Best Picture 2025 Nominees Ranked
Ranking the best picture nominees
Introduction:
The movie award season is almost done and it has been one of the more interesting award seasons to follow. From the controversy surrounding Emilia Perez and the controversary involving AI in films, it has been a interesting season to follow. But it all comes down to the big one which is the Oscars and of course to see which film will take home the best picture award. Today I wanted to go through the nominations, rank them, and talk about my quick thoughts on them. I’ll then talk about what I think has the best chance of taking the award and what I think overall of the movies nominated.
10. Emilia Perez
This film has been a constant discussion throughout the award season and it’s easy to see why. I did not expect to dislike this film as much as I did but man I really do not like this film. The best way I can describe how I feel about it is I think this film is trying to tackle many things, but fails at trying to do anything with the material. The way it tackles its trans representation comes off extremely disrespectful. The musical aspects are forgettable and boring. The way it showcases Mexico also is disrespectful and the filmmakers didn’t even care to cast any Mexican actors for the film. It’s surprising this is nominated for 13 Oscars and I would say it doesn’t really deserve any of them. You then have the controversy surrounding the film with Karla Sofia Gascon as well as director Jacques Audiard’s comments about Mexico. So much surrounding this film has been a shit show and I think it’s easily the worst film from this lineup.
9. Wicked
Definitely a film that surprised me because I liked it a lot more than what I thought it would be. It’s nothing groundbreaking or anything, but I thought it was fine for what it is. I’ve never been too familiar with Wicked up until the film released and I can understand why people love the broadway musical this much because of how the film adapts the material. The music is pretty great throughout. The performances from Cynthia and Ariana are good. I liked the set design and there’s some interesting set pieces there. I think it is a tad bit too long and could’ve been cut down quite a bit. The color of the film does look bland and grey and considering how Wizard of Oz looks, it would’ve been nice if the colors were popping more here. The film wasn’t a masterpiece or anything to me, but for what it was, I thought it ended up being fine in the end.
8. Conclave
This is a film that didn’t really leave a lasting impact on me by the end of the film. It has its good elements like the performances are great especially from Ralph Fiennes. The cinematography was great and there’s some really nice shots in it. The overall way that the film is made is pretty much good for the most part. Unfortunately though, I couldn’t really get myself attached to the story, At first I was engaged and curious where it would, but by the end, I was just kind of waiting for it to be over. It didn’t really do anything for me. There’s a bunch of great elements in there, but I do wish the the story was a bit stronger.
7. A Complete Unknown
This film is a very play by the numbers music biopic film. We get to see the early days of Bob Dylan getting his start and it follows a typical biopic standard. I’ve never been a huge Bob Dylan fan and this film didn’t seem to anything to change that for me. On a technical aspect, it’s nothing really special and the story is overall standard. I will say though that I think the performances in the film are exceptionally great and boost up what is overall a fine film. The performances from Timothée Chalamet, Monica Barbaro, Edward Norton, and Ellie Fanning are all great in the film. Otherwise I don’t really have anything else to say here. It’s just a very fine music biopic.
6. The Brutalist
I made a quick review of this already so I’ll keep my thoughts short here. I loved the first half of the movie, but think the second half is much weaker. However I think after a rewatch, I might find to appreciate a bit more and I do like the inclusion of the epilogue at the end. The performances are great and everything on a technical aspect is phenomenal. So what really carries it down for me is the second half but I would love to watch it again in the future as it is a film that I do think about time to time since I saw it. If you want more of my deeper thoughts about it you can see it here.
5. Nickel Boys
This film was nominated for 2 Oscars and honestly I wish it got a few more nominations in there as well. The way it tells its story is very unique and powerful throughout. I thought the characters of Elwood and Turner were interesting to follow and had great performances to follow it. I especially loved the performance from Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and it’s tragic that she doesn’t have a best supporting actress nomination because I think she easily deserves it. The cinematography is another amazing aspect considering it’s mostly filmed from a first person point of view and I’m surprised it didn’t get a cinematography nomination from that aspect. I think the way that it communicates its story is unique and creative there. I think the film does go on a bit too long, but besides that, I really did enjoy this film and this is one of the more unique films in this category
4. Anora
I have been a fan of Sean Baker for quite sometime now and I knew when I saw the trailer for this, I would be in for a treat and indeed I was. The story is great and I love how it starts off as the fairy tale story about love and then by the second half, it gets to the grim reality of it all. The performance from Mikey Madison is fantastic and she deserves her Oscar nomination as well as Yura Borisov. I also love how Sean Baker doesn’t really cast actors in his movies besides the lead and it makes the world of his films feel more grounded and real. The script is great and offers so much depth to the characters. The cinematography looks beautiful at times. There’s so much to appreciate about this film and this definitely one of my favorite films to come out from 2024.
3. Dune: Part 2
Dune was a book that for a long time seemed impossible to make into a film adaptation, but Denis Villanueva along with the cast and crew were able to make the reality of this happen. While Part 1 is much slower in pace, Part 2 has a lot more going on in it’s story and is engaging from start to finish. A lot of great performances are here especially from Austin Butler who really is a stand out here. The technical aspect of the film is great in all ways and there really isn’t a weak point there. There’s nothing really else to say about the film other than I absolutely love it. I think it’s a example of an amazing blockbuster and how treating the original source material with care can come out amazing like this.
2. I’m Still Here
This is the last film that I needed to watch to finish watching the best picture nominees and man what a film to end with. This film made me aware of a problem that I had not known existed in Brazil in the 70s and it’s tragic to see that this event played out there. The story is engaging and I was surprised how quick I was to care about the family and wasn’t ready for the pain they were about to experience. A standout in this film is the performance from Fernanda Torres. She plays this character so well and you can see the emotion and pain that her character is going through. This is a captivating and devastating movie and I highly recommend watching. It 100% deserves the recognition it’s gotten.
1. The Substance
I also made a quick review for this but this has to be my personal favorite of the nominees. Just seeing a body horror film like this getting so many nominations is so big for the horror genre. The performances are amazing especially Demi Moore. I love how weird the film gets and isn’t afraid to be crazy. The commentary on women’s beauty standards in the industry is done with care on the subject and even though it can be over the top, the message is clear for what it wants to say. There’s so much to appreciate from a technical aspect as well like the sound and cinematography. I talked about it more in a quick review which I’ll link here, but I love this movie and I can confidently say it’s my favorite from the bunch.
What I Think Will Win
So the big question is what do I think has the biggest chance of winning this year? This year feels different compared to previous years because there’s really no clear indication of what will win this year. The previous years you could feel that a certain film would win it like with Oppenheimer and Everything Everywhere All At Once. But it seems harder this year to figure out which film is that here. For me though if I were to choose one, I would say The Brutalist has a good shot of taking it home. While it’s not my favorite from the nominees It has this style attached to it where I could see this being a best picture winner. Personally I wouldn’t be upset by it and I would be ok with it winning it all.
Conclusion
So to conclude my thoughts on the nominations here, I do think this is overall a solid list for this years nominations. Even though I’m not a fan of some of the nominations here I can understand why they were chosen and why people appreciate them. I do think there was a good amount of snubs this year specially from films like Challengers, Queer, Look Back, I Saw the TV Glow, and I’m sure a couple of others I’m missing. But what I do appreciate this year is it doesn’t feel as predictable as the previous years which makes it more interesting to predict what will win awards. It should be an interesting Oscars to watch.
It's showtime today.