Wednesday Oscar Watch

Welcome to a newly-restarted feature here at Movies with Abe, Wednesday Oscar Watch with Abe. It’s a bit early to be able to accurately predict the eventual Oscar nominees, but around this time, plenty of likely contenders are being released. I’ll be looking every Wednesday at the awards chances for all of the films released the previous week. Chime in with your thoughts on the Oscar chances for these films in the comments section.

Films released November 5, 2010

127 Hours
This surefire Oscar contender has received terrific reviews and is a lock for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (James Franco). On top of that, it will likely earn bids for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography, as well as possibly Best Film Editing and Best Original Score.

Due Date
This comedy didn’t receive overwhelmingly positive reviews and should more seriously be considered a potential player at the Golden Globes given the fact that Robert Downey Jr. won last year for “Sherlock Holmes” and Zach Galifianakis starred in last year’s Best Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical victor, “The Hangover.” Oscar attention is probably out of the question.

Fair Game
This political thriller based on true events has garnered generally positive notices, and it’s possible that past Oscar nominee Naomi Watts and two-time winner Sean Penn could factor into the race. Memories of “The Interpreter” are flooding my mind and compelling me not to have faith in this movie, but I think I’ll probably have to see it first and also see how well the yet-to-be-released films fare to accurately judge its potential. My guess at this point would be no Oscar recognition for it.


Four Lions
If only. This jihadist comedy is one of the funniest I’ve seen all year, and I can only hope that it gets recognized by someone. Last year’s Best Adapted Screenplay nominee “In the Loop” is more obviously smart, so I think this one doesn’t have much of a prayer.

For Colored Girls
This is the kind of film that will likely be pushed for Oscar nominations and probably won’t receive any. It seems to contain many strong performances yet it got mixed reviews and will probably be too niche or overpopulated to get singled out for anything.

Megamind
I’m missing too many of the animated films already released this year, like “Shrek Forever After,” “How to Train Your Dragon,” and “Despicable Me,” to guess whether this enjoyable-looking flick will be able to enter the Best Animated Feature race. My guess at this point would be no since the latest rumor is that the field will only be three nominees wide.

Come back next week for a look at films released November 12, 2010.