5. Labor Day
As with Bennett Miller, Jason Reitman is a young director who has had relatively good success with the Academy. Although Young Adult proved to be a little too biting for the Academy's liking, both Juno and Up in the Air were successful in the nomination department. Labor Day though may be completely new territory for the director, who up to this point, has made a name for himself as an expert alchemist of dramedy. Based on the novel by Joyce Maynard, Labor Day appears to be a straight up drama. The story of a single mother and her son who unwittingly pick up a desperate stranger for ride, a man who turns out to be an escaped convict, Labor Day will be new territory for Reitman and it will be interesting to see how the director navigates the film's tone. If the movie itself doesn't wow critics, at the very least it might make a good acting vehicle for Kate Winslett and Josh Brolin.