We’re in the great game. The fall movie season IS Oscar season, or at least the beginnings of it. Big, awards-baiting movies start coming out. The Weinsteins start pulling out all the stops (or they would have in previous years, at least). Filmmakers and actors are taken on a nearly six-month publicity tour. And at the end of it all: a golden statuette of a bald man holding a sword, and a lot of people crossing their fingers that they read the right envelope this time.
2017 has been an interesting year at the movies. The summer season felt like a bust, and so far there haven’t been too many movies that completely wowed audiences. But as awards season slowly kicks into high gear the real contenders are beginning to make themselves known in the Best Picture race. So let’s take a look at the ten films with the best shot at Oscar gold
The Big Sick
Comedies don’t always get Oscar love, but The Big Sick is no ordinary comedy. The hit from earlier this summer stuck around longer than anyone predicted, making almost everyone’s best-of-the-year-so-far lists. The reason is clear: Not only is it one of the year’s funniest films, it’s also one of its more beautifully heartfelt. Written by Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, and based on their own experience, in which after dating for a while, Gordon fell ill and was put in a medically induced coma. Both a great relationship comedy, and a great film about getting to know your partner’s parents, The Big Sick hit the mark in a way few films like it ever do. It helps that Nanjiani is great in the film opposite Zoe Kazan, and that Ray Romano and Holly Hunter are absolutely fantastic as well.