If I Was the Only One Who Voted for the Oscars, Vol. 7

26 min readFeb 28, 2025

“We went somewhere really beautiful together.”

It is so surreal to look up at the title of this article and see “Vol. 7.” Throughout my life, I have often felt impassioned by projects and interests that fade over time or prove less fruitful than I initially anticipated. I’m glad this hasn’t been one of them. For one, it helps that it comes but once a year. However, I also look forward to writing these articles, even if they are completely self-indulgent and about little else besides themselves. I also love list-making and documenting my year-end favorites through spreadsheets, so it’s not surprising to me that cataloguing my own cultural history through these traditions is something I love to do. If this bears even one ounce of interest to you, I welcome you with gratitude to the seventh edition of this tradition. This year, the wealth seems more widely spread than ever before.

Best Picture

Anora — Neon
Babygirl — A24
Blitz — Apple
Carry-On — Netflix
Challengers — MGM
A Complete Unknown — Searchlight
A Real Pain — Searchlight
Saturday Night — Sony
Trap — Warner Brothers
Wicked — Universal

As we’ve already established in my Best of 2024 series, Challengers is the year’s best film. Much of what I have to gush about this film is present in that article, but the rest of this list will reveal plenty about why I love Challengers so much, down to specific filmmaking elements of it. It’s the film that stuck with me the most this year, and I’m honestly due for a revisit of it.

Previous Winners: The Old Man and the Gun (Searchlight), Avengers: Endgame (Marvel), Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (Disney), Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (Lionsgate), Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24), Barbie (Warner Brothers)

Best Young Actor

Mika Abdalla as Brooke — Snack Shack
Elliott Heffernan as George Hanway — Blitz
Clara McGregor as Daughter — Bleeding Love
Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz — Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Conor Sherry as A.J. Carter — Snack Shack

Tons of breakouts this year. My hope with this category is always that these names will start to recur in future years, and it becomes fun to look back on where they started. This year, there is a clear standout. I would say all of the movies included in this category are better than Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but that movie rests squarely on Jenna Ortega’s movie star energy. She is a full breakout here if she wasn’t already, and I thought she elevated the legacy sequel far beyond its station. I would have never anticipated that my favorite part of a Beetlejuice sequel would be the new character, but that is how strong Ortega was in the role.

Previous Winners: Alan Kim (Minari), Gabriel LaBelle (The Fabelmans), Abby Ryder Fortson (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.)

Best Directorial Debut

Jake Johnson — Self Reliance
Anna Kendrick — Woman of the Hour
Kyle Mooney — Y2K
Dev Patel — Monkey Man
Julio Torres — Problemista

As evidenced by the “Previous Winners” section, this is a category that lends itself well to actors-turned-directors. I mean, just look at these nominees. I knew all of these people as performers before I knew them as filmmakers, but it’s clear that they have a knack for both sides of the camera. Of them all, Anna Kendrick’s film, Woman of the Hour, felt the most fully realized to me. I love the wild ambition of many of the others, but if I could only see the next movie from one of them, I think I’m going with Kendrick. (As a side note, how fun is it that all three stars of Drinking Buddies are now also directors? Johnson, Kendrick, and Olivia Wilde. There’s something in the mug of mumblecore.)

Previous Winners: Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter), B.J. Novak (Vengeance), Celine Song (Past Lives)

Best Ensemble Cast

Anora
Challengers
Juror #2
Saturday Night
Wicked

I don’t think enough attention was paid to the casting at work in Saturday Night. The characters in this film are comprised of many iconic figures in pop culture history, and the idea of casting even one of them is daunting. Yet, not only did Saturday Night boast a stellar slew of roles throughout, but it also assembled a who’s who of up-and-coming stars in the industry. Not unlike what happened on SNL fifty years ago.

Previous Winners: The French Dispatch, The Fabelmans, Oppenheimer

Best Acting in a Cameo Role

Nicholas Braun as Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman — Saturday Night
Matt Damon as Senator Gary Channel — Drive-Away Dolls
Jesse Plemons as Soldier — Civil War
Andy Samberg as Himself — Self Reliance
Channing Tatum as Remy LeBeau — Deadpool & Wolverine

I went back and forth on whether or not Nicholas Braun’s appearance in Saturday Night should count as a cameo, but because he’s pulling double duty, I think it counts. (It minimizes character-specific screen time.) The cast of Saturday Night is so sprawling that any role beyond the top billed would likely fit the criteria here. At first, when it was known that Braun would be playing Jim Henson, I was intrigued. Then, reports circulated that he was actually playing Andy Kaufman and not Henson. Color me delighted when he played them both, played an instrumental part in the film’s climax, and even usurped Matt Damon, King of the Cameos.

Previous Winners: Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man: No Way Home), Val Kilmer (Top Gun: Maverick), Margot Robbie (Asteroid City)

Best Acting in a Voice-Over or Motion Capture Role

Auli’i Cravalho as Moana — Moana 2
Maya Hawke as Anxiety — Inside Out 2
Lupita Nyong’o as Roz — The Wild Robot
Pedro Pascal as Fink — The Wild Robot
Amy Poehler as Joy — Inside Out 2

I’m preparing to revisit my All-Time Oscars spreadsheet and track my favorite vocal performances from 2000 to 2017 to fill in some gaps. In that regard, Amy Poehler (2015) and Auli’i Cravalho (2016) will get their due. And while it was such a joy to be able to hear both of them reprise their roles as Joy and Moana, respectively, this year, I have to acknowledge Maya Hawke as Anxiety. In the world of Inside Out, the emotions were well-cast with comedic personas that naturally lent themselves to the singular embodiments they were tasked with portraying. In Inside Out 2, it seemed less obvious to me that Maya Hawke would be a natural fit for Anxiety, but she enmeshed herself in the character so profoundly that I cannot imagine the personified insecurity sounding any other way.

Previous Winners: Josh Brolin (Avengers: Infinity War), Tom Hanks (Toy Story 4), Jamie Foxx (Soul), Stephanie Beatriz (Encanto), Jenny Slate (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On), Jake Johnson (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse)

Best Visual Effects

Kevin Baillie — Here
Mark Bakowski — Gladiator II
Paul Lambert — Dune: Part Two
Matt Sloan — The Fall Guy
Ben Snow — Twisters

Here is a category that has five movies nominated you won’t see in many other sections. Action films were not the name of the cinematic experience for me in 2024, and that is the genre that typically excels here. Not always, though, as we see with Here — a quieter, conceptual drama. Still, I found myself drawn to the breathtaking visuals of Dune: Part Two as the ultimate winner (even against fellow nominees that had such dazzling displays as a colosseum full of sharks and the ultimate tribute to stunt performers). The Dune sequel did not do much for me, but it at least made the theatrical experience worth reveling in.

Previous Winners: Christopher Lawrence (Christopher Robin), Dan DeLeeuw (Avengers: Endgame), Jonathan Dearing (The Invisible Man), Nicholas Bateman (The Green Knight), Joe Letteri (Avatar: The Way of Water), Alex Wuttke (Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning)

Best Film Editing

Sandra Adair — Hit Man
Marco Costa — Challengers
Nick Emerson — Conclave
Myron Kerstein — Wicked
Nate Orloff & Shane Reid — Saturday Night

There is a lot to love about the editing nominees this year. Saturday Night brought a whiz-bang verve to a nearly in-real-time structure. Wicked somehow never felt its bloat, in spite of eclipsing the length of the Broadway show’s entirety with just the first act. Hit Man managed to help audiences keep their heads on straight while various lies, cons, and schemes intersected with untold dissidence. Conclave mined its gossipy intrigue for a propulsive narrative that could have otherwise been stuffy. Most of all, Challengers fluctuated fluidly between two timelines, as Costa and director Luca Guadagnino worked carefully together to ensure emotional throughlines were maintained with consistency, and cuts were only deployed when the scenes called for them.

Previous Winners: Nick Johnson & Will Merrick (Searching), Monica Salazar (Honey Boy), Matthew Friedman (Palm Springs), Joshua Pearson (Summer of Soul), Paul Rogers (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Kirk Baxter (Dumb Money)

Best Costume Design

Lisy Christl — Conclave
Graham Churchyard & Mayes C. Rubeo — Deadpool & Wolverine
Jacqueline Demetrio — The Idea of You
Danny Glicker — Saturday Night
Paul Tazewell — Wicked

I’m a pretty easy mark when it comes to costuming in film. A lot of categories encourage me to appreciate the more subtle, nuanced craftsmanship at play, but I feel like I never come down the same way for costume design. The flashier, the better, I feel. That doesn’t mean you can just be garish for the sake of it, but when you create something eye-popping that enhances the visual splendor of a film, I’m going to take notice — and I’m probably going to love it. That being said, each of the nominees provided a different element of what can work about costumes for movies, in my estimation. Conclave used uniformity to enhance the complex storytelling; Deadpool & Wolverine somehow turned an iconic comic book costume into a worthwhile film depiction; Saturday Night embraced the best of the period piece; The Idea of You found a ton of merit in the classier side of modern filmmaking. And then there is Wicked, which had the ignominious task of following up a film with iconic designs, The Wizard of Oz, and thoroughly delivered. From the wide array of colors to the fluffy, ornamental originality, the wardrobes of Wicked were among its finest contributions to the year in movies.

Previous Winners: Sandy Powell (Mary Poppins Returns), Noma Moriceau (Aladdin), Phoenix Mellow (Sylvie’s Love), Paul Tazewell (West Side Story), Jenny Eagan (Glass Onion), Jacqueline Durran (Barbie)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Christine Blundall — Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Frances Hannon — Wicked
Traci Loader, Suzanne Stokes-Munton, & David White — Nosferatu
Jaime Leigh McIntosh — A Complete Unknown
Ally Vickers — Hit Man

Much of what I just expressed about the costumes in Wicked can also be ascribed to the makeup and hairstyling in Wicked. However, the mutuality does not apply to Nosferatu, too. For Nosferatu, its excellence emerged in this specific category. As a remake of a progenitor vampire film and another entry in a well-trod genre, the work from this team and from Robert Eggers coalesced to generate a creature unlike any of the predecessors I’d witnessed before. I didn’t really enjoy looking at this vampire, but all that suggests to me is that the craftspeople did their job well.

Previous Winners: Kimberly Kimble (A Wrinkle in Time), Frida Aradottir (Little Women), Anna Cash (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga), Matteo Silvi & Luca Vannella (The Last Duel), Shane Thomas (Elvis), Alexei Dmitriew & Cassie Russek (Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3)

Best Cinematography

Jarin Blaschke — Nosferatu
Stéphane Fontaine — Conclave
Yunus Roy Imer — The Outrun
Zach Kuperstein — Woman of the Hour
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom — Challengers

Each year that I do this, I understand more about what makes for quality cinematography. When I first started, I was under the impression that cinematography was just having cool shots that you could brag about and hang on your wall like paintings. Now, I understand it has as much to do with blocking, staging, and the fluidity of the camerawork as it does with shot composition. With this in mind, I want to push back against some critics I’ve seen who assert that Conclave is nothing more than a coffee table book when it comes to this category. Yes, it has some of the most gorgeously framed scenery from the entire year, but it also treats the camera like a wandering eye for the audience avatar we need, considering no one will ever be privy to the actual goings-on of a new Pope selection. Voyeuristic and expressionistic in equal measure, Fontaine turned Conclave into a sumptuous treat of visual energy.

Previous Winners: Alfonso Cuarón (Roma), Yorick Le Saux (Little Women), Ethan Palmer (Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions), Bruno Delbonnel (The Tragedy of Macbeth), Janusz Kamiński (The Fabelmans), Rodrigo Prieto (Killers of the Flower Moon)

Best Production Design

Nathan Crowley — Wicked
Debbie DeVilla — Trap
Jess Gonchor — Saturday Night
Ashley Lamont — Here
Adam Stockhausen — Blitz

When Wicked was in production, one of the behind-the-scenes tidbits we received that made me the most nervous for its eventual release was that the movie seemed like it was on a track of digital recreations for magical, CGI-defined lands. I was pleasantly surprised when this proved not to be the case. Granted, the land of Oz was enhanced by some computerized effects, but I was impressed with the extent to which Crowley and his team developed practical, interactive sets in the efforts to make the Wicked experience a more immersive one. For a movie that lacked the inherent contrast of The Wizard of Oz’s Kansas-Munchkinland dichotomy, Wicked deserves commendation for the singularity of its set work across multiple magic-scapes.

Previous Winners: John Myhre (Mary Poppins Returns), Barbara Ling (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Jason Kisvarday (Palm Springs), Adam Stockhausen (The French Dispatch), Roger Ford (Three Thousand Years of Longing), Sarah Greenwood (Barbie)

Best Sound Design

Andy Hay & John Warrin — Anora
Simon Hayes, John Marquis, & Nancy Nugent Title — Wicked
Tod Maitland — A Complete Unknown
Dashen Naidoo & Jill Purdy — Trap
Lee Salevan — A Quiet Place: Day One

The world makes more sense with Sound Editing and Sound Mixing combined into one, and I haven’t missed the way it used to be since. In this case, I’m awarding A Complete Unknown with the latest achievement in sound. To me, it blends the best of all of these films. It’s a movie that knows when to luxuriate in the quietude as well as when the propel the energy of the story forward with musical magnificence. Couple this contrast with a stellar slew of vocal work from all performers in A Complete Unknown, and it seems like the runaway winner for the auditory trophy this year.

Previous Winners: Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn (A Quiet Place), Warren Shaw (Uncut Gems), Craig Jackson (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga), Paul Hsu (Tick, Tick, Boom!), Al Nelson (Top Gun: Maverick), Richard King (Oppenheimer)

Best Original Score

Jon Batiste — Saturday Night
Kris Bowers — The Wild Robot
Michael Giacchino — IF
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross — Challengers
Alan Silvestri — Here

These days, I find myself much less pressed about Oscar snubs than I used to be. I may never forget that Todd Phillips was chosen for a Best Director nomination over Greta Gerwig in 2019, but I have learned to not feel this as such an affront in recent years. That being said, I am profoundly irked by the fact that Challengers was somehow snubbed from the Original Score category. To me, it’s been the clearest winner for the entire year! It’s the one category I thought Challengers had a hold on, but to not even be nominated is just a disservice. Anyway, I’m happy to celebrate it here. It sheds all overwrought emotional import and soaring sentimentality for sheer verve and sheer energy. Reznor and Ross present a dynamic, kinetic score that reflects the high-stakes, sophistication-laden athleticism that has been afforded to tennis. Challengers is not the beloved movie that it is without the work of Reznor and Ross in the orchestra.

Previous Winners: Marc Shaiman (Mary Poppins Returns), Alan Silvestri (Avengers: Endgame), Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, & Atticus Ross (Soul), Emile Mosseri (Minari), Justin Hurwitz (Babylon), Alexandre Desplat (Asteroid City)

Best Original Song

“Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” by Jessi Alexander, Luke Combs, & Jonathan Singleton — Twisters
“What Ifs” by Nell Benjamin, Reneé Rapp, & Michael Pollack — Mean Girls
“Winter Coat” by Nicholas Britell, Steve McQueen, Saoirse Ronan, & Taura Stinson — Blitz
“Harper and Will Go West” by Sean Douglas, Josh Greenbaum, & Kristen Wiig — Will & Harper
“Kiss the Sky” by Maren Morris — The Wild Robot

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Not the best year for this category, but I’m happy with the five that shook out! I get why the real Oscars are eschewing live performances of the nominees this year because there is really not much to go off of here. I mean, there is no “I’m Just Ken” moment waiting to be honored here. Granted, if the nominees were these five, I’d like to see them sung. However, the real world mostly revolves around Emilia Perez at the moment, which slots into the “Uhm, no thanks!” variety, for me. As far as these nominees go, it’s quite a varied bunch. A quaintly British sing-song ballad, an original pop Broadway number, a wildly woven country song/TikTok trend, a semi-sweet ditty from a comedian, and an uplifting anthem that soars as high as the bird who flies with it. Considering I was nearly moved to tears when Maren Morris wrestled control over The Wild Robot’s soundscape, it’s the clear winner.

Previous Winners: “All the Stars” by Kendrick Lamar (Black Panther), “Some Things Never Change” by Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez (Frozen II), “Húsavík (My Hometown)” by Fat Max Gsus, Rickard Göransson, and Savan Kotecha (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga), “Edgar’s Prayer” by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig (Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar), “Good Afternoon” by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul (Spirited), “I’m Just Ken” by Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt (Barbie)

Best Documentary

Federer: Twelve Final Days — Amazon
Jim Henson: Idea Man — Disney
Music by John Williams — Disney
Steve! (Martin) — Apple
Will & Harper — Netflix

Another year, another clear fascination that I have with documentaries that operate as nonfiction biopics, essentially. This year’s candidates are Roger Federer, Jim Henson, John Williams, Steve Martin, and Harper Steele. While most of these ran through the careers of their subjects in compelling yet straightforward ways, I felt that Will & Harper was the only one to rise to the next level. Directed by Josh Greenbaum (of Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar fame), Will & Harper follows a cross-country road trip between Will Ferrell and Harper Steele — two long-time close friends from their collaborations together on Saturday Night Live — after Steele comes out as transgender. It makes for an excellent backdrop for a profound exploration of the human condition and what it means to find yourself at any time in life.

Previous Winners: Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (Focus), Chasing Happiness (Amazon), Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (Disney), Summer of Soul (Searchlight), Lucy and Desi (Amazon), Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (AMC)

Best Animated Feature Film

Flow — Dream Well Studio
Inside Out 2 — Pixar
Moana 2 — Disney
Orion and the Dark — Netflix
The Wild Robot — DreamWorks

Certainly, when the year’s animation slate crystallized earlier in 2024, I anticipated Inside Out 2 and Moana 2, two decades-in-the-making sequels to some of Disney’s best output in the twenty-first century, would be win competitive between each other. However, both films failed to live up to the lofty heights of their predecessors, and The Wild Robot instead served as the moving tale I was seeking in the cartoonish spheres of filmmaking. It’s not a perfect film but considering that The Wild Robot is about a machine that was designed to be impervious and proved to be fallibly humane, I think that’s by design.

Previous Winners: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Sony), Toy Story 4 (Pixar), Soul (Pixar), Encanto (Disney), Turning Red (Pixar), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Andrew Haigh — All of Us Strangers
Meg LeFauve & Dave Holstein — Inside Out 2
Richard Linklater & Glen Powell — Hit Man
Michael Showalter & Jennifer Westfeldt — The Idea of You
Peter Straughan — Conclave

To me, Hit Man is representative of some of the best that screen adaptations can do. Decades ago, Linklater read in Texas Monthly about an undercover hitman who took on a “master of disguise” type of role. Hit Man is hardly a true-to-life adaptation of this tale, but that’s what makes it such a savvy screenplay. Linklater imagines the seemingly implausible tale as the movie it was always destined to be. Together, he worked with 2024 Golden Boy Glen Powell to produce an innovative story that is brimming with humor and a gripping development of internal stakes.

Previous Winners: David Lowery (The Old Man and the Gun), Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Kemp Powers (One Night in Miami), Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, & Nicole Holofcener (The Last Duel), Rian Johnson (Glass Onion), Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach (Barbie)

Best Original Screenplay

Jesse Eisenberg — A Real Pain
Gil Kenan & Jason Reitman — Saturday Night
Justin Kuritzkes — Challengers
Adam Carter Rehmeier — Snack Shack
Halina Reijn — Babygirl

In this category, the nominees are representative of so many different qualities that make for an engaging screenplay. Breakouts and flirtations, story structure and rat-a-tat. Each one is so gifted in its writerly dimensions that it’s a shame they can’t all go home with the trophy! That being said, as someone who has always had an appreciation for realistic dialogue that can transcend into emotional revelations and poetic sentiments, what Jesse Eisenberg crafted in A Real Pain is remarkable. Not only does it pay a lovely tribute to a familial history and a pensive culture, but it also provides impeccable character studies for its two diametrically opposed characters. On top of this, A Real Pain achieves some of the best that any script can achieve in the landscape of film: it encouraged me to rethink a lot of how I viewed my own life.

Previous Winners: Drew Goddard (Bad Times at the El Royale), Rian Johnson (Knives Out), Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7), Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig (Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar), Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin), Wes Anderson (Asteroid City)

Best Supporting Actor

Jason Bateman as The Traveler — Carry-On
Kieran Culkin as Benji Kaplan — A Real Pain
Mike Faist as Art Donaldson — Challengers
Josh O’Connor as Patrick Zweig — Challengers
Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase — Saturday Night

I will be perfectly content when Kieran Culkin wins the real Oscar for his performance as A Real Pain’s Benji, as he very nearly won the trophy here! Ultimately, though, I am going to make space for the lovable lads from Challengers, which is the film that was done the most disservices by the Academy. It’s hard to fully assess whether Josh O’Connor or Mike Faist is a lead in Challengers, but if we take them both as dynamite supporting players, then all we have to parse through is who is more instrumental to the film. Like Wicked’s Glinda and Elphaba (I wish I could’ve found space for Jonathan Bailey’s turn, too), you can’t have one without the other. But as something of a muckabout outsider, it’s hard to ignore the charm and smarm brought to the Patrick Zweig (great tennis names in Challengers) character.

Previous Winners: Tim Blake Nelson (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Leslie Odom, Jr. (One Night in Miami), Ben Affleck (The Last Duel), Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Ryan Gosling (Barbie)

Best Supporting Actress

Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez — A Complete Unknown
Auli’i Cravalho as Janis ʻImiʻike — Mean Girls
Ariana Grande as Glinda Upland — Wicked
Saoirse Ronan as Rita Hanway — Blitz
Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster — Saturday Night

It’s a big year in this category for “Actors I’ve Liked in Other Things Receiving a Coronation in a Major Category.” For Sennott, she was superb in Bottoms. Cravalho has obviously been most known for playing Moana. Barbaro was a Top Gun breakout. Really, only Saoirse Ronan is a veteran here, which is a wild thing to qualify for someone who is only thirty. I’m happy for all of them, though! I love when new crops of stars emerge, and I can’t wait to track all of their relatively nascent careers. The winner, though, is someone whose acting has mostly been limited to the small screen up until this point: Ariana Grande. There is a moment when Glinda sings “Popular” when Grande serpentine slides around the floor that was so eye-popping to me. In one moment, I knew she was a star (if it wasn’t already obvious), and I knew she was the winner here.

Previous Winners: Claire Foy (First Man), Ana de Armas (Knives Out), Saoirse Ronan (Ammonite), Jodie Comer (The Last Duel), Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon)

Best Actor

Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan — A Complete Unknown
Harris Dickinson as Samuel — Babygirl
Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence — Conclave
Josh Hartnett as Cooper — Trap
Glen Powell as Gary Johnson — Hit Man

Before we get into the Chalamet of it all, I want to acknowledge Mark Eydelshteyn’s breakout turn in Anora as an honorable mention. Regardless, I’ve overlapped with two of the Oscar picks here (The Brutalist is a 2025 movie, for me, as its wide release was in January — same for Nickel Boys), and I think they’re a solid pair. I’d be happy if either Fiennes or Chalamet won the Oscar, even though it seems like Adrien Brody is primed for his second. In a just world, we’d be honoring Josh Hartnett in Trap, too, but the world shines on stalwarts. Regardless, in spite of the great performers buttressing Chalamet here, this is the coronation for Timmy, who has been excellent in everything since he burst onto the scene with Interstellar. Lady Bird, Little Women, Wonka: he has been such a remarkable and versatile actor in his first decade. After beholding him as Bob Dylan, I knew in my heart that he is the heir apparent we’ve long been waiting for. I imagine this is what people felt after seeing Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic. That is, Chalamet is Him.

Previous Winners: Robert Redford (The Old Man and the Gun), Adam Sandler (Uncut Gems), Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick, Boom!), Austin Butler (Elvis), Jason Schwartzman (Asteroid City)

Best Actress

Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp — Wicked
Nicole Kidman as Romy Mathis — Babygirl
Mikey Madison as Anora Mikheeva — Anora
Saoirse Ronan as Rona — The Outrun
Zendaya as Tashi Duncan — Challengers

Every moment Mikey Madison is on screen is Anora is so earnestly felt, so emotive, and so enthralling. We knew Madison from her abbreviated tenure in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but now that we’ve known her in Anora, we never want to forget her again. On the surface, the Anora character does not seem to have much agency or depth, but as Madison quickly delves into, that is wholly the point. Anora is a cipher for the ills of society, and Madison just happens to imbue her with abiding charisma that carries each scene into an empathetic territory that it would’ve otherwise kept coldly at a distance. Granted, I’d be happy if I named any of these standout women to be the winner this year. Even Anna Kendrick as an honorable mention would’ve been worthy. However, it’s Madison’s role that feels, to me, like one we will return to for all-time.

Previous Winners: Emily Blunt (Mary Poppins Returns), Saoirse Ronan (Little Women), Elisabeth Moss (The Invisible Man), Rachel Zegler (West Side Story), Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Margot Robbie (Barbie)

Best Director

Sean Baker — Anora
Jesse Eisenberg — A Real Pain
Luca Guadagnino — Challengers
Halina Reijn — Babygirl
M. Night Shyamalan — Trap

2024 definitely featured some movies from acclaimed filmmakers, but there were no S-tier legends at the top necessarily, as there tends to be in most years. That is, there were no Scorseses or Spielbergs or Andersons leading the charge in 2024. Instead, some beloved talents who are either on the rise or up-and-down got a chance to shine this past year. I finally encountered a Guadagnino movie I love. Reijn launched herself into my purview for many years to come. Eisenberg proved that he has the juice, as an actor-turned-director. Shyamalan continued his volatile career with one of my favorite movies of his yet. Even two directors who don’t usually crack my top five with their prolific output, James Mangold and Richard Linklater, were circling this category for A Complete Unknown and Hit Man, respectively. Ultimately, though, I’m ready to anoint Sean Baker. I’ve been on the Baker train ever since Tangerine, and Anora was such a confident, culminating work of the early themes in Baker’s career of American fascination. It feels like the time is right for Baker, but he also brought out some of the best performances and seamless editing and production value of the year. It is a deserved coronation.

Previous Winners: David Lowery (The Old Man and the Gun), Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Pete Docter & Kemp Powers (Soul), Joel Coen (The Tragedy of Macbeth), Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Greta Gerwig (Barbie)

The Robert Redford Award for Lifetime Achievement

Roger Corman and Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman

Whenever I consider the recipients of the Lifetime Achievement award, I try to celebrate people while they’re still alive. Sometimes, this is untenable, as death is unpredictable. That’s the case this year, as we honor three great contributors to the world of film who are no longer with us.

First, we have Roger Corman, who passed away last May at the age of ninety-eight. Corman had a robust career in the industry and was an undersung, highly influential figure in Hollywood’s transition from the studio system to the grimier world of independent filmmaking. Often considered to be on the Mount Rushmore of B-movie filmmakers, Corman’s work extends far beyond pulp and pop. While he was never as seminal as some of his contemporaries, Corman was a necessary glue guy in Hollywood who found a new language through which to communicate horror in the aftermath of Alfred Hitchcock’s zenith. Even beyond his industry clout, Corman was never anything less than a revered stalwart, often contributing expertise and preservation for a landscape that would have likely gone overlooked without his tireless work. For me, I’m not typically a horror savant, but I gravitated to a lot of Corman’s kitschier work. Chief among them was his development of the “Poe Cycle,” which brought some of the best Edgar Allan Poe stories to life. For these films, in my All-Time Oscars, Corman received three nominations for Best Director: in 1960 for House of Usher, in 1961 for The Pit and the Pendulum, and in 1963 for The Haunted Palace. In 1961, he won Best Director for The Pit and the Pendulum. His contributions to the medium will never be forgotten.

That brings us to the Sherman Brothers. As far as my All-Time Oscars goes, I did not extend the categories through the decades far enough to include songwriting categories during the Shermans’ heyday. Rest assured, they would have dominated. (As a fun bit of trivia, Jason Schwartzman received a Best Supporting Actor nomination for playing Richard Sherman in Saving Mr. Banks.) Last year (also in May), Richard Sherman passed away at the age of ninety-five. His brother, Robert Sherman, died thirteen years ago. Their impact on cinema — especially Disney and children’s entertainment — cannot be understated. Essentially, the Shermans penned the lyrics to millions of childhoods, contributing songs to Disney theme parks and movies alike. Most primarily, they are known for Mary Poppins, in which they wrote both the songs and the score. From there, films like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Jungle Book, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and The Aristocats were enlivened by their work. During a fallow, post-Walt Disney period, the Shermans’ musical talents helped to buoy the studio and the form through to greater longevity. In the landscape of cinema, no one could write catchier songs that defined the careful tones than the Shermans could. They made way for tomorrow today.

Previous Winners: Robert Redford, Richard Curtis, Chadwick Boseman, Emma Watson & Ridley Scott, Emma Thompson & John Williams, Martin Scorsese

Best Scene

Car Crash — Carry-On
Match Point — Challengers
Panic Attack — Inside Out 2
Ninjas in the Bedroom — Self Reliance
“Dancing Through Life” — Wicked

There were so many memorable scenes from 2024, even if it wasn’t the most memorable year for film (aside from being top-heavy). Yet, merit will always be celebrated during this tradition, from the thrilling ending of Challengers to the so-good-it-almost-felt-out-of-place-on-Netflix car crash in Carry-On, to the emotional depiction of an all-too-familiar feeling in Inside Out 2, to the stroke of visual promise in Jake Johnson’s newfound directing career, a lot of scenes rocketed through my heart and lodged themselves within me. The best, though, is the dynamic “Dancing Through Life” number from Wicked. I was well-versed in the bigger songs from Wicked, but this one was new to me. It has such high energy and musical fortitude, but it also makes time midway through for an interlude in which Elphaba and Glinda connect on a level that spoke to me in the theater. Modern musicals have not always been the most impressionistic, but this sequence will live forever.

Previous Winners: Thanos Snaps (Avengers: Infinity War), Portals (Avengers: Endgame), Song-Along (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga), “When the Sun Goes Down” (In the Heights), The Hallway (The Fabelmans), “I’m Just Ken” (Barbie)

In the past, I have waited until the end of the year to begin this article and comb through the potential nominees in each category. For 2024, I kept a running list of contenders in each category throughout the year, so as to make the sorting and remembering process easier by the end. I felt like this was a quality approach to the list for two reasons. For one, it helped me streamline the sprawling nature of these articles with less rambling and fewer feelings to figure. For another, it helped to connect me more to the year in film as it was progressing, rather than rushing it all at once by the end. Either way, the approach leads to a similar result: a smattering of specific nominations and gratitude for those who’ve made it this far. Until the eighth edition!

Most Nominations

11 — Challengers

10 — Wicked, Saturday Night

5 — Anora, Babygirl, Blitz, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Inside Out 2, Trap, The Wild Robot

4 — Hit Man, A Real Pain

3 — Carry-On, Here, Self Reliance, Snack Shack

2 — Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Deadpool & Wolverine, The Idea of You, Mean Girls, Moana 2, Nosferatu, The Outrun, Twisters, Will & Harper, Woman of the Hour

1 — All of Us Strangers, Bleeding Love, Civil War, Drive-Away Dolls, Dune: Part Two, The Fall Guy, Federer: Twelve Final Days, Flow, Gladiator II, IF, Jim Henson: Idea Man, Juror #2, Monkey Man, Music by John Williams, Orion and the Dark, Problemista, A Quiet Place: Day One, Steve! (Martin), Y2K

Most Wins

4 — Challengers, Wicked

2 — Anora, A Complete Unknown, The Wild Robot

1 — Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, Hit Man, Inside Out 2, Nosferatu, A Real Pain, Will & Harper, Woman of the Hour