo Award nominations are in yet (the first nominations, for the Independent Spirit Awards, are out November 26th) so the studios are pushing what they believe are their most award worthy productions for this year.

Some may cynically think that behind such push marketing suits are sweating it hard, seeking to boost particular movies or egos.  But the films included this year do merit particular consideration, and award season road this year promises to be a rocky and bumpy one. Great stories, technical achievements and acting have or are about to hit the screens for our viewing and intellectual pleasure, making the crop of films this year a complicated one for those Oscar pools.  Make sure to revisit our Awards Talk page as the season deepens.

Among the Studios presenting lists of “For Your Consideration” for this year so far, notable absentees are DreamWorks SKG, which produced no films this year (not counting The Fifth Estate (Wikileaks), or Delivery Man), Warner Bros., with the almost for sure to be nominated Gravity (and perhaps some consideration for Sean Penn in Gangster Squad), and 20th Century Fox. We have put forth some likelys for these studios in our list below.

When and if the true lists from the wayward Studios come out we will post them here. For those in the running already. check out trailers and other trivia in our Awards Talk page, which also includes a calendar for the season.

UPDATE 11/14/2013: Warner has its list out.

UPDATE 12/2/2013: Fox has its list out.

Meanwhile, and to start catching up on all Oscar Bait out there, this is the list of movies so far presented For Your Consideration, albeit, and in all fairness, not all films in the list are for consideration in all categories.

PRIMARY CATEGORIES

(Films with ** have their screenplay available for download at this time)

12 Years a Slave ** (Fox Searchlight)  screenplay

42 ** (Warner Bros.)  screenplay.

All is Lost (Lionsgate) ** screenplay and interesting Production Notes.

American Hustle (Sony Pictures) (screenplay for American Bulls**t  may be obtained by special request only).

August: Osage County ** (The Weinstein Company) – Indie darling already. screenplay

Before Midnight ** (Sony Classics) screenplay

The Book Thief (20th Century Fox)

Blue Jasmine (Sony Classics)

Captain Phillips (Sony Pictures) – Read A Film Look commentary on Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club ** (Focus Features) screenplay 

Don Jon (Relativity)

Enough Said ** (Fox Searchlight) screenplay

Fast & Furious 6 (Universal)

Fruitvale Station ** (The Weinstein Company) screenplay

Gangster Squad (for the acting – Possible from Warner Bros. ->  UPDATE: Not selected but, alas, Sean Penn’s acting is worth watching.  The movie itself is not that great: gets a B).

Gloria (Relativity Media) – Foreign Language

The Grandmaster (The Weinstein Company)

Gravity ** (Warner Bros.)  – Read A Film Look commentary on Gravity. The screenplay is temporarily unavailable (may be obtained by request only).

The Great Gatsby ** (Warner Bros.) – screenplay

Her (Warner Bros.)

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Warner Bros.)

Inside Llewyn Davis ** screenplay – Among the brood without clearly identifiable parents this one (actually its CBS Films), along with Blue is The Warmest Color, are not easily found in “For Your Consideration” lists. Others may be out there… maybe even The Bling Ring (** screenplay) (From A24 — who are also making a big push for consideration of James Franco in Spring Breakers ** screenplay).

The Invisible Woman  ** (Sony Classics) screenplay

Kill Your Darlings  ** (Sony Classics) screenplay

Labor Day **(Paramount) screenplay

Lee Daniels’ The Butler ** (The Weinstein Company) screenplay

Lone Survivor ** (Universal) screenplay

Man of Steel (Warner)

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (The Weinstein Company)

Mud ** (Lionsgate)  screenplay – Matthew McConaughey’s other film this season

Nebraska ** (Paramount) – Alexander Payne vs. David O. Russell (American Hustle) promises to be an interesting match-up throughout the season. Undoubtedly films not to be missed. screenplay

Oblivion (Universal)

One Chance ** (The Weinstein Company) screenplay

Out of the Furnace (Relativity)

Pacific Rim (Warner)

The Past ** (Sony Classics) screenplay  – Foreign Language

Philomena ** (The Weinstein Company) screenplay

The Place Beyond the Pines ** (Focus Features) screenplay

Prisoners ** (Warner Bros.)  screenplay.

Rush ** (Universal) screenplay

Salinger (The Weinstein Company)

Saving Mr. Banks ** (Disney) – With a not so flattering portrayal of founder Walt Disney, this is an interesting entry from the studio and, at the very least, a welcome addition to the list of “Movies about Movies”. – screenplay

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (20th Century Fox)

The Spectacular Now ** (A24)  screenplay

Wadja (Sony Classics) **screenplay  – Foreign Language

The Way Way Back  ** screenplay (Fox Searchlight)

The Wolf of Wall Street ** (Paramount) screenplay

ANIMATED

The Croods **screenplay (Dreamworks Animation)

Despicable Me 2 **screenplay (Universal)

Epic (20th Century Fox)

Frozen  ** (Disney) screenplay

Get a Horse (Starring Mickey Mouse) (Disney) – Animated Short – The other movie with Walt Disney in it. You can put this one in the pool already.

Monsters University **screenplay (Disney)

DOCUMENTARY

12-12-12 (The Weinstein Company)

The Armstrong Lie **screenplay (Sony Classics)

Tim’s Vermeer (Sony Classics)

We Steal Secrets – The Story of Wikileaks (Focus Features) – Not to be confused with The Fifth Estate. ** (Dreamworks) screenplay

1 comment

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