CultureMap film critic's guide to the 2025 Oscar Best Picture nominees

The nominations for the 2025 Academy Awards have been announced, with 10 films vying for Best Picture. Leading the way is Emilia Pérez with 13 nominations, followed by The Brutalist and Wicked, both with 10.

As a refresher, below are links to the full reviews for each of the nominees covered by CultureMap in the past year, as well as a brief synopsis of each review.

This year's Oscars ceremony will take place on Sunday, March 2.

If you missed catching any of these films, Cinemark will host its annual Oscar Movie Week festival from Monday, February 24 through Sunday, March 2, when they'll screen nominees for Best Picture, Live Action, and Animated Short Film.

Here's the list, in alphabetical order:

Anora
The latest film from writer/director Sean Baker (nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay) is similar to his previous content in some ways, but much different in others. Starring Mikey Madison (nominated for Best Actress) as a stripper/sex worker who gets into a relationship of sorts with the son of a Russian oligarch, the film has elements of drama and farce, with an underlying theme of the vast disparity of wealth between the two of them. The subtext of the story gives the film its power, with a bravura performance by Madison to put it over the top.

The Brutalist
Writer/director Brady Corbet (nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay), like many before him, takes his stab at making a great American epic, with mixed results. Corbet, along with co-writer Mona Fastvold, signals his intentions to have the film be a throwback at multiple turns, using an old format called VistaVision and delivering a 3 ½ hour-long experience, complete with intermission. The building of the narrative in the first half befits the grand scale that Corbet seems to be going for, but much of the momentum is wasted in the second half. Adrien Brody, who remains relatively subtle in his performance, and Guy Pearce, who has the bombastic role, are nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively, as is Felicity Jones for Best Supporting Actress.

A Complete Unknown
What few music biopics fail to do is properly showcase the music that made the person popular in the first place, a mistake that A Complete Unknown doesn’t repeat, becoming a smashing success in the process. The film may not be much of a revelation for Bob Dylan superfans, but for casual fans or those who know nothing about him, it is one of the most effective music biopics in recent memory, if not ever. Timothée Chalamet (nominated for Best Actor) firmly establishes himself as a star, giving a Dylan impersonation (including singing) that is subtle-yet-clear. The supporting cast is also off-the-charts good, including Edward Norton (nominated for Best Supporting Actor) and Monica Barbaro (nominated for Best Supporting Actress).

Conclave
The full arc of the film involves little more than senior Catholic officials debating over and voting for the new pope, but it still makes for one of the most compelling movies of the year. The various scandals the Catholic Church has had over the years, most notably child molestation by priests, hangs over the proceedings in the film. Director Edward Berger seems to know exactly how to pull the strings of certain storylines or characters, aided by a pulsating score by Volker Bertelmann (nominated for Best Score). The interplay between Ralph Fiennes (nominated for Best Actor), Stanley Tucci, and John Lithgow is nothing short of thrilling. Isabella Rossellini earned a Best Supporting Actress nomination in a relatively small role.

Dune: Part Two
There is no argument that director Denis Villenueve knows how to create a visually-stunning film, as he and cinematographer Greig Fraser (nominated again for Best Cinematography after winning an Oscar for Dune: Part One) bring out all the tricks this time around, showcasing a landscape that could otherwise be monotonous in myriad interesting ways. But once again, all of that visual splendor is in service of a story that is less than enthralling, with Villenueve and returning co-writer Jon Spaihts choosing to skip over seemingly key parts of certain characters’ arcs. Still, Timothée Chalamet is a compelling presence in the lead role, and Zendaya finally gets a chance to shine after barely appearing in the first film.

Emilia Pérez
It takes a certain kind of imagination to think that the story of a cartel boss wanting to transition into being a woman as she quits the drug business is a prime candidate for an original movie musical, as is done in Emilia Pérez. The musical sequences (two songs are nominated for Best Song) of the film are fascinating, mostly because they don’t adhere to the rules typically used in musical films. Writer/director Jacques Audiard utilizes all sorts of locations as the settings for the sequences, as well as the incorporation of unorthodox elements, such as the loading of guns as musical beats. Zoe Saldaña (nominated for Best Supporting Actress) digs deep into her character, putting on a compelling performance, as does Karla Sofía Gascón (nominated for Best Actress), a Spanish transgender actor who embodies every aspect of her role in a manner only someone like her could.

I'm Still Here
Not reviewed.

Nickel Boys
What makes this film unique is that writer/director RaMell Ross and co-writer Joslyn Barnes (both nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay) adapted Colson Whitehead’s novel in a way that is as personal as you can get: By giving it a first-person perspective. Instead of being privy to information that the two main characters might not know, we can only see what they see, a viewpoint that serves to increase the harrowing nature of their plights as they are essentially imprisoned at a Florida reform school in the 1960s. The fleeting glimpses of the faces of stars Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson helps to understand the strength of the work they do off-screen. The first-person perspective draws the viewer in, and then the story clobbers them with events that make the central characters indelible.

The Substance
Written and directed by French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat (nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay), the film is one of the most stylish of the year. Fargeat uses unusual perspectives and eye-grabbing colors to enhance her storytelling, and the visuals and the plot complement each other extremely well. The wild premise of the film - a fading star played by Demi Moore (nominated for Best Actress) uses a mysterious treatment to transform into an idealized version of herself - only increases in insanity as it goes along, and little can prepare viewers for just how off-the-wall it gets. The film effectively makes its argument about unreasonable body standards in Hollywood while delivering visuals audiences won’t soon forget.

Wicked
The musical Wicked is indisputably the biggest Broadway smash of the 21st century, and the film adaptation does a great job of distinguishing itself from the stage version while still remaining true to what made it so beloved. Director Jon M. Chu has an innate feel for how to tap into the essence of the source material while expanding it into something befitting the scope of a blockbuster movie. The progression of the friendship between Elphaba and Glinda works better on stage when the timeline is accelerated, but Cynthia Erivo (nominated for Best Actress) and Ariana Grande-Butera (nominated for Best Supporting Actress) make up for this slight lack with their fantastic performances. The well-known ending of the first act is a huge high point that is so good that it almost makes up for the fact that audiences won’t see the second film until November 2025.