40. Perfectly a Strangeness (Best Live Action Short)

Your enjoyment of Perfectly A Strangeness will depend on your tolerance for experimental cinema. The documentary does not follow a familiar structure – no dialogue, no explicitly stated story, no humans – but it’s impressively made, leaving the audience to conjure its own narratives. Alison McAlpine’s film evokes the recent narrative film EO, as it follows a set of three wayward donkeys while they wander the empty landscape. It’s not until the trio comes upon a vacant observatory that the “plot” kicks in, and McAlpine invites us to infer a number of statements about mankind versus nature, our place in the universe, and any number of other elements. At only 15 minutes, Perfectly A Strangeness doesn’t drag on for too long, but it’s a slight experience that’s open for interpretation. 

39. The Three Sisters (Best Animated Short)

You may fall in love with The Three Sisters, or you may feel mostly nothing towards them. Count me as the latter. The animation is colorful, if a little too simplistic, for a story about three quirky sisters stranded on an island. Director Konstantin Bronzit eschews dialogue to show how three women navigate independence and romance and, while the characterization shines through despite the lack of words, it’s not a film where I can recall many details barely a month after viewing.

38. The Singers (Best Live Action Short)

The cure for male loneliness is, apparently, having a singing competition in a bar. The Singers may be the simplest amongst the Live Action Short nominees, but it looks great and features a number of grounded performances. Held over the course of a single night in a dingy bar, the film follows a disparate group of middle-aged men, and a bartender who challenges them to sing for the award of a $100 bill. Not every short film needs to have grander ambitions, or feel like it’s a test run for a feature adaptation, but The Singers doesn’t linger much once it ends, and it doesn’t feel like it has much to say.

37. Elio (Best Animated Feature)

It’s a shame that Elio‘s legacy will be its box office failure because, while it’s far from Pixar’s best, it’s certainly not the worst product they’ve released. At the very least, it’s more evidence that the studio should continue making original films, rather than the same sequels/prequels/spin-offs that have come to define them in recent years. The film follows the titular boy, who simply wants to feel less alone, and finds it when he stumbles upon a galactic collective full of colorful aliens. Though the plot does become more formulaic as it progresses, it’s occasionally funny and heartfelt when it needs to be. Not every Pixar movie needs to move the needle exponentially, but Elio is a decent enough time that doesn’t feel like a waste.

36. Butcher’s Stain (Best Live Action Short)

The events of October 7, 2023 have had long lingering consequences across the world, and Butcher’s Stain depicts how those affected have trickled down through all walks of life. The film works as a metaphoric microcosm faced by Israelis who oppose the ongoing genocide, as a grocery store employee is accused of removing flyers memorializing the hostages within the break room. Will he fess up to a crime he didn’t commit in order to keep his job, or stand up for what he believes? It’s not a terribly enlightening discussion, but a worthwhile one nonetheless, and the lead performance from Omar Sameer is effective.

35. Cutting Through Rocks (Best Documentary Feature)

Making societal change is always an uphill battle. Just ask Sara Shahverdi, the central figure of Cutting Through Rocks, who spends the entirety of the documentary pushing for meaningful change in rural Iran. She pushes back against cultural norms around women by running for local office, and the film sees the men in and out of power, and how they perceive a supposed threat to their own masculinity. Whether it’s something as simple as giving girls a rounded education, or getting a playground built, Sara sticks up for herself, despite the manufactured drama brought up to keep her from achieving her goals. Cutting Through Rocks may only concern itself with an isolated situation, but its implications for gender equality reach far beyond its borders.

34. Mr. Nobody Against Putin (Best Documentary Feature)

If there’s one unifying theme amongst the nominated documentary features and shorts this year, it’s rebellion. Mr. Nobody Against Putin shows one man – a teacher named Pavel Talankin, in rural Russia – and his small acts of protest against a dictatorship that’s slowly indoctrinating his students. For Talankin, defiance can take many forms, whether it’s giving young people a safe space to air their grievances without fear of retaliation, or gathering evidence to show the state’s propaganda at work. But as vital as Talankin’s work is, Mr. Nobody Against Putin never feels especially vital as a film.

33. Blue Moon (Best Lead Actor, Best Original Screenplay)

Chalk this one up to my general distaste for films set in a single location, as Blue Moon has its fair share of diehard fans. Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke have collaborated on a number of artistically fruitful films throughout the years, and their latest showcases a fateful night in the life and career of songwriter Lorenz Hart. Hawke takes center stage as a man who constantly espouses his all-consuming loneliness, but can’t help but isolate himself from those who try to love him. Perhaps if I had more familiarity with Hart, or this specific era of Broadway history, I’d be more enthusiastic about Blue Moon. As it stands, it’s another solid entry from Linklater and Hawke which I harbor no animosity or enthusiasm towards.

32. The Smashing Machine (Best Makeup and Hairstyling)

The Smashing Machine quickly became the pop culture punching bag of the disappointing box office returns which plagued almost all movies in the back half of 2025. To some extent, those criticisms were deserved, but at least Benny Safdie’s film utilized Dwayne Johnson’s full range of talents to center a fairly standard sports biopic. The same can be said for Johnson’s transformation to Mark Kerr, and the Oscar-nominated prosthetic work for him and co-star Ryan Bader. And the fight sequences are necessarily brutal, reflecting the harsh reality of MMA, and the tole it takes on one’s body. The Smashing Machine isn’t bad enough to fully abandon hope in Benny Safdie as a solo director, but it’s clear which of the two brothers came out on top in 2025.

31. Zootopia 2 (Best Animated Feature)

It’s no secret that Disney and Pixar have had problems with sequels to their better known properties in recent years. Thankfully Zootopia 2 is the rare exception that feels like a natural progression from the source material. Clever jokes and sight gags featuring animals and animal behavior, plus a thoughtfully rendered, timely, message about immigrant communities helps the film to feel like more than just another Mouse House cash grab. Sure, the central mystery sometimes feels like a retread of the first film, but the voice performances from Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Ke Huy Quan, and Andy Samberg helps to forget those shortcomings. If Disney can continue to stay faithful to the original’s messaging when producing more sequels, perhaps the studio’s problems will eventually fade away.