We Watched All The Oscar Nominated Movies & Here's What We Really Think

Past Lives is the type of movie that you’ll want to keep going back to when in the mood for a wholesome romance that is grounded in reality. An intricate movie about how past love is not always here to haunt you. It’s a story about two childhood friends who fail to act on the spark they feel growing up; weaving a story of understanding, maturity and the reminiscence of old love. Celine Song’s visuals with Greta Lee’s skills will make you remember the movie not just for its portrayal of what it looks like when your past comes to visit you but also how your present self can deal with it. Past lives stays with you, makes you think and reminds you that moving on is not hardest part in a heartbreak.

IMDB Rating: 7.9/10

Nominations: 2

Wins: 0

With 11 Oscar nominations and 4 wins, Poor Things feels like you’re watching art. It might make you feel uncomfortable at times, but that’s what art does. Emma Stone’s performance is pure brilliance, and she rightly deserves her Oscar win for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Poor Things is unique when it comes to the story, costumes, and the set. The story revolves around Bella, who is subjected to an experiment where her brain has been replaced with her unborn child’s. The movie is about discovering oneself in a distinctive way.

IMDb Rating: 8.1/10

Nominations: 11

Wins: 4

Twenty minutes into the movie we had a sneaky suspicion that this’ll be a French movie with no ending and (almost) hate-watched the rest of the two odd hours. But boy were we in for a surprise, a slow burn, the plot essentially follows a woman who has been accused of her husband’s death with only her partially blind son as an unreliable witness. It’s a gripping thriller that might as well also pass off as a family drama. Sandra Huller did beyond well with a performance that left us feeling what she was feeling and what she wanted us to feel. If you’re a fan of courtroom dramas mixed in with the spice of a light whodunit, then don’t miss this one. What we also loved was the use of languages, the stunning French countryside, and characters that were communicatively challenged but did most of the heavy lifting like the dog and the son, of course. 

IMDb Rating: 9/10 

Nominations: 5

Wins: 1

Now you’ll say that we love this one because it just swept up a shit ton of Oscars like an hour back, but you know it’s not like us to go with the trend blindly. If I say Oppenheimer was the best movie of the year, I firmly stand by it just like the real Oppenheimer's belief that he only accidentally created a bomb that could ruin the world two times over. 

Directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer is a magnanimous movie that will have you transfixed throughout. The plot line follows the journey of J Robert Oppenheimer — father of the atomic bomb and the making of them during World War II that eventually ended the war, and also led to his prosecution. 

Get ready to cheer a bit whenever you spot your favourites Robert Downey Jr, Flourence Pough, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, and Rami Malek on screen but we bet you’ll do the most for Cillian Murphy who even though at times looked like it was a Peaky Blinders crossover, absolutely ATE and of course deserved winning Best Actor.

IMDb Rating: 8.4/10 

Nominations: 13

Wins: 7

Bradley Cooper came to direct, star and co-write ‘Maestro’, and left us all in awe of his skills, just like always. Maestro is a depiction of the musical conductor Leonard Bernstein’s complicated and unconventional interpersonal relationships (nope, this isn’t a spoiler). With a spotlight on Bernstein’s nearly three decade-long marriage to Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan), the film moves through the waves of ups and downs the couple goes through due to the complications in Bernstein’s life which eventually take a toll on his professional pursuits as well. The trouble in paradise phenomenon isn't something we haven’t witnessed being turned into a film before but what holds this movie together are the extraordinary performances by the cast. The screenplay could have been a tad better (something you would expect from a movie that has roped Steven Spielberg as a producer) and intricately written since there are moments you feel like leaving it midway 'cause it gets boring. But the impeccable performance by Bradley Cooper (probably his best work up till now) and more so, by Carey Mulligan leaves you spellbound (and weeping) by the end.

IMDb Rating: 6.5/10 

Nominations: 7

Wins: 0

Killers of the Flower Moon looked so promising with 10 nominations but landed 0 wins. It seems like Leonardo DiCaprio’s wait for his second Oscar continues. Not to say, the movie doesn’t deserve recognition for absolutely sublime filmmaking. Based on a true story, the movie revolves around the genres of crime, drama, history, and mystery. The story revisits what was referred to as the Osage Reign of Terror, during which several dozen Osage were murdered after the discovery of oil.

IMDb Rating: 7.6/10

Nominations: 10

Wins: 0

The marvel of The Holdovers and of director Alexander Payne is that you immediately feel like you’ve watched the movie. If we were to describe The Holdovers to you, we’d ask you to imagine Christmas Eve, diluted sunlight, cosy socks, and breakfast making the entire house smell of cinnamon and sugar. A blend of coming of age movies and Dead Poet’s Society, with a teenage dirtbag and  grumpy, old, unliked teacher, The Holdovers essentially follows the plot of when a curmudgeonly teacher at a school is assigned to stay on campus during Christmas break to babysit a handful of students who have nowhere to go. He soon forms an unlikely bond with a smart mouth, but damaged troublemaker, and with the school's head cook, a woman who just lost a son in the Vietnam War.It’s funny, it’s warm and what we loved the most is that it didn’t feel like an Oscar-bait movie. 

IMDb Rating: 10/10

Nominations: 5

Wins: 1

Tackling the broader question of whether artists and their art should exist in isolation, through the ingenious point of view of a black writer, American Fiction is a great socio-political satire that leaves you in splits for the most part. With a number of endings and a hint at mise en abyme (movie within a movie), the film questions identity politics toward art and literature, making you question your biased consumption of them. Monk is a frustrated writer trying to break away from the conventional, problematic expectations of being a black writer, only to get the most fame from his most outlandish, stereotypical book, which he wrote ironically. Although you do seem to get the point of the movie pretty early on, it continues to unfold in this two-hour saga, posing a good laugh at the tokenist ‘woke’.  It's a very clever film that is hilarious to watch, with great performances and dialogue and a very real family at the center of it. We thoroughly enjoyed our time watching this.

IMDb Rating: 7.6/10

Nominations: 5

Wins: 1

The first lesson we learn in film writing is that a story’s protagonist must suffer, and this suffering must evoke the audience’s empathy. The Zone of Interest does away with that rule right off the bat – the protagonist of the film is Rudolf Hoss, a German SS commandant, who lives with his family adjacent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. The entire duration of the film made us feel like we were trapped in a deadpan fever-dream, where the house is on fire but everyone at the dinner table is discussing the weather. Let alone empathy, The Zone Of Interest left us feeling alarmed and enraged at how coldly the Hoss family goes by their days, living in abundance against the backdrop of the smoke, ashes and cries. 

What makes the film incredible is not just how it retells the story of the events that occurred with a new narrative, but also how it uses the audio-visual medium itself; it’s an immersive experience unlike anything else. Director Jonathan Glazer shot the film on location at a home near the Auschwitz camp, with cameras and microphones hidden throughout the house while the entire cast enacted different scenes simultaneously in different locations, making it a theatre of the absurd set against the backdrop of the holocaust. The film is a masterclass in sound design, for which it deservedly won the Oscar, along with Best International Film. 

IMDb Rating: 7.6/10

Nominations: 5

Wins: 2

Barbie shattered the box office for many reasons — highest-grossing film of 2023 and marked the first time a solo female director with a $1 billion movie. It received eight Oscar nominations this year, and we love that. The movie revolves around our favourite childhood toy — Barbie — and explores both its positive and negative aspects. While Barbie was created for empowerment, it has been perceived quite differently in the real world. The movie doesn’t necessarily shed new light on this contradiction, but we're elated to see that it evokes feelings of heartwarming nostalgia and reminds us of things that may have taken a backseat in our mind. One of our favourite performances in this movie is by Ken, played by the Ryan Gosling.

IMDb Rating: 6.9/10

Nominations: 8

Wins: 1