Desk of Contents
UPDATE: Feb. 22, 2025, 5:00 a.m. EST This text has been up to date with the most recent streaming particulars for “Anora,” “The Brutalist,” “A Complete Unknown,” and “Wicked.”
In one other yr of outrageous cinema, 10 movies made the reduce within the Academy’s eyes to earn spots on the Finest Image Oscar nominations listing. We discovered narrowing the greatest motion pictures of the yr all the way down to solely 10 to be downright not possible, opting as an alternative for a high 25 listing, so it comes as no shock that there are many snubs this yr (zero nominations for Challengers? Critically?).
Regardless that we’re a bit disenchanted a couple of of our favorites did not make the listing, those that managed to nab the nomination are definitely value a watch.
If you would like to rise up to this point on the perfect movies of the yr (not less than by the Academy’s requirements), we have rounded up how one can watch all 10. Queue ’em up for a film marathon that is positive to be phenomenal. We’ll replace the small print as extra of the movies make their method from the theater to the small display.
Anora
Anora, winner of the Palme d’Or on the 2024 Cannes Movie Pageant and Mashable’s favourite movie of the yr, is a Cinderella story that does not fairly go the best way you’d anticipate. “Anora is magnificently alive,” Mashable’s reviewer writes, including that it is “as bold as it is brilliant.” It is no shock to us that not solely did it nab a Finest Image nomination on the 2025 Oscars, but in addition 5 extra nominations, together with Finest Director, Finest Lead Actress, Finest Supporting Actor, Finest Authentic Screenplay, and Finest Movie Enhancing.
What’s it about?
“In a star-making turn, Mikey Madison (Scream 5) stars as a sex worker whose professional relationship with a young Russian client swiftly swings into a quickie wedding in Vegas. But [Sean] Baker, who’s made a career out of compelling films centered on the rich inner lives of sex workers, isn’t offering a sloppy retread of Pretty Woman. When cronies come banging on the mansion door, it’s up to Anora to fight for the future she wants.” — Kristy Puchko, Movie Editor
Learn Mashable’s evaluate of Anora.
How you can watch it: Stream it on Hulu starting March 17
Nonetheless in choose theaters throughout the nation, Anora is offered to lease or buy at on-line retailers like Prime Video and Apple TV+ as of Dec. 17. It is also set to make its streaming debut on Hulu on March 17, 2025. Hulu is among the most beneficiant streamers for newbies with a 30-day free trial. Subscriptions then begin at $9.99 per thirty days, however you possibly can save 16% in the event you go for the annual plan as an alternative.
The Brutalist
“A towering paean to the American dream,” as our reviewer wrote, The Brutalist clocked in at quantity 17 on our listing of the perfect movies of 2024. Directed by Brady Corbet, it is also one of the vital prominently featured movies this awards season, with 10 Oscar nominations, together with Finest Image. It already nabbed the Golden Globe for the Finest Image – Drama class, and regardless of igniting recent dialog round using AI, it is a favourite to take dwelling the Academy Award as properly.
What’s it about?
“The film, arresting from its first frames, spends three-and-a-half engrossing hours on the tale of László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a fictitious Jewish Hungarian architect and survivor of the Holocaust, whose arrival in America yields both rigorous struggle and tempting opportunity. It embodies the kind of American epics no longer really made by Hollywood studios. All the while, the film also explores the fraught corners of post-World War II Jewish identity in the West.” — Siddhant Adlakha, Movie Critic
Learn Mashable’s evaluate of The Brutalist.
How you can watch it: Purchase it on digital
As of Feb. 18, you possibly can buy The Brutalist at digital on-demand retailers like Prime Video and Apple TV for $19.99. It’ll even be accessible to lease at a later date. There isn’t any official streaming launch particulars but, however as an A24 movie, we anticipate it to make its debut on Max alongside different A24 theatrical releases within the coming month or so.
A Full Unknown
It is laborious to get excited over yet one more biopic, however the opinions of A Full Unknown — which sees Timothée Chalamet embrace his internal Bob Dylan — have been surprisingly constructive. Not solely has the Dylan biopic nabbed a nomination for Finest Image, but in addition Finest Tailored Screenplay, Finest Costume Design, and Finest Sound. James Mangold can be nominated for Finest Director, Chalamet for Finest Lead Actor, and Edward Norton and Monica Barbaro for his or her supporting roles.
What’s it about?
A Full Unknown follows Bob Dylan’s (Chalamet) rise to fame within the early ’60s, charting his beginnings as a people singer within the New York music scene. “But once Dylan hits his groove, the film launches forward several years to 1965, when he’s an established megastar whose emerging interest in electric guitar threatens to outrage his fanbase at the Newport Folk Festival, and his early allies.” — KP
Learn Mashable’s evaluate of A Full Unknown.
How you can watch it: Purchase it on digital
Whereas it is nonetheless in choose theaters, A Full Unknown is formally set to make its at-home debut on digital retailers like Prime Video and Apple TV on Feb. 25. You’ll buy it in your digital assortment for $29.99 to begin, although the value will finally drop to $19.99. As a Searchlight Footage movie, we anticipate it to make its streaming debut on Hulu at a later, unknown date.
Conclave
Directed by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Entrance) and set amid the halls of the Vatican, the psychological thriller Conclave made our listing of the greatest motion pictures of 2024. Two-time Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes leads a star-studded forged, which incorporates Stanley Tucci as Cardinal Bellini, John Lithgow as Cardinal Tremblay, Sergio Castellitto as Cardinal Tedesco, and Isabella Rossellini as Sister Agnes. It is no shock to us that the Vatican-set story earned a nod for Finest Image at this yr’s Oscars. It additionally scored nominations for Lead Actor, Supporting Actress, Tailored Screenplay, Costume Design, Authentic Rating, Movie Enhancing, and Manufacturing Design.
What’s it about?
“In the sacred halls of the Vatican, the Catholic church’s most revered leaders gather together for a series of secret votes to determine who among them will be God’s representative on Earth. And as dean of the conclave, Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Fiennes) is tasked not only with keeping things running smoothly but also sussing out what skeletons lie in the closets of the contenders.” — KP
Mashable High Tales
Learn Mashable’s evaluate of Conclave.
How you can watch: Stream it on Peacock
As a Focus Options movie, Conclave made its streaming debut on Peacock again in December. A Peacock Premium subscription will run you $7.99 per thirty days with adverts or $13.99 per thirty days with out adverts. In fact, you can even lease or buy the movie at digital retailers like Prime Video for as little as $5.99.
Dune: Half Two
A popular culture phenomenon, Dune: Half Two dominated the field workplace in 2024 with over $714 million globally. The Denis Villeneuve-directed movie — which brings again Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, and Stellan Skarsgård and provides Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Christopher Walken, and Léa Seydoux — “swings bigger and often hits harder, soaring beyond even the epic highs of its predecessor,” in accordance with Mashable’s Belen Edwards. It cracked the highest 10 of our favourite movies listing of 2024 and has earned 5 Oscar nominations, together with Finest Image.
What’s it about?
“Dune: Part Two continues the story of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), who finds himself among the planet Arrakis’ indigenous Fremen. There he becomes entangled in the impossible position of hoping to avenge the Harkonnens’ attack on his house, while also trying to avoid a future in which he unleashes holy war upon the universe.” — Belen Edwards, Leisure Reporter
Learn Mashable’s evaluate of Dune: Half Two.
How you can watch it: Stream it on Max or Netflix
The second installment of the sci-fi franchise began streaming on Max in Could of 2024, alongside Dune: Half One. Max subscriptions begin at $9.99 per thirty days with adverts. As of January 2025, Half Two can be accessible to stream on Netflix. Subscriptions begin at simply $7.99 per thirty days with adverts. You may as well lease or buy the movie on Prime Video and different digital retailers for as little as $3.99.
Emilia Pérez
“Jacques Audiard’s gaudy, star-studded Cannes winner is stirring and surprisingly philosophical,” writes Adlakha. It stars Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz in a musical transgender fashionable cartel saga. Whereas it did not make our high movies of 2024 listing, it managed to attain essentially the most Oscar nominations of any movie, together with Finest Image, Director, Lead Actress, Supporting Actress, Tailored Screenplay, Cinematography, Authentic Rating, Sound, Authentic Music (x2), Movie Enhancing, Worldwide Characteristic Movie, and Make-up and Hairstyling.
What’s it about?
“Emilia Pérez centers on the intertwining stories of four women in Mexico. Chief among them is transgender cartel leader Emilia (Gascón), who asks lawyer Rita (Saldaña) to help her fake her own death so she can undergo gender-affirming surgery and live as her true self.” — BE
Learn Mashable’s evaluate of Emilia Pérez.
How you can watch it: Stream it on Netflix
Initially premiering on the Cannes Movie Pageant in June of 2024, Emilia Pérez made its streaming debut on Netflix again in November. The most cost effective Netflix subscription will value you $7.99 per thirty days, however you may should endure some adverts alongside the best way. Don’t desire adverts? The value jumps as much as $17.99 per thirty days as an alternative.
I am Nonetheless Right here
In a shock by the Academy, worldwide function I am Nonetheless Right here earned three Oscar nods, together with Finest Image, after its star Fernanda Torres received the Golden Globe for her main function. Primarily based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s memoir of the identical identify, the Walter Salles-directed Brazilian drama has an impeccable 95 % critic score and 99 % viewers score on Rotten Tomatoes. It is the underdog of the Finest Image class.
What’s it about?
I am Nonetheless Right here follows the heartbreaking real-life story of Eunice Paiva (Torres), whose husband Rubens disappears by the hands of the Brazilian army dictatorship within the early Seventies. The lonely and horrifying battle to be taught the reality and preserve her household collectively transforms her into an activist, lawyer, and hero.
How you can watch it: See it in theaters
I am Nonetheless Right here simply made its theatrical debut on Jan. 17, 2025. That is at present the one option to watch the movie, though we’re anticipating it to make its digital debut quickly at retailers like Apple TV and Prime Video. Keep tuned.
Nickel Boys
Cracking the highest three of our greatest movies of the yr listing, Nickel Boys is an “exquisite, powerful adaptation” of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the identical identify. As Adlakha writes in his evaluate for Mashable, the transferring movie a couple of violent reform faculty in Sixties Florida is actually transformative. Thus, it’s no shock that it earned nominations for each Finest Image and Finest Tailored Screenplay at this yr’s Oscars.
What’s it about?
“The film, like the novel, follows 16-year-old Elwood Curtis (Ethan Herisse), a promising teen from Tallahassee who lives with his grandmother, Hattie (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), and navigates the Jim Crow-era South. On his way to a technical college for advanced classes, the high schooler finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, leading to false charges of theft and internment at the Nickel Academy, an isolated juvenile home on a sprawling estate that presents itself as a place of hard work and reform.
A young adherent of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Elwood’s idealism quickly clashes with Nickel’s harsh reality of segregation and corporal punishment. However, he also finds guidance and companionship in Turner (Brandon Wilson), a fellow student hailing from Houston whose more upbeat demeanor and slick survival tips exist in close proximity to his own fears of the school’s ruthless staff.” — SA
Learn Mashable’s evaluate of Nickel Boys.
How you can watch it: Stream it on MGM+ starting Feb. 28
An Amazon MGM Studios movie, Nickel Boys is at present solely accessible to watch in theaters. Nevertheless, it’s anticipated to make its streaming debut on MGM+ on Feb. 28. That offers you simply sufficient time to observe it earlier than the Academy Awards air on March 2. MGM+ gives a free seven-day trial, then prices $6.99 per thirty days for subscribers. Nevertheless, in the event you want to watch Nickel Boys earlier than the tip of February, it’s going to even be accessible to lease or buy on digital quickly — keep tuned.
The Substance
French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance earned spot quantity 15 on our listing of the perfect motion pictures of 2024, regardless of our divided workers. Half physique horror romp and half Hollywood ageism satire, it stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid and is among the most shocking hits of the yr. Its ugly imagery shocked and awed critics and managed to nab not solely the Finest Image nomination on the Oscars but in addition 4 others — an enormous feat for a horror flick.
What’s it about?
“Demi Moore stars as Elisabeth Sparkle, an actress whose star is fading as she ages, and heartless Hollywood execs (exemplified by a shellfish-chomping Quaid) hunger for young beauties and fresh blood. So when a miracle drug allows her to split her life with a perky younger model of herself (Drive-Away Dolls‘ Qualley), she leaps on the likelihood. However the brutal value it takes is ugly.” — KP
Learn Mashable’s evaluate of The Substance.
How you can watch it: Stream it on Mubi
The Substance made its streaming debut on Mubi on Oct. 31, 2024, which is not any shock contemplating it‘s a Mubi unique movie. A high quality streaming service constructed for cinephiles, Mubi’s library is brimming with the perfect of worldwide cinema. Subscriptions begin at $14.99 per thirty days, however you’re going to get a seven-day free trial to check issues out. You may as well decide to lease or buy The Substance from digital retailers like Prime Video and Apple TV for as little as $5.99.
Depraved
What’s there to say about Depraved that hasn’t already been mentioned? It could not have made our listing of the perfect movies of 2024, but it surely did handle to earn the respect and admiration of the Academy with 10 nominations (together with Finest Image). Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande star because the green-skinned, magically gifted Elphaba and her pink-loving polar reverse bestie Glinda within the movie adaptation of the basic 2003 Broadway musical starring Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth. If the 95 % score on Rotten Tomatoes is any indication, audiences are loving it, though our personal movie critic writes that it is “tainted by gray disillusionment, telegraphing the film’s climactic reveals.”
What’s it about?
An adaptation of the Tony award-winning Broadway musical, which is an adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Depraved: The Life and Instances of the Depraved Witch of the West, Depraved tells the backstory of the green-skinned, misunderstood Elphaba, aka the Depraved Witch of the West, in addition to the favored and privileged Glinda the Good. The witches meet as college students at Shiz College within the Land of Ozand embark on a journey from loathing to unexpectedly deep friendship. Half one of many two-part saga finally questions, “Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?”
Learn Mashable’s evaluate of Depraved.
How you can watch it: Stream it on Peacock starting March 21
Depraved made its at-home debut on digital-on-demand retailers like Prime Video, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Residence on Dec. 31. It is now set to make its streaming debut on Peacock, the streaming service owned by NBCUniversal, on March 21. Peacock subscriptions begin at $7.99 per thirty days with adverts and $13.99 per thirty days with out, though there are a couple of completely different methods it can save you in your subscription.
