On March 15, 2026, the 98th annual Academy Awards ceremony will take place. For the past two years, I have taken upon myself the task of watching the ten films that are considered the best and most worthy of the coveted Best Picture award. And this year, although I have been abandoned by my former compatriot film reviewer for the gold and blue shores of the University of Michigan, I once again embarked on a quest to fulfill my duty of bringing you a comprehensive list of reviews of all ten Best Picture nominees and my predictions for who will be victorious. Buckle up, folks, it’s a wild one!
“Bugonia”
When I found out that I was going to have to sit through another Yorgos Lanthimos film after my immense distaste for his 2023 “Poor Things,” I immediately assumed I was in for another problematic film that shrouded misogyny behind interesting visuals. Mercifully, however, “Bugonia” was more boring than problematic. Most of the first act of the film was just a regurgitation of belabored leftist-versus-right-wing discourse, without saying anything substantial about any of the topics that were broached. Once the stakes were heightened for the second act of the film and the whole “is she an alien or isn’t she” plotline developed, I was actually surprised to find myself invested and taken aback by a surprisingly moving ending. Like most of Yorgos Lantimos’ films, it was visually inventive and on the cusp of saying something interesting. “Bugonia” could have said a lot of thought-provoking and relevant things, but was just relatively unremarkable.
“F1”
When I first heard that “F1” had been nominated for Best Picture, I was really confused. After watching it, I am even more baffled as to how this film was even considered for nomination. The film is full of uninteresting characters, low stakes, uncertain motivations, and tired tropes that make it a pretty mediocre but typical sports film. Brad Pitt’s protagonist Sonny Hayes is a reckless and arrogant “old-school” driver who returns from retirement to join a Formula 1 team with Damson Idris’ Jason Pearce, a fame-obsessed Gen Z rookie. A monotonous rivalry between them ensues, which lacks any tension or reason, and then is eventually resolved seemingly instantaneously, just in time for the final race. One of the only female characters in the film, Kate, the team’s technical director, played by Kerry Condon, is forced to play babysitter for the two male leads and then the love interest for Pitt. The film is pretty standard and unoriginal, and lacks any inventive technical elements that justify the film’s nomination.
“Frankenstein”
I had very high hopes for Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein.” As a fan of Mary Shelley’s original novel, I was optimistic that his adaptation would be closer to the source material than other adaptations had been, with a few tasteful adaptational liberties. And while I do feel that this film understood Shelley’s novel better than previous adaptations, the dialogue was overexplanatory and stilted to the point of distraction. Moments in the film that could have been “shown” and not “told” were often just explicitly stated by characters, making interpretation or emotional connection to the film unnecessary. The characters, too, were very flat and hardly developed. Oscar Isaac, who is an incredible actor in his own right, felt restrained as a cartoonish Victor Frankenstein, whose motivations seemed confused and simplified from the novel. Instead of questioning the moral and philosophical implications of creation, del Toro’s version of Victor just dislikes the Creature because he finds him unintelligent, lacking the guttural horror that is present in the novel. Jacob Elordi’s performance as “the Creature” was by far the strongest part of the film, and there were some touching moments, but overall it was just very disappointing.
“Hamnet”
Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet,” an adaptation of the Maggie O’Farrell novel of the same name, adapts its source material in an incredibly moving and captivating way. Visually, the film, which reimagines the story of William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes, is rich with symbolism and features stunning filming locations, costuming, and set design. Jessie Buckley is amazing (as always) in her role as Agnes, and the performance of 12-year-old Jacobi Jupe, who plays her son Hamnet, took me by surprise with its depth and maturity. The film was incredibly touching, and Zhao adapted O’Farrell’s story with care, and the narrative callbacks that the story utilizes made it especially moving. As an English major, my only problem with the film was the way in which scenes from the play itself were seemingly taken out of context, or extensively altered to fit O’Farrell’s reimagining. And while this complaint may be more rightfully directed at the novel and not the film adaptation, the moments where scenes from the play were rearranged or had most of the lines cut (like when all the lines related to revenge are removed from the scene where Hamlet speaks with his father) were jarring to me as someone who is familiar with the play. Obviously, scenes had to be shortened in order to fit within the film’s time frame, but it seemed like the narrative was taking scenes and chopping them up to fit O’Farrell’s imagining, rather than using scenes that would actually support her idea and still maintain the cathartic effect that the performance has on Agnes. The film, while a technical and emotional accomplishment, seems to deliver a simplified version of the play that it is centered around.
“Marty Supreme”
I really wanted to hate “Marty Supreme” because of the absolute fool Timothée Chalamet made of himself on its press tour, but unfortunately, at least from a technical standpoint, the film is a good one. There was a lot about it that I didn’t like. Its protagonist, Marty Mauser, is an egotistic and selfish person who mistreats and manipulates everyone in his life. Throughout the film, he commits innumerable crimes and hurts everyone he comes into contact with, being consistently driven by his entitlement and self-interest. Yet, by the end of the film, as a result of his exploitation of others, Marty is able to achieve personal fulfillment, to the tune of Daniel Lopatin’s triumphant score. The film left me feeling infuriated at its view of masculinity and human subjectivity, but, despite my qualms with the film’s morals, Timothée Chalamet is undeniably wonderful in the role, and the film is riveting. Fast-paced, dynamically filmed, and with punchy dialogue, Josh Safdie’s film is engrossing, even despite its unlikeable main character. It felt cohesive and intentional, and, against my will, I felt unexpectedly touched by the film’s conclusion.
“One Battle After Another”
I can’t quite make up my mind about Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another.” Certainly, the film is making an important statement about the dangers of white supremacy through Sean Penn’s Colonel Lockjaw and his obsession with joining the white supremacist group, the Christmas Adventurers’ Club. Anderson and the film’s satirical and absurdist exploration of radical conservative extremism is cohesive, yet the film lacks the depth to make it fully effective. The film is quippy, occasionally funny, sometimes uncomfortable to watch and has good performances. But, for a film so focused on activism and revolution, it seems to have nothing to say about either of them, leaving certain plotlines and characters, who had potential to be interesting and complicated, like Teyana Taylor’s Perfidia Beverley Hills, mostly abandoned. The film focuses more on Lockjaw and his search for Perfidia’s daughter, Willa, and DiCaprio’s Bob and his attempts to rescue her, leaving characters like Perfidia and Willa with little character exploration or development. The movie worked in a lot of places, but similar to Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which was nominated for Best Picture in 2024 (also starring Leonardo DiCaprio), it seemed to focus entirely on the wrong people.
“The Secret Agent”
Brazilian film “The Secret Agent,” directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, is a visually appealing and immersive experience that feels distinctly cohesive and intentional. The film used visual symbolism in a compelling and imaginative way, but as a viewer unfamiliar with the historical context of the film, I was often confused about the events of the film and the clearly-intentional message it was delivering. The film was incredibly slow and lacked inter-film context about its lead character, which made it hard to connect with him on an emotional level. Without the necessary context, I found the film unengaging, which I think was most likely the fault of my being uninformed, and not a fault of the film itself.
“Sentimental Value”
Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” was both touching and imaginative, utilizing visual storytelling and symbolism in an incredibly effective way. Exploring generational trauma through physical representations of that trauma, the film makes use of theater and filmmaking plotlines to demonstrate the lasting effects of emotional injury. The characters felt human and the script was naturalistic and emotionally poignant, and the acting performances were solid. In particular, the utilization of the family home as a symbol for trauma was an excellent narrative choice, and the film’s exploration of multiple generations of the family made the ultimate conclusion satisfying and moving.
“Sinners”
As someone who is a coward, I was really nervous to watch Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” because I heard it was really scary. And while the film was definitely chilling, the experience was well worth it. Coogler’s film is both musical and emotional, with most of it dedicated to paying homage to Black culture and music in the 1930s. While there are many heart-warming and beautiful moments, the film is often dark, with depictions of racial violence and segregation, and the film leaves the audience reflecting on both past and present forms of hatred and injustice. The cast is absolutely phenomenal, particularly Miles Caton, who made his film debut as Sammie. Michael B. Jordan’s double performance as the Smokestack twins was dynamic alongside Wunmi Mosaku’s performance as Annie. The entire film is just so intelligent and inventive, and I felt like I had to read academic essays about it after I finished it for the first time.
“Train Dreams”
Clint Bentley’s “Train Dreams” is definitely a slow one. But the slowness, although admittedly boring some of the time, allows for reflection, both of its main character and the audience. The plot is mostly character-driven, following the life of the protagonist, Robert Grainier, through tragedy and technological advancement, as he watches the world around him change and develop at the turn of the century. Joel Edgerton’s performance as Grainier was emotionally resonant and grounded, and the film was a refreshing and contemplative film that I wept most of the way through. While I really enjoyed the film, I realized about a few minutes in that it had probably been adapted from a short story because it was paced like a short story and narrated like one. It indeed was, and while I think that the simplicity of the story and the intrapersonal focus may have been better suited to its original format, the pairing of the short story narration with visual elements was really interesting.
Ultimately, this year’s Best Picture nominations offered up a selection of wild, sometimes disappointing, and often emotional films. If I had to predict which film will win, I would have to put my vote in for “Sinners” or “Marty Supreme” as I feel that those were the most well-received and discussed of the nominated films. If it were up to me, based on personal opinion and enjoyment level, I would choose either “Sinners” or “Hamnet” to win. As the night of the Academy Awards approaches, I am looking forward with anticipation to see which film will eventually be honored with the coveted accolade.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.