The Snubby Awards: 2025 Oscars

It's that time again: The Snubby Awards!  For those of you who don't know, the Snubby Awards take a look at all of the Best Picture nominees from a given year and determine if the best film won or if another was snubbed.  If that's the case, they win the coveted Snubby Award!

This time we'll be taking a look at the 2025 Oscars, which was a pretty unique set of movies.  I enjoyed all of them to some extent, but that enjoyment was wide ranging.  We go from one of my all-time favorite nominees, to a film that was somehow nominated despite it being a so-bad-it's-good movie, to a film that got only the most mild enjoyment out of me. The nominees were: The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, Emilia Pérez, I'm Still Here, Nickel Boys, The Substance, & Wicked with the winner being Anora.  Did Anora deserve to win or did another movie get snubbed?  Let's find out!

#10. A Complete Unknown

I've discovered that my least favorite type of movie is biopics about musicians.  I've seen quite a few of them now and all of them are mostly the same.  The story is usually painfully boring.  What sets them apart for me is the music and the musician the movie is about.  If I like the singer and their music, I usually enjoy the movie more, like Bohemian Rhapsody.  That movie has a lot of problems, but I really like Queen, so I can at least sit back and enjoy the music.  I am not a Bob Dylan guy, so when this got nominated, I was dreading it.  Luckily, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  At least the movie portrays Bob as a bit of a dick.  I was expecting the movie to make him out to be some sort of hero.  He's just a bit of a dick who doesn't like being told what to do.  Timothée Chalamet and Edward Norton both do a great job and the 3rd act is fun.  Overall, the movie is fine.  If you like Bob Dylan, you'll probably like it more than I did.

 6/10: Okay 

#9. Emilia Pérez

I'm utterly fascinated by this movie and continue to be baffled by how it got any nominations, let alone 13.  As far as I know, this is the first so-bad-it's-good movie to ever be nominated for Best Picture, which is quite the accomplishment.  It follows a lawyer who helps the head of drug cartel fake her death so she can fully transition into a woman.  Plus it's a musical.  The entire time I was watching this movie, I couldn't look away.  I was fully engaged, but it wasn't for the right reasons.  Everything felt off and it may have the worst music I've ever heard in a musical.  It's an utterly bizarre film, and that's even before I learned about all the controversy around the film.  It takes place mostly in Mexico, but it was filmed in France with a French team.  Only one of the actors is actually from Mexico, apparently most of the cast has pretty bad accents, and it seems like the entirety of Mexico and the transgender community was offended by the film and hate it.  Not to mention the controversy around lead actress Karla Sofía Gascón.  There's so much going on here, most of it bad, but all of it fascinating.  I understand why people hate this movie, but I really enjoyed watching it, but probably not for the reasons the filmmakers intended.

 7/10: Entertaining Mess 

#8. The Brutalist

The Brutalist follows the story of a Jewish-Hungarian architect and Holocaust survivor who emigrates to America and tries to build a new life for himself.  This one is a damn shame.  There's a lot to love here with amazing performances, cinematography, and music.  I do think the movie is too long, but that's not the main problem.  They used AI to fine-tune the accents of the actors.  I don't care how minimal the actual use of AI ended up being, don't use it to make movies.  I would have gotten into more of the film, but I won't because of the stain of AI.  Don't use AI for art.

 8/10: Really Good 

#7. I'm Still Here

This film is a biopic of Eunice Paiva, who I was not familiar with going in.  During the military dictatorship in Brazil, Eunice's husband disappeared and the movie follows Eunice's attempts to find out what happened to her husband while still taking care of all of her children.  After I finished watching the film, I immediately jumped on the Internet to read about the Brazilian military dictatorship.  This was something I knew virtually nothing about.  It was a fascinating read and I'll give the movie a lot of credit for getting me so interested.  The movie itself is led by a fantastic performance by Fernanda Torres who absolutely kills this role.  If she hadn't been up against Mikey Madison and Demi Moore, she could have gotten Best Actress for sure.  The film is subtle, tense, and very timely, but I do think the time skip is jarring.

 8/10: Really Good 

#6. Conclave

A thriller set during the Catholic Church's election of the next pope, Conclave manages to give the subject matter some serious stakes thanks to some fantastic performances.  It really does a great job ramping up the tension, especially because I didn't think I would become invested in the outcome.  I read that people compared the politics and drama of this movie to something you would see on RuPaul's Drag Race, especially with all the ornate costumes.  That thought is hilarious and accurate.  All-in-all, this is just a really enjoyable thriller that I'm sure pissed some people off quite a bit.  Another hilarious thought.

 9/10: Great 

#5. Nickel Boys

Nickel Boys follows two young, black boys who are sent to a brutal, Jim Crow-era, reform school.  It goes about as well as you'd expect.  The cinematography is a major highlight of the film, with it mostly being shot point-of-view.  Think a found footage movie minus the camera.  Ethan Herisse and especially Brandon Wilson give excellent performances and both bring the movie a very distinct point of view.  The editing is fascinating as well and tells the story in a very unique way.  There's a ton of symbolism here that I can't even pretend to understand all of.  I'd love to watch this again with some director commentary.  After one watch, I definitely did not get all there is to get out of this film.     

 9/10: Great 

#4. Dune: Part Two

The continuing story of Paul Atreides as he goes to war with the enemies of his House.  The previous Dune movie was very well made, but I honestly preferred David Lynch's 1984 adaptation, just because Lynch's version is so weird, it got me more invested than Denis Villeneuve did in his first movie.  But I have to admit, this is the best Dune movie.  The second half of Lynch's movie definitely feels rushed and misses the point of the original book.  Villeneuve is able to give this part of the story the tender love and care it deserves and really explores Paul Atreides' role as a dark messiah rather than a straightforward hero.  It's a long movie, but it flies by because it's so compelling.  The 3rd act is especially epic and one of my favorite sci-fi/action sequences of all time.  I can't wait for the 3rd movie!

 9/10: Great 

#3. Wicked

A film adaptation of the Broadway play, Wicked gives us the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West and her friendship with Galinda, the Good Witch.  I had never seen Wicked on stage, so I really didn't know what to expect from this movie going in.  All I knew was that the two main characters were shown as much more complex than they were in The Wizard of Oz.  Wow, what a ride.  The performances of Cynthia Erivo and Arianna Grande are nothing short of spectacular.  I truly believe Grande was snubbed from winning Best Supporting Actress.  The music and their relationship really elevate the movie into defying gravity, except for the dance club scene, which didn't quite land for me.  However, the rest of the movie more than makes up for that.  What really pushes the movie over the top for me is when we meet Jeff Goldblum's Wizard of Oz.  He's perfect in the role and when he delivers the line about giving people a common enemy, I will never forget how cold my blood went in the theater.  I wasn't expecting this movie to get so terrifying.  I have no idea what happens in the sequel and I can't wait to find out.

 9/10: Great 

And now for the Top 2 movies in no particular order.

Anora

Our Best Picture winner follows a stripper who ends up getting married to the son of a wealthy Russian family.  From the trailer, I was expecting this movie to be kind of a typical, Cinderella rom-com.  The first act of the movie is pretty much exactly that and exactly what I expected.  The rest of the movie was nothing like I expected as some of the most memorable goons in cinematic history get involved.  I can't think of the last time I witnessed this level of buffoonery.  This movie gets utterly ridiculous in the funniest way possible.  I was laughing so hard I was crying.  The performances are pitch perfect across the board and I completely understand why not only this movie won Best Picture, but Mikey Madison won Best Actress.  Completely worthy and deserving winners.

 10/10: Amazing 

The Substance

Body horror is one of my favorite genres and witnessing a body horror movie be nominated for Best Picture makes me so happy.  The Substance follows an aging actress played by Demi Moore, who ends up taking an experimental drug called The Substance.  It creates a younger copy of her and she has to switch between the two bodies every week.  It doesn't take long for the balance to get out of whack.  I freaking love this movie and am tickled pink to see it get so much recognition.  It's a disgusting, gnarly, over-the-top, monster of a movie.  It feels like it was made specifically for me, that's how much I love it.  Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid all give perfect performances.  There's so much to analyze here and Moore gives my favorite bit of acting in all of 2024 as she tries and fails to get ready for a date.  Coralie Fargeat's direction and editing give the film so much life and energy, not to mention the excellent cinematography and music.  Best of all is the gore.  So good and so gross.  I can't understate how much I love it, especially the utterly insane finale.

 10/10: Amazing 

And the Snubby Award goes to...!

  

The Substance!  Nothing was ever going to beat The Substance for me.  It was just too far up my alley and I love it so much.  However, Anora was shockingly close to being my favorite.  It's a game of inches between the two of them and I totally understand and respect Anora and Mikey Madison winning.  I think Anora is far more appealing to a wider audience than The Substance.  That's not meant to be insulting either.  The Substance is a more niche movie by virtue of it's genre.  Technically, The Substance got snubbed and wins The Snubby, but I'm not mad at all Anora won.  Both are fantastic movies.

Next time we'll be looking at the 1995 Oscars.  Did Forrest Gump deserve to win or did another movie get snubbed?  Stay tuned!