There's been a lot of Oscar drama this year. I like this batch of nominees fine, and appreciate that the international influence seems to be here to stay, though there are a few choices that I'm not on board with at all. Below, find this year's nominees ranked from best of the best, to least of the best. I'll keep the spoilers to a minimum.
1. Anora - At the time of writing, this is my favorite film of 2024, an unpredictable, genre-defying romantic-comedy from Sean Baker. It tells a very old kind of story, but with modern characters and sensibilities that offer all kinds of interesting social nuances to consider. There are many other films this year addressing current issues and social ills, but no other film feels as timely and immediate. "Anora" is also a delightful watch, zig-zagging from class comedy to Cinderella-sendup to genuine heartbreaker. I know who I'm rooting for on Oscar night.
2. The Substance - I'm probably putting this too high up in the rankings, but I adore Coralie Fargeats's crazy showbiz gorefest. "The Substance" is a grindhouse horror movie through and through, but somehow it's stormed into the awards race and refuses to get out of the spotlight. Demi Moore is the frontrunner for Best Actress and deserves it, giving us a portrait of self-loathing that is at the root of the film's squelchy body horror nightmares. And I take the nomination as further proof that Hollywood is still in love with stories about itself, no matter how monstrous and gruesome.
3. Nickel Boys - I've never seen filmmaking in first person singular achieved as well as it is here. RaMell Ross beautifully executes what could easily have been a gimmick, and you can't imagine the film being any other way. What the camera is doing doesn't seem to work for everyone, but I couldn't keep my eyes off the screen. The experience is so immersive, so intimate, and so haunting, it's impossible to come away unmoved. The moments that stayed with me were often the incidental ones, emphasizing precious human connections in the midst of misery and adversity.
4. The Brutalist - The more I consider "The Brutalist," the more I appreciate it. This is a film of soaring ambitions, astonishing scope, and unusually weighty, meaningful themes. Not all of it works, especially the ending, but the parts that do work offer the kind of cinema that we really don't see enough of. I've sat through a lot of mediocre passion projects from very big name directors over the last few years, and seeing Brady Corbet pull off something this massive on a tiny budget is inspiring. I'm also rooting for Adrian Brody for Best Actor, who hasn't done work this good in ages.
5. Dune 2 - Denis Villeneuve did everything right here, repositioning Paul Atreides as an anti-hero and laying out his rise to power in more sinister terms. I continue to love the production design, the grand scale spectacle, and the sprawling cast. The sandworm sequence is one of the high points of the year. However, it was harder to engage with the story in this installment, and so much was condensed that it lost some of the human element. The supporting actors are the MVPs here, especially Zendaya, Javier Bardem, and Austin Butler - who simply didn't get enough screen time.
6. I'm Still Here - Maybe it's because the nomination was so unexpected, but I wanted more from "I'm Still Here." Anchored by a fine performance from Fernanda Torres, it's a solid memoir about a family living through a dictatorship and dealing with tyranny firsthand. However, it's a much smaller story than I anticipated, very personal and limited in scope. There are other international films I would have nominated for Best Picture instead, like "The Seed of the Sacred Fig" or "The Girl With the Needle." "I'm Still Here" strikes me as very good at what it's doing, but not exceptional.
7. A Complete Unknown - I keep forgetting that this is a nominee, because the movie feels so slight. I'm not a Dylan fan, or very familiar at all with this corner of American music, so the material didn't hold much appeal. However, watching a collection of talented actors play '60s folk music legends for a few hours was charming. I appreciate that Bob Dylan wasn't lionized all out of proportion, and Monica Barbaro was a great surprise. I can't quite wrap my head around what Timothée Chalamet is doing, but I appreciate that he's not giving us a typical Bob Dylan impression.
8. Wicked - They got the casting right, which goes a long way toward balancing out some of the glaring production flaws here. I'm with the detractors of the film's cinematography and the unforgivable kneecapping of the "Defying Gravity." However, "Wicked" is undeniably a good time at the movies, and a fabulous showcase for Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande if nothing else. As with the "Dune" movies, it's difficult to judge based on an incomplete narrative, but as incomplete narratives go, the first half of "Wicked" is pretty swell. I don't expect "Wicked: For Good" will be better.
9. Conclave - I do not get it. I simply can't take the film seriously. The sequence of events is too ludicrous, the politicking is too didactic, and the final twist at the end is several levels of ridiculous. Despite some good performances and plenty of Vatican eye candy, "Conclave" is such a heavy-handed message movie that it feels more like a parody of Oscar bait than an earnestly made film. It's certainly entertaining, and has priceless camp value - Tedesco vaping is iconic - but I can't rank it any higher than this. The fact that it's a frontrunner in the race strikes me as understandable but unfortunate.
10. Emilia Perez - It's not a bad movie. It's ambitious, vibrant, weird, and not afraid to go big and melodramatic. However, it's also remarkably tone deaf. I'm not surprised that the film got made in 2025, but I am surprised that it got so much support in festival circles before anybody realized that it is a terrible trans narrative, terrible representation for its Mexican characters, and totally useless as a musical. Zoe Saldana's performance is fantastic, and really should be in a much better film than this one. I hope this will be a springboard for her to better things.
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