Which Best Picture Oscar Nominees Are Actually Good?

Want to know more about this year’s Oscar nominees, specifically if they’re actually good and deserving of the accolades? We’ve got you covered.

Our critics were massive fans of Anora, the riotous Cinderella stripper story that earned major nods in Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Original Screenplay, among others. Mikey Madison is a revelation as the title character. A true star-making performance.

The Brutalist has been the target of some controversy recently over its use of AI, but, that aside, the film is a triumph for many reasons, including making me spend almost four hours in a theater without being miserable. (I hate long movies!) Read our interview with director Brady Corbet about how the nearly seven-year journey getting the movie made.

Timothée Chalamet will be the youngest Best Actor winner ever if he wins for his performance as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. Fun fact: He would break the record that The Brutalist star Adrien Brody set when he won for The Pianist, and Brody is probably Chalamet’s biggest competition this year in the category. The big story to come out of Oscar nomination morning was Monica Barbaro’s surprise nod for her role as Joan Baez. For what it’s worth, Obsessed was not a fan of the movie.

Conclave is the kind of movie that would win Best Picture in the mid-’90s—which is, in our eyes, extremely complimentary. I loved The Real Housewives of the Vatican, with these bishops and cardinals all gossiping in their fancy robes.

Dune: Part Two…I did not see Part One, and therefore have not seen Part Two. But all the straight men in your life saw and loved this, so good for them. Apparently Austin Butler is super weird in it.

Emilia Pérez is an absolute travesty of a movie, and the fact that it keeps racking up awards nominations and wins makes me feel like I’m living in some alternate reality. That reality: It has more nominations than any other film at this year’s Oscars.

The biggest surprise of nomination morning was the inclusion of I’m Still Here in Best Picture. We always remind people that the Golden Globes voters don’t overlap with Oscar voters, so you can’t really use the former to predict nominations for the latter. However, the Globes telecast is a great opportunity for winners to audition for Academy voters with their speeches. Fernanda Torres, who was the surprise Best Actress winner at the Globes, did that with aplomb.

The second biggest surprise of nomination morning was Nickel Boys’ also making it into Best Picture. It’s a polarizing film. Its supporters are extremely passionate about it (seriously, they won’t shut up), but there are plenty of vocal people in the opposite camp, too—like Obsessed’s critic, who wasn’t a fan.

The surge of awards love for The Substance makes me so happy. Typically, genre fare like this is body-horror dark comedy is snubbed by pretentious Oscar voters. But this movie is just so, for lack of a better word, cool. I’m so glad nominators embraced it. The prayer circle for a Demi Moore Best Actress win meets in my apartment every Monday from now until Oscar night. Here’s our behind-the-scenes story about her transformation.

Some people are only recently obsessed with Wicked. And some of us were pulled over for distracted driving while singing along to the karaoke version of “Dancing Through Life” in his car while in high school. The movie is an absolute triumph. This year, it is the Barbie populist choice for Best Picture. We’ve been holding space for that.

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What to watch this week:

Inheritance: A great action thriller that was shot entirely on an iPhone 13. (Now in theaters)

Presence: Steven Soderbergh adds “horror movie” to the list of genres he perfects. (Now in theaters)

Paradise: Master of shocking twists, This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman, has a new series. Would you believe there’s a huge twist? (Tues. on Hulu)

What to skip this week:

The Night Agent: This is one of Netflix’s biggest hits. We don’t get it. (Now on Netflix)

Prime Target: Who thought a thriller about math was a good idea? (Now on Apple TV+.