Kicking Off the Fall Season

[Reza]

The only thing Paramount will confirm is that Wolf is not going to make its scheduled 11/15 opening date. Too soon to tell whether it will make a year-end release or not.

Going by the trailer this film looks quite cheesy.

[ksrymy]

Grace of Monaco has been bumped to 2014 as well.

[Big Magilla]

Bennett Miller's Foxcatcher bumped to 2014.

[Big Magilla]

The only thing Paramount will confirm is that Wolf is not going to make its scheduled 11/15 opening date. Too soon to tell whether it will make a year-end release or not.

[OscarGuy]

Someone suggested that's a ploy to mask the troubled Jack Ryan's eventual exit to 2014.

[FilmFan720]

Word on the street is that Wolf of Wall Street will be pushed back to 2014...

[Bog]

The buzz from the vanguard on Gravity, though, is bumming me out.

I think I may have missed your reasoning? Were you hoping to avoid, hoping it would fail, wildly turned off by what you've seen/heard, have not loved Cuaron? None or all of these?

[Mister Tee]

Well, if you ask me offhand am I interested in movies about slavery, a woman lost in space, a good old boy with AIDS, a race car driver rivalry, high-seas piracy, or young lesbians in love, my answer might be "Not really". But the fact that movies on those topics are being highly rated by respectable critics makes me very interested. And the sheer number of films evoking excited response makes me sanguine -- though I'll no doubt dissent from some of the general enthusiasm, as I did last year with Argo & Django.

On the whole, I'm with Harold Clurman, who, when asked what kind of plays he liked, answered "Good plays"

[Eric]

Not exactly. I'd rank any new Alexander Payne film at the very bottom of the pile when it comes to assessing my levels of anticipation.

The buzz from the vanguard on Gravity, though, is bumming me out.

[Precious Doll]

I am the only one who finds the line-up of films that appear to be generating Oscar talk to be amongst as unappealing bunch equal to the worst of years in the Academy's history? Alexander Payne's Nebraska being the sole exception.

[Eric]

Pretty sure tongue is well in cheek there.

[Big Magilla]

Mark Harris evolves in Variety interview:

Variety‘s Justin Chang: “I take it we’re in the same boat. I haven’t seen 12 years A Slave…” Grantland‘s Mark Harris: “And neither have I. Yeah, nothing’s changed since I wrote that Grantland column a few days ago.” Chang: “We’ll both be up to speed soon.” Harris: “It’s just that I just keep saying to myself…” Chang: “That…what, that it’s only September and we all need to calm down?” Harris: “Yeah, okay, I said that but my thinking has evolved. I mean, what are the people who went to Telluride and Toronto supposed to do? Forget that they saw 12 Years A Slave? Expunge it from their memories? These are the hot times, right now…the post-festival rumpus, the runaround, fingers to the wind. We can’t stick our heads in the sand, Justin. We have to get with the program.”

[Big Magilla]

I read somewhere that Clooney does not want Monuments Men in the Oscar discussion. Maybe because he wants it to surprise, maybe because he just doesn't want to do/pay for the publicity, maybe because he knows it's not worthy of all the hype it was getting. I expect in the end it will get positive reviews and probably be nominated as one of the year's ten Best Picture nominees but it seems too similar in theme and style to win a year after Argo. The Wolf of Wall Street doesn't look appealing at all. As for now, I have it in my Best Picture predictions, but it seems vulnerable.

[OscarGuy]

I hear almost no one talking about The Monuments Men. Let's remember that it's a COMEDY, not a drama. The Academy embraces comedies far less frequently than "dark" films. And George Clooney keeps trying in the director's chair and failing. He's more inconsistent than Scorsese.

And no one forgets these films. I've seen previews for both and I Just don't see Monuments Men, in spite of its Holocaust themes, being a to-beat kind of film. And Wolf of Wall Street looks like Wall Street mixed with The Departed, but now that Scorsese has his Oscar, the Academy won't feel they have to reward him again. Scorsese's no Billy Wilder.

[FilmFan720]

I think there are two films on the horizon that everyone seems to be forgetting about: The Wolf of Wall Street and The Monuments Men. If I HAD to make an early prediction, I think The Monuments Men becomes the film to beat...but I'll probably be wrong there too.