What was the best movie you watched this year? Would you nominate this movie for an Academy Award? Which category? I had a ton of fun watching Saltburn, but I wouldn’t necessarily start showering it with Oscars willy-nilly. New movies require new categories like Best Unhinged Naked Dance or Most Shocking Use of Plumbing. I’ve been drafting a letter to the president of Hollywood to this effect, don’t worry.
While we wait for the Academy to catch up to modern times, below I listed all ten 2024 nominees the Academy deemed worthy of a chance at the Oscar for Best Picture. Condolences to Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, Quantumania, and the remake of White Men Can’t Jump starring Jack Harlow for not making the cut.
Movie titles are linked to the Monarch catalog listing, or IMDB, if the film has not yet been released on DVD. I also indicated which platform each movie can be found streaming, as of Feb. 23, 2024. In the meantime, get up to speed with three 96th Academy Award nominated films available on Kanopy: Past Lives (Best Picture); Jules (Best Actor, Actress, Independent Film); and Four Daughters (Best Documentary Feature Film).
American Fiction; streaming on Apple TV
Also nominated for Best Actor (Jeffrey Wright); Best Supporting Actor (Sterling K. Brown)
- Directed by Cord Jefferson who is also known for his writing on American television series The Good Place (2016-2020), Master of None (2015-2018), Succession (2018-2023), Watchmen (2019), and Station Eleven (2021). This is his first venture into writing, directing, and producing for film.
- Starring Jeffrey Wright who is also known for: Basquiat (1996); Casino Royale (2006); The Hunger Games (2013); Westworld (2016-2022); Game Night (2018); The French Dispatch (2021); The Batman (2022)
Will it win Best Picture? Probably not. I’m pulling for Wright to win Best Actor, but the field is strong this year. This is Wright’s first-ever Academy Award nomination.
Anatomy of a Fall; DVD release date set for May 28, 2024; streaming on Apple TV
Also nominated for Best Director; Best Actress (Sandra Hüller); Best Original Screenplay; Best Editing
- Directed by Justine Triet who is also known for Sibyl (2021); In Bed With Victoria (2016); Age of Panic (2013)
- Starring Sandra Hüller who is also known for her role in Triet’s Sibyl (2021) and Area of Interest, which is also nominated for Best Picture.
Will it win Best Picture? It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, which I understand to be a big deal. However, only three other films have ever won both institution’s top prizes. The other films were The Lost Weekend (1945); Marty (1955); and Parasite (2019). How well it fares with American audiences and up against the behemoth that is Oppenheimer will be a big factor. It seems like an unlikely win.
Barbie; streaming on MAX
Also nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Ryan Gosling); Best Supporting Actress (America Ferrera); Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Original Song (I’m Just Ken AND What Was I Made For); Best Production Design; Best Costume Design
- Directed by Greta Gerwig who is also known for: Frances Ha (2012); Lady Bird (2017); Little Women (2019)
- Starring Margot Robbie who is also known for The Wolf of Wall Street (2013); I, Tonya (2017); Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019); Birds of Prey (2021)
Will it win? Not for Best Picture, I am afraid. While Barbie provided an extremely enjoyable frothy pink bright spot amidst our often fraught surroundings, many of the other nominees are more, uh, Oscar-y. This is Fererra’s first and Gosling’s third nomination. I predict it will win in the Best Original Song category.
The Holdovers; streaming on Peacock
Also nominated for Best Actor (Paul Giamatti); Best Supporting Actress (Da’Vine Joy Randolph); Best Original Screenplay; Best Film Editing
- Directed by Alexander Payne
If you’re not already familiar with Payne’s back catalog, it’s time to get caught up. Easily one of the great living American directors. He is also known for Election (1999); About Schmidt (2002); and Nebraska (2013). He has received Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay for his work on Sideways (2004) and The Descendants (2011) - Starring Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph who is also known for: Empire (2017-2018); Dolemite is My Name (2019); Only Murders in the Building (2021-present); The Idol (2023)
Will it win? I think Giamatti deserves every award he’s nominated for. I also think Randolph stands a good chance. She was a revelation and I want her to be famous forever. The Holdovers will not win Best Picture, however.
Killers of the Flower Moon; DVD release date unknown; streaming on Apple TV
Also nominated for Best Director; Best Actress (Lily Gladstone); Best Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro); Best Cinematography; Best Editing; Best Production Design; Best Costume Design; Best Original Score; Best Original Song
- Directed by Martin Scorsese who is also known for: Taxi Driver (1976); The King of Comedy (1982); Raging Bull (1980); Goodfellas (1990); The Departed (2006). Scorsese won Best Director for The Departed.
- Starring Lily Gladstone; Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro; Jesse Plemons; Brendan Frasier. It’s a murderer’s row. I will not be detailing various past nominations because we only have so much time in a day.
Will it win? With a whopping 10 nominations, chances are good for this film cleaning up, but all those Oppenheimer nominations could really cut this one off at the knees. I am not a gambling type and I don’t know how to calculate odds, so let’s go with a 25% probability that Killers of the Flower Moon will win Best Picture.
Maestro; DVD release date unknown; streaming on Netflix
Also nominated for Best Actor (Bradley Cooper); Best Actress (Carey Mulligan); Best Original Screenplay; Best Cinematography; Best Makeup and Hairstyling; Best Sound
- Directed by Bradley Cooper who was also nominated for his acting work in Silver Linings Playbook (2012), American Hustle (2014), American Sniper (2015), and A Star is Born (2019).
- Starring Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan
Carey Mulligan is also known for: Drive (2011); and Saltburn (2023). She received Best Actress nominations for An Education (2009) and Promising Young Woman (2020).
Will it win? I don’t think this is our Best Picture winner either, and all bets are off with the Best Actor category.
Oppenheimer; streaming on Peacock
Also nominated for Best Director; Best Actor (Cillian Murphy); Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.); Best Supporting Actress (Emily Blunt); Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Original Score; Best Sound; Best Production Design; Best Cinematography; Best Makeup and Hairstyling; Best Costume Design; Best Film Editing. For those of you keeping score that is an astonishing 13 nominations.
- Directed by Christpher Nolan who is also known for: The Dark Knight (2008); Interstellar (2014); Inception (2010). Nolan received a nomination for Best Director for his work on Dunkirk (2017).
- Starring Cillian Murphy. This is his first Academy Award nomination.
Also known for: Murphy is a frequent Nolan collaborator who also starred in Inception, Dunkirk, and Batman Begins (2005). Other career highlights include 28 Days Later (2002) Red Eye (2006); Sunshine (2007); Peaky Blinders (2013-2022)
Will it win? Yes. This is going to win Best Picture. And probably a bunch of other Oscars. No, I will not be elaborating further.
Past Lives; streaming on Showtime
Also nominated for Best Original Screenplay
- Directed by Celine Song
Also known for: Song was mainly a playwright and staff writer before Past Lives, her big breakout. - Starring Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, and John Magaro
Greta Lee is also known for Inside Amy Schumer (2013-2016); Wayward Pines (2015-2016); Russian Doll (2019-present); The Morning Show (2021-present)
Will it win? I don’t think so, but the fact that it’s nominated is a pretty big deal.
Poor Things; available on DVD February 2024; stream Video On Demand starting February 27th
Also nominated for Best Director; Best Actress (Emma Stone); Best Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo); Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Original Score; Best Production Design; Best Cinematography; Best Makeup and Hairstyling; Best Costume Design; Best Film Editing
- Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos who received a nomination for Best Director for his work on The Favourite (2018).
Also known for: Dogtooth (2009); The Lobster (2015); The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) - Starring Mark Ruffalo and Emma Stone who is also known for: Zombieland (2009); Easy A (2010); Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011); La La Land (2016), for which she won the Best Actress Academy Award.
Will it win? MAYBE. I think it’s down to Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Poor Things. This could be the dark horse of the race. Emma Stone is a shoo-in for Best Actress. This is Ruffalo’s fourth nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
The Zone of Interest ; DVD release date unknown; streaming on MAX with no release date announced
Also nominated for Best Director; Best Adapted Screenplay; Best International Film Feature; Best Sound
- Directed by Jonathan Glazer who is also known for: Sexy Beast (2001); Birth (2004); Under the Skin (2013)
- Starring Sandra Hüller and Christian Friedel
Hüller also stars in Best Picture-Nominated Anatomy of a Fall.
Will it win? Naw. But I imagine it is a very strong contender for Best International Film Feature.
There you have it. The Best Picture nominees have been rounded up. Whether you are a die-hard award season aficionado, can’t stand dusty, exclusionary institutions like the Academy, or have very few strong feelings about the whole thing, I think we can all agree that it’s fun to speculate about the big winner.
If prestige pictures aren’t appealing, fear not, I just re-ordered a copy of Sausage Party (2016) and The Jerk (1979). Mead also owns a BluRay 4K copy of Howard the Duck (1986). We include the low AND the high-brow up in our library. For more film suggestions consider using Mead’s Your Next Five Movies service by clicking HERE.
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