We had three films release this past weekend with the potential for Oscar nominations.

The Martian

The last time Ridley Scott was a serious contender for a Best Picture nomination was 2000 for Gladiator and he got it. Since then, he’s been delivering countless films that critics have been less than enthused with or have disappointed audiences even if they were popular.

Three years ago, Scott earned his last Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects for Prometheus. Before that, it was two nominations for American Gangster in 2007. In 2001, he had his last big haul with four Oscar nominations for Black Hawk Down, which took two awards. That’s three films out of eleven that scored Oscar consideration.

Critics are giving the film high marks and audiences love the film. It seems to be falling into a similar pattern to the last September science fiction Oscar contender. That film, 2013’s Gravity, won seven Academy Awards out of ten nominations, including Best Picture. The Academy has shown great strength in recent years nominating several prominent sci-fi features. The Martian fits well in that scheme and with Hollywood happy to have Ridley Scott back in tighter form, they could recognize him with several nominations.

A lot depends on how many other contenders fall by the wayside, but I imagine this is one of the top contenders currently in the field. That may not mean a lot when the Oscar nominations roll around, but several tech nods should be guaranteed and a Best Picture citation might follow.

Freeheld

When Julianne Moore won the Oscar for Still Alice, the Academy finally recognized her after a slew of poor choices left her without proper recognition. Now, she’s back in the race with a portrait of a gay cop whose pension and health coverage won’t extend to her partner and she’s going to fight it all the way to the end.

Based on the Oscar-winning documentary short film of the same name, Moore is joined by previous Oscar nominee and outspoken lesbian actress Ellen Page in a film adapted for the screen by Oscar nominee Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia) and neophyte director Peter Sollett’s first mainstream feature. Sollett’s previous efforts, 2002’s Raising Victor Vargas and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2008), were incredibly well received by critics, which makes the fate of this Toronto Film Festival release a bit surprising.

Poor reception has virtually doomed the film’s performance with the Academy, but Moore and Page remain prominent actors in Hollywood and even with the film’s critical failures, they could still be nominated. Page may have the better opportunity being in a field of supporting actresses that isn’t particularly strong. Moore, on the other hand, faces serious competition in her category. Last year, I made the bold prediction that Moore could become only the third actress in history to win back-to-back Oscars for Best Actress (Luise Rainer was the first and Katharine Hepburn was the second). Unfortunately, that prediction may be a bit tarnished at this point.

It’s possible Moore could win for another film that had no other hopes with Oscar, but against the formidable competition this time around, I suspect she’ll be a bridesmaid once again.

The Walk

Like Ridley Scott, Robert Zemeckis has had a string of string of disappointing films since his big Oscar glory in 1994 with Forrest Gump. Zemeckis’ track record is a bit better than Scott since he’s had more Oscar nominations in the interim and more than half of the films in his post-Gump stable were significantly better received, including Contact, one of the best science fiction films of the 1990’s.

Of the seven films Zemeckis has directed since Gump, four have been Oscar nominees. 1997’s Contact was the first with a single nomination followed by Cast Away in 2000 with two nominations, The Polar Express (2004) earning three nods, and 2012’s Flight taking two nominations. His films didn’t win any, but considering both he and Scott are three years past their last nominations, both could be rewarded this year.

The problem is that The Walk doesn’t quite have the gravitas of The Martian. As such, I suspect its only recognition will come in the tech categories. This is where I think it will do its best with nominations in Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects being fairly strong contenders with Original Score, Editing, Cinematography, Production Design and Costume Design also possibilities. The Martian will compete in many of these as well and is more likely to win over The Walk, but both directors should finally earn back some of their tarnished studio cred with this year’s entries.