Just as big popcorn flicks rule summer, fall is teeming with another breed of seasonal film. It’s very serious but inspiring; it’s packed with big names and an anointed new star for good measure; it takes a well-calculated risk or two. It is, in short, shameless Oscar bait, and studios are throwing them at the screen in order to qualify for the 2010 Academy Awards.
We’ve broken down some of the more conspicuous ones to hit theaters before the Dec. 31 cutoff date, but we’re not making any predictions. We’re not even saying we could sit through “Invictus.”
It’s just that when you put Mariah Carey in a mustache in November, you have an agenda.
