Oscar Bait Time

It's that time of the year when the trailers for the potential Oscar bait for next year are coming out and there are 2 trailers I saw which peaked my interests, Les Miserables and The Great Gatsby. Now I fully predict that they will be nominated in the major categories at the next Oscars and I feel that, since it's been a while since I've done one of these, that I'll take a look at the trailers, starting off with:
Les Miserables:

Wow. That trailer looks incredible. The design of the film is gorgeous, Anne Hathaway has a really good singing voice, providing the haunting tone in the trailer through her performance of I Dreamed A Dream and I looks like the cast are really committed to there roles, with the quality of their singing being seen in the next trailers (although the only concern in singing now is Russell Crowe). While I will admit that I think The King's Speech was over-rated, Tom Hooper did a really good job in directing the film and it looks like this is a passion project of Hooper's. The only thing left to see, in terms of the cast, is to see some clips of Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen as the Thenadiers and they probably weren't included in the trailer due to its serious nature. I am really looking forward to seeing how Hooper fully adapts Les Mis onto the big screen in its musical form when it comes out.

Next up The Great Gatsby:

Now before I go into my thoughts, I think I should tell you that I have not read the book yet. I am going to try and read the book before the film is released but based on the merits of the trailer alone, I'm really looking forward to it. The design is excellent, perfectly nailing the 1920s look, from the sets to the costumes, with the cast, especially Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan, really getting into the 1920s vibe. It's just a shame that the music in the first part of the trailer doesn't, while the music fits with the tone, it doesn't fit with the feel of the 1920s invoked by the trailer and as such feels really out of place. Now while I may be quick to criticise 3D, I have to say that the 3D cameras have created a great advantage with the film based on the trailer, it removes the fast edit bullshit that normally fills Baz Luhrmann films, with his adaptation of Romeo and Juliet suffering because of it (incidentally, I am looking forward to the new adaptation of Romeo and Juliet written by Julian Fellowes and staring Hailee Steinfeld and Douglas Booth, really looks like it'll do the Shakespeare play proud). Due to the nature of 3D, fast edits cannot be used as it destroys the 3D effect and the actual camera cannot move around fast as it is too heavy. This looks like it'll really help the look of The Great Gatsby in the long run (although I will be watching the 2D version) and I am really looking forward to this film coming out.

There you go then, 2 potential Oscar bait films which I am really looking forward to. Rest assured that when I watch them, I will be reviewing them and I will predict that these films will be big at the 2013 Oscars.