Best Picture Oscar winners

Entertaining roller-coaster ride. 8/10

Anora – “Ani” – is a stripper. One night, because she speaks Russian, she lands a big-spending young Russian man as a customer. Things develop and he starts to treat her as his girlfriend. Things seem to be going well but when they get married the problems start.

The 2025 Oscar winner for Best Picture, Best Director (Sean Baker), Best Original Screenplay (Sean Baker), Best Leading Actress (Mikey Madison) and Best Editing (Sean Baker, again). Considering how the Academy tends to prefer serious, agenda-driven movies, this movie is a breath of fresh air. It’s more a comedy than a drama and is hilariously funny at times.

I wasn’t expecting the comedic aspect as, on the surface, this looks like a Pretty Woman-type romantic drama (just less glamourous). The comedy isn’t apparent from the start either, gradually building from close to nothing at the start to some wonderfully absurdist, laugh-out-loud scenes in the middle section.

It does try to be a drama at the end but this is to its detriment as this causes the movie to fizzle out rather than go out with a bang. Still, it’s funny and fast-moving for the most part, making for a highly entertaining ride.

Powerful docudrama. 8/10

A dramatization of the life story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who had a large hand in the development of the atomic bomb, thus helping end World War 2. We see his life from university days all the way to post-WW2, where his fame saw him embroiled in political machinations.

I mainly watched this because it is directed by Christopher Nolan (Memento, Following, Inception, Interstellar, The Dark Knight movies, The Prestige, amongst others) and was intrigued to see what he would do with a subject which could easily end up being a conventional join-the-dots documentary.

To nobody's surprise, Nolan does a great job, turning a docudrama into a powerful, engaging cinematic experience. You wouldn't know the film is three hours long, the time just flies by it is so engaging.

Nolan is aided in his efforts by an all-star cast. Cillian Murphy is excellent as Oppenheimer but even the minor roles are played by big name stars, e.g Rami Malek, Oscar winner, appears in only two or three scenes and has a handful of lines.

On the negative side, there are elements of style-over-substance - the special effects-filled cutaways were overdone as was the loud, droning music, an irritating recent addition to recent Nolan films - it started with Dunkirk and was there again in Tenet. In addition, some historical characters are cartoonishly drawn and some scenes feel a bit clumsy.

Overall, a great film.

Disappointing: more style than substance. 4/10

Evelyn Wang and her husband Waymond run a laundry. Times are tough and they're in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service. There's also some niggle with their daughter and her father is a constant source of belittlement and scorn. Now Waymond wants a divorce. Could things have turned out differently for Evelyn, maybe in a parallel universe?

The plot summary for this movie intrigued me immensely: the idea of exploring how things might work out if you'd plotted a different course or, more broadly, the idea of parallel realities. The actual product, however, is far less engaging or coherent.

The lack of engagement begins immediately. The Wangs' everyday life is a manic, unfocussed existence and just following this for the first 20 minutes or so was fairly annoying. It doesn't get any better once the multiverse concept is introduced, this just being an excuse for random detours and well-choreographed but meaningless action scenes.

It's like a typical pretentious concept-driven sci fi/fantasy movie: paper over the lack of plot with a concept and developments that are so radical and in-your-face that viewers are fooled into thinking there's something clever there, when there isn't. Then, to make it seem even more important, have the movie go for 140 minutes when 100 minutes would have been sufficient.

Every now and again there is a profound moment but due to the preceding scenes being all empty random action there's no context and the impact is diluted.

Disappointing.

Sweet, feel-good movie. 7/10

Ruby Rossi is a child of deaf adults (CODA) though has hearing herself. In addition her only sibling, her brother, is also deaf. She is her family’s sign-language interpreter and helps out on the fishing boat. In her final year of high school she shows great talent as a singer and has applied to attend Berklee College in Boston. Where will this leave her family?

A sweet, feel-good movie, winner of Best Picture at the 2022 Oscars. Has a very original setting – a hearing child whose entire family is deaf – and the movie shows how this presents certain challenges and unique situations.

A light-hearted feel to proceedings keeps things moving along briskly. Emotional ending rounds things off nicely.

However, does feel quite formulaic. While the setting is original, the plot is fairly predictable and lightweight, sometimes having the feel of a midday TV movie or teen rom-com.

Overall, not brilliant but worth watching.

Wonderful, emotional journey. 8/10

After the local plant shuts down, the town of Empire, Nevada ceases to exist. Widow Fern decides to travel around the country, working in odd jobs and living in her van. Along the way she meets some interesting people and discovers that her nomadic existence is not unique.

The 2021 Best Picture Oscar winner is a wonderful, emotional journey. We initially sympathise with Fern, thinking what a predicament to be in, but then realise that this is what makes her happy. Rather than be sad for her, we should be happy for her. Similarly, all the people we meet seem to be the debris from the pursuit of the American Dream, but they’re happy doing what they do – they don’t want our sympathy.

It’s these realisations and the feeling of freedom that the people have that elevate the tone of the film. A few other themes are touched on: ageism in the workforce, corporate greed, the winner-takes-all social structure but thankfully these are not examined in too much detail. Rather than blame anyone or anything for the sequence of events that leads to people ending up on the fringes of society, these are presented as merely factors. Plus, once again, who says they’re in a predicament?

Great writing and directing by Chloe Zhao as she sensitively and deftly steers the film along its path. Her writing got her an Oscar nomination and her directing won her an Oscar.

Frances McDormand gives and excellent performance as Fern and well deserved her Best Actress Oscar. However, it’s in the supporting performances where Zhao’s directing skills shine through. Many of the supporting cast are unknowns, many not actors, some actual nomads. Zhao effectively lets them just be themselves, giving the film a natural, unforced, almost documentary-like quality.

I was expecting a more powerful, profound conclusion, however. The plot did seem like it was building up to something more jarring. Then again, this film is about the journey and not the destination: the profundity accumulates along the way, rather than is delivered at the end.

Superb: funny, dark, intriguing and profound. 9/10

A poor South Korean family lives in a ramshackle semi-basement apartment and gets by on hustles and cons. One day the son manages to get a job tutoring the child of a wealthy family. He sees an opportunity to get his parents and sister jobs in the household too. Soon all of them of are in and life is looking much rosier. Then fate throws them a curveball.

Superb. Written and directed by Bong Joon Ho who gave us the superb crime-drama Memories of Murder plus the entertaining Snowpiercer, Parasite is a great mix of comedy and drama, pathos and social commentary.

It starts off in very entertaining fashion as we meet the family that are experts in cons and manipulation. It is quite funny and initially they just seem like slackers. However, after a while it is quite awe-inspiring to see the work that goes into their deceptions.

As the movie progresses it becomes darker and darker. The plot takes on a few surprising twists and turns and the two families involved become symbols of a class divide. The social commentary is thought-provoking without being preachy or seeming biased. Powerful ending.

Solid performances round out an excellent plot and great direction.

Great movie: may seem predictable in its destination but it’s the journey that matters. 8/10

1962. A bigoted Italian-American bouncer, Tony Lip, gets the job of driving Dr Don Shirley, renowned African-American pianist, on his tour across the mid-West and South. The two could not be more different.

I did not have high expectations for this movie. I knew it would be good, but figured it wouldn’t cover any new ground. Moreover, it seemed like a reverse Driving Miss Daisy (not that DMD is a bad movie – quite the opposite – but that it had been done before).

I needn’t have worried. The outcome is fairly predictable, but that doesn’t matter: the getting there is original, interesting, engaging, thought-provoking and great.

Director Peter Farrelly sets the scene well and paces the movie to perfection. The characters of Tony Lip and Don Shirley are well drawn and developed, making for high engagement levels. You can see their views and characters evolve before your eyes, see the events that shape them and how these influence their future actions. There’s also a decent smattering of humour to aid the engagement.

Some great social commentary too, especially on racial attitudes of the day and on tolerance in general.

Mahershala Ali got a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Don Shirley, and well deserved the award. Great work too from Viggo Mortensen as Tony Lip, resulting in a Best Actor nomination (he ultimately lost out to Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody).

Great movie.

Okay, but hardly Oscar-worthy. 6/10

It is the mid-1960s. Elisa is mute, and a cleaner at a US government experiment facility. Her life is quite mundane and unfulfilled. Then the facility starts on a new project: the US government has captured a man-fish hybrid in South America and now they are seeing if the creature’s unique physiology could have some uses for humans, especially for astronauts. Elisa becomes attached to the creature.

The winner of Best Picture at the 2018 Oscars, though difficult to see why. A pretty basic movie – a linear romantic drama with one-dimensional characters, cartoonish, badness-laid-on-so-thick-it’s-laughable villains, conventional plot development and a fairly predictable ending. It’s not that profound or original in its themes or development (unless the viewer has only seen a handful of movies in their life) – quite dumbed-down (though that might be more a reflection of modern audiences than anything else). If it wasn’t for the excellent CGI, the sentimentality, the slickness of the plot development and some of the performances it would be just another B-grade creature feature.

Part of the problem is that director Guillermo del Toro tries to steer a path between fairy tale and gritty drama, and thus ends up with something that is tonally jarring and inconsistent. The movie from the start has a light, airy feel, the ideal set up for a sweet, all-ages drama. There’s even some funny moments to help this along. Yet, interspersed with the lightness are several adult-orientated scenes. Even as the movie becomes darker, bloodier and grittier, del Toro still tries to cling to the fairy tale side.

Made as a plain fairy tale-like drama, suitable for all ages, this would have worked a whole lot better.

Not that it’s that bad though. The movie moves at a decent pace and is quite entertaining. There is a decent level of intrigue and tension and Sally Hawkins puts in a great performance as Elisa.

Good, though a bit underwhelming. 7/10

Chiron is an African-American child, growing up in Miami. Neglected by his mother, he is effectively raised by a drug-dealer, Juan, and his girlfriend, Teresa. Due to his passive ways he is often a target for bullies. Onto his teenage years and the bullying continues. All this time he has one true friend - Kevin - and the relationship between Chiron and Kevin ultimately forms the spine of the story.

Good drama about growing up, the relationships we form and how these are carried over into adult life. More specifically, the experience of a gay African-American child, the issues faced in growing up and how this shapes his life and relationships.

A bit underwhelming though, especially considering that this movie won the 2017 Best Picture Oscar. The themes don't feel fully formed, leaving the movie feeling not overly profound. Ending is quite anticlimactic, when it should have been very emotional.

The main problem is that writer-director Barry Jenkins concentrates more on the bigger picture, and fitting as much of Chiron's history into a certain amount of time. More character and relationship details were needed. A slower progression was in order - the first two periods of Chiron's life seems rushed and we are just fed the story without having time to contemplate on it. Not often I say this: the movie needed to be longer, about 30 minutes longer.

This all said, the story is original and engaging. It is never dull - as mentioned, if anything, it moves too quickly. It just needed more substance.

Well timed and very well made. 9/10

The true story of how, in 2001, reporters at the Boston Globe investigated accusations of Catholic priests in Boston molesting children. Following on from leads, interviews with victims, existing court cases and extensive research they reveal decades of abuse. Moreover, they discover that the issue was far wider spread than they at first believed, that senior members of the diocese were aware of the issue and that the church systemically covered up the crimes.

A well made movie: interesting and intriguing. It had the potential to degenerate into a dull, dry paint-by-numbers docudrama but writer-director Tom McCarthy gives the characters depth, builds the intrigue like a spy thriller and makes a very realistic-feeling movie about investigative journalism.

The director is aided by some great, understated performances from his cast. Michael Keaton is the pick of the bunch but Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, Brian d'Arcy James and Stanley Tucci put in solid performances too.

Another factor the movie has in its favour is timing: (alleged) abuse of children by priests of the Catholic church is a highly charged, highly publicized, internationally widespread, current issue. While I do not think Spotlight was the best film of 2015 (for me, that honour goes to Room), Spotlight isn't far behind the best in terms of pure cinematic quality plus it taps into a highly topical issue.

I thus think it is the contemporary nature of its subject matter that saw it edge out the competition for the Best Picture Oscar in 2016, and I don't see a problem in that (despite my preference for Room). One of the purposes of art is to capture the look, feel and issues of the times and preserve them for posterity. Spotlight fulfils this function very well.

Intelligent, intense, absorbing movie. 9/10

The story of a washed-up actor, Riggan (played by Michael Keaton), who gets a last chance at fame and immortality. He adapts a Raymond Carver novel into a play and directs and stars in it on Broadway. The movie shows the roller-coaster ride that is his mind, plus the behind-the-scenes goings on of the play.

Certainly not your average movie. The blurring of the lines between reality and fantasy, as the lead character veers constantly between delusion and actuality, is incredibly intriguing and not a little disconcerting (and this is not necessarily a bad thing).

The plot is simultaneously simple and complex - simple main structure but very complex in the intricacies. Ultimately it is a character-driven movie, and the characters are well-developed and complex.

On that note, it is not all about Riggan. There are some sub-plots involving his daughter, Sam (played by Emma Stone) plus other cast members. These non-Riggan moments provide for respite from the intensity of Riggan and his issues, and are a welcome relief.

While it is the script and direction that set up the movie, it is the performances that complete it - casting is spot-on and the cast act of their skins.

Superb performance by Michael Keaton in the lead role - he well deserved his Best Actor Oscar nomination. Good support from Emma Stone, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Andrea Riseborough and Amy Ryan. Stone and Norton are excellent and got Supporting Actress/Actor Oscar nominations.

Even Zach Galifianakis, better known as a comedy actor, is solid in his role.

This movie well deserved its 2015 Best Picture Oscar.

Great, compelling, emotional movie. 9/10

Quite brutal, and honestly so, in its depiction of the mid-1850s US slave trade, and the lives of slaves. Unflinchingly portrays the injustices and inhumanity involved.

Central plot is interesting. More than the story of Solomon Northup, the movie illuminates slavery and the divide in the US at the time.

Superb performances all round, particularly by Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup and Michael Fassbender as Edwin Epps, the volatile plantation owner. Good support from a cast that includes Michael K Williams, of Boardwalk Empire fame, albeit briefly.

Brad Pitt, who is one of the producers of the movie, also makes an appearance, in a role with not that much screen time, but great impact.

Good, but not the best movie of 2012. 8/10

Good, but not brilliant, and certainly not the best movie of 2012.

Interesting, intriguing and highly plausible. Good pacing - hardly a dull moment.

Good performances all round.

Yet, as mentioned, surely not worth a Best Picture Oscar. Sure, there have been many far worse Best Picture Oscar winners (Cimarron, Braveheart, Titanic and The English Patient spring immediately to mind), but in a year which gave us such great movies as Django Unchained, Life of Pi and, especially, Zero Dark Thirty, Argo gets it? It just lacked that extra something to make it deserving of the Oscar.

Great movie. 9/10

Filmed entirely without dialogue or sound effects other than the score (well, almost entirely, but I don't want to give anything away). In addition, not all of the dialogue is then sub-titled. Thus, rather than being spoon-fed the plot, you have to use your brain and your imagination. Makes a change from the majority of modern movies where you are walked through the plot, inch by inch, and it mostly consists of things being blown up, in vivid fashion, anyway!

The director's use of symbolism helps the plot along. Admittedly, the plot isn't that complex, so the brain won't be too taxed (hence the 9/10 rather than 10/10).

Great performance from Jean Dujardin in the lead role, well supported by Berenice Bejo, John Goodman and James Cromwell. However, the stand-out performance comes from Uggie, the dog. He deserves an Oscar.

Like Hugo, an homage to the art of movie-making.

Great movie, driven by a great cast. 9/10

Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are excellent as King George VI and Lionel Logue respectively, and both deserve their Oscar nominations.

Great performances from the supporting cast too - especially Helena Bonham Carter (as Queen Elizabeth), Guy Pearce (as King Edward VIII) and Michael Gambon (as King George V).

Direction is flawless: pacing is spot on, story flows well, cinematography cannot be faulted. Script is solid.

Not the best movie of 2010/11, no matter what happened at the Oscars, but one of the best.

Great movie. 9/10

Very moving, brutal in its portrayal of the poverty the main characters live in, but with humorous moments too. Bitter-sweet.

Deserves all the awards and award nominations it is getting.

The only negative thing, and the reason it isn't a perfect 10, is the way the movie got fairly formulaic towards the end. I can think of at least one ending which would have been more impactful than the actual one.

If you liked this movie, see "City of God". Set in Rio de Janeiro, it also examines the lives of people living in abject poverty, and their consequences of their situation. Even better than Slumdog Millionaire, I felt. Grittier.

Brilliant. 10/10

Brilliant, gritty, dramatic portrayal of a US Army bomb disposal unit in Iraq. Searingly intense without being manipulative or contrived (there is no music within scenes, for example, so the intensity is not artificially lifted by music).

Can seem to drift at times, but in the end it all makes sense, and has a place. The punchline at the end makes it all worth it.

Kathryn Bigelow directs with a deft and varying touch, revealing details which seem insignificant at the time, and omitting details and events which you would think would be important. In the end, it all makes sense. The use of home-movie-style hand-held cameras in certain scenes can be a bit disconcerting at times, but ultimately suited the scene.

Superb performance by then relatively unknown Jeremy Renner. He well deserved his Oscar nomination.

Modern masterpiece. 10/10

The Coen Brothers rank amongst my favourite writers/directors, regardless of whether they are doing comedy (Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy, O Brother Where Art Thou?) or drama (Fargo, Millers Crossing, Barton Fink, The Man Who Wasn't There).

This is a Coen drama but if there is a Coen-drama formula, they have just redefined it, and indeed potentially rewritten how all thriller-dramas are written and directed.

One of the most original movie structures and plots I have seen, up there with Memento in terms of innovativeness.

Truly a modern masterpiece.

Brilliant: intense, clever and action-filled. 10/10

A tale of two cops, though on different sides of the law. Colin Sullivan (played by Matt Damon) is a Massachusetts State police detective. He has risen through the ranks to head up a special department. Public Enemy Number 1 is Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson), a crime network kingpin, and the Sullivan's main target. However, Sullivan is a paid informant for Costello, giving him tip- offs on police raids and other useful information. Meanwhile, Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) works for Costello. However, he is actually an undercover policeman, spying on Costello. In due course, both know that there is a rat in their organisation, but don't know their identity. A deadly cat-and-mouse game ensues, with both trying to uncover the other without being discovered themselves.

Brilliant crime-drama from master director Martin Scorsese. Slick, clever, watertight plot. The symmetry and interdependence of the two adversaries makes for a very intriguing story and nail-biting situations. Often they have a piece of the puzzle but to get the complete picture and identify the mole they have to break their own cover, creating some very tense situations.

Some great character-based drama too, especially involving Costigan. The love triangle involving Madolyn (Vera Farmiga) was a nice touch.

The Departed is an adaptation of the Hong Kong crime-drama Infernal Affairs. Similar plots but The Departed has deeper characters, more interesting sub-plots and wittier dialogue. For these reasons I rate The Departed higher than Infernal Affairs.

Historic movie too in that it gave Scorsese his first Oscar, at last. After six nominations previously with no award, he won Best Director for The Departed. When you look at what he was previously nominated for - Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, among others - and consider those he should have been nominated for - Taxi Driver, The King of Comedy - then you have to consider him incredibly unlucky. That, or the Academy doesn't like him.

On the subject of people the Academy doesn't like, Leanardo DiCaprio puts in a great performance as Costigan. His was the more difficult of the two lead roles, as Costigan was a much more complex character than Sullivan. Matt Damon hardly had to stretch himself for his role. Sadly, though not unsurprisingly considering DiCaprio's history with the Oscars, DiCaprio didn't even get an Oscar nomination for his efforts.

Mark Wahlberg did get a nomination, as Best Supporting Actor. He puts in a good performance as the over-the-top, obnoxious, no- nonsense Staff Sergeant Dignam. It's debatable whether the nomination was deserved. The performance does stand out, however, due to the colourfulness of the character.

Remaining cast is pretty much an all-star one and includes Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Vera Farmiga and Ray Winstone. All of them deliver in spades, as do the minor players.

A 21st century classic.

Great, emotional examination of racism, and prejudice in general. 9/10

A movie that covers a few days in the lives of several different people. They come from different backgrounds, are often total strangers and are generally just going about their everyday lives. However, over the next day or so their lives will interconnect, crashing together, in dramatic and often life-changing ways.

Great, emotional examination of racism, and prejudice in general. very well set up - the (seemingly) parallel lives and stories (Short Cuts- style). The ways the lives cross paths, the interaction and the effect of this is something to behold. Incredibly powerful, profound and emotional.

Incredibly moving - superb movie. 10/10

Frankie Dunn (played by Clint Eastwood) owns and runs a boxing gym in Los Angeles, as well as managing some of the boxers there. Working for him is Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris (Morgan Freeman). One day he is approached by Maggie Fitzgerald (Hillary Swank) who wants him to train her. He declines. Undeterred, Maggie joins his gym, hoping that he'll notice her and train. He is equally perseverant, knocking back all her requests to train her. However, eventually she wears him down and he trains her and manages her fight career. Her career goes very well and she now has a shot at the WBA title. Her opponent, the champion, does not play fair though...

Brilliant beyond description. Much much more than simply a boxing movie. It's a movie about friendship, looking out for one another and caring for those you love. Wonderful character depth and development and relationship development. Made by a twist nobody would see coming, and an ending that is emotional beyond compare.

Superb performance by Hillary Swank in the lead role, for which she won her second Oscar. Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman are also great in their roles - Eastwood got a Best Actor Oscar nomination and Freeman won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Freeman also provides the narration for the movie, and this is always a good thing.

The movie itself deservedly won the Best Picture Oscar in 2005 and Eastwood won Best Director.

This was to be Clint Eastwood's magnum opus and came in the middle of a purple patch for him. Before this he has made Mystic River and after was to come Flags of our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima, Changeling, Gran Torino and Invictus.

Style over substance. 5/10

The conclusion to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. After many adventures in the previous two films, Froddo and Sam reach Mordor, at last. Meanwhile, the stage is set for a gigantic, fateful final battle between the forces of good and evil, as Aragorn's army prepares to fight Sauron's.

After six hours of the previous two movies and much machinations with release dates to ensure higher DVD sales, the series finally ends. It goes out pretty much like it was all along - with a long, linear, rambling adventure filled with fantastical names and places to keep the nerds and kids enthralled.

One of the better musicals you'll see. 8/10

I generally dislike musicals, so was very pleasantly surprised when I liked this. Good story, vibrant musical sequences with bouncy music. The whole movie just moves along at a brisk pace, propelled by the musical interludes, the interesting, clever story and the witty dialogue.

Great performances all round. Entire cast shines, with Catherine Zeta- Jones, Renee Zellweger and Richard Gere to the fore. Zeta-Jones won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar and Zellweger was nominated for Best Actress. Even John C Reilly and Queen Latifah put in solid performances, enough to get them Supporting Actor/Actress Oscar nominations.

Good fun.

Powerful, emotional drama. 8/10

The story of John Nash, Nobel Prize-winning economist. We see him from his days as a student at Princeton University to his later life. Just when he seems to have everything going for him - a beautiful, loving wife and a successful academic career - he is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. The lines between reality and his imagination, driven by his powerful mind, become blurred...

Powerful, emotional drama, largely based on a true story. The way Nash is able to overcome his disability and become one of the foremost minds in the field of economics is amazing, and a sight to see. The demons in his mind also provide for some great drama, especially discerning what is reality and what is a function of his mind.

Won the 2002 Best Picture Oscar.

Okayish, but not great. 6/10

Roman General Maximus has everything going for him - he is a highly skilled and successful general, he has a wife and child whom he adores, the people love him and the aging Emperor loves him. The Emperor proclaims him his successor before he dies. However, this proves costly for Maximus as it creates tension between him and the Emperor's son, Commodus. Commodus has Maximus wife and child murdered. Maximus escapes before being executed himself, only to be captured and enslaved. He becomes a gladiator and fights to regain his status. Moreover, he is determined to take revenge on Commodus.

Pretty much a standard action/revenge movie, set in Roman times. Lots of fight scenes and not much else, including profundity.

Somehow won the 2001 Best Picture Oscar, beating, amongst others, the far-superior Traffic.