Movies
The 2026 Oscars Best Picture Rankings
Wassup movie fams, and welcome to the Best Picture Oscar Nominee Rankings.
by Cam Schuster I 10th March 2026
It's awards season in Hollywood, the nominees have been announced, and we’re sticking around to find out if our favourite movies in 2025 will take an Oscar at the 98th Academy Awards on 15th March. I am about to rank the ten nominated films from least favourite to best in an effort to align my number one with those expert Academy judges, and to also help guide you guys on whether the critics are real on what they consider to be the ‘Best of the Best.’
10. F1
This film didn’t belong here. Not even in my top 10. I would have put Zach Creggor’s Weapons in here in its place; in fact, I’d put quite a few movies in here over F1. Die My Love, one of them. Ok, so this film was good but not Oscar-level good. Old man, Brad Pitt plays washed-up Formula One driver Sonny Hayes, who’s convinced to return to the sport he abandoned 30 years before to help his mates' underdog team get off the wooden spoon standings. A typical sports movie, with great sound, and the race scenes are shot brilliantly and the only thing its got going. F1 has no lessons to be learned, though, unless you believe in old men/mentors who show up out of the blue to save the day, because that always happens.
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9. Frankenstein
Another rendition of the famous Mary Shelley book. Frankenstein is a Netflix release by The Shape of the Water Director Guillermo del Toro. The set pieces and cinematography are fantastic in this one, and by the first 5 minutes I thought damn, this film should be in the theatres. Del Toro’s gothic style is entrenched in the film, with great performances by Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as the Monster. The downfall of this film is that it changes a lot of the original novel, especially in the second half, and it’s like you skim through the more interesting themes of prejudice of appearances, abandonment and revenge. Visually stunning, but story-wise, it falls short.
8 Train Dreams
Like the Dave Rennie news, this film was a surprise, a nice surprise. Another Netflix special, this movie stars Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier, an average man living and working on the American frontier at the turn of the 19th century. We follow 80 years of his life, from working on the railroads, to tragedy, to isolation. The cinematography is stunning and complements the story beautifully. Both heart-warming and sombre, Train Dreams makes you look at life as precious through an average man going through hard times. Sounds depressing, but like similar stories, this film reminds us that beauty is everywhere, even though we never see it.
7 Hamnet
When art imitates life, or in the case of Hamnet, when life creates art. Jessie Buckley plays William Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes, who is deserving of her Best Actress nomination for the most heartbreaking reaction to a death scene since Sean Penn screamed, “Is that my daughter in there?” in Mystic River. Buckley’s performance overshadows her co-star, Paul Mescal, who plays Shakespeare, but that’s ok because Mescal wasn't any good in Gladiator 2 anyways. This film was a game of two halves; the second half of the film saves the boredom of the first, but the payoff is worth the wait. An extraordinary ending that will go down as having one of the most iconic scenes.
6 The Secret Agent
A Political Thriller with a very unorthodox conclusion that made this film worth watching. This was an intriguing look into Brazil’s Military dictatorship of the 1970’s, told in a very artsy and stylish way. The tone of the scenes has a 70’s vibe, which places you in the world. There’s a lot to unpack in this film, but what I liked was the ever-present references to the movie ‘Jaws’ and the clever plot, which made things make sense after you’ve watched something so out the gate. The graphic violence is also done 70’s style reminiscent of Taxi Driver, and the main actor, Wagner Maura, is superb. A scary look into what happens to a society under authoritarian rule and the paranoia and corruption that comes with a Police state. Trump's America ring any bells?
5 Bugonia
The third year and the third film by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, with actress Emma Stone playing a CEO exec who is kidnapped by conspiracy theorists who think she’s an alien from out of space. This is a Black Comedy Thriller, and it is so outrageous and funny that it's definitely a roller coaster ride of unpredictability and relief. It’s also the film where I discovered pop singer Chappell Roan and her song ‘Good Luck, Babe’. This film reminds me of all the conspiracy narratives during COVID and what happens when those speaking them take action with bizarre consequences.
4 Sentimental Value
Films about family seek to be relatable to those in similar family dynamics or situations. This movie does all the above for me, but also has characters you care about, which is 80% of what makes this movie exceptional. The other 20% is the plot itself which pulls on the heart strings at the end but for me being Samoan and how Samoans and Pasifika in general are family oriented, a lot of that aspect comes through with these palagi on screen and even the home which they live and grew up in plays a character in the story that anchors the family like the village we call home back in the motherland. If you like movies about family dramas and how this particular fam overcomes it, sisterly love, then this is the film for you.
3 Marty Supreme
The second sports movie to be nominated, Marty Supreme is a fascinating story about the will to be the best and the sacrifices one must make in order to get there, the belief in yourself if everybody around you doesn't care. Sounds like a typical sports film, but throw in an Indiana Jones-type adventure with criminals, rich tycoon villains, and love affairs, and you have something more than a sports film. Timothee Chalamet shows off his acting chops again, playing an intense and narcissistic Table Tennis player trying to get to the World Champs in Japan and goes through hell to get there. Chalamet’s character has this Mamba Mentality, where you see how it affects the people around him in his selfish way to get what he wants. This film was awesome, and if the next two films weren't released, then Marty Supreme would definitely be number one.
2 Sinners
I learned back in social studies in high school about the power of music and how Black music has shaped all genres of music we hear today. This was the unexpected plot of this vampire movie, which I thought was so smart that to have it as a plot device was really creative and well done. Black Panther Director Ryan Coogler takes us through horror, action and music, the only way to do it. If I thought every take has been taken for a vampire film, then Sinners is something brand new. The best genre film of 2025.
1 One Battle After Another
If Sinners was the best genre, then One Battle is the best all-around film of 2025. It’s a Masterpiece. Director Paul Thomas Anderson does it again, cementing himself as one of those Tarantino / Scorsese directors - you gotta watch every film they bring out. One Battle is everything I want in a black comedy action thriller with a lot of suspense, excitement, intriguing characters and iconic dialogue like Pulp Fiction. Benicio Del Toro and Leonardo DiCaprio are great in this, but Sean Penn is amazing as the villain, pulling off a memorable performance. I will be surprised if One Battle doesn't win Best Picture, but I won't be mad if Sinners and Marty Supreme won it instead.