Surely you are eager to discover the top cinematic works that have taken the Oscar Awards 2025 by storm? Every year, the Oscars bring surprises, heart-touching stories and artistic films. From blockbusters that make a big splash to independent works full of humanity, the bright candidates are always the center of attention of global film enthusiasts. Let's take a look at "Top 10 Best Movies That Stir Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch" - a list of must-see masterpieces that promise to bring you unforgettable cinematic experiences!
1 Anora
Anora - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Shake Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch. Photo source: Youtube.
Anora - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Shake Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch.
Anora is an American drama film with black comedy and social colors, directed by Sean Baker - famous for his works full of life, reflecting the naked and humane reality of the American working class. The film revolves around the main character Anora - a call girl in Brooklyn (New York), unexpectedly entering a lavish life when marrying the son of a Russian tycoon.
At first, the marriage seemed like a dream when Anora wore a luxurious wedding dress and lived in a luxurious villa. But soon, the world that she thought was paradise began to crack. Her powerful husband's family did not accept her, they tried every way to force Anora to give up the relationship. Unyielding, this resilient young girl began her own battle - a journey to regain control of her life, honor and love.
Anora is not only a story about a woman's rise in dire circumstances, but also deeply reflects on social stratification, migration, power and personal freedom. The film intertwines darkly humorous moments with inner pain, highlighting the inner strength of people in a society full of prejudice and injustice.
Possessing a sharp storytelling style, captivating film rhythm and explosive acting from female lead Mikey Madison, Anora caused a stir at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival when it won the prestigious Palme d'Or and continued to receive important nominations at the 2025 Oscars, including the category "Best Film".
Basic Information
Film Title: Anora
Genre: Social Drama, Black Comedy
Runtime: 110 minutes
Release Date: May 17, 2024 (Cannes Film Festival)
Country: United States
Director: Sean Baker
Writers: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch
Producers: FilmNation Entertainment, Cre Film
Starring:
Mikey Madison as Anora
Mark Eydelshteyn
Karren Karagulian
Yuriy Borisov
Vache Tovmasyan
2 Emilia Pérez
Emilia Pérez - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Shake Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch. Photo source: Youtube.
Emilia Pérez - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Shake Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch.
Emilia Pérez is a French, Mexican and Spanish drama-musical co-production, focusing on crime, gender identity and the journey to personal freedom. The film revolves around Rita - an ambitious female lawyer who is always stuck in a law office specializing in "legal cleansing" for Mexican criminals. One day, she is unexpectedly hired by the notorious drug lord Manitas to do the unthinkable: help him... change his gender to a woman and disappear from the underworld to live a new life.
When Rita accepts the mission, Manitas is reborn as Emilia Pérez - a strong but conflicted woman, always struggling between her sinful past and her desire to live as her true self. Rita and Emilia gradually form a complex relationship, both as allies, friends and reflections of lives suffocated by an unjust social system.
Emilia Pérez stands out with her unique combination of musical elements and social crime drama, both gritty and soaring. The songs in the film are performed with emotion, interwoven with brilliant and metaphorical images, making the film full of artistic cinema but still maintaining an easy-to-follow and multi-layered storyline.
Premiering at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Emilia Pérez won the Jury Prize, while Selena Gomez, Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña and Adriana Paz were honored with the Best Actress Award - a historic victory.
Basic information
Movie name: Emilia Pérez
Genre: Musical, drama, crime, social
Runtime: 131 minutes
Release date: May 18, 2024 (Cannes)
Country: France, Mexico, Spain
Director & Screenwriter: Jacques Audiard
Producer: Why Not Productions
Music: Clément Ducol
Main actors:
Karla Sofía Gascón as Emilia Pérez / Manitas
Selena Gomez vai Jessi
Zoe Saldaña vai Rita
Adriana Paz vai Kim
3 The Substance
The Substance - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Stir Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch. Photo source: Youtube.
The Substance - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Stir Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch.
The Substance is a psychological horror film in the style of body horror, from French director Coralie Fargeat, famous for her bold, iconic and feminist filmmaking style. The film revolves around the story of Elizabeth Sparkle - a Hollywood actress who is gradually being forgotten due to age. Obsessed with her appearance and the decline of her reputation, Elizabeth seeks out a mysterious compound advertised as "body regeneration technology" - The Substance..
When Elizabeth uses the compound, an ideal, younger and more perfect version of herself appears - Sue, who is herself but in a new form. At first, Sue gives Elizabeth what she once desired: fame, limelight and public admiration. But then things quickly spiral out of control when the new self begins to have its own consciousness and demands to take over Elizabeth's real life.
The Substance is a dark metaphor for the pressure of beauty, the rejection of women in the entertainment industry, and the modern society's obsession with perfection. The film impresses with its horrifying images, artistic visual style, and profound feminist message, leaving audiences both overwhelmed and thoughtful.
At the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, The Substance stunned the audience and won the Best Screenplay Award, and also brought home many important nominations at the 2025 Oscars, including Best Actress for the spectacular return of Demi Moore - a Hollywood icon.
Basic Information
Movie Title: The Substance
Genre: Horror, psychological, body horror, feminist drama
Runtime: 140 minutes
Release Date: May 19, 2024 (Cannes Film Festival)
Country: France, USA
Director & Screenwriter: Coralie Fargeat
Producers: Working Title Films, Universal Pictures
Starring:
Demi Moore as Elizabeth Sparkle
Margaret Qualley as Sue
Dennis Quaid
4 The Brutalist
The Brutalist - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Shake Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch. Photo source: Youtube.
The Brutalist - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Shake Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch.
The Brutalist is an epic, poetic art-drama film directed by Brady Corbet and co-written with Mona Fastvold. Set across several decades in the 20th century, the film follows László Toth, a Hungarian-Jewish architect who flees fascism in Europe to start a new life in the United States.
Together with his wife Erzsébet, László seeks new opportunities in the promised land. However, he soon realizes that the price of success in an alien society is to trade his artistic ideals, cultural identity, and painful memories. As László gradually becomes one of the most sought-after architects in America thanks to his Brutalism style (cold, emotionless concrete architecture), he also gradually loses his human values and his true self.
The Brutalist is not only a journey of building great structures with concrete, but also a painful journey of searching for personal identity, art and love in the heart of a cold post-war society. The film has a slow, poetic pace, shot with quiet, symmetrical and gloomy frames - recreating the spirit of the architectural style of the same name.
The work has the participation of a top-notch cast, in which Joel Edgerton plays the main role with depth, with Marion Cotillard, Sebastian Stan and Mark Rylance contributing to creating haunting, cold and extremely humane performances.
Basic information
Film title: The Brutalist
Genre: Drama, art, history, biography
Runtime: 126 minutes
Release date: May 20, 2024 (Venice Film Festival – official competition)
Countries: USA, UK, Hungary
Director: Brady Corbet
Screenwriter: Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold
Producers: Andrew Lauren Productions, Killer Films
Cinematography: Lol Crawley
Starring:
Joel Edgerton vai László Toth
Marion Cotillard as Erzsébet
Sebastian Stan
Vanessa Kirby
Mark Rylance
5 Conclave
Conclave - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Shake Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch. Photo source: Youtube.
Conclave - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Shake Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch.
Conclave is a religious and political thriller film adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name by author Robert Harris. The film is set inside the Vatican - where one of the most important events of the Catholic Church is taking place: the Conclave to elect a new Pope after the death of the current Pope.
At the center of the story is Cardinal Lomeli, a humble, upright man who was once the late Pope's close secretary. Assigned to oversee the conclave, Lomeli quickly realizes that behind the sacred walls and solemn rituals lies a web of intrigue, power struggles and deadly secrets.
As the election process gradually enters a tense climax, a shocking truth is revealed - one of the most promising candidates for the position of Pope is hiding a secret that can shake the Church and the world. Lomeli is caught in a dilemma between faith, truth and responsibility..
Conclave stands out with its tense pace, investigative and psychological plot combined with a closed setting full of religious rituals. Director Edward Berger (famous for All Quiet on the Western Front) has created a work that is both dramatic and full of philosophical depth, exploring painful questions about morality, trust and power.
Basic information
Movie name: Conclave
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Religious, Investigation
Runtime: 105 minutes
Release date: November 15, 2024
Country: UK, Germany
Director: Edward Berger
Screenwriter: Peter Straughan (based on the novel by Robert Harris)
Producers: House Productions, FilmNation Entertainment
Starring:
Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lomeli
Stanley Tucci
John Lithgow
Isabella Rossellini
Lucian Msamati
6 Wicked
Wicked - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Shake Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch. Photo source: Youtube.
Wicked - Top 10 Best Movies Stirring Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch.
Wicked: Part One is a musical fantasy film adapted from the Broadway classic of the same name, which has been a hit on stage for over two decades. Inspired by the novel by Gregory Maguire, the film explores the untold story behind the world of Oz – before Dorothy ever set foot there.
At the center of the story is Elphaba – a smart, strong-willed girl born with strange green skin. While everyone is wary and shunned, Elphaba has a desire to be accepted and do the right thing. When she enrolls at the Shiz School of Magic, Elphaba meets Glinda – a beautiful, proud and ambitious witch. From bitter rivals, the two gradually become close friends, but then fate, power and misunderstanding push them down two opposite paths: one becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, the other the Good Witch of the North.
Wicked is not only a fantastical journey, rich in imagery and music, but also a touching story about friendship, prejudice, identity and the price of choice. The film is the first in a two-part series, elaborately staged with modern special effects, gorgeous costumes and lively musical performances, embracing the spirit of Broadway but still breathing modern cinema.
With the direction of Jon M. Chu (the man behind the success of Crazy Rich Asians), and the participation of two famous stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, the film has made the audience explode right from the first trailer and quickly became the hottest name at the box office in late 2024 - early 2025.
Basic information
Movie name: Wicked: Part One
Genre: Musical, fantasy, fantasy, drama
Duration: 150 minutes
Release date: November 27, 2024 (USA)
Country: USA
Director: Jon M. Chu
Screenwriter: Winnie Holzman (adapted from the musical by Stephen Schwartz & Gregory Maguire)
Producer: Universal Pictures
Music: Stephen Schwartz
Main actors:
Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba
Ariana Grande as Glinda
Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero
Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible
Jeff Goldblum as The Wizard of Oz
Ethan Slater as Boq
7 A Complete Unknown
A Complete Unknown - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Shake Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch. Photo source: Youtube.
A Complete Unknown - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Shake Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch.
A Complete Unknown is a biographical drama film that revolves around the turning point in the career of Bob Dylan, one of the greatest musical icons of the 20th century. Rather than a comprehensive biography, the film focuses on the year 1965, when Dylan abandoned his traditional folk artist image to turn to electronic rock music - a bold decision that shocked the fan community and completely changed the contemporary music landscape.
The central character is a young Bob Dylan, played by Timothée Chalamet, in a performance that was praised by critics as excellent and profound. The film recreates Dylan's internal conflicts: between art and fame, between innovation and loyalty to his roots, between the individual and the expectations of society. Parallel to his musical journey, the film also depicts the important relationships that shaped him, such as with Joan Baez, Pete Seeger and music producer Tom Wilson.
Directed by James Mangold – who made his mark with Walk the Line and Ford v Ferrari, A Complete Unknown is not only a story about an artist but also an emotional ballad about the transformation of America in the 1960s – a period of chaos, rebellion and desire for change.
The special feature of the film is that Timothée Chalamet himself performs Bob Dylan's songs, contributing to the authenticity and emotional depth of the work.
Basic Information
Movie Title: A Complete Unknown
Genre: Biography, Musical, Drama, Historical
Runtime: 135 minutes
Release Date: Expected Late 2024 (Oscar Season)
Country: United States
Director: James Mangold
Screenwriter: James Mangold & Jay Cocks (based on true events)
Producer: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Music: Bob Dylan (original), performed by Timothée Chalamet
Starring:
Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan
Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez
Edward Norton as Pete Seeger
Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo
Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash
Nick Offerman as Alan Lomax
8 Maria
Maria - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Shake Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch. Photo source: Youtube.
Maria - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Shake Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch.
Maria is a biographical drama film directed by Pablo Larraín, revolving around the final years of Maria Callas – the legendary Greek-American soprano, known as “La Divina” in the opera world. Unlike conventional biographies, Maria focuses on the lonely inner self, the nostalgia for a glorious past and the endless torment of a great artist when passing on the other side of the halo.
The main setting of the film is Paris in the 1970s, when Maria lives in seclusion in a luxurious but empty apartment. She retreats from the stage, away from the public and the media after the events in her love life – especially her tragic romance with billionaire Aristotle Onassis. When facing old age, oblivion and loneliness, Maria recalls the peak moments of her career, the sacrifices, the losses and the never-ending desires for music, love and being loved.
The highlight of Maria lies in Angelina Jolie's performance as the famous singer. Not only recreating Callas' portrait through images, Jolie also shows emotional depth, fragility, strength and pride - reviving a 20th century European cultural icon with all her beauty and tragedy.
With an elegant, quiet and poetic visual style, Pablo Larraín - who directed Spencer and Jackie - once again brings a delicate cinematic work, deeply exploring the inner world of a famous but vulnerable woman behind the spotlight.
Basic information
Movie name: Maria
Genre: Biography, drama, art
Duration: 120 minutes
Release date: Expected late 2024 (Oscar Season)
Country: USA, France
Director: Pablo Larraín
Screenwriter: Steven Knight
Producers: Fabula, Fremantle, The Apartment Pictures
Main actors:
Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas
Pierfrancesco Favino
Haluk Bilginer
Alba Rohrwacher
Valeria Golino
9 Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Shake Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch. Photo source: Youtube.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Shake Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is a stop-motion animated comedy-adventure from Aardman Animations, marking the spectacular return of the legendary duo Wallace and Gromit after nearly two decades of absence from the big screen. This time, the two beloved characters will have to confront an old enemy that seemed to have been forgotten - Feathers McGraw, the villainous penguin who made audiences both scared and laugh in the classic episode The Wrong Trousers (1993).
The story begins when Wallace, an eccentric but kind-hearted inventor, accidentally creates an artificial intelligence system that is too automated - to the point that Gromit himself worries that his boss is becoming increasingly dependent on machines. However, things get serious when Feathers McGraw secretly reappears, taking advantage of new technology to plot a sophisticated and dangerous revenge.
In this adventure, Gromit must take on the role of "unsung hero" more than ever before to stop a plot that could have dire consequences not only for Wallace but for the entire city. The combination of British humour, quirky inventions, thrilling action and the timeless charm of claymation make Vengeance Most Fowl an emotional adventure that is both familiar and fresh.
The film marks the return of Nick Park - the "father" of Wallace & Gromit - as director and art supervisor. The film is also produced exclusively for the Netflix platform, opening up the opportunity to reach millions of global viewers.
Basic information
Movie name: Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Genre: Stop-motion animation, adventure, comedy, family
Running time: Expected 85 minutes
Release date: Late 2024 (on Netflix)
Country: UK
Director: Nick Park & Merlin Crossingham
Writer: Mark Burton
Production company: Aardman Animations, Netflix
Voices:
Ben Whitehead as Wallace
Peter Kay
Lauren Patel
Reece Shearsmith
and a special return of Feathers McGraw (non-speaking)
10 The Six Triple Eight
The Six Triple Eight - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Shake Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch. Photo source: Youtube.
The Six Triple Eight - Top 10 Best Movies That Will Shake Up the Oscars in 2025 That You Should Watch.
The Six Triple Eight is a historical war drama film directed by Tyler Perry that recreates a forgotten chapter in World War II history: the extraordinary journey of the 6888th Battalion – the first all-female and all-African-American military unit to be deployed overseas during wartime.
Inspired by a true story, the film follows Major Charity Adams and 855 brave women of color who were sent to Europe with a seemingly “invisible” mission: to process more than 17 million unsold letters sent to American soldiers at the front lines. Although they did not directly go to the battlefield, their work had an extremely spiritual meaning – connecting soldiers with their families, keeping the flame of hope alive amid the flames of war.
Set in an America rife with racism and sexism, The Six Triple Eight is not only a story of bravery and military discipline, but also a journey to reclaim dignity, recognition and pride for forgotten women. They fought not with weapons, but with resilience, intelligence and solidarity as a family – true to their motto: "No mail, low morale".
With elaborate production, authentic set design and a strong cast led by Kerry Washington, the film made a strong impression upon its release and quickly entered the sights of the 2025 Oscars thanks to its humane message, epic quality and profound historical significance.
Basic Information
Movie Name: The Six Triple Eight
Genre: Drama, History, War, Biography
Runtime: 135 minutes
Release Date: 2024 (on Netflix)
Country: United States
Director & Writer: Tyler Perry (based on an article by Kevin M. Hymel)
Producer: Tyler Perry Studios, Netflix
Starring:
Kerry Washington as Major Charity Adams
Oprah Winfrey
Ebony Obsidian
Sam Waterston
Milauna Jackson
Pepi Sonuga
Susan Sarandon
Dean Norris
