First up are the nominations for Best Picture. These nominations include…
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- Anora
- This is a rom-com by director Sean Baker and distributed by Neon and United International Pictures. This movie takes a spin on the iconic Cinderella story. Our main character Anora, played by twenty-five-year-old actress Mikey Madison, meets and marries the son of an oligarch. Released on October 18 of last year, this movie made $33.5 million at the box office. Other actors and actresses from this film include Yuriy Borisov, Mark Eidelstein, Lindsey Normington, Daria Ekamasova, Vache Tovmasyan, Luna Sofia Miranda, Ivy Wolk, Karren Karagulian, and many others.
- The Brutalist
- This is a drama/history film directed by Brady Corbet and distributed by studios A24, Universal Pictures, and Focus Features. Released on December 20th last month, this $5.9 million box office hit has its plot set in 1947 and focuses on an architect escaping postwar Europe to America to rebuild his life starring fifty-one-year-old Adrien Brody as Laszlo Toth, our protagonist. Additionally, other actors and actresses include Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn, Raffey Cassidy, Emma Laird, Stacy Martin, Vanessa Kirby, Alessandro Nivola, and others.
- A Complete Unknown
- This movie follows Bob Dylan in the early 1960s and his rise to fame, starring twenty-nine-year-old French-American actor and film producer Timothee Chalamet as both Bob Dylan and a producer of the movie. It was directed by James Mangold and distributed by Searchlight Pictures. It was released last month on December 25. Other actors and actresses in this movie include Monica Barbaro, Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Boyd Holbrook, Will Harrison, Charlie Tahan, and more. In the box office, it made $62.9 million.
- Anora
- Conclave
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- Released on October 25 of last year, this thriller/mystery earned $78 million at the box office. It’s directed by Edward Berger and distributed by Focus Features. This film is based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Robert Harris, where Cardinal Lawerence is one of the world’s most secretive and ancient events and helps select a new pope. The sixty-two-year-old actor and film producer Ralph Fiennes stars as our main character Thomas Cardinal. Other actresses and actors include Isabella Rossellini, Stanley Tucci, Carlos Diehz, John Lithgow, Sergio Castellitto, Lucian Msmati, Jacek Koman, Thomas Loibl, and others.
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- Dune: Part Two
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- This sci-fi adventure, released on March 1 of last year, earned a whopping $714.4 million at the box office. It is a sequel to Dune, which was released in 2021. It was directed by Denis Villeneuve and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Timothee Chalamet plays our main character once more. Another popular actress who returned was twenty-eight-year-old singer Zendaya, who played Chani. Other actors and actresses include Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Lea Seydoux, Rebecca Ferguson, Stellan Skarsgard, Javier Bardem, and many more.
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- Emilia Perez
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- Based on Boris Razon’s 2018 novel titled Ecoute, this musical thriller follows a Mexican lawyer who is offered a strange job to help a cartel boss retire and transition into living as a woman. It was directed by Jacques Audiard and distributed by Pathe. Fifty-two-year-old Spanish actress Karla Sofia Gascon plays our protagonist, with Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez as supporting actresses. Other actors and actresses include Edgar Ramirez, Adriana Paz, Agathe Bokja, Mark Ivanir, Anabel Lopez, Shiraz Tzarfati, and more. Released on November 1 of last year, this film has already won some rewards, such as the Cannes Jury Prize, the European Film Award for Best Film, the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture in the Musical/Comedy category, the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, AFI Movies of the Year, the European Film Award for Best Screenwriter, the European Film Award for Best Director, and the European Film Award for Best Editor. Many actresses from the film also took home awards. For example, the Cannes Best Actress Award was split between Adriana Pez, Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofia Gascon, and Selena Gomez. Zoe Saldana also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture.
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- I’m Still Here
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- This thriller drama was released a week ago on January 17. It’s adapted from Marcelo Rubens Piva’s book Ainda Estou Aqui. This movie follows the story of Eunice Paiva played by fifty-nine-year-old Brazillian actress Fernanda Torres. Paiva begins to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of her husband while trying to keep her family together. Other actresses and actors include Fernanda Montenegro, Valentina Herszage, Selton Mello, Olivia Torres, Barbara Luz, Luiza Kosovski, Maeve Jinkings, Maite Padilha, and others. The film was directed by Walter Salles and distributed by StudioCanal. At the box office, the movie made $14.1 million. Just like the previous nominee, this film has also already won some awards including the Venice Film Festival Green Drop Award, the Academy Award for Best Picture, the Marcello Mastroianni Award, the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, the Best Screenplay Award, the Golden Lion, the Grand Jury Prize, the Silver Lion for Best Director, the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, the BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language, the Goya Award for best Iberoamerican Film, the Satellite Award for Best Motion Picture International, and the Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The actors and actresses also took some awards home. For example, Fernanda Torres won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama Motion Picture.
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- Nickel Boys
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- Released on August 30 of last year, this historical drama is based on the 2019 novel of the same name written by Colson Whitehead and revolves around Elwood Curtis and his college dreams being shattered as he’s sent to Nickel Academy, a reformatory in the South during the Jim Crow Laws. It’s directed by RaMell Ross and distributed by Amazon MGM Studies. Curtis is played by twenty-four-year-old Ethan Herisse and also by forty-three-year-old actor and singer Daveed Diggs. Other actors and actresses include Brandon Wilson, Luke Tennie, Fred Hechinger, Hamish Linklater, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jimmie Fails, Sunny Mabrey, and others.
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- The Substance
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- Starring the sixty-two-year-old actress Demi Moore as our protagonist, this horror/sci-fi film was released on September 20 of last year, racking in $76.5 million at the box office. It was directed by Coralie Fargeat and distributed by Mubi and Metropolitan Filmexport. The story revolves around Elisabeth Sparkle, who is renowned for an aerobics show, that gets fired on her 50th birthday. Amid her problem, a lab offers her a substance that promises to transform her into an enhanced version of herself. Other actors and actresses include Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Hugo Diego Garcia, Oscar Lesage, Alexandra Papoulias Barton, Tiffany Hofstetter, Robin Greer, Lucie Laffin, and more.
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- Wicked
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- Adapted from both the 2003 musical of the same name and the children’s novel The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W.W. Denslow, this movie is centered around Elphaba Thropp. Starring the thirty-eight-year-old British actress and singer Cynthia Erivo, Elphaba is misunderstood due to her green skin. She forges a friendship with Glinda, played by thirty-one-year-old singer-songwriter Ariana Grande, who is a student who thrives off of being popular. After a meeting with the Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads where both begin to take different paths. It’s directed by Jon M. Chu and distributed by Universal Pictures, making $710.5 million at the box office. Other actors and actresses include Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater, Jeff Goldblum, Peter Dinklage, Marissa Bode, Bowen Yang, and others.
The next category is the best performance by an actor in a leading role. The nominees are…
- Adrien Brody in The Brutalist
- Timothee Chalamet in A Complete Unknown
- Colman Domingo in Sing Song
- Ralph Fiennes in Conclave
- And Sebastian Stan in The Apprentice
We can’t forget our actresses either. The nominees for the best performance by an actress in a leading role are…
- Cynthia Erivo in Wicked
- Karla Sofia Gascon in Emilia Perez
- Mikey Madison in Anora
- Demi Moore in The Substance
- And Fernanda Torres in I’m Still Here.
