Check out the companion conversation to this article between the author and ITI NewsBreaks editor Brandi Scardilli about all things Oscar 2025 on page 2.
It was delayed, but it cannot be denied—Oscar season is back again!
The 2024 movie year was a weird one. There was no one Barbenheimer to rule them all, leaving the field of award hopefuls wide open in “Phase Two”—the post-nominations portion of the campaign—of the Oscar race. Some contenders have surged to the front based on previous wins, and others are only now beginning to rev their engines through late wide releases. Whether you like movies based on famous books, original stories, body horror, or severely misguided movies operating under the guise of progressive representation, this slate has something for everyone.
THE 2025 BEST PICTURE NOMINEES
My track record of seeing the Best Picture nominees as early in the cycle as a rural American possibly can has unfortunately taken a hit this year, as I have only been able to see eight of the 10 nominees. But, since the remaining two either have not opened wide or not opened at all, I’m giving myself a pass. Though Clint Eastwood didn’t make it into the conversation this year, despite a banger of a courtroom drama in Juror #2, the good, the bad, and the ugly are alive and well in this crop of moving pictures.
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The Good
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences increased the Best Picture field from five to 10 nominees in 2009, and though the reason was likely to get more blockbusters nominated, it actually has resulted in nominating more small movies, and I’m all about it. There is so much griping about there being no “watercooler” culture-wide phenomena anymore, but honestly, who cares. Human interests have always been customizable, so why must movies be the sector that bows to the least common denominator when highlighting the purported highest achievement in the craft? We wouldn’t expect the Pulitzer to award Fourth Wing or James Patterson to win the National Book Award. That doesn’t mean they aren’t interesting or shouldn’t exist or didn’t find their audience—their success is their win. Just because it’s popular (or even unpopular for that matter; don’t get it twisted) doesn’t mean it’s good.
With that said, Wicked was really good! The two lead performances—and yes, I said two; Ariana Grande is a co-lead in that movie regardless of whatever category fraud they wish to perpetrate—are funny, heartfelt, and brimming with talent. Complaints about the color grading aside, a musical about the threat of totalitarianism couldn’t be more well-timed. Who can say if we’ve been changed for the better, though we certainly have been changed for good.
Someone else who was changed for good was Demi Moore in The Substance. Coralie Fargeat’s masterpiece is disgusting, and I don’t just mean watching Dennis Quaid eat shrimp. It interrogates social pressures on women to remain impossibly young and chase an unattainable version of beauty to remain relevant. Phoebe Waller-Bridge knew the truth when Fleabag and Claire raised their hands when asked if they would trade 5 years of their life in exchange for a perfect body. Five years probably would have been a bargain for Elisabeth Sparkle. Demi, come get your Oscar.
Unfortunately, no one will be coming to get any above-the-line Oscars for Dune: Part Two. Subject to the multi-part curse, the Dune love is pending for the 2027 Oscars (Dune: Messiah is slated for Dec. 18, 2026). Dune is absolutely worth your time to watch and would make an interesting thematic double feature with Wicked. The musical girlies and the sci-fi bros have more in common than a mutual love for Timothée Chalamet.
Oscar might finally love Chalamet enough this year to call out his name. His years-in-the-making portrayal of Bob Dylan’s transformation from folk darling to electric superstar in A Complete Unknown is truly spellbinding. From his side profile to his so-bad-it’s-good singing voice and superior guitar skills, Chalamet earns the nomination and the prize. Monica Barbaro deftly portrays Joan Baez’s signature voice, and Edward Norton’s Pete Seeger provides a humble foil for the self-absorbed Dylan. Director James Mangold does not deserve to be in the Best Director conversation given the movie’s bland acceptance of Dylan’s mystery and failure to tackle anything of real substance. The script similarly is misplaced on the nominations list since the most interesting words in it were written by Dylan or Baez or Seeger in the more than 70 songs included in the film.
The director who should have received a nomination is Edward Berger for his film Conclave. I don’t know why the Academy refuses to recognize Berger for his artistry and vision, since his films are absolute gems (he also directed All Quiet on the Western Front). Ralph Fiennes is appropriately nominated for his role as the unwilling and skeptical Cardinal Lawrence, as is Isabella Rossellini for Sister Agnes’ record-scratch moment that changes everything in the process of choosing a new pope. However, the real MVP is the abhorrent, vape-addicted Cardinal Tedesco, played by Sergio Castellitto, who injects life into a movie that could have easily been boring but remains riveting.
For a somber double feature with Conclave, check out Sugarcane, which is nominated for Best Documentary Feature. It tells the story of Indigenous Americans in Canada who were abused, raped, and even murdered in the Catholic Church’s Indian residential schools. The film is beautifully shot, and its unflinching investigation of the perpetrators juxtaposed with a sensitive portrayal of the victims, including the family of one of the filmmakers, Julian Brave NoiseCat, is breathtaking. The pain, grief, and resiliency in the face of horrific abuse is a story that demands to be told and witnessed.
The Brutalist is superbly well made. Adrien Brody is really operating on another level in it. I was so rapt throughout that I truly never felt the nearly 4-hour runtime. While I think the point made by the on-screen rape scene could have been proven without it, and the ending is rushed—which is shocking to say for a movie of this length—the film is expertly crafted and worth seeing on a big screen to appreciate its expansive cinematography. The ripple effects of the Holocaust outside its typical conception are stunningly rendered. The movie asks, When everything that makes you who you are is stripped away, and you’re forced to survive extreme hardship to rebuild your very being, is it the journey or the destination that matters more?
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The Bad
Allow me to preface this section by saying I don’t think Anora is a bad movie. I enjoyed it. I was captivated by Yura Borisov’s gentle yet chilling performance as one of the goons. And I especially enjoyed Mikey Madison’s complex performance, which required skill in things as varied as the Russian language, minute facial expressions, and lap dances in extremely high heels. She’s an actor with exciting talent. What I do not appreciate and find to be particularly bad about this movie is the purposeful lack of an intimacy coordinator.
Regardless of whether Madison wanted one, which she says she did not, it ultimately should not be up to any actor, director, or one person to decline the presence of a professional who is there to advocate for the comfort and safety of all people on set. Furthermore, explaining away the absence of an intimacy coordinator by saying director Sean Baker and his producer wife would “demonstrate” what they wanted the positions to look like is incredibly inappropriate.

Film sets are a workplace. Placing the onus on an actor to specifically request an intimacy coordinator puts pressure on that person, in this case very young adults, to advocate for themselves in a way that could label them difficult and cost-inflationary. In this setup, production is also neglecting to consider how the background actors and film crew could need support for intimate scenes. One person doesn’t speak for all people. Hopefully, as Madison learns and grows in her craft, she also uses her position to set precedence for a safe workplace for all.
There’s a different kind of workplace controversy surrounding another nominee. The Brutalist required its actors to infrequently speak Hungarian. The AI tool Respeecher was used to correct the actors’ Hungarian pronunciations, and AI was also used to help create architectural drawings—or at least the inspiration for them, depending on who you believe—that were crucial to the film’s plot. I wonder if the use of AI, with the actors’ consent, materially impacts their chances at winning, especially given Brody’s previous head of steam coming off his Golden Globes win and Chalamet already nipping at his heels. Does the use of AI in film production matter? How will the new guild agreements change movies made from here on out? Will we as audiences even be able to tell AI was used? The jury is out, but it’s not looking good for film purists.
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The Ugly
By now, you probably know what I’m going to say: Emilia Pérez. I honestly cannot find anything redeemable about this movie, with the exception that a trans actress is receiving the spotlight. However, what’s been unearthed about Karla Sofía Gascón’s very recent, abhorrent opinions only adds to my overall dislike of the film. Sad that she’s shown such ugliness and ruined the one bright spot for an otherwise terrible movie.
The story is only progressive if you know nothing about Mexico or trans people to begin with. Bestowing 13 Oscar nominations on a film that relies on stereotypes about Mexico, employs poor Spanish, uses horrendous musical numbers to push the ham-fisted plot forward, and creates a narrative about trans people as liars, gaslighters, and killers screams performative activism and a fundamental misunderstanding of representation. Praise of this movie seems to be rooted in an attempt at progressivism that is sorely misguided. The Latino and trans communities have both spoken out against the film with their own voices, which the Los Angeles Times and GLAAD excellently highlighted. To quote Bowen Yang on Las Culturistas, per his podcast producer Becca Ramos, “If Emilia Pérez has no haters, I’m dead.”
BOOKS AT THE MOVIES

Adapted screenplays are all the rage these days, which is causing interest to rise in their original materials. A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Emilia Pérez, Nickel Boys, Sing Sing, Wicked, Dune: Part Two, and I’m Still Here are all based on published books.
Not all of the interest has been without controversy. Videos and articles are popping up all over “warning” parents not to let their children read Wicked because—gird your loins—the 1995 adult-targeted novel is more explicit than the PG film. Color me surprised! Is some of that content inappropriate for kids? Yeah, that’s why it’s not a kids’ book. But also, what a kid doesn’t know, they usually skip over. The children will not be traumatized by Wicked even if the parents are clutching their pearls.

Two other books have similar popularity to Wicked: Frank Herbert’s Dune saga (especially with their gorgeous re-release covers) and Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys (the movie drops the “the”). Dune has been popular among sci-fi fans since its release in the 1960s and has only risen in the zeitgeist since. Meanwhile, Whitehead won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for The Underground Railroad, and The Nickel Boys debuted at number three on The New York Times bestseller list and stayed on the list for 11 consecutive weeks in 2019.
If you have any of these books on the shelves, this year could be a fun one for “book to movie” displays or “which was better: the book or the movie” polls. Other books used as source material in the Oscar race include Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties by Elijah Wald, Conclave by Robert Harris, Ecoute by Boris Razon (inspiration for Emilia Pérez) in the original French, and Ainda Estou Aqui by Marcelo Rubens Paiva (inspiration for I’m Still Here) in the original Portuguese. Sing Sing is based on an October 2005 Esquire article titled “The Sing Sing Follies: A Maximum-Security Comedy” by John H. Richardson, which can be read in full online.
CLOSING RECOMMENDATIONS
There were a few films that failed to crack Best Picture and still cracked into my heart. A Real Pain was one of my favorite movies of last year and is recognized at the Oscars for Kieran Culkin’s performance as a down-and-out cousin who struggles with substance abuse and mental health and just can’t get it together, even though people like his cousin, with whom he goes on a Holocaust tour in Poland to see where their recently deceased grandmother lived and suffered, love him deeply. It’s not uplifting, but it will certainly make you feel something worth feeling.
The Wild Robot is made for kids, sure, but adults will connect with this movie on a deeper level. Did I cry? You weren’t there, you can’t prove it (of course I did). As an enormous cat lover, I cannot wait to see and have heard nothing but rave reviews about Flow, the Latvian animated feature with no words nominated in both the Animated Feature and International Feature categories. I’m also very intrigued by The Girl With the Needle, now available to stream on MUBI, which is a Danish film set in 1919 that’s loosely based on the story of serial killer Dagmar Overbye. Forewarning, from what I understand, its content is not for the faint of heart.
Like always, all of the nominated animated shorts are no longer free to view online, but many of the live and documentary shorts are. I was lucky enough to see I’m Not a Robot at the Manhattan Short Film Festival last year. (It’s a festival that is shown at hundreds of local theaters across the country, and I highly recommend going. You even get to vote for your favorite!) A woman’s life spirals out of control after she can’t seem to pass the Captcha. We’ve all been there. Except this time, her computer tells her she must be a … robot?
Finally, there are a few films not highlighted with any nominations that still deserve your eyeballs. Challengers (Prime Video) is fun, sexy, mean, sweaty, and pulse-pounding. The fact that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ score didn’t get nominated is a crime. Watch Will & Harper (Netflix) for a real trans story about friendship and belonging. I’m convinced The Bikeriders (Peacock) is going to become a cult classic, “Can you believe this wasn’t in the conversation?!” movie. It’s truly brilliant, and if Austin Butler turned you off in Elvis, I assure you he will do the opposite in this one. For a laugh, watch Thelma (Hulu). For a cry, watch Suncoast (Hulu). For a bloody throwback, watch Lisa Frankenstein (Prime Video). And for a non-English-language, hilarious, sweet ride, watch Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (MUBI).
THE END
The 97th Academy Awards will rightfully be centered on recovery efforts for those impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires. The ceremony will not feature any Best Original Song performances and instead take time to honor the city where movies are made and the residents whose lives have been forever changed.
The Academy Awards bring attention to the film industry during a time when attention is desperately needed. No one will be celebrating in the face of catastrophic loss. Instead, the Oscars aim to serve as a community-building exercise and a beacon of hope that good things can still happen in the face of tragedy and uncertainty. I think we all need that hope right about now. Something has changed within us, and we are not the same, but we refuse to let anyone bring us down.
Where to Find Every Feature, Documentary, Animated, International, and Short Film Nominated in Any Category at the 97th Oscars
FF = feature film | SF = short film | D = documentary | DS = documentary short |
I = international film | AF = animated film | AS = animated short
Movie Title | Where It’s Available (as of Feb. 4) |
Anora (FF) | VOD |
The Brutalist (FF) | Theaters |
A Complete Unknown (FF) | Theaters |
Conclave (FF) | Peacock |
Dune: Part Two (FF) | Max, Netflix |
Emilia Pérez (FF, I) | Netflix |
I’m Still Here (FF, I) | Theaters |
Nickel Boys (FF) | Theaters |
The Substance (FF) | MUBI |
Wicked (FF) | VOD |
Sing Sing (FF) | VOD |
The Apprentice (FF) | VOD |
A Real Pain (FF) | Hulu |
September 5 (FF) | Theaters |
Maria (FF) | Netflix |
Nosferatu (FF) | Theaters |
The Wild Robot (AF) | Peacock |
The Six Triple Eight (FF) | Netflix |
Elton John: Never Too Late (D) | Disney+ |
A Different Man (FF) | Max |
Flow (AF, I) | VOD |
Inside Out 2 (AF) | Disney+ |
Memoir of a Snail (AF) | AMC+ |
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (AF) | Netflix |
The Girl With the Needle (I) | MUBI |
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (I) | Unavailable |
Black Box Diaries (D) | Paramount+ |
No Other Land (D) | Unavailable (no U.S. distributor) |
Porcelain War (D) | Theaters |
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (D) | VOD |
Sugarcane (D) | Disney+ |
A Lien (SF) | Vimeo |
Anuja (SF) | Netflix as of Feb. 5 |
I’m Not a Robot (SF) | YouTube |
The Last Ranger (SF) | Unavailable |
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (SF) | Unavailable |
Death by Numbers (DS) | Unavailable |
I Am Ready, Warden (DS) | Paramount+ |
Incident (DS) | YouTube |
Instruments of a Beating Heart (DS) | YouTube |
The Only Girl in the Orchestra (DS) | Netflix |
Beautiful Men (AS) | Buy or rent on Vimeo |
In the Shadow of the Cypress (AS) | Unavailable |
Magic Candies (AS) | Unavailable |
Wander to Wonder (AS) | Buy or rent on Vimeo |
Yuck! (AS) | Unavailable |
Better Man (FF) | Theaters |
Alien: Romulus (FF) | Hulu |
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (FF) | Hulu |
Check out the companion conversation to this article between the author and ITI NewsBreaks editor Brandi Scardilli about all things Oscar 2025 on page 2.