The Oscars in 2014: Very, Very Early Predictions for Next Year's Awards
It's never too early to semi-blindly predict the rest of the year's critical darlings.
Year after year, it seems as if award season gets impossibly longer and longer. This year's long slog to Oscar night was such an arduous journey that poor Jennifer Lawrence literally fell under the weight of it all when her name was finally called for Best Actress.
So in the spirit of interminable award seasons, I'd like to present the films that at this juncture, a year away from Hollywood's biggest night, at least appear to be the best bets to take the golden statue. Granted, forecasting this far in advance is obviously imperfect: Though we correctly predicted on this site at this time last year that Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, Beasts of the Southern Wild, and Lincoln would be major Oscar players, we also ventured that Hyde Park on Hudson and Trouble With the Curve would be frontrunners. But it's still a lot of fun.
The Great Gatsby
The trippy trailer for has been out for more than nine months now, and it promises that Luhrmann's take on the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic is aggressively Luhrmann-esque, which is to say polarizing. Anachronistic music, glitter, over-the-top visual flair, and fantasia abound in the first batches of footage from the film, which will star Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, and Tobey Maguire in the pivotal roles. But though the film is already being judged by detractors, that cast, Luhrmann's pedigree, and the tantalizing 3D aspect make it one to watch in every race.
