Best Picture Nominations, Ranked

plus the good, the bad, and the ugly

The Oscar nominations were announced this morning for the 2024 movie year.

I thought Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott did a fantastic job at keeping everyone entertained and making impromptu jokes. Maybe they should do it every year?

Source: Yahoo

The Good:

• I’m Still Here getting into Best Picture (much to the delight of millions of Brasilians)

• Fernanda Torres in Best Actress for I’m Still Here

• Nosferatu snuck in for Cinematography

• Sebastian Stan nomination for The Apprentice

• Titular nepo baby Isabella Rosellini, daughter of Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rosellini, getting into Best Supporting Actress

• Coralie Fargeat nomination for Best Director

• No Other Land nomination

• No Selena Gomez in Best Supporting Actress

The Bad:

• No Kneecap in Best International Feature

• Goose eggs for Challengers

The Ugly:

• 13 nominations for Emilia Perez

• No Denis for Best Director

• only five nominations for Dune: Part Two

Speaking of which…

Best Picture Nominees, Ranked

I have seen all but two of the ten Best Picture nominees (still need to watch I’m Still Here and Nickel Boys), so enjoy my ranking of the ones I’ve seen.

Note: The fact that half of these say “TBD” for producers is so embarrassing lol.

1. Dune: Part Two

Source: IMAX

In my extremely biased opinion, Dune: Part Two was the best movie of the year.

There are people reading this who have listened to me talk about Dune for almost four consecutive years, and I will not apologize for it.

I had no relationship to Dune prior to the release of the movie in 2021. It kept getting delayed, and I went to watch it because I was a big Denis Villeneuve fan and my kid brother really wanted to go. Sitting in the IMAX theater watching the spice carry-all get consumed by the sandworm, I felt like I was watching the best movie ever made. I mean, this is what people watching Star Wars in 1977 for the first time must have felt. I walked out of the theater knowing cinema had been saved (it was still COVID) and that a new favorite was born.

Source: IMAX

Dune went on to get 10 Oscar nominations and won six.

Fans waited a long time for Dune: Part Two. The movie got delayed several times due to many external factors, including the 2023 SAG strike and bad business decisions at Warner Bros Discovery. So when it finally came, the anticipation was extremely high.

In between the release of Dune and Part Two, I read “Dune” and “Dune: Messiah” and could not see how Denis was going to adapt the second half of the book. But as soon as I saw the opening, I knew “ok nevermind we’re soooooo back!!”

I loved everything about the movie: the changes from the book, the cinematography, an amazing score from Hans, THAT scene with Timmy. Everything!

Source: Filmgrab

Dune is a cautionary tale about the power of a charismatic leader. To quote the tagline of the Pixar movie, Brave, “if you had the power to change your fate, would you?”

The overwhelming dread felt in Part One is materialized in Part Two as we see Paul descend into a fate he knows ends in catastrophe and destruction. It’s amazing what someone can do as a means to an end. Purposefully deceiving those who believe in you to further your agenda (“we must sway the non-believers” Lady Jessica says). Thinking you’re doing it for their own good. Buying into your own self-hype to the point of blindness. Plans within plans!!

It’s hard to believe there are people who still don’t understand that Paul Atreides is the villain. “Who will our next oppressor be?” *hard cut to Paul sleeping.* Lol.

Mark Twain once wrote, “it's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” I think that is the ultimate underlying theme for Dune: Part Two, making it extremely apt.

2. The Substance

Source: Mubi

When I was on my way to watch The Substance, I was in a really bad mood.

It was a too-warm October night and I didn’t have time to eat dinner. I had to pay for parking due to an event where the movie theater was when I usually never have to, and the theater refused to validate my parking because they told me that I should’ve known about the event since it was on their website. Ok, whatever…

All this to say, I was not in the best position to like The Substance. I remember thinking “this better be a good movie if I had to pay $30 for parking" as I sat in my reclining seat. I’m happy to report that it was the best $30 for parking I have ever paid!

The Substance is a body horror movie about experiences that women go through daily:

• we compare ourselves to others

• we deal with annoying men

• we struggle deciding what to wear on a night out

• we punish ourselves for not being perfect

• we age.

I’ll never look at an older picture of myself from college and say “I was so skinny!” ever again!

We’re all beautiful just the way we are, and if we try too hard to fix it, we will just end up becoming monsters, uglier than we were before.

3. Conclave

Source: IMDB

When the Pope dies, a conclave is called at the Vatican to select a new Pope. I am not Catholic so I didn’t know that selecting a new Pope was just a very intense Survivor Tribal Council.

This was one of the best movies of the year, hands down. It is a spiritually profound film about imperfect beings and it was nice to watch a movie explore faith in a complex way. I do think the ending cheapens it a bit to have a “shocking twist” just for the sake of having one, especially knowing how unrealistic it would be for there to be no consequences.

This was my husband’s favorite movie of the year and we find ourselves referencing it weekly. I enjoyed all the performances and I do love that Isabella Rossellini was nominated for Best Supporting Actress despite having 10 minutes of screen time, because many people seem to forget that the best supporting roles should essentially be this:

4. The Brutalist

Read my review of The Brutalist from earlier this week here.

5. Anora

Anora was the frontrunner for a long time. The Cannes Palme d’Or winner (the top prize) and already in the Criterion Collection, it’s still a big fan favorite.

I enjoyed Anora because Sean Baker wasn’t afraid to make a screwball comedy about a Pretty Woman situation gone wrong. Even though I thought the young Russian Oligarch was annoying (lol), I loved the natural chemistry between Mikey Madison and Yuriy Borisov, and the end scene between them broke my heart.

I still prefer The Florida Project to Anora, but I look forward to rewatching it.

6. A Complete Unknown

Source: Mashable

It was hilarious to see the BTS photos of A Complete Unknown and every photo was Timothee Chalamet just walking down the street. Everyone thought the entire movie was just going to be him walking around, and honestly……

From the director James Mangold (Walk the Line, Ford v. Ferrari), another musician biopic. It’s conventional in every sense, but I still had a great time and thought it worked narratively to make me care about Dylan abandoning the people who made him famous. I’ve already talked about how great Chalamet is in it, and this marks his seventh Best Picture contender, NBD.

If you’re a Dylan or folk music/blues fan, you will enjoy this one.

7. Wicked

This is the best picture winner for people who watch three movies a year and only read those Romantasy or Colleen Hoover books. You know who I’m talking about.

8. Emilia Perez

I’ve said what I needed to say about Emilia Perez here…(it’s not good). If this movie wins, it will be my joker origin story.

The 97th Academy Awards will air March 2nd on ABC.

Full list of nominations here.