Fall films: Now the Oscar race heats up
(CBS News) Movie-goers, take note: The new season is underway. And even though the calendar says it's the first day of fall, Hollywood producers already have a certain ceremony next March very much on their minds. Bill Whitaker has a preview of coming attractions:
The race is on for the Oscar as Hollywood gets serious in the fall.
Some of the season's new films are "quite, quite serious," says Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan. "And that's always an encouraging sign."
It's Turan's favorite time of year, making him "giddy" with anticipation.
"You have to be a little giddy in the fall, or else, you know, when are you going to be giddy?" he told Whitaker. "If you love films, these are the films you look forward to."
The film that stood out the most for Turan is "Gravity."
Directed by Alfonso Cuaron, "Gravity" stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock as astronauts whose craft is hit by space debris. Bullock is stranded in space.
"I swear to you, you feel like you're in outer space," said Turan. "It's an amazing visual experience."
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Tom Hanks plays "Captain Phillips," whose cargo ship was hijacked by Somali pirates in 2009.
"You feel like this is happening in front of your eyes and you're right in the middle of it," said Turan.
"Captain Phillips" is one of many of this fall's films that are based on real people and events.
Naomi Watts plays a princess in "Diana"; Idris Elba plays the man who would become South Africa's first black president, in "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom."
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has a flair for the dramatic; now his early life has inspired a Hollywood drama, "The Fifth Estate," starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
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In "Saving Mr. Banks," Walt Disney has to pull out all the stops to convince author P.L. Travers to let him turn her book, "Mary Poppins," into a movie. Tom Hanks plays Disney; Emma Thompson is Travers.
An 1855 memoir inspired "12 Years a Slave." Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Solomon Northup, a man born in freedom and sold into slavery.
"It's an intense film," said Turan. "This won the Audience Award at Toronto, which is often the precursor to Oscar. So this is one that people are going to feel they have to see."
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Watch: "12 Years a Slave" trailer
Directors shift into high gear in the fall. Ron Howard uses a real-life chapter from Formula One racing to explore passion, friendship and danger in "Rush."
"Inside Llewyn Davis" by the Coen brothers takes us to the Greenwich Village folk music scene in the early 1960s.
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Director David O. Russell takes his quirky characters through a 1970s FBI sting operation in "American Hustle."
Martin Scorsese teams up again with Leonardo DiCaprio for a romp through the high-rolling 1980s in "The Wolf of Wall Street."
And Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with his operating system (with the voice of Scarlett Johansson) in "Her," set in the near future. It was written and directed by Spike Jonze. "If he's done something, I want to see it," Turan said. "I'm not sure I'm going to like it. It may make me crazy, but his films always intrigue me."
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Fall is also when the stars come out. Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts bring the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "August: Osage County" to the screen.
George Clooney directed and stars in "The Monuments Men," based on a true World War II rescue of artwork looted by the Nazis.
Robert Redford made a big splash at the Cannes Film Festival as a man lost at sea in "All Is Lost."
Matthew McConaughey adds to his list of unconventional characters as a hustler who contracted HIV in "Dallas Buyer's Club."
And Bruce Dern won Best Actor at the Cannes Festival as an old man battling senility -- and his son -- in "Nebraska."
"I can't remember the last big film he was in," said Turan. "But he's just perfectly cast, and he just does a wonderful job."
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Alexander Payne's "Nebraska" trailer crops up
It's not ALL high brow and serious in the fall.
Will Ferrell and the TV news gang are back in "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues"; and Thor is back in "Thor: The Dark World."
"It's hard for me to kind of work up enormous enthusiasm for the latest adventures of Thor, even though I think he's a wonderful guy and I wish him well in the world," said Turan. "But, you know, this is more Thor."
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Even blockbusters aim higher in the fall. The sci-fi adventure "Ender's Game," based on the popular book, has A-list stars Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley. "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" is the second in director Peter Jackson's "Hobbit" trilogy.
And finally, Academy Award-winner Jennifer Lawrence returns in "Catching Fire," the second installment of "The Hunger Games."
Hollywood is out to win you over this fall . . . with some of the best it has to offer.
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"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" to screen at Rome Film Festival
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