2026 AMPAS Best Picture Nominees - Initial thoughts, trailers, and other miscellany

    Every year, my husband Chris and I try to watch all of the AMPAS Best Picture Nominees and review, rate, and rank them prior to the awards ceremony, which is on March 15, 2026. Here are this year's nominees.

    Note: The movie title/headings will take you to the IMDb page for that movie.

Bugonia 

Tagline: "Two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth."

    Yeah, Emma Stone (star) and Yorgos Lanthimos (director) like both working together, and making weird movies (like the brilliant, imaginative, and somewhat obscene Poor Things two years ago), and this movie seems entirely on-brand for those two.  My prediction, not having seen, nor knowing anything about it ... she probably IS an Alien.  Available on streaming (Prime, etc.).

 

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F1: The Movie 

Tagline: "A Formula One driver comes out of retirement to mentor and team up with a younger driver."

    The only thing I knew about this movie was that it was abut Formula One racing, and that it has father-son-type relationship in it.   Looks like Top Gun on wheels, which means I'll probably like it well enough, even though I'm uninterested in racing. Available on streaming (Prime, etc.).

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Frankenstein

Tagline: "Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist, brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation."

    Years ago, I saw the Guillermo del Toro exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the man loves Frankenstein so much that he has a bunch of Frankenstein sculptures, drawings, and other art in his house. It's safe to say that he loves (is obsessed with?) Mary Shelley's book, so I'm rather excited to see this one, as there is no worthy movie version. Hopefully, that is about to change. Available on streaming (Netflix)

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Hamnet

Tagline: "After losing their son Hamnet to plague, Agnes and William Shakespeare grapple with grief in 16th-century England. A healer, Agnes must find strength to care for her surviving children while processing her devastating loss."

    I adore movies that show how real life influences Shakespeare's plays (Shakespeare in Love, I'm looking at you!). This one looks to be more tragic, as it depicts the death of Shakespeare's real-life son, Hamnet, and how it may have influenced what many consider Shakespeare's greatest tragedy, Hamlet. It also seems to be more about Shakespeare's wife Anne/Agnes, which is nice because she's often overlooked in favor of her more famous husband.  In theaters, and not yet available on streaming.

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Marty Supreme

Tagline: "Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness."  

    It appears to be an underdog movie about ... ping-pong?   The third movie in a row that Timothee Chalamet starred in a Best Picture-nonimated movie. In theaters and available for pre-order on streaming.

***

One Battle After Another

Tagline: "When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue the daughter of one of their own."  

    I know nothing about this movie, other than it's got Leonardo DiCaprio in it (shrug). Available on streaming (Prime, etc.)

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The Secret Agent

Tagline: "In 1977, a technology expert flees from a mysterious past and returns to his hometown of Recife in search of peace. He soon realizes that the city is far from being the refuge he seeks." 

Last year's Portuguese-language nominee wasn't available on streaming before the Oscar ceremony, and I never got around to seeing it, so when I realized this was another movie out of Brazil, it seemed like the Cosmic Movie Gods were shaking their finger at me in reprimand. This movie looks like a lot of fun - it's a crime drama/thriller with some comic elements (it's a work of fiction set against the backdrop of the Brazilian military dictatorship of the 1970s), but it'll still be a lot of work to watch with subtitles. In theaters and available for pre-order on streaming.

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Sentimental Value

Tagline: "An intimate exploration of family, memories, and the reconciliatory power of art."

    This looks to be a movie about a movie-maker who neglected his children in favor of his art.  I'm a fan of Stellan Skarsgård, so I'm looking forward to it. The movie appears to be in Norwegian (odd as Skarsgård is Swedish) and English. Available on streaming (Prime, etc.).

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Sinners

Tagline: "Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back."

    Another partnership between Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan (both of Marvel's Black Panther), and this one is getting a lot of buzz, with a record-breaking sixteen nominations.  It appears to be a horror movie (the only horror movie to ever win best picture is The Silence of the Lambs, which I contend is one of the finest horror movies ever made), mixing 1930s-era Jim Crow, Southern Gothic elements, Blues ... and vampires?  It looks just scary enough that I'll watch it on a weekend during daylight hours. Available for streaming (Prime, etc.).

***

Train Dreams

Tagline: "Based on Denis Johnson's beloved novella, Train Dreams is the moving portrait of Robert Grainier, a logger and railroad worker who leads a life of unexpected depth and beauty in the rapidly-changing America of the early 20th Century."

    This feels similar to A River Runs Through It, which is an excellent coming-of-age movie. This seems just as beautiful, too, though it looks like it is more about the other end of life, the regret for the passage of time, the losses, and a changing world.  It's also got William H. Macy, who is always great. Available on streaming (Netflix).

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    Unusually, I know very little about this year's best-picture movies, and I'm going into most of them nearly blind, and I've nearly always had great experiences when that was the case.  The only exception is Frankenstein, as I've read the novel and seen a play (a sequel of sorts to the story) and at least one different movie version. 

Some initial cross-movie trends:

• Timothee Chalamet has starred in three Best Picture-nominated movies in the last two years (Marty Supreme, Dune II, and A Complete Unknown). He has been nominated for Best Actor for two of those (Marty Supreme and A Complete Unknown)
• There are 6 period-setting movies: Frankenstein (1800s), Hamnet (early1600s), Marty Supreme (1950s), The Secret Agent (1970s), Sinners (1930s), and Train Dreams (early 1900s).
• There are 4 modern-setting movies: Bugonia, F1, One Battle After Another, and Sentimental Value.
• There are 2 movies with languages other than English for some or all of the movie: Sentimental Value (some English and some Norwegian), and The Secret Agent (Portuguese).

    Enjoy!