‘And the award goes to…’
It’s Oscar season. It’s later than usual. It’s slightly less exciting than usual because Paul Thomas Anderson’s instant classic One Battle After Another looks set to dominate. It’s also an incredibly strong field this year. Some of these movies even had a great box office return, which is unusual for Best Picture nominees. What isn’t unusual is that I’ve watched all ten Best Picture nominees ahead of time, so now is the time to rank them. Here we go…
10. Hamnet
To say this is a film about the death of a child, it’s surprisingly unaffecting. This is partly because Paul Mescal is hideously miscast, and partly because the dialogue is pedestrian (criminal for a film about the greatest writer who ever lived), but whatever the reason, I never felt the grief that I was supposed to feel about this tragic event, despite all of Jessie Buckley’s wailing. That being said, her performance, along with the set design, costumes and cinematography, is what saves Hamnet from being a true turkey. She does the best with what she’s been given, but the material is so uninspiring that even she can’t fully elevate it.
Hamnet is a drab, joyless film with a preposterously overwrought ending that has somehow convinced both the Academy and a slew of critics that it has something interesting to say. It doesn’t. Don’t be fooled. This is bad filmmaking.
9. Frankenstein
I went into this version of Frankenstein expecting something broadly similar to the novel. In fact, del Toro’s version is just as unfaithful to Shelley’s vision as all the other film adaptations out there. That being said, the framing device of the ship stuck in the ice is included here (it often isn’t), and this is one of the few versions that allows the monster to be as elegant and loquacious as he is in the book. So, what’s the problem? Well, first of all, I love Oscar Isaacs, but his performance is too theatrical here. As with so many of del Toro’s works, his Frankenstein toes the line between camp and horror, and Isaacs doesn’t seem to have a sure footing as to which side of that line he is supposed to be on. Jacob Elordi fares better, still managing to deliver a proper ‘performance’ despite being hampered by heavy make-up and elaborate prosthetics. As with much of the aesthetics here, the make-up looks sensational, but it doesn’t feel real. Perhaps, as with the work of Tim Burton, authenticity isn’t important when the subject matter is so fantastical, but I would have liked the story to feel a little more grounded.
Frankenstein is by no stretch of the imagination a bad film, and some of the sequences throughout are breath-taking (the first animation scene in a room full of affronted scientists is an all-timer), but this felt like it had the potential to be the perfect marriage between intellectual property and filmmaker, and in that context, it must go down as a slight disappointment. It’s also too long. Ah well, there’ll be another adaptation along in a decade or so, I’m sure.
8. The Secret Agent
I thought I knew what The Secret Agent would be based on the opening half an hour – a twisty, espionage thriller in which nothing is what it seems. It turns out it isn’t this at all. Which is good because I don’t like political spy thrillers as a rule, so I’m delighted this isn’t that. There is some subterfuge, and lots of people talking in rooms, but The Secret Agent feels more like a series of interrelated short films than a cohesive whole, which makes the whopping 161-minute running time easier to swallow. All the acting is great, the screenplay is somehow both dense but utterly compelling and Filho adds some interesting directorial flourishes that I absolutely did not expect to see in a film of this ilk (a killing spree from a dissected human leg, anyone?). In fact, The Secret Agent is quite unlike any other film doing the rounds this award season or any other season for that matter.
The Secret Agent wasn’t one of my favourite films of 2025 (although it’s not far off), but while the Oscars continue to bring more challenging cinema to mainstream audiences, it is serving a purpose. Long may it continue.
7. Sentimental Value
Danish filmmaker Joachim Trier has already received award recognition for his brilliant 2021 film, The Worst Person in the World, so it’s perhaps no surprise that Sentimental Value, the follow-up to that film, has been showered with praise, culminating in nine Oscar nominations. While the film is very challenging, very European, it’s also incredibly effective at portraying complicated family dynamics and the impact of prioritising art over everything else.
Sentimental Value is not a film that I’d rush to watch again, but as a true slice-of-life family drama, it’s incredibly effective.
6. Bugonia
Loosely based on the South Korean film, Save the Green Planet!, the central concept of Bugonia is that neither we, the audience, nor Teddy, the protagonist, know for sure if Stone’s self-assured executive is an alien or not. Lanthimos keeps us guessing until the final moments of the film, and it is this central tension that makes the film so captivating. Whether it holds up to rewatches remains to be seen, but there is no doubting the craft and skill of the three main cast members (as well as Alicia Silverstone, who appears sporadically and briefly as Teddy’s doomed mother). It’s almost becoming tiring saying this now, but Emma Stone is, once again, magnificent. Unsurprisingly, she has received yet another Oscar nod for her performance here (her seventh – the youngest woman to reach that number), and her toxic chemistry with Jesse Plemons (who is at once both achingly vulnerable and dangerously unhinged) simply can’t be denied.
Bugonia will be too violent for some. Others may be put off by the ending (it is pretty wild). But fans of Lanthimos or of challenging cinema in general will find much here to enjoy – a worthy Best Picture nominee.
5. Sinners
Despite the obvious structural similarities to From Dusk Till Dawn, Sinners is very much a unique slice of horror cinema. Except it isn’t a horror film. Not really. It’s a musical… kind of. It’s a period drama… I guess. And it is this genre-straddling, mind-bending narrative that makes the film so damn compelling. It’s also Coogler’s finest hour. I didn’t care much for Black Panther, and while I love the Creed movies, there was nothing in that franchise to suggest that Coogler had something like this in his arsenal. The film has an ethereal, woozy quality that blends magic realism and the harsh realities of life in the American South in the 1930s to devastating effect. The juxtaposition between the bright yellows and oranges inside the club with stark blacks and greys outside perfectly captures the difference between the vivacity of the living and the unfeeling emptiness of the dead.
Sinners genuinely offers a completely new take on the vampire subgenre, whilst also serving as confirmation that Coogler has now entered the upper echelon of modern Hollywood filmmaking. This is the kind of film that you want to rewind and watch again the second the credits have finished rolling. Pure cinema.
4. F1
Unsurprisingly, for the man who delivered the minor miracle that was Top Gun: Maverick to the world, the racing scenes here are genuinely spectacular. I don’t know (or care) if they are technically accurate, but in terms of spectacle, everything here looks amazing. It’s no mean feat to take a sport as repetitive and monotonous as F1 and make it interesting, but Joseph Kosinski and his talented cast pull it off in spades. Add in Hans Zimmer’s bone-shaking score, and you are left with a film that isn’t quite in the upper echelon of sports movies, but is certainly knocking on the door.
It’s heartening to see a straightforward Hollywood blockbuster showered with awards recognition, though it’s troubling that we are still relying on Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt to sell movie tickets, but F1, given the subject matter and fairly derivative plot, is about as good as it could be – a success.
3. Train Dreams
Based on Denis Johnson’s novel, Train Dreams is writer-director Clint Bentley’s homage to the esoteric and meditative work of Terrence Malick. Now, for my money, and I know this will be sacrilegious in some quarters, Train Dreams surpasses anything in Malick’s oeuvre. Anchored by a career-best performance from Joel Edgerton, Bentley’s film proves the maxim that every life is remarkable in its own way, but it does so in a way that never threatens to descend into unearned sentimentality. The most emotive moments here are also the quietest. Edgerton staring into a fire. Edgerton staring into the middle distance. The guy does a lot of staring in this film, and in lesser hands this might become dull, but Bentley’s assured direction, combined with Bryce Dessner’s truly mesmerising score, grants Train Dreams an emotional weight and power that marks it out as one of the most impressive cinematic accomplishments of the year. Edgerton is surely nailed on for a Best Actor nod for his performance.
While Bentley’s fourth film will perhaps be too slow for some, I found it incredibly moving. To quote from Life of Chuck, a lesser film released last year with a similar message, we contain multitudes. Train Dreams demonstrates that in a way that is often utterly breathtaking.
2. Marty Supreme
For someone like Marty Mauser, it’s impossible to succeed without exploiting others. Like Gwyneth Paltrow’s fading actress Kay Stone, or Kevin O’Leary’s influential businessman Milton Rockwell or even Ezra Mishki, a dangerous criminal and passionate dog owner, memorably portrayed by the legendary New York filmmaker Abel Ferrara. In fact, Safdie has assembled an eclectic and disparate cast of supporting characters, and it is these who make the film feel so rich and authentic. The world-building here is utterly convincing, and despite the long running time, I enjoyed every second that I spent within this universe. His portrayal of New York draws from both Ferrara but more pertinently, Martin Scorsese, whilst still feeling singular and distinct.
Marty Supreme is a film that sits with you, long after the credits have rolled. I also can’t wait to watch it again. High praise indeed.
1. One Battle After Another
Consensus is a rare thing in any medium, particularly in these fractured times, and I can’t remember a level of consensus in the last decade that can match the breathless, rapturous reaction that One Battle After Another has received throughout its theatrical run. Even Oppenheimer wasn’t greeted with such instant deification. Could it possibly live up to the hype? I’m still not sure about that, but it is very, very good…
One Battle After Another (almost) has it all. It looks absolutely incredible. There are some truly breathtaking shots here. It’s a truly unique narrative. Beautifully performed. Johnny Greenwood’s mesmerising score is perhaps some of his finest work. And yet… this film rarely moved me. I was exhilarated (I watched this on my own at a half-empty afternoon screening and was still utterly absorbed). I laughed a lot. I shook my head at the audacity of it all. But was I moved? Hmm. Not really. Now, not every film can be everything to everyone, but PTA’s latest has been sold as the perfect movie. For my money, it’s not quite as good as all that, but it’s still vital, bravura filmmaking. Go see it. And have a few small beers while you watch it.