Of All the Movies Squeezed Into December for Awards Consideration, Which are Right For You?

Release date: December 6
Plot synopsis: While blue-collar guy Russell Baze (Christian Bale) is in jail, his younger brother, Rodney Jr. (Casey Affleck), falls in with a bad-news Rust Belt gang. Upon his release, Russell vows to rescue his brother from the gang's clutches by any means necessary. Guns and fists, not words and negotiations.
Awards potential: Crazy Heart director Scott Cooper's highly anticipated sophomore feature has "actors showcase" written all over it, namely for leading man Christian Bale (at his grittiest—really) and always-in-the-running co-star Casey Affleck. The "Best Actor" category is stacked this year, though, so Out of the Furnace's cast members will need to be exceptional, not just excellent, in order to emerge from the crowded pack.
For fans of... masculine, bloody, and bleak morality tales. Also, people who found David Fincher's downbeat The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to be the perfect kind of Christmas season entertainment. Turn that smile upside down, pal. Get unhappy.
Will you be expected to have an opinion about this? Nah, this isn't going to be water cooler conversation. But if you care about indie cinema credibility...

Release date: December 6
Plot synopsis: A frustated folk singer (Oscar Isaac) struggles to make it big in pre-Bob Dylan era New York.
Awards potential: Oscar Isaac is a dark horse for Best Actor. But like the Coens' O Brother, Where Art Thou? this movie just screams "Best Original Song."
For fans of... folk music, smoking cigarettes, failure. And the Coens, duh.
Will you be expected to have an opinion about this? Definitely, especially if you live in a coastal city. A new movie from the Coens is always an event.

Release date: December 13
Plot synopsis: The film looks back on P.L. Travers' (Emma Thompson) life as she negotiates with Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) about the adaptation of her book, Mary Poppins.
Awards potential: Emma Thompson isn't a shoe-in for Best Actress, and Tom Hanks' peformance in Captain Phillips seems to be the strongest contender. So, nope.
For fans of... buying season passes to Disneyland and killing time watching the Disney Channel.
Will you be expected to have an opinion about this? Only to your 10-year-old cousin. And he'll probably sleep through this.

Release date: December 13
Plot synopsis: A con man (Christian Bale) and his partner (Amy Adams) get recruited to work with an FBI agent (Bradley Cooper) to suss out corruption in New Jersey. The byzantine plot—too much/inconsequential for the beautiful trailers—ensnares the mayor of Camden (Jeremy Renner). But the con man's wife (Jennifer Lawrence) has something to say about this. Shenanigans ensue.
Awards potential: All of them. The ensemble cast is worthy of Altman. The era adoration screams Scorsese circa GoodFellas. It all looks like so much adult fun, it's a shoo-in for Best Picture. Assuming, you know, it's good. (It can't not be good, right? Right?!)
For fans of... the '70s and the movies that love that decade (Boogie Nights especially).
Will you be expected to have an opinion about this? Oh hell yes. This is the kind of 11th-hour picture that's going to shift entire perspectives about the best movies of the year. Why? Because:

Release date: December 13
Plot synopsis: Because the journey only ends when studio execs say it does, the three-part adaptation of Tolkein's children's novel continues, with Bilbo and the dwarves' mission to reclaim their homeland from the evil dragon, Smaug.
Awards potential: More of the same as last year: makeup, visual effects, and production design.
For fans of... The Lord of the Rings trilogy and people who can't let go of their wet dream of Orlando Bloom as Legolas.
Will you be expected to have an opinion about this? It'll be a great conversation starter at your next Magic: The Gathering tournament.

Release date: December 20
Plot synopsis: In the near future of Spike Jonze's brain, where everything looks like Beijing tongue-kissing Los Angeles, a man (Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with his new computer operating system (voiced by Scarlett Johansson). Because it's the future, this isn't very uncommon, and anyway he's reboudning from a divorce (Rooney Mara—tough blow, tough blow).
Awards potential: A much easier (but not better) movie to digest than last year's The Master, Her could finally get Phoenix an Oscar. The movie looks great, so expect techincal awards, possibly Best Director. And maybe, just maybe, a screenplay nod for Jonze.
For fans of... Charlie Kaufman movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Internet porn, high-waisted pants (you'll get it when you see it).
Will you be expected to have an opinion about this? If you know any film geeks or people in their 20s, yes—yes, you will. But your grandma won't know.

Release date: December 18
Plot synopsis: Saying goodbye to "Whale's Vagina" (a.k.a. San Diego), the Channel 4 news team (Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner) heads to New York City to work (read: cause all kinds of hilarious mayhem) for the first-ever 24-hour news channel.
Awards potential: The Golden Globes' Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy is a possibility, but, really, does anybody care if Ron Burgundy's big-screen comeback receives a single nomination for anything? The sequel's existence is an award in and of itself.
For fans of... laughing, fun, '70s mustaches, and Will Ferrell's greatest fictional creation. You know, people with pulses, basically.
Will you be expected to have an opinion about this? Does Sex Panther by Odeon work everytime 60% of the time?

Release date: December 20
Plot synopsis: An Iranian man divorces his French wife, leaving the family wrestling with questions of identiy, place, and the future of their lives.
Awards potential: The Past has been submitted as Iran's entry for Best Foreign Film for the upcoming Academy Awards. Director Asghar Farhadi's last film, the masterful A Separation, won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film in 2012; this might be the year he takes an Oscar home.
For fans of... World cinema, family drama, A Separation.
Will you be expected to have an opinion about this? Not unless it wins, and even then nothing is for certain, which is unfortunate because that says everything about how marginalized movies from the Middle East are in this country.

Release date: December 25
Plot synopsis: Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes) wasn't just a charming man with an imaginative mind. He was also a player who kept a mistress (Felicity Jones) until his dying breath.
Awards potential: Considering screenwriter Abi Morgan, of Iron Lady and The Hour fame, is behind this, expect it to get a Best Adapted Screenplay nod.
For fans of... romance novels, Ralph Fiennes face, 19th century gossip.
Will you be expected to have an opinion about this? Not unless it's required viewing for your English class.

Release date: December 25
Plot synopsis: An antisocial introvert's (Ben Stiller) daydreams become reality as his job at Time obliges him to track down an elusive photographer (Sean Penn) to salvage the magazine's last cover photo.
Awards potential: Realistically, only the cinematography is awards worthy, but the Golden Globes is known to pull some shit.
For fans of... harmless movies that make you feel like curling up with some hot cocoa and those magnets with those stupid quotes on them.
Will you be expected to have an opinion about this? Only after you see it with your family on Christmas Day.

Release date: December 25
Plot synopsis: After the suicide of their father, the Weston sisters (Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis) return home to grieve with their ailing mother (Meryl Streep), only to open old wounds and create new ones.
Awards potential: Julia Roberts is a far cry from the lovable America's Sweetheart who broke out in Pretty Woman. With her character frustrated and alone, she holds her own against a Meryl Streep, who plays misery to perfection, guaranteeing them both Academy recognition.
For fans of... the cathartic experience of watching anything that channels your shitty childhood and family problems on screen, and people who like to watch Benedict Cumberbatch do anything.
Will you be expected to have an opinion about this? If your parents happen to see it and all of a sudden get self-conscious about how they raised you.

Release date: December 25
Plot synopsis: Based on Seal Team 10's failed real-life, 2005 mission Operation Red Wings, Lone Survivor follows the brave soldiers (led by Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, and Ben Foster) who got caught in the thick of the shit while trying to capture a Taliban leader in Afghanistan.
Awards potential: If Lone Survivor transcends its action movie trappings, there's a chance director Peter Berg could receive some nomination love. Best Adapted Screenplay is also in the cards, since Berg's script is based on actual "lone survivor" Marcus Lattrell's (played by Wahlberg in the film) 2007 non-fiction book Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10.
For fans of... America, war movies, America, Zero Dark Thirty (but only for the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound), and, lastly, America...fuck, yeah!
Will you be expected to have an opinion about this? Absolutely, particularly if your friends cried while watching Act of Valor.

Release date: December 25
Plot synopsis: A half-Japanese/half-British warrior named Kai (Keanu Reeves) teams up with a group of samurai to take down the evil Lord Kira (Tadanobu Asano).
Awards potential: First-time feature director Carl Erik Rinsch's action epic is clearly a counter-programming move by Universal Pictures, hoping to attract genre fans who aren't interested in Oscar bait. But 47 Ronin's visually robust trailer hints at potential visual effects nominations.
For fans of... Akira Kurosawa films, but specifically those who've watched Seven Samurai and thought, Man, this would be so much better with CGI and Ted "Theodore" Logan in the lead.
Will you be expected to have an opinion about this? Have your friends expressed little to no interest in Lone Survivor? If you've answered "yes," then expect questions about whether Keanu Reeves' very own The Last Samurai is at least worth a matinee ticket or not.

Release date: December 25
Plot synopsis: Two over-the-hill Pittsburgh boxers, Billy "The Kid" McDonnen (Robert De Niro) and Henry "Razor" Sharp (Sylvester Stallone), decide to finally settle their 30-year-old grudge once and for all with a nationally covered rematch. The problem being, of course, that they're both creaky old men now.
Awards potential: Will Grudge Match not be the pathetic old-actors-making-fun-of-their-old-age dud it seems to be? Stranger things have happened, and if director Peter Segal's (The Longest Yard, Get Smart) film proves to be a late-December sleeper, a Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy nom at the Golden Globes isn't completely unrealistic. After all, the Globes nominated The Tourist in 2010, and that movie is awful.
For fans of... movies in which once-great Hollywood legends struggle to remain hip and relevant while shamelessly winking at their past iconic roles (i.e., Jake LaMotta and Rocky Balboa).
Will you be expected to have an opinion about this? It'll certainly help when your father proves unable to resist its "old-man wish fulfillment" charms. Why else do you think he dragged you to see Last Vegas last month?

Release date: December 27 (one-week qualifying run)
Plot synopsis: A single mom (Kate Winslet) who's mad at everything and her 13-year-old son, Henry (Gattlin Griffith), provide shelter for a seriously wounded man (Josh Brolin) they meet at the supermarket. As it turns out, their new friend is an escaped convict, a dark truth that complicates things once, inevitably, mommy falls in love with the bad man.
Awards potential: The young Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet's name in anything means there's potentially for a Best Actress nomination. Word is that Josh Brolin is particularly strong here, so he's also a possibility, as is director Jason Reitman. That is, if the early buzz about Labor Day being overly sappy schmaltz prove to be unfounded.
For fans of... borderline maudlin romantic dramas with performances guided by awards season goals; i.e., people who love Bridges of Madison County. Also, fans of tears.
Will you be expected to have an opinion about this? Only if your mom and her friends can't decide between seeing this or August: Osage County.