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Mar 01, 2025 By Mark Redfern

While it’s easier to take issue with the Grammy’s and the artists they recognize (at least if you’re mainly a fan of indie rock music), the Academy Awards have a marginally better track record of nominating the best films each year. Certainly there are notable snubs every year, but now that the Academy seems set on nominating 10 films for Best Picture (it used to be just five), there’s a better chance of at least some of the year’s truly best movies getting nominated. That doesn’t mean they always pick the right winner. Few film buffs can forget when in 2006 Crash won Best Picture over four much more deserving nominees: Brokeback Mountain; Capote; Good Night, and Good Luck; and Munich. Citizen Kane is considered by many film scholars to be one of the greatest films of all-time, but in 1942 it lost to How Green Was My Valley, a movie that’s only remembered today simply because it beat Orson Welles’ masterpiece (and the film noir classic The Maltese Falcon was also nominated that year). The last two years, however, Academy voters did get it right picking Oppenheimer in 2024 and Everything Everywhere All at Once in 2023 (which was a rare instance of my favorite film of the year also winning Best Picture).

Every year I make it a point to watch all the Best Picture Oscar nominees and usually succeed. This year I thought I should put all that watching to good use and write this article ranking the nominees from worst to best. Overall, 2025’s crop isn’t as strong as 2024’s. As well as Oppenheimer, I would rank 2024 Best Picture nominees American Fiction, The Holdovers, Past Lives, and Poor Things above almost any of this year’s nominees. There are also four films nominated for other Oscars this year, but not Best Picture—A Real Pain, Sing Sing, The Apprentice, and A Different Man—that are better than at least the bottom three on this list. Having said all that, I still enjoyed all but two of this year’s nominees. Here’s how I’d rank them. (And note that this is my personal ranking and not reflective of the opinions of any other Under the Radar writer or editor.)

10. Emilia Pérez (Directed by Jacques Audiard)

I already actively disliked Emilia Pérez prior to old racist Tweets by its star Karla Sofía Gascón resurfacing, further killing the film’s chances of winning Best Picture. The film has a potentially interesting story, that of a brutal cartel kingpin who transitions and tries to find redemption as a woman, but it is one that is wholly ruined by the misadvised decision to make it a musical. And even worse, to make it a musical featuring such awful songs. In many instances the characters are simply sing-speaking lines of dialogue that aren’t really songs at all. It is all so at odds with the grim seriousness of the film’s plot, that it’s simply too jarring. Even the panned Joker: Folie à Deux works better as a musical (just barely). The action scenes are poorly shot, edited, and paced and lack any excitement. Zoe Saldana is the front runner for Best Supporting Actress, even though she’s really the film’s lead character. Her performance is one of the bright spots in a deeply flawed movie.

Even before Gascón’s terrible Tweets and her failure to properly apologize for them, the film courted controversy when GLAAD spoke out against it and its “profoundly retrograde portrayal of a trans woman.” The film has also been criticized for its negative and stereotypical portrayal of Mexico and for not casting any Mexican actors in any of the leading roles. There is also a wide gulf on Rotten Tomatoes between the score from professional critics (72%) and from regular audiences (only 16%). If the film were to somehow beat the odds and win Best Picture, there would be a backlash to rival the one that met Crash’s win.

9. Nickel Boys (Directed by RaMell Ross)

Like Emilia Pérez, Nickel Boys had potential to work but is done in by one overriding aspect, in this case the cinematography. Director RaMell Ross made the bold, but ultimately misguided, choice to shoot the entire movie in the first-person, at first from the perspective of Elwood Curtis (played by Ethan Cole Sharp) but then partway through it confusingly switches to being from the perspective of Turner (Brandon Wilson) and then switches back and forth between the two, sometimes in the same scene. Perhaps Ross was hoping to bring audiences closer to the characters and story, but unfortunately the contrivance does the opposite, making it hard to connect with either Elwood or Turner and making it very clear the whole time that you are watching a film, a very important film. It also sometimes makes the story a little hard to follow. Then later in the film, for no apparent reason, when one of the characters is older decades after the main events of the film, the camera is no longer in the first person but is instead positioned behind the head of the character, which is an even more distracting approach.

Nickel Boys is Ross’ first fiction film (he previously directed the 2018 documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening) and perhaps he felt this was his chance to really make his mark and do things his way. Some critics have embraced and even praised the cinematography, but certainly others were put off by the seasick-inducing camera movements. It’s too bad, because the story of Nickel Boys (based on Colson Whitehead’s acclaimed 2019 novel) is one worth telling, that of systematic abuse at a reform school, in particular against Black students, in the Jim Crow-era in Florida. If the first-person approach had been used just at the beginning of the film or used sparingly throughout, it might’ve been effective, but by relying on it the entire movie, despite a decent script and the best efforts of a talented cast, it places the film near the bottom of this ranking.

8. Wicked (Directed by Jon M. Chu)

From Wicked onwards I didn’t actively dislike any of the other films on this list, but some I liked more than others. I’m admittedly not the biggest fan of musicals, especially modern ones (but I’d watch Singin’ in the Rain any day). There have been some exceptions. For example, Steven Spielberg’s 2021 version of West Side Story was terrific and superior to Robert Wise’s 1961 original. At first when watching Wicked I longed for the initial musical numbers to just hurry up and end, but somehow the film gradually won me over. Ariana Grande was surprisingly adept at comedy and once they got to the more popular songs, like…um…”Popular,” the film came alive. But as fun as it was, it still feels a bit slight to be a Best Picture nominee. And it’s only half a story anyway, with the second part coming this November.

7. Conclave (Directed by Edward Berger)

After its Best Picture wins at the BAFTAs and the SAG Awards, Conclave has emerged as one of the front runners to win the Best Picture Oscar. You can understand why it won the SAG Award, which is technically for Best Ensemble, not Best Picture, as the cast is topnotch. Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini, and an always welcome John Lithgow are all on good form. The film was elegantly and carefully produced. And with Pope Francis currently facing a health crisis, the film’s plot about the death of a pontiff and the politics of picking a new pope seems more timely than ever. Your appreciation for the film might depend on your affinity for the Catholic Church. Although even you couldn’t care less about how a pope is picked, Conclave remains compelling apart from a subplot about a terrorist attack outside the Vatican, which feels a little forced and unnecessary, and a somewhat contrived twist ending.

6. Dune: Part Two (Directed by Denis Villeneuve)

Dune: Part Two is on the other side of the Wicked equation, concluding the story started in 2021’s Dune (which was nominated for Best Picture, but lost to CODA, although it did win six other Oscars). Science fiction is among the genres, alongside action and horror, that doesn’t get as much respect from the Academy. Remember the uproar when The Dark Knight wasn’t nominated for Best Picture in 2009? It helped lead to the Academy increasing the number of Best Picture nominees. So it’s always nice to see a science fiction film get a Best Picture nod. Some of the greatest sci-fi films of all-time, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner, weren’t even nominated for Best Picture. Both Dune films are immaculately made, with amazing world building and flawless special effects. While they are rousing and exciting, they can also feel a little self-important. They are highly impressive, but maybe could be slightly more fun. In terms of Villeneuve’s films I prefer Blade Runner 2049 (which wasn’t nominated for Best Picture) and Arrival (which did get a Best Picture nomination), but both Dune films are still supreme achievements.

5. A Complete Unknown (Directed by James Mangold)

Timothée Chalamet says he spent five years preparing to play Bob Dylan and his performance is indeed expertly rendered. He captures the mannerisms, voice, and spirit of the legendary singer/songwriter without devolving into impersonation. I would be totally okay with Chalamet winning Best Actor, although I’d be even more excited if Coleman Domingo won for his extraordinary performance as a prison actor in Sing Sing. Monica Barbaro (as Joan Baez) and Edward Norton (as Pete Seeger) are also deserving of their Oscar nominations. Director James Mangold already made one of the best music biopics of the 21st century thus far with 2005’s Walk the Line (which garnered Reese Witherspoon an Oscar for her portrayal of June Carter Cash), and he largely manages to avoid too many biopic cliches. It helps that the film is based on a specific period in Dylan’s career, from his initial rise until he went electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. No old age makeup required.

4. I’m Still Here (Directed by Walter Salles)

I’m Still Here is the second foreign language film on this list (its Portuguese title is Ainda Estou Aqui). Walter Salles’ hallowing and deeply felt movie is based on the true story of Eunice Paiva, whose husband, dissident politician Rubens Paiva, was taken by the military dictatorship in Brazil in 1971 and her quest to find out what happened to him. The movie is based on the memoir by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, the son of Rubens and Eunice who was just a boy when his father was taken. Salles’ recreation of 1970s Rio de Janeiro feels very credible and the dynamics of the large family at the center of the film also feel believable. In the early parts of I’m Still Here Fernanda Torres’ central performance as Eunice isn’t particularly showy, but once her husband is taken and she also spends several weeks in detention, Torres’ performance deepens and it becomes apparent why she’s one of the frontrunners for Best Actress. I’m Still Here is likely one of the least watched of this year’s nominees, at least in America, due to the language barrier and that it isn’t available to rent, buy, or stream digitally yet—it’s currently only in select theaters. But once it is available more widely it’s well worth seeking out.

3. The Substance (Directed by Coralie Fargeat)

This is not your grandmother’s Oscars or even your mother’s, not when a film as audacious as The Substance can get nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director (making her the lone female nominee in that category this year). The film is incredibly over the top, disquieting, and simply gross, with a supremely bloody finale, but it’s never less than riveting.

Demi Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle, a middle aged actress who was formerly celebrated but is now being passed over for younger actresses, including being fired from the aerobics TV show she’s hosted for years. That’s when she finds out about the mysterious Substance, which when injected results in a younger version of yourself being birthed by ripping itself out of your back. But the catch is that you have to share both bodies, switching between young and old versions every seven days or else… Of course youth is addicting (the younger version is played by Margaret Qualley) and as Elisabeth starts cheating on the days things go horribly wrong. What transpires is a body horror tale to rival the most monstrous works of David Cronenberg and an incredibly dark satire on Hollywood’s obsession with youth à la Robert Zemeckis’ Death Becomes Her. Some moments, especially those with Dennis Quaid’s lecherous TV producer Harvey, also bring to mind the energy of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. The world building could’ve been a bit stronger—not much is explained about where the Substance comes from, who’s behind, or how it truly works. And perhaps there are a few too many endings, although the last shot will leave you giddy. But The Substance remains one of the most memorable cinematic experiences of the last year. And when Demi Moore inevitably wins Best Actress for her fearless performance (she’s the clear frontrunner at least), it’ll be justly deserved.

2. The Brutalist (Directed by Brady Corbet)

Whereas The Substance feels very much of the moment, Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist is more of a classic Oscar nominee. Like the roadshow pictures of the 1950s and ’60s, the film starts with an overture, was filmed in VistaVision, and has a 15-minute intermission built into it. Even without the intermission the film is over three hours long. Adrien Brody plays László Tóth, a Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor and Bauhaus-trained architect who emigrates to America right after being liberated from a concentration camp at the end of the war. He struggles to assimilate to America and establish himself as an architect, while also facing challenges arranging for his wife, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), and mute orphaned niece, Zsófia (Raffey Cassidy) to join him in America after being separated from them in the war. Things seem to be looking up when Harrison Lee Van Buren, a wealthy industrialist played chillingly by Guy Pearce, takes him under his wing, before events slowly take a series of dark turns.

Brody’s controlled performance and flawless accent is worthy of adulation and his best since his Oscar-winning turn playing another Holocaust survivor in Roman Polanski’s 2002 film The Pianist. He’s a frontrunner to win Best Actor again this year. But Jones is equally as impressive as the wheelchair-bound Erzsébet but will probably lose Best Supporting Actress to Zoe Saldana. The film has a lot on its mind about the American dream, immigrants, capitalism, the way the ultra rich exploit those less fortunate than them, the Brutalism architecture movement, and the scars of World War II. It’s a true wonder that Corbert’s epic period piece only cost $9.6 million to make, considering many terrible Hollywood blockbusters do a lot less with a lot more money.

1. Anora (Directed by Sean Baker)

Anora takes the top spot in this ranking and is thankfully also one of two current frontrunners, alongside Conclave, to actually win the award. Like The Substance, you can’t imagine a film like Anora being nominated for Best Picture two or three decades ago. Mikey Madison plays the film’s title character, Anora Mikheeva, a 23-year-old sex worker who gets hired by Vanya Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn), the 21-year-old son of a Russian oligarch, to be his girlfriend for a week. Vanya spends his days playing video games in his mansion and partying with his friends. Things get complicated when Anora and Vanya make a real connection and decide to get married, angering his parents, who fly to America to try and stop the marriage. Much hilarity ensues—Anora is truly one of the funniest Best Picture nominees in recent memory. Anora also makes Pretty Woman look like a Disney movie in terms of its explicitness and its empowered handling of the lead character has garnered praise from real life sex workers.

Madison is a true force to be reckoned with and fully commands every scene she’s in. If it wasn’t for Demi Moore being guaranteed an Oscar due to long Hollywood career (on top of her great performance), Madison would be a shoe-in for Best Actress and it’s a real star-making turn. But Yura Borisov (who gives a more subtle performance as Igor, a Russian henchman hired by Vanya’s parents) also seems destined for great things. Director Sean Baker garnered attention for his 2015 film Tangerine, about two transgender sex workers, which was shot on an iPhone and only cost $100,000 to make. Baker’s acclaimed 2017 film The Florida Project starred Willem Dafoe and was mainly shot on 35mm but still only had a $2 million budget. At a still fairly low $6 million budget, Anora is Baker’s most expensive film yet but also finds him sticking to his indie roots. With Anora having won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and the Golden Globe for Best Musical or Comedy, as well as being the favorite to win Best Picture and having made over $40 million at the box office, it’ll be interesting to see where Baker goes next and if he resists the call of mainstream big budget Hollywood filmmaking.

Tune into the Academy Awards, as hosted for the first time by Conan O’Brien, this Sunday on ABC and Hulu to find out who wins.

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