As part of my new year’s goals, I’m making an effort to watch as many movies as I possibly can—especially in theaters! I also attempted this goal last year, and as a result I ended up seeing nine of the ten films nominated for Best Picture at the 2026 Academy Awards, as well as a handful of films nominated outside of that category.
Out of the films I saw, my top three are “Sinners,” “Hamnet” and “Marty Supreme.” Though these movies are uniquely different from one another, they all made me and millions of audience members feel distinctly human—whether that was through music, passion, adrenaline, grief or a combination of all four.
“Sinners,” written, directed, and produced by Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan—who plays twins—is a blues-fueled vampire thriller set in the Jim Crow era. Personally, while there were plenty of other amazing scores this year, I don’t see “Sinners” having any true competition in that category (other than perhaps the chart topping soundtrack to “K-Pop Demon Hunters”). In my opinion, Michael B. Jordan and Wunmi Mosaku have near unshakeable footing for winning Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. Those are the categories I’m most confident (or most biased) about this film winning, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see it awarded with Best Original Screenplay, Casting, or Director.
“Hamnet” is adapted from a 2020 New York Times bestseller of the same title, written by Maggie O’Farrell, who co-wrote the script with director Chloe Zhao. Though many may be confused and assume that this is somehow a large-scale mistake in the spelling of William Shakespeare’s infamous play “Hamlet,” the film actually centers around the story of Shakespeare’s family and what led to the creation of his most renowned work, and is titled after his son Hamnet. While this movie had a fantastic score by Max Richter, I don’t see it competing with that of Sinners. Irish actress Jessie Buckley is accompanied in the Best Actress category by powerful performances from actresses Rose Byrne, Renate Reinsve, Emma Stone, and Kate Hudson, but the rawness in her portrayal of Shakespeare’s wife known in this film as Agnes is, in my opinion, unmatched.
The promotion style of “Marty Supreme” was uniquely more alike to an album rollout than traditional advertisement of a film—this can be accredited to Aidan Zamiri, who was also the creative director behind the marketing campaign for Charli xcx’s hit album “Brat” in the summer of 2024. The film, directed and co-written by Josh Safdie and starring Timothee Chalamet, follows Marty Mauser, a charming yet arrogant pingpong star on the rise in 1952. The character is loosely inspired by real-life player Marty Reisman, but the adrenaline-fueled drama is largely an embellished and dramatized fiction of the player. I think this film has the potential to win Best Original Screenplay, Film Editing, and Cinematography. It also wouldn’t surprise me to see Chalamet finally take home a win for his passion-driven third nomination in the Best Actor category.
Though these are the top three films I’d prefer to win Best Picture, I think that it is also quite possible that Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” will take home the grand prize of the night. Including a narrative-haunting performance by Teyana Taylor and a stellar breakout role from Chase Infiniti, the film is highly praised but wasn’t my favorite. Though it earned Leonardo Dicaprio a nomination for Best Actor, I felt that his role was boringly drawn out and heavily overshadowed by his female costars as well as the freakish supporting character played by Sean Penn.
Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” has also earned much attention, featuring heavy-hitters Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth. While I definitely enjoyed the movie, I felt like the first half was nearly useless, and the green-screen vibes went a little too hard. However, I could see Elordi receiving the Best Supporting Actor award for his portrayal of The Creature.
“Sentimental Value” is a soft, heartstring-pulling look into the lives of a pair of Norwegian sisters estranged from their director father, following their troubles reconciling with him. Though this movie was beautiful and touching, it didn’t really do much for me, and compared to the others on the list I don’t see it winning many of its categories. The second foreign film on the list “The Secret Agent” is a twisty criminal mystery set in 1977 Brazil. It was a little long and drawn out for me, but the cast was immensely talented and the music was great!
“Train Dreams” is the final film I watched out of the Best Picture nominees, and while it featured gorgeous cinematography and a contemplative display of grief and loss, I found it pretty boring. “F1” is the only film nominated for Best Picture that I have yet to see.
To conclude, I’m very hopeful for a sweep from “Sinners,” “Hamnet,” and “Marty Supreme” on Sunday, March 15!
