Oscar Season is Here!

A myriad of films from award-winning filmmakers are hitting theaters in hopes of Oscar nominations

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Not because of Christmas or Thanksgiving, but because the Oscar season is heating up with a number of critically acclaimed and highly anticipated films that are expected to hit theaters soon.

The first candidate is Out of the Furnace, released on Friday, December 6th, which tells the story of Russell Baze as he tries to find justice while solving his younger brother’s disappearance. The lead role in this film is Christian Bale who plays Russell, and so far, many critics are saying that this film could lead him to yet another Academy Award. Bale got his first Oscar for his supporting performance as Dickey in The Fighter two years ago. The film also stars Casey Affleck and is directed by Scott Cooper.

The second candidate is American Hustle released nationwide on Christmas Day, which explains the journey of a con man and his partner working for a wild FBI agent. This film definitely has the potential to give its actors some nominations, considering the director of this film got Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence their first Oscars, most recently being Lawrence for her performance in “Silver Linings Playbook”. The film stars Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Jeremy Renner and is directed by David O’ Russell, who previously directed Silver Linings Playbook and The Fighter.

The third candidate is the Coen Brothers’ highly anticipated Inside Llewyn Davis, in which a young singer in 1961 uses music to help him deal with the odd relationships he has in his life. The men behind this film are the same individuals who gave us No Country for Old Men back in 2009, so audiences and critics alike can already sense another classic film in the making with a lot of nominations to follow. The film stars Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Oscar Isaac and Justin Timberlake and will be released on December 20th.

And the fourth and final candidate is Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street which will be released on Christmas Day. The film tells the wild story of Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, a New York stockbroker who rose to the top until corruption brought him back down. The film looks like it has the potential to give DiCaprio yet another Oscar nomination after his performance in The Aviator, for which he got a Best Actor nomination back in 2004. The film also stars Jon Favreau, Jonah Hill and Jean Dujardin and is directed by Academy-Award winning director Martin Scorsese.

So there you have it. What movie do you think will ultimately outshine the rest? A Wall Street drama? An independent film moving at the speed of sound and music? A film about a man out for revenge? Or a wild con-man film? Only time will tell. See you at the movies.