(Photo by Universal)
Here are the nominees for the 2024 Best Picture Oscar. Like with the past two ceremonies, the Academy will be voting from a pool of 10 movies, all of which have been deemed Certified Fresh by critics. This includes inescapable box office smashes Oppenheimer and Barbie, the Martin Scorsese 3-hour-plus epic Killers of the Flower Moon, and big Golden Globe winner Poor Things. Jonathan Glazer released his first film in 10 years (since Under the Skin) with the unsettling The Zone of Interest, as Bradley Cooper follows 2018’s A Star is Born with another top honor nominee, passion project Maestro. Incisive dramas (some with splashes of romance and thriller) made a showing across The Holdovers, American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, and Past Lives.
#1
Adjusted Score: 116180%
Critics Consensus: Beautifully bittersweet, The Holdovers marks a satisfying return to form for director Alexander Payne.
#2
Adjusted Score: 111777%
Critics Consensus: A remarkable debut for writer-director Celine Song, Past Lives uses the bonds between its sensitively sketched central characters to support trenchant observations on the human condition.
#3
Adjusted Score: 110046%
Critics Consensus: A smart, solidly crafted procedural that’s anchored in family drama, Anatomy of a Fall finds star Sandra Hüller and director/co-writer Justine Triet operating at peak power.
#4
Adjusted Score: 112241%
Critics Consensus: Wildly imaginative and exhilaratingly over the top, Poor Things is a bizarre, brilliant tour de force for director Yorgos Lanthimos and star Emma Stone.
#5
Adjusted Score: 121613%
Critics Consensus: Oppenheimer marks another engrossing achievement from Christopher Nolan that benefits from Murphy’s tour-de-force performance and stunning visuals.
#6
Adjusted Score: 119106%
Critics Consensus: Enormous in runtime, theme, and achievement, Killers of the Flower Moon is a sobering appraisal of America’s relationship with Indigenous peoples and yet another artistic zenith for Martin Scorsese and his collaborators.
#7
Adjusted Score: 105254%
Critics Consensus: Jeffrey Wright and American Fiction will forever be inextricable thanks to the actor’s committed approach to the pointedly humorous and insightful material.
#8
Adjusted Score: 105746%
Critics Consensus: Dispassionately examining the ordinary existence of people complicit in horrific crimes, The Zone of Interest forces us to take a cold look at the mundanity behind an unforgivable brutality.
#9
Adjusted Score: 116613%
Critics Consensus: Barbie is a visually dazzling comedy whose meta humor is smartly complemented by subversive storytelling.
#10
Adjusted Score: 97807%
Critics Consensus: Led by a pair of powerful performances, Maestro serves as a stirring overview of a tremendous talent’s life and legacy.