Next Year's Oscar Movies

These could be way off, but I want to take a stab at predicting which films will be prominent in next year's awards season. Some of these I am really excited to check out. Some I hope that I am wrong about just so that I do not have to watch them. Goes to show how spoiled I was this year. I wanted to see the movies on the ballot and there were none I had to force myself to see. This should be an interesting exercise and I will be interested to know which ones we'll be hearing about at the end of 2014. Release dates are subject to change. The 87th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015.

• Unbroken Directed by Angelina Jolie, the biopic of Olympic track star and World War II vet Louis Zamperini. The kicker, the Coen Brothers wrote the script. In theaters Dec 25 
• Grand Budapest Hotel Wes Anderson's latest and looks to be greatest. At the very least, this one will get a Best Original Screenplay nod. In theaters March 7   
• Rosewater Jon Stewart took time off the Daily Show to direct this film based on the non-fiction book about a journalist being mistreated in an Iranian prison. He also produced and wrote the adapted screenplay. TBD 
• Gone Girl Directed by David Fincher. Starring Ben Affleck, looks like a movie Affleck would direct. In theaters Oct 3
• The Monuments Men May get lost being released so many months before awards season but it has some Oscar hallmarks, it's about World War II and has a strong cast. Written and directed by George Clooney. Now playing
• Inherent Vice Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. This one actually sounds ok but after his last picture, the Master, my stomach still churns at the thought. It does reunite Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. TBD 
• Interstellar Directed by Christopher Nolan. In theaters Nov 7 
• Foxcatcher Bennett Miller's Moneyball follow-up. TBD 
• Into the Woods Fairytales with a twist, it's a musical and Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp are among the cast. In theaters Dec 25 

Stewart directing his first project.

Animated:

Big Hero 6 

Little is known about this project but it is Marvel's first fully animated film after being acquired by Disney and is based on an obscure title in the Marvel archives. In theaters Nov 7
How To Train Your Dragon 2 Sequel to the Oscar nominated original. In theaters June 13

Big Hero 6

Technical:

X-Men: Days of Future Past
The first trailer for this gave me chills. I loved the first three (original) X-Men and have recently enjoyed First Class. Bryan Singer, director of the first two X-Men flicks, returns. It should get some technical category love. In theaters May 23
Dawn of the Planet of Apes Likely to receive a technical nomination or two much like the first in the revamped series. In theaters July 11

Iffy:

Noah
Looks cheesy to me but Darren Aronofsky of Black Swan and The Wrestler acclaim directed. And Hollywood does not usually stop bestowing its accolades all of the sudden (see Paul Thomas Anderson). Or it could blow up like the Matrix when they started making sequels. In theaters March 28 Which brings me to...

Jupiter Ascending 

The Wachowski Brothers return. This one looks cheesy to me too but it could land in the technical categories. In theaters July 18
Cesar Chavez 
Biopics can go either way, they can be Ray or J Edgar. Even the so-called bad ones are usually pretty decent, it is most often decided in their reception. In theaters March 18