Ten films vie for best-picture Academy Award in March

The 98th Academy Awards will be broadcast live on ABC and streamed on Hulu starting at 8 p.m. on March 15. 

Nominees and final Oscar winners are selected by members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which is comprised of over 10,000 members across 17 distinct branches. While all members must be active in the film industry, it includes specialized branches for executives, marketing, and public relations professionals. During the initial nomination phase, members typically vote within their specific fields, such as directors nominating directors. Every voting member is eligible to submit nominations for Best Picture.

While winners in most categories are determined by a simple majority, the Best Picture winner is selected using a ranked-choice system. This ensures that the top prize goes to the film with the broadest support across the entire Academy.

A complete list of nominees in all categories can be found on the Academy Awards website. 

You will have to get to it if you want to watch the nominated movies before March 15. 

The nominees for Best Picture are . . .

Sinners is a horror movie directed by Ryan Coogler.  The two main characters are brothers, both played by Michael B Jordan. It has received a record-breaking 16 Academy Award nominations. One review describes it as “a sweaty, gory Southern Gothic horror musical.” If that intrigues you, give it a watch.

One Battle After Another is a darkly comic action thriller directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and loosely based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon. The all-star cast includes Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 98% rating. It is considered to be one of the best movies of the year. It has received 13 Academy Award nominations.

Frankenstein, directed by Guillermo del Toro, is a science fiction drama based on the 1818 novel by Mary Shelley.  One reviewer says the movie “makes something almost new, and definitely rich and strange, out of a story we all thought we knew well. It has been nominated for 9 Oscars.

Bugonia, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, is a psychological fiction comedy thriller, which seems to be the trend these days.  The cast includes Emma Stone. One review described it as “a wickedly funny new psychological thriller.” It has received four Academy nominations.  

F1, directed by Joseph Kosinski, is a sports drama film starring Brad Pitt as Formula One (F1) race driver Sonny Hayes.  The racing sequences and cinematography are described as impressive.  The two-and-a-half-hour movie has mixed reviews. In addition to Best Picture, other nominations include Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, and Best Film Editing. 

Hamnet is a biographical period film directed by Chloé Zhao. The fictionalized yet very emotional story is about love and loss and centers on William and Agnes Shakespeare and the death of their child, Hamnet.  It earned 2.5/4 by one reviewer. Hamnet has received eight nominations.

Marty Supreme, directed by Josh Safdie, is described as a sports comedy-drama. Timothée Chalamet stars as table tennis player Marty Mauser (loosely based on Marty Reisman) as he follows his quest to become a world champion. One reviewer describes Marty as “a scrappy, speedy dynamo with a silver tongue and inhuman levels of chutzpah, sets out to borrow, steal, cheat, sweet-talk, and hustle his way to the top.”  It has received 9 Academy Award nominations.

Sentimental Value is a Norwegian drama directed by Joachim Trier. The film has received 9 Academy Award nominations. In addition to its Best Picture nomination, it is a major contender for Best International Feature. Critics largely praise it as a nuanced exploration of family dynamics and trauma.

The Secret Agent, directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, is a political thriller set in 1977, during Brazil's military dictatorship. It follows Marcelo (played by Wagner Moura), a technology professor on the run seeking refuge. It has received four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best International Feature Film. Audience reviews are divided.

Train Dreams is an American period drama directed by Clint Bentley. It is based on the 2011 novella by Denis Johnson, which tells the story of an early 20th-century American railroad worker. The film has earned four Academy Award nominations. Train Dreams earned the highest rating by RobertEbbert.com.

And the winner is. . .