Sometimes there are movies that everyone loves, and you don't. I'm generally pretty open-minded about most movies (it helps to be in this business), and I can usually find something I like in almost every movie. There are, however, some movies that I don't like. These aren't all "hot takes." For most of them, I completely appreciate the quality of the movie in question; they just don't land with me on a personal level.

This is a "me problem" most of the time, but still, I wanted to put this list together to talk about movies everyone loves, but have never done anything for me, so without further ado, let's get into it!

The Shawshank Redemption

Let's just get this big one out of the way. The Shawshank Redemption is generally considered one of, if not the, best movies of the 1990s by many people. The Frank Darabont-directed prison movie, based on a book by Stephen King and starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, is beloved by many, especially those people (like me) who watched it on cable all the time in the '90s. The thing is, I just don't like it. Maybe it's because of the prison element, or that it's a little too... I don't know... cheesy to me. It doesn't work for me.

The Deer Hunter

Where to start with The Deer Hunter? Often cited as not only one of the best war movies ever, it's even thought of as one of the best films of all time. I couldn't disagree more with those assessments. This might be a hot take, but I find it boring. Do we really need to see a Russian-Orthodox wedding as it happens? The history is dubious at best. There is nothing that ties Russian Roulette to POW camps in Vietnam in actual history. While the performances are amazing from the entire cast, the movie, with a runtime of 184 minutes, is about 3 hours too long.

Avatar

The first time I saw Avatar, I was on a double date, and my girlfriend and I spent the whole movie snickering about how silly we thought it was. The other couple on the date loved it (as most seem to), so again, we snickered about how silly the movie is, and how much the other couple loved it. The special effects achievements in Avatar are rightfully lauded, but everything else... I can't take it seriously.

300

People were so excited when the graphic novel 300 got a film adaptation in 2006. While I'm often a stickler for good history in a movie about historical events, that's not what bothers me about this one. For me, the movie just looks and feels incredibly cheesy.

Magnolia

Paul Thomas Anderson is a polarizing director, at least in my own head. I tend to either really love his movies (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, Hard Eight, and Inherent Vice are all movies you can watch over and over) or I really don't like them at all, like Magnolia. I remember being so excited to see his follow-up to Boogie Nights in the theater and walking away disappointed and, honestly, pretty bored by the movie.

Scarface

Scarface has to be one of the most dated movies of all time. Talk about cheesy! Everything from Miami in the '80s to the score by the legendary Giorgio Moroder all feels like they are trapped in time - and not in a good way. Though some might disagree, it's also a really boring movie for most of it. Sure, the action scenes are classics, but Al Pacino's weird accent ruins even some of the best lines for me.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

I'm the perfect age for someone who loves Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, as I was a preteen when it came it. It is a movie directed right at the audience I was a part of when it became a smash hit in 1980. I never really liked it, even then. The humor doesn't land for me at all. I do like the animation, but other than that, it's just not for me.

Sin City

I don't read a lot of graphic novels, and that might be why I don't like adaptations like 300 or this one, Sin City. Both are adapted from works by Frank Miller, some of whose adaptations I do really like, like the third season of Daredevil, then on Netflix, now part of the MCU on Disney+. The style of Sin City does little for me, and I just couldn't get past that.

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid is a movie I really want to like. I love both stars of the movie, Robert Redford and Paul Newman, and The Sting, which I first saw years before seeing Butch and Sundance, is still one of my all-time favorite movies. I'm also a huge fan of Westerns, and despite this being considered one of the best Westerns of all time, I've never been able to connect with this one. I've tried over the years to get into it, but I end up turning it off every time.

Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino is a director, like some others on this list, who is always a little hit-or-miss with me. Reservoir Dogs is one of my all-time favorites, and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is an example where I think Tarantino nailed the alternate history in the story he was telling. Inglourious Basterds is the opposite of that. Outside of the incredible opening scene with Christoph Waltz's amazing performance, the movie is just too silly for me, and the ending drives me nuts. I do secretly love Brad Pitt's wacky accent.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Time for me to come clean: I'm not a big fan of any of the Mad Max franchise. Although I'm the perfect age to have grown up with it, I've never been able to get into it. Mad Max: Fury Road is widely praised, and visually, it is really awesome, but seeing it once was enough for me. I have no desire to watch it again.

Titanic

I know I'm not alone here in my dislike of Titanic. That's not to say I hate everything about the movie. I actually really love the set design and the special effects. Visually, it's an amazing movie. It's the story that does absolutely nothing for me. Frankly, it bores me, and now, by no fault of the movie itself, it's been so meme'd and quoted over the years, it leaves me with no desire to watch it again.

Top Gun: Maverick

The original Top Gun is a near-perfect action movie in my opinion. Its sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, was disappointing because it's basically a beat-for-beat remake. That's not why I really don't like it, though. It's that silly ending, which is essentially the exact same idea as Luke blowing up the Death Star in the first Star Wars movie, and that left me really bummed out when I finished watching it.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

When people rank the MCU movies, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is often near the top, or at least in the top third of all the movies. For me, though, it's way down the list. But what do I know? I love Iron Man 2, and everyone else hates that one.

Chariots Of Fire

I'm convinced that the reason people love Chariots Of Fire is solely for the incredible score by Vangelis. I love a good period piece, and by all accounts, I should love this movie, and yet, I don't. It's a movie that somehow won Best Picture over Raiders of the Lost Ark, and that never should have happened!

Heat

Another movie that I think I should really love, but just can't buy some of the ridiculous dialogue is Heat. The epic shootout is amazing, and I remember all too well what a huge deal it was that Al Pacino and Robert De Niro were appearing in scenes together in a movie for the first time. That novelty has worn off, and all we're left with is some silly dialogue now.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

This is where Wes Anderson lost me. I was excited for The Grand Budapest Hotel when it was released, as I was a huge fan of Anderson's earlier work, but this one left me feeling flat and, frankly, a little annoyed at the directing. I love that Anderson has a clear vision and style in his movies, but I'm just not into them anymore.

American Hustle

I once had a friend comment that American Hustle should really be called "American Hair and Makeup." The wardrobe and make-up departments more than earned their money on this one; it's all fantastic. The movie could have been so much better, though.

Once Upon a Time in America

Once Upon a Time in America is one of those movies that has what feels like dozens of different versions. The directors cut, the theatrical cut, the USSR cut... it goes on and on, but I have yet to find a version of the movie that makes me love it. Maybe one day a Redux cut will finally make it click.

The Big Chill

I'm pretty outspoken about my feelings about Gen X nostalgia, and that's my generation. I had to grow up in an America drenched in Baby Boomer nostalgia, and no movie represents that quite like The Big Chill. That said, I will always be grateful for the movie introducing me to Motown with its fantastic soundtrack.

Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump is a movie that never fails to annoy me. Yes, it has a great soundtrack, and I actually love Tom Hanks' performance in it. But it's just dripping in saccharine Boomer nostalgia, and that will always annoy me about it.

Driving Miss Daisy

I remember what a huge deal Driving Miss Daisy was when it was released, and I'm almost positive it was the first movie I ever saw with Morgan Freeman, so it does get points for that. It loses points for everything else.

The Shape Of Water

Let me get this straight... Is The Shape of Water is a better movie than Dunkirk, Get Out, Darkest Hour, Call Me By Your Name, and The Post? That's what the Academy thought when it named the movie Best Picture at the 2018 Oscars. There's just no way. I don't get it. Maybe it's me, but of all the films directed by Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water is by far my least favorite.

Grease

I get, Grease is a beloved movie for generations of kids and teenagers. The musical is one of the most popular movies ever made, and that popularity has never waned. Except with me. It never did anything for me. Except for the song "Greased Lightnin'." That's a great tune.

Harold And Maude

I love a great dark comedy, and Harold and Maude should fit that bill for me, but it just doesn't do anything for me at all. I mean, I kind of appreciate that Maude lives in an old train car; that's fun.

The Iron Giant

The Iron Giant is the perfect example of a movie that just came out at the wrong time for me. I was too old to care about kids' movies and too young to appreciate kids' movies as an adult. It's a movie that I finally watched about 20 years after it came out, simply because it was referenced in Ready Player One, but it still just wasn't for me.

American Sniper

I love a good movie about the military, and American Sniper is a very intense one of those, for sure. This is a case where I don't totally hate the movie, but I don't like it enough to ever watch again. I'm not going to get political here, so I'll leave it at that. Also, the fake baby totally took me out of the movie, and I never really recovered.

Easy Rider

I'm a huge fan of late '60s music and, by extension, the hippie culture. I love literature from the era, and so, by all accounts. I should love Easy Rider. Except... I don't. Like other movies on this list, it feels really dated, as do a lot of movies from the era. The motorcycles will always look cool, though.

Brazil

Terry Gilliam is a genius. I love his work with Monty Python, and I'm a big fan of a bunch of his movies, like Time Bandits, 12 Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and The Fisher King. I'm a huge fan of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, as well. But I just don't like Brazil. I can't put my finger on exactly why I don't, but I find it a little boring, and while I generally appreciate anything weird, this one may just be a little too off-kilter for me.

Moneyball

I read the book Moneyball years before the movie came out, and I have the same issue with the book as I do with the movie. As a baseball fan, it bugs me that the movie completely downplays the epic pitching staff the A's had in this era and gives far too much credit to Billy Beane's rethinking of player evaluation. It's something that I just can't get out of my head whenever I try to watch the movie.

The Fifth Element

I get why people love The Fifth Element. It's visually stunning, and the cast is amazing. It's missing something that I can't put my finger on. Maybe I need to try this one again, but I'm not sure I'll like it anymore than I used to.

Terms Of Endearment

For me, Terms of Endearment isn't one of those movies that is so good, but so brutal to watch that you can never watch it again; it's just a bland movie that I'll never understand how it won so many awards or was so popular at the time. It's a stellar cast, to be sure, but it seems only to serve one purpose: to make people cry. That isn't my kind of movie.

Digital visual effects have been an integral part of the filmmaking process for decades but their increased use over the years has had some moviegoers convinced that Hollywood is far too reliant on creating worlds with a computer. Well, allow us to prove to you that practical effects do still exist by highlighting some modern classics that have honored the old-fashioned ways of creating movie magic.

The Substance (2024)

As an eye-opening behind-the-scenes featurette for The Substance proves, director Coralie Fargeat went to great lengths to use as little CGI as possible to realize her vision for the film, which received five 2025 Academy Award nominations, including Best Makeup. Some of the most bizarre and disgusting shots of this intense body horror spectacle were captured on camera with shockingly realistic doubles for body parts, such as when Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) births her double, Sue (Margaret Qualley), out of her back.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)

One of the most appealing aspects of the Mission: Impossible movies is their intense action sequences, achieved with little to no digital enhancement. Arguably, the franchise's most unbelievable practical stunt comes from Mission: Impossible - Fallout. Tom Cruise trained for weeks to perform a HALO jump out of a plane from 25,000 feet above the ground for a sequence that only required CGI to create the storm raging around Ethan Hunt as he descends.

Jurassic Park (1993)

While considered a revolutionary moment for CGI in movies with its timeless dinosaur creations, the first installment of the Jurassic Park movies also uses practical effects in very impressive ways. While the animatronic velociraptors are among the most famous examples, according to special effects designer Michael Lantieri in a video by Great Big Story, one of the most difficult effects was creating ripples in a cup of water to signal the T. Rex's approach, which was achieved by plucking a guitar string placed underneath the cup.

Inception (2010)

Some of the more surreal moments from Christopher Nolan's dream-exploring adventure Inception obviously could not have existed without CGI. However, as demonstrated in a behind-the-scenes DVD featurette, the scene when Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) engages in a brawl in a hotel that is literally spinning was achieved by rotating a hallway set on an axis and, for shots in zero-gravity, building a vertical hallway set and suspending the actors on wires.

The Shape Of Water (2017)

Guillermo del Toro's Oscar-winning romantic fantasy The Shape of Water begins with an opening credits sequence taking place in a fully submerged building filled with floating furniture. According to THR, the surrounding water was added digitally but the scene was still primarily achieved practically by having puppeteers control the movements of the suspended props.

Spider-Man (2002)

Sam Raimi, creator of the Evil Dead movies, became an inspirational indie film hero with the use of clever, homemade practical effects in the original horror classic and would maintain that sensibility when he helmed one of the best superhero movies, Spider-Man. For instance, as a DVD commentary reveals, the scene when Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) catches Mary-Jane (Kirsten Dunst) and her falling lunch on her tray was captured for real after 156 takes, with some help from an adhesive that kept the tray steadily attached to Maguire's hand.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

The design of BB-8 is so unique that it seems it could only be achieved in a galaxy far, far away but, according to the official Star Wars website, he was filmed practically here on Earth. The rolling droid was constructed for Star Wars: The Force Awakens with magnets and gyroscopes that allowed his head to remain attached as he rolled through the sand.

Apollo 13 (1995)

The zero-gravity sequences from the classic space movie, Apollo 13, are so realistic, it almost seems like director Ron Howard and co. would have had to leave Earth to shoot them. Actually, according to AV Club, they only had to travel about 36,000 feet above ground by building the set in a NASA training craft called the KC-135 (nicknamed the "vomit comet") which authentically creates the feeling of weightlessness by taking gravity-countering dives.

Oppenheimer (2023)

Christopher Nolan said that there were "zero CGI shots" in his Best Picture Oscar winner, Oppenheimer, which dramatizes the development of the atomic bomb. To clarify, as reported in Variety, CGI was used in some instances to improve a visual but not a single shot was entirely created with a computer, including the Trinity Test, which was filmed practically using miniatures that were blown up by the crew.

Mad Max Fury Road (2015)

CGI is primarily used in George Miller's exhilarating post-apocalyptic thriller, Mad Max: Fury Road, to improve certain visuals and remove equipment from the frame. However, as a behind-the-scenes feature found on the Blu-ray reveals, just about every wild, death-defying stunt that takes place in this post-apocalyptic action movie masterpiece was performed on camera and on location, such as the pole-vaulting stunts. Bonus fun fact: the Doof Warrior's guitar was an actual working flame-thrower.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

Director Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a film that does not fit neatly into any genre, thanks to its mind-bending fantasy visuals, many of which were achieved practically. For instance, as mentioned in an article from Focus Features' official site, the scene when Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) appear to change size while walking around a set is achieved with a distortion chamber, which uses forced perspective to create the illusion that two people on opposite sides of a room are wildly different sizes.

Interstellar (2014)

The one scene from Christopher Nolan's breathtaking space epic, Interstellar, that, most surprisingly, is predominantly shot with practical effects sees Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) in a tesseract that allows him to literally interact with time itself. IndieWire reports that the sequence was achieved by projecting animated images onto thin strands of fabric that surrounded the fully built, life-size set which the actor was suspended inside.

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert created a fantastic world (or, more accurately, worlds) for their Oscar-winning, beloved A24 movie, Everything Everywhere All At Once, with a unique combination of CGI and practical effects and the help of a five-person VFX team. As they explain in a video for Wired, the first time Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) makes an interdimensional jump was done practically by shooting the actor being dragged to another corner of the office building in slow motion.

Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001)

Peter Jackson and Co. easily could have used digital effects to make Elijah Wood's Frodo and other Hobbit characters appear much smaller than Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellan) in the Lord of the Rings movies. Instead, according to Wired, they went the old-fashioned route and used the simple act of forced perspective by placing actors further back in the frame to make them look smaller than the actor placed closer to the camera.

Grindhouse (2007)

Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino teamed up for a double feature that paid tribute to exploitative B-grade flicks of the '60 and '70s but only one of them really stayed true to the era's filmmaking principles. Rodriguez's Planet Terror relies heavily on CGI to create its grotesque world while Tarantino's Death Proof (according to Hagerty) is lauded for adding little to no digital enhancement to its crazy stunts, especially when Zoe Bell hangs on the hood of a car while being chased by Kurt Russell's Stuntman Mike.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

All three of Christopher Nolan's live-action Batman movies provide proof of his championing for capturing as many mind-blowing sequences on camera as possible, especially in The Dark Knight Rises. As a Business Insider feature details, the opening sequence, in which Bane (Tom Hardy) hijacks a CIA plane, was performed for real after obtaining permission to drop part of the plane from a helicopter over Scottish land.

1917 (2019)

One might assume that to create the illusion of being filmed in mostly one take, Sam Mendes' 1917 used a great deal of CGI to hide the seams. Truthfully, there were some Oscar-winning digital effects used in some key moments, such as the plane crash sequence, but, as detailed by The New York Times, the explosions from the climactic scene in which Schofield (George MacKay) runs across a field bombarded with bombs were authentic.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

In addition to its breathtaking stunts, such as in the iconic canal scene, one of the most impressive practical effects from Terminator 2: Judgment Day takes place in the director's cut when Sarah (Linda Hamilton) and John Connor (Edward Furlong) remove the T-800's (Arnold Schwarzenegger) chip from his head in front of a mirror. A video by Insider explains that in order to avoid the camera showing up in the mirror's reflection, the scene was instead shot in front of a window with a recreation of the set on the other side and Hamilton's twin sister, Leslie, mimicking her actions.

It (2017)

For his 2017 adaptation of Stephen King's It, director Andy Muschietti was initially planning on using CGI to give Pennywise a lazy eye to make the demonic clown even creepier. However, according to an exclusive interview with Entertainment Tonight, he discovered he did not need to use digital effects because Pennywise actor Bill Skarsgård can move his eye individually – a fact that It: Chapter Two star Bill Hader was frightened to learn on set, as he revealed on Conan.

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004)

Most of the magic from the Harry Potter movies is, obviously, brought to life with digital effects but there is one memorable, fantastic scene from the third installment, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, that was created on camera. A feature by ScreenRant explains that, for the scene in which Harry (Danielle Radcliffe) accidentally casts a spell that causes his Aunt Marge to blow up like a balloon, actor Pam Ferris wore a special suit and facial makeup prosthetics that could actually inflate.

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Awarding the Oscar for Best Visual Effects to Spider-Man 2 was a no-brainer based on how realistic Doctor Octopus' mechanical arms look alone. As explained in a DVD bonus feature, CGI was used for most scenes involving Doc Ock's evil appendages but many of their movements were achieved with rigorous puppeteering which actor Alfred Molina was also heavily involved in.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Michael Keaton said that it was important to him and director Tim Burton that the long-awaited Beetlejuice sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, use as many practical effects as possible. EW mentions that, just like in the 1988 original, sandworms were created with stop-motion animation for a scene when Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) and her daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega) find themselves on one of Saturn's moons.

The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

For Joel Coen's solo directorial debut, The Tragedy of Macbeth, the filmmaker wanted to give the adaptation of William Shakespeare's influential play a distinct look reminiscent of a theater stage. To create this aura, as seen on a featurette posted to YouTube by Apple TV+, life-size sets were built on a soundstage at the Warner lot and surrounded by matte paintings to fill in the backgrounds.

Midsommar (2019)

The secret to the visceral nature of the nightmares Ari Aster brings to life in his second great A24 horror film, Midsommar, is the use of practical effects, such as in the scene when an elderly villager has his face fatally smashed in after surviving a cliff jump. According to Vulture, the gruesome moment was filmed practically with a fake head equipped with pneumatic cylinders that could collapse and reset with the push of a button, allowing for multiple takes with the same prop.

Skyfall (2012)

What makes Daniel Craig's James Bond movies so memorable is the realism of their action sequences, such as the opening scene of Skyfall. A feature about the train fight from SlashFilm details just how challenging it was for director Sam Mendes and co. to shoot the scene on top of a real moving train.

Independence Day (1996)

The visual effects of the classic alien invasion movie, Independence Day, took home a well-deserved Oscar — not just for its convincing CGI but also for its more old-fashioned tricks. For instance, an article from the Director's Guild of America website explains that the destruction of recognizable landmarks like The White House and the Empire State Building was achieved with miniatures.

Tenet (2020)

Christopher Nolan goes above and beyond to create the most realistic and explosive action sequences possible, such as purchasing a real, full-size Boeing 747 only to destroy it. According to ScreenRant, that is how he shot the plane crash scene from Tenet.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Enough time has passed since the 1986 original that Tom Cruise and Co. could have achieved aerial action sequences in Top Gun: Maverick on sound stages and with green screens. Instead, as detailed by IGN, the actors trained for months to actually go up in the air in military-grade jets equipped with cameras for the most realistic shots possible.

First Man (2018)

According to Digital Trends, First Man director Damien Chazelle wanted to shoot Neil Armstrong's (Ryan Gosling) moonwalk without green screens but in a place that could later be slightly augmented in post-production. They chose to shoot the sequence at an Atlanta quarry and some of the only digital trickery involved was to remove elements the filmmakers did not want to be reflected in the actors' astronaut helmet visors.

Barbie (2023)

Before her feet fall flat due to an existential crisis, Margot Robbie's eponymous role is introduced in Barbie with her feet in an inhumanly arched position. Director Greta Gerwig told The Project that his shot was not achieved with CGI but by anchoring Robbie's toes to the ground with double-sided tape.

Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

Emily Blunt made magic with her wonderful portrayal of the iconic, titular nanny in Mary Poppins Returns but that was not the only stellar trick the production pulled. For instance, as a special featurette shared on YouTube by Rotten Tomatoes reveals, the scene in which Mary and the children enter a magical realm through their bathtub was achieved with a slide built underneath the tub that was cleverly concealed with a thick layer of soap bubbles.

The French Dispatch (2021)

Wes Anderson movies like The French Dispatch exist in a world that could only come from the filmmaker's vast imagination. So, how are these striking, surreal images brought to life on camera? A video by Piercefilm Productions reveals some of the drama's most memorable visuals are created with a combination of miniatures and painted backgrounds.

Genres are helpful—until a movie comes along that throws the rulebook into the fire. Some films are so inventive and wildly ambitious that slapping a single label on them feels like an insult. These movies blend tones, mix storytelling traditions, and challenge expectations at every turn. Whether mashup horror and comedy, sci-fi and romance, or animation and noir, these 32 films break free from traditional classification, proving that the best stories often refuse to fit into a box.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

The plot of Everything Everywhere All at Once sounds absurd when you hear it out loud. It’s sci-fi, but it’s also a family drama. It’s one of the best action movies in recent memory. It also happens to be an absurdist comedy with a scene that breaks my heart every time I see it–I still can’t look at rocks or googly eyes the same. It’s a meditation on existential dread wrapped in kung-fu spectacle. The Daniels crafted something that shouldn’t work but does—an emotional, high-energy, genre-blending rollercoaster where nihilism and love collide in the best way possible.

Donnie Darko (2001)

A suburban teen, time travel, existential horror, and a man in a creepy rabbit suit—Donnie Darko refuses to be pinned down. Is it a psychological thriller? A coming-of-age story? A horror film with sci-fi elements? Richard Kelly’s cult classic is all of these things, a moody, enigmatic puzzle box that continues to haunt viewers decades later, an easily one of Jake Gyllenhal’s best movie performances.

The Princess Bride (1987)

What other film can balance fairy tale fantasy, satirical comedy, swashbuckling action, and heart-melting romance without breaking a sweat? The Princess Bride is a book-to-screen adaptation that is as good, if not better than the novel it's based on. It’s a love letter to classic storytelling while also poking fun at its conventions. It’s pure magic—a film that can make you laugh, cheer, and cry, often within the same scene.

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, one of his best movies, refuses to let fantasy be an escape. Instead, it interweaves a fairy tale with the brutal realities of war-torn Spain. Part fantasy film, dripping in historical drama and a dash of horror. Del Toro blends all three into something chillingly beautiful, proving that sometimes the scariest monsters are human.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

A hard-boiled noir detective film… with animated cartoon characters running wild? Who Framed Roger Rabbit defies expectations by fusing classic film noir aesthetics with Looney Tunes madness. It’s part mystery, part slapstick comedy, part technical marvel, entirely unclassifiable, and, in retrospect, not very appropriate for children.

Swiss Army Man (2016)

Since finishing up his tenure as Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliff has made some weird movies, and none are as odd as Swiss Army Man. Think Cast Away with a farting corpse–as a stranded man befriends a farting, talking corpse with Swiss Army knife-like powers—if that sounds like nonsense, that’s because it is pure absurdist genius. It’s an iconic buddy comedy, an existential drama, and a surprisingly heartfelt film about loneliness, self-worth, and the strangeness of human connection.

The Fifth Element (1997)

Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element is one of the best science fiction movies of the 90s, sure, but it’s also a campy, over-the-top, French space opera that veers into comedy, action, and cartoon levels of insanity. It’s a spectacle of pure creative energy, filled with outlandish characters and visual madness that make it impossible to categorize.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is an unholy blend of campy B-movie horror and glam rock musicals. It embraces its genre-defying weirdness with open arms. It’s more than a film—it's an experience with some of the catchiest songs committed to screen.

Being John Malkovich (1999)

A movie about a portal into John Malkovich’s mind that turns into a psychological drama about identity, obsession, and control? Spike Jonze, in his directorial debut, and Charlie Kaufman turn an absurd premise into something deeply unsettling yet darkly funny, making Being John Malkovich one of the strangest films ever made and one of the best flicks of the 1990s.

The Shape of Water (2017)

If you mix a Cold War espionage thriller with a creature feature and, of course, a fairy tale romance, you’ll get an idea of what The Shape of Water is. Guillermo del Toro masterfully stitches these elements together into a haunting, poetic, and profoundly weird film. A love story between a woman and an amphibious creature shouldn't work, but in del Toro’s capable hands, the movie becomes unforgettable and deserves all its Oscar wins.

Hook (1991)

Though much maligned since its release, Hook is easily one of Robin Williams's best performances. It tells a compelling father-son story mixed with whimsy and is a family-friendly swashbuckler. However, at its heart, it’s a deeply melancholic story about rediscovering lost youth.

Spirited Away (2001)

Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away is an intoxicating blend of myth, folklore, and childhood wonder, defying any easy categorization. The film operates on dream logic, shifting between the whimsical and the nightmarish, crafting a world that feels both hauntingly strange and intimately familiar. It’s one of the very best adventure family movies out there.

Fargo (1996)

The Coen Brothers have a habit of making films that exist in the gray area between genres, and Fargo might be their greatest balancing act. It’s a crime thriller, a dark comedy with some of their funniest quotes, and a bleak meditation on human nature. The film is full of violence and tension, yet it never loses its absurd sense of humor—often in the same breath.

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

At first glance, The Cabin in the Woods is one of the best horror movies of the 2010s, but the deeper you go, the more it mutates into something else entirely. It works as a love letter to and a brutal deconstruction of the horror genre, blending meta-comedy with genuine scares. It starts like a standard slasher film, but by the end, it’s an apocalyptic fever dream that leaves you questioning everything you know about horror storytelling.

Gremlins (1984)

Is Gremlins a horror movie? A dark comedy? Is it a Christmas film or just Christmas-themed? The answer is all of the above. Joe Dante’s chaotic creature feature shifts wildly between tones, sometimes feeling like a heartwarming holiday classic and other times diving headfirst into gruesome horror. It manages to be both gleefully silly and genuinely unsettling—making it impossible to fit neatly into one category.

The Pagemaster (1994)

The Pagemaster refuses to commit to a single identity. Though it loomed large in my childhood, its unwillingness to commit to a single genre could be why it has such an abysmal Rotten Tomatoes score. While it’s positioned as a children’s film about the power of books, it blends so many visual and storytelling styles that it becomes something else entirely. This surreal, hybrid experience feels both nostalgic and oddly experimental.

Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China is an action movie that plays like a comedy, a kung-fu film that satirizes kung-fu films, and a supernatural adventure that revels in its own ridiculousness. It gleefully subverts action hero tropes, making its protagonist more of a bumbling sidekick–with some of the greatest Kurt Russel quotes–than a traditional lead. Its genre-bending nature has made it an enduring cult classic.

Her (2013)

Her straddles multiple genres while remaining profoundly intimate and personal. Yet again, Spike Jonze takes a premise that could have been used for satire—a man falling in love with his AI assistant—and turns it into a heartbreakingly sincere exploration of modern relationships. It’s futuristic but deeply human, making it impossible to categorize.

Last Action Hero (1993)

On the surface, it’s an action movie but also a deconstruction of action movies. Last Action Hero arguably came out at the wrong time, as it revels in Hollywood excess while poking fun at its clichés, blending over-the-top action with meta-commentary way ahead of its time. It’s self-aware, chaotic, and often refusing to be boxed into a single category.

Burn After Reading (2008)

Burn After Reading is classic Coen Brothers chaos—a film where every character thinks they’re in control, yet none of them have any idea what’s actually happening. It plays with the tropes of espionage thrillers, only to reveal that the stakes are laughably low, making it a darkly hilarious puzzle box of a movie. Also, it has one of the best Francis McDormand performances ever.

Men in Black (1997)

It’s a sci-fi film, but it’s also a buddy-cop comedy. It’s a blockbuster, but it has the sharp humor of a satire. Men in Black blends alien conspiracies, action-packed spectacle, laugh-out-loud comedy, and one of the scariest aliens committed to celluloid into something effortlessly entertaining. It thrives in its refusal to take itself too seriously, making it one of its era's most unique sci-fi films.

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Edward Scissorhands is unapologetically Tim Burton at his best. An oddity that defies easy classification. It’s equal parts whimsical and tragic, blending a monster movie's aesthetics with the romance's tenderness. The film’s visual style is pure fantasy, yet its emotional core is deeply human, making it one of Burton’s most enduring works.

A Ghost Story (2017)

A Ghost Story is a slow, meditative exploration of time, grief, and existential loneliness. It also tells the story of a spiritual being who walks the earth in a bed sheet. This story challenges everything you expect from a ghost story, stripping away jump scares and supernatural lore in favor of long, lingering shots and quiet, contemplative storytelling. It’s haunting, but not in the traditional sense—more of a melancholy whisper than a scream in the dark.

La La Land (2016)

A musical, but one that subverts the tropes of the genre. La La Land embraces old Hollywood spectacle while refusing to follow the standard “happily ever after” formula. It’s nostalgic yet modern, blending reality and fantasy in a way that feels both dreamlike and achingly real.

The Lobster (2015)

The Lobster is so uniquely bizarre that it exists in a separate genre–the genre of Yorgos Lanthimos. Lanthimos takes an inherently ridiculous premise—that single people must find a partner or be turned into animals—and turns it into something deeply unsettling, bleakly funny, and weirdly moving.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

The Fantastic Mr. Fox is a movie far better than its bombing at the box office would lead one to believe. It is a wonderful stop-motion movie, but it's also unmistakably Wes Anderson, as the filmmaker blends the time-consuming animation with his signature aesthetic. It feels like a classic children’s storybook brought to life, yet it carries an undercurrent of existential angst that makes it resonate just as strongly with adults.

Pulp Fiction (1994)

No movie influenced 90s cinema quite like Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. This unpredictable film intertwines multiple narratives, with Samuel L. Jackson as the standout performer. The movie redefined nonlinear storytelling by skillfully blending brutal violence, humor, and unexpected poignancy.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Another Charlie Kaufman brainchild, Eternal Sunshine, takes a high-concept premise—erasing painful memories of lost love and toxic relationships—and turns it into an achingly beautiful meditation on heartbreak, fate, and human connection. It’s as cerebral as it is emotional, making it one of the most uniquely structured love stories ever told.

Prey (2022)

Prey is not just another Predator movie; it’s a historical survival thriller and an Indigenous-led action film that reinvents the franchise. By removing the excessive machismo of earlier movies and setting the story in 1719 around a young Comanche warrior, Prey transforms into a compelling tale of resilience and culture. Amber Midthunder emerges as a standout new face in the lineage of final girls in horror.

Aliens (1986)

James Cameron cranked Ridley Scott’s slow-burn terror into an all-out war film, proving that a sequel doesn’t have to repeat its predecessor. Aliens retains the dread of its predecessor while injecting explosive, military-driven spectacle, making it a rare hybrid that succeeds as both a nerve-wracking horror movie and a high-octane action thriller.

Coraline (2009)

It looks like a children’s fantasy film, but Coraline, while being one of Laika’s best movies, is pure nightmare fuel. A dark fairy tale with horror undertones, the film walks the tightrope between whimsy and dread. Its stop-motion animation is gorgeous yet eerie, and the story—about a young girl lured into a seemingly perfect world with sinister secrets—feels like something pulled from the pages of an old gothic ghost story.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)

A coming-of-age story drenched in comic book and video-game aesthetics? Scott Pilgrim vs. The World should have been a hit, with its pure kinetic energy, blending pop culture, music, and self-aware humor into a hyper-stylized spectacle. Edgar Wright expanded his abilities as a filmmaker, creating a film that’s part arcade game, part indie rom-com, and wholly unique in its execution.

We have learned from some of the best fantasy movies and TV shows, many of the best sci-fi movies and TV shows, and most of the best horror movies and TV shows that we should beware of the things that go bump in the night. However, we have also seen quite a few exceptions to that rule, including in some of the funniest creature features of all time. So, for the time being, let’s forget about all the scary movie monsters that gave you nightmares and remember the aliens, ghosts, and other kinds of odd creatures who proved to be the kind of friends you could only dream of.

E.T. (E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial)

Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial — the story of a young boy (played by Henry Thomas) who befriends a lost, lonely “spaceman” — changed everything we thought we knew about alien invasion movies. In fact, some claim that the lighthearted take on the subject — the highest-grossing movie of 1982, and ever at the time — is what turned off audiences from seeing John Carpenter’s The Thing, which is most definitely not about a friendly creature.

Gizmo (Gremlins)

In 1984’s Gremlins, the one member of a rare species known as the Mogwai who, thankfully, does not transform into a green, grim troublemaker is Gizmo (voiced by Howie Mandel). In fact, in 1990’s Gremlins 2: The New Batch, he finds the courage to help defend his human friends against them.

ALF (ALF)

The title character of the hit sitcom ALF (shorthand for “alien life form”) was not exactly a saint, with his sarcastic attitude and insatiable appetite for cats. However, out of all the extra-terrestrials to come out of the ‘80s, he is one of the few who would create the least problems in your house.

Casper (Casper)

Everything you need to know about Casper is in the Harvey Comics’ character’s classic theme song, which describes him as a friendly ghost. He is one of the few earthbound spirits you probably would not mind being haunted by, especially when compared to his three wicked uncles.

Bub (Day Of The Dead)

Zombie movies never gave audiences an undead character to root for before they met the unusually intelligent and surprisingly compassionate “Bub,” played by Sherman Howard in George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead. In fact, you could call the endearing reanimated corpse the real hero of this ’80s movie for the way he avenges the senseless murder of his handler and assists the compound’s remaining survivors.

Melvin Junko (The Toxic Avenger)

In Troma's cult-favorite 1984 superhero movie, The Toxic Avenger, Melvin Junko (Mark Torgl) used to be a 98-lb. gym custodian, until he fell into a vat of toxic waste. The accident transformed him into "a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength" (then played by Mitch Cohen) who uses his powers to protect the city of Tromaville.

The Amphibian Man (The Shape Of Water)

One of Doug Jones’ most acclaimed Guillermo del Toro movie roles is a bizarre, aquatic being known as the Amphibian Man, who longs for friendship but finds something deeper with the also non-speaking Elisa (Sally Hawkins). The characters’ interspecies romance in the beautiful Best Picture Oscar winner, 2017’s The Shape of Water, serves as an uplifting and thought-provoking metaphor for universal acceptance.

Ewoks (Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi)

While there are more than enough creatures from the Star Wars franchise we would rather avoid, there are also plenty who walk on the light side of the Force. Among the most endearing — not to mention cuddliest — are the Ewoks, who tend to get a bad rap among some fans, but that does not change the fact that they played a pivotal role in the Empire’s defeat at the end of Return of the Jedi.

Marceline (Adventure Time)

A nocturnal bloodsucker who truly deserves to be called “friendly” is rare, but one essential example of the like is Marceline from Adventure Time. Voiced by Olivia Olson, the Land of Ooo’s centuries-old “Vampire Queen” actually starts off as an enemy to Finn (Jeremy Shada) and Jake (John DiMaggio) when she throws them out of their own home but becomes one of the duo’s most trusted allies.

Toothless (How To Train Your Dragon)

DreamWorks Animation’s 2012 hit How to Train Your Dragon is set in a time when humans and dragons are natural enemies. However, that dynamic is changed forever when aspiring hunter Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) finds an injured dragon that he comes accept as a friend and gives the name “Toothless.”

Stitch (Lilo & Stitch)

In Disney’s animated 2002 favorite, Lilo & Stitch, we meet Experiment-626 (voiced by director Chris Sanders), a small, blue extra-terrestrial who was designed by Dr. Jumba Jookiba (David Ogden Stiers) to be an unstoppable seed of destruction. Yet, his personality would take a full 180 when he landed on Earth — specifically in Hawaii — and met a girl named Lilo (Daveigh Chase), who adopted him into her “ohana” and named him Stitch.

Billy Butcherson (Hocus Pocus)

In 1993’s Hocus Pocus, Winifred Sanderson (Bette Midler) revives Billy Butcherson (Doug Jones) in hopes he will be a minion to her and her sisters, Mary (Kathy Najimy) and Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker). Unfortunately for her, the reanimated corpse’s hatred toward the witchy trio led him to help the group of kids trying to destroy them.

Dobby (The Harry Potter Movies)

In the Harry Potter books and the films they inspired, Dobby (voiced by Toby Jones) is a house elf who is indentured to a group of Dark Wizards who treat him terribly. However, he defies his masters’ orders to, instead, be of service to the Boy Who Lived (played by Daniel Radcliffe).

R (Warm Bodies)

By fusing Shakespearean themes of forbidden romance with a reinvention of lore pioneered by George A. Romero, author Isaac Morton crafted an intriguing romantic-zombie-comedy in Warm Bodies. In the film adaptation, Nicholas Hoult plays a walking corpse called “R,” who is discovered to have some humanity left in him when he becomes the potential suitor and protector of a young woman named Julie (Teresa Palmer).

Falkor (The NeverEnding Story)

There is a pretty balanced amount of good and evil creatures in the 1984 adaptation of Michael Ende’s The NeverEnding Story, with the most iconic of the former, arguably, being Falkor. Voiced by Alan Oppenheimer, the last of the luck dragons provides Atreyu (Noah Hathaway) and Bastian (Barret Oliver) with the wisdom, optimism, and transportation they need to complete their quests. 

Genie (Aladdin)

Most stories about wish-granting creatures go by the "Be careful what you wish for" mantra and portray them as selfish tricksters, but that is not the case for Genie from Aladdin. Robin Williams' iconic role from Disney's 1992 animated classic treats his master (voiced by Scott Weinger) as a true friend, making him one of the best sidekicks in pop culture history.

Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro)

One of the most iconic Studio Ghibli movies is My Neighbor Totoro, which could have won the best-animated feature Oscar had it existed in 1988. It tells the story of two siblings who cross paths with the unique titular creature (whose name translates from Japanese to “troll”), who takes them on wondrous adventures. 

Groot (Guardians Of The Galaxy)

Any Guardians of the Galaxy fan will tell you that the heart and soul of James Gunn’s cosmic MCU trilogy is Groot. Voiced by Vin Diesel, the living humanoid tree — who can be a relentless fighter under the right circumstances — taught us that the only thing you need to say to show your appreciation for your loved ones is, “I am Groot.”

Harold (Under Wraps)

In fantasy lore, Egyptian mummies are depicted as vengeful beings who, upon reanimation, take out their rage on anybody who awakens them from their slumber. However, “Harold” — played by Bill Fagerbakke in the 1997 Disney Channel Original Movie, Under Wraps — must have had a really pleasant slumber because he gets along great with the preteens who wake him up and later try to help return him to his sarcophagus.

Willie (V)

Obviously, Robert Englund's most iconic role is A Nightmare on Elm Street's homicidal dreamweaver, Freddy Krueger, but another corner of his fanbase knows him as a much gentler character. In fact, in the V franchise, Willie is noted for helping the human race defend itself against his own lizard-like extraterrestrial race.

The Smurfs (The Smurfs)

Original based on a Belgian comic book before launching their own TV series and movie franchise, the Smurfs are a peaceful group of little blue creatures who inhabit a woodland colony of mushroom-shaped houses. However, they are not without their enemies, especially Gargamel, who switches back and forth between wanting to destroy them, eat them, or even turn them into gold.

Monster (A Monster Calls)

One of the best monster movies of its time is not about a creature who means to destroy, but one who offers effective emotional support. Based on the novel by Patrick Ness, director J.A. Bayona’s A Monster Calls stars Liam Neeson as the voice of an unnamed ancient tree monster (voiced by Liam Neeson) who meets a 12-year-old Conor (Lewis MacDougall) just when he needs a friend the most.

Sabrina Spellman (Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina)

In both fiction and reality alike, witchcraft is widely frowned upon, unless it is practiced by Sabrina Spellman, who originated from the Archie comics. Arguably the most recognizable onscreen depiction of the young magic wielder is portrayed by Melissa Joan Hart in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, but we felt like highlighting Kiernan Shipka’s iteration from Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina because the enemies she faces are much less friendly.

Paul (Paul)

Director Greg Mottola’s 2011 sci-fi comedy, Paul, posits the idea that almost all pop culture involving extra-terrestrials from the past several decades was inspired by one actual extra-terrestrial. Said extra-terrestrial is the title character (voiced by Seth Rogen), who bumps into two British sci-fi nerds (played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, who also co-wrote the film) who help him avoid detection from Area 51.

Tommy Dawkins (Big Wolf On Campus)

High schooler Tommy Dawkins (Brandon Quinn) had the perfect life, but everything changed in the first episode of Big Wolf on Campus when he was bit by a werewolf. Now a werewolf himself, he uses his abilities to protect his hometown from things that are even stranger supernatural phenomena in the hilarious, underrated Canadian series.

Allen Strange (The Journey Of Allen Strange)

One of Nickelodeon’s most criminally underrated, much-forgotten TV shows is The Journey of Allen Strange — essentially a teen-dramedy reimagining of E.T. that aired from 1997 to 2000. It starred Arjay Smith in the title role of a lost alien who takes human form and struggles to fit in with help from his friends Robbie (Erin J. Dean) and Josh Stevenson (Shane Sweet) while trying to figure out a way back to his planet.

Goliath (Gargoyles)

One of the best-animated TV shows of the ‘90s was Gargoyles, in which the eponymous gothic creatures reside in Manhattan, where they pledge to protect its human inhabitants from evil. The leader of these nightly defenders is Goliath (voiced by Keith David), who even finds love with his clan’s only human member, Det. Elisa Maza (Salli Richardson Whitfield).

The Monsters Of Midian (Nightbreed)

Not all of the bizarre creatures in Clive Barker’s mind are ruthless sadomasochistic demons (in reference to the Cenobites). The writer and filmmaker’s 1990 cult favorite, Nightbreed — based on his 1988 novella Cabal — follows a group of peaceful mutants forced to hide from society in a village beneath a cemetery known as Midian.

CJ7 (CJ7)

The 2008 Chinese sci-fi family comedy CJ7 stars co-writer and director Stephen Chow as a financially struggling single father who gives his son a “toy” he finds at a junkyard that turns out to be an adorable little alien visitor. The eponymous creature later became the star of its own animated series and spawned an animated sequel, CJ7: Super Q Team, which sees him join forces with other cute otherwordly creatures to fight evil.

Maurice (Little Monsters)

If there was ever a reason a child did not fear the idea of a monster living under their bed, it might be because they wanted to meet Maurice — Howie Mandel’s role from the cult favorite 1989 fantasy-comedy, Little Monsters. He becomes friends with 11-year-old Brian (Fred Savage), whom he introduces to the bizarre realm hidden underneath every bed in the world and helps protect against the more troublesome members of his kind.

Crusoe (The Water Horse: Legend Of The Deep)

The 2007 adaptation of Dick King-Smith’s novel, The Water Horse, offers some imaginative explanations for the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster. It is a genderless creature that a boy named Angus MacMorrow (Alex Etel) discovers on the shore of the famous Scottish lake and names Crusoe, after adventure hero Robinson Crusoe.

Billy (Martin Mystery)

On Martin Mystery — an animated series inspired by an Italian comic book — one of the titular supernatural investigators’ most trusted allies is a plucky, pint-sized little green man named Billy (voiced by Sam Vincent). However, in the series' second season, it is discovered that he was once a much larger, vicious warrior until he changed his ways before arriving on Earth during the famous Roswell incident of 1947.

As these creatures from pop culture have shown us, not everything that goes bump in the night is worth bumping back at.

An HBO Max subscription is going to give you access to some of the raciest and steamiest TV shows ever produced for television. That is well known. The streamer also has a ton of great steamy movies to watch if you're in the mood, and if you are, here is our list of the most sexually explicit movies on HBO Max. From steamy erotic thrillers to some of the biggest stars in the cinema, HBO has long been home to some of the spiciest content on TV. July was a quiet month for the streamer in terms of adding new movies to this list, but there are still plenty of options.

Marty Supreme (2025)

The Director: Josh Safdie

The Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A'zion

Based On: The Money Player: The Confessions of America's Greatest Table Tennis Champion and Hustler by Marty Reisman

What It’s About: Chalamet plays Marty, a man with a singular obsession to be the best table tennis player of all time. Well, that might not be his only obsession, as he finds time for relationships with women whom he shouldn't.

What To Expect: A tense, fast-paced movie that was nominated for multiple Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Chalamet. There are some very steamy scenes between Marty and his lovers, and some very cheeky comedy surrounding one of them.

• Stream Marty Supreme on HBO Max.

Pillion (2025)

The Director: Harry Lighton

The Cast: Alexander Skarsgård, Harry Melling

Based On: Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones

What It’s About: A shy gay man who still lives with his parents enters into a lustful relationship with a biker (Skarsgård), and together they explore the world of BDSM.

What To Expect: The word "Pillion" is defined as the backseat of a motorcycle, so you see where this movie is going, with Skarsgård as the biker and the more experienced lover. It's been hailed as one of the great LGBTQ+ movies of the last decade. Coming to HBO Max on June 5.

• Stream Pillion on HBO Max.

Open Your Eyes (1997)

The Director: Alejandro Amenábar

The Cast: Penélope Cruz, Eduardo Noriega, Chete Lera

What It’s About: A harrowing story told through flashbacks and dream sequences, César (Eduardo Noriega) tells his story of how he came to be disfigured as reality and dreams collide, giving the audience a disjointed look at his past.

What To Expect: Open Your Eyes was remade later by Cameron Crowe and retitled Vanilla Sky, so if you know that movie, you'll be familiar with the story of this Spanish-language film. Penélope Cruz plays the same role here that she played in the Tom Cruise film from a few years later.

• Stream Open Your Eyes on HBO Max

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

The Director: Luca Guadagnino

The Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer, Michael Stuhlbarg

Based On: Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman

What It’s About: A young man falls madly in love with his father’s research assistant over the course of a summer spent together in Northern Italy.

What To Expect: Another Chalamet movie on this list, Call Me by Your Name is an emotionally stirring and visually stunning exploration of love, loss, and identity. It is a charming, albeit bittersweet, tale of romance. It’s exciting, endearing, and rather explicit at times.

• Stream Call Me by Your Name on HBO Max.

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (2019)

The Director: Céline Sciamma

The Cast: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luàna Bajrami

What It’s About: An artist in 18th-century France is hired to paint a portrait of a wealthy aristocrat, only for the two women to start up a steamy and forbidden romance.

What To Expect: Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a passionate, intense, and unforgettable tale of hidden romance and subdued passions.

• Stream Portrait of a Lady on Fire on HBO Max.

Spring Breakers (2012)

The Director: Harmony Korine

The Cast: James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine

What It’s About: The spring break of a lifetime turns into a trip of nightmares when four friends befriend a local drug dealer who opens a world of debauchery and terror.

What To Expect: Korine is a master at making things very uncomfortable for the audience, and he does that again here.

• Stream Spring Breakers on HBO Max

The Shape Of Water (2017)

The Director: Guillermo del Toro

The Cast: Sally Hawkins, Doug Jones, Michael Shannon

What It’s About: A cleaning lady at a top-secret research facility has a chance encounter with a mysterious amphibian man, with whom she starts an unlikely yet highly impactful bond.

What To Expect: If you’ve ever wanted to see a Best Picture winner in which a woman and a sea monster get down to business, The Shape of Water is going to do the trick.

• Stream The Shape of Water on HBO Max.

Sinners (2025)

The Director: Ryan Coogler

The Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O’Connell

What It’s About: Returning home from Chicago, a pair of twins opens a juke joint in the Mississippi Delta, only to have their opening night crashed by a vicious vampire and his followers.

What To Expect: Easily one of the best horror movies of 2025, Sinners is an achievement in filmmaking. That said, it’s not without some highly sexualized moments.

• Stream Sinners on HBO Max.

Gia (1998)

The Director: Michael Cristofer

The Cast: Angelina Jolie, Elizabeth Mitchell, Faye Dunaway

What It’s About: The life and times of supermodel Gia Carangi (Jolie) are explored in great detail, as are her various romantic relationships, with a legendarily steamy one with Linda (Elizabeth Mitchell).

What To Expect: The biographical drama doesn’t hold back when it comes to the depictions of the model’s personal struggles, and can be too much for some viewers. Nothing is left on the table…

• Stream Gia on HBO Max.

The Substance (2024)

The Director: Coralie Fargeat

The Cast: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid

What It’s About: After being fired from her aerobics show (by her disgusting monster of a boss), an aging actress turns to a revolutionary service to be younger, fitter, and more appealing to the masses.

What To Expect: Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, one of the angriest movies in years, is not only a great body horror story, but it’s also a biting critique of modern society.

• Stream The Substances on HBO Max.

One Battle After Another (2025)

The Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

The Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn

Based On: Vineland by Thomas Pynchon

What It’s About: Years after starting over, a washed-up former revolutionary is thrust back into a life of chaos when he learns that an old enemy is trying to capture and kill his teenage daughter.

What To Expect: Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic action-thriller is funny, dramatic, and sexy as all hell from start to finish.

• Stream One Battle After Another on HBO Max.

Atomic Blonde (2017)

The Director: David Leitch

The Cast: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman

Based On: The Coldest City by Antony Johnston and Sam Hart

What It’s About: Just as the Berlin Wall is about to fall, a spy is sent on a mission to retrieve a list of covert agents before it’s too late.

What To Expect: One of the best action movies of the past decade, Atomic Blonde is full of big set pieces, twists, turns, more shootouts, and a whole lot of sex appeal.

• Stream Atomic Blonde on HBO Max.

Girls Trip (2017)

The Director: Malcolm D. Lee

The Cast: Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Tiffany Haddish

What It’s About: Years after their once-tight friendship began to fall apart, four women travel to New Orleans to attend a music festival where anything and everything can happen.

What To Expect: An over-the-top comedy set in the “Big Easy,” this one was bound to be off the rails. Girls Trip doesn’t hold back in any capacity, making it one of the wildest comedies in some time.

• Stream Girls Trip on HBO Max.

Wedding Crashers (2005)

The Director: David Dobkin

The Cast: Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Bradley Cooper

What It’s About: Two bachelors specializing in crashing weddings find themselves in quite a situation after one of them falls in love with the daughter of a high-ranking government official.

What To Expect: Released at the height of the “Frat Pack” era of Hollywood, Wedding Crashers is a rude, crude, and utterly hilarious comedy about two serial bachelors who push things too far.

• Stream Wedding Crashers on HBO Max.

Multiple Maniacs (1970)

The Director: John Waters

The Cast: Divine, David Lochary, Mary Pearce

What It’s About: A traveling freak show known as The Cavalcade of Perversion travels from town to town robbing and later killing its patrons before things really get out of hand. We mean severely out of hand.

What To Expect: Those familiar with John Waters’ body of work know what they’re getting into here. However, those decent folks out there should note that Multiple Maniacs is a sick and depraved comedy that really has to be seen to be believed.

• Stream Multiple Maniacs on HBO Max.

Fallen Angels (1995)

The Director: Wong Kar-wai

The Cast: Leon Lai, Michelle Reis, Takeshi Kaneshiro

What It’s About: Wong Kar-wai’s Fallen Angels contains two intertwined storylines: one follows a reluctant hitman wishing to leave his life of crime behind as he gets caught between two lovers, and a second about a man on the run from police in Hong Kong.

What To Expect: Featuring exquisite cinematography, a gripping narrative filled with complex characters and devastating decisions, and some steamy romance, this is one enchanting exploration of crime and passion.

Stream Fallen Angels on HBO Max.

Parthenope (2025)

The Director: Paolo Sorrentino

The Cast: Celeste Dalla Porta, Stefania Sandrelli, Gary Oldman

What It’s About: Told through a series of vignettes, Parthenope tells the story of an Italian woman whose hunger for knowledge, experiences, and life in general takes her to wild and unimaginable places.

What To Expect: Centering on a beautiful and charismatic woman (played by Celeste Dalla Porta), Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope is an exploration of love, loss, lust, and self-discovery.

• Stream Parthenope on HBO Max.

The Brutalist (2024)

The Director: Brady Corbet

The Cast: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce

What It’s About: A holocaust survivor and world-renowned architect immigrates to the United States after World War II in search of the American Dream, kicking off an ambitious, decades-long project in the process.

What To Expect: The agony and ecstasy of art, the deconstruction of the American Dream, and some intense sex scenes (including a very graphic one in the opening minutes) are found throughout this three-hour drama.

• Stream The Brutalist on HBO Max.

Babygirl (2024)

The Director: Halina Reijn

The Cast: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde

What It’s About: A successful CEO (played by Nicole Kidman) finds her life at the office and at her home becoming increasingly more complicated after starting an affair with a much younger intern (played by Harris Dickinson).

What To Expect: With its fair share of sexually explicit moments throughout and electric chemistry between the leads, this risque drama is worth watching.

• Stream Babygirl on HBO Max.

Queer (2024)

The Director: Luca Guadagnino

The Cast: Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman

Based On: William S. Burroughs’ Queer

What It’s About: An American expatriate (played by Daniel Craig) spends his days wasting away in the sun and his nights looking for young lovers in Mexico City until he meets and falls for a young American GI (played by Drew Starkey).

What To Expect: Considering this is a Luca Guadagnino movie based on a William S. Burroughs novella, it takes no stretch of the imagination to see Queer as an intense, unrelenting, and unforgettable tale of love, loss, and lust.

• Stream Queer on HBO Max.

We Live In Time (2024)

The Director: John Crowley

The Cast: Florence Pugh, Andrew Garfield

What It’s About: Presented in a non-linear narrative format, John Crowley’s We Live in Time tells the story of a young couple as they meet, fall in love, have a kid, and then come to terms with a serious illness that could upend everything they’ve built.

What To Expect: Though a movie about illness and loss, We Live in Time is very much a story of romance and passion.

• Stream We Live in Time on HBO Max.

Demonlover (2002)

The Director: Olivier Assayas

The Cast: Connie Nielsen, Chloe Sevigny, Gina Gershon

What It’s About: An ambitious and cutthroat media executive goes to great lengths to acquire a Japanese animation house to give her company the upper hand.

What To Expect: Probably one of the most notorious examples of the New French Extremity movement, Demonlover combines elements of erotic thrillers with corporate espionage.

• Stream Demonlover on HBO Max.

Working Girls (1986) 

The Director: Lizzie Borden

The Cast: Louise Smith, Amanda Goodwin, Marusia Zach

What It’s About: A day in the lives of a group of sex workers and their clients is explored as they come in and out of a New York City brothel.

What To Expect: Not to be confused with the 1988 movie Working Girl with Melanie Griffith and Sigourney Weaver, this movie is full of nudity, sex scenes, and all kinds of risque behavior that push the envelope and the boundaries as to what’s acceptable on the big screen.

• Stream Working Girls on HBO Max.

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down (1990)

The Director: Pedro Almodóvar

The Cast: Antonio Banderas, Victoria Abril, Loles León

What It’s About: A recently released psychiatric patient tries to find a former adult film star and convince her to fall in love with him, though how he goes about this is far from romantic.

What To Expect: One of Antonio Banderas’ best movies, Tie Me Up!, Tie Me Down! leaves little to the imagination.

• Stream Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! On HBO Max.

Behind The Candelabra (2013)

The Director: Steven Soderbergh

The Cast: Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Rob Lowe

What It’s About: An exploration of legendary Las Vegas pianist Liberace and his intense relationship with a lover in the final years of his life.

What To Expect: The 2013 HBO original movie doesn’t hold back on the excess that fueled Liberace’s life off-stage, as well as his attempts to preserve his public image. That said, it has more than a few explicit sex scenes.

• Stream Behind the Candelabra on HBO Max.

The HBO Max library is changing all the time, meaning you may want to check back at a later date for even more steamy and romantic dramas, comedies, and thrillers.

When it comes to one of the most famous directors, I’m sure there are many that might come to your mind. You could be thinking of Steven Spielberg, maybe the famous James Cameron, or perhaps even Wes Anderson, but for me, I’ve always thought about Guillermo del Toro. The man's work has impacted a good portion of my life, and from some of his movies, I’ve really learned to appreciate both good horror movies and fantastic fantasy films. 

But this list is for those who have never seen Guillermo del Toro’s movies before, and today, we’re going to talk about his best, from some of his earlier directed movies to some of the most recent. For anyone who wishes to see, these are Guillermo del Toro’s best movies. 

Cronos (1993)

First up on the list, we need to talk about Cronos, the first feature film that Guillermo del Toro ever directed. In this horror film, the audience is let into a world where a strange device gives the user the ability to obtain eternal life. But with this kind of power comes destruction, and now, after four hundred years, it’s back to cause more pain. 

Even for a film from a first-time director, Cronos is still so good and deserving of being on this list. Not only is it a great international horror film, but it also features a stellar story that genuinely gives me chills to this day. I would suggest anyone watch this if they want to get into del Toro’s movies. It's utterly unique.

Stream Cronos on HBO Max.
Rent/Buy Cronos on Amazon.

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Arguably, Pan’s Labyrinth is the most popular del Toro film, and for many reasons. This astounding dark fantasy film takes place in the 1940s in Spain, and mainly follows a little girl who starts to find herself in a magical world when she ends up moving in with her stepfather. But even if everything at first seems magical, there are creatures and darkness lurking around every corner. 

I could go on for hours about how much I love Pan’s Labyrinth. It’s, like, the perfect amount of both horror and fantasy, and something that pleases my movie-watching brain. This movie is the perfect film to show to anyone who doubts that del Toro is a master of horror and fantasy because it’s just fantastic. The film won and was nominated for several Academy Awards. 

Stream Pan’s Labyrinth on Starz. 
Rent/Buy Pan’s Labyrinth on Amazon.

Hellboy (2004)

Remember when Hellboy came out in 2019 and people were upset about everything with that film? It could be because it was nowhere like this version of Hellboy, released in 2004 and starring Ron Perlman. In this film, we follow a demonic beast who has turned into a superhero, and using these powers, he decides to help keep the world safe from the most dangerous monsters you could think of – all of the paranormal kind. 

Hellboy kicks ass in the best way. Guillermo del Toro really does prove that he can do it all by directing a superhero movie, but everything else in this film is great as well. I love the cinematography (which was also done by del Toro) and the story. And I’ll just say this here, I love David Harbour, but Ron Perlman’s portrayal of Hellboy just can’t be beat. 

Stream Hellboy on HBO Max. 
Rent/Buy Hellboy on Amazon.

Mimic (1997)

In this film, del Toro decided to step a little more into the science-fiction horror realm, and create the film Mimic. In this movie, we follow a scientist who takes it upon herself to create a mutant kind of insect to kill cockroaches that have been infecting and killing children in NYC. But sadly, over the course of a few years, she finds out that this insect has not died as she originally planned – but has only grown stronger, and much more monstrous. 

I’ll be the first to say that out of everyone, Guillermo del Toro really knows how to make the viewers squirm, whether that be how he’s able to build suspense, or for the gnarly prosthetics and makeup he uses for his monsters, but wow, does this film get under your skin in the best way. It’s truly unlike any horror film out there and one I believe every person who loves horror should see – just, ah… maybe stay away from it on a full stomach, is all I’ll say. 

Stream Mimic on HBO Max.
Rent/Buy Mimic on Amazon.

Crimson Peak (2015)

When I say del Toro can direct anything, I mean anything, including gothic romance films. In Crimson Peak, we are taken back in time to the Edwardian era in England, and our main protagonist is Edith, a young woman and aspiring author who ends up moving to a beautiful mansion with her new husband and his sister. But as she moves in, she starts to have ghostly visions, and now it’s up to her to decipher what they mean. 

Something I really love about Crimson Peak is that at this point in del Toro’s film career, it had really been unlike anything he had ever done before. We’ve seen him do horror and fantasy and sci-fi but I had never seen him do romance so well, and yet there’s a romance in here that truly took my breath away. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but just go into this blind and watch it from beginning to end. I’ll always be upset that it didn't do better at the box office. 

Stream Crimson Peak on Netflix. 
Rent/Buy Crimson Peak on Amazon.

The Devil’s Backbone (2001)

This film is amazing. The Devil’s Backbone is another horror film from Guillermo del Toro that is set in Spain and takes place during the Spanish Civil War, mainly focusing on a little boy who has lost his father in the war. But as soon as he arrives at an all-boys orphanage, he discovers that this place is haunted – and there are deep, dark secrets that are beginning to be discovered. 

This film is so well done from start to finish, and it is another example as to why Guillermo del Toro is a fantastic director all around. His ability to build suspense while still keeping the audience scared and on the edge of their seat is something that I truly love and need more of in my life. Even del Toro himself has said it’s one of his best movies. 

Stream The Devil’s Backbone on HBO Max.
Rent/Buy The Devil’s Backbone on Amazon.

The Shape Of Water (2017)

Moving on to a romantic fantasy film, we look at The Shape of Water. This is an interesting film that tells the story of a cleaner who speaks with sign language and works at a government facility which just so happens to be containing a humanoid amphibian creature – basically a fish person – but she ends up falling in love with him and does everything in her power to help him escape. 

Yes, the premise is a bit out there but trust me when I say that the movie really is expertly directed and beautifully shot. The performances are fantastic all around and I could go on for hours about how the love story is actually very sweet in many ways – I just, uh, never need to see a certain scene again and if you know, you know. I’ll just let you all be surprised. 

But the rest of the film is amazing – the film earned thirteen Academy Award nominations, won both Best Picture and Best Director, becoming the first fantasy film since The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King to win. 

Stream The Shape of Water on FreeVee through Amazon.
Rent/Buy The Shape of Water on Amazon.

Nightmare Alley (2021) 

Last but not least, we need to talk about Nightmare Alley. While it unfortunately came out in 2021 and didn’t have a big debut at the box office since it was around the same time Spider-Man: No Way Home was in theaters, Nightmare Alley is an amazing neo-noir psychological thriller film that tells the story of a carnival worker who will do anything to try and make his career bigger and better – including using people to his advantage that could end dangerously. 

Nightmare Alley was nominated for four Academy Awards, and has some really cool visual design and skillful storytelling. The entire Nightmare Alley cast is great, but I have to give special praise to Bradley Cooper, who rocked it in his starring role and deserved way more credit than he got. 

Stream Nightmare Alley on Hulu. 
Rent/Buy Nightmare Alley on Amazon.

There are truly so many amazing films that Guillermo del Toro has had a hand in creating, but these were just some of his best directed films that I had to focus on. And if you’re craving more Guillermo del Toro after this, be sure to check out his new Netflix series, Cabinet of Curiosities, featuring even more creepy, scary stories. Happy watching! 

When Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story came out, like a lot of people, I watched it all over the course of a single weekend. And while watching 10 hours of Evan Peters’ portrayal of the notorious serial killer did mess with my head, watching the true crime show marathon allowed me to really focus on the performances of the star-studded cast. This was especially true for Richard Jenkins, who did an outstanding job with his portrayal of the father of the “Milwaukee Cannibal.”

After finishing Ryan Murphy’s limited series I couldn’t stop thinking about the various other Richard Jenkins movies and TV shows that have come out over the years, and how his performances in each of those were often the highlight of each respective project. That being said, here are 12 movies and shows to watch if you like what you saw of Jenkins on the 2022 Netflix series and want to see more.

Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (2022)

Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story focuses on the life and crimes of the notorious serial killer who killed and dismembered 18 victims over the course of a 13-year period before finally being brought to justice. 

Richard Jenkins better receive awards, or at least get nominated for some, for his portrayal of Lionel Dahmer in the unsettling yet highly watchable limited series. At times a character you can’t help but feel sorry for, while at others the biggest jerk in the room, Jenkins’ performance elevates just about every scene in which he is featured. It is arguably one of his best appearances to date.

Stream Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story on Netflix.

The Shape Of Water (2017)

Winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Guillermo del Toro, the 2017 fantasy romance film, The Shape of Water, tells the story of a mute woman named Elisa (Sally Hawkins) who meets and falls in love with a creature that is part man and part amphibian (Doug Jones).

One of the best things about The Shape of Water is Richard Jenkins’ character, Giles, a closeted man who lives next door to Elisa in their apartment building. As Elisa faces her own battles and path to growth, so does Giles, who builds the courage to make his feelings known. The kindness and gentle nature of his character also provides great contrast to some of the movie’s more sinister characters and situations.

Stream The Shape of Water on Freevee.
Rent/Buy The Shape of Water on Amazon.

Six Feet Under (2001 - 2005)

An HBO classic drama series with one of the best endings in the history of TV, Six Feet Under ran for five seasons on the premium cable channel, telling the story of the Fisher family and how the death of family patriarch Nathaniel Fisher Sr. (Richard Jenkins) changed their lives and funeral home business.

Though he dies in the opening moments of the pilot, Nathaniel Fisher Sr. is a major part of Six Feet Under throughout its run, appearing in various dream sequences, flashbacks, and hallucinations. How Jenkins didn’t win any awards for his performance remains a mystery two decades later, because his hilarious, sorrowful, and well-rounded portrayal of the character was outstanding.

Stream Six Feet Under on HBO Max.
Buy Six Feet Under on Amazon.

Burn After Reading (2008)

The Coen Brothers’ 2008 spy comedy, Burn After Reading, centers on the the misplaced memoirs of former CIA analyst Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) as they fall into the hands of gym employees Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) and Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt), who attempt to take the “secretive documents” and put a get-rich-quick scheme into action.

Jenkins steps in as Ted, Linda’s boss and secret admirer who will do anything to help her out in a bind. This includes breaking into the home of Osbourne Cox to gather more intel for her plan, a sequence that ends with one of the most startling moments in the entire movie.

Stream Burn After Reading on Freevee.
Rent/Buy Burn After Reading on Amazon.

The Visitor (2008)

Before writing one of the best journalism movies with Spotlight, writer-director Tom McCarthy released the phenomenal The Visitor, a drama about a widower (Jenkins) who comes home to his New York apartment to find two strangers living there. Instead of kicking them out, the college professor accepts the guests, kicking off a story of rebirth and heartbreak.

Jenkins’s portrayal of Walter Vale earned the actor an Academy Award nomination, but he ultimately lost out to Sean Penn in Milk. Easily one of Jenkins’ best performances, The Visitor sees the actor appear as soft and caring as ever, creating a charming and endearing experience for all.

Stream The Visitor on Tubi.
Rent/Buy The Visitor on Amazon.

The Cabin In The Woods (2012)

As a group of college friends settle in for a weekend of partying and relaxation in a cabin deep in the forest, none of them have any idea of the dangers that await them in the darkness or the ramifications of their decisions.

Without giving too much away for those who have yet to watch The Cabin in the Woods, this movie is equal parts horror and comedy, which becomes fully realized as the unique and convention-busting narrative unfolds. Plus, the banter between Jenkins and Bradley Whitford’s characters is more than worth the price of a rental.

Rent/Buy The Cabin in the Woods on Amazon.

Olive Kitteridge (2014)

Based on Elizabeth Strout’s novel of the same name, the 2014 HBO miniseries, Olive Kitteridge, tells the story of a strict former schoolteacher (Frances McDormand) as she attempts to navigate life and interpersonal relationships with her family and fellow residents in the seaside town of Crosby, Maine.

Olive Kitteridge went on to win six Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie for Richard Jenkins. Able to stand toe-to-toe with his Burn After Reading co-star and fellow award winner, Jenkins’ portrayal of Olive’s husband, Henry, was one of the best of the actor’s career and earned him his first and only (so far) Emmy.

Stream Olive Kitteridge on HBO Max.
Buy Olive Kitteridge on Amazon.

Bone Tomahawk (2015)

When a tribe of cannibalistic Native Americans abduct several residents of a small town in the American West, Sheriff Franklin Hunt (Kurt Russell) puts together a posse to rescue the townsfolk before they are killed, or worse, eaten.

Doing what he does best, Richard Jenkins shows up as a supporting character by the name of Deputy Chicory who helps Sheriff Hunt track down the cannibals and prevent them from doing any more harm. Jenkins is phenomenal as the elder character who doesn’t want his old age to hold him back, and is at the center of some incredible scenes in one of the best horror movies of 2015.

Rent/Buy Bone Tomahawk on Amazon.

Flirting With Disaster (1996)

Not wanting to name his newborn son until he uncovers the identities of his own birth parents, Mel Coplin (Ben Stiller in one of his best movies) sets off on a wild and crazy cross-country road trip to find the couple that gave him up for adoption decades earlier.

On his journey, Mel encounters some truly bizarre characters, including ATF agents Tony (Josh Brolin) and Paul (Richard Jenkins), who happen to be partners in more than one way. These two find themselves at the center of some of the movie’s best scenes, including the hilarious “acid freak out” sequence where his character is accidentally given LSD.

Stream Flirting with Disaster on Starz.
Rent/Buy Flirting with Disaster on Amazon.

I Heart Huckabees (2004)

In an attempt to make sense of the chaos of his life, Albert (Jason Schwartzman) enlists the services of so-called existential detectives to investigate the strangeness of his everyday existence. As part of the process, the neurotic environmentalist is paired up with an even more off-his-rocker fireman (Mark Wahlberg).

Though he only appears briefly in I Heart Huckabees, Richard Jenkins steals his scene as the overbearing father of a religious family (including a young Jonah Hill). The lunch scene Jenkins’ character shares with the stars is maddeningly funny. As great as Jenkins is in more subdued roles, he is an absolute gem whenever he freaks out and loses his top.

Stream I Heart Huckabees on HBO Max.
Rent/Buy I Heart Huckabees on Amazon.

Let Me In (2010)

One of the few horror remakes that actually don’t suck, Matt Reeves’ 2010 vampire movie, Let Me In, follows a young loner named Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) as he befriends a mysterious girl named Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz), who isn’t as young as she’s letting on.

The performances by the two young leads help make Let Me In a great adaptation of the Swedish film Let the Right One In, but also making the movie worthwhile is Richard Jenkins and his portrayal of Abby’s human companion, Thomas. A bit more nuanced than some of his other roles at the time, Jenkins is amazing here.

Stream Let Me In on Hulu.
Rent/Buy Let Me In on Amazon.

Step Brothers (2008)

And then there is Adam McKay’s 2008 comedy, Step Brothers, which tells the story of two immature grown men — Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell) and Dale Doback (John C. Reilly) — who become siblings after their parents get married to one another. Hilarity ensues.

Before even getting too far into the movie, it becomes apparent that at some point Richard Jenkins’ character, Dr. Robert Doback, is going to drop the facade of an understanding and empathetic parent and have an epic meltdown. The movie slowly teases at it as the story unfolds and then turns it up a notch for one of the most ridiculous scenes of the actor’s career.

Rent/Buy Step Brothers on Amazon.

These are just some of movies and shows you should check out if you are a fan of Richard Jenkins or want to see more of his work after completing Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. As we wait to find out if Jenkins is going to be nominated for his latest performance, now is a good time to check out the 2022 TV schedule or the updated list of all the upcoming new movie releases.

Of all the great 2024 movies nominated for Best Picture at the 2025 Academy Awards – including The Brutalist, The Substance, and Wicked – Anora was the big surprise winner of the night. In celebration of the most recent celebration of Hollywood's finest achievements, let’s take a look back at not just the best Best Picture Oscar winners but all 97 films to receive the honor in the annual ceremony’s prestigious history, along with a tip on how to watch them from home. Let’s start at the very beginning.

The 1920s-1930s

Wings (1927)

Director: William A. Wellman

Starring: Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Richard Arlen

What it’s about: According to History.com, the first movie to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards (before they were called Oscars) was Wings – an action-packed, silent epic following two World War I fighter pilots and their bitter feud over the same woman.

How to watch Wings

• Stream Wings on Tubi
• Rent or buy Wings on Amazon
• Buy Wings on Blu-ray on Amazon

The Broadway Melody (1929)

Director: Harry Beaumont

Starring: Charles King, Anita Page, Bessie Love

What it’s about: There is a romantic rivalry at the heart of The Broadway Melody – a musical about show business dreams and the first “talkie” to win the highest honor at the Academy Awards.

How to watch The Broadway Melody

• Stream The Broadway Melody on Tubi
• Rent or buy The Broadway Melody on Amazon
• Buy The Broadway Melody on Blu-ray on Amazon

All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)

Director: Lewis Milestone

Starring: Lew Ayres, Lewis Wolheim

What it’s about: The first adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, – and only the first to be nominated for Best Picture before Netflix’s 2022 version (one of the best war movies on Netflix) – won the prize for its heartbreaking depiction of World War I from a German soldier’s perspective.

How to watch All Quiet on the Western Front

• Stream All Quiet on the Western Front on Tubi
• Rent or buy All Quiet on the Western Front on Amazon
• Buy All Quiet on the Western Front on Blu-ray on Amazon

Cimarron (1931)

Director: Wesley Ruggles

Starring: Richard Dix, Irene Dunne

What it’s about: Edna Farber’s novel about a newspaper editor and his involvement in the late 19th-Century Oklahoma land rush inspired Cimarron – the first Western to win at the Academy Awards, including the top prize.

How to watch Cimarron

• Rent or buy Cimarron on Amazon
• Buy Cimarron on Blu-ray on Amazon

Grand Hotel (1932)

Director: Edmund Goulding

Starring: Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, John Barrymore

What it’s about: An iconic ensemble leads the thrilling, romantic interwoven stories told in Grand Hotel, which was only nominated for Best Picture but managed to take it home.

How to watch Grand Hotel

• Rent or buy Grand Hotel on Amazon
• Buy Grand Hotel on Blu-ray on Amazon

Cavalcade (1933)

Director: Frank Lloyd

Starring: Diana Winyard, Clive Brook

What it’s about: Several notable and tragic events of the early 20th Century are seen through the eyes of a well-to-do English family in Cavalcade, which also earned awards for Frank Lloyd and art director William S. Darling.

How to watch Cavalcade

• Rent or buy Cavalcade on Amazon
• Buy Cavalcade on Blu-ray on Amazon

It Happened One Night (1934)

Director: Frank Capra

Starring: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert

What it’s about: Frank Capra, Clark Gable, and Claudette Colbert each won their first Academy Award for It Happened One Night – one of the most charming and influential romantic comedy movies ever made.

How to watch It Happened One Night

• Stream It Happened One Night on Tubi
• Rent or buy It Happened One Night on Amazon
• Buy It Happened One Night on Blu-ray on Amazon

Mutiny On The Bounty (1935)

Director: Frank Lloyd

Starring: Clark Gable, Charles Laughton

What it’s about: Mutiny on the Bounty is a thrilling adventure, inspired by a real incident from 1789, about a ship crew rebelling against their sadistic captain.

How to watch Mutiny on the Bounty

• Rent or buy Mutiny on the Bounty on Amazon
• Buy Mutiny on the Bounty on Blu-ray on Amazon

The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

Director: Robert Z. Leonard

Starring: William Powell, Luise Rainer, Myrna Loy

What it’s about: The Great Ziegfeld is a lavish, fact-based tale about the ups and downs of show business that also took home an award for Seymour Felix’s choreography.

How to watch The Great Ziegfeld

• Rent or buy The Great Ziegfeld on Amazon
• Buy The Great Ziegfeld on Blu-ray on Amazon

The Life Of Emile Zola (1937)

Director: William Dieterle

Starring: Paul Muni, Gloria Holden

What it’s about: The following year, the Academy gave the Best Picture Oscar to another fact-based drama, The Life of Emile Zola, which follows the titular French writer and his fight against the unjust Dreyfus affair.

How to watch The Life of Emile Zola

• Stream The Life of Emile Zola on Max
• Rent or buy The Life of Emile Zola on Amazon
• Buy The Life of Emile Zola on Blu-ray on Amazon

You Can't Take It With You (1938)

Director: Frank Capra

Starring: Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart

What it’s about: You Can’t Take It with You – based on playwrights George S. Kaufmann and Moss Hart’s brilliant, romantic class satire – won Best Picture the first year the Academy started calling the statuette “Oscar.”

How to watch You Can’t Take It with You

• Rent or buy You Can’t Take It with You on Amazon
• Buy You Can’t Take It with You on Blu-ray on Amazon

Gone With The Wind (1939)

Director: Victor Fleming

Starring: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Hattie McDaniel

What it’s about: Still the all-time highest-grossing movie when adjusted for inflation, according to Box Office Mojo, Gone with the Wind made Oscar history as the first color film to win Best Picture and Hattie McDaniel became the first Black person to be nominated and awarded by the Academy when she won Best Supporting Actress.

How to watch Gone with the Wind

• Stream Gone with the Wind on Max
• Rent or buy Gone with the Wind on Amazon
• Buy Gone with the Wind on Blu-ray on Amazon

The 1940s

Rebecca (1940)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Starring: Laurence Olivie, Joan Fontaine

What it’s about: It is hard to believe that Alfred Hitchcock never won an Oscar himself, but his adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s riveting suspense novel, Rebecca, at least earned him the honor of saying he helmed a Best Picture winner.

How to watch Rebecca

• Stream Rebecca on Filmzie
• Buy Rebecca on Blu-ray on Amazon

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

Director: John Ford

Starring: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O’Hara

What it’s about: Famous for beating Citizen Kane for the top prize is How Green Was My Valley, which is based on Richard Llewellyn’s story of one family’s struggles in a Welsh mining village in the early 1900s.

How to watch How Green Was My Valley

• Rent or buy How Green Was My Valley on Amazon
• Buy How Green Was My Valley on Blu-ray on Amazon

Mrs. Miniver (1942)

Director: William Wyler

Starring: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon

What it’s about: As World War II was still raging, the Best Picture Oscar went to Mrs. Miniver, which chronicles the early days of the earth-shattering conflict through the eyes of a middle-class British family.

How to watch Mrs. Miniver

• Stream Mrs. Miniver on Max
• Stream Mrs. Miniver on IndieFlix
• Rent or buy Mrs. Miniver on Amazon
• Buy Mrs. Miniver on Blu-ray on Amazon

Casablanca (1943)

Director: Michael Curtiz

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman

What it’s about: The events of World War II were very much an influence on the story of the heartbreaking classic about unrequited love, Casablanca, in which former lovers reunited over political intrigue in Morocco.

How to watch Casablanca

• Stream Casablanca on Max
• Rent or buy Casablanca on Amazon
• Buy Casablanca on Blu-ray on Amazon

Going My Way (1944)

Director: Leo McCarey

Starring: Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald

What it’s about: The Academy must have been in the mood for something lighter when it awarded Best Picture to a musical called Going My Way, which also earned Bing Crosby his sole Oscar.

How to watch Going My Way

• Rent or buy Going My Way on Amazon
• Buy Going My Way on Blu-ray on Amazon

The Lost Weekend (1945)

Director: Billy Wilder

Starring: Ray Milland, Jane Wyman

What it’s about: Following World War II’s end, the Academy sought darkness again and gave the top prize to Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend – a film noir classic following an alcoholic’s days-long bender.

How to watch The Lost Weekend

• Rent or buy The Lost Weekend on Amazon
• Buy The Lost Weekend on Blu-ray on Amazon

The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)

Director: William Wyler

Starring: Myrna Loy, Fredric March

What it’s about: While many films set around and released close to World War II intended to glorify the conflict, The Best Years of Lives took a more honest approach to its psychological effects, by following a trio of traumatized veterans struggling to readjust.

How to watch The Best Years of Our Lives

• Stream The Best Years of Our Lives on Amazon Prime
• Stream The Best Years of Our Lives on Peacock
• Buy The Best Years of Our Lives on Blu-ray on Amazon

Gentleman's Agreement (1947)

Director: Elia Kazan

Starring: Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire

What it’s about: A renowned journalist goes undercover as a Jewish man as research for a series of articles covering anti-Semitism in Gentleman’s Agreement.

How to watch Gentleman’s Agreement

• Rent or buy Gentleman’s Agreement on Amazon
• Buy Gentleman’s Agreement on Blu-ray on Amazon

Hamlet (1948)

Director: Laurence Olivier

Starring: Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons

What it’s about: Sir Laurence Olivier also did uncredited screenwriting work on and gave an Oscar-winning performance in the title role of Hamlet – the first talkie based on William Shakespeare’s tragedy and the first non-American film to win Best Picture.

How to watch Hamlet

• Stream Hamlet on Max
• Stream Hamlet on Tubi
• Rent or buy Hamlet on Amazon
• Buy Hamlet on DVD on Amazon

All The King's Men (1949)

Director: Robert Rossen

Starring: Broderick Crawford, John Ireland

What it’s about: Broderick Crawford earned an Oscar for his lead performance in All the King’s Men – based on Robert Penn Warren’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel following the triumphant rise and fall of a corrupt politician.

How to watch All the King’s Men

• Stream All the King's Men on Tubi
• Rent or buy All the King’s Men on Amazon
• Buy All the King’s Men on Blu-ray on Amazon

The 1950s

All About Eve (1950)

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Starring: Anne Baxter, Bette Davis

What it’s about: “Fasten your seatbelts” for All About Eve – the dazzling drama in which the title character schemes to assume the life of an aging Broadway star.

How to watch All About Eve

• Rent or buy All About Eve on Amazon
• Buy All About Eve on Blu-ray on Amazon

An American In Paris (1951)

Director: Vincente Minnelli

Starring: Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron

What it’s about: A painter struggles to find work in France in the essential romantic musical, An American in Paris, which also won Best Original Score.

How to watch An American in Paris

• Rent or buy An American in Paris on Amazon
• Buy An American in Paris on Blu-ray on Amazon

The Greatest Show On Earth (1952)

Director: Cecil B. DeMille

Starring: James Stewart, Charlton Heston

What it’s about: The Greatest Show on Earth brought all the excitement of the circus to the movie theater and, as depicted in The Fabelmans, inspired a young Steven Spielberg to pursue a career in filmmaking.

How to watch The Greatest Show on Earth

• Stream The Greatest Show on Earth on MGM+
• Rent or buy The Greatest Show on Earth on Amazon
• Buy The Greatest Show on Earth on Blu-ray on Amazon

From Here To Eternity (1953)

Director: Fred Zinnemann

Starring: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed

What it’s about: One of the most exciting and romantic war dramas of all time is From Here to Eternity, which includes one of the most iconic movie kisses and for which Frank Sinatra won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

How to watch From Here to Eternity

• Rent or buy From Here to Eternity on Amazon
• Buy From Here to Eternity on Blu-ray on Amazon

On The Waterfront (1954)

Director: Elia Kazan

Starring: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden

What it’s about: Marlon Brando won his first Academy Award for playing a down-and-out former boxer who “coulda been a contender” in On the Waterfront, which also earned Elia Kazan his second Oscar.

How to watch On the Waterfront

• Rent or buy On the Waterfront on Amazon
• Buy On the Waterfront on Blu-ray on Amazon

Marty (1955)

Director: Delbert Mann

Starring: Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair

What it’s about: Ernest Borgnine gives an Oscar-winning performance in the title role of Marty – a Bronx butcher who receives an unexpected chance at love when he meets the equally disillusioned teacher, Clara.

How to watch Marty

• Stream Marty on Amazon Prime
• Stream Marty on Tubi
• Stream Marty on Pluto TV
• Buy Marty on Blu-ray on Amazon

Around The World In 80 Days (1956)

Director: Michael Anderson

Starring: David Niven, Cantinflas

What it’s about: Based on Jules Verne’s seminal, inventive adventure novel, Around the World in 80 Days follows two explorers attempting to do just what the title suggests.

How to watch Around the World in 80 Days

• Rent or buy Around the World in 80 Days on Amazon
• Buy Around the World in 80 Days on DVD on Amazon

The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)

Director: David Lean

Starring: Alec Guinness, William Holden

What it’s about: Future Obi-Wan Kenobi actor Alec Guinness won the Best Actor Oscar for playing one of many POWs forced to build a doomed railroad during World War II in The Bridge on the River Kwai.

How to watch The Bridge on the River Kwai

• Rent or buy The Bridge on the River Kwai on Amazon
• Buy The Bridge on the River Kwai on Blu-ray on Amazon

Gigi (1958)

Director: Vincente Minnelli

Starring: Leslie Caron, Louis Jordan

What it’s about: Winner of all nine Oscars it was nominated for, Gigi is a sweeping musical about a friendship between a rich playboy and a courtesan-in-training that blossoms into more.

How to watch Gigi

• Stream Gigi on Tubi
• Rent or buy Gigi on Amazon
• Buy Gigi on Blu-ray on Amazon

Ben-Hur (1959)

Director: Willian Wyler

Starring: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins

What it’s about: Charlton Heston won Best Actor for playing the title role of a Jewish prince wrongfully sold into slavery in Ben-Hur – a quintessential period epic that is also celebrated for its editing by experts of the craft.

How to watch Ben-Hur

• Stream Ben-Hur on Tubi
• Rent or buy Ben-Hur on Amazon
• Buy Ben-Hur on Blu-ray on Amazon

The 1960s

The Apartment (1960)

Director: Billy Wilder

Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine

What it’s about: One of Billy Wilder’s most definitive achievements was The Apartment – an inventive comedy about an insurance clerk who allows his coworkers to have romantic encounters in his Manhattan home.

How to watch The Apartment

• Stream The Apartment on MGM+
• Stream The Apartment on Tubi
• Rent or buy The Apartment on Amazon
• Buy The Apartment on Blu-ray on Amazon

West Side Story (1961)

Director: Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise

Starring: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer

What it’s about: William Shakespeare’s seminal romantic tragedy, Romeo & Juliet, is given a modernized, musical update with West Side Story, which Steven Spielberg would later reimagine in 2021.

How to watch West Side Story

• Stream West Side Story on Amazon Prime
• Stream West Side Story on Tubi
• Buy West Side Story on Blu-ray on Amazon

Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)

Director: David Lean

Starring: Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness

What it’s about: It is hard to believe that Peter O’Toole never won an Oscar, even for his performance in the title role of Lawrence of Arabia, which is about how England’s T.E. Lawrence led Arab tribes against the Turks during World War I.

How to watch Lawrence of Arabia

• Stream Lawrence of Arabia on Max
• Rent or buy Lawrence of Arabia on Amazon
• Buy Lawrence of Arabia on Blu-ray on Amazon

Tom Jones (1963)

Director: Tony Richardson

Starring: Albert Finney, Susannah York

What it’s about: Four Oscars went to this adaptation of Henry Fielding’s period novel, Tom Jones, which follows the romantic exploits of the chivalrous, titular lothario.

How to watch Tom Jones

• Stream Tom Jones on Max
• Rent or buy Tom Jones on Amazon
• Buy Tom Jones on Blu-ray from Walmart

My Fair Lady (1964)

Director: George Cukor

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison

What it’s about: Based on the stage musical of the same name, My Fair Lady is the largely influential story (it was the basis for She’s All That) of a phonetics professor who wagers he can make an upper-class citizen out of a working-class, Cockney woman.

How to watch My Fair Lady

• Rent or buy My Fair Lady on Amazon
• Buy My Fair Lady on Blu-ray on Amazon

The Sound Of Music (1965)

Director: Robert Wise

Starring: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer

What it’s about: Another iconic musical that earned the top prize at the Oscars in the 1960s is Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music, starring Julie Andrews as a governess who teaches the children of her employer about the joys of song.

How to watch The Sound of Music

• Stream The Sound of Music on Disney+
• Stream The Sound of Music on Hulu
• Rent or buy The Sound of Music on Amazon
• Buy The Sound of Music on Blu-ray on Amazon

A Man For All Seasons (1966)

Director: Fred Zinnemann

Starring: Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller

What it’s about: Sir Thomas More’s defiance of the Catholic Church’s prohibition of divorce inspired the play A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt, who would win an Oscar for penning the screenplay of this enthralling adaptation.

How to watch A Man for All Seasons

• Rent or buy A Man for All Seasons on Amazon
• Buy A Man for All Seasons on Blu-ray on Amazon

In The Heat Of The Night (1967)

Director: Norman Jewison

Starring: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger

What it’s about: In one of Sidney Poitier’s best movies, In the Heat of the Night, he plays a Black detective asked by a Mississippi police chief to help solve a murder he was unjustly accused of.

How to watch In the Heat of the Night

• Stream In the Heat of the Night on Tubi
• Rent or buy In the Heat of the Night on Amazon
• Buy In the Heat of the Night on Blu-ray on Amazon

Oliver! (1968)

Director: Carol Reed

Starring: Ron Moody, Mark Lester

What it’s about: Based on the classic Charles Dickens novel, Oliver! is a musical that tells the story of a young orphan who adopts the art of pickpocketing in 1830s London.

How to watch Oliver!

• Stream Oliver! on The Roku Channel
• Rent or buy Oliver! on Amazon
• Buy Oliver! on Blu-ray on Amazon

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Director: John Schlesinger

Starring: Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman

What it’s about: The first and only Best Picture winner to receive an X rating is Midnight Cowboy, in which a Texas hustler in Brooklyn forms a deep bond with a rebuffed local.

How to watch Midnight Cowboy

• Stream Midnight Cowboy on Amazon Prime
• Stream Midnight Cowboy on Tubi
• Buy Midnight Cowboy on Blu-ray on Amazon

The 1970s

Patton (1970)

Director: Franklin J. Schaffner

Starring: George C. Scott, Karl Malden

What it’s about: George C. Scott brilliantly embodied one of the most famous military figures in history to Oscar-winning acclaim in the monumental biopic, Patton.

How to watch Patton

• Rent or buy Patton on Amazon
• Buy Patton on Blu-ray on Amazon

The French Connection (1971)

Director: William Friedken

Starring: Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider

What it’s about: In addition to earning a Best Director Oscar, William Friedkin arguably redefined the cop thriller with The French Connection, starring Gene Hackman in a winning performance as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle.

How to watch The French Connection

• Rent or buy The French Connection on Amazon
• Buy The French Connection on Blu-ray on Amazon

The Godfather (1972)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino

What it’s about: The mafia thriller genre was inarguably redefined by one of the best ‘70s movies, The Godfather, starring Marlon Brando in an Oscar-winning performance as Don Vito Corleone.

How to watch The Godfather

• Stream The Godfather on Paramount+
• Rent or buy The Godfather on Amazon
• Buy The Godfather on Blu-ray on Amazon

The Sting (1973)

Director: George Roy Hill

Starring: Paul Newman, Robert Redford

What it’s about: In the classic heist thriller classic The Sting, a pair of grifters plan a huge con to avenge the murder of their mutual friend.

How to watch The Sting

• Stream The Sting on Netflix
• Rent or buy The Sting on Amazon
• Buy The Sting on Blu-ray on Amazon

The Godfather Part II (1974)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Starring: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro

What it’s about: Francis Ford Coppola won Best Director after completing his adaptation of Mario Puzo’s novel with the, arguably, more powerful follow-up, The Godfather Part II, starring Robert De Niro in an Oscar-winning performance as a young Don Vito Corleone.

How to watch The Godfather Part II

• Stream The Godfather Part II on Paramount+
• Rent or buy The Godfather Part II on Amazon
• Buy The Godfather Part II on Blu-ray on Amazon

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Director: Milos Forman

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher

What it’s about: A movie that gets real about mental health is One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which features one of the greatest Jack Nicholson performances as a petty criminal who leads a rebellion against a sadistic nurse after an insanity plea gets him sent to a mental institution.

How to watch One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

• Rent or buy One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest on Amazon
• Buy One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest on Blu-ray on Amazon

Rocky (1976)

Director: John G. Avildsen

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire

What it’s about: Sylvester Stallone was nominated for both writing and starring in the title role of Rocky – one of the best sports movies ever made, which inspired an ongoing franchise of beloved boxing films.

How to watch Rocky

• Stream Rocky on Pluto TV
• Rent or buy Rocky on Amazon
• Buy Rocky on Blu-ray on Amazon

Annie Hall (1977)

Director: Woody Allen

Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton

What it’s about: A neurotic comedian looks back on his unique relationship with a free-spirited, aspiring singer in Annie Hall, which remains one of the best romantic comedy movies of all time.

How to watch Annie Hall

• Stream Annie Hall on Tubi
• Rent or buy Annie Hall on Amazon
• Buy Annie Hall on Blu-ray on Amazon

The Deer Hunter (1978)

Director: Michael Cimino

Starring: Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Christopher Walken

What it’s about: Less a war movie and more an analysis of post-war trauma, The Deer Hunter – one of the best Robert De Niro movies – is the harrowing and controversial story of a veteran and his struggles to find his friends after becoming separated in Vietnam.

How to watch The Deer Hunter

• Rent or buy The Deer Hunter on Amazon
• Buy The Deer Hunter on Blu-ray on Amazon

Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979)

Director: Robert Benton

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep

What it’s about: Both Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep received Oscars for their performances in Kramer vs. Kramer as a separated couple embroiled in a bitter custody battle over their young son.

How to watch Kramer vs. Kramer

• Rent or buy Kramer vs. Kramer on Amazon
• Buy Kramer vs. Kramer on Blu-ray on Amazon

The 1980s

Ordinary People (1980)

Director: Robert Redford

Starring: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, Timothy Hutton

What it’s about: Dysfunctional family dynamics are also at the heart of the devastating drama, Ordinary People – one of Donald Sutherland's best movies – for which Robert Redford won his sole competitive Academy Award.

How to watch Ordinary People

• Stream Ordinary People on Pluto TV
• Rent or buy Ordinary People on Amazon
• Buy Ordinary People on Blu-ray on Amazon

Chariots Of Fire (1981)

Director: Hugh Hudson

Starring: Ben Cross, Ian Charleson

What it’s about: Vangelis earned his sole Academy Award for his instantly recognizable score for Chariots of Fire, which follows two young, British track runners of differing backgrounds at the 1924 Olympics.

How to watch Chariots of Fire

• Rent or buy Chariots of Fire on Amazon
• Buy Chariots of Fire on Blu-ray on Amazon

Gandhi (1982)

Director: Richard Attenborough

Starring: Ben Kingsley, John Gielgud

What it’s about: Sir Ben Kingsley, who is of Indian descent on his father’s side, disappears into the role of the titular, iconic proponent for non-violent resistance in the rousing historical biopic, Gandhi.

How to watch Gandhi

• Stream Gandhi on Tubi
• Rent or buy Gandhi on Amazon
• Buy Gandhi on Blu-ray on Amazon

Terms Of Endearment (1983)

Director: James L. Brooks

Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson

What it’s about: It is hard to believe that Shirley MacLaine has just one Oscar, for her performance in Terms of Endearment – a drama tracing the relationship between a woman and her daughter that is often funny, until it is devastating.

How to watch Terms of Endearment

• Stream Terms of Endearment on Paramount+
• Stream Terms of Endearment on MGM+
• Stream Terms of Endearment on Hoopla
• Rent or buy Terms of Endearment on Amazon
• Buy Terms of Endearment on Blu-ray on Amazon

Amadeus (1984)

Director: Milos Forman

Starring: Tom Hulce, F. Murray Abraham

What it’s about: Milos Forman earned his second Best Director Oscar for Amadeus – a retelling of the life of renowned composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as told by a fellow musician who claims to have enviously murdered him, Antonio Salieri.

How to watch Amadeus

• Rent or buy Amadeus on Amazon
• Buy Amadeus on Blu-ray on Amazon

Out Of Africa (1985)

Director: Sydney Pollack

Starring: Robert Redford, Meryl Streep

What it’s about: A big game hunter and a Danish baroness fall in love in 20th-century Kenya in the tender, powerful romance, Out of Africa.

How to watch Out of Africa

• Stream Out of Africa on Netflix
• Rent or buy Out of Africa on Amazon
• Buy Out of Africa on Blu-ray on Amazon

Platoon (1986)

Director: Oliver Stone

Starring: Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe

What it’s about: American soldiers are subjected to relentless, senseless brutality while serving in Vietnam in one of the greatest war movies to win Best Picture, Platoon.

How to watch Platoon

• Stream Platoon on Amazon Prime
• Stream Platoon on Tubi
• Buy Platoon on Blu-ray on Amazon

The Last Emperor (1987)

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci

Starring: John Lone, Joan Chen

What it’s about: The story of Pu Yi – who would become the last person to serve as the monarchical leader of China – is revealed in The Last Emperor, for which Bernardo Bertolucci earned Oscars for both writing and directing.

How to watch The Last Emperor

• Stream The Last Emperor on Max
• Buy The Last Emperor on Blu-ray on Amazon

Rain Man (1988)

Director: Barry Levinson

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise

What it’s about: Dustin Hoffman gives one of the most esteemed performances of his career as an autistic savant opposite a stellar Tom Cruise as his previously unwitting younger sibling in Rain Man – a beautiful story of redemption through brotherly love.

How to watch Rain Man

• Stream Rain Man on Tubi
• Rent or buy Rain Man on Amazon
• Buy Rain Man on Blu-ray on Amazon

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Director: Bruce Beresford

Starring: Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman

What it’s about: Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman make an irresistible pair as a disgruntled, elderly widow and her chauffeur in one of Freeman’s best movies, Driving Miss Daisy – an inspirational story about redemption through friendship set between the 1950s and 1970s.

How to watch Driving Miss Daisy

• Rent or buy Driving Miss Daisy on Amazon
• Buy Driving Miss Daisy on Blu-ray on Amazon

The 1990s

Dances With Wolves (1990)

Director: Kevin Costner

Starring: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonell

What it’s about: Kevin Costner won a Best Director Oscar for Dances with Wolves – the first Western to win Best Picture since 1931’s Cimarron – in which the Yellowstone cast member also plays the title role of a Civil War-era soldier who learns the ways of a Native American tribe.

How to watch Dances with Wolves

• Stream Dances with Wolves on Amazon Prime
• Stream Dances with Wolves on Peacock
• Stream Dances with Wolves on MGM+
• Stream Dances with Wolves on Tubi
• Buy Dances with Wolves on Blu-ray on Amazon

The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)

Director: Jonathan Demme

Starring: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins

What it’s about: An FBI trainee seeks help from a cannibalistic former psychologist to catch a killer in The Silence of the Lambs – one of the best horror movies ever made and the only film out of a handful of horror movies nominated for Best Picture to win so far.

How to watch The Silence of the Lambs

• Rent or buy The Silence of the Lambs on Amazon
• Buy The Silence of the Lambs on Blu-ray on Amazon

Unforgiven (1992)

Director: Clint Eastwood

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman

What it’s about: The Academy would show its taste for the Western again by giving the top prize to one of the best Clint Eastwood movies, Unforgiven, for which the star won his first Oscar as both director and producer.

How to watch Unforgiven

• Rent or buy Unforgiven on Amazon
• Buy Unforgiven on Blu-ray on Amazon

Schindler’s List (1993)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes

What it’s about: Arguably the best Steven Spielberg movie is the film that made him an Academy Award-winning filmmaker as director and producer, Schindler’s List – a technically magnificent, emotionally distressing portrait of the Holocaust.

How to watch Schindler’s List

• Stream Schindler’s List on Netflix
• Rent or buy Schindler’s List on Amazon
• Buy Schindler’s List on Blu-ray on Amazon

Forrest Gump (1994)

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Starring: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright

What it’s about: In one of Tom Hanks’ best movies, the actor gives his second Oscar-winning performance as the simple-minded title hero of Forrest Gump – an endearing revisionist history drama from director Robert Zemeckis.

How to watch Forrest Gump

• Stream Forrest Gump on Paramount+
• Rent or buy Forrest Gump on Amazon
• Buy Forrest Gump on Blu-ray on Amazon

Braveheart (1995)

Director: Mel Gibson

Starring: Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau

What it’s about: Mel Gibson became an Oscar-winning filmmaker as the director and producer of the historical epic Braveheart, in which he also stars as Scottish warrior William Wallace in a bid to free his people from England’s tyrannical rule.

How to watch Braveheart

• Stream Braveheart on Pluto TV
• Rent or buy Braveheart on Amazon
• Buy Braveheart on Blu-ray on Amazon

The English Patient (1996)

Director: Anthony Minghella

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche

What it’s about: A French-Canadian nurse indulges in an affair with a British, semi-amnesiac plane crash victim in the romantic World War II-era drama, The English Patient.

How to watch The English Patient

• Stream The English Patient on MGM+
• Stream The English Patient on Hoopla
• Rent or buy The English Patient on Amazon
• Buy The English Patient on Blu-ray on Amazon

Titanic (1997)

Director: James Cameron

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet

What it’s about: Sparks fly between a wealthy young woman and a poor young man while on an ill-fated luxury ship in Titanic – James Cameron’s heavily dramatized retelling of the 1912 tragedy that became the highest-grossing film ever for a time.

How to watch Titanic

• Stream Titanic on Paramount+
• Stream Titanic on MGM+
• Rent or buy Titanic on Amazon
• Buy Titanic on Blu-ray on Amazon

Shakespeare In Love (1998)

Director: John Madden

Starring: Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Judi Dench

What it’s about: A young William Shakespeare indulges in an affair with a woman who inspires some of his most iconic work in Shakespeare in Love, for which Gwyneth Paltrow and Judi Dench also won Oscars for their performances.

How to watch Shakespeare in Love

• Stream Shakespeare in Love on Paramount+
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American Beauty (1999)

Director: Sam Mendes

Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening

What it’s about: Following his own death, a forty-something suburban dad recalls the bizarre last few weeks of his life through overhead narration in American Beauty.

How to watch American Beauty

• Stream American Beauty on Pluto TV
• Rent or buy American Beauty on Amazon
• Buy American Beauty on Blu-ray on Amazon

The 2000s

Gladiator (2000)

Director: Ridley Scott

Starring: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix

What it’s about: Russell Crowe gives an Oscar-winning performance as the hero of Gladiator – a thrilling period piece that surely had audiences “entertained” and spawned the sequel, Gladiator II, in 2024.

How to watch Gladiator

• Stream Gladiator on Paramount+
• Stream Gladiator on Pluto TV
• Rent or buy Gladiator on Amazon
• Buy Gladiator on Blu-ray on Amazon

A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Director: Ron Howard

Starring: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly

What it’s about: Russell Crowe headlined back-to-back Best Picture winners in the early 2000s – the second being A Beautiful Mind, in which he plays real-life mathematician John Nash, whose struggles with mental illness almost threatened his career.

How to watch A Beautiful Mind

• Rent or buy A Beautiful Mind on Amazon
• Buy A Beautiful Mind on Blu-ray on Amazon

Chicago (2002)

Director: Rob Marshall

Starring: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellwegger, Richard Gere

What it’s about: Catherine Zeta-Jones danced her way to Oscar glory in Chicago – the cinematic adaptation of the Broadway musical inspired by the infamous “Murderess Row” case of the late 1920s.

How to watch Chicago

• Stream Chicago on Paramount+
• Stream Chicago on Pluto TV
• Rent or buy Chicago on Amazon
• Buy Chicago on Blu-ray on Amazon

The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003)

Director: Peter Jackson

Starring: Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen

What it’s about: Director Peter Jackson completed his trilogy inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien’s influential fantasy books with The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which also became the most acclaimed of the Lord of the Rings movies and earned him a Best Director Oscar.

How to watch The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

• Stream The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King on Max
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Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Director: Clint Eastwood

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman

What it’s about: Clint Eastwood won his second Best Director Oscar for the tragic boxing drama Million Dollar Baby, which also saw Morgan Freeman win his first Academy Award and Hilary Swank her second.

How to watch Million Dollar Baby

• Rent or buy Million Dollar Baby on Amazon
• Buy Million Dollar Baby on Blu-ray on Amazon

Crash (2005)

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle

What it’s about: Paul Haggis earned a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for co-writing Crash – an analysis of modern racial tension as told from the point of view of various Los Angeleans in a 36-hour period.

How to watch Crash

• Stream Crash on Plex
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The Departed (2006)

Director: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson

What it’s about: Martin Scorsese received a long-overdue Oscar for directing The Departed – a gritty, bleak, twisty remake of the Chinese cop drama, Infernal Affairs, set in Boston’s criminal underground.

How to watch The Departed

• Rent or buy The Departed on Amazon
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No Country For Old Men (2007)

Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin

What it’s about: One of Joel and Ethan Coen’s best movies and one of the all-time best Western movies, No Country for Old Men – based on Cormac McCarthy’s powerful commentary on violence as seen through the eyes of three men on different sides of the law – also earned the duo Oscars for both writing and directing.

How to watch No Country for Old Men

• Stream No Country for Old Men on Paramount+
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Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Director: Danny Boyle

Starring: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto

What it’s about: A young man reflects on his childhood in Mumbai while competing on a game show in the inspiring fairy tale, Slumdog Millionaire.

How to watch Slumdog Millionaire

• Rent or buy Slumdog Millionaire on Apple TV
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The Hurt Locker (2009)

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie

What it’s about: Kathryn Bigelow became the first female Best Director winner for The Hurt Locker – one of the best war movies of all time, which stars Jeremy Renner as a military bomb defuser whose recklessness puts him at odds with his peers while serving in Iraq.

How to watch The Hurt Locker

• Rent or buy The Hurt Locker on Amazon
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The 2010s

The King's Speech (2010)

Director: Tom Hooper

Starring: Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush

What it’s about: Colin Firth gives a brilliant performance as an heir to the British throne struggling to overcome his debilitating stammer in The King’s Speech, which also earned Tom Hooper an Oscar.

How to watch The King’s Speech

• Stream The King's Speech on The Roku Channel
• Rent or buy The King’s Speech on Amazon
• Buy The King’s Speech on Blu-ray on Amazon

The Artist (2011)

Director: Michel Hazanavicius

Starring: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo

What it’s about: The first “silent film” to win the Best Picture Oscar since the very first Best Picture Oscar winner (Wings) was The Artist, which, itself, is a rousing, visually stunning love letter to the silent era.

How to watch The Artist

• Stream The Artist on Tubi
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• Buy The Artist on Blu-ray on Amazon

Argo (2012)

Director: Ben Affleck

Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston

What it’s about: One of Ben Affleck’s best movies, the intense thriller Argo is based on the true story of a CIA agent who helped Americans escape an Iranian hostage situation by posing as a film crew in 1979.

How to watch Argo

• Rent or buy Argo on Amazon
• Buy Argo on Blu-ray on Amazon

12 Years A Slave (2013)

Director: Steve McQueen

Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael Fassbender

What it’s about: Lupita Nyong’o earned a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in her feature-length debut, 12 Years a Slave, which is based on Solomon Northrup’s experience as a free Black man abducted and sold into slavery.

How to watch 12 Years a Slave

• Stream 12 Years a Slave on Hulu
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Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) (2014)

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Starring: Michael Keaton, Emma Stone

What it’s about: One of the best Michael Keaton movies, Birdman is a masterclass in satire and surrealism that sees the Oscar nominee poking fun at his own career by starring as a former superhero movie actor seeking a comeback.

How to watch Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

• Stream Birdman on Hulu
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Spotlight (2015)

Director: Tom McCarthy

Starring: Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams

What it’s about: Michael Keaton led back-to-back Oscar winners in the mid-2010s – the second being Spotlight, which tells the story behind the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning exposé about child molestation cover-ups in the Catholic Church.

How to watch Spotlight

• Stream Spotlight on Starz
• Rent or buy Spotlight on Amazon
• Buy Spotlight on Blu-ray on Amazon

Moonlight (2016)

Director: Barry Jenkins

Starring: Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris

What it’s about: Although an infamous mistake initially made it seem like La La Land won in 2017, the Best Picture Oscar really went to Moonlight – the harrowing story of a young Black man struggling with abuse and his sexual identity.

How to watch Moonlight

• Rent or buy Moonlight on Amazon
• Buy Moonlight on Blu-ray on Amazon

The Shape Of Water (2017)

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Starring: Sally Hawkins, Doug Jones

What it’s about: Visionary filmmaker Guillermo del Toro won over the Academy with The Shape of Water – one of his many celebrated collaborations with Doug Jones – which sees him continue to indulge in his love of creature features but filtered through a powerful commentary on forbidden love.

How to watch The Shape of Water

• Rent or buy The Shape of Water on Amazon
• Buy The Shape of Water on Blu-ray on Amazon

Green Book (2018)

Director: Peter Farrelly

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali

What it’s about: Mahershala Ali won his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar for one of his best roles yet – a Black pianist who forms a strong bond with his white chauffeur while touring the Jim Crow era South – in Green Book, which takes its name from a real road guide used to locate safe areas for Black travelers at the time.

How to watch Green Book

• Rent or buy Green Book on Amazon
• Buy Green Book on Blu-ray on Amazon

Parasite (2019)

Director: Bong Joon-ho

Starring: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun

What it’s about: An impoverished, South Korean family infiltrates the lives of a wealthy family in the striking, brilliant, subversive thriller, Parasite – the first movie to win Oscars for both Best Foreign Language Film and Best Picture.

How to watch Parasite

• Stream Parasite on Netflix
• Stream Parasite on Hulu
• Rent or buy Parasite on Amazon
• Buy Parasite on Blu-ray on Amazon

The 2020s

Nomadland (2020)

Director: Chloé Zhao

Starring: Frances McDormand, David Strathairn

What it’s about: The Chinese-born Chloé Zhao became the first woman of color to win Best Director for Nomadland, which could almost count as a documentary on the post-Recession culture of middle-aged people living exclusively on the road for its casting of real “nomads” as themselves.

How to watch Nomadland

• Stream Nomadland on Hulu
• Rent or buy Nomadland on Amazon
• Buy Nomadland on Blu-ray on Amazon

CODA (2021)

Director: Sian Heder

Starring: Emilia Jones, Troy Kotsur, Marlee Matlin

What it’s about: A young woman, who is the only hearing person in her family, struggles between following her musical aspirations and helping her parents when they fall on hard times in CODA, which also saw star Troy Kotsur make history as the first deaf person to win the Best Actor Oscar.

How to watch CODA

• Stream CODA on Apple TV+

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

Director: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert

Starring: Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu

What it’s about: One of the best A24 movies, Everything Everywhere All At Once – a bizarre, emotional, and crowd-pleasing Multiverse movie – took home the top prize, while acting awards went to Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Jamie Lee Curtis and DANIELS earned Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.

How to watch Everything Everywhere All At Once

• Stream Everything Everywhere All At Once on Max
• Rent or buy Everything Everywhere All At Once on Amazon
• Buy Everything Everywhere All At Once on Blu-ray on Amazon

Oppenheimer (2023)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr.

What it’s about: Robert Downey, Jr. became the first former SNL actor to win an Oscar for his supporting performance in Oppenheimer – a dramatization of the story of the Atomic Bomb's construction from the perspective of the project's leader, J. Robert Oppenheimer, that also won the top prize.

How to watch Oppenheimer

• Stream Oppenheimer on Amazon Prime
• Buy Oppenheimer on Blu-ray on Amazon

Anora (2024)

Director: Sean Baker

Starring: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov

What it’s about: At the 2025 Academy Awards, five went to Anora – in which a young, Brooklyn sex worker's impulsive marriage to a Russian oligarch's son creates issues in her life – including Best Editing, Original Screenplay, and Director for Baker; Best Actress for Madison; and top prize.

How to watch Anora

• Rent or buy Anora on Amazon
• Buy Anora on Blu-ray on Amazon

Now that you can say you have seen every Best Picture Oscar winner so far, would you say you agree with the Academy?

You know who’s a real gem of an actress? Octavia Spencer. It might be unfair to say this, but if acting was basketball, then Octavia Spencer would probably be the industry’s MVP when it comes to assists. That’s because when you typically think of Octavia Spencer movies, you probably think about how she’s often the most shining performance in a supporting role. That’s not to say that she doesn’t take on lead roles, as she had an important one just recently in HBO Max's The Witches. That said, most of her most memorable performances are usually of her giving a helping hand.

But support is so, so important, and it can make or break a story. That's likely why Ms. Spencer won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for The Help, and was also nominated two other times for Hidden Figures and The Shape of Water. But if there is any one truth about Octavia Spencer, it’s that she’s an impeccable actress and we’re lucky to have her. Now on with the list.

10. Zootopia (Mrs. Otterton)

Voice acting is no easy feat, especially when you’re playing the diminutive Mrs. Otterton in Disney’s hit movie, Zootopia. Emotions run high in this film, and Octavia Spencer’s performance as a woman looking for her missing husband is a shining moment in a movie just brimming with shining moments. It's such a little role, but Octavia Spencer manages to get us all emotionally invested in the search for her husband, and we’re rooting for Lt. Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde to find him.

But what really makes this performance special is just how well Octavia Spencer’s voice disappears into the character. Sure, if you know it’s her, then you’ll hear her. But if you don’t know it’s her, then you’ll just get fully invested in this character’s plight and sadness and will most likely say, “That was Octavia Spencer?” once you read the closing credits. She’s just too good. Even as an otter.

9. Snowpiercer (Tanya)

With such massive and memorable performances by Tilda Swinton, Ed Harris, and Chris Evans, it’s often easy to forget that Octavia Spencer is even in Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer. But once you watch it again, you’ll remember her since she plays such an important but subtle role as Tanya, a mother who is determined to get her son back from authoritarian forces. She has a voice and she uses it to motivate people, much to great effect.

And while I won’t spoil the movie for you in case you haven’t seen it yet (and if you haven’t, it’s currently on Netflix) what ultimately happens to her will make you pound the armrest of your seat once you get invested in her character. Which is why Snowpiercer is a good movie on your first watch, but a great movie on your second or third viewings. And Octavia Spencer is just one of the reasons why. She's acting her butt off without you really even noticing it. Because that’s just how great she is.

8. Onward (The Manticore)

I love Onward. In fact, it’s actually my new favorite Pixar movie, despite its lackluster performance at the box office. But as much as I love the overall story of two sons trying to bring back their father, what I love just as much is the characters. And Octavia Spencer comes in the blow us all away again as the once fierce, but now family-friendly, Manticore.

Octavia Spencer is hilarious since she has to withhold the seething, relentless rage that her species is known for, but also keep it all under wraps so that she can run a fantasy-themed restaurant. Of course she can’t hold it all together for too long, nor would we ever want her to.

7. Divergent (Johanna)

I’m going to be honest with you. I don’t like the Divergent series. It came out in that really awful period following The Hunger Games where it seemed like every somewhat popular YA series (think The Maze Runner, The 5th Wave, The Mortal Instruments… or don’t think of them) was getting greenlit for a movie. So, um, yeah. I kind of hate Divergent. But of the two movies I’ve seen in the series, she was the best part in both of them.

Octavia Spencer plays a former speaker of one of the factions who then started her own Allegiant group. I always found the series to be too loud and obnoxious, but in comes Octavia Spencer, speaking softly but with authority as a leader. She shines a bright light on a series that didn’t deserve her talent but somehow got it anyway. In other words, Octavia Spencer made a series that I would consider intolerable actually watchable, which is no small feat.

6. Fruitvale Station (Wanda)

Do you want to cry your eyes out? No? Then don’t watch Fruitvale Station, because you will cry your eyes out. Michael B. Jordan delivers a knock-out performance as real-life victim, Oscar Grant III, but it’s Octavia Spencer who does most of the heavy lifting as his mother in the film, Wanda Johnson.

Octavia Spencer’s performance will tear you apart when she cries about how she should have told her son to drive into the city rather than take the BART train where he lost his life at the station after being shot by a BART police officer. Octavia Spencer won a Best Supporting Actress award at the National Board of Review and deserved it. And if you ask me, she should have won the Oscar, too.

5. Self Made: Inspired By The Life Of Madam C.J. Walker (Madam C.J. Walker)

True story: While talking to a colleague of mine last year at the school I work at, she asked me, the resident movie nerd, if there was a film based on the life of Madam C.J. Walker. I told her I didn’t think there was, but if they ever made one, they should cast Octavia Spencer. And lo and behold, Netflix made a fictionalized miniseries about Madam C.J. Walker starring Octavia Spencer. Am I good, or what?

Actually, it’s pretty obvious that Octavia Spencer should take on the role, and she’s great in it. We see her ultra-humble beginnings as a washerwoman, to the discrimination she faces, and ultimately as she creates a hair empire. The series itself is the only thing sort of holding it back more, as it could be a tad more interesting. But there’s no denying how great Octavia Spencer is in it. She knocks it out of the park, as always.

4. The Shape of Water (Zelda Delilah Fuller)

If you read my list of the best Best Picture winners of the 2010’s, then you’ll know that I’m not a fan of The Shape of Water. I mean, it’s fine, but it’s a bit too artsy fartsy for my tastes. But once again, in for the save comes Octavia Spencer who plays the protagonist’s good friend and interpreter.

Again nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, I kind of get bored watching The Shape of Water. But every time Octavia Spencer’s on the screen to prevent Sally Hawkins’ character from doing something she’ll regret, she somehow pulls me through a story that I know I’m supposed to like, but don’t.

3. The Help (Minerva “Minny” Jackson)

Winning her only Oscar (Criminal!) for her role as a maid who is fired for using a guest bathroom but then tells her story to a young journalist, The Help is an extremely enjoyable film that unfortunately hasn’t aged well since its 2011 release.

But Octavia Spencer’s performance is still aces. She’s sympathetic, but also probably the only actress who could make taking a dump in somebody’s pie feel like righteous justice. The Help itself will probably not be remembered all too fondly in the next few years, but that certainly shouldn’t take away from Spencer’s Oscar-winning performance.

2. Ma (Sue Ann “Ma” Ellington)

Okay, honestly, I want to call Octavia Spencer’s performance in Ma her best. It’s definitely my favorite. In the recent horror movie, Ms. Spencer plays a deranged woman who invites teenagers to her house, and then terrorizes them because of a long lost crush she had and… I’m going to just leave it there.

But Ma is crazy! This is one messed up movie, and Octavia Spencer's character in this film is like nothing else she’s ever played. There is no wholesomeness here. There is no nice best friend. Instead, we get a woman who stabs and drugs people. I never thought Octavia Spencer would actually be scary, but she is. She's terrifying! And I love her for it.

1. Hidden Figures (Dorothy Vaughan)

But you know what? Years from now, I’m pretty sure Octavia Spencer’s most remembered performance will be as real-life smarty pants, Dorothy Vaughan, in Hidden Figures. She plays a mathematician and supervisor, and daggum, I never for a second didn't believe a single word that came out of her mouth. She is Dorothy Vaughan, which is even more special since I never even heard of Dorothy Vaughan until I saw this movie.

Which is kind of the point of the film, right? Giving voices to the oft-ignored? But the fact that Octavia Spencer gives so much life and power to this character in the racist 1960s, well, it just makes this performance all the more special. Years from now, kids will be inspired by Octavia Spencer’s acting and will want to learn more about this exceptional woman, and it’s all because of this exceptional performance.

Octavia Spencer may not specialize in powerhouse leading roles like Viola Davis, but her performances are just as vital when elevating a movie from being just good to being fantastic. That’s the power of an Octavia Spencer performance!

This poll is no longer available.

I know you’ve heard this one before, but if you’re a movie fan, then the Oscars are your Super Bowl. Yeah, it’s super corny, but it’s also super true. If you’re a cinephile, (and you must be if you’re reading an article about the Oscars in the summer), then the Academy Awards are your Super Bowl, and the Golden Globes are your playoffs. And this is because the Oscars is the biggest event of the year for movies, and you’re actually super knowledgeable about it, too. You know the movies that are nominated, and might have even seen all of them during the past year. Plus, if somebody were to bet on the Oscars and wanted to know your thoughts, you could comfortably say, “Well, 1917 looks like the favorite, but Parasite might take it all.”

But with Covid-19 pretty much making 2020 a disaster movie, who knows if we'll even get an Academy Awards this year, or at least, it will probably look much different. Hopefully, the Oscar-bait will still come out in the normal months, but who’s to say? With that in mind, I thought it might be good to look back at this past decade to have a sort of a battle royale to see which Best Picture winner was the best. Now, you’re likely to disagree with this list, but that’s what comments sections are for! 

So, without further ado, here is every Best Picture Winner since 2010, ranked. Oh, and note that the years beside the entries are for when the movie won Best Picture, not for when the movie came out.

11. The Artist (2012)

Talk about a movie riding its gimmick to the big show. Starring Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, The Artist is pretty much a less enjoyable version of Singin’ in the Rain. It’s about the silent era of film, and how a movie star falls in love with a dancer. It’s in black and white and also deals with the rough transition some silent stars had when the “talkies” were introduced. It has all the hallmarks of Oscar-bait, but none of the depth.

The Artist is not a bad movie, per se, and it’s quant enough to be enjoyable. But it’s also nothing special. That particular year didn’t really have any huge stand-out films to challenge it (except for maybe The Tree of Life), but when it comes to Oscar winners for Best Picture, this is one of the more boring picks.

10. Green Book (2019)

Green Book just narrowly missed my pick for the “worst” Best Picture winner of the 2010s, but only because I forgot about The Artist when making this list. It’s the story of the real-life black musician, Donald Shirley (played by the Oscar-winning Mahershala Ali) as he’s escorted into the racist deep south by real-life tough guy, Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga (played by Viggo Mortensen). Tony Lip starts out as racist, but then acquires a new understanding of black people while traveling with Shirley. Shirley also learns to reconcile with his black background and loosen up a little bit. It’s the feel-good movie of 2018!

But it’s also really bland. Like The Artist, it’s fine, but this was also the year of BlackKklansman and the mega box office hit, Black Panther. If you’re going to pick a movie about race, why this one?

9. The Shape of Water (2018)

Shout out to Guillermo del Toro for making a sexy time version of Creature from the Black Lagoon. It’s about a mute janitor (played by Sally Hawkins) who falls in love with a sea creature man. It’s super artsy, and super classy, too. Way to go, Guillermo!

But you know what? Maybe The Shape of Water is a bit too classy. For a plot like this, it seems to take itself super seriously, and even though del Toro does a great job of navigating the story and the characters, it just feels a tad bit pretentious. Plus, this was the year of Get Out, which will likely be remembered long after The Shape of Water is forgotten. It’s an okay film, but not the best pick for, er… Best Pic.

8. The King’s Speech (2011)

2010 was a really good year for films. Inception, Toy Story 3, Black Swan, The Fighter, and of course, The Social Network would have all been acceptable and preferred winners. Instead, we got a movie about King George VI (Played by Colin Firth) having a stammer, and the speech coach (Geoffrey Rush) who helps him overcome it. Fascinating.

But you know what, it actually is! Yes, The Social Network definitely spoke to the zeitgeist more, but The King’s Speech is an overall more enjoyable film. It has great drama, great humor, and excellent characters. I personally would have picked The Fighter for this year, but The King’s Speech is not a bad pick at all.

7. The Hurt Locker (2010)

No pun intended, but The Hurt Locker started off the decade with a bang. It’s about a Sergeant (Jeremy Renner) in the Iraq War who gets his rocks off disabling bombs. There’s more to it, but that’s about the size of it. It was directed by Kathryn Bigelow who was the first (and alas, only) woman to win Best Director.

The Hurt Locker is a tense movie and a provocative one since it came out while the Iraq War was still ongoing. It’s a difficult movie to watch at times, but it’s also engrossing all the way. This was also the first year that there were 10 nominations rather than 5 for Best Picture, and it deserved to beat all of its competitors. Yes, even Inglorious Basterds.

6. Moonlight (2017)

Best Picture winner La La Land, I mean, Moonlight, tackles a controversial topic in the often religious African American community—homosexuality. And it tackles it beautifully. Told in three parts of a black man’s life, Moonlight is the movie that’s too good for all of us.

It’s just a beautiful film overall, and if there’s any problems with it, it’s that some sections (most notably the last leg of the film) are not as good as other parts. It’s a slightly lopsided movie, to be sure, but when it hits, it hits hard.

5. Parasite (2020)

The most recent winner on this list is definitely one of the better ones. It’s the first foreign film to ever win Best Picture, and out of the films nominated (I’ll get to that in a second), it definitely deserved the win. Parasite is a story about class. And it’s an interesting one, since it deals with not only how the rich views the poor, but also how the poor views the poor as well. It also feels different from most Western films, since there’s a complete tonal shift toward the end, making it a sort of horror movie comedy? It’s hard to describe, but it’s wonderful because of it.

Parasite is fantastic, but a strong contender for 2019’s other best movie, Uncut Gems, wasn’t even nominated. What’s up with that?

4. Argo (2013)

Ben Affleck was robbed. Based on a true story, Argo is about a CIA agent (played by Affleck, who also directed the film) who pretends to be a producer for a sci-fi flick in order to get six Americans out of Iran. It’s tense, it’s funny, and it’s a history lesson, all in one!

For its plot, you would think Argo would get caught up in being the thriller that it’s billed as, but it’s also a really funny movie. The tension gets ratcheted up sky high, but the film is so engaging that you’re always along for the ride. Argo F yourself if you don’t like this movie.

3. 12 Years A Slave (2014)

By far the hardest Best Picture winner on this list to watch, 12 Years A Slave is the true story of Solomon Northup (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor). Solomon is a free man who got captured in the North and sold down in the South. Probably the most harrowing movie about American slavery ever put to film, Lupita Nyong’o also won an Academy Award for her portrayal of an abused slave.

12 Years a Slave is unabashed and raw. It’s not a film that’s begging for you to like it (like The Artist). Instead, it’s a film that doesn’t care what you think. And for that, it’s a bold choice for Best Picture. That said, I would have preferred Dallas Buyers Club for that year, because, well, I love that movie.

2. Spotlight (2016)

Spotlight is our All The President’s Men. But unlike All The President’s Men, it actually won Best Picture! It’s the true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered and covered (see what I did there?) the sexual molestation going on in the Catholic Church. It’s meticulous and rich in detail, just like all good journalism should be.

Spotlight is the kind of movie that doesn’t seem to exist anymore. Sure, there are still newsroom pictures today, but none that are really unvarnished and play it straight like Spotlight does. There’s no bombast, and no spectacle, and the movie’s all the better for it. Just excellent acting and fantastic storytelling all around. Who knew a movie so straightforward could be so riveting?

1. Birdman (2015)

I might catch hell for this, but for me, Birdman is not only the best movie to win Best Picture in the past 10 years, but also the best American film in that time frame as well. It’s super meta, and Michael Keaton (who should have won Best Actor) is perfect in the role as a former superhero actor who’s trying to hang on to the last vestiges of his career by writing and directing a hoity toity Broadway play. But while this is going on, he’s kind of going crazy in the process, and his old character is coming to take over his brain.

It’s rhythmic, it’s hilarious, and it’s brilliant. I know I bemoaned The Artist at the start of this article for being gimmicky, and there are plenty of people who will say that Birdman’s “single-shot” trick is a gimmick. But I actually feel that it works into the plot since the character himself has a mind that never stops moving, so it’s all just poetry to me. Absolute poetry. Boyhood would have been the easier pick, given how long it took to make, but Birdman is the more audacious and correct pick for Best Picture.

So, as you see, I love the Academy Awards. And so do you! But what do you think was the best movie of the 2010s and why? Sound off in the comments.

This poll is no longer available.

Roughly three years after its victory, and Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water still feels like an unusual Best Picture winner. Not that it isn’t good. It’s actually great. But the love affair between a mute woman (Sally Hawkins) and a fish creature (Doug Jones) isn’t quite the usual Academy fare. Some found it to be a surprising win. Michael Shannon, a co-star in the film, was also portrayed as “surprised,” because he didn’t attend the Oscars the night that his movie won.

Michael Shannon, who plays a U.S. Colonel ordered to test the mer-man, famously was photographed hanging out in a Chicago watering hole the night that The Shape of Water took home the top Oscar. He had the ceremony on the TV, but wasn’t in the theater to support his director. We had Shannon on our ReelBlend podcast, though, and he told the real story behind that picture, and his reason for being in the Windy City.

Shannon explained:

That’s just the best possible answer. Michael Shannon already strikes us as a guy who’s disinterested in the trappings of Hollywood and its culture. His loyalty to the Chicago stage gives him severe credibility in our eyes, as well as his immediate defense of Guillermo del Toro, his collaborator.

Want to hear more from Michael Shannon? He came on ReelBlend to talk his new film, The Quarry, which will be on VOD on April 17.

Basically, Michael Shannon is exactly as authentic, humble, generous and interesting as you had hoped. And isn’t that something to celebrate?

Now that you're reading this, you now remember what last year's Best Picture winner at the Oscars was, assuming you recognize the image above. But did you remember what it was before you clicked? Odds are you didn't, as a new survey reveals that only 20% of people were able to correctly identify Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water as last year's winner. This is just one point among many that reveals that the gap between the Academy Awards and the average citizen may be even wider than we thought.

The 20% of people who could correctly name The Shape of Water is actually one of the better results from a new poll via THR and Morning Consult. The poll asks respondents who they believe won the Best Picture award over the last few years and the numbers only get worse once you move past last year's awards.

More people think La La Land won Best Picture two years ago, which you could chalk up to confusion following "envelopegate" in which La La Land was originally announced as the winner before it was discovered that the wrong envelope had been opened and Moonlight had actually been awarded the prize.

Most people think The Revenant beat Spotlight for Best Picture. They also think Amy Adams has already won an Oscar, and that Brie Larson has not. For the record, none of that is true.

A lot of this may ultimately be just film trivia, but it reinforces something that the industry largely already knows, that the average person has little to no familiarity with the sorts of films that get nominated, and win, awards like the Oscars. The biggest takeaway I think is that when asked which movie should have won Best Picture in any given year, 50 to 60 percent of respondents had no opinion. People just don't care.

That lack of interest has been reflected in the television ratings for the awards for the last several years. In the last five years, viewership has dropped by nearly 20 million people.

Numerous things are being tried by both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ABC, who televises the Oscars, to try and fix these issues. New awards categories, like one dedicated to popular films, have been suggested as a way to get the films that people actually go to see receive more awards recognition. Changes to the telecast itself, including making it happen earlier in the year, are also planned.

Part of the reason that most people don't remember who won Best Picture is that few people actually see the movies that win. Domestically, The Shape of Water saw the best box office success of the last five winners, with a take of $63 million. Moonlight only brought in $27 million by comparison.

Don't look now, but September has snuck its way onto the horizon. It's hard to believe we're halfway through August already, but here we are, looking at the return of school buses, and some quality television. And wherever there's TV and Movies to be had, you can be sure that Hulu will be there to share a couple slices of choice content. If you're looking to see what came online last month, take a look at August 2018's line-up. Otherwise, prepare to go one step ahead into the future, and see what's on the docket for September.

Week of September 1st

13 Going on 30 (2004) - 9/1/18

A Good Woman (2006) - 9/1/18

A Murder of Crows (1999) - 9/1/18

Adaptation (2002) - 9/1/18

The Amityville Horror (1979) - 9/1/18

AntiHuman (2017) - 9/1/18

Any Given Sunday (1999) - 9/1/18

Bandits (2001) - 9/1/18

Blow Out (1981) - 9/1/18

Bolero (1984) - 9/1/18

The Bone Collector (1999) - 9/1/18

City of God (2002) - 9/1/18

The Cleanse (2018) - 9/1/18

Cool It (2010) - 9/1/18

Darkness (2002) - 9/1/18

The Dark Half (1993) - 9/1/18

Doctor Dolittle 2 (2001) - 9/1/18

Double Impact (1991) - 9/1/18

Dragon Blade (2015) - 9/1/18

Dressed to Kill (1980) - 9/1/18

Emma (1996) - 9/1/18

Fall Time (1993) - 9/1/18

The Female Brain (2018) - 9/1/18

Ferdinand (2017) (HBO Add-on Required) - 9/1/18 - 9/1/18

Field of Dreams (1989) - 9/1/18

The Fly (1986) - 9/1/18

Going Overboard (1989) - 9/1/18

Jerry Maguire (1996) - 9/1/18

Joyride (1997) - 9/1/18

Kill Me Again (1989) - 9/1/18

The Longest Yard (1974) - 9/1/18

The Midnighters (2018) - 9/1/18

Miracle on 34th Street (1994) - 9/1/18

No Game, No Life: ZERO (2018) - 9/1/18

Over the Top (1987) - 9/1/18

The Perfect Weapon (1991) - 9/1/18

Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) - 9/1/18

Primal Fear (1996) - 9/1/18

Pumpkinhead (1988) - 9/1/18

Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings (1994) - 9/1/18

Rodger Dodger (2002) - 9/1/18

Rushmore (1998) - 9/1/18

Rustlers' Rhapsody (1985) - 9/1/18

Searching for Sugar Man (2012) - 9/1/18

Senorita Justice (2004) - 9/1/18

Signs (2002) - 9/1/18

Sixteen Candles (1984) - 9/1/18

Small Town Saturday Night (2010) - 9/1/18

Stealth Fighter (1999) - 9/1/18

There Will Be Blood (2007) - 9/1/18

Unbreakable (2000) - 9/1/18

What Dreams May Come (1998) - 9/1/18

What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) - 9/1/18

Week of September 2nd

The English Patient (1996) - 9/2/18

Flower (2017) - 9/3/18

The Miracle Season (2018) - 9/3/18

Daphne & Velma (2018) - 9/4/18

Monochrome (2016) - 9/4/18

Women and Sometimes Men (2018) - 9/4/18

I Love You, America: New Episodes (Hulu Original) - 9/6/18

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) - 9/6/18

Cesar Chavez (2014) - 9/7/18

Snatched (2017) (Cinemax Add-on Required) - 9/7/18

Stand Up To Cancer: Special (EIF) - 9/8/18

From Paris with Love (2009) - 9/8/18

The Greatest Showman (2017) (HBO Add-on Required) - 9/8/18

Stronger (2017) - 9/8/18

Week of September 9th

Kidding: Series Premiere (Showtime Add-on Required) - 9/9/18

Shameless: Season 9 Premiere (Showtime Add-on Required) - 9/9/18

The Deuce: Season 2 Premiere (HBO Add-on Required) - 9/9/18

REL: Series Premiere (FOX) - 9/10/18

Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami (2017) - 9/10/18

Bodysnatch (2018) - 9/11/18

Natural Vice (2017) - 9/11/18

Grace Unplugged (2014) - 9/12/18

El Clon: Complete Season 1 (Telemundo) - 9/13/18

Higher Power (2017) - 9/13/18

The First: Series Premiere (Hulu Original) - 9/14/18

The Housemaid (2017) - 9/14/18

12 Strong (2018) (Cinemax Add-on Required) - 9/14/18

Good Behavior: Complete Season 2 (TNT) - 9/15/18

Alien Invasion: S.U.M.1 (2017) - 9/15/18

Hardware (1990) - 9/15/18

Pitch Perfect (2012) (HBO Add-on Required) - 9/15/18

She's So Lovely (1997) - 9/15/18

The Queen (2006) - 9/15/18

The Shipping News (2001) - 9/15/18

Week of September 16th

Moonrise Kingdom (2012) - 9/16/18

American Horror Story: Cult: Complete Season 7 (FX) - 9/18/18

La Impostora: Complete Season 1 (Telemundo) - 9/18/18

Pasion De Gavilanes: Complete Season 1 (Telemundo) - 9/18/18

Total Divas: Season 8 Premiere (E!) - 9/20/18

BB King: On The Road (2017) - 9/20/18|

Boom for Real (2018) - 9/20/18

Sacrifice (2016) - 9/20/18

This is Home: A Refugee Story (2018) - 9/20/18

Aurora: Complete Season 1 (Telemundo) - 9/21/18

My Little Pony (2017) - 9/21/18

All Eyez on Me (2017) (Cinemax Add-on Required) - 9/21/18

For Colored Girls (2010) - 9/22/18

Love after Love (2018) - 9/22/18

The Shape of Water (2017) (HBO Add-on Required) - 9/22/18

Week of September 23rd

9-1-1: Season 2 Premiere (FOX) - 9/24/18

Gemini (2018) - 9/24/18

Iris (2001) - 9/24/18

Dancing with the Stars: Season 27 Premiere (ABC) - 9/25/18

The Good Doctor: Season 2 Premiere (ABC) - 9/25/18

Manifest: Series Premiere (NBC) - 9/25/18

The Resident: Season 2 Premiere (FOX) - 9/25/18

The Voice: Season 15 Premiere (NBC) - 9/25/18

Afterlife (2018) - 9/25/18

UFO Chronicles: The Black Vault (2018) - 9/25/18

Dama y Obrero: Complete Season 1 (Telemundo) - 9/26/18

The Gifted: Season 2 Premiere (FOX) - 9/26/18

Lethal Weapon: Season 3 Premiere (FOX) - 9/26/18

New Amsterdam: Series Premiere (NBC) - 9/26/18

This is Us: Season 3 Premiere (NBC) - 9/26/18

The Krays (1990) - 9/26/18

A Million Little Things: Series Premiere (ABC) - 9/27/18

American Housewife: Season 3 Premiere (ABC) - 9/27/18

Chicago Fire: Season 7 Premiere (NBC) - 9/27/18

Chicago Med: Season 4 Premiere (NBC) - 9/27/18

Chicago P.D.: Season 6 Premiere (NBC) - 9/27/18

Empire: Season 5 Premiere (FOX) - 9/27/18

The Goldbergs: Season 6 Premiere (ABC) - 9/27/18

Modern Family: Season 10 Premiere (ABC) - 9/27/18

Single Parents: Series Premiere (ABC) - 9/27/18

South Park: Season 22 Premiere (Comedy Central) - 9/27/18

Star: Season 3 Premiere (FOX) - 9/27/18

The Good Place: Season 3 Premiere (NBC) - 9/28/18

Grey's Anatomy: Season 15 Premiere (ABC) - 9/28/18

How to Get Away With Murder: Season 5 Premiere (ABC) - 9/28/18

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Season 20 Premiere (NBC) - 9/28/18

Suburbicon (2017) - 9/28/18

Insidious: The Last Key (2018) (Cinemax Add-on Required) - 9/28/18

The Cool Kids: Series Premiere (FOX) - 9/29/18

Dateline: Season 28 Premiere (NBC) - 9/29/18

Hell's Kitchen: Season 18 Premiere (FOX) - 9/29/18

Last Man Standing: Season 7 Premiere (FOX) - 9/29/18

Jigsaw (2017) - 9/29/18

Phantom Thread (2017) (HBO Add-on Required) - 9/29/18

Week of September 30th

Nicky Ricky Dicky & Dawn: Complete Season 4 (Nickelodeon) - 9/30/18

On the TV scene, we see the return of ABC's surprise hit The Good Doctor in its second season of operation. The Freddie Highmore led show came out of nowhere last season to win hearts and minds, and now season 2 will its chance to measure up. Also returning for their third seasons are NBC's runaway successes The Good Place and This Is Us. If you're looking to indulge in both, we suggest you start with the tear-jerker and move onto the comedy of jerks. Order's key in this pairing, and you'll thank us later. Last, but not least, if you want to see last year's season of American Horror Story, Cult will come online this month to help you prepare for Halloween a little early.

Speaking of Halloween, there's some amazing movies headed your way on Hulu, and some of the best are movies that'll either scare you, or provide costume ideas for the season of scares. If you can't wait for next year to bring you M. Night Shyamalan's Glass, you can catch up with the movie that started it all as Unbreakable goes to streaming in September. Also, if you're in a sort of romantic mood, you'll have films like 13 Going On 30 also debuting, or if you have an HBO premium add-on to your account, you can enjoy last year's surprise musical hit The Greatest Showman! Last, but not least, HBO will also be premiering the winner for 2018's Best Picture Oscar, The Shape of Water, towards the end of the month.

There's so much more available on Hulu than what we've highlighted above, so bookmark this listing and check back whenever you're curious as to what September will bring your way! Also, be sure to check if you need a specific add-on for the content you want to see, as it only takes a quick sign up to widen the net of entertainment in the coming weeks.

For a movie about a woman who has a romantic relationship with a fishperson, you would think that the interspecies sex would be the most controversial thing. But instead Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water has been dogged since its release with claims of plagiarism. There was even a lawsuit filed against Guillermo del Toro by the estate of playwright Paul Zindel, claiming that the film copied elements from his 1969 play Let Me Hear You Whisper. Now that cloud has finally lifted, legally speaking at least, as the lawsuit has been dismissed.

Federal Judge Percy Anderson has dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, while also saying that Guillermo del Toro and Fox Searchlight are entitled to recover the defense costs incurred according to Deadline. That would seemingly put an end to the matter that began earlier this year. After an ask for a settlement was rejected by Fox Searchlight, the estate of the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author, in a move clearly aimed at getting maximum publicity, filed a lawsuit on the day that Academy voters began filling out their final ballots for the major categories. The Shape of Water was up for nominations in 13 categories, ultimately emerging the victor in four of them, including Best Picture and Best Director for Guillermo del Toro.

The copyright infringement claim argued that Guillermo del Toro brazenly copied elements from Let Me Hear You Whisper, a play that tells the story of a cleaning woman at a laboratory who tries to rescue an intelligent talking dolphin from cruel experiments. Despite those surface similarities, the Fox lawyers argued that these works are entirely different because while the play is about the horrors of animal experimentation, it does not contain the love story or a mute protagonist or the god-like powers of the amphibian man. Fox's lawyers also argued the universality of these kinds of stories, citing movies like Free Willy and E.T. where scientists want to do inhumane experiments on lovable creatures. Obviously the judge agreed with these arguments, unburdening The Shape of Water from this legal cloud.

Guillermo del Toro always denied the allegations in the strongest possible terms, defending his reputation and The Shape of Water throughout the process, citing how he has historically been very open about the things that inspired his work. There was also concern earlier this year that The Shape of Water was awfully similar to a Dutch short film, but in that instance too, the works were determined to be different enough to allay concerns. I suppose that anxieties about how we treat animals are just universally rich storytelling avenues.

Perhaps now Guillermo del Toro can enjoy the rest of his year off and will hopefully be rewarded for the success of The Shape of Water by finally being able to tackle his dream project.

It's always great when talented people can appreciate other talented people, particularly when they're working in the same field. Take Jordan Peele, for example. After years of acting in and writing comedy projects (most notably the Comedy Central series Key & Peele), he made his directorial debut with Get Out, the social commentary-infused horror movie that earned critical acclaim and ended up being one of the most profitable horror movies ever. That ended up putting Peele in competition at the Academy Awards earlier this year with Guillermo del Toro, who helmed The Shape of Water. Del Toro came out the victor, but Peele still holds a tremendous amount of admiration for the man, as evidenced by the nice words he recently wrote. Here's a sampling of the praise Peele directed towards del Toro:

Time Magazine recently unveiled its Time 100: The Most Influential of 2018 list, and Guillermo del Toro was one of the many individuals being honored. Jordan Peele was selected to write the blurb about del Toro, and in addition to the paragraph above, Peele complimented del Toro for the "potion" that he mixes that's "a pinch of macabre, a dash of melancholy and a few handfuls of stunning horror," along with a healthy serving of whimsy. Peele also said that watching one of del Toro's "masterpieces" is "an experience in escapism and wonder." Del Toro has a gift for creating monsters and weaving together mythology that captures audiences' hearts, and in Peele's opinion, artists "adore" him because he doesn't compromise when telling his stories of love and fear.

Get Out and The Shape of Water were among the most prominent movies at the Oscar ceremony in early March, with The Shape of Water earning 13 nominations and Get Out earning four. In the end, Get Out walked away with the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, while The Shape of Water won four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. It will be interesting to see in the coming years if both movies are still appreciated by the masses as they are now, but at least we know that Jordan Peele deeply respects what Guillermo del Toro has accomplished over his more than three decades of filmmaking. Here's hoping these two can collaborate together somehow.

Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more updates on what Jordan Peele and Guillermo del Toro are working on. In the meantime, you can stay up to date on what this year has in store theatrically by looking through our 2018 release schedule.

Coming in to direct Pacific Rim: Uprising, writer/director Steven DeKnight had some seriously big shoes to fill. Not only was he making his feature debut with the hotly-anticipated sequel, but he was also following-up a film made by one of the industry's most talented auteurs: Guillermo del Toro. That's a whole lot of pressure for anyone to take on -- but there was a silver lining. Working on the project meant DeKnight had the chance to sit down with the Pacific Rim filmmaker, and as he recently told me in an interview, in the process he received some extremely vital advice:

I had the immense pleasure of sitting down with Steven DeKnight earlier this month at the Los Angeles press day for Pacific Rim: Uprising, and it was at the very start of the interview that we discussed the influence of Guillermo del Toro on his new film. It was just days after the Mexican filmmaker won both the Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards for his work on The Shape of Water, and it was with that in mind I asked about his role in the making of the new sequel. Because of scheduling he was forced to be mostly hands off, but apparently he did find time to chat with DeKnight about his vision for the sequel, and offered some helpful suggestions to make the whole thing go as easily as possible.

Interestingly, Steven DeKnight meeting Guillermo del Toro was actually the last piece of the puzzle for him when it came to really preparing for Pacific Rim: Uprising. In the early days of the project he earned the approval of Legendary Pictures producers Mary Parent and Thomas Tull -- but he also explained to me that del Toro's approval was massively important, partially because of his own deep appreciation for his art. Said DeKnight,

Click play on the video below to watch Steven DeKnight talk all about his relationship with Guillermo del Toro and the key influence and advice he provided in the making of Pacific Rim: Uprising:

Because Steven DeKnight and Guillermo del Toro are two very different filmmakers, Pacific Rim: Uprising is a change-up from the original -- and you'll soon be able to see it for yourself. After five years of waiting, the blockbuster is arriving on the big screen this Friday, March 23rd -- and be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more from my interview with the cast and filmmakers behind the movie!

After a few months that have been a little slower in terms of big releases, March is going to be a big month in home entertainment. Not only will Star Wars fans finally see the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi finally get to check out the extra features with that set, but the box office behemoth Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, as is Justice League and a slew of movies with Oscar potential and, oh yeah, the Blu-ray and DVD release for Thor: Ragnarok is also coming. If there's not one movie on the list that appeals to you in some capacity, I can only surmise you love niche films or aren't a movie fan at all. Because honestly, I write this list every month and there's almost never this much interesting stuff coming out within a few short weeks of each other.

Of course, if you are looking for the February 2018 list, we have you covered.

Tuesday, March 6 DVD And Blu-ray Releases

Thor: Ragnarok

Blue Planet II

Lady Bird

Wonder Wheel

The Man Who Invented Christmas

Scorched Earth

Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Ninth Season

The Breadwinner

Curse of the Mayans

Aliens Ate My Homework

Faces Places

Novitiate

Atlanta: The Complete First Season

The Clapper

Week of March 6 Early Digital Releases

I, Tonya (March 2)

Jumanji: Welcome To the Jungle (March 6)

Downsizing (March 6)

Tuesday, March 13 DVD And Blu-ray Releases

Justice League

The Shape of Water

Call Me By Your Name

I, Tonya

Fear The Walking Dead: The Complete Third Season

The Handmaid's Tale: Season 1

The Disaster Artist

Ferdinand

Major Crimes: The Sixth and Final Season DVD

Children of the Corn: Runaway

Into The Badlands: Season 2

Kickboxer Retalition

Lego DC Super Heroes: The Flash

Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures - Season Two

Knightfall: Season 1

Kendra on Top: Season 6

The Good Fight: Season 1

Week of March 13 Early Digital Releases

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Tuesday, March 20 DVD And Blu-ray Releases

Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle

Pitch Perfect 3

Archer: The Complete Season Eight

Downsizing

Ichi The Killer

Dirt

Small Town Crime

The Vanishing of Sidney Hall

Tuesday, March 27 DVD And Blu-ray Releases

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

The Americans: The Complete Fifth Season

Mr. Robot: Season 3.0

The Last Men in Aleppo

Legion: The Complete Season One

Acts of Violence

The Last Movie Star

Week of March 27 Early Digital Releases

Molly's Game

Phantom Thread

Some significant changes are coming in the world of entertainment following Disney's' decision to possibly purchase 21st Century Fox. The move has raised questions about the future of certain Fox properties, including the Oscar-winning Fox Searchlight brand. Alas, it sounds like fans should not worry, as Disney seems to think that Searchlight is fine just the way it is right now. During an appearance at Disney's Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas, Disney CEO Bob Iger explained:

Fox Searchlight has become well-known as one of Hollywood's premier brands in recent years. The studio currently serves as the prestige side of the entertainment giant's film division, offering up strong Oscar-bait in a vein similar to other awards-worthy studios like A24 or The Weinstein Company in its prime. Following a very strong 2017 (which saw Fox Searchlight produce films like The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), it seems that Disney has no intention of messing with a formula that appears to work. The Shape of Water's Best Picture win should pretty much speak for itself.

With that said, one thing not explicitly established by Bob Iger's remarks at Disney's Annual Meeting (via Variety) is how the bigger Fox brands could change after the transition takes place. Many fans already assume that it could lead to properties like the X-Men franchise and the Fantastic Four integrating with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Disney has yet to lay out specific changes that will take place when all is said and done.

Of course, now we have to wait and see if the Disney-Fox deal will even go through in the first place. Though the sale was officially confirmed, the landmark business decision will still have to go through a series of regulatory processes in the federal government to make sure that everything involved in the situation is copacetic. If that happens, Disney will then take full ownership of the Fox properties that it recently purchased. Until that happens, we have to treat all of this in hypothetical terms and take any unconfirmed news with a healthy grain of salt.

CinemaBlend will keep you posted as more information related to the Disney-Fox deal is made available to us. Until we learn more, head over to our comprehensive 2018 movie premiere guide to check out all of the films (Fox Searchlight or otherwise), that will debut on the big screen over the course of 2018.

Now that awards season has come to an end, audiences have had the chance to refocus their attention on Best Picture winner The Shape of Water and take another look at it. The film has spurred a wide variety of emotions from audiences all over the world, but now it seems that the internet has really caught on to the sheer number of similarities that The Shape of Water shares with Ron Howard's 1984 classic, Splash. Don't believe me? Check out the video, below, to see the comparison for yourself.

Many fans made jokes about the comparisons to Splash when The Shape of Water first debuted last year. Both stories center on the idea of an average human (Tom Hanks' Allen and Sally Hawkins' Eliza) falling in love with an aquatic creature (Daryl Hannah's Madison and Doug Jones' Amphibian Man), so the comparisons make plenty of sense. Having said that, this video really hammers home how similar the two movies are with regards to the tentpoles of their respective narratives. Both involve characters arguing over the scientific validity of dissecting the amphibious creature, both feature sequences in which the hero smuggles the creature out of a lab under a sheet, and both end with underwater kisses as the couples choose to live their lives underwater. When laid out in front of us, it's uncanny to see how many similarities these films share.

Of course, one thing not addressed by this video is the sheer number of tonal differences that exist between Ron Howard's Splash and Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water. Splash is very much a romantic comedy and maintains a reasonably offbeat approach toward its story and the characters who inhabit it. By contrast, The Shape of Water plays out more like an R-rated fairy tale, with ample amounts of blood, violence, swearing, and a more fantastical, Universal Monsters-esque approach to its atmosphere.

With that said, one interesting thing to note following this The Shape of Water and Splash video is that there is another project for the Splash brand in the works. Specifically, there is a Splash remake currently in development with Magic Mike star Channing Tatum reportedly attached to portray the role of a mermaid, and Fist Fight actress/comedienne Jillian Bell set to take on the Tom Hanks role of the human who falls in love with him. Gender-swapping the original Splash premise arguably brings it even closer to The Shape of Water's story, so we will have to wait and see how the upcoming project will attempt to differentiate itself from human-fish love stories that are already out there in the zeitgeist.

What do you think of the comparisons between The Shape of Water and Splash? Let us know what you think in the comments and head over to our movie premiere guide to see what films are still on the horizon for the 2018 schedule.

The Shape of Water has been a pretty popular film in recent months, as viewers flocked to see the awards nominee --and now Oscar winner---in theaters. The movie features a romance between a mute woman and a river creature, and one company has capitalized on the romance by creating a Shape of Water dildo. Now, Guillermo del Toro has caught wind of the device. Unfortunately, the director doesn't really believe the dildo is an "accurate representation." Here's what he had to say:

Whether or not the river creature's dildo is accurate, it's sure sold like hotcakes, as it has been sold out on Etsy since at least the time when we first reported on the dildo a few weeks ago. Guillermo del Toro admitted to The Wrap that he has seen the imagined version of the amphibian man's package, and in funny del Toro fashion, he included another Oscar winner in his comment about the dildo. (But seriously how twisted would a Dunkirk dildo be?)

If you haven't taken a full look at the dildo yet, the makers of the product have graciously revealed a look at it online, and you can check it out, below.

If that sort of thing looks pretty good to you, XenoCat currently has plenty of other dildos for sale. The one in question, above, is actually made from silicon, and it was made to match the coloring of the monster played by Doug Jones in the film.

The director also mentioned that he has thought about the creature's dick, which is why he knows it's not accurate, mentioning that the creature can switch genders. He also noted,

It's too bad. Perhaps if Guillermo del Toro had sketched it out, XenoCat would have been able to make a more accurate dildo. Although, if Doug Jones had his way, the dildo wouldn't exist whatsoever. He previously noted there would be better outcomes for "action figures" than a dildo, noting he poured his "heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears" into the role and doesn't necessarily want to be remembered for "a silicone appendage that comes in two sizes." Luckily, after the movie's big Oscar win, I don't think that will be the lasting impression for The Shape of Water.

Guillermo del Toro's big wins for Best Director and Best Picture at the Oscars has a lot of people thinking about what the now-award-winning director will do next. And a popular sentiment seems to point back to one, daunting project that del Toro had tried to set up with Universal. No, it's not Hellboy III, it's the adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's At The Mountains Of Madness, which almost got off the ground with Tom Cruise as a lead, but was shut down quickly because of a big price tag and an R-rating required to make Lovecraft's hellish vision a reality.

But when you win Best Director and Best Picture with a movie that also had an R-rating, and was well received by critics and audiences, you've kind of earned yourself some clout to do whatever the hell you want on your next picture. With that in mind, here are the biggest reasons that At The Mountains of Madness should be Guillermo del Toro's next project.

Successful R-rated Tentpoles Are A Reality

When At The Mountains of Madness was originally proposed, a high-priced / R-rated film was seen as a surefire sign of disaster. When discussing the film's failure to launch with Collider a couple years back, Guillermo del Toro explained the big sticking point Universal lead with in their decision to cancel the film:

So instead of At The Mountains of Madness, we got Pacific Rim from del Toro's bright and bold imagination. But now that films like Deadpool, Get Out, and IT have all made huge stacks of money in their own time, there's more of a case that can be made for a non PG-13 At The Mountains of Madness making a huge splash at the box office. Quite frankly, the lesson of those success stories above is that if the project has the right ingredients and/or marketing push behind it, even if it's rated R, it can be successful.

All Of The Ingredients Still Are There

Guillermo del Toro has always been known as a genre stalwart, with his chops at creating sci-fi and horror-laden stories displayed constantly at full tilt. To have that talent collaborating with Tom Cruise's amazing work ethic as a producer and actor, as well as James Cameron's influence as a friend and producer, At The Mountains of Madness is a package that's hard to say no to with the right director. And as it happens, Academy Award winner del Toro is the perfect man for the job, as he lives and breathes Lovecraft's work. Not to mention, when Cruise was asked to write a segment describing the film in del Toro's book Cabinet of Curiosities, the Mission: Impossible star made the following proclamation:

When Tom Cruise wants a damned movie to happen, and the director is a newly minted Oscar winner, you try telling him it's never going to happen. Cruise still has enough clout that this could happen with his blessing, and with a script by del Toro and Crimson Peak collaborator Matthew Robbins already completed, it wouldn't take a lot of work to put this baby back in the oven and bake it to completion.

It Opens The Door Further For Genre Films To Compete

2017 showed that audiences do, indeed, flock to horror films. But for the most part, you would still have problems making a horror film with a $150 million budget, and At The Mountains of Madness needs a massive budget to fully realize Guillermo del Toro's interpretation of H.P. Lovecraft's vision. Just reading how he explained the project in the "Unfinished Projects" section of Cabinet of Curiosities, you can see how his approach to the film is both singular to himself, yet accessible to audiences, as he described it thusly:

Even if the film manages to fall short of its profitability margin, the fact that a studio gave a major horror film a chance would open doors for more lush product to be created in that, and other, genres that have been relegated to the bargain bin of budgets. Also, at least with Guillermo del Toro directing, you know that every penny of that budget is going to wind up on the screen, and this film could find itself being a high-water mark for other motivated creators to hurdle over in similarly artistic style.

This May Be The Last Chance This Movie Gets

Guillermo del Toro's fandom for H.P. Lovecraft drives his love for the prospect of At The Mountains of Madness winding up on the big screen. But, as most directors will tell you, no amount of love will save a project if the market is against it. What looked like a lost film, in a pile of ideas that del Toro already had to say goodbye to, has a second chance at life. If this movie is ever going to happen, now seems to be the ideal time to pitch the project yet again, with a script already in place and Tom Cruise excited as ever. But even the fact that Cruise's star seems to be a bit tarnished at the box office, at least as far as Universal is concerned (thanks to The Mummy), could give folks pause. So the quicker At The Mountains of Madness is put into the works, the better.

The conditions are right for a sea change in the world of horror, and if anyone could lead the charge, it's certainly Guillermo del Toro. At The Mountains of Madness, whether it be a success or a failure, would help the director exorcise this previously lost project out of his mind, freeing up room for the next big idea. But more importantly, it would help bring H.P. Lovecraft's work to light, as only a true fan of the author's work could ever do. After The Shape of Water's big success, a nice, blank check is being handed to del Toro, and he should cash it in the name of the Elder Gods and the madness they bring.

The Oscars are a time when Hollywood's best and brightest dress up to walk down the red carpet and look utterly glamorous accepting awards. Unless you're Michael Shannon. He apparently decided that instead of attending the Oscars, he'd watch them on TV. And by watch, we mean the sound was off. Also, the TV was in a bar. It's an interesting place to see the movie you were in getting named Best Picture. Check it out.

The Old Town Ale House calls itself the "Best Dive Bar in Chicago" according to its website, and that was apparently high enough praise for Michael Shannon, a man who has been nominated for Oscars twice himself, to make it the place that he watched the biggest awards show of the year for his profession. He wasn't nominated this year but a movie he starred in was, and The Shape of Water had the biggest night of any film nominated, taking home awards for Best Director, Production Design, Score, and, of course, Best Picture.

One wonders if Michael Shannon had any regrets not being there with his fellow castmates when the Best Picture envelope was opened, once the announcement was verified as being accurate, of course. On the one hand, it's a once in a lifetime moment that you might want to share. On the other hand, in the picture above, Michael Shannon doesn't appear to be too upset, there are certainly worse places in the world to be than a good bar with cold beer and a good song on the jukebox. Besides, based on previous experience, perhaps this is where Shannon wanted to be if his movie lost.

Oscar night gets derided by some who view it as a night of Hollywood elites, and while they all clean up nice, at the end of the day they're just people, and some of them, who look perfectly good in a tux, would rather just chill in a friendly bar with people they know, dressed in whatever they feel comfortable in.

Still, one assumes Michael Shannon ordered himself a celebratory drink when The Shape of Water won the night. He might not have been nominated himself, but you don't win Best Picture if you have a weak performance in a major role, so Shannon certainly did his part in making Shape the best movie of the year in the eyes of the Academy. Making movies is a team effort, and he was a key part of that team.

The Oscars probably weren't being watched very closely in a lot of dive bars on Sunday night, but that's part of what makes this picture so perfect. One of the best actors in the world, clearly focused on the event, but from a place he'd rather be.

Last year's Best Picture envelope mix up was one of the most memorable moments in the history of the Academy Awards, and as expected, last night's ceremony couldn't help but make fun of the fiasco early and often. When it came time for the evening's final award, the Academy even brought back Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway to present. But even with all the assurances that something like the La La Land/Moonlight mix up would never happen again, you'd have to check the envelope, right? Well, just to make sure history wasn't repeating itself, director Guillermo del Toro double-checked the envelope to see that The Shape of Water was indeed the Best Picture winner, as you can see below.

Is there anyone greater than Guillermo del Toro? He takes the envelope from Warren Beatty and puts it close to his glasses just to make sure this is really happening, and then smiles and turns to the audience to affirm that his sumptuous fairy tale was truly recognized as the best film of the year. The best part of this gif, courtesy of Meredith Border's Twitter account, and likely the reason she made it, is the joyous expression on Guillermo del Toro's face. That is a look of pure happiness. The director who is best known for crafting worlds of fantasy is finally able to bask in reality, knowing that his vision is truly appreciated and that no last second mix-up will change that. Even if you wanted something else to win, you have to be happy for him seeing the gleeful look on his face. His childlike whimsy in this moment sums up everything film fans love about Guillermo del Toro and everything that the magic of the movies speaks to in all of us.

It was a good night for Guillermo del Toro and his passion project, The Shape of Water. The fairy tale about a mute woman and a fishman was nominated for 13 Oscars heading into the night and walked away with four wins. In addition to Best Picture, The Shape of Water won for Best Original Score and Best Production Design, as well as netted Guillermo del Toro his first Best Director win. This means that Guillermo del Toro joins fellow Mexican filmmakers and three amigos brethren, Alphonso Cuarón and Alejandro G. Iñárritu as recipients of the Academy's highest honor for directing. We know that The Shape of Water struggled against a less than ideal budget and that aspects of the production were a nightmare, so for it to receive this level of recognition has to be deeply rewarding for del Toro.

Guillermo del Toro is taking a year off from directing, but hopefully this Best Picture win brings more attention to the director's past and future work, and allows him to make more movies that live up to his legendarily creative imagination. With any luck, there will be a lot more people paying attention to what the beloved director dreams up next. For all the latest in movie news, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.

The year 2017 was an amazing one for the film industry, and the Academy Awards celebration absolutely reflected that. While Guillermo del Toro's The Shape Of Water walked away the big winner - taking home prizes for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Score, and Best Production Design - there was a whole lot of love spread around. Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri was huge in the acting categories, with both Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell taking home trophies, and both Darkest Hour and I, Tonya received recognition thanks to the prizes given to Gary Oldman and Allison Janney. On opposite sides of the spectrum, Jordan Peele won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for his directorial debut, Get Out, while Roger Deakins broke a 13-nomination-long losing streak with a Blade Runner 2049 win in the Best Cinematography category. It was a fantastic night, and we have a lot to say about it.

For your convenience, below you'll find a wide variety of our Oscar 2018 coverage - including everything from news stories to features to reviews. There's a lot to celebrate, so dive in, and hit the comments at the bottom to tell us what you thought of the ceremony and the results!

Hot Topics

1. 2018 Academy Awards: See The Full List Of Winners

2. 9 Shocking Snubs From The 2018 Oscar Nominations

3. 2018 Oscars: What We Thought Of Every Best Picture Nominee

4. The Biggest Oscars Snubs, According To Fandango Users

5. Netflix Has Won Its First Oscar

6. We Have Our First Ever Double EGOT Winner Thanks To The Oscars

Hot Takes

1. How Oscar Season Needs To Change, According To Roman J. Israel's Director

2. Gal Gadot Responds To Wonder Woman's Lack Of Oscar Nominations

3. Sam Rockwell Deserves His Oscar After A Career Full Of Amazing Performances

4. The Only Oscar Nominations Wonder Woman Actually Deserved

5. AwardsBlend Podcast #10: Avengers News, Steven Spielberg's Best Film, And Final Oscar Picks

6. In Praise Of Roger Deakins, And All His Incredible Movies

7. The 3 Best Things About The Shape Of Water

Oscar News

1. Some Guy Tried To Steal Frances McDormand's Oscar Last Night

2. Tiffany Haddish Wore The Same Dress To The Oscars She Wore Twice Before

3. The Oscars Are Letting Warren Beatty And Faye Dunaway Announce The Best Picture Winner Again

4. These Zootopia Inspired Movie Posters For The 2018 Oscars Are Perfect

Oscar Night 2018

1. Watch The Oscars 2018 Black And White Opening

2. The 2018 Oscar Monologue's 3 Funniest Jokes

3. Watch The Tremendous 2018 Oscars Movie History Montage

Reviews Of The Winners

1. The Shape of Water

2. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

3. Darkest Hour

4. I, Tonya

5. Get Out

6. Call Me By Your Name

7. Coco

8. Blade Runner 2049

9. Phantom Thread

10. Dunkirk

It was a moment that felt like it came straight from the movies. At the end of the 90th Academy Awards, after seeing Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway read this year's honored nominees for Best Picture, the award was called for director Guillermo del Toro's film, The Shape of Water. While there was some apprehension in the shadow of last year's big-ticket fiasco, at the end of the night, Del Toro himself confirmed with a nod and a grin that his masterpiece was the top honored film of the year.

Some viewers may have been surprised by the result, but even if they were, it's hard for them not to see why The Shape of Water would win the highest prize of 2017's awards season crop. In fact, you could narrow it down to three key reasons that explain not only why the film won, but also why it's so well regarded in the first place. Those three reasons are the following, shared in honor of the latest Best Picture to join the gallery of past honorees:

It's A Heartfelt Tribute To Hollywood / Genre Filmmaking

There are two great loves in Guillermo del Toro's life: classic Hollywood and genre-laden storytelling. Those twin obsessions that he constantly indulges in have lead to popcorn theatrics like Pacific Rim and deeply felt classics like Pan's Labyrinth. And both are certainly on display in The Shape of Water, as del Toro has delivered a modern version of both Beauty and The Beast and Creature from the Black Lagoon. Better still, he's done it using old school Hollywood tricks and on a sensible budget, much like the classic monster movies of old.

Every Performance Is Top Notch

It's hard to pick a favorite performance in The Shape of Water, as the diverse cast all fill their roles spectacularly. The supporting cast of Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, and Michael Stuhlbarg all get their moments to shine as three dimensional characters who make the world of 1960's Baltimore come to vibrant life. But the wordless performances of Sally Hawkins and Doug Jones are the true heart of this film, as their primarily physical acting speaks volumes that mere words could not reach.

The Film Is A Subtle Reflection Of Our Times

Good sci-fi / fantasy takes the world we live in, and shows it to us with a flare that makes it familiar and yet fantastical. The Shape of Water does just that in its running time, as it weaves a story of fear and love involving the unknown. The disenfranchised are the heroes, the status quo is the opposition, and in the end, love conquers all. With love and understanding, the world of The Shape of Water becomes a better place for our protagonists -- and it encourages us to do the same in our daily lives.

There are many other reasons why The Shape of Water deserved the top honors of 2017's film market, but out of that wide field, these three are the most worthy of our attention. And this film is more than worthy of your time, as you can see if you enjoy the film on Digital HD now, or on 3/13 when the film hits DVD and Blu-ray.

After months of discussing and dissecting this year's most critically acclaimed movies, the big night is here. Whether you are a person who loves the red carpet or the speeches, you won't have too much longer to wait before the evening kicks off with a bang. While some betting sites have given odds on which big movie might take home this year's Academy Award for Best Picture, we won't know if Get Out makes a surprise win, or if Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri may repeat its Golden Globes success until Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway take the stage again this year. We'll be here as all of the big awards are announced, and you can check out the full list of nominees -- and winners as they come in -- below.

Best Picture

Call Me By Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Get Out

Lady Bird

Phantom Thread

The Post

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Director

Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan

Get Out, Jordan Peele

Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig

Phantom Thread, P.T. Anderson

The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro

Best Actress

Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water

Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Margot Robbie, I, Tonya

Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird

Meryl Streep, The Post

Best Actor

Timothee Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name

Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread

Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out

Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Best Supporting Actress

Mary J Blige, Mudbound

Allison Janney, I, Tonya

Leslie Manville, Phantom Thread

Laurie Metcalf, Ladybird

Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

Best Supporting Actor

Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project

Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside

Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water

Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World

Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Original Screenplay

The Big Sick

Get Out

Lady Bird

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Adapted Screenplay

Call Me By Your Name

The Disaster Artist

Logan

Molly's Game

Mudbound

Best Animated Feature

The Boss Baby

The Breadwinner

Coco

Ferdinand

Loving Vincent

Best Foreign Language Film

A Fantastic Woman, Chile

The Insult, Lebanon

Loveless, Russia

On Body and Soul, Hungary

The Square, Sweden

Best Documentary Feature

Abbicus, Small Enough To Jail

Faces Places

Icarus

Last Men in Aleppo

Strong Island

Production Design

Beauty And The Beast

Blade Runner 2049

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

The Shape Of Water

Best Cinematography

Blade Runner 2049

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Mudbound

The Shape Of Water

Best Costume Design

Beauty And The Beast

Darkest Hour

The Shape Of Water

Phantom Thread

Victoria & Abdul

Film Editing

Baby Driver

Dunkirk

I, Tonya

The Shape Of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Makeup And Hairstyling

Darkest Hour

Victoria & Abdul

Wonder

Best Score

Dunkirk

Phantom Thread

The Shape Of Water

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Original Song

"Mighty River," Mudbound

"Mystery of Love," Call Me By Your Name

"Remember Me," Coco

"Stand up for Something," Marshall

"This is Me," The Greatest Showman

Best Sound Editing

Baby Driver

Blade Runner 2049

Dunkirk

The Shape Of Water

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Best Sound Mixing

Baby Driver

Blade Runner 2049

Dunkirk

The Shape Of Water

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Best Visual Effects

Blade Runner 2049

Guardians Of The Galaxy, Vol 2

Kong: Skull Island

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

War For The Planet Of The Apes

Best Animated Short

Dear Basketball

Garden Party

Lou

Negative Space

Revolting Rhymes

Best Documentary Short

Edith+Eddie

Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405

Heroin(e)

Knife Skills

Traffic Stop

Best Live Action Short

DeKalb Elementary

The Eleven O'Clock

My Nephew Emmett

The Silent Child

Watu Woto: All of Us

This year's Academy Awards air on ABC starting at 8 p.m. ET. Jimmy Kimmel is once again back as the host of the awards, although the jury is out on how many times he will reference what happened with the Moonlight and La La Land mishap last year. Whether the nods are understated or overkill, it should be a night full of surprises, as this year is the 90th year the Oscars have come together in Hollywood. So, stay tuned to CinemaBlend, as this page plans to keep you posted regarding which of the former nominees actually take home the coveted statues. And if you want a reminder of that envelope debacle or a refresher on who took home awards last year, we have you covered, as well.

Photo Courtesy of ABC.

Last year, Disney's Zootopia was a major Oscar contender. In celebration, it had some fun with some of its fellow nominees. While it may not be up for any awards tonight, Disney is still celebrating those that are with parody movie posters. This year's batch actually includes one film that won't win any awards tonight, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, but also three major contenders in the form of All the Money in the World, Lady Bird, and, The Shape of Water.

While Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle has been racking up the box office dollars since it released in December, it won't be in contention for any awards tonight. However, that didn't stop Disney artists from recreating the film's poster on Twitter with characters from Zootopia. Dwayne Johnson becomes Idris Elba's Chief Bogo, Jack Black is represented by donut-loving cop Clawhouser, Judy Hops stands in for Karen Gillan, and Kevin Hart becomes Fennic the fox, though his name implies he's actually a dog.Zoomanji: We come From the Jungle, is almost certainly a movie that you can see in a Zootpia movie theater.

From there, we get into the actual Oscar nominees. The highlight has to be The Shape of Water Buffalo, which stars chief Bogo once again, with Zootopia villain Bellwether in the female lead role. It's probably the best because Chief Bogo never had a look like that on his face throughout Zootopia. The director of this one is Bullermo Del Toro, which is a perfect, if redundant, name for the director of the actual film, which has a pretty good chance at being named Best Picture.

Lady Herd appears to be a coming of age story that star's popular Zootopia pop singer Giselle, who was voiced by Shakira in the movie. Writer-Director Greta Gerwig (Growling) could have a very big night tonight as she's nominated for both Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.

Finally, we have All the Bunny in the World, directed by Ridley Sloth. This film's real-life counterpart feels like it might be a long shot for a few awards, though Christopher Plummer could see a Best Supporting Actor win.

Last year, Zootopia created similar posters for films such as La La Lamb, Fantastic Cheetahs and Where to Find Them, and Nocturnal Mammals.

Last year Zootopia won its Oscar for Best Animated Feature last year. The fact that we're seeing more fun from the movie before this year's Oscars shows that people are still quite taken with it. One wonders if that interest could eventually transform into a sequel.

Which movie do you think should win Best Picture at the Zootopia Academy Awards? Let us know in the poll below.

This poll is no longer available.

It's time to put up, or shut up. The Academy Awards are being handed out on Sunday, and experts from far and wide are making their bets educated guesses about who -- and which movies -- will go home as Oscar winners. Several indicators have been pushing the narrative toward either The Shape of Water or Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, but a dark-horse contender for Best Picture has emerged in Get Out. Here's why.

Gold Derby is a clearinghouse for Oscar prognosticators. For months now, they have been polling their panel of experts on the ebbs and flows of the ongoing Oscar race. And as of today, Jordan Peele's Get Out has a 7/2 odds of winning Best Picture, or a 45% chance of winning. Two other contenders have decent odds. The Shape of Water sits at 11/5, or 32% chance of winning, while Three Billboards sits at 17/10, or a 27% chance of going home a winner at the end of Sunday night.

Why the change in tide? It's hard to say with certainty. Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri enjoyed a good deal of success early, taking home top honors from the Golden Globes, The BAFTAs, the SAG Awards and AFI. But various (minor) scandals about the way the movie threats its characters -- and its controversial themes -- have some wondering if it has what it takes to land a Best Picture Oscar.

Get Out, on the other hand, is a movie that has improved with age... and with repeat viewing. Jordan Peele's horror-comedy hides so many of its secrets until its final reveal that you don't really notice how tightly constructed the film is until you've watched it a second time. Universal did a lot to make sure that Academy members did revisit the movie. Check out the trailer, if you haven't seen it in some time.

What might be working against Get Out? For starters, it's a horror film, and they tend not to compete for Best Picture (movies like The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby notched wins in smaller categories, like Makeup, Sound or Screenplay). Also, Get Out came out more than a year ago at this point, and while Universal has done its part to keep it on the radar of Academy voters, it can be a real challenge to maintain passion for a movie for that amount of time. Films like Three Billboards or The Shape of Water, which came out later and are more fresh in the voters' memory banks, could strike cords when it comes time to cast a ballot.

That being said, the Anonymous Oscar columns show that trying to figure out how an Oscar voter is going to land is a fool's errand. So, we can say that Gold Derby odds make it seem like Get Out might have a great night on Sunday, the chances of it going home empty handed are just as real. Remember the La La Land / Moonlight debacle from last year?

The 2018 Academy Awards are coming up this weekend and everybody is wondering who will win Best Picture. However, no rundown of the nominees will be funnier than this one. The team at Honest Trailers goes through all the nominees and breaks them down for you as only they can. If the Oscars were actually this funny, they'd get much better ratings. Check it out.

After briefly reminiscing about the epic insanity that was the end of last year's Oscar ceremony, the Honest Trailer jumps into the nominees with Darkest Hour. That movie, like a couple of the others, isn't really about the movie as it is about a single performance, the one by Gary Oldman as Winston Churchhill. It points out that the film actually covers a lot of the same time period as another Oscar nominee Dunkirk, but that this movie had a lot less action and a lot more of people chatting at each other.

From there we move to The Fish Banging Movie, or, as it is sometimes referred, The Shape of Water. The Honest Trailer does point out that there are a pair of films which could be viewed as more than a little creepy out of context. Both The Shape of Water and Call Me by Your Name center on relationships which, might not seem quite as romantic if they weren't in movies. In the case of Shape, the fantasy element helps diffuse any unwanted tension. In the case of Call, the trailer avoids getting too serious by making a joke about Armie Hammer's balls. It turns out even serious Oscar dramas need quality digital effects these days.

I wasn't as big a fan of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri as a lot of people were, but I can absolutely get behind the idea that Sam Rockwell needs to be a bigger name. He's a fantastic actor and if this movie does result in him no longer being "that guy" then I suppose it will be worth it.

Phantom Thread seems to get the briefest treatment over the course of the trailer, but the joke comparing Daniel Day-Lewis' character in the movie to the actor himself is a layup that needs to be made. So they did, and then they moved on.

On a personal level, the highlight of the video is the Lady Bird section, because, as somebody who lived outside Sacramento in the late 90s, the movie's incessant use of "Crash Into Me" by the Dave Matthews Band is actually incredibly true to life. It didn't matter how much you wanted to escape that song, it could not be done.

Dunkirk gets a little beat up for being the most Christopher Nolan movie ever. The Post takes its, well deserved, shots for feeling like the most calculated Oscar movie that it's going to be shocking when the movie probably doesn't win very much. Get Out, takes the final slot, and while the video heaps a lot of praise on the film, it also points out that the remarkable story of the horror movie, which is largely the reason it was nominated, is also the reason it probably won't win.

We'll find out which movie will actually be Best Picture during the, almost certainly less funny, Oscar telecast this Sunday.

Raise your hand if you haven't yet seen Black Panther? No one? Good, then you all can listen to the latest episode of AwardsBlend, where co-hosts Sean O'Connell, Kevin McCarthy and Jake Hamilton kick off their weekly film-geek discussion with a breakdown of Ryan Coogler's Marvel masterwork, then lay out their personal Top 5 Marvel movies to see if Black Panther makes the cut.

From there, the guys dive into a discussion on the Best Picture race. With roughly a week to go until the Academy Awards are handed out on March 4, Sean, Jake and Kevin talk about the films that they think still legitimately have a shot at winning Best Picture. Yes, there are nine nominees. But it really only feels like three movies hold out hope of leaving the Oscars with a Best Picture statue tucked under their proverbial arm.

But this week, the conversation really heats up when the AwardsBlend co-hosts debate the best film of Paul Thomas Anderson. We polled our listeners, and their collective pick does NOT match the one suggested by the guys. Let's see how that gets resolved.

Listen to the latest AwardsBlend right here:

AwardsBlend is a weekly conversation geared towards the ongoing Oscar race that discusses the latest developments on that vibrant beat. Sean O'Connell, Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy are long-time members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association who have been covering the film industry for decades. They're also close friends who just love geeking out over movies.

If you missed any of our previous AwardsBlend episodes, you are in luck. We have an iTunes page! Visit. Subscribe. Like and comment. Review! Apple loves when you have star ratings and reviews, so if you listened, and you liked it (or even if you didn't), let us know.

Meanwhile, follow the guys on Social Media at @Sean_OConnell, @JakesTakesand @KevinMcCarthyTV. See you next week, when we make our final Oscar picks... and debate Steven Spielberg's best film. Yes, Spielberg's best film. Wish us luck. Have a pick of your own? Head to social media and use the hashtag #SpielbergBlend. We might discuss it on next week's live show!

It's Awards Season, with everything coming down to the Academy Awards in just a few weeks. One of the contenders being watched with excitement is Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water, a sweeping and visual romance that is both unexpected and fascinating. While watching a mute woman and an amphibian man fall in love seems like an unlikely choice for Oscar bait, their love story is something else. Doug Jones' Amphibian Man was so romantic that some sex toys have been made in his likeness. The frequent del Toro collaborator was recently asked what he thought about the toys, to which he responded:

Well, that was honest. Honest and delightful. While Doug Jones seems to have a good sense of humor about the Amphibian themed dildo that's currently on the market, it's not exactly an actor's dream. Considering how serious and somewhat high brow The Shape of Water is, there's no way that Jones or anyone else involved could have expected that specific type of reaction.

Doug Jones' comments to The Wrap at least show that the actor isn't taking it all too seriously. But the juxtaposition between talking about sex toys and gearing up for the Oscars is sure to be a bit jarring. That said, Jones has had plenty of action figures and moldings done of him before. He played the Silver Surfer in the less than stellar Fantastic Four sequel, and also played Abe Sapien in both Hellboy movies. And his dual roles in Pan's Labyrinth as well a his appearance as a Gentleman in Buffy the Vampire Slayer have also spawned plenty of merch.

While Doug Jones might not be thrilled about the new unauthorized merch, sexuality was a major theme of The Shape of Water. When Elisa (Sally Hawkins) and The Creature eventually have sex, it certainly catches the audience by surprise. Anatomically it was puzzling, but eventually moviegoers are able to go along for the ride and witness the two characters' mutual affection. One of them just happens to be a blue water dwelling creature that can't speak. Every relationship has its challenges.

It should be interesting to see where The Shape of Water ends up on Oscars night. It's currently leading the pack with 13 nominations, but it's a strong year with plenty of awesome movies nominated.

You can see how it all goes down when the Academy Awards air March 4, 2018. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trips to the movies.

No matter which way that you look at it, Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water is a love story -- albeit an odd one. Telling the story of a woman (Sally Hawkins) who falls in love with an Amphibian Man (Doug Jones), the film raises one obvious question: can she have sex with him? Well, the movie very definitively answers that query, and now it looks like in real life you can even get a Shape of Water dildo for yourself. Check out an example of the product by XenoCatArtifacts, below.

This writer is admittedly not an expert on movie-inspired sex toys, but I am willing to bet that's the only dildo that you will find that's inspired by this year's crop of Best Picture nominees -- unless there's some bizarre Dunkirk vibrator out there that we haven't found yet. As you can pretty clearly see, the dildo in question (named "Jewel of the Amazon") mirrors the color and texture of the Amphibian Man's body from the movie. We never actually see his penis at any point during the movie, but that seems like a reasonable approximation, especially since one of these was definitely not a part of Doug Jones' monster suit during the film.

Although one might jump to the assumption that a fish man dildo inspired by The Shape of Water may only appeal to a niche market, it looks like one might be mistaken in that assumption. In fact, the Etsy account selling the toys has already sold out. That said, in a recent interview, XenoCat made sure to let io9 now that they will be restocked and ready to sell more of the product by the time the Oscars air.

It was arguably only a matter of time before someone decided to make a dildo inspired by The Shape of Water. Amid all of the praise that the film has received, one of the most consistent pieces of flattery that we have seen has involved the film's emphasis on telling an R-rated fairy tale about a woman falling in love with a monster. The film even directly references the sheer mechanics of Eliza having sex with the creature (a moment that goes on to deliver one of the film's best laughs), so it's something has clearly been thought about by fans and Shape of Water insiders alike.

So if Amphibian Man dildos happen to be your kink, it looks like The Shape of Water-inspired dildo might be right up your alley. As for the movie itself, make sure to watch it fight for 13 different Oscar categories (including a nomination for Best Picture) when the Oscars air on Sunday, March 4 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

As for the rest of the movies that are going to debut in theaters this year, you can also hop over to CinemaBlend's movie premiere guide to see what's coming. Who knows? Maybe next year we will be talking about brand new dildos inspired by Avengers: Infinity War or Annihilation.

After weeks of immense success, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle fell to fourth place this weekend - but the competition it fell to didn't exactly overperform. This past Friday saw the arrival of three new releases that took over all of the top spots, but the results aren't exactly mindblowing. Check out the full Top 10 below, and read on for our analysis!

Fifty Shades of Grey stirred up a mini-phenomenon the weekend it was released in 2015 - but I specify "weekend" because that opening was really the highest high the franchise ever reached. Box office numbers memorably dropped off significantly in the film's second week (73.9 percent despite no significant competition),and the infatuation with the series died off quickly - despite the fact that Universal Pictures still had plans to release two more films. Fifty Shades Darker opened domestically with about half the total of its predecessor, and now Fifty Shades Freed has ducked under that particular bar with a $38.8 million start.

As expected, critics totally tore the James Foley-directed feature apart (it currently has an 11 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), and audiences have given it a medicore "B+" CinemaScore grade (which is actually tied for best in the series with Fifty Shades Darker). Regardless, the film isn't going anywhere because of what lies ahead. Ryan Coogler's Black Panther is expected to shatter records with the number of tickets it sells between next Friday and Sunday, and there probably won't even be too many people who choose to see Fifty Shades Freed when their Marvel screening is sold out.

As noted, the other two major releases this weekend earned silver and bronze, but it really shouldn't be seen as an impressive feat pushing down a film that is in its eighth week of release. In terms of facing off with Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, Sony was technically competing with itself with Peter Rabbit, which made back half of its budget in its domestic release. Critics didn't exactly fall in love with the Beatrix Potter adaptation, but it still managed to make audiences happy - though we'll have to wait and see how steep in drops next week.

Bringing up the rear as far as new releases are concerned is Clint Eastwood's The 15:17 To Paris - a film starring the men who were involved in the real incident the story is based on. The numbers of Eastwood movies tend to be all over the place - American Sniper grossed $350 million domestically, but Jersey Boys made $47 million - and this one doesn't exactly look like it is poised to take off. It's the director's weakest opening since 2011's J. Edgar, and the buzz (21 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, "B-" on CinemaScore) doesn't really suggest it will have legs into spring.

As mentioned earlier, this upcoming weekend is poised to be the biggest of 2018 yet, with Black Panther set to introduce audiences to the world of Wakanda - and estimates suggest it will make somewhere in the vicinity of $150 million. Also opening will be Aardman Studios' Early Man and Bruce Macdonald's Samson, and we'll have the full numbers for you next Sunday!

Last week, Jake Kasdan's Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle saw its long reign at the Number One spot come to an end, with Maze Runner: The Death Cure managing to be the first film in three straight weeks to beat it at the box office. Shockingly, however, it turns out that the adventure movie just can't be kept down, as once again it is once again at the top of the charts. Check out the full Top 10 below!

When Sony Pictures first put Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle in theaters in early December, many questioned the move. After all, it was positioned just one week after the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which was posed to dominate the box office for weeks. Prognosticators certainly weren't wrong on this front, but what nobody could have predicted is the immensely long legs that the comedy has demonstrated. Jumanji was in second place for its first four weekends, but has been the number one movie for every weekend in 2018 thus far - and is the first December release since 1998 to grab a number one spot at the box office in February (not even Avatar pulled that off).

Obviously Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle isn't banking huge numbers at this time of year, but its overall totals to date and still incredibly impressive. It was made for reportedly only $90 million (certainly modest by modern blockbuster standards), and the most recent figures say that its global total stands at $855.4 million. That puts it in 60th place all-time, and after tomorrow it will be crowned Dwayne Johnson's biggest domestic hit ever, toppling Furious 7's $353 million total. It won't be catching up with either Furious 7 or The Fate of the Furious internationally, as those two films made $1.5 and $1.2 billion, respectively, but there' no denying that this is a massive hit.

The only new wide release to come out on Friday was The Spierig brothers' Winchester, which didn't exactly impress. It surely didn't carry a massive budget (Lionsgate hasn't reported how much it was made for), but the studio probably isn't incredibly happy with a third place finish and a $9.3 million haul. The movie boasts some star power with Helen Mirren and Jason Clarke playing key roles in the feature, but it wasn't exactly supported by any buzz, given that it wasn't actually screened for critics (those who paid to see it have contributed to an 9 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes). Folks also probably shouldn't expect it to produce any Jumanji-like legs in the face of critical bashings, as CinemaScore says that audiences only gave it a "B-."

Looking at the Top 10 from a more macro perspective, you may notice that the bulk of the titles aren't movies that actually came out in the last few weeks, but instead have actually been around for a while (either in wide or limited release). Half of them, in fact, have been around for nearly two months now, as January titles like Proud Mary and The Commuter proved to have zero staying power. In that sense, 2018 is clearly off to a seriously rocky start, but hopefully the next month of movies will start turning things around.

We should start seeing the box office starting really kicking into gear this Friday, with the finale of the Fifty Shades trilogy, Fifty Shades Freed, set to come out in wide release; along with Clint Eastwood's The 15:17 To Paris and the family-friendly Peter Rabbit. We'll be back next Sunday to see how it all shakes out, so we'll catch you then!

After spending four weeks in second place, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle went on a tear through January, taking the top spot for four weekends in a row. Now, however, its reign is over, as the latest numbers from the past three days say that The Maze Runner: The Death Cure has stolen the crown. Check out the full Top 10 below!

The first two movies in the Maze Runner trilogy did modestly well when released in the falls of 2014 and 2015, respectively - but it seems that the move to winter hurt the finale. The Maze Runner and The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials both made more than $30 million in their opening frames, but The Maze Runner: The Death Cure didn't successfully match that bar. Instead, estimates say that the movie has only made $23.5 million, which is surprising since finales usually lead to a box office spike, with even casual fans wanting to know how the whole story ends.

As for the reasons why The Maze Runner: The Death Cure didn't put butts in seats, there are a few things at which we can point. For starters, January has never been a great box office month, given that people are generally bouncing back from the December holidays and not going to the movies a lot (which in turn has led studios to see the month as a dumping ground for titles without a ton of potential). The buzz on the feature hasn't exactly been overwhelmingly positive, either. The critical response has resulted in the film sporting the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score in the trilogy (44% vs. 65% and 46%), and the CinemaScore grade is a middling B+ (lower than the A- the first Maze Runner got and the same as the B+ for The Scorch Trials).

The Maze Runner: The Death Cure was the only new wide release this weekend, giving it an advantage as the film to topple Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, but you'll notice that it isn't the only feature from this past Friday to crack the Top 10. Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmaavat was only put into 324 theaters this weekend, but it still managed to make enough to place as one of the biggest titles of the weekend. The epic romantic drama comes from India, and tells the true story of Queen Padmavati (Deepika Padukone), who was married to a good king, but found her kingdom attacked by a violent sultan who became obsessed with her. If you do the math, you'll notice that it made more than $13,000 per theater - suggesting an incredibly smart release strategy.

While the weekend may have only had one new wide release, it also saw two significant expansions - which explains some of the impressive ranking jumps. Scott Cooper's Hostiles, starring Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike, got a limited release on December 22, 2017, following a fall festival run, but now has made its way into theaters nationwide. The official budget has not yet been revealed, but the score it brought in over the last three days is solid. Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water also found its way on to a thousand more screens, and thanks to the award season buzz, it will probably be a presence on the charts for the next few weeks.

This week will see the arrival of February 2018, and while we all continue to impatiently wait for Ryan Coogler's Black Panther, Hollywood is giving us a fright-fest with Michael and Peter Spierig's Winchester this Friday. We'll be back next Sunday to see how things shake out in the Top 10, so stay tuned!

With this week's nominations for the 90th Academy Awards locked and loaded, it's time for the Academy's voters to review the nine films they've deemed the best pictures of 2017. But this is also the time when the movie-going public tries to catch up with the nominees they're particularly interested in, or in some cases the whole entire smash.

Since the line-up is so diverse, with release dates ranging from the beginning of last year to just recently, you're going to want to know what your options are to be in the know before the big show, which is where this guide really comes in handy. So break out your calendars, send this article to your movie friends text chain, and let's look at how you can see the best and brightest of 2017 today.

Theatrical Marathon Events

For a little over a decade, there has been a slowly building trend of theatrical chains bringing back the best picture nominees in time for Oscar season, and one of the oldest and best established is the AMC Best Picture Showcase. Shown over the two Saturdays before the Oscars, the line-up will set you back $30 for 2/24's session, and $40 for 3/3. Though if you're daring enough to try, some locations will be doing a 24 hour marathon on 3/3 for $65. If you're an AMC Stubs member, you'll receive a $5 credit on your account for each day of the showcase, so that's an additional $10 value added to your ticket. Though if you're looking to only pick up some individual screenings of certain best picture nominees, AMC will be showing all nine Best Picture nominees at select locations, starting January 29th. Be sure to check AMC's official listings for further details, as well as more accurate pricing.

Also returning to the table is Regal's Best Picture Film Festival, which is more affordable, albeit with an interesting scheduling method of its own. This marathon clocks in at $35, but is only available through the Regal Theaters app. Unlike AMC's Best Picture Showcase, Regal's program gives you access to all BP noms between 2/23 & 3/4, with a tiered scheduling system that spreads out the line-up across that span of time. All films are shown at various times each day, so you'll need to check Regal's schedule, found here, for specifics.

New to the race is Cinemark's Oscar Week, which will also set you back $35, and gives you access to not only all of the best picture nominees, but also all of this year's Oscar Nominated Best Short Films. It's programmed similar to Regal's offering, with certain films at certain times each day. That schedule, as well as further details on Oscar Week, can be found here. But say you're not really looking to head out to a theater, or just want to watch one or two of these movies in the comfort of your own home? Well, if that's the case, let's see what each film's home video options entail at this moment.

The Shape of Water

Synopsis: Eliza (Sally Hawkins) is a mute cleaning lady for a government facility, with a pretty average day to day life. All of that changes once she falls for a specimen brought to her lab (Doug Jones). With the help of her friends (Richard Jenkins and Octavia Spencer), she'll try to grant this creature his freedom. Although it seems that there are forces with unknown (Michael Stuhlbarg) or opposing agendas (Michael Shannon) in mind.

Is It Still In Theaters: Yes. The Shape of Water's wide release started at the end of December, so there should be a good amount of theaters still running the film.

When Will It Be Available On Digital HD/Home Video: 2/27 (Digital HD) / 3/13 (Home Video)

Possible Streaming Options: iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play, Vudu & FandangoNOW.

Darkest Hour

Synopsis: After his sudden, unexpected rise to the position of Prime Minister, Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman) finds himself inheriting the post at one of the bleakest periods in British history. With the Nazi war machine gaining steam, and the evacuation of Dunkirk staring him in the face, Churchill will have to prove to his detractors that he can do the job, while finding a way to provide the morale boost that the nation could use.

Is It Still In Theaters: Some theaters are still showing Darkest Hour, so you'll have to check your local listings.

When Will It Be Available On Digital HD/Home Video: 2/6 (Digital HD) / 2/27 (Home Video)

Possible Streaming Options: iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play, Vudu & FandangoNOW.

Dunkirk

Synopsis: In 1940, the evacuation of Dunkirk was one of the most harrowing events in the history of World War II. Christopher Nolan's action drama focuses on three stories, all taking place during various time spans, on the fateful day of the evacuation.

Is It Still In Theaters: Yes, but check your local listings, as Dunkirk is about to make a return to theaters in the wake of its nomination. Screening options may be limited.

When Will It Be Available On Digital HD/Home Video: Currently available on Digital HD, Blu-ray, and DVD.

Possible Streaming Options: iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play, Vudu & FandangoNOW.

Phantom Thread

Synopsis: Thanks to a chance encounter, designer Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day Lewis) has found a new muse / lover in a young waitress (Vicky Krieps). Through the course of Phantom Thread, we see the push and pull of their relationship, and all of the darkly comic side effects that happen at each turn.

Is It Still In Theaters: Yes. Phantom Thread's wide release started on 1/19, so it should be pretty easy to seek this one out. Though if you're looking for the 70mm option, you're going to run into a much more limited range of options.

*When Will It Be Available On Digital HD/Home Video: *TBD (Digital HD) / 4/10 (Home Video)

Possible Streaming Options: iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play, Vudu & FandangoNOW.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Synopsis: After the investigation into the rape and murder of her daughter has yielded no tangible results, Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) decides to call out the local police chief (Woody Harrelson) through a series of three incendiary billboards. Through a series of escalating events, Mildred will find herself clashing with strangers, the chief himself, and even his loyal deputy (Sam Rockwell).

Is It Still In Theaters: Yes, but Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri may be harder to find as it's been running since November.

When Will It Be Available On Digital HD/Home Video: 2/13 (Digital HD) / 2/27 (Home Video).

Possible Streaming Options: iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play, Vudu, & FandangoNOW.

Get Out

Synopsis: On a weekend getaway to meet his girlfriend's family, Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) begins to suspect something is amiss. With an atmosphere of creeping dread, and racial tension, Get Out puts its protagonist through the ringer, with each step he takes towards the horrifying truth.

Is It Still In Theaters: Much like Dunkirk, Get Out is making a return to the big screen, in honor of its Oscar campaign.

When Will It Be Available On Digital HD/Home Video: Get Out is currently available on Digital HD, Blu-ray, and DVD.

Possible Streaming Options: iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play, Vudu, FandangoNOW & HBO GO

The Post

Synopsis: In the midst of the controversial Vietnam War, a study is leaked to the press that provides a damning account of how the conflict was managed throughout its inception. With the New York Times gaining the first scoop, but being barred from printing any further items, it's up to Kathryn Graham (Meryl Streep) and Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) to fight the battle to publish at the Washington Post. The only things standing in their way are nervous board members, the possible jeopardy of a recent acquisition, and President Nixon himself.

Is It Still In Theaters: Yes. The Post completed its wide release roll out on 1/12.

When Will It Be Available On Digital HD/Home Video: No release dates are currently set, though a "Spring 2018" window has been mentioned.

Possible Streaming Options: Unknown, as The Post is currently in its theatrical window, though most digital retailers are already offering a pre-order to own.

Call Me By Your Name

Synopsis: In 1983 Italy, a young man (Timothee Chalamet) is discovering himself in the summer sun. During that discovery, he meets a young student (Armie Hammer) who plays an important part in that process, as he's the first man he's fallen in love with.

Is It Still In Theaters: Yes. Call Me By Your Name went into wide release on 1/19, after a slow indie roll-out.

When Will It Be Available On Digital HD/Home Video: 2/27 (Digital HD) / 3/13 (Home Video).

Possible Streaming Options: iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play, Vudu & FandangoNOW.

Lady Bird

Synopsis: Don't call Christine McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) by her birth name. Call her Lady Bird, the name she's given to herself. Through the tumultuous days of her senior year in a Sacramento Catholic school, she'll contemplate college, hang out with her best friend (Beanie Feldstein) and try to survive living with her mother (Laurie Metcalf) in those final days before she goes off to the school of her choosing. Or rather, the schools that dare to choose her.

Is It Still In Theaters: The screening options for Lady Bird are probably limited, but some theaters may still have it in their rotation.

When Will It Be Available On Digital HD/Home Video: 2/13 (Digital HD) / 3/6 (Home Video)

Possible Streaming Options: Unknown, as Lady Bird is currently in its theatrical window, though most digital retailers are already offering a pre-order to own.

The Shape of Water has been a huge award winner and it's a serious contender for this year's Academy Awards. It's also the source of yet another plagiarism claim from people who believe Guillermo del Toro stole the idea for the film. The estate of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paul Zindel believes that The Shape of Water was "obviously derived" from the 1969 play Let me Hear You Whisper.

Fox Searchlight vigorously defends Guillermo del Toro and claims the writer and director of The Shape of Water has never read nor seen the play in question, but according to The Guardian, the similarities between the two stories have been remarked on by people familiar with both, and now the family of the playwright has weighed in on the discussion. They seem to have little doubt that the film took its premise from the play. There's no specific mention of plans to take legal action against The Shape of Water, though if the Paul Zindel estate is certain the idea was taken without credit, that would seem to be the next logical step.

The play in question does have numerous similarities to The Shape of Water. In both stories, the main character is a janitor in a government facility that is experimenting on an aquatic creature. The two make some sort of connection and the woman attempts to rescue the creature. However, there are a couple of significant differences as well, including that in the play in question, the creature is actually a dolphin, not a humanoid. The main character is also not mute in the play and doesn't have a best friend analog to the part played by Richard Jenkins in The Shape of Water.

What's interesting is that this isn't the first time that The Shape of Water has been accused of lifting its premise. Earlier this week, the Netherlands Film Academy cleared the film of accusations it had taken its idea from Marc S. Nollkaemper's short film The Space Between Us. It's unclear if the short film was ever accused of taking its idea from the play.

Of course, the fact that The Shape of Water has now been accused of stealing an idea from two totally different sources could help show that's totally possible for multiple people to come up with the same idea independently. This is why one of the necessary aspects of any proof of plagiarism is proving that the accused writer was exposed to the original work. If that can't be proven, then there's no way to be sure that a similar idea didn't occur to more than one writer at different times.

We'll have to wait and see if this actually becomes a legal issue or just an upset family. That question could turn on just how big The Shape of Water becomes. If it ends up winning any of the multiple Oscars that it is nominated for, that could translate to a lot of money that the estate of Paul Zindel may feel they are entitled to,

Welcome to AwardsBlend #5, the first episode since we launched this podcast where we finally have actual Oscar nominees to discuss. And discuss them, we do!

AwardsBlend co-hosts Sean O'Connell, Kevin McCarthy and Jake Hamilton hop behind their microphones this week to talk about the various Oscar nominations, where Guillermo del Toro's sci-fi creature romance The Shape of Water led all contenders with 13 noms, but Jordan Peele's Get Out followed right behind. Peele and his colleague, Greta Gerwig, also made headway as first-time filmmakers who broke into the coveted Best Director race. And we made connections to the Screen Actors Guild Awards winners, who all got Oscar nominations -- so we wonder if that makes them frontrunners in their respective categories.

But things really heat up when the guys get into a discussion about beloved cinematographer Roger Deakins, who is nominated for his work on Blade Runner 2049. But he shot it digitally, and the AwardsBlend hosts wonder if the decision to not shoot on film will hurt him in his bid to FINALLY win an Oscar after 13 previous nominations and not one win.

You have to listen to this one:

Now that we have the full field of Oscar nominees, we are going to use the next few weeks to break down the top categories, discussing possible upsets, clear-cut frontrunners, and bold predictions to help you win your Office Oscar Pool. (If your office doesn't have an Oscar pool, start one! We'll help you win some money.)

And if you missed any of our previous AwardsBlend episodes, you are in luck. We have an iTunes page! Visit. Subscribe. Like and comment. Review! We got our first review recently, and it made us so happy. Don't let that one review sit there, all by itself. Add some more, so it doesn't get too lonely. Meanwhile, follow the guys on Social Media at @Sean_OConnell, @JakesTakes and @KevinMcCarthyTV. See you next week, when we break down the Supporting Actor and Actress categories on Thursday, February 1 at 4 pm EST / 1 pm PST.

And then there were nine.

The Academy Awards announced their complete list of nominees or the 90th Oscars ceremony, which will be held on Sunday, March 4. In doing so, the Academy singled out nine films that will compete for Best Picture, ranging from Christopher Nolan's World War II epic Dunkirk to the harrowing social commentary of Jordan Peel's Get Out.

You wonderful people have been nice enough to follow CinemaBlend's coverage of all things film through the years, and 2017 was no different. We dove deep into all nine movie that proudly call themselves Best Picture nominees, hoping on board the Get Out train early and riding the wave of Phantom Thread right as 2017 drew to a close. Now that we have our Best Picture contenders, let's revisit our reviews, to see what we thought about the Academy's choices for the best of 2017:

Call Me By Your Name

Our review: Call Me By Your Name is the type of film you want to climb into, set up camp, and live inside for an extended period of time. By this rationale, it'd be the opposite of Jordan Peele's Get Out, a movie whose landscape you'd choose to avoid at all costs. Quite the contrary for director Luca Guadagnino's leisurely, lush and heartachingly romantic excursion, which beckons you into its frames with every visual cue, then lulls you into wanting to linger by weaving an embracing message of inclusion, of first-love experimentation, and of finding a way to be comfortable in our own skin, no matter how challenging that journey may seem.

Full review

Darkest Hour

Our review: Unlike Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, which showcased a very different side of the same time period and events earlier this year, Darkest Hour isn't a war film built on explosions and spectacle, but it is stunningly gorgeous all the same. With due credit going to both the cinematography and production design, there is no shortage of elegance and magnificence in Winston Churchill's aristocratic home or King George VI's palace -- but the movie also offers up some perfect contrast with the stark, dark, greyness of the war rooms where the gravest and most important decisions are made about the future of the country. The persistent beautiful image of curling cigar smoke caught in sunbeams is the perfectly lit cherry on top.

Full review

Dunkirk

Our review: While no surprise given his track record, Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk is impressively ambitious. It is not only an extraordinary spectacle thanks to the extensive use of IMAX cameras (seriously demanding that it be seen on the largest screen possible), but it navigates a smart-yet-challenging non-linear path that plays out in three different threads -- all individually taking place over a different amount of time (specifically a week, a day, and an hour). Clocking in at only 107 minutes long, it's tightly paced, and end-to-end it is furnished with stunning sequences that leave you holding your breath.

Full review

Get Out

Our review: The great genre filmmakers recognize that horror's just a device for commentary, and while Get Out may look like everything is just painted on the surface, it's an impressively rich and powerful execution of a smart, scare-packed premise. It certainly takes cues from cinematic history, and could be elevator pitched as "The Stepford Wives meets Guess Who's Coming To Dinner," but with a playful sense of tone, amazing performances, and a sharp bite, it resonates with you long after you've left the theater.

Full review

Lady Bird

Our review: Ever since her debut in Atonement, Saoirse Ronan has been on a role when it comes to the leads she's scored in films like Lady Bird. In fact, all throughout writer/director Greta Gerwig's film, I was reminded that Ronan is an ace when it comes to portraying this particularly sensitive time in a young woman's life. She continues to captivate the screen with her acting skills, making both "Lady Bird's" sympathetic and more childish moments come to life without turning them into caricatures. While we can take issue with some of her actions and statements to those she knows and loves, we can never write off her character as a typical screen brat. It's a delicate line to walk with such a story, and Saoirse Ronan makes it look damned easy.

Full review

Phantom Thread

Our review: While Paul Thomas Anderson has presented an eclectic mix of tones and stories during his endlessly impressive career, Phantom Thread presents a stunning contrast of elegance and darkness, leading the filmmaker to aesthetically build something unlike anything we've ever seen from him. And the results are expectedly incredible. He keeps the argument of film over digital very much alive, and acting as his own cinematographer for the first time delivers scene after scene of visual splendor -- bathing the detailed work of uniformed seamstresses in angelic, soft white light and offering sinister, fire lit visions of the future through its non-linear narrative. You expect beauty in a film about fashion, and Anderson practically overwhelms you with it.

Full review

The Post

Our review: The Post, Steven Spielberg's exceptional new film about the vitality of journalism, might be his first movie to weave both genres together, pouring a valuable history lesson into a briskly paced race-the-clock political thriller that pushes all the right buttons we need in a crowd-pleaser. Shot and edited in a seven-month span, The Post boasts a stunning ensemble of extraordinary character actors sinking their teeth into a riveting screenplay, all choreographed by a genius filmmaker who is firing on all possible cylinders. The Post is the best movie I saw this year, and likely the most important movie you'll see in several years.

Full review

The Shape of Water

Our review: If you really wanted to, you could tuck yourself in for The Shape of Water and let the film tell you one of the best adult bedtime stories you've ever heard. With a poetry and rhythm that flows as strong as the currents of the world, Guillermo del Toro and co-writer Vanessa Taylor has brought us another film that pays homage to classic Hollywood, while existing firmly in a modern frame of mind. It's a story of romance crossing boundaries, of the outsiders teaming up to defeat the status quo, and of the true beauty of life available to all, so long as they choose to see it. This is the most beautiful film of the year, both in body and spirit, and it is not to be missed.

Full review

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Our review: As much as folks are going to be talking about Frances McDormand come Oscar season, they'll more than likely speaking towards Sam Rockwell's portrayal of Officer Dixon. As his battle of wits with Mildred Hayes escalates to further levels of anger and one-upmanship, the events only serve to show just how alike both participants are when pursuing what they believe to be justice. In a lesser movie, we'd totally be on Mildred's side, but in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, we're forced to consider both sides of the matter, as the film shows us both sides in humane detail.

Full review

The 2018 Academy Awards nominations were announced today and Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water leads the pack with a whopping 13 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress. This is a huge win for the film, which also nabbed another win earlier today. There was some concern that Guillermo del Toro's film bore more than a passing resemblance to Marc S. Nollkaemper's 13-minute short film The Space Between Us, which also features a woman working at a research center who falls in love with a fish creature. However, the Netherlands Film Academy, which produced the short, reviewed the matter and concluded that everything was aboveboard and there wasn't more than passing similarities to the short film. The NFA released a statement to that effect, saying in part:

The Netherlands Film Academy statement, as reported by IndieWire, notes that the filmmakers of both films met for a personal conversation where they discussed the inspiration for both films and the common roots in mythology. It is great to hear that everyone involved just sat down for a conversation and discussed the similarities person to person instead of waging an online finger pointing war. That says a lot in this day and age. This should hopefully clear up any doubts or qualms people had about The Shape of Water and allow them to enjoy what is a truly magical film. It would have been a true shame if the cloud of possible plagiarism had hung over the head of Guillermo del Toro's passion project as the home stretch to the Oscars begins.

Plagiarism can sometimes be a serious thing in Hollywood, and no one wants to see original works -- works that people put their heart and soul into -- poached for ideas to be repackaged and sold for profit. But it seems that was not the case here. If there is one thing Guillermo del Toro is known for it is his imagination; he has enough stories and creatures floating around in his head to fill a hundred lifetimes of films without needing to plagiarize from someone else. He's also generally open and asks for permission when he borrows ideas, as happened when he borrowed the gills idea from his star Sally Hawkins.

What makes The Shape of Water great and worthy of awards is not its groundbreaking originality. It succeeds because of how well its story is told, how emotionally acted and lovingly crafted. The film is very much a classic Beauty and the Beast tale meets Creature from the Black Lagoon. It is at its heart a fairy tale, and fairy tales are not known for their originality, they are meant to simply tell a universal story or teach a lesson. There are certain archetypal stories that speak to us as a species, they are universal and timeless, told and retold, across all mediums like in the oral tradition. So even though Guillermo del Toro and the filmmakers behind The Space Between Us may have told a different story, it's easy to see how some similarities may have bled through. In this case, this is not due to malfeasance, but to common interests and a shared human condition.

The Golden Globes may have kicked off award season in 2018, but now it's time to move up to the major leagues. We are just a few weeks away from this year's Academy Awards ceremony, and there remains no major front-runner in the race. We fully expect that to continue for the foreseeable future, but at the very least we now know which movies are in contention.

The official list of nominations for the 2018 Academy Awards have been announced, and, just like every year, it's a list of "No-duhs" and "Whoas!" You can check out all of the categories below, and stay tuned all day here on CinemaBlend for our coverage regarding our thoughts and expectations.

Best Picture

Call Me By Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Get Out

Lady Bird

Phantom Thread

The Post

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Director

Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan

Get Out, Jordan Peele

Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig

Phantom Thread, P.T. Anderson

The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro

Best Actress

Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water

Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Margot Robbie, I, Tonya

Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird

Meryl Streep, The Post

Best Actor

Timothee Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name

Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread

Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out

Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Best Supporting Actress

Mary J Blige, Mudbound

Allison Janney, I, Tonya

Leslie Manville, Phantom Thread

Laurie Metcalf, Ladybird

Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

Best Supporting Actor

Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project

Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside

Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water

Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World

Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Original Screenplay

The Big Sick

Get Out

Lady Bird

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Adapted Screenplay

Call Me By Your Name

The Disaster Artist

Logan

Molly's Game

Mudbound

Best Animated Feature

The Boss Baby

The Breadwinner

Coco

Ferdinand

Loving Vincent

Best Foreign Language Film

A Fantastic Woman, Chile

The Insult, Lebanon

Loveless, Russia

On Body and Soul, Hungary

The Square, Sweden

Best Documentary Feature

Abbicus, Small Enough To Jail

Faces Places

Icarus

Last Men in Aleppo

Strong Island

Production Design

Beauty And The Beast

Blade Runner 2049

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

The Shape Of Water

Best Cinematography

Blade Runner 2049

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Mudbound

The Shape Of Water

Best Costume Design

Beauty And The Beast

Darkest Hour

The Shape Of Water

Phantom Thread

Victoria & Abdul

Best Editing

Baby Driver

Dunkirk

I, Tonya

The Shape Of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Makeup And Hairstyling

Darkest Hour

Victoria & Abdul

Wonder

Best Score

Dunkirk

Phantom Thread

The Shape Of Water

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Original Song

"Mighty River", Mudbound

"Mystery of Love," Call Me By Your Name

"Remember Me", Coco

"Stand up for Something", Marshall

"This is Me", The Greatest Showman

Best Sound Editing

Baby Driver

Blade Runner 2049

Dunkirk

The Shape Of Water

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Best Sound Mixing

Baby Driver

Blade Runner 2049

Dunkirk

The Shape Of Water

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Best Visual Effects

Blade Runner 2049

Guardians Of The Galaxy, Vol 2

Kong: Skull Island

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

War For The Planet Of The Apes

Best Animated Short

Dear Basketball

Garden Party

Lou

Negative Space

Revolting Rhymes

Best Documentary Short

Edith+Eddie

Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405

Heroin(e)

Knife Skills

Traffic Stop

Best Live Action Short

DeKalb Elementary

The Eleven O'Clock

My Nephew Emmett

The Silent Child

Watu Woto: All of Us

Now that awards season is fully in swing, stay tuned to CinemaBlend to hear more about what movies are impressing the critics and industry. In addition, you can catch the official Oscars ceremony on March 4, only on ABC. The ceremony will again be hosted by the one and only Jimmy Kimmel. In addition, be sure to check out what movies are coming in 2018 with our full schedule.

With the Golden Globes now in our rear view, it's time to look back on all of the films that walked away with gold this year. There were plenty of great winners, but one of the most satisfying victories of the night came for Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - which won the coveted Best Motion Picture, Drama trophy. It was a hotly-contested field, but Three Billboards absolutely deserved this win because it told the most decidedly full-bodied, human story of 2017.

It's worth mentioning that Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri surprised many by winning as big as it did. The film has generated a lot of buzz since its release, but it often felt as though films with a far more significant emphasis on technical filmmaking, like The Shape of Water and Dunkirk, generated more conversation and earned frontrunner status as awards season continued. However, for fans of no-frills pathos-driven storytelling, Three Billboards pulled off a remarkable upset.

One of the primary functions of a good film is its use of storytelling to say something about human nature and how we treat one another. This point feels hammered home by the fact that Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri won three other major, character-centric awards this evening: Best Screenplay, Best Picture - Drama, Best Actress - Drama (Frances McDormand), and Best Supporting Actor (Sam Rockwell). Even with its stripped-down filmmaking style, the film is anchored by fantastic performances and a perfectly-written story that allows these unique personalities to come to life. It's a relatable and human tale about regret, pain, anger, acceptance, and forgiveness, and it's the type of movie that will likely still resonate with audiences for years to come. That's perhaps the most important element of any big award winner, and Martin McDonagh's movie nails it.

It's a surprising turn for the Golden Globes because the last few years at the ceremony have arguably felt defined by films that have done things (whether they're structural or technical) that we haven't really seen before. Just look back at the last few years to see that phenomenon in action. Stories like Barry Jenkins' Moonlight (which told the story of a young, gay black man through three distinct eras of his life), Alejandro Iñárritu's The Revenant (a visceral, guerilla-style film that put its lead actor through hell), or Richard Linklater's Boyhood (a film shot over the course of 12 years) took home the award in no small part because they broke new ground in some form or another.

With a movie like Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, it's kind of the opposite. From a pure filmmaking standpoint, the film is actually not all that complex of a production, and it adheres to a fairly conventional three-act structure -- very much playing into Martin McDonagh's wealth of theater experience. However, McDonagh's ability to craft a smart and witty story that hits every mark on the human emotional spectrum -- whether it's through laughter or tears -- and direct actors to convey those emotions is arguably unchallenged. In an era often defined by sweeping spectacle, that emphasis on humanity stands out. McDonagh has been on a filmmaking hot streak after In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths, and mainstream Hollywood institutions have finally started to take notice.

Does this mean that other nominated (and arguably more technically-intricate) films like The Post or The Shape of Water didn't deserve to walk away with the Best Motion Picture -- Drama Golden Globe this evening? Absolutely not. This was one of the most impressive Golden Globe years in recent memory, but Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri walked away wholly deserving of its big win.

Now that the Golden Globes have finally aired (you can check out our list of winners and losers, as well as our coverage of crazy moments), make sure to stay tuned for more up-to-date coverage on anything and everything related to your favorite movies from 2017 as awards season kicks into high gear. As for the films that are still to come over the course of the next year, you can take a look at our 2018 movie premiere guide.

We are only a week into 2018, but already it's awards time. The Hollywood Foreign Press is ready to announce what they feel are the best films, performances, and more tonight at the Golden Globes, and as always, we are ready to keep track and see which trophies go to which people in this year's competition.

While this feature is launching at the start of the Golden Globes 2018 ceremony, we will be refreshing it throughout the night. As the winners are announced, we will be continually updating the sections found below - highlighting the big winners with images and emphasized text. Keep coming back to this page to see the latest news, and be sure to keep an eye on homepage for our reactions to the developments!

Best Motion Picture, Drama

Call Me By Your Name

Dunkirk

The Post

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

The Disaster Artist

Get Out

The Greatest Showman

I, Tonya

Lady Bird

Best Director

Guillermo Del Toro, The Shape of Water

Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk

Ridley Scott, All The Money in the World

Steven Spielberg, The Post

Best Screenplay Motion Picture

Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor, The Shape of Water

Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird

Liz Hanna Josh Singer, The Post

Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Aaron Sorkin, Molly's Game

Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture, Drama

Jessica Chastain, Molly's Game

Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water

Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Meryl Streep, The Post

Michelle Williams, All The Money in the World

Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture, Drama

Timothy Chlumet, Call Me By Your Name

Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread

Tom Hanks, The Post

Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq

Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

Judi Dench, Victoria and Abdul

Helen Mirren, The Leisure Seeker

Margot Robbie, I, Tonya

Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird

Emma Stone, Battle of the Sexes

Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

Steve Carell, Battle of The Sexes

Ansel Elgort, Baby Driver

James Franco, The Disaster Artist

Hugh Jackman, The Greatest Showman

Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out

Best Performance By A Supporting Actress In A Motion Picture

Mary J Blige, Mudbound

Hong Chau, Downsizing

Allison Janney, I, Tonya

Laurie Metcalfe, Lady Bird

Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

Best Performance By A Supporting Actor In A Motion Picture

Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project

Armie Hammer, Call Me By Your Name

Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water

Christopher Plummer, All The Money in The World

Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Motion Picture, Animated

The Boss Baby

The Breadwinner

Coco

Ferdinand

Loving Vincent

Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language

A Fantastic Woman, Chile

First They Killed My Father, Cambodia

In the Fade, Germany, France

Loveless, Russia

The Square, Sweden, Germany, and France

Best Original Score, Motion Picture

Carter Burwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Alexandre Desplat, The Shape Of Water

Johnny Greenwood, Phantom Thread

John Williams, The Post

Hans Zimmer, Dunkirk

Best Original Song

"Home" Ferdinand

"Mighty River" Mudbound

"Remember Me" Coco

"The Star" The Star

"This is Me" The Greatest Showman

The 2018 Golden Globes air on NBC and will feature Seth Meyers as the host this year. To find out what else is heading to TV in the new year, take a look at our full schedule.

A little over $19 million isn't a huge amount of money when you're making a film, especially one that's as gorgeous as Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water. But if you're a director who can be good at stretching a budget, and who also happens to be one of the driving forces behind a cable TV show like The Strain, you can get pretty resourceful. Which is exactly what del Toro did with his latest passion project, when he realized he could stretch the budget further if The Shape of Water used sets from The Strain. He said:

This surprising fact came from a Q&A that Guillermo del Toro gave held by Film Independent (via io9) in support of The Shape of Water's eventual rollout nationwide. If you're a fan of FX's The Strain, you probably recognized some of the sets that were showcased throughout the film. Mainly, the OCCAM laboratory control room looks severely close to the layout of the New York Office of Emergency Management set that the Safe Streets Initiative used to hunt the Strigoi menace. For reference, take a look at the following shot from The Shape of Water:

Now take a look at this shot from The Strain:

While not confirmed, when I was watching, I thought the build of the "fishbowl" that Michael Shannon lords over his OCCAM underlings from looks to be the same office that various cast members from The Strain share some particularly tense meetings during season 3. So seeing as the set was scheduled for some downtime between, presumably, Seasons 3 and 4 of The Strain, what better way to keep everything nice and clean than to make a major motion picture? Then again, this sort of aesthetic shouldn't be a surprise, as The Shape of Water's director has always had a smaller budget mindset.

Even as recently as when he was putting together Crimson Peak, Guillermo del Toro has seen that the best way to make a passion project like this is to produce a film that can be made with a lower, more manageable budget. In addition to the assist that The Strain sets and crews lent to the proceedings, del Toro also reused extras throughout the film, as KCRW's The Business reported during their interview with the director. So in one scene, a cast member could be wearing something that looks like it comes out of a Setrakian flashback, and the next they could be wearing a lab coat that looks like it comes directly from a shady medical lab that serves the Strigoi their precious blood supply.

All of this clever repurposing of assets looks to have worked out, as The Shape of Water's modest weeks of debut have almost completely recouped the budget. But more importantly, Guillermo del Toro's film looks to be an awards season frontrunner, with a surprising amount of accolades in its tank. And all it cost was $19.3 million, which by the way, was after del Toro returned $200k to Fox Searchlight, as he came in short of the original $19.5 million funding level. Gotta love a smart shopper!

You can see every penny on the screen, and then some, when you see The Shape of Water, which is currently in theaters nationwide.

Warning: obvious spoilers for films throughout 2017 are present. If you're worried about spoiling anything from this past year, we implore you to proceed with caution.

If there was anything that 2017 was good for besides movies, it was climactic endings. Some of this year's best films had endings that left us breathless, finales that made us cry with happiness or sorrow, and others that just generally had us screaming a big old "what the fuck?!" In the end, ten films made us feel those very reactions, and they did so because they landed that final, crucial punch. Here now are 10 endings from 2017 that exemplify the best the market had to offer.

Alien: Covenant

The moment that Walter and David's robot fight in the third act started, there was a sneaking suspicion that the maladjusted version of Michael Fassbender that survived Prometheus was going to pull a big switcharoo. But thanks to some frantic editing, a lot of action and the pressing matter of a matured Xenomorph weighing on Alien Covenant's final act, the truth would have to wait for the very end of the film's harrowing finale. Lo and behold, the moment that Daniels was tucked into her cryopod, David revealed how he disguised himself as Walter, and went off to execute the next phase of his plan to destroy humanity. Cue the opera music and a sense of overwhelming, but well earned, dread.

Logan

Hugh Jackman promised his days as Wolverine were done past Logan, and with his character's death at the end of the film, it was all but guaranteed. Seeing Laura and her new mutant friends giving Logan the sendoff worthy of a true hero was sad enough, seeing as the crying already started when Logan bid his sentimental goodbye in his dying moments. But for the girl we know as X-23 to go on reciting some extremely appropriate dialogue from Shane, as well as fixing the cross at Logan's grave into an "X" shape? That was the cherry on top of the ugly cry sundae.

Get Out

It's true that Jordan Peele had a much different and extremely bleak ending originally in mind for Get Out's closing moments. But in his personal wisdom, and in thankful taste, the writer/director opted instead for a moment of funny denouement. Utilizing supporting character Rod the TSA agent as a comedic foil throughout the entirety of Chris Washington's journey through the Armitage family auction was a brilliant idea that paid off no matter how the film ended. However, the decision to end the film with Rod saving Chris was the right decision, allowing the film's audience to breathe a sigh of relief after a film that put its protagonist through the ringer. Remember that the next time you're making your way through a TSA checkpoint, folks.

The Shape of Water

In a year that gave us suspenseful, downbeat and even sorrowful endings, The Shape of Water has to be one of the most uplifting endings on screen in 2017. Guillermo del Toro's grown-up fairy tale sees its amphibious creature and mute human protagonists submerged in water after a big showdown. With Doug Jones's creature reviving Sally Hawkins' female love interest, her gills sprout and they kiss in a moment of true love conquering all. It's a gentle, but intensely beautiful moment that shows the world that sometimes stories do end in a way that only they could construct, and that the good guys need only have faith in their cause to make it happen.

Mother!

If any film this year should get the "What The Fuck?!" award, it'd have to be Darren Aronofsky's mother! A film that slowly devolves further into biblical inspired madness, Aronofsky's film takes Jennifer Lawrence's titular lead through a literal house of horrors. And in the end, after everything her ungrateful houseguests have put her through, it comes time for her to exact her fiery, apocalyptic revenge on everyone -- even the man she loves. But, as we saw in the beginning of the film, Javier Bardem's God-like figure just can't let his creation go. The cycle begins anew, an unfamiliar face awakens in their marital bed, and maybe, just maybe, Bardem will get it right this time.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

If you're a fan of Martin McDonaugh's various films, you know that he has a knack for an ending that leaves the door for interpretation wide open. So after Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri puts Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell's opposing parties into cahoots, all in the name of killing a man who was involved in a rape and murder similar to that of McDormand's on-screen daughter, it's an ending that the audience should be able to root for under lesser circumstances. But after the film's examination of violence and vengeance as a vicious circle has taken its course, leading to that very ending, you have to wonder if you want these two characters to hit their target. The fact that the film ends with them supposedly heading out on the road to do just that makes the final frames of the film all the more effective.

Split

M. Night Shyamalan's latest film certainly lived up to its name, as it had Split the minds of its audience members in two with its final moments. First off, Anya Taylor-Joy's mousey protagonist proved herself to be one of the super-powered few that exist in the world with the ability to withstand physical, and emotional, damage to an extreme degree. With James McAvoy's Beast persona labeling her as such before escaping to recover from a couple rounds of buckshot, Shyamalan seemed poised to start his own universe of superpowered beings. And sure enough, the mid-credits stinger that draws Bruce Willis's protagonist from Unbreakable into the mix seals that fate, paving the way for the third film in this now fully-formed trilogy, Glass. For those of you who wanted an Unbreakable sequel, you know where to send your thanks.

Good Time

Throughout the Sadfie Brothers' Good Time, one wild night of law-breaking throughout New York City is shown to us through the able hands of Robert Pattinson's brotherly heel, Connie. Escalating through a series of behaviors that are supposedly in the name of freeing his incarcerated brother, it begs the question of what this horrible person won't do to win the game he's supposedly playing. And then, after an accidental death of a fellow hoodlum, and his eventual apprehension by the police, Connie ultimately does the right thing. We learn that he's going off to jail, while his mentally disabled brother is freed from the local lock-up and put into a therapy program that'll help him integrate into society. It's a bittersweet ending that focuses on the wronged party, rather than the last minute redemption of our anti-hero. In short, it's a brilliant reversal.

Patti Cake$

Throughout Patti Cake$, the relationship between Patricia Dumbrowski and her mother Barb is a tense minefield of hurt feelings, broken dreams and Barb's constant need to put down her own daughter. Yet Patti perseveres in the name of her rap career: past her mother's constant doubt, her grandmother's untimely death and even her musical idol's mockery. And what does that persistence get her? Well, it gets her group PB&J a shot at fame, the result of which delivers a hell of a crescendo of good feelings. What's better is that in the moment, during the group's live performance of what will be their breakout hit, she invites her mother to rekindle her own musical dreams. In that moment, Patti wins for herself, and her mother, in a surprise that her grandmother would have loved to have seen for herself.

Baby Driver

If ever there was a moment where you wanted a hero to make it out without a scratch, just like in the movies, Baby and Debora's final drive in Baby Driver has to be it. And yet, Edgar Wright threw a big old curveball right through the heart of anyone who thought they'd get away with it, by sending Ansel Elgort's Baby straight through the justice system. While he was a good kid at heart, he had aided and abetted in a string of robberies, and there was no beating that rap. But at least he co-operated in the end, with his sentence being set at 25 years with a parole hearing set to happen in just five short years. With Debora promising she'll go the distance and wait for him, we're shown a scene that could either be their reunion or just a dream. Here's hoping Baby Driver's proposed sequel answers this question once and for all, should it come to pass.

Warning: spoilers ahead for Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water!

Constructing a proper character for a film requires input from several different sources. A lot of it comes from what's written into a script, but it also takes what an actor puts into the performance. In the case of Sally Hawkins' portrayal of Elisa in Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water, it turns out that the actress had far more control over certain character moments than we could've anticipated. In particular, del Toro recently opened up and admitted that two of these character moments came from a similar story that Hawkins had been working on before joining the film. Del Toro explained:

That's a reasonably bizarre coincidence, but it arguably ended up working in The Shape of Water's favor in the end. Sally Hawkins had already thought of a character who was unaware that she was a mermaid, and several of those beats ultimately helped flesh out Elisa's arc and the way in which she treated her love affair with the creature. Between the gills and the salt, she tapped into Elisa in a way that wasn't initially on the page.

Those character moments go a long way towards crafting the story that critics seem to have fallen in love with, and that shows in The Shape of Water's critical accolades. The R-rated fairy tale has gone on to earn immense praise since its release, and the awards consideration has already begun in the form of seven Golden Globe nominations, including Sally Hawkins' nomination for Best Actress in a Drama.

That said, one thing that Guillermo del Toro didn't explicitly explain in his conversation with Deadline is how Elisa's gills factor into the story. The film makes it clear that Elisa was found near water as a baby, which lends credence to the possible theory that she is actually from the ocean, just like the creature. However, another viable reading of the film's ending is that the creature turns her scars into gills (rather than restoring gills that may have previously been there) and grants her a new home in the water. Both of these possibilities seem to potentially make sense based on what the film gives us in its final moments, but if you are still curious, then maybe it could not hurt to find out what Sally Hawkins' chose for her character in her story.

Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water is now in theaters. Looking ahead to the next year of major movie releases, you can take a look at CinemaBlend's 2018 movie premiere guide to see what's coming!

Where do I begin to talk about what type of year 2017 has been? It was a year that delivered some big surprises, shocking moments, and intense backlash throughout the filmgoing community. And yet, for a year which saw a lot of folks talking about record lows when it came to box office returns, there was an embarrassment of riches when it came to content, both in wide release and more limited platforms. While the ticket sales may not always have said so, we were gifted with a lot of cinematic wins this past year.

My top 10 was hard to put together, because there were some films I really loved this year, but didn't manage to crawl past the 20 mark. But, as one finds themselves doing in such a situation, I weighed all of the films I'd seen this year, and assembled what I feel are the 10 best. It's an eclectic mix, for sure, but 2017 was an eclectic year. I highly recommend you seek all of these films out, but if there's three I really felt I needed to put a button on, it'd be numbers 9, 6 and 5 (for the record). Anyhow, submitted for your approval, here are my top picks for this past year in film. There are some minor spoilers in some of these paragraphs, so you have been warned!

10. Wind River

I really didn't know anything about Taylor Sheridan until he kicked some awards-season ass last year with his dark horse film Hell or High Water. So, by time I was hearing about Wind River coming to theaters, I didn't hesitate to jump on that train the moment it arrived in the station. I'm so glad I did too, because Sheridan once again displays his fixation with how people of different backgrounds and opinions get along, and in some cases fail to. His leads played by Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen navigate such a web of hatred and impulsively macho behavior that by time the film's over, you're almost surprised anyone's left alive at all.

Most importantly, Wind River is a testament to Sheridan's mastery of the western noir genre. We've seen it have a bit of a resurgence since No Country For Old Men won best picture back in 2007, but the genre still has some growing pains to work out. Throughout the entire film, we see what was once the "wild west" in its current state: isolated, disconnected, and washed out from its former glory. Yet if you listen closely in the wind, you can hear that the danger is still in Wind River's setting. I've been afraid that this film may be lost in the shuffle, due to its earlier release than most awards contenders, as well as the fact that it was a product of The Weinstein Company, pre-collapse. But much like his protagonists, Taylor Sheridan's dour murder mystery still stands as a landmark product from 2017's bountiful crop.

Read our review here.