Welcome to this special edition of "Ranked", where I rank this year's Best Picture nominees.
10.Hamnet:
What a relief it was to have a Best Picture crop that features zero true stinkers in it. Every civilian in the United States that keeps up with awards season needed at a least year to recover from the pain of watching Emilia Perez and the generosity the Academy voters showed by not nominating another embarrassing failure of a movie will not be forgotten. Anyways, Hamnet is an incredible showcase for the talents of about-to-be Oscar winner Jessie Buckley and there are certain sequences in which Chloe Zhao is able to really viscerally convey the tragedy of what happens to Agnes, William Shakespeare and their family. The cold minimalism of Zhao's direction and underdevelopment of all of the relationships portrayed in the film prevented the emotional moments from leaving a significant impact on me, but the sniffle-and-tear-filled reactions of nearly every person in my vicinity when I saw this in theaters back in early December indicated that I'm very much in the minority.
Grade: B-
9.The Secret Agent:
There's a title card in the opening moments of The Secret Agent that reads "Brazil 1977, a summer of mischief". That's a fascinating and accurate description of what transpires during The Secret Agent. It's a really vivid, layered look at the chaos that unfolded during this period that included the systemic dismantling of institutions that serve the public good (schools, medical care, etc.), fatal consequences for anyone that dissented against the regime and strength the people of Brazil found in each other. While director Kleber Mendoca Filho eventually gets buried by the immense scope of the story he assembled-particularly when the frequently changing perspectives shifts to the present day where researchers find archival audio tapes of interviews between the protagonist Armando (Wagner Moura-in a tremendous understated performance full of resilience and pain) and the people that are trying to help him escape the country with his son (Enzo Nunes) after they get word that an old enemy of his (Luciano Chiroll) has hired assassins (Roney Villela, Gabriel Leone, Thomas Aquino) to kill him, The Secret Agent remains a vital history lesson for a world that continues to refuse to heed the warnings of its past grave misdeeds.
Grade: B
8.Sentimental Value:
The Best International Feature frontrunner is another 2025 cinephile favorite that I wasn't overly high on. There's plenty of emotions on display in this film about sisters (Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) who reunite with their estranged filmmaker father (Stellan Skarsgard) when he returns to Norway to make his latest film about their life as kids with a famous American actress (Elle Fanning) in the lead role and the performances are very good all-around as expected, I just didn't feel like the resolution to these complex family dynamics felt completely honest or earned given how much their relationships have suffered from decade's worth of emotional scars. I'm going to have to rewatch it sometime before late August when I do my 2025 movie re-evaluation piece to see if it hits different the second time around.
Grade: B
7.F1:
A throwback commercial blockbuster sneaking into the Best Picture race is easily one of the funnier things that's happened during this wacky awards season. F1 is an effective, rousing and technically dazzling sports underdog movie that is burdened by its hefty 155-minute runtime. By the time the big final race occurred, I had completely checked out and didn't really care who won or lost. If Joseph Kosinski can recapture the magic of the first 2/3 of this movie for the upcoming sequel but make it at least 30 minutes shorter, he should be in an excellent position to cook up something special.
Grade: B
6.Frankenstein:
It's not a secret that Guillermo del Toro has been wanting to make a Frankenstein movie for his entire career. del Toro's talent and love for the material is precisely why it's so disappointing that he only made a good Frankenstein adaptation that doesn't even come close to sniffing the heights of his previous monster movie standouts (Pan's Labyrinth, The Shape of Water). It's really a tale of two halves as the opening chapter focusing on Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Issac) is kind of a dramatically inert look at a scientist with a reputation as a useless quack trying to prove himself by bringing someone back from the dead while the second half is a heartbreaking, beautiful exploration of his monstrous creation (Jacob Elordi) trying to find a place in the world. The striking second half paired with the expected strength of the production design, costumes and cinematography got this movie within striking of greatness, but the tedium of the first half along with unremarkable performances from Issac, Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz are detrimental enough to keep it from getting there.
Grade: B
5.One Battle After Another:
There's plenty to like about One Battle After Another. Paul Thomas Anderson has a real aptitude for action/chase sequences, Benicio del Toro plays a guy so effortlessly cool and chill that you can forgive the fact that he's driving drunk for the entirety of the last 15-20 minutes he's on screen and it has the decency to portray white nationalists as the insecure baby losers that they are. My issues with the film completely lie in not buying the decisions Perfidia (Teyana Taylor) makes or how her daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) reacts to the sins of her mother coming to light in the final act. Nothing about these character's journeys prior to these moments justify the choices they make, and it cast a dark cloud over a good portion of the film that I just can't overlook no matter how great it is at times.
Grade: B
4.Train Dreams:
Netflix is very selective when it comes to narrative film acquisitions on the festival circuit these days, so it was a very encouraging sign that they were so aggressive in their pursuit of Train Dreams following its premiere at Sundance last winter. The brass had to be particularly glad they landed it after watching the awards prospects of Jay Kelly and A House of Dynamite go up in smoke before their campaigns even got a chance to really start. Filmmaking duo Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar (Sing Sing, Jockey) struck gold once again with their simple yet poetic mediation on the string of triumphs and tragedies that make up a person's life. Joel Edgerton is pretty sensational as the working-class man whose life in late 1800's/early 1900's Idaho is followed for 102 minutes, and the cinematography from Adolpho Veloso capture the stunning beauty of the Pacific Northwest with impeccable naturalistic detail (Edgerton's character works as a logger and lives in the countryside, so there's a ton of serene shots of forests, sunrises/sunsets, creeks, etc.)
Grade: B+
3.Bugonia:
A Best Picture slate wouldn't be complete without the latest oddity from Yorgos Lanthimos. While it's not quite up to the level of his last awards season smash Poor Things, this remake of the 2003 Korean film Save the Green Planet! is another bitingly funny, impeccably acted and deeply cynical look at humanity that ends on a haunting note that I haven't stopped thinking about for months.
Grade: B+
2.Marty Supreme:
All signs are pointing to Marty Supreme getting shutout at the Oscars now that Timothee Chalamet is no longer the frontrunner for Best Actor following Michael B. Jordan's SAG Awards win a couple of weeks back. The prospect of both Marty Supreme and Uncut Gems-which famously didn't get any nominations-not winning a single Oscar is pretty depressing and a sentiment that I couldn't possibly agree more with. Marty Supreme is an electrifying film that sees Josh Safdie-directing without his younger brother Benny for the first time-apply his signature chaotic grimy NYC aesthetic to a (mostly) fictional story of a cocky, sleazeball ping pong prodigy (Chalamet-who is fucking unreal in this role) who will stop at nothing to realize his dreams of becoming the best player in the world. Safdie is in the middle of a historic heater right now and hopefully he'll be able to keep it going with whatever project his twisted brain births next.
Grade: A
1.Sinners:
My favorite movie of 2025 for nearly a year now suddenly has a real shot of upsetting One Battle After Another for Best Picture now. While I remain skeptical of its chances of actually winning, I would obviously be thrilled if it happened. Ryan Coogler's talent is fully unleashed here as he weaves together a complex tapestry comprised of several genres (horror, music, Gothic period drama, thriller, action) and themes (assimilation destroying the specificity of communities, music as a tool that connects people across generation, the catharsis of finding euphoria in a cruel world where joy is fleeting) without ever losing its coherence. It's just an unbelievable piece of work that I'm confident will endure for as long as this planet remains alive.
Grade: A
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