As 2025 has now drawn to a close, the Academy Awards have named the 10 films they have nominated for Best Picture. Over the past few months, I have seen and ranked all of them, and my thoughts on the top five are down below.
№1= “Sentimental Value” (2025):
Original Language Title: «Affeksjonsverdi»
“‘You two are the best thing that’s happened to me.’ ‘The best that’s happened to you? Then why weren’t you there?’”
After director Joachim Trier released his film “The Worst Person in the World” in 2021, which helped put Norwegian cinema and its star, Renete Reinsve, on the world stage. It received two Oscar nominations for Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay. His next film would premiere in competition at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, and won the runner up prize of the Grand Prix. It would manage to go all the way and be nominated for nine Oscars, including Best Director for Trier, and be the first Norwegian film ever to become a Best Picture nominee.
The plot follows the Borg family after the family matriarch dies, and the immediate aftermath. She previously divorced her husband, the film director Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård), and took custody of their two kids, Nora (Reinsve) and Agnes (played by newcomer Inga Ibsdottir Lilliaas). Now adults, the family reconnects at her funeral in Oslo. Gustav tries to work through his grief by writing a screenplay for his next film, in which he offers the lead role to Nora, which she immediately declines.
Later, at a French film festival celebrating his career, he meets Hollywood star Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning), and she agrees to star in his movie. He takes custody of the family home and remodels it to work as a set for the film, while also shaping Kemp’s performance to become closer to his daughter. Gustav also tries to cast Agnes’ young son Erik (Øyvind Hesjedal Loven) as a self insert character for himself, much to his daughter’s frustration.
Much of the film is also shot from the perspective of the family home, showing both triumphs and trauma through history that this family has experienced. Many camera movements are repeated throughout the picture, and help reinforce the idea of history repeating itself.
All four of the main actors were able to get nominated for the Academy Awards, which I was very pleased with. This is my personal favorite ensemble of the year, and Skarsgård in particular gave my favorite performance all year. For this being his first ever nomination, I hope he manages to go all the way and win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
This is a great family drama, and one of the best films of the year, along with my favorite of this batch of Best Picture nominees. I would highly recommend this great film to anyone. My final rating for “Sentimental Value” is an emotional 10/10.
№2= “One Battle After Another” (2025)*:
“You know what freedom is? No fear. Just like Tom Cruise.”
Ever since he burst onto the scene in the 1990s with the three movies “Hard Eight” (1996), “Boogie Nights” (1997) and “Magnolia” (1999), director Paul Thomas Anderson has been one of Hollywood’s leading auteur filmmakers. Now, he has come up with his biggest and most audience-friendly film yet, adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel “Vineland.”
The plot follows former left-wing revolutionaries of the group, the French 75, where a father and his infant daughter have been forced into hiding in the sanctuary city of Baktan Cross, California, to avoid being hunted down and killed by the U.S. Government. The father took the alias of “Bob Ferguson” (played by the legendary Leonardo DiCaprio) and his daughter took on the name “Willa” (Chase Infiniti, in her feature film debut).
16 years later, Bob has let himself go and become a paranoid stoner and recluse, while Willa is starting to resent her Dad’s over-reaching ways. But when Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn) tries to tie up loose ends from his past, Willa goes on the run. Bob has to fight for his life to find his daughter and keep her safe, all while stoned out of his mind.
Two other members of the French 75 we meet are Deandra (Regina Hall) and Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), but both have fairly limited screentime compared to the other characters in the film. In my opinion, though, the real standout in the cast is Infiniti. Given that this is her only film role so far, I am looking forward to whatever she does next.
However, Penn’s performance as Colonel Lockjaw was one of the most memorable of the entire movie. He was able to convey such a perverted and monstrous individual so well on film, and his presence is felt throughout the entire narrative. Though my favorite supporting character of the film was Sensei Sergio (Benicio del Toro). Sensei showed that you don’t have to be a revolutionary to fight fascism, and we can all resist in our own way.
Jonny Greenwood’s score might just be the best of the year, and the penultimate car sequence, with the camera situated from the point of view of the car moving up and down rolling hills, is just breathtaking and stunning.
“One Battle After Another” simply is the film for this moment in time, and the 2020s as a whole. My final rating for “One Battle After Another” is a revolutionary 10/10.
№3= “Sinners” (2025)*:
“There are legends of people with the gift of making music so true, it can conjure spirits from the past and the future. This gift can bring fame and fortune. But it can also pierce the veil between life and death.”
When Ryan Coogler burst onto the scene in 2013 with his debut feature “Fruitvale Station,” the filmmaking world soon took notice of one of the most exciting voices to emerge from the 2010s. He followed this up with 2015’s “Creed,” a continuation of the “Rocky” series where his frequent collaborator Michael B. Jordan plays the title role. It was not until 2018’s “Black Panther” was released that his films began winning Academy Awards. And now, “Sinners” has shattered the all-time Oscar nomination record at 16.
The plot follows two identical twins named Smoke (played by Jordan) and Stack (also played by Jordan), who return home to the Mississippi Delta after working for Al Capone. They procure an abandoned saw mill to attempt to turn it into a juke joint for the local black community, and go to hire some talent for their opening night.
For the musicians, they hire their cousin Sammie “Preacher Boy” Moore (Miles Caton) on guitar, and Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) on piano and harmonica.
Smoke and Stack’s reappearance also attracts some attention from their old flames. Stack’s ex-girlfriend, Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), and Smoke’s estranged wife, Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), who they ask to be the joint’s cook.
When Sammy starts playing his songs, something magical happens. He can transcend both space and time just through the power of his music, shown off in one of the most impressive and memorable scenes of the last few years. Unfortunately, this attracts some unwanted attention in the form of Remmick (Jack O’Connell), an Irish immigrant who is a member of the undead. In order to survive the night, the Juke Joint must band together to fight off this vampiric threat.
The soundtrack and score by Ludwig Göransson are absolutely incredible, blending both blues and folk music to create a propulsive soundscape for the entire film.
This is also the first movie ever shot on IMAX 65mm film by a female cinematographer, Autumn Durald Arkapaw. The grand scale that 65mm is able to provide helps give this picture an immense amount of detail and texture to every single image and frame.
“Sinners” manages to rise above its genre trappings and bring new life to the vampire movie, and this is the kind of original film that Hollywood should be making more of. My final rating for “Sinners” is a 9/10.
№4= “Hamnet” (2025)*:
“But let it be. Horatio, I am dead; Thou livest; report me and my cause aright to the unsatisfied… Things standing thus unknown, shall I leave behind me! If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, absent thee from felicity awhile. And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, to tell my story. The rest is silence.”
The works of William Shakespeare are some of the most well trodden and famous stories in all of English literature, yet much of the stories about his life have faded through the cracks over the years. However, this doesn’t matter, as ultimately his plays have become greater than himself.
This has not stopped several people from trying to tell their own stories about the bard, such as the subject of this review: “Hamnet.” Originally published as a novel in 2020 by Maggie O’Farrell, she adapted her book into this film with Academy Award winning director Chloé Zhào.
The plot follows Agnes (Jessie Buckley) a young peasant girl who falls in love with and marries a young tutor and leather worker named Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) Agnes has received visions throughout her life where she will only have two of her children by her at her death bed, so when her second pregnancy results in her giving birth to twins she becomes distraught and obsessed with protecting all of them from death.
So when their 11 year old son, Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe), suddenly falls ill from an illness and dies, the entire family is left devastated. Agnes is distraught, and Shakespeare channels his grief into his newest play, titled “Hamlet.”
The rest of the cast also gives good performances, including Joe Alwyn as Bartholomew Hathaway and Emily Watson as Mary Shakespeare. All the acting in the film is simply outstanding, especially Buckley, who gives the best and most powerful performance that I have seen all year.
The final scene of the film, which I will not spoil, is one of the best endings I have seen to a movie in years. It truly shows the healing power of art. For being one of the most heartbreaking movies I have seen, it leaves you with a note of hope. It is so uplifting and deeply, deeply moving. I saw this in a room full of critics and industry professionals, and there was not a dry eye in sight. This is a film that will destroy you emotionally, have you sob your eyes out and make you feel whole again.
My final rating for “Hamnet” is a moving 9/10.
№5= “Marty Supreme” (2025):
“I have a purpose. And if you think that’s some sort of blessing, it’s not. It means I have an obligation to see a very specific thing through. And with that obligation comes sacrifice.”
After the directing duo known as the Safdie Brothers released their 2019 film “Uncut Gems,” they announced their plan to split up and pursue projects on their own. Ironically, they both released sports dramas in 2025, with Benny making the boxing film “The Smashing Machine” and Josh making a Timothée Chalamet helmed table tennis period piece that ended up earning him nominations for Best Director and Best Picture.
The plot follows Ping Pong player Marty Mauser (Chalamet) as he tries to fund his trip to play in the Table Tennis World Championships in Tōkyō, Japan, against his rival, Koto Endo (Koto Kawaguchi). Along his journey, he ends up causing a trail of destruction in his wake that ruins the lives of everyone he comes across. These include his childhood friends Rachel Mizler (Odessa A’Zion) and Dion Galanis (Luke Manley), the cab driver Wally (Tyler, the Creator) and the businessman Milton Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary).
This movie and others directed by the Safdie Brothers excel at doing something that I normally despise in any other type of film, in being a prolonged and sustained barrage of intentional frustration and cringe throughout its entire runtime. It is so effective in setting its tone that even I have to respect it on a filmmaking level, even though I felt like pulling my hair out for most of the runtime.
The soundtrack by Daniel Lopatin also uses synthesizers and 80’s needle drops, which blend surprisingly well with the early 50’s setting of the film. It is a shame that he was snubbed for the Oscars, as it is one of the best scores of the year.
The final scene is the best work Chalamet has ever done, and he should win the Oscar for Best Actor for it, in my opinion.
This is one of the best acting ensembles of the year, with so many memorable bit players lining the background of every scene. Even though “Sinners” will probably win the Oscar for Best Casting, this is the type of work that the category should recognize going forward.
For those of you who are looking for a film that will put you on the edge of your seat, this movie will be just the thing. My final rating for “Marty Supreme” is a nail-biting 9/10.
*Reviews previously published in the Oracle.
