10 Most Oscar Bait Movies From The 2015 Awards Season

5. Into The Woods

What's Oscar Bait About The Idea? How many duds does a once-promising have to deliver before people stop caring? Clearly it needs to be Shymalan levels of output, because even though he's not made anything remotely close to his Oscar winning Chicago since it took home Best Picture, Rob Marshall can still consistently get Oscar buzz; when word of his latest musical, Into The Woods, dropped it was immediately viewed as a hot awards property. Every couple of years there needs to be one that tries to make the genre still appear relevant, apparently. Was It Any Good? Into The Woods is no doubt a great stage musical, and given how it taps into beloved fairy tales has the potential for a great big screen adaptation. This, however, isn't it. Marshall implements the same stagey tact as he did in Chicago, but whereas that fit the plot of burlesque dancers, here it just feels like a lazy way to keep a typically high fantasy budget down. Was There Any Major Campaigning? Disney pushed the film a bit, but from mid-last year it was always an outsider. Still, it did manage a Best Picture nod at the Golden Globes, as well as couple of technical Oscars noms. And, of course, Meryl Streep got nominated for being Meryl Streep. Will It Get Anything For Its Efforts? Streep doesn't stand a chance (nor does she deserve one), although the very artistic designs could sway the usually out-there choices for Costume Design (unlikely against The Grand Budapest Hotel though).