30 Anticipated Films For The 2015 - 2016 Oscar Season

30 Anticipated Films For The 2015 - 2016 Oscar Season

It’s Sunday September 6^th 2015 Labor Day weekend and in Hollywood it’s about that time of year again when you start to hear the faint rumblings of the names of the highly anticipated films for possible Oscars nominations. Meaning what exactly? 

Well, it means that I have to put on my reliable prognostication Nostradamus thinking cap to gaze perilously into the future to pare down the long list to about 30 films and 3 wild card films that I think will offer something in the way of high quality storytelling, directing and acting, as well as having the potential of receiving most of the coveted Oscar nominations including possibly Best Picture nominations.

Note below:

Bold Black listed films are those I believe could get Best Picture Oscar Nominations.

* The note asterisks means they are true stories or are based on true events.

1.       45 Years -  A woman’s 45th wedding anniversary is disrupted when a letter arrives for her husband about a former lover’s body that is found in the icy glaciers of the Swiss Alps  - Charlotte Rampling

2.       *Black Mass - Gangster Whitey Bulger violent crimes in South Boston – Johnny Depp

3.       *Bridge of Spies – 1960 an American lawyer helps rescue a pilot detained in the Soviet Union – Tom Hanks - Director Steven Spielberg

4.      Brooklyn - 1950s Ireland & New York, a young woman has two men in two countries.

5.       By the Sea - 1970s France, former dancer and her husband travel the country together trying to salvage their marriage – Brad Pitt  - Angelina Jolie

6.       Carol - 1950s NY, a young female department-store clerk falls for an older married woman -  Cate Blanchett  - Rooney Mara

7.       *Everest - A climbing expedition on Mt. Everest is devastated by a severe snow storm – Jake Gyllenhaal

8.       *Freeheld - NJ police woman & her domestic partner battle to secure benefits when diagnosed with terminal cancer – Julianne Moore – Steve Carrell.

9.       *Genius - Max Perkins's time as book editor at Scribner that oversaw works by Thomas Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald – Nicole Kidman – Jude Law - Colin Firth

10.    *I Saw the Light -  The biography of singer Hank Williams -Tom Hiddleston  

11.    In the Heart of the Sea – 1820 a whaling ship is preyed upon by a sperm whale stranding its crew at sea for 90 days – Directed by Ron Howard - Chris Hemsworth

12.   Inside Out – (Animation): A story of a young girl who is uprooted from her Midwest life to San Francisco while her inner emotions of "Joy", "Fear", "Anger", "Disgust" and "Sadness" conflict on how best to navigate her new life.

13.   *Joy - A family across four generations and the working woman who becomes founder of a powerful family business dynasty – Jennifer Lawrence - Bradley Cooper – Robert DeNiro - Director David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook & American Hustle)

14.    *Legend -The story of twins Reggie and Ronald Kray reign as the most notorious gangsters in British history  - Tom Hardy aka "Mad Max" (Hardy plays both brothers in the film)

15.    *Love and Mercy - Beach Boys Brian Wilson struggles with psychosis and a shady therapist – John Cusack – Elizabeth Banks

16.    Macbeth – Shakespeare’s story of the Duke of Scotland prophecy from witches that one day he will become King of Scotland – Michael Fassbender

17.    Mad Max: Fury Road - A woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in post-apocalyptic Australia - Charlize Theron – Tom Hardy

18.    *Miles Ahead – The story of jazz trumpeter Miles Davis - Don Cheadle

19.    *Snowden -  CIA employee Edward Snowden leaks classified documents to the press -  Shailene Woodley – Scott East Wood – Director Oliver Stone (Platoon)

20.    Star Wars: The Force Awakens - You been in  a cave? This film is self-explanatory - Director J.J. Abrams (Star Trek films reboot). 

21.    *Steve Jobs - Follows the life and legacy of Apple’s Steve Jobs – Michael Fassbender - Director Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)

22.   *Suffragette - The early feminist movement in Britain – Carey Mulligan – Meryl Streep

23.    *The Danish Girl - Artist Einar Wegener undergoes a sex-change operation in the early 1900s -  Eddie Redmayne (Last Years Best Actor Winner in "The Theory of Everything")

24.    The Hateful Eight - Post-Civil War Wyoming, bounty hunters seek shelter during a blizzard but get involved in a plot of betrayal and deception – Samuel Jackson – Kurt Russell - Director Quentin Taratino's 8th film 

25.    The Martian – An Astronaut is left on Mars after he is presumed dead – Matt Damon  - Jessica Chastain  Director Ridley Scott (Alien, Thelma & Louise, Black Hawk Down & Prometheus) 

26.   *The Revenant - In 1820s a frontiersman seeks vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling – Leonardo DiCaprio – Tom Hardy aka "Mad Max"

27.   *The Walk - Frenchman Philippe Petit's attempts to cross the towers of the World Trade Center in 1974 - Joseph Gordon Levitt - Director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Castaway & Flight)  

28.    *Trumbo – 1940’s Hollywood screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo career comes to an end when blacklisted as a Communist -  Bryan Cranston

29.    *Truth – Story of news anchor Dan Rather during his final days at CBS News when he broadcast a false report about President Bush - Cate Blanchett – Robert Redford

30.    Youth - A retired orchestra conductor receives an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to perform for Prince Philip's birthday – Michael Caine

3 Wild Card Films

                *Straight Outta Compton - Late 1980's - 1990's story of gangster rap group N.W.A.
                 Son of Saul - 1944 Auschwitz prisoner burns corpses while trying to save a boy
                 Anomalisa  - A man crippled emotionally by his mundane life