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2026 Oscar Nominations - Winners & Losers January 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Christmas morning for cinephiles has come and gone, with many films receiving a bounty of presents or a big lump of coal. Records were broken, tears were shed, and campaigns to win these trophies are now in full swing. With the dust settling (for now), let's break down who the big winners and losers were. Winner: Sinners By taking advantage of the new category for achievement in casting and, surprisingly, getting Delroy Lindo nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Sinners broke the all-time nomination record. Across a total of sixteen categories, Ryan Coogler's film didn't miss a single category it was predicted to be nominated for. With the SAG and PGA awards on the horizon, the film has clearly shown it still has some juice left in the fight for Best Picture. Loser: Wicked: For Good Once the reviews were out, it seemed inevitable that Wicked: For Good would take a step down from the ten nominations its predecessor got. At the very least, we expected the crafts to make a repeat appearance, especially when the costumes and production sets won Oscars last year. Alas, every branch of the Academy collectively shunned the sequel, handing it a big, fat goose egg on nomination morning. Winner: Bugonia The ho-hum initial reactions following Bugonia ’s premiere at the Venice International Film Festival spurred everyone to think this would go the way of Kinds of Kindness or The Lobster instead of The Favourite and Poor Things . Instead, it landed somewhere in the middle, netting four total nominations, including Best Picture. Emma Stone has proved to be her generation’s Meryl Streep / Cate Blanchett, nabbing her fifth acting nomination before the age of 37. She and Lanthimos have four feature films together, with three of them being nominated for Best Picture. Loser: Paul Mescal Between Joseph Fiennes being snubbed for Shakespeare in Love and now Paul Mescal for Hamnet , taking on the role of William Shakespeare is an Oscar curse. Mescal received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor from every major precursor, and Hamnet has been a top-tier Best Picture since its premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in August. Adam Sandler or Miles Caton were predicted to be the possible upset options. However, it was Caton’s Sinners co-star Delroy Lindo who came in with the steel chair, netting his first-ever Oscar nomination in a very long and respected career. Winner: Sentimental Value What started with a 19-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival back in May has culminated in nine Oscar nominations. After being fully blanked by SAG, all four members of its ensemble were Oscar-nominated. The film was even nominated for Best Film Editing, which had a very outside shot at receiving. The battle for Best International Feature is now down to it and The Secret Agent , both of which netted a nomination for Best Picture. Loser: It Was Just an Accident Jafar Panahi’s film has now broken the three-film streak of Palme d’Or winners being nominated for Best Picture. Even a few weeks ago, the film seemed like a surefire bet to get in, performing extremely well at the initial critics' awards. However, cracks started to form right when Oscar voting began, and the film only managed to get in for Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature. With other Cannes titles like Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent overperforming on expectations, it seems likely that Panahi will go home empty-handed. Winner: Warner Bros. For a studio that is supposedly being swallowed up by the Netflix machine, Warner Bros. made quite the statement for itself on Oscar nomination morning. Their Best Picture nominees of Sinners and One Battle After Another combined for a total of twenty-nine nominations, with the former clearing the record with sixteen. It can also take half-credit for the four nominations garnered by F1 , which it distributed with Apple Original Films in the United States. All three of those films are expected to be heavy favorites in multiple categories at the Oscar ceremony, so this level of dominance will likely continue. Loser: Searchlight Pictures Likely regarded as one of the strongest speciality distributors in the awards game, this year marks the first time since 2005 that Searchlight Pictures was fully blanked from the Oscars. Back in the summer, they seemed to have a strong one-two punch in Rental Family and Is This Thing On? . Once both of those films underperformed, they switched horses to The Testament of Ann Lee . That also didn’t go anywhere; the film’s rejection from many shortlists sealing its doom way before Oscar nomination morning. In 2026, they have new films from Tony Gilroy and Martin McDonagh, so they shouldn’t be out of the conversation for very long. Winner: Global Cinema We’ve been living in a Renaissance period for international representation at the Oscars for a few years now. It’s now common for multiple foreign language films to be nominated for Best Picture, with this year’s entries being Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent . Other international films that picked up nominations include It Was Just an Accident (Best Original Screenplay), Sirât (Best Sound), Kokuko (Best Makeup & Hairstyling), and The Ugly Stepsister (Best Makeup & Hairstyling). With borders becoming less and less of an obstacle amongst the cinephile community, this trend will only increase the more we venture into the future. More Reviews Mercy January 21, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen H Is for Hawk January 20, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen

Final 2026 Oscar Nomination Predictions January 15, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Is it just me, or is awards season getting longer? Now with the Cannes Film Festival firmly planted as a major Oscar launching pad, the offseason lasts a mere four weeks. Nearly eight months later, we’re finally putting away our pencils and using pens to lock in nomination predictions. The time between now and then has been either an asset or a liability for so many contenders, displaying the adage that you never quite know how the cards are going to be dealt. When making the final Oscar nomination predictions, you have to know that you’re going to be incorrect on at least 25% of them. And that’s okay, because there are so many unknown variables that can tip the scales in either direction. Because of this, I go in with a very pragmatic approach. It’s best not to overcomplicate things. Stick to what’s been favorited, and don't be a hero with out-of-left-field predictions. You may get one of those right, but probably more wrong. As a focus tool, I’ve devised each category into three levels of likelihood for a nomination: Locks, Safe, and Shaky. Here’s a breakdown of how those categories are defined: Locks are virtually guaranteed to get a nomination. They’re more focused on winning the Oscar, with the nomination only being a formality. The only time you should spend on them is what it takes to write their names down on your predictions. A lock being snubbed is cause for headlines, and that’s something you can’t predict. Safes seem likely to happen, and a snub would be a major talking point. They’ve hit pretty much every precursor they could, and displayed support from the voting body. But there might be a hiccup in their campaign or a nagging feeling that there’s reason for doubt. Someone like Viola Davis in The Woman King fits this description. She was nominated at every precursor and is a titan in the industry. But the film just wasn’t landing in other categories, which led her to come up short at the finish line. Shaky is where you find a group of people fighting for those spots. They’ve hit some places and missed others, or their work goes against what the branch tends to favor. They might also have legitimate reasons for being a surprise nomination or a not-so-surprising snub. As a matter of transparency, I will not be predicting the three short categories: Live-Action Short, Animated Short, and Documentary Short. It’s a fool’s errand to try to provide analysis for a category where I’ve seen none of the contenders and have no precursors to guide the way. I’ll just be going with the GoldDerby consensus. Without further ado, let’s get started! Best Picture Locks One Battle After Another Sinners Hamnet Frankenstein Marty Supreme Sentimental Value Safe Bugonia Shaky It Was Just an Accident Train Dreams The Secret Agent One distributor getting three films into Best Picture is quite an accomplishment. Having all of those films in a foreign language makes that a historic achievement. Fresh off winning Best Picture last year with Anora , Neon seems poised to do just that with Sentimental Value , It Was Just an Accident , and The Secret Agent . F1 seems to be the only potential spoiler, likely trying to copy the package of Ford v Ferrari . That’s still weaker than what I have in the ‘Shaky’ category, which is why I have it just missing. Best Director Locks Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another) Safe Chloé Zhao (Hamnet) Shaky Ryan Coogler (Sinners) Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value) Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident) We have eight directors fighting for five spots. Actually, it’s more like seven for four spots since we all know Paul Thomas Anderson is going to win the Oscars. As a former winner who recently had her film win the Best Motion Picture - Drama category at the Golden Globes, Zhao feels pretty safe. Coogler would normally be safe as well, as he has yet to miss a nomination anywhere. There’s just too much PTSD from this branch snubbing blockbuster directors for me to fully believe he’s locked in. International contenders are this branch’s bread and butter. Joachim Trier just picked up the European Film Award for Best Director as part of Sentimental Value ’s sweep of the above-the-line categories. Seven of the last eight winners of that prize went on to receive an Oscar nomination, so I’m keeping him in. I’m still clinging to Jafar Panahi for that last spot, who I feel has always been making work that directors love, and has a super compelling narrative for how he had to craft this film. I haven’t even mentioned DGA nominees Josh Safdie and Guillermo del Toro, who shepherded films likely to receive double-digit nominations. There’s also Kleber Mendonça Filho for The Secret Agent , which has shown to have a ton of passion behind it. Anyone who goes 5/5 in this category should immediately go out and buy a lottery ticket. Best Original Screenplay Locks Sinners (Ryan Coogler) It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi) Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt) Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie & Ronald Bronstein) Shaky The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonça Filho) The top four can all be predicted with certainty. I have The Secret Agent in my Best Picture predictions, so I need another strongly correlating nomination to support that claim. That’s kind of a backwards way of looking at it, but I also think the film is stronger than the closest competition of Blue Moon and Sorry, Baby . The writer’s branch is also not afraid to go international. However, 3/5 non-English nominees does seem a bit excessive. Best Adapted Screenplay Locks One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson) Hamnet (Chloé Zhao & Maggie O’Farrell) Safe Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro) Train Dreams (Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar) Bugonia (Will Tracy) These five were all nominated at Critics' Choice and made the BAFTA longlist. Also making CC was No Other Choice , which was absent from the BAFTA longlist. It also won’t have the benefit of a Best Picture nomination. Neither will Rian Johnson, who will likely see his streak of writing nominations for the Knives Out films come to an end. Best Casting Safe Sinners One Battle After Another Marty Supreme Hamnet Shaky Sentimental Value There are no locks here, simply because we have no precedent to make estimations on. By using the combination of the precursors that have either casting or ensemble prizes, we can find five films that have regularly been nominated. Best Lead Actor Locks Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme) Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another) Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon) Safe Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent) Shaky Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) Despite showing up at every precursor, I’m still classifying Michael B. Jordan as a shaky contender since his next closest competition, Jesse Plemons, is making quite the surge at the moment. Wagner Moura would definitely be in the same boat as Jordan had he not won the Golden Globe. The only thing that separates Jordan and Plemons is Critics' Choice, which was before Bugonia really started to show its true strength. While I’m not going to predict it, I think Jordan could be this year’s big acting snub, falling in line with recent examples like Margot Robbie ( Barbie ), Lady Gaga ( House of Gucci ), Viola Davis ( The Woman King ), and Tom Hanks ( Captain Phillips ). Best Lead Actress Locks Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) Safe Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value) Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I'd Kick You) Shaky Emme Stone (Bugonia) Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another) Which four ladies want to lose to Jessie Buckley? Rose Byrne and Renate Reinsve seem to be up to the task, strongly showing up at nearly every precursor. Unlike Best Leading Actor, this category is favorable to younger, less-known performers. It worked wonders for Mikey Madison last year, and I think it will help Chase Infiniti get nominated. That leaves Emma Stone and Kate Hudson for the last spot. Already with two Oscar wins, I think Stone has become this generation’s Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, or Kate Winslet when it comes to regularly getting nominated. Plus, she’s in a secure Best Picture nominee, while Hudson will be her film’s lone representative. Best Supporting Actor Locks Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value) Benicio del Toro (One Battle After Another) Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein) Safe Paul Mescal (Hamnet) Sean Penn (One Battle After Another) It’s been a steady crop of nominees all season, with all five appearing at the Golden Globes, SAG, Critics' Choice, and the BAFTA longlist. Well, Stellan didn’t get nominated at SAG, but I’m chalking that up to guild discrimination against foreign language performances, which is not a thing for the Oscars. Best Supporting Actress Locks Amy Madigan (Weapons) Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another) Safe Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value) Shaky Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners) Odessa A’zion (Marty Supreme) We started this season with a pretty weak slate of potential nominees, seemingly making this a cinch for Ariana Grande. To my surprise, I now have her out, a symptom of Wicked: For Good taking a beating over the past few weeks. Then again, she’s made it everywhere she could so far. Every year, someone always gets in with less when compared to those they beat out. In this case, that would be Odessa A’zion, whose late SAG nomination could push her in. Best Cinematography Locks Sinners One Battle After Another Safe Train Dreams Frankenstein Shaky Marty Supreme This is a repeat of the nominees at the American Society of Cinematographers Awards. It’s not wise to perfectly replicate their choices, but it did just happen in 2023. I originally had Hamnet in here, but it was notably missing at ASC (where Łukasz Żal previously won with Cold War ) and at its home turf of the British Society of Cinematographers. Everywhere Hamnet missed, Marty Supreme was there to fill the void, aided by Darius Khondji’s increased stature amongst the branch. Best Film Editing Locks One Battle After Another Sinners Marty Supreme F1 Shaky Frankenstein The American Cinema Editors Awards will announce their nominees the week after the Oscar nominations. That makes things rather difficult, leaning more on CC and the BAFTA longlist. Thankfully, the films in the “Locks” category got in at both. A House of Dynamite also accomplished that, although I’m really not sensing the passion for that film to get a lone nomination in this category. The next best would be Frankenstein , which is already going to be nominated in almost every other craft category. Best Original Score Locks Sinners One Battle After Another Safe Frankenstein Hamnet Shaky Marty Supreme Best Picture nominees have never fully represented this category since the expansion of the Best Picture category. But I also think that’s just a coincidence aided by the fact that we used to have composers who would be nominated regardless of the film’s quality. If anything were to get in over Marty Supreme , it would be Hans Zimmer with F1 , which showed up at both the Golden Globes and CC. Best Original Song Locks “Golden” (KPop Demon Hunters) “I Lied to You” (Sinners) Safe “Dear Me” (Diane Warren: Relentless) Shaky “Train Dreams” (Train Dreams) “The Girl in the Bubble” (Wicked: For Good) Before last year’s nominations were even announced, we already knew that Diane Warren was going to be nominated at this year’s Oscars. Most likely done for very strategic purposes, her documentary, Diane Warren: Relentless , was released in January, only a few days after the new Oscar qualification season started. It doesn’t matter that she wasn’t nominated at either the Globes or CC, as she has friends where it matters. This category has also shifted away from documentary songs, with the only non-Diane Warren nomination since 2016 being last year’s “Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late . Best Sound Locks F1 Sinners Safe One Battle After Another Avatar: Fire and Ash Shaky Sirât In the days of the split sound categories, Best Sound Mixing tended to favor music, while Best Sound Editing favored loud explosions. When we combine that precedent into one category, we have our nominees. Sirât is a bold prediction that should pay off because of how much sound is integral to the narrative. Best Production Design Locks Frankenstein Wicked: For Good Safe Sinners Marty Supreme Hamnet After combining the Art Directors Guild, CC, BAFTA longlist, and category precedent, we can come to a pretty safe set of nominees. The previous two Avatar films have been nominated here, but I think this is where the lesser enthusiasm for Fire and Ash is going to bite it. Best Costume Design Locks Frankenstein Sinners Wicked: For Good Safe Hamnet Shaky Hedda We have a very period-centric list of nominees, almost all of them Best Picture contenders. Going through the history of this category, the voters do not like contemporary costuming. Almost all lone nominees are for period work, which bodes well for Hedda , which also showed up at CC and the Costume Designers Guild. There’s still a very distinct possibility that One Battle After Another could be nominated, especially when the work comes from 4-time Oscar winner Colleen Atwood, who is also represented by Kiss of the Spider Woman . Best Makeup & Hairstyling Locks Frankenstein Sinners Wicked: For Good Safe The Smashing Machine Shaky Kokuho We have three big players at the top, each with makeup being central to their stories. Then there’s the transformation required for The Rock to become Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine , which was shepherded by category mainstay Kazu Hiro ( Darkest Hour , Bombshell , Maestro ). Going down that line of logic, the sneaky nominee would be Kokuho , a story set in Japanese kabuki theater, which recently became the country’s highest-grossing live-action film ever. This branch has also shown favor to international contenders like Society of the Snow, Pinocchio, Border , and A Man Called Ove . Best Visual Effects Locks Avatar: Fire and Ash F1 Safe Superman Shaky The Lost Bus Sinners The good thing about this category is that we already know which film is going to win. The bad news is that we’re really not sure who the rest of the losers will be. It’s usually good to go with at least one Best Picture nominee, which, in this case, would be Frankenstein and Sinners . In the case of the former, even fans such as myself will tell you that the visual effects are not that good. It was also totally omitted from the Visual Effects Society nominations, where The Lost Bus picked up several nominations. Best Animated Feature Locks KPop Demon Hunters Zootopia 2 Arco Safe Little Amélie or the Character of Rain Shaky Elio It’s been a very weak year for this category, which means there’s been hardly any movement. In any other year, a bomb such as Elio would not even be considered. Luckily, it received a leading number of nominations at the Annie Awards, which has just as strong a Pixar cohort as the Oscars do. Best International Feature Locks Sentimental Value (Norway) It Was Just an Accident (France) The Secret Agent (Brazil) Safe Sirât (Spain) Shaky No Other Choice (South Korea) Could Neon do the unthinkable and get all five of its foreign language films nominated? Given that this category hardly goes fully as expected, I’d say the odds aren’t that good. Then again, there are so many alternatives that it’s almost impossible to accurately predict who exactly it will be. At this point, I’m just going to hedge my bet and go with the full Neon sweep. 4/5 is still a very good score for this category anyway. Best Documentary Feature Safe The Perfect Neighbor 2000 Meters to Andriivka Shaky The Alabama Solution My Undesirable Friends: Part I - Last Air in Moscow Cover-Up As time has shown us, there is no such thing as a “lock” in this category, with the closest thing this year being The Perfect Neighbor and 2000 Meters to Andriivka . Tangentially related to the latter film is My Undesirable Friends: Part I - Last Air in Moscow , which has gained some great headway through the major critics' prizes. Rounding out the rest of the category are two American political documentaries. Those choices could be a mistake by me since this category has increasingly leaned international, but I think the fact that these films are very critical of America is an asset that will get them in. More Reviews Mercy January 21, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen H Is for Hawk January 20, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen

2026 Golden Globes Awards Predictions January 10, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen This year’s Golden Globes ceremony feels like a warm-up round for the two heavyweights that are One Battle After Another and Sinners , who will then have to clash at the main event that is the Oscars. Technically, both films are on the same team (Warner Bros.), so they should be very chummy with each other as they likely dominate their respective genre categories. The last time a studio won both Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy in the same year was 20th Century Fox in 2015 for The Revenant and The Martian , respectively. Like any good wrestling match, there are plenty of spoilers waiting in the wings. If this new version of the Globes has taught us anything, it’s that they’re not afraid to get weird. The old version of the Globes would never contemplate nominating Sebastian Stan for A Different Man or Fernanda Torres for I’m Still Here . Now those performances are (deservedly) winning prizes, a pleasant step in the right direction for an organization that perpetually deserves ridicule. Below is a breakdown of each category for the film-related categories, delving into who the likely winner is expected to be and what other nominees have the potential to disrupt the competition. Best Motion Picture - Drama Sinners Hamnet Frankenstein Sentimental Value It Was Just an Accident The Secret Agent Neon is entering the night with a three-headed dragon, comprised of three foreign language films. It’s almost impossible to determine which one of those films has a better shot than the others, so it’s probably best to rule them all out. Hamnet and Frankenstein are worthy contenders, but neither has positioned itself as a winner throughout this precursor portion of the season. It’s clearly going to be Sinners , which seems to be amassing more acclaim in the nine months since its release. Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy One Battle After Another Marty Supreme Bugonia No Other Choice Blue Moon Nouvelle Vague Let’s give it up for Richard Linklater for directing two films nominated in this category, a feat that has never happened before. It won’t mean a whole lot for the chances of either film winning, but it’s a nice thing to see. Despite all the other achievements of the other nominated films, none of them is even close to matching One Battle After Another . It’s my lock of the week(end)! Best Director Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another) Ryan Coogler (Sinners) Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident) Chloé Zhao (Hamnet) Guillermo del Toro (Frankenstein) Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value) Actually, never mind. This category is going to be my lock of the weekend, as Paul Thomas Anderson is finally being avalanched with the flowers he’s been deserving of for the past thirty years. Best Screenplay One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson) Sinners (Ryan Coogler) It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi) Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt) Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie & Ronald Bronstein) Hamnet (Chloé Zhao & Maggi O’Farrell) It’s a two-horse race at the top, with One Battle After Another and Sinners being the runaway favorites in the adapted and original screenplay categories, respectively. Luckily for the loser and unluckily for the winner, this probably won’t have much effect on the Oscar race then. The mantra this season has been to bet on One Battle After Another , and it hasn’t steered me wrong yet. A real, yet fully plausible, shocker would be for Jafar Panahi to come from behind with It Was Just an Accident . Best Lead Actor - Drama Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent) Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) Dwayne Johnson (The Smashing Machine) Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams) Oscar Isaac (Frankenstein) Jeremy Allen White (Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere) The Secret Agent making it into Best Motion Picture - Drama feels like it means something, especially when we’re only a year removed from Fernanda Torres winning Best Lead Actress - Drama here and starting the surge for I’m Still Here . But Michael B. Jordan is also right there, and his winning here would be a perfect compliment to the film’s eventual win in the Best Motion Picture - Drama category. Best Lead Actress - Drama Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value) Jennifer Lawrence (Die My Love) Julia Roberts (After the Hunt) Tessa Thompson (Hedda) Eva Victor (Sorry, Baby) This is a shockingly light year for this category, which is usually stacked with Oscar contenders. Jessie Buckley and Renate Reinsve are the only ones with higher aspirations; the rest likely to be relegated to future episodes of the “This Had Oscar Buzz” podcast. Although I do want to give a shoutout to Eva Victor’s inclusion, as that’s a great nomination. Buckley seems like she’ll be the sweeper of the televised awards, having already started that train at the Critics' Choice Awards last weekend. Best Lead Actor - Musical or Comedy Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme) Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another) Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon) Jesse Plemons (Bugonia) Lee Byung-hun (No Other Choice) George Clooney (Jay Kelly) As one of the most impressive lineups this category has ever seen, it’s a shame that only one nominee can win. Chalamet has delivered a career-best performance, both in the movie and on the campaign trail. His effort in the latter secured a mightily impressive box office performance, which confirmed his status as a major star. With that done, now it’s time for him to be awarded on the critical front. Best Lead Actress - Musical or Comedy Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I'd Kick You) Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another) Amanda Seyfried (The Testament of Ann Lee) Emma Stone (Bugonia) Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue) Cynthia Erivo (Wicked: For Good) The craziness of the past year can be illustrated by the fact that both of the lead performance contenders in the Musical or Comedy category stem from projects written by a Bronstein. Written and directed by Mary Bronstein, wife of Marty Supreme co-writer Ronald Bronstein, If I Had Legs I'd Kick You has come a long way since its premiere nearly a year ago at the Sundance Film Festival. Despite being initially written out of the awards conversation for being too abrasive, Rosy Bryne has been the critical darling, receiving awards from NYFCC, LAFCA, NBR, and being a runner-up at NSFC. This will be another win to get her to an Oscar nomination, which will be quite the accomplishment for such an anti-awards film. Best Supporting Actor Benicio del Toro (One Battle After Another) Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value) Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein) Paul Mescal (Hamnet) Sean Penn (One Battle After Another) Adam Sandler (Jay Kelly) This is an insanely tough category to predict, with the top three all having a seemingly equal chance of winning. Benicio del Toro has the majority of the critics’ prizes, with Stellan nabbing the LAFCA prize. And then Elordi just surprisingly won at the Critics’ Choice Awards last weekend. There’s no right decision here, but the least wrong one feels like Benicio. Either way, this will be an exciting Oscar race for a category that has been quite stagnant over the past decade. Best Supporting Actress Amy Madigan (Weapons) Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another) Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value) Ariana Grande (Wicked: For Good) Elle Fanning (Sentimental Value) Emily Blunt (The Smashing Machine) Not to be outdone by their male counterparts, the ladies are also bringing some chaotic energy to this category. Teyana and Inga have been splitting the critics’ prizes, with Madigan winning at the Critics’ Choice Awards. Despite what I just said for Best Supporting Actor, this scenario seems to favor Madigan, who really seems to have a lot of passion around her. Then again, betting against One Battle After Another is a fool’s errand. Best Foreign Language Film The Secret Agent (Brazil) It Was Just an Accident (France) Sentimental Value (Norway) No Other Choice (South Korea) Sirāt (Spain) The Voice of Hind Rajab (Tunisia ) A majority of the nominees in this category are also nominated in the Best Motion Picture - Drama or Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy category, which kind of negates the competitive advantage that is usually only given to one film per year. Just as I said for Wagner Moura in Best Lead Actor - Drama, The Secret Agent leaping into Best Motion Picture - Drama feels like it means something. I have a feeling that a lot of Brazilian voters feel like they missed out on a moment by not giving this prize to I’m Still Here last year. Given that practically every other nominee has a decent shot at winning, I’ll have no shame in getting this wrong. Best Animated Feature Film KPop Demon Hunters Zootopia 2 Arco Little Amélie or the Character of Rain Scarlet Elio While it always seemed like KPop Demon Hunters was going to eventually win the Oscar, the race was virtually over before it even began when the usually stuffy New York Film Critics Circle gave the film their Best Animated Feature prize. The Globes like to throw curveballs in this category, like when Missing Link beat Toy Story 4 in 2019. But the competition doesn’t seem to be there this year, so that's not likely to happen. Best Original Score Sinners (Ludwig Göransson) One Battle After Another (Jonny Greenwood) Sirāt (Kangding Ray) F1 (Hans Zimmer) Hamnet (Max Richter) Frankenstein (Alexandre Desplat) In a battle between Ludwig Göransson and Jonny Greenwood, I’ll probably give the edge to the former nominee since his film is specifically about the power of music. There’s also the distinct possibility of an upset by Kangding Ray for his rave music from Sirāt , which has a similar techno vibe to last year’s surprise winner of Challengers . Best Original Song Golden (KPop Demon Hunters) I Lied to You (Sinners) The Girl in the Bubble (Wicked: For Good) Train Dreams (Train Dreams) No Place Like Home (Wicked: For Good) Dream as One (Avatar: Fire and Ash) Your kids can’t stop singing it, it’s on the radio every day, and TikTok has been flooded by tribute edits. “Golden” is the cinematic song of the year, and everyone wants to be a part of its victory lap. Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Sinners Avatar: Fire and Ash KPop Demon Hunters F1 Weapons Zootopia 2 Wicked: For Good Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Over this category’s brief two-year history, it's been won by Barbie and Wicked , two films that were nominated in their respective Best Motion Picture category. That leaves Sinners as the only viable candidate this year, and it’s got quite the box office story to bolster its chances. Of course, if you want to talk about overall big dollars, then that would certainly be Avatar: Fire and Ash . I’d also give a decent shot to KPop Demon Hunters , which feels like the movie with the most cultural impact this year. More Reviews Mercy January 21, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen H Is for Hawk January 20, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen

Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire , director Gus Van Sant's return to feature filmmaking after a seven-year absence, relies on our collective economic anger to do the bulk of the heavy lifting. Prices are going up, jobs are being cut, and the rich continue to take an increasingly larger piece of the pie. There are two options: become numb to the cruel realities and be content with getting by on less, or reject this undeserved punishment and fight back for what is rightfully yours. Out of a combination of apathy and fear, 99.99% of us have chosen the former option. On February 8, 1977, Tony Kiritsis set himself apart from the rest of the pack, deciding to take matters into his own hands. In his own way, Tony became The Joker. He didn't literally paint his face and start talking about how he got his scars, but he did become a wild card who decided that this rigged system could only be fixed by going to drastic measures. Like Heath Ledger's version of the Clown Prince of Crime, Tony possesses a twitchy energy, a raspy voice with large tonal inflections, and a hair-trigger temper. Bill Skarsgård plays Tony, a natural fit for this persona, considering his signature work as Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the IT films. His gangling limbs intensify his dogged frustration, as he often gets caught in door frames and fumbles whatever is in his hands. Before February 8th, Tony was looking to acquire a piece of land outside of Indianapolis in the hopes of luring a shopping center to develop on it. He consulted for years with Meridian Mortgage Company, headed by M.L. Hall (Al Pacino) and his son, Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery). The company continually slowed down the process, all while charging interest and other fees. At some point, Tony had had enough and figured that the only way the Halls would listen to reason was if he gave them a life-or-death ultimatum. For his February 8th meeting with Richard, Tony brings a long rectangular box with him. Inside the box is a shotgun and the titular wire, which is connected to the gun’s trigger and tied around Richard’s neck. In exchange for the wire to come off and Richard to walk away, a series of reparations and apologies must be made on behalf of the corporation. In the process of moving Richard to his apartment, the local police and news stations show up at the scene. From here, this all becomes a game of which supporting actor can put on the silliest voice. Eternally sitting in his Florida mansion and rivaling J. Paul Getty for his stanch refusal to pay any ransom for his son, Al Pacino does his most Foghorn Leghorn impersonation yet. Cary Elwes plays Officer Michael Grable, who knows Tony enough to be able to try and reason with him. His attempts to mask his natural British accent with a Midwestern one provide a lot of eyebrow-raising moments. Myha'la dons a weird, breathy voice as the young reporter Linda Page. Van Sant at least had the smarts to let Colman Domingo retain his natural voice, even amplifying it as he plays local radio DJ Fred Temple. As evidenced by the laundry list of producers, Dead Man’s Wire was made on a shoestring budget. Van Sant does his best to cover that fact, often switching film stocks and intersplicing real-life newsreel footage. However, that tactic comes back to bite him once you get a good look at Tony and Richard, and notice that Skarsgård and Montgomery are way too young (and good-looking) for these roles. Everyone is punching at or just below their weight class, making this whole thing feel a bit less than the sum of its parts. Having “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” puts a bold point on that thought, especially when so many better films have used it so effectively. More Reviews Mercy January 21, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen H Is for Hawk January 20, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

TIFF25 Recap September 17, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen For ten days at the beginning of September, the laws of time and space cease to exist. Days turn to night in an instant, getting three hours of sleep per night becomes a normal practice, and diets consist of Tim Horton’s donuts, movie theater popcorn, and hot dogs from that heavenly cart located at the corner of King Street W and John Street. If you’re not going home asking yourself why you put your mind and body through the wringer, then you haven’t fully experienced the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Of the two hundred plus films showcased throughout the fiftieth edition of this festival, I saw thirty-eight of them, an improvement over last year’s tally of thirty-seven. Before branding me with the crazy label, just know that I’ve met and observed people who have eclipsed fifty films without breaking a sweat. My streak started on a soaking wet Thursday with one of the best films of the festival: Sentimental Value by Joachim Trier. The recipient of the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, this Norwegian drama is one of the year’s most emotionally intelligent films. Every tear, gasp, and laugh is produced at the exact right moment. Yet it's never manipulative, always proudly wearing its heart on its sleeve. I expect a lot of Oscar attention to be placed upon Trier and his quartet of cast members, with Stellan Skarsgård likely to be the frontrunner for Best Supporting Actor. The second day began with a major disappointment as Olivier Assayas’ The Wizard of the Kremlin was a major bore. And that’s coming from someone who enthusiastically took a college elective course on modern Russian history. Luckily, Park Chan-wook’s wildly entertaining No Other Choice picked me right up only a few hours later. And then later that night, I caught the world premiere of The Choral , a comfortingly forgettable British dramedy starring Ralph Fiennes as a choir teacher who must inject new life into a town’s choir during the height of World War I. Sony Pictures Classics will release it in theaters on Christmas Day. After taking the festival by storm last year with The Brutalist , Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold returned with The Testament of Ann Lee . Fastvold takes her turn in the director’s chair in stride, presenting a quasi-musical about the titular character and the founding of the Shaker movement in colonial America. Amanda Seyfried is excellent in the title role, and I hope she’ll be a factor in this year’s Oscar race once a distributor picks up the film. It’s unfair to label Wake Up Dead Man as my least favorite of the now three Knives Out films, as I still had a lot of fun with it. Josh O’Connor is ostensibly the lead, taking an ever larger role as the audience’s guide than Ana de Armas and Janelle Monáe did in their respective entries. The cast is not as well served here, while Daniel Craig falls deeper into his Foghorn Leghorn routine, upping his comedic prowess as the proudly rational detective must come face-to-face with the realization that all the clues point to this murder being a miracle. I saw a lot of good/great films throughout the first few days, but I was still waiting for “the one” to appear. That happened early Monday morning in the form of Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet , which deservedly took home the festival’s coveted People’s Choice Award. There wasn’t a dry eye in the theater as the origin of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is told through the tragic prism of his young son, Hamnet. Jessie Buckley is nothing short of transcendent, practically engraving her Oscar with every moment of laughter and cries. It’s the best film of the year, and make sure to check it out in theaters this Thanksgiving. Netflix led the charge during the festival’s middle section. Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams are also two of the year’s best films, telling touching stories set against breathtakingly beautiful backdrops. Edward Berger couldn’t maintain the momentum as he delivered his worst film to date in Ballad of a Small Player . It’s still watchable thanks to his expert craftsmanship, but the DNA is all wrong. Ranging from “okay” to “good enough” during that span were Rental Family , The Lost Bus, Nuremberg , Hedda , The Secret Agent , and Good Fortune . Starring Dwayne Johnson, The Smashing Machine came into the festival with a ton of heat after Venice showered the film with positive reviews and the Silver Lion prize to director Benny Safdie. I’m a little puzzled as to what everyone saw in the film, as all I experienced was a standard sports biopic clothed in just enough rough production qualities so that distributor A24 could maintain their indie cred. The final few days are always a crapshoot in terms of quality. Chris Evans and Anya Taylor-Joy starred in the toothless capitalist satire Sacrifice , while Angelina Jolie led an international cast through Paris Fashion Week in Couture . Vince Vaughn may be a very likable actor, but he can’t carry a tune to save his life, which is why he’s horribly miscast as a Las Vegas lounge singer with untapped potential in Easy’s Waltz . The worst film of the festival was Scarlet , Mamoru Hosoda’s anime version of Hamlet (there he is again!) that trades away all of the wit and heart for obnoxious characters and never-ending yelling. Many of these films will be released in theaters or on streaming by major studios from now until the end of the year, while others will be trapped in limbo for years to come. It’s all a part of the big gamble we all partake in, experiencing the ecstasy and agony through stories projected on a giant silver screen. You’d assume I’d swear off movies for a few weeks after this whole ordeal. But the train never slows down, and I’m having too much fun to jump off. FULL RANKING Hamnet Frankenstein Sentimental Value No Other Choice The Testament of Ann Lee Train Dreams It Was Just an Accident Sound of Falling Nouvelle Vague Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery Roofman Two Prosectors The Voice of Hind Rajab The Secret Agent Rose of Nevada Sirāt Eagles of the Republic The Christophers Rental Family Ballad of a Small Player Fuze Hedda The Smashing Machine Nuremberg A Private Life Good Fortune Couture The Wizard of the Kremlin Sacrifice The Choral Tuner Christy The Lost Bus Silent Friend Orphan The Fence Easy’s Waltz Scarlet More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen H Is for Hawk January 20, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen For many reasons, including, but not limited to, the COVID-19 pandemic showering existentialism upon people’s minds, the increased demand for content within the Hollywood system, and the need for projects to have a starry name in each facet of the production, the 2020s have been marked by a wave of high-profile actors making their directorial debuts. Some of the names that have placed themselves at the front of the credits have been Scarlett Johansson ( Eleanor the Great) , Chris Pine ( Poolman ), Kate Winslet ( Goodbye June ), Jerry Seinfeld ( Unfrosted ), Maggie Gyllenhaal ( The Lost Daughter ), Rebecca Hall ( Passing ), Michael B. Jordan ( Creed III ), Kristin Scott Thomas ( My Mother’s Wedding ), Anna Kendrick ( Woman of the Hour ), Patricia Arquette ( Gonzo Girl) , and Aziz Ansari ( Good Fortune ). The results have been varied, with most playing it safe now that the brunt of the praise or ridicule is aimed directly towards them. It’s hard to win when you’re playing not to lose. Kristen Stewart’s The Chronology of Water is anything but those other titles, seemingly bursting out of the actor’s frustration over the age-old quote that “if you want something done right, do it yourself.” Similar to the directorial debuts I mentioned above, the biopic genre is going through a fallow period of sameness, with each film seemingly containing puzzle pieces of the same shape and size. The only difference is the color, which is usually not that different. When everyone’s life stories are the same, why are they special? Granted, on paper, The Chronology of Water contains many of the tried and true biopic tropes. It is based on the memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch, who grew up in a household commandeered by an abusive father and an emotionally catatonic alcoholic mother. Lidia’s only escape is through swimming, which she excels at. Her father forbade her from going to colleges that didn’t offer her a full scholarship, as they would have done that if they really wanted her. Once she does go to college, her newfound freedom is laced with drugs and alcohol. Within her fleeting lucid moments, she discovers her uncanny ability to write from the heart, distilling her darkness within the bright white space on the page. Sandwiched between her years being caught in a love triangle with a shiny vampire and a perpetually shirtless werewolf in the Twilight franchise, Stewart had a bevy of collaborations with some of the world’s top auteurs: David Fincher ( Panic Room ), Olivier Assayas ( Clouds of Sils Maria , Personal Shopper ), Ang Lee ( Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk ), Kelly Reichardt ( Certain Women ), Pablo Larraín ( Spencer) , and David Cronenberg ( Crimes of the Future ). A student cannot graduate simply by emulating the master; they must understand what it means to be a master. This is a film that smells of bloody iron, jaggedly cutting between the past, present, and future. The scratchiness of the 16mm photography is matched by the sound editing, with a multitude of cuts marked by an aggressive slap to your ears. The music is loud enough to mask much of Imogen Poots’ narration, although the feeling in her words tells as much of the story as the words themselves. The 128-minute runtime could be labeled as one big montage, with very few scenes lasting more than a minute. It’s exhaustingly claustrophobic, with no pretty pictures to assuage our eyes. Lidia might find a lot in common with a soldier returning home from PTSD. Her memories turn on her in an instant, with younger suppressions becoming older realizations. Why did her older sister come out of a locked room crying, followed by her dad? Why did her hopelessly devoted boyfriend stick around through years of her abuse? The waves of pain are just as real now as they were then. I may have already known some of the markings and ultimate destination of this story, but the path always eluded me. It zigs where others zag, led by Poots’ unflinchingly magnetic performance. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Double click the dataset icon to add your own content. 1/1/2035 By: Author Name Hunter Friesen

Till October 22, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen Till screened at the 2022 Twin Cities Film Fest. United Artists Releasing will release it in theaters on October 28. One of the most prominent things that creeps through the first act of Till is the sense of impending doom. We open on Mamie and Emmett Till shopping in a department store in 1955 Chicago. They’re buying the necessary things so that Emmett can visit his distant family down in Mississippi. He’s pleading with his mom to buy him a nice wallet to show off to his cousins, who’ve never had much contact with the big city, something that Emmett exemplifies with his effortless charm and nice clothes. At face value, these scenes are full of the usual joy and innocence that would come with any scene where a parent lets their child spread their wings and fly out into the world. But co-writer/director Chinonye Chukwu knows that context is key, as history tells us that Emmett would be kidnapped and lynched by two white men only one week into his visit to Mississippi. So while everything is light and joyful on the surface, there’s a biting feeling deep inside preparing you for what’s to come. Emmett’s murder would become one of the most publicized and important moments of the American civil rights movement. Knowing that his tale would be swept under the rug just like any other story of white-on-black violence, Mamie had her son’s beaten and bloated body put on display so that millions could not forget what had been done. It was a controversial move, but one that has kept Emmett’s legacy alive decades later, and shined a brighter light on the issue of lynchings in the American south. Even if she doesn’t fully illustrate the viciousness inflicted upon Emmett (a long shot of the scene of the crime with distant screams is all we get), Chukwu doesn’t shy away from the aftermath. The body is put on display to both the characters and the viewers, with the first sight of it sending shivers down the spine. But the appearance of the body creates a divide, as it seems to come from a much rougher film than what this ultimately becomes. As time goes by, the glossy biopic trappings begin to set in, most annoyingly present when Abel Korzeniowski’s mismatched score barges its way in. Things are played by the book, stretched across a 130-minute runtime filled with the usual rage-inducing courtroom scenes and a few odd winks to other moments within the movement. Fortunately, with Danielle Deadwyler front and center, much of those negative thoughts drift away. Given a lead role after years in much smaller ones ( The Harder They Fall , HBO’s Watchmen ), Deadwyler delivers a performance that is both heartbreaking and uplifting. With several long takes gifted by Chukwu, she displays powerful courage in the face of danger. She’ll deservedly be a force to be reckoned with come this Oscar season. If only she was served in a better film that followed through on its early promises of nuance. But even with its late-act shortcomings, Till remains an important retelling of history that is, sadly, just as relevant in the present as it was in the past. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Cyrano February 24, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen The Great Musical War of 2021 has come to an end With the late-breaking Cyrano being the last extension of this trend The famed wordsmith's tale of forbidden love Has been told so many times before that it is as worn as an old glove Between José Ferrer, Gérard Depardieu and Kevin Kline on the stage and the screen Many have given performances of the character that are oh so fine Now it is time for Peter Dinklage of Game of Thrones fame to take on the role And give it all, with both heart and soul You may wonder why I am speaking in rhyme To that, I say it is to keep my mind as sharp as a dime Because after writing over seventy reviews for films both small and big My brain has become brittle and could snap like a twig But I also speak in rhyme as a way to honor good Cyrano Who can mold words to his liking as a baker does with dough So this is a fair warning to all readers who oppose rhymes As you will want to lock me up for my crimes Now with that out of the way, let's get on with the review For a film that has assembled quite the cast and crew Our story begins in the time of old When men were told to be soldiers and bold Cyrano is a man full of charm and wits Whose only downfall is that he stands as tall as a man when he sits His lack of stature is what keeps him away from his love, Roxanne Who’s skin and voice is as soft as a dove Much to Cyrano’s dismay, Roxanne loves another His name is Christian, Cyrano’s new army brother Christian loves Roxanne as well but hasn’t got a tongue As the words he speaks have the same effect as potent dung So Cyrano comes up with a plan so that he will act as Christian’s voice Writing letters to Roxanne, making her rejoice, even if it isn’t by choice However, this love triangle gets complicated as time goes on As the snooty Count de Guiche forces Roxanne’s hand in marriage as part of a con Chrisitan and Cyrano must tell Roxanne the truth of their ruse Or her forced marriage to the Count will forever give her the blues Directing this film adaptation of Cyrano is Joe Wright Whose past works of Pride & Prejudice and Atonement are an absolute delight Lately, he’s been in a bit of a rough patch As Pan and The Woman in the Window failed to hatch No matter, here is where Wright once again flexes his skill With imagery captured with the camera with such thrill Scenes play out in extended takes lasting minutes at a time Allowing for the sets, costumes, and music to be sublime “Someone to Say” is my favorite tune of the soundtrack to exist As it now has a permanent spot in my Spotify playlist The technicals and craftsmanship is so wonderful And so is the cast, made up of actors quite colorful Dinklage’s charm brings a certain panache And he should have dived into the Oscar race with a splash His height may limit his character on the screen But it’s never stopped him personally from chewing the scene And while Haley Bennett as Roxanne may not be up to his level Their chemistry often makes scenes quite the revel Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Chrisitan brings might As he aptly plays the knight that cannot write But surprisingly, it is good Ben Mendelsohn who steals the show With his face caked in posh makeup, white as snow Of the musicals that came out this past year Cyrano places third in the upper-tier What films are ahead of it you request? It’s West Side Story and Annette of course, whose set pieces are the best But even in third place, Cyrano is a treat So go out, buy a ticket, and save your seat I’ll be on my way now, making haste to my next story When it comes to picking my next film, I can do any category And if you thought this poem came to no amount My only defense is to say that it is why I studied the art of the account More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

2026 Golden Globe Awards Nomination Predictions December 6, 2025 By: Hunter Friesen The Golden Globes have always been a surprising bunch. Luckily, those shocking nominees and winners have tended to lean more positively in the last few years. Inspired choices like nominating Payal Kapadia for All We Imagine as Light in Best Director, or Sebastian Stan winning Best Lead Actor - Musical or Comedy for A Different Man , have shown that a new leaf has turned. Because of this, I’m widening the scope of potential nominees, no longer just lazily name-checking big stars. Granted, there are still plenty of heavyhitters that can, and probably will, be nominated. It should all make for a fun nomination morning. Here are my predictions on what names will be called in each category, complete with a full breakdown detailing the seemingly endless combinations. Best Motion Picture - Drama Sinners Hamnet It Was Just an Accident Sentimental Value Frankenstein The Secret Agent Until the 2021 awards season, non-English language films were not allowed to compete in the top categories of Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. The group has slowly embraced this extra freedom in the years since, granting nominations to Anatomy of a Fall , The Zone of Interest , and Emilia Pérez . This is the year where they have the chance to blow the floodgates wide open, with several prominent contenders coming from outside the United States. Coincidentally (or not considering the company's strategy), that lot is almost all represented by Neon and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. They've got the pedigree, so why shouldn't I go all in? More traditional choices would be Avatar: Fire and Ash and Is This Thing On? . Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy One Battle After Another Marty Supreme Wicked: For Good Jay Kelly No Other Choice The Testament of Ann Lee Similar to last year, this year's crop of musicals and comedies seems just as intertwined in the Oscar race as the dramas. Both Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery and Bugonia are just on the outside, as their buzz feels a little muted, and the reviews aren't any better than the other contenders. Yorgos Lanthimos and the Knives Out films have been consistent nominees in this category before, so one or both could easily make their way in. Best Director Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another) Ryan Coogler (Sinners) Chloe Zhao (Hamnet) Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident) Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme) Guillermo del Toro (Frankenstein) This category gave us a pleasant curveball last year with Payal Kapadia from All We Imagine as Light . Considering all the heavyweight talent in contention this year, I don't foresee another one of those surprises. The only upset I'm predicting is for Joachim Trier to miss out, although he still has just as much of a chance of being nominated as Josh Safdie and Guillermo del Toro. Best Screenplay One Battle After Another Sinners It Was Just an Accident Hamnet Sentimental Value Marty Supreme Since the start of the decade, Being the Ricardos and Women Talking remain the only two films to receive nominations in this category without a corresponding Best Motion Picture nomination. There's also an equally strong correlation between this category and Best Director, which is why I'm predicting a Joachim Trier and Guillermo del Toro to swap seats. Best Lead Actor - Drama Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent) Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams) Jeremy Allen White (Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere) Dwayne Johnson (The Smashing Machine) Daniel Day-Lewis (Anemone) Dwayne Johnson and Jeremy Allen White were at the top of my predictions in the early fall. Now they've fallen (pun intended) down to fringe contenders after their respective films bombed at the box office and received lukewarm reviews. The same is even more true for Daniel Day-Lewis in Anemone , although I can't bring myself to doubt his legendary status. Best Lead Actress - Drama Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value) Jennifer Lawrence (Die My Love) Laura Dern (Is This Thing On?) Jodie Foster (A Private Life) Julia Roberts (After the Hunt) Veterans like Laura Dern, Jodie Foster, and Julia Roberts are all hanging onto the last slots, each of them, along with Jennifer Lawrence, likely to be the lone representatives for their respective films. Both critically and commercially, After the Hunt has been one of the biggest bombs of the year. Roberts was given high marks for her work, and voters may reward her for emerging from that mess with some dignity. Jodie Foster seems to (deservedly) be in an era where people are eager to reward her for anything. She won Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Mauritanian , which didn’t even lead to an Oscar nomination. Plus, she speaks French! Best Lead Actor - Musical or Comedy Timothee Chalamet (Marty Supreme) Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another) George Clooney (Jay Kelly) Lee Byung-hun (No Other Choice) Jesse Plemons (Bugonia) Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon) The leads for each of the male-centered nominees I have for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy are all here. That leaves two slots left, which I'm giving to Jesse Plemons for Bugonia and Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon . Plemons was nominated last year for Kinds of Kindness , a film that was much further outside the awards conversation than Bugonia is. And Hawke has received career-best reviews in a showcase role. Daniel Craig has been nominated both times as Benoit Blanc, and he's still just as great in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery . But there's less of him this time around, and the extra competition seems like it will be too much. Best Lead Actress - Musical or Comedy Cynthia Erivo (Wicked: For Good) Amanda Seyfried (The Testament of Ann Lee) Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another) Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I'd Kick You) Emma Stone (Bugonia) Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue) This is less competitive than the rest of the other lead acting categories. The seemingly only other viable contender would be Eva Victor for Sorry, Baby . As much as I would like to see that happen, I can't find a spot to slot her in. Best Supporting Actor Stellan Skarsgard (Sentimental Value) Sean Penn (One Battle After Another) Paul Mescal (Hamnet) Adam Sandler (Jay Kelly) Benicio del Toro (One Batte After Another) Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein) I see no reason not to predict the top six contenders for the Oscar, especially when all are (potentially) appearing in Best Motion Picture nominees. That logic could also mean that Delroy Lindo could get in for Sinners . Best Supporting Actress Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another) Ariana Grande (Wicked: For Good) Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value) Amy Madigan (Weapons) Elle Fanning (Sentimental Value) Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners) Emily Blunt is one of this organization's favorite actresses, nominated seven times throughout the past twenty years. However, I don’t think that amount of preferential treatment will help her get nominated this year for her role in The Smashing Machine . I’m going out on a limb a little bit and predicting Wunmi Mosaku to get in over her, an actress who’s been steadily praised throughout the year in a juggernaut film. Best Foreign Language Film It Was Just an Accident (Iran) Sentimental Value (Norway) The Secret Agent (Brazil) No Other Choice (South Korea) The Voice of Hind Rajab (Tunisia) Left-Handed Girl (Taiwan) Considering that I’m predicting four of these films to be nominated for Best Motion Picture - Drama or Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, I feel compelled to also slot them in here. That leaves two slots left to fill in a category that likes to deviate from the expected Oscar front-runners. The Voice of Hind Rajab and Left-Handed Girl have been making waves since their festival debuts. Several other contenders could make their way in instead, such as Sirāt , Sound of Falling , or Nouvelle Vague . Best Animated Feature Film KPop Demon Hunters Zootopia 2 Arco Little Amélie or the Character of Rain Scarlet Elio Pixar has been nominated each year since 2016, when Finding Dory found itself kicked to the curb. While it didn’t have the best reviews, that movie at least had a monster box office haul to stand behind, something that Elio sorely lacks. But the expansion of this category and the lack of bigger contenders will probably allow it to sneak in. The Globes are much friendlier to anime than the Oscars, which should bode well for the several high-profile films that have come out this year. Any combination of Ne Zha 2 , Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle , or Chainsaw Man could take that spot. I’m going to give the edge to the previous nominee, Mamoru Hosoda and Scarlet , which has Sony Pictures Classics behind it. Best Original Score Sinners One Battle After Another Hamnet Frankenstein Jay Kelly The Testament of Ann Lee Once an Oscar perennial, Alexandre Desplat hasn’t received a nomination since Little Women back in 2019. That hasn’t stopped his momentum at the Globes, as he’s received three more nominations since then. Even more beloved are Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who pulled off the wild upset last year with their victory for Challengers . Their work in Tron: Ares is great, but the movie probably doesn't have the juice to push them over contenders from more acclaimed films. Best Original Song I Lied to You (Sinners) Golden (KPop Demon Hunters) The Girl in the Bubble (Wicked: For Good) Dream as One (Avatar: Fire and Ash) Train Dreams (Train Dreams) Drive (F1: The Movie) The top three predictions come from music-centric films, so I feel pretty secure about that. Miley Cyrus received a nomination last year for her song in The Last Showgirl . Seeing as how Avatar: Fire and Ash will be exponentially more popular than that film, she’ll probably be back again. Everything else is kind of a wild guess, leaning more towards big names in big commercial or critical movies. Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Avatar: Fire and Ash KPop Demon Hunters Zootopia 2 Wicked: For Good Sinners Superman F1: The Movie Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle In this category’s short and shameless existence, it has yet to honor a streaming film. That will probably change this year with KPop Demon Hunters dominating the culture for months, which includes muscling its way to the top of the box office weekend in late August despite a limited release. From there, I’m going down the domestic box office charts, picking each film that had some sort of critical and cultural significance. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen

Tenet September 3, 2020 By: Button Hunter Friesen Spell it backward or forward, it spells the same. From Christopher Nolan - the virtuoso behind The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception , and Dunkirk - comes Tenet , an action blockbuster on a scale not seen before and that will never be replicated again. Armed with only one word, Tenet, and fighting for the survival of the entire world, a Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real-time. The plot summary I just gave you is the exact one supplied by the studio. I did this for fear of spoilers and because I cannot confidently give out any more information than what has already been covered. Tenet may be the most incomprehensible and mentally straining movie ever made. It feels like taking a whole semester of advanced physics in only one class period, all while being set in a warzone. I have no doubt there will be case studies and theses done about this movie. Nolan wastes no time throwing his audience over the deep end. He begins the film at a breakneck pace, moving from scene to scene in the blink of an eye. You struggle to grasp onto the high concept in real-time and are always playing catchup. This problem only exponentially gets worse as Nolan refuses to hold your hand as he goes further down the rabbit hole. Even one of the characters in the movie says, “Don’t try to understand it, feel it”. It’s almost as if Nolan inserted that quip just for the audience. The inability to follow the movie can be attributed to the out-of-the-box concept, but mostly it falls on Nolan’s embarrassingly weak script. The problems here are the same ones people have been saying about him for years now, that he overuses exposition and under-delivers on the emotional parts of his narrative. Tenet is nearly all exposition and no emotion. Many times the exposition gives more questions than answers and seems to be intentionally leading us astray. It’s also Nolan’s coldest film as any emotion is forced through cliche storylines that seem included to check off a box rather than tell a story. On a technical level, Tenet is both Nolan’s most and least impressive film to date. The action set pieces mix both practical and visual effects seamlessly, creating awe-inspiring showcases of movie magic. The use of time inversion in fight sequences, car chases, and an entire battle are just some of the moments that you have to see to believe. Hoyte Van Hoytema encapsulates all the gorgeous chaos in stunning widescreen cinematography and composer Ludwig Göransson overtakes your ears with a perfect hard-charging score. What’s a problem here, and has been for some time now for Nolan, is the astoundingly poor sound mixing. Without hesitation, I can say that Tenet is the loudest movie I have ever seen. Every gunshot felt like it went off next to my ear and every explosion shook my entire body. The ungodly loud sound effects made it near impossible to comprehend much of the dialogue, which was already poorly mixed, to begin with. If you thought it was hard to understand Bane in The Dark Knight Rises , just wait until you try to understand what the characters are saying here. Even with all my gripes, I was still enveloped in the world Nolan has created. There have been dozens of movies where I was lost after a few minutes and checked out for the remaining runtime. With Tenet , I was lost after minute one and completely invested for the remaining one hundred forty-nine. Part of that interest comes from the spectacle and part of that comes from the likable cast. In a star-making lead performance oozing with charisma, John David Washington plays our protagonist, who is literally called The Protagonist. He’s our vessel as he enters into this strange new world with no previous knowledge and must solve a deadly puzzle that goes against all logic. Robert Pattinson keeps his hot streak going with another charming performance as The Protagonist’s sidekick, Neil. Kenneth Branagh is intermittently good as our Russian villain, Andrei Sator. He’s exceptionally menacing in the quieter moments and cartoonishly over-the-top in his moments of outburst. Elizabeth Debicki plays the most emotionally resonant character as the helpless wife of our villain. Debicki is great in the role but is unfairly used more as an object for the story. Tenet is a full-on assault of the senses that contains unparalleled moments of spectacle and ambition. It’s nowhere near the top of Nolan’s filmography and will surely require multiple viewings to unravel. Make sure to pack some ibuprofen and prepare to have your mind twisted in ways you never thought possible. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Father April 1, 2021 By: Button Hunter Friesen Move over Suspiria, The Conjuring , and Hereditary , there’s a new film that has claimed the title as the scariest movie of the past decade. But it’s not demons, witches, or serial killers that make this new movie scary. It’s something that has affected our loved ones and may affect us in the future: dementia. The Father is a triumphant directorial debut by Florian Zeller, who puts us within the deteriorating mental state of our main character, Anthony. We experience his confusion as if it were our own. But the film also takes on the perspective of the caretakers who are left helpless as they try to aid Anthony in making sense of a world he cannot recognize anymore. Zeller’s play, The Father , debuted in Paris in 2012 to rapturous reviews. Its success spurred an acclaimed Broadway run with Frank Langella winning a Tony award for his performance. Now Zeller, with the help of esteemed screenwriter Christopher Hampton, has taken his stage play to the screen. At the center of the film playing the character of Anthony is veteran actor Anthony Hopkins (Zeller was so adamant about getting Hopkins for the role that he renamed the character specifically for him). With a nearly sixty-year career in the rearview, including notable roles as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs and Richard Nixon in Oliver Stone’s aptly named Nixon , Hopkins’ performance here may be his very best. He is charismatic, fierce, and vulnerable, sometimes all at the same time. If not for Chadwick Boseman’s untimely death and larger-than-life performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom , Hopkins would be the undisputed favorite to win his second Oscar this year. The world we see is through Anthony’s eyes. Initially, his world is quiet and still, often filled with days listening to classical music in his luxurious London flat and taking walks in the nearby park. But after a while, things slowly start to come apart. He’s displacing items more regularly, days are getting harder to separate, and conversational details are getting lost in the shuffle. One day, his daughter, Anne (Olivia Colman), tells him she’s leaving London to go live in Paris with her new significant other. Feeling he’s being abandoned, Anthony is hurt by his daughter’s decision. But, the next morning, Anne is still in his flat and has no recollection of Paris. Maybe that conversation happened a long time ago or never happened at all. Maybe this isn’t Anthony’s flat—maybe it’s Anne’s and she’s taken him in to stay with her. Maybe she has a husband here named James (or is it Paul?) and she’s now being played by a different actress than before. Like a Charlie Kaufman or Christopher Nolan film, Zeller plays with time and setting to tell his story. Conversations are repeated several times over from different perspectives, adding another level to the complex task of discerning what is fact and what is fiction. Anthony’s physical surroundings seem to be rearranging at impossible speeds and the chronology of events is becoming increasingly muddled. Production designer Peter Francis and editor Yorgos Lamprinos deserve immense credit for their work here as their craftsmanship helps tell a complicated story. The confusion and frustration that Anthony feels are equally placed onto us, as we are never sure what is happening and what order it is happening in. It’s like watching a balloon being inflated and waiting for it to pop, yet it never does as your anxiety keeps building. It's a terrifying and heartbreaking process to watch as Anthony’s mood begins to darken. He never knows what is going to come next and what has just happened. He’s left in a perpetual state of fright and feels that everyone is out to get him. But those around him are equally as confused and scared as he is. Anne doesn’t know what to do with her father and is fighting a losing battle of keeping an optimistic look at things. Colman, a recent Oscar winner for her role in The Favourite , acts somewhat as our guide through this mess. Imogen Poots, Olivia Williams, Mark Gatiss, and Rufus Sewell all play well-casted supporting roles. Like Schindler’s List and Requiem for a Dream , The Father is a superb film that you will only want to watch once. Its subject matter may hit too close to home for some viewers or be an introduction for others. No matter your familiarity, the film’s take on dementia and the toll it places on everyone involved is so incredibly well done that it demands to be seen. More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

TIFF23 Dispatch - Part 3 September 18, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen All of the films were screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Click here for additional full reviews and dispatches. Select films below will receive separate full-length reviews at a later date, most likely in connection to their public releases. North Star Maybe not every actor should be allowed to make their directorial debut. Kristen Scott Thomas' first foray behind the camera (while still being in front in a supporting role) is littered with choppy editing, poor pacing, and a scattershot script that has way too much on its plate. Emily Beecham is the only shining star (pun intended) in a cast that includes Scarlett Johansson fumbling a British accent and Sienna Miller being fine, I guess. This is surely bound for VOD/streaming way down the line. (2/5) His Three Daughters Azazel Jacobs’ follow up to French Exit (remember that during the pandemic?) starts incredibly rough as our three lead characters act as if they’re aliens who are trying to replicate drought emotions. This bug may be a feature to some, but it ends up feeling like a grating mashup of Yorgos Lanthimos and Wes Anderson. Things do settle down later, allowing for the actresses to flourish. Natashya Lyonne stands out as the slacker of the three sisters, and yet she seems to have the firmest grasp on the mysteries of life. (2.5/5) Seven Veils It wouldn’t be a normal TIFF if it didn’t feature the newest film by hometown hero Atom Egoyan. Amanda Seyfried plunges headfirst into her role as the new director of a revival of Salome at the Canadian Opera Company, a production Egoyan himself helmed while making this film. There’s a lot of big swings, with more than half of them not connecting. But the ones that do connect are really special, such as the audacious staging of the material. The bar may be low, but this is Egoyan's best work in decades. (3/5) Woman of the Hour Anna Kendrick dominated the actor-turned-director battle at this year’s TIFF, with her film, Woman of the Hour , being quite the impressive statement on her skills behind the camera. Now all she needs to do is find a good script, because the one here doesn’t give her enough to work with. While well staged, much of the “action” of the film by the serial killer feels like filler, and the main ideas are spelled out as if they're competing at a spelling bee. Netflix opened the market with an $11 acquisition, giving this true crime film the perfect home. (3/5) Knox Goes Away Between the other hitman focused movies at the fall festivals and how much it seriously fumbles the great concept of a hitman battling rapidly developing dementia, Michael Keaton’s sophomore directorial outing fails to be anything more than a depressing shrug. Luckily for the actor/director, he’s slightly exonerated from blame as Gregory Poirier’s CSI-level script is what sinks this ship. Al Pacino gives his most comfortable performance sitting in some luxurious recliners, and Marcia gay Harden does Keaton a favor by showing up for one half-decent scene. (2.5/5) More Reviews 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple January 13, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Rip January 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Dead Man's Wire January 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen