by LAGAN SEBERT

‘Tis the season for film buffs to toss on their tweed jackets and wool scarves and head to the cinema to turn a discerning eye on this year’s Oscar hopefuls.

Many Hollywood heavyweights are premiering films earlier than normal this year. In years past, studios have saved their films with award aspirations until the very end of the year, but this year many solid Oscar and Golden Globe favorites are hitting theaters earlier. And, competition is thick, with many Hollywood legends putting their work on the chopping block at the same time.

Here’s a look at what this year’s awards season has to offer:

As far as Oscar bait goes, it doesn’t get tastier than a Robert Redford film starring Meryl Streep with political undertones. Lions for Lambs opens this week. The tag line reads, “If you don’t stand for something, you might fall for anything.” The film is a political drama that jumps between California, Washington, D.C., and Afghanistan. Oh the pedigree!

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and United Artists. Photo Credit: David James
Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise in Lions for Lambs.

The Coen brothers’ new film, No Country for Old Men, comes from the book written by one old-man genius, Cormac McCarthy, and stars another, Tommy Lee Jones. Though the Coen brothers’ odd-ball style doesn’t always win awards, the epic nature of their newest venture mixed with the respect they claim from most of the film community will definitely put this film in the running for many awards.

Despite its derivative plot line and title, even the most weathered critics are praising American Gangster as an instant classic. Denzel Washington and Russell Crow have been applauded for strong character performances, and director Ridley Scott (Gladiator and Blade Runner) makes up for a lack of originality with precise execution. The story is based on a real-life Harlem drug runner (Washington) who cut out the middle-men by traveling to China to buy Opium direct.

Sidney Lumet, director of classics Dog Day Afternoon, Network and Serpico, brings Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke and Marisa Tomei together on screen in Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, which ought to at least win something for best title. Critics are suggesting that best title might not be the only award it wins.

Danish director Susanne Bier has won a host of awards for directing films that most Americans have never heard of. She is attempting to emerge from obscurity with her first major studio film, Things We Lost in the Fire, starring Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro. The film meditates on a widow’s loss.

Gavin Hood, the Oscar-winning director of Tsotsi, which chronicled six days in the violence-ridden life of a South African gang member, teams with Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal in his new film, Rendition. Rendition takes on the controversial topic of secret CIA prisons.

New Line Cinema. Photo Credit: Sam Emerson
Reese Witherspoon and Paul Sarsgaard

Sharkwater wants to be the Inconvenient Truth of the oceans. In the film, award-winning photographer turned director Rob Stewart chronicles the decline of shark populations around the world. It has already racked up scores of awards on the festival circuit. But with a limited release and not a lot of money for a marketing campaign, this one might not get the attention it deserves.

The tragic story of a doomed idealist, as told in Jon Krakauer’s non-fiction bestseller, provides Sean Penn with a built-in audience for his adaptation of Into the Wild. Reviews have been mixed. But Penn is always looking for, if not expecting, official accolades.

Ben Affleck’s directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, has critics and audiences alike bringing up awards talk. However, I’m not sure the Academy would hand over its most prized award to a detective thriller set in the hard streets of south Boston two years in a row. Sorry, Affleck, you’re no Scorsese yet.

Michael Clayton gives George Clooney a vehicle to another classic performance, this time as a morally conflicted New York lawyer. Tony Gilroy, the writer behind the Bourne trilogy, makes his directorial debut with Michael Clayton, and some critics have suggested that he saved his best material for himself.

Warner Bros. Pictures. Photo by Myles Aronowitz
George Clooney as Michael Clayton

Then there’s the 800-pound gorilla of a movie, Charlie Wilson’s War, which doesn’t come out until December. But I had to include it here. It’s Julia Roberts’ first significant role since 2004 and probably the richest material Tom Hanks has worked with since Forrest Gump. And the director, Mike Nichols (The Graduate and Primary Colors) is no bum himself. The story is based on the nonfiction book of the same name, written by former 60 Minutes producer George Crile. The book tells the story of how one quixotic, yet often-misdirected, Texan politician changed the course of history. No, not that one. Hint: his name is in the title.

All of the films above are either in theaters now or will be released in the next week. Except for Charlie Wilson’s War.