8. August: Osage County
Harvey Weinstein. The name alone is enough to get any movie into the awards season conversation, but while not all Weinstein produced movies make it into the final cut of Best Picture nominees, he almost always has at least one horse in the race. This year, at this point, August: Osage County appears to be his best bet. Based on the Pulitzer-Prize winning play by Tracey Letts, which she adapted herself into the film's screenplay, the movie tells the story of an Oklahoman family during a time of crisis. Somewhat uncommonly for Hollywood today, the film has a number of juicy roles for woman and its lineup of female thespians, Julia Roberts, Juliette Lewis, Abigail Breslin, and the Oscar queen herself, Meryl Streep, is quite impressive. Add in male counterparts such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, and Sam Shepard, and that makes for a nice ensemble. I haven't seen the play, but apparently it has some pretty dark material (Tracey Letts also wrote the play that the film Killer Joe was based on), so that may be a problem. As long as no character is forced to suck on a pseudo-phallic piece of fried chicken (a reference to Killer Joe for those who have no idea what I am talking about), I think it will be okay.