The Big Picture · Review · Rankings
January 31, 2025/ 144 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Joanna Robinson
Amanda finally sees 'The Brutalist' and argues it out with Sean, Sean reports back from 'Nosferatu,' and Joanna Robinson joins to power-rank the ten Best Picture nominees a month out from the ceremony.
12 films across 3 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
‘The Brutalist’spoilers throughout
Amanda's first watch against Sean's third. They circle whether a film this ambitious can be great without landing every beat: Adrien Brody's Laszlo Toth as a near-blameless cipher, Guy Pearce walking off with the movie, Amanda's dislike of Felicity Jones, the Carrara set piece, the rape, the dinner-scene wobble, and the epilogue's Holocaust-memorial reveal. Amanda gave it 4.5 stars; Sean calls it the year's best despite the flaws.
‘Nosferatu’
Robert Eggers' remake of Murnau's 1922 film. Amanda finds it airtight and sterile, beautiful craft that couldn't keep her awake, though she concedes Lily-Rose Depp's performance is the exception that carries it. Sean, a Witch-era Eggers fan, is stunned it became a $200M-plus hit.
Best Picture Power Rankingswith Joanna Robinson, the second-to-last ranking before the ceremony
New No. 1, up from 4th. Directing/screenplay/editing nods, the misunderstood-male-genius narrative the Academy loves, and likely higher on more ballots than Emilia Pérez. A PGA win would seal it.
Neck-and-neck for the top, buoyed by the international bloc and Netflix's undivided resources, but the Karla Sofía Gascón tweet scandal has done real damage, and nobody on the panel wants it to win.
Sean's No. 1 film of the year and long the front-runner here. Has directing, screenplay and editing, but thin below-the-line support is the tough beat.
The old-school nominee, unscathed by the smear season. Eight nominations, Mangold in Director, and an effective Timothée Chalamet campaign vaulted it up the board.
The crowd-pleaser and likely screenplay winner, but the Director and Stanley Tucci snubs cap it. A second/third-choice magnet for the 10-8 voters.
A body-horror Best Picture nominee is a genre first, something Katie called months early. Too divisive to win, and a Hollywood-about-Hollywood hook that helps at the margins.
Craft everywhere but only editing among the bellwethers; no Director or Writing. Last film to win without those was Grand Hotel. Could take SAG on ensemble alone.
Its screenplay nod signals real support in a weak category; the RaMell Ross Director snub stung. A film common moviegoers find hard to parse.
A Best Picture surprise riding the international vote and Fernanda Torres' Golden Globe. No screenplay, editing or directing, so it sits near the floor.
Everyone's bottom pick despite a great time at the theater. Big below-the-line presence but no Director, Writing or Editing, and an early-year release voters forget.
Also mentioned raised along the way
In the ‘Brutalist’ conversation Vox LuxThe MasterThe ImmigrantThe PianistThe GodfatherThe Godfather Part IIA Real PainChallengersThe Fall GuyFunny GamesWhite NoiseChinatownThe Social NetworkThe King's SpeechInterstellarOppenheimer
Oscar history and precedent NomadlandMoonlightEverything Everywhere All at OnceParasiteCODAThe Power of the DogMankRomaMariaThe Piano LessonThe IrishmanBirdmanGreen BookTitanicBarbieGrand HotelHidden FiguresSing Sing
Around ‘Nosferatu’ Wolf ManThe WitchHorizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Saturday Night Live
Podcasts The Big PictureThe Press BoxHouse of R
Web Johán, Sacre Bleu
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