The 2025 Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 2. This year, here are the movies nominated for Best Picture: “Anora,” “The Brutalist,” “A Complete Unknown,” “Conclave,” “Wicked,” “The Substance,” “Nickel Boys,” “Emilia Perez,” “Dune: Part Two,” and “I’m Still Here.”
“Anora,” a comedy film for mature audiences by Sean Baker, focuses on a young escort who falls in love with Vanya Zakharov, the son of a vacationing Russian oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, the workers for the family and Vanya’s parents intervene.
Many students at Rancho Cucamonga High School have not heard of the movie but are interested in seeing it. Junior Josie Vazquez explained her interest in the film.
“I didn’t watch the movie, but it looks interesting,” Vazquez said.
“The Brutalist” centers on a Hungarian architect and his family fleeing to America to escape postwar Europe. While settling in Pennsylvania, a local industrialist sees his talent and brings him to work for him. Film director, Brady Corbet, took seven years to make the film, and now it has finally come to fruition.
The film has since won three Golden Globes, including Best Film, and is nominated for 10 Academy Awards.
Timothee Chalamet shocked many audiences with his portrayal of Bob Dylan in the movie “A Complete Unknown.” The film explores Dylan’s rise to fame and the impact he left on American music. According to NBC News, Dylan is pleased by Chalamet being chosen for the role. He later expressed his thoughts on X.
“Timmy’s a brilliant actor, so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me,” Dylan posted on X.
The film received eight nominations for the Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor.
“It was genuinely really good,” junior Sebastian Meza said. “I think It was probably the best new movie I’ve seen in a while. They actually did such a good job with it.”
“Conclave,” directed by Edward Berger, is a thriller set in Vatican City. The film focuses on the pope’s death, which leads to a gathering of cardinals to elect a new pope. The stress of the papal election creates tension between the church, creating alliances and tensions that builds suspense and the thirst for power between the characters.
“Conclave” was nominated for eight Academy Awards and has won Best Screenplay at the Golden Globes.
Junior Alejandro De La Cruz thought the movie was great and had a lot of suspense.
“At first, I thought it was boring, but It was really interesting and that’s surprising because I usually don’t watch movies like this,” De La Cruz said.
“The Substance,” a thought-provoking film, explores elements of women in the entertainment industry and identity.
Written and directed by Coralie Fargeat, the movie follows an aging actress, who volunteers herself to an experimental substance that makes her feel young again but struggles to contain control over her own body.
The film is currently nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Screenplay and Best Actress for Demi Moore.
Junior Jorrel Muldong explained what he thought about the film.
“I have mixed feelings about the film, and I thought it was disturbing,” Muldong said.
“Nickel Boys,” a film directed by RaMell Ross, tells the story of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Set in the 1960’s, it focuses on Elwood Curtis who gets sentenced to reformatory school after an incident. During his stay, he meets Turner and starts a friendship. Together they learn to survive in this academy.
Since the movie’s release, it gained two Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Students who saw the film, like Junior, Aveed Maroofi, expressed their appreciation for the movie.
“I really enjoyed this movie and it taught me a lot about what happened during that time,” said Maroofi.
“Emilia Perez” is a French-Mexican musical directed by Jacques Audiard. The film focuses on a Mexican lawyer who helps a powerful cartel boss retire and transition to his life as a woman.
The movie has taken award season by storm as the film now has four Golden Globes, including Best Picture.
The movie also captured students’ attention as well with students on campus like junior, Joshua Saldana.
“First off, who let Sophia Gomez speak Spanish and also I liked the movie most because it was exciting,” Saldana said.
“Dune: Part Two,” a film by Denis Villeneuve, definitely captured audiences in the spring during its release. The film continues the story of Paul Atreides as he navigates through the desert planet, Arrakis. He allies with the Fremen, the native people on the planet to get revenge against the people that destroyed his family. Throughout the film, he must choose between love or saving people from a future only he can see.
Younger audiences showed a lot of love towards the film, even making edits on TikTok and giving it rave reviews online.
“Dune: Part Two” so far has received five Academy Awards nominations and has received a Grammy for Best Soundtrack for Hans Zimmer’s compositions.
Since its release, many people have become fans of the franchise. However, some people did not enjoy the film like junior Precious Gonzalez.
“There was sand everywhere, snooze fest,” Gonzalez said.
“I’m Still Here,” directed by Walter Salles, follows Fernanda Torres as Eunice Paiva, an activist in Brazil during a military dictatorship while dealing with her husband, a politician’s disappearance.
The movie has so far received three Academy Award nominations. Fernanda Torres also won Best Actress in a drama motion picture.
“It was interesting in the beginning and then confusing at the end,” Bola Hakim said.
“Wicked,” a film by John. M. Chu is an adaptation of the famous musical “Wicked” that tells the story of the friendship between Elphaba, the Wicked Witch, and Glinda, the Good Witch. The story delves into their paths and their origins.
“Wicked” won the Cinematic and Box Office Awards Achievement award and has been nominated for ten Academy Awards including Best Picture and Original Score.
Many students on campus thoroughly enjoyed the movie and have expressed their excitement.
“The visuals were stunning and the overall cast was good, but there was an overabundance of musical numbers. But, they were fitting with the scene that they were in,” junior Aaron Villarruel said.
This upcoming Academy Awards is bringing a new diverse range of storytelling and unique plots, and no matter who wins the award for Best Picture, these films will continue to inspire others to make films for years to come.
