Three true stories based on military related tales. Some of Hollywood biggest names involved. Two of them are surefire Oscar contenders.
My 2013 fall movie preview soldiers on this evening. We begin with Captain Phillips. The film is based on the 2009 Somali pirate hijacking situation. Tom Hanks stars as the title character whose vessel is overtaken. Behind the camera is Paul Greengrass, who directed the second and third entries in the Bourne franchise and United 93. He seems like the perfect director to handle this material and Hanks is already generating Oscar buzz. The trailer is very effective and the pic is out October 18.
We move onto The Monuments Men (December 18) from director George Clooney and featuring an A list cast that includes Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, and Cate Blanchett. This World War II era pic centers on a team tasked with saving priceless cultural and artistic items before the Nazis destroy them. The producing team behind last year’s Best Picture winner Argo is shepherding this project. Could Oscar nominations follow? I’ve already written a separate blog post about that subject here:
https://toddmthatcher.wordpress.com/2013/08/08/oscar-watch-the-monuments-men/
Finally, we have Lone Survivor which tells the real-life story of a group of Navy SEALS and their experiences in Afghanistan. Peter Berg’s film stars Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, and Eric Bana. This seems like less of an awards contender, but you never know. Movies about our recent military conflicts have a checkered past. In fact, Captain Phillips director Greengrass and Monuments Men star Damon had a box office dud in 2010 with Green Zone. Director Berg hasn’t exactly been on a roll lately either. His last two projects, Hancock and Battleship, were not audience or critical favorites. Let’s hope for the best. Lone Survivor comes out in limited release on December 27.
That does it for this edition of the fall movie preview! I’ll be back with more titles very soon.
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