Movies 2025 Including Oscar Reflections

250+ Movies/TV Series/Plays/Big News coverage, YouTube documentaries, etc. by the end of the year.

At least one Korean movie per week

At least one Spanish movie every so often

One Bollywood or another foreign language movie every so often

A mixture of thrillers, K Drama, comedies, rom-com, etc.

Make a list of Oscar movies and watch several

Resume going to the theater

Two to three live theater performances

List major news coverage and events

List YouTube documentaries

List Great Courses – do one course per month on average

When traveling to the US, watch ten movies each trip, including one Bollywood, one Spanish, three to four blockbusters, one classic, one comedy

Numerical List

January

NYE coverage
Coverage of Yoon arrest drama
Coverage of Johnson’s election for Speaker
Coverage of NYE terror bombings
Coverage of Trump’s inauguration
Coverage of Korean Air Crash
Coverage of Trump’s first 100 days
CNN/BBC news forecasts for the year
CNN coverage of Trump’s Indictment
CNN coverage of Carter Funeral
CNN coverage of President Trump’s first 100 days
CNN coverage of LA fires
President Biden’s Farewell Adress
Senate confirmation hearings
CNN coverage of Trump’s inaugural address
Marry You? K Rom-com
Arthdal Chronicles (K pre-historical fantasy drama) Season One
Arthdal Chronicles (K pre-historical fantasy drama) Season Two See review
Check in Hangyang (K rom com)
Farscape selected episodes seen half earlier on Amazon – hard to navigate the episode list though watching on Kanopy to finish episodes not seen
Father Brown – will watch more episodes 122 total – too many to watch see review
Allenoid Part One K Sci-Fi Drama
Allenoid Part Two K Sci-Fi Drama
Dog Days K Drama
Back in Action CIA thriller
I Feel Pretty US comedy
Missing Harbin Corbin mini-series
Run On

February

Triangle of Sadness German Satire
Oscars
Hitman K Drama
God Pod ‘ Eggs and up 37 percent and it is only day two of Trump 2.0’
Amazon Bullseye K comedy drama
Scam K Drama
Simple History Secret History of North Korea
Kill Room crime satire – did not finish
Doubt K Drama Series
Superbowl
God Pod Yes, You Are In Hell
The Boys K Drama /
When the Phone Rang
Bogota Lost City K Drama
Silent Project K Drama
News coverage of President Yoon’s trial
You Tube video magnetic pole shifting
You Tube city Nerd on Houston
You Tube City Nerd on high-speed trains coming to America?
Fiery Priest K drama series
God pod “Elon Musk Is A Nazi Nepo Baby” – by Jesus Christ and God
You Tube video – ancient map of America found
Coverage on the DOGE commission and government cutbacks
La dolce villa romcom set in Italy B+
Apple Cider Vinegar – a true story about Belle Gibson case that rocked the international wellness movement in 2017 based on a true story in Australia
Dr Yohan K Medical Drama
Policeman’s Lineage K police drama
Trunk K drama did not finish
Love in the Big City featuring a woman and her gay best friend K drama – the decent movie actually

March

Highway Men – about the taking down of Bonnie and Clyde based on the true story.
Maestro
Farscape Season 1, 2 and 3
State of the Union
Continuing coverage of Korean Impeachment trials
Why Files on the End-of-the-World
Great Course History of the Roman Empire

Oscar List

Oscar nominations 2025: The full list of movies, actors and directors

Find all the nominations below:

Best Picture

Bolded watched

A Complete Unknown

I’m Still Here

‘The Brutalist’

Best Director

Sean Baker – Anora

Brady Corbet – The Brutalist

James Mangold – A Complete Unknown

Jacques Audiard – Emilia Pérez

Coralie Fargeat – The Substance

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Cynthia Erivo – Wicked

Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez

Mikey Madison – Anora

Demi Moore – The Substance

Fernanda Torres – I’m Still Here

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Adrien Brody – The Brutalist

Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown

Colman Domingo – Sing Sing

Ralph Fiennes – Conclave

Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Monica Barbaro – A Complete Unknown

Ariana Grande – Wicked

Felicity Jones – The Brutalist

Isabella Rossellini – Conclave

Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Yura Borisov – Anora

Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain

Edward Norton – A Complete Uknown

Guy Pearce – The Brutalist

Jeremy Strong – The Apprentice

Best Writing (Original Screenplay)

Anora

The Brutalist

A Real Pain

September 5

The Substance

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Emilia Pérez

Nickel Boys

Sing Sing

Best International Feature Film

I’m Still Here

The Girl with the Needle

Emilia Pérez

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Flow

Best Animated Feature Film

Flow

Inside Out 2

Memoir of a Snail

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

The Wild Robot

Best Documentary Feature

Black Box Diaries

No Other Land

Porcelain War

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

Sugarcane

Best Film Editing

Anora

The Brutalist

Conclave

Emilia Pérez

Wicked

Best Cinematography

The Brutalist

Dune: Part 2

Emilia Pérez

Maria

Nosferatu

Best Music (Original Score)

The Brutalist

Conclave

Emilia Pérez

Wicked

The Wild Robot

Best Music (Original Song)

“El Mal” – Emilia Pérez

“The Journey” – The Six Triple Eight

“Like a Bird” – Sing Sing

“Mi Camino” – Emilia Pérez

“Never Too Late” – Elton John: Never Too Late

Best Sound

A Complete Unknown

Dune: Part 2

Emilia Pérez

Wicked

The Wild Robot

Best Visual Effects

Alien: Romulus

Better Man

Dune: Part 2

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Wicked

Best Production Design

The Brutalist

Conclave

Dune: Part 2

Nosferatu

Wicked

‘Conclave’ has received eight Oscar nominations (Philippe Antonello/Focus Features)

Best Costume Design

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Gladiator II

Nosferatu

Wicked

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

A Different Man

Emilia Pérez

Nosferatu

The Substance

Wicked

Best Animated Short Film

Beautiful Men

In the Shadow of the Cypress

Magic Candies

Wander to Wonder

Yuck!

Best Live Action Short Film

A Lien

Anuja

I’m Not a Robot

The Last Ranger

The Man Who Would Not Remain Silent

Documentary Short Film

Death by Numbers

I Am Ready, Warden

Incident

Instruments of a Beating Heart

The Only Girl in the Orchestra

The Oscars at Our House 2025

Has Hollywood lost its way?

Roy Dufrain Jr

Note: Roy is my college housemate. He has been writing an annual list of his Oscar recommendations for over 20 years. I respect his writing and his recommendations. This is the third year I have reposted it.

You can find his work on substack.

the 2024 Oscars According to Roy Dufrain

More Roy Dufrain Writing

Roy Dufrain Updates

guest post by Roy Dufraine

Once again, Mrs D and I have endeavored to see as many Best Picture nominees as possible, given availability and other constraints. We’ve been doing this now for over 20 years. When we started there were still only five nominees. Since 2009, it’s been ten, and this year we saw eight, and I’ll say again, the Academy never should’ve increased the limit. Not just because it’s hard for fans to see them all, but because some of these movies are simply not worthy of the honor. Especially this year!

Still, it’s Oscar time and it’s a tradition here! Pick your favorites, put on your tuxedoes and sparkly gowns (or in our case, your comfiest PJs), kick back with some soda and butter-soaked popcorn, wow or hiss the latest red carpet fashions, jeer or cheer the awkward, fawning interviews, predict the winners, pat yourself on the back when you’re right and blame woke Hollywood when you’re wrong!

Anyway, for what it’s worth, here’s what I thought…

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Anora – A tale of stupid people doing terrible things stupidly. A whole lot of yelling and screwing failed to make this movie interesting. The nearly feral, selfish youth, the servile, bickering and bumbling Armenians, the contemptible ultra-rich Russians, the ‘dancer’ who accepts payment for sex but insists she’s not a hooker. The constant f-bombs. It all seemed over the top—grasping for gritty realism but approaching absurdity. So what.

The Brutalist – A worthy subject, an intriguing and complicated lead character masterfully brought to life by a supremely talented star, an epic arc of struggle and redemption, a span of decades and locations wonderfully rendered visually and in historical references. And yet, I fell asleep. Had to finish the movie the next day. It’s brutally long and slow. Three and a half hours! Couldn’t trim even a half hour out of that? Come on.

A Complete Unknown – Mrs D and I agreed this was easily and by far the best picture of the nominees we saw. I’m not sure it will stand the test of time as a ‘great’ movie, but it was full of great acting. Timothée Chalamet should win best actor for his amazing and mesmerizing recreation of Dylan’s musical performance and presence. Co-stars Monica Barbaro and Edward Norton should win their categories for the same reasons. The evocation of the time period through set design and other techniques was immersive and entertaining. Of the best-pic noms we’ve seen, this is the only one I’m sure I will watch again.

Conclave – I really liked this movie at first. It seemed like a taut, understated political intrigue, with a behind-the-scenes glimpse of a hidden world—the election of a new pope. But I felt let down by the wild twist at the end. Not being a fan of the Catholic Church, I kind of enjoyed the irony of it, but I found the details strained credibility as presented. By chance I had just read an article about the many possible combinations of chromosomes that occur naturally in humans. So I didn’t doubt that, but it seemed so unlikely the person in question would have ever risen to a high position in the Catholic Church, or that any real circumstance could have resulted in the ending of this film. I just didn’t buy it.

Dune Part Two – I read the book so many years ago that I remembered nothing of it. We saw Part One last year and were a bit lost throughout. So, we watched a couple YouTube summary videos, but then we still watched Part One before pushing play on Part Two. We both thought the investment of time paid off. It helped us sink into the films, with their long list of characters and multiple story threads. I’d rank this as the second best of the nominees. Stunning visuals and the kind of classic, epic storytelling that reminds me of Tolkien or Star Wars.

Emilia Pérez – Lots of negative talk about the star of this one—whatever. I’d like to see it, but I don’t have Netflix right now and my wallet is already suffering from subscription fatigue.

I’m Still Here – The trailer for this one looks really interesting, but the film has not been released for streaming as of this date.

Nickel Boys – I’m not sure if the sheer volume of artsy techniques and effects (or affects?) were always in service of the storytelling in this film. It felt overwrought. All the weird shot angles, the square formatting, the ringing headache soundtrack, the time jumping and the gimmicky point of view thing, especially those back of head shots—I found it interesting but distracting, and wondered if anyone in Hollywood can just tell a story anymore.

The Substance – I’m honestly not sure if it’s a comedy gone wrong or a drama gone wrong, but boy did it suck! If it had a point it was made in the first ten minutes and then beat to death for two more hours, and in the most gruesome fashion imaginable. Jesus, how is this nominated for anything?! How did it even get made?! It’s a perfect example of why many people say Hollywood has lost the ability to make great movies.

Wicked – Loved the book! Never saw the play. The movie did not capture the wonder and delight I remember feeling at the ingenuity and thoughtfulness of the book. The set design and effects were impressive, the vocal talent at times astounding. But I couldn’t help feeling like I was watching a bad episode of Glee with all the cliché mean girl vs. Cinderella stuff. Also, a musical ought to leave you humming or singing a chorus or two on your way out the door. Think: If I Were a Rich Man, Papa Can You Hear Me, I Feel Pretty, Don’t Rain on My Parade, on and on. Wicked is more like sung dialogue but not one catchy, hummable tune. Meh.

Honorable Shoutout

A Real Pain – Should have been nominated. Thoughtful and thought provoking, just funny enough to lighten the weight of the relationships on view, among the characters themselves but also between the characters and the history they are interfacing with. And extremely well played by both Jesse Eisenberg and Macaulay Culkin, making these characters feel real and their oddball behavior believable.

Something to Think About

After the news of the great Gene Hackman’s death, Roy Sr, Mrs D and I all watched Unforgiven the other night, and enjoyed it immensely even though we’ve all seen it more than twice. Everything a Best Picture winner ought to be and then some. Not one of the 2024 movies even comes close.

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