Will "Mud" Help McConaughey Get Some Oscar Love?

Matthew McConaughey

One of the most surprising things about 2013 in movies was the transformation of Matthew McConaughey all the way from shirtless loverboy to respected actor. With four films: Killer Joe, Magic Mike, the Paperboy and Berne, he almost seemed like a new person, even delivering a heartwarming ode to independent filmmakers at this year's Spirit Awards, at which he won Best Supporting Male for Magic Mike. The trend continues as he becomes the go to guy for prestige directors, including Christopher Nolan (Interstellar) and Martin Scorsese (Wolf of Wall Street). With this week's release of director Jeff Nichol's film Mud, he loses his vanity even more. But is this enough to get him an Oscar nomination?

Review: "Trance" Shows Boyle Asleep at the Wheel

James McAvoy

One of my most anticipated movies of the year, director Danny Boyle's Trance, may be one of the most disappointing movies that you see this year. Following a fantastic run of films that included back-to-back Best Picture nominees Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours, it almost feels like Trance is NOT a Boyle film, but someone who admires him. On every grounds, it is a mess and is more likely an excuse to experiment visually than anything else. Even then, Trance doesn't feel like a film by a master, but just a collection of images meant to make you have a head rush. Unfortunately, not even that is achieved.

Review: "Stoker" is an Eerily Wonderful Coming of Age Story

Mia Wasikowska

With the unfortunate revelation that there isn't any movie even worthy of speculating Oscar Buzz this week, I have decided to finally write a review for director Chan-wook Park's Stoker, a film that I heavily have endorsed on this blog, but never have specified why. It is a marvelous film, and one that is bizarre enough to not be considered for some sort of award. This is notably thanks to Park, whose catalog includes the much buzzed about and easily deserved praise for Oldboy. In his English-language debut, he tackles a coming of age story in one of the weirdest, most surreal ways possible. What makes his approach more authentic than any of his competitors?

Will Malick Get a Best Picture Nomination for "To the Wonder"?

Left to right: Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams

In 2011, one of the surprise hits of the year was director Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, which was an epic poem about beauty and life. When it received three Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, it only made the film more prevalent in the culture. Since, he is on a role with three films set to release in 2013 alone. His first venture is To the Wonder, which stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, and Javier Bardem. Will this recent spurt of output help to put Malick back into the race, or is The Tree of Life one of those odd exceptions?

Is "Trance" Able to Get Sci-Fi and Danny Boyle Back into the Best Picture Race?

It has been awhile since we have seen director Danny Boyle foray into cinemas. True, he gave us a spectacular opening ceremony to last year's London Olympics and before that, a stage production of Frankenstein starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller. However, his last film, the gorgeous 127 Hours, was three years ago. Still, as his most recent film Trance is set to debut this week in America, it is time to consider that Boyle may be one of the few that could take the science fiction category and place it into the Best Picture race.