Help us pick the best picture. Vote with Paste BN's Movie Meter
Most fans will never get a chance to choose best picture at the Oscars. Now we’re giving you a vote with the inaugural Paste BN Movie Meter.
Ten movies are vying for the top prize at the 97th Academy Awards on March 2, hosted by Conan O’Brien on ABC and Hulu (7 p.m. ET/4 PT). There’s a little bit of everything for everyone, from a papal thriller to a gonzo horror film, and we want to hear what the American public thinks is the true best picture. That’s where you come in. Watch the movies (most of them are on streaming services or on demand if you need to catch up) and then rate them from 1 to 5. The first Movie Meter winner will be announced the day after the Oscars on The TODAY Show and at moviemeter.usatoday.com. Vote and have your cinematic tastes heard! Here are the 10 nominated films and how Paste BN rated them.
'Anora'
A tragicomedy with a screwball center, Sean Baker’s bittersweet fable "Anora" stars Mikey Madison as 23-year-old New York exotic dancer Ani, who falls for her newest client, Russian oligarch’s son Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn). They elope to Vegas, his parents don’t approve and a bunch of goons are sent to annul the marriage. Vanya runs off and Ani gets stuck tracking him down alongside a quiet, caring henchman (Yura Borisov) in a stirring Cinderella story of hope and human connection. Paste BN movie critic Brian Truitt describes it as “entertainingly confident but tonally dissonant”: ★★★ (out of four)
'The Brutalist'
Director Brady Corbet's rich historical epic takes a hard look at the immigrant experience and what happens when the "American dream" is held just out of arm's length. In "The Brutalist" a Hungarian Jewish architect (Adrien Brody) lands in Pennsylvania after the Holocaust, where he winds up working for an industrialist (Guy Pearce) as he tries to bring his wife (Felicity Jones) over from Europe. It’s a remarkably honest drama about our history and the human way we manage to create beauty out of tragedy. Paste BN movie critic Brian Truitt hails it as 2024’s best movie: ★★★★ (out of four)
'A Complete Unknown'
Whether unplugged or electric, Timothée Chalamet hits all the right notes in "A Complete Unknown" – singing, playing guitar and blowing on harmonica, no less – as Bob Dylan. Directed by James Mangold (“Walk the Line”), the music biopic chronicles the enigmatic icon’s early years in the 1960s, rising quickly in the New York music scene. He finds chemistry on and off stage with Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), befriends Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook) and goes to war with the folk establishment as the times change around him. Paste BN movie critic Brian Truitt calls it “an entertaining and magnetic watch”: ★★★½ (out of four)
'Conclave'
Who would have figured the election of a pope could be this much of a potboiler? Ralph Fiennes stars in the thriller "Conclave" as Cardinal Lawrence, a man navigating his own crisis of faith when the holy father dies and he has to lead the meeting of peers to elect a new one. A stressful situation turns worse as Lawrence, with the help of a nun (Isabella Rossellini), investigates the previous pope’s mysterious death and various candidates vie for power in a white-knuckle, thought-provoking affair. Paste BN movie critic Brian Truitt calls it “a scintillating, white-knuckle affair”: ★★★★ (out of four)
'Dune: Part Two'
If Timothée Chalamet as a music legend doesn’t do the trick, maybe you prefer him as a messianic space warrior in "Dune: Part Two"? In Denis Villeneuve's sprawling, sandworm-filled sci-fi sequel, Paul Atreides (Chalamet) works with the indigenous people of a desert world – including love interest Chani (Zendaya) – on a quest for vengeance against the villains who destroyed his family. It’s the rare gripping, action-packed blockbuster that explores power, colonialism and religion. Paste BN movie critic Brian Truitt praises the film’s “staggering visuals” and says “Part Two” bests “Part One” “in every significant way”: ★★★½ (out of four)
‘Emilia Pérez’
In just over two hours, the Spanish-language film "Emilia Pérez" manages to be a noir crime thriller, thought-provoking redemption tale, deep character study, comedic melodrama and, yes, even a go-for-broke movie musical. Karla Sofía Gascón plays a notorious drug kingpin desperate to transition and live life as a woman, Selena Gomez is the wife and mom driven back into old bad habits, and Zoe Saldaña is the ambitious attorney caught in the middle. Paste BN movie critic Brian Truitt calls it “inventively original and never, ever bland”: ★★★½ (out of four)
‘I’m Still Here’
Based on a true story, Walter Salles’ family drama "I’m Still Here"is set in Brazil during the politically unstable 1970s. A former congressman (Selton Mello) working as a civil engineer and living an idyllic life by the beach is taken by military forces and disappears. His wife (Fernanda Torres) begins a long process to find out what happened to him while also fighting to keep their family together and figuring out a new life for herself. Paste BN movie critic Brian Truitt calls it an “intense emotional tale of heroism”: ★★★ (out of four)
'Nickel Boys'
Director RaMell Ross’ innovative drama "Nickel Boys" tells its riveting tale from the first-person vantage of its two young protagonists. In 1960s Jim Crow Florida, Black teenager Elwood (Ethan Herisse) has his college dreams derailed when he’s unjustly convicted of car theft and sent to reform school. While his grandmother (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) tries to free him, Elwood befriends fellow student Turner (Brandon Wilson) as they cope with cruel abuse and racist corruption. Paste BN movie critic Brian Truitt calls it “a powerfully immersive coming-of-age story”: ★★★½ (out of four)
'The Substance'
In Coralie Fargeat’s bonkers horror film "The Substance", a never-better Demi Moore stars as a TV fitness celebrity forced out of her job in favor of a younger star. Desperate to stay relevant, she signs on for an underground treatment that unlocks her younger self (Margaret Qualley), and for it to work, the two have to share their existence. Those rules are broken and the results are messy, monstrous and metaphorical in a hilariously jaw-dropping hoot about beauty and self-worth. Paste BN movie critic Brian Truitt calls it “a bloody body-horror spectacle not to be missed”: ★★★½ (out of four)
'Wicked'
Theater kids and old-school “Wizard of Oz” fans alike will be wowed by the origin story of the future Wicked Witch of the West. Green-skinned and awkward, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) arrives at Shiz University in "Wicked" and immediately butts heads with popular girl Glinda (Ariana Grande). The frenemies begin to let their guards down and end up becoming pals who go off to see the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) in a song-and-dance spectacle with a whiff of political allegory. Paste BN movie critic Brian Truitt says the film “casts a big-hearted spell that you’d have to be wicked not to appreciate”: ★★★ (out of four)